Last week on “Survivor” 35 the Heroes, Healers and Hustlers were told to “Drop your buffs” by host Jeff Probst in the season’s first tribe switch. The shuffle led to some dominant members losing all of their power, with NFL player Alan Ball being voted out after Joe Mena used his idol to save himself. (Listen to our exit interview podcast with Alan.) While it’s safe to assume that Alan isn’t a fan of tribe swaps, where do YOU stand on the issue? In our recent poll, 59% of “Survivor” fans said that they love how tribe switches mix up the game. Comparatively, 29% voted that it really depends on the season, while 12% admitted that they hate pre-merge switch-ups.
As diehard “Survivor” fans know, tribe switches have been a part of the show since “Survivor: Africa” (Season 3), when three members of each camp were told to shuffle over to the other side. At the time, such a twist was completely unexpected. But now tribe switches are commonplace in the game, and often result in old alliances being broken and fun new bonds being formed.
While Alan’s dismissal was the worst-case scenario from a tribe swap, the meeting between Ryan Ulrich and Chrissy Hofbeck was undoubtedly the best-case. Back in the Season 35 premiere Ryan received a secret advantage of a hidden idol that had to be played at the first tribal council. Since his Hustlers tribe won immunity, he had to give it to someone on the losing Heroes tribe and he chose Chrissy. At the tribe switch, Ryan confessed to Chrissy that he gave her the idol and she was clearly touched. We can now expect these two to have a strong bond going forward.
Where do you stand on tribe switches, “Survivor” fans? Do you agree with the majority that they are a fun part of the game, or are you among the 12% who hate tribe mix-ups? Let us know by sounding off down in the comments section.
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