Immunity Challenge

The Immunity Challenge is an important aspect of the game. Winning this challenge will secure a tribe or an individual safety from the upcoming Tribal Council.
==Tribal Immunity==
During the tribal phase of the game, the tribes vie for the ownership of the Immunity Idol. The winning tribe will be granted safety from the upcoming Tribal Council.
In rare cases, there are Double Tribal Councils where both tribes go to Tribal Council, where the tribal Immunity Idol is temporarily replaced with the Immunity Necklace which is usually only available post-merge. After a Double Tribal Council, the tribal Immunity Idol is put back into play until the merge.
In , the first post-merge Immunity Challenge involved the castaways being divided into two teams, and as such the tribal immunity format was used with the winners of the challenge being abstained from Tribal Council.
===Giving Tribal Immunity Away===
To date, there have been two instances when a tribe has given up tribal immunity after winning an Immunity Challenge. In order for a tribe to do so, every member of the tribe must agree.
* In , host Jeff Probst announced that if the winning tribe, Moto, wanted to keep their luxurious campsite, they must sacrifice immunity to Ravu, which they did.
* In , the winning Manono tribe went to Tribal Council after electing to give up immunity to vote out Bill Posley, thus granting Salani exemption.
==Individual Immunity==
After the merge, where there is only one existing tribe, the remaining contestants compete in individual challenges to seek possession of the Immunity Necklace, which guarantees safety at Tribal Council for its bearer. Unlike the tribal Immunity Idol, which gives exemption to an entire tribe, the incumbent wearer of the necklaces must still attend Tribal Council and cast a vote, but other players cannot vote for that player.
On some occasions, individual immunity has been played for during the pre-merge stages of the game, usually occurring during a Double Tribal Council. It can work in various ways:
* An individual Immunity Necklace appears at a certain location on the island. The first members of each tribe to get to them are granted individual immunity in some form (, , ).
* Members of both tribes compete simultaneously for a shot at winning individual immunity (Gabon, , ).
* One tribe wins a reward, and the members of that winning tribe then compete for individual immunity (, ).
* One tribe wins a reward during a Double Tribal Council. As part of their reward, they can give individual immunity in some form to a member of the tribe who goes second (Palau, ).
* In Vanuatu, Guatemala, and Gabon, as only one castaway won individual immunity at a Double Tribal Council, they would grant individual immunity to a member of the other tribe.
** In Guatemala, the granted individual immunity would not be revealed until after the votes were read, similar to how the Hidden Immunity Idol would later work in and Cook Islands.
===Giving Individual Immunity Away===
Since , individual immunity has become transferable, giving safety to its new wearer while leaving the original winner vulnerable. To date, there have been six instances when a person has given up individual immunity after winning an Immunity Challenge.
* In , Jenna Morasca gave away the immunity necklace to Heidi Strobel at the Final Six Tribal Council.
* In , Burton Roberts gave away the immunity necklace to Rupert Boneham at the Final Ten Tribal Council. Due to the Outcasts twist, he still had individual immunity.
* In , Erik Reichenbach gave away the immunity necklace to Natalie Bolton at the Final Five Tribal Council.
* In , Brandon Hantz gave away the immunity necklace to Albert Destrade at the Final Five Tribal Council.
* In , Chris Underwood gave away the immunity necklace at the Final Four Tribal Council to compete in the fire-making challenge.
* In , Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt gave away the immunity necklace at the Final Four Tribal Council to compete in the fire-making challenge.
==No Immunity==
There has been one case where no one post-merge has come to Tribal Council with immunity. During , the jury won the Day 37 Immunity Challenge, resulting in no one having immunity. Darrah Johnson was voted out unanimously.
==Strategy==
During the pre-merge stage of the game, tribes that are allowed to sit out members may opt to let a weaker tribe member compete for the Reward Challenge, and reserve their stronger tribe members for the Immunity Challenge to potentially better their chances of winning the latter to escape Tribal Council. Conversely, a majority alliance within a tribe may choose to purposefully lose an Immunity Challenge to eliminate an undesirable tribe member.
In rare, extreme cases like in , the Manono tribe, who had won the Immunity Challenge, forfeited immunity at the last minute and sent themselves to Tribal Council to vote out Bill Posley. In , the Bikal tribe deliberately forfeited the Immunity Challenge before it started to oust Brandon Hantz, who was seen as a threat to the tribe's well-being, on the spot.
After the fourth Immunity Challenge in , the winning tribe, Moto was given the option to keep their luxurious campsite, but they would have to give up their immunity to the rival Ravu tribe and send themselves to Tribal Council, which they did.
==Trivia==
* Colby Donaldson, Tom Westman, Terry Deitz, Ozzy Lusth, Mike Holloway, and Brad Culpepper have each won the most individual immunities in a single season, at five.
** Among women, Kelly Wiglesworth, Jenna Morasca, Kim Spradlin-Wolfe, and Chrissy Hofbeck have each won the most individual immunities in a single season, at four.
* Joe Anglim holds the record for most consecutive immunity wins (tribal and individual) in a single season, with 10 in .
** Thus, Joe also holds the record for the longest time being immune via winning an Immunity Challenge, being vulnerable to being voted out for the first time on Day 29 in Cambodia.
==References==
Category:Gameplay
Category:Challenges
Category:Survivor (franchise)
Category:Survivor (U.S.)