Buff

A Buff is a staple item of clothing that contestants of wear to identify which tribe they are a member of for the audience. 
Buffs are tubular bandannas made from microfiber and can be worn in a variety of ways. The composition of the fabric used for the Buff allows the contestants to cool down in hot conditions and warm up in the cold (typically nighttime).
Replica Buffs can be purchased from CBS.com.
From 2009 to 2020, planetgearcompany.com was the official website to purchase Buff replicas, but due to the , they have opted out of selling Buffs from the Survivor franchise.https://www.planetgearcompany.com/buff-0174-headwear/survivor-thank-you.html Beginning in 2021, Survivor Buffs are exclusively sold in CBS.com.
==Design==
Based on the motif of the season, the Buffs typically match and follow a particular design regardless of the installment. Each side of the Buff shows three logos with a strip down the crease with a local design (sharks, islands, fire, skulls, etc.).
From to , starting tribes began having their names on the material (with the exception of and ). Buffs used for merged tribes have never featured a tribe name, as the tribe is named by the contestants themselves. In addition, from onwards, all Buffs bear the current Buff logo.
==In-Game Use== 
According to the Survivor Rulebook, contestants must have their Buffs on at all times unless otherwise directed. In the event of a tribe switch or a merge, castaways are to dispose of their old Buff and wear their new one.
While they usually do not have in-game value, Buffs in , , and were burned by castaways in a small fire pit as a symbol of their permanent elimination from the game following their defeat on .
In , at the final five, the Lumuwaku tribe moved from their camp to the , where they retired their blue merge Buffs in favor of new black Buffs with blue accents. Tommy Sheehan discovered that these new Buffs contained a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol, which was then found by Dean Kowalski.
==The Buff Brand==
Buff is a brand of multi-functional headwear and also sells other protective equipment such as caps and gloves. Its headquarters is based in Spain.https://buffusa.com/http://www.buffwear.comhttp://www.planetgearcompany.com
==Gallery==
Caryn Koror.jpg|Caryn sporting Koror Buffs, one as a tube top and another as a skirt.
S32 press images ep2 0048.jpg|Debbie and Liz wearing their Chan Loh Buffs as a do rag and headband respectively.
Ozzy Malakal 1.jpg|Ozzy wearing his Malakal Buff as a neckband.
Brandon Nakúm.jpg|Brandon with a Buff as a wristband.
Bob_Kota.jpg|Bob is the first and only player to wear his Buff as a bowtie.
SurvivorPH Tala and Apolaki Buffs.jpg|Tala and Apolaki Buffs from owned by Maey Bautista.
SurvivorUS 10th Anniversary Buff.jpg| 10th year commemorative Buffs given initially during the anniversary party for security purposes (red for past and present production crew members, blue for former contestants) but were later made commercially available.
Surv-20-pink-from-buff.jpg|100 units of a misprinted pink version of the Buff were accidentally produced, but was still commercially sold on planetgearcompany.com. 
Survivor30thanniversary_3d.jpg|Survivor 30th season commemorative Buff.
Survivor SA 7 Crew Buff.jpg|The production crew of were given their own customized Buffs. 
SURV-3-BUFFS.jpg|Rolled up Buffs.
20 year buff.jpg|Survivor 40th season commemorative buff.
==Unused Buffs==
Not counting the commemorative Buffs issued over the years, there were Buffs that were supposed to be used in the game but were shelved mostly for unknown reasons. While never seen on the show, these Buffs are considered rare and are widely sought after by collectors.
* A green Buff was produced and intended to be used by the merged tribe, but was never used in-show due to the Ulong tribe's decimation. However, this Buff was still commercially sold during the season.
* A light gray variation of the Murlonio Buff was intended to be issued to players residing on , but the Buffs ultimately went unused.
* A green Buff with a frog emblem was supposed to be used for a third tribe, but was shelved along with the twist. However, flags bearing the same color and emblem were visible at challenge sites.
* A set of Buffs for was supposed to be used for the season, but due to the change of filming location from the Philippines to South Africa, the tribes were renamed according to the Zulu language, though the tribe colors and overall design from the intended releases remained. The original Buffs were given to cast and crew as souvenirs. 
** The tribe emblems taken from their Filipino translation were kept. Vuna's emblem was taken from its original name "Bungo", meaning "skull", Zamba's was "Ahas", meaning "snake", and Osindile's was "Sulo", meaning "torch".
Unused Palau Merge Buff.JPG|A green camouflage Buff was supposed to be given for the merged tribe of Palau but was not seen on the show due to the Ulong tribe's unprecedented losing streak and eventual dissolution. This Buff however became a rare collector's item among Survivor fans.
S22 redemption gray.jpg|A gray Redemption Island Buff was supposed to be worn by Redemption Island inhabitants.
S39 Unused Frog Buff.png|An Island of the Idols green Buff with a frog emblem was produced but was shelved for unknown reasons.https://imgur.com/LPmOH4L Unlike the Palau merge Buff, this was not commercially sold.
Original-Unused Survivor SA Immunity Island Buffs.jpg|The supposed Buffs for Immunity Island as the season was originally planned to be filmed in the Philippines. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic however, the season was instead filmed domestically, thus these Buffs were never used.
==Trivia== 
* is the only season to have the logo in a different font than in future installments. This is probably due to the logo design being changed in post-production. The iconic font used in subsequent seasons is called "Survivant".
* Prior to filming, at least 20 units of Buffs for each tribe are produced. Additional Buffs may be produced in cases of tribe switches, merges, or in rare cases, eliminated players returning to the game via The Outcasts twist, , or .
* The women of the Pagong tribe are the first to wear the Buff as a top.
* Colleen Haskell is the first woman to be seen wearing the Buff as a skirt.
* cast members Bret LaBelle, Chris Hammons, Hannah Shapiro, and Zeke Smith designed and sold custom Buffs, the proceeds of which supported Sunday Burquest's battle with esophageal and ovarian cancer.https://www.zekerchief.com/sunday-buffs/tribe-sunday-buffhttps://www.reddit.com/r/survivor/comments/impqgb/help_sunday_burquest_fight_cancer_by_buying_a_buff/
* Reebok, who sponsored the series from Borneo to , used to have its logo on the Buff. Reissued Buffs from the said seasons no longer bear the Reebok logo.
* The Marquesas Buffs have two variants of the season logo, where the Survivor logo is either written in black or white.
* In , contestant Bob Crowley introduced the bow tie as a new way of wearing a Buff. He is the only person thus far to sport a Buff this way.
* Randy Bailey is the first contestant to throw his Buff in the fire after being voted out in .
* In , there was supposed to be a separate gray Buff worn by the inhabitants of but it was never used. Instead, the castaways retained their original Buffs.https://imgur.com/oqoFuF0
* Francesca Hogi is the first contestant to throw her Buff in the fire at Redemption Island.
* In , Colton Cumbie was the only person to depart from Redemption Island with his Buff after quitting the game; host Jeff Probst told him that only those who compete (and thus, lose, a duel) were allowed to throw their Buffs in the fire.
* Due to being mentors, Sandra Diaz-Twine and Rob Mariano wore the merge Buffs from their winning seasons on .
** Coincidentally, all three of those Buffs were black.
** In continuation with this theme, the Island of the Idols merge Buff, which was originally blue, was swapped out on Day 37 with a dark grey Buff with blue accents, marking the first time Buffs were swapped after the merge. This new Buff served as a clue to the final Hidden Immunity Idol of the season.
==References==
Category:Gameplay
Category:Survivor (franchise)
Category:Survivor (U.S.)