Tribal Council

Tribal Council is an elimination ceremony that usually happens every third night in the game of Survivor, where the contestants are being held accountable for their actions in the game, usually with one person being voted out of the tribe.

## Format

The Tribal Council area is designed to strike fear into the contestants, adding up to the tension of voting. Intricately designed by the Survivor Art Department, the Tribal Council area can range from looking like a makeshift hut, a temple, or an enormous stilt house, based on the theme of the season. It should be noted however that the Survivor: Palau and Survivor: Guatemala Tribal Council sets were actual archaeological sites.

Tribal Council usually starts at sundown. When a tribe visits Tribal Council for the first time, its members are given torches and are to dip them in the central fire pit. The host then reminds the castaways that the fire on their torch symbolises their life in the game, and once it is extinguished by him, their time in the game is over. This metaphor is used commonly within the show's theme. The castaways will have a conversation with the host for hours, usually edited in the actual episode to only feature the highlights, regarding camp life, strategy, social interactions, and events he witnessed at the challenges throughout the cycle. The session oftentimes leads to tension-filled discourses among tribe members, and contestants in precarious situations may reveal important information or plead their case to keep themselves in the game. If a castaway fails to give a satisfying answer to the host, the host reserves the right to test that contestant further by peppering him or her with more incriminating questions.

Once the host finishes interrogating the contestants, they, one by one, will proceed to a distant voting booth where they will write the name of the castaway they want to vote out and must state the reason why he/she wanted to vote for that player. Occasionally, these confessionals are shown on television, but to increase suspense, not all voting confessionals are aired. These confessionals can be viewed in full through CBS's YouTube account and the show's DVD releases. After voting, the players would insert their ballot inside an urn, which the host later collects. The host tallies the votes and reveals the results to the players. When the votes are read, the order that the votes are pulled has also usually been manipulated by production to extract the most suspense from the players during the tally.

Once the vote tally has exceeded the plurality needed, the host stops tallying, pronouncing that player eliminated from the game, keeping the remaining votes a secret, though typically, the unread votes are implied to be for the eliminated contestant. The eliminated player presents the host his or her torch and the host extinguishes (known in the series as "snuffing") it and tells that contestant the parting words, "The tribe has spoken," before asking the player to leave the Tribal Council area. Eliminated players walk away from the Tribal Council grounds into a small confessional booth, where they can air out their grievances and reflections, which are shown during the end credits.

## Logistics

In the first few seasons of the show, the voting booth was located far from the fire pit so that the person who was voting could talk in a normal voice and not have to whisper, as they were not within earshot of the other players. In more recent seasons, the producers wanted to make Tribal Council feel more intimate, and therefore the voting booth was relocated closer to the fire and the person voting would have to be careful not to speak too loudly to avoid being overheard.

After collecting the votes, the host consults with producers, who have been watching the voting confessional footage live in a production booth far away from Tribal Council. Based upon what they have seen and the actual outcome of the vote, they decide the order in which he will read the votes aloud, organising them for maximum drama.

## Gallery

Survivor: Panama Tribal Council*Redemption Island* Tribal Council*San Juan Del Sur* Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Gabon Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Philippines Tribal Council*The Australian Outback* Tribal CouncilSurvivor: China Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Nicaragua Tribal Council*Cook Islands* Tribal Council*Heroes vs. Villains* Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Palau Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Cagayan Tribal Council*Blood vs. Water* Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Fiji Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Tocantins Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Micronesia Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Guatemala Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Marquesas Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Samoa Tribal CouncilSurvivor: All Stars Tribal Council*South Pacific* Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Thailand Tribal Council*Worlds Apart* Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Vanuatu Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Borneo Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Caramoan Tribal CouncilSurvivor: One World Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Cambodia Tribal CouncilSurvivor: The Amazon Tribal Council*Millenials vs. Gen X* Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Kaôh Rōng Tribal Council*Mamanuca Islands* Tribal Council*David vs. Goliath* Tribal Council*Island of the Idols* Tribal Council*Island of Secrets* Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Africa Tribal Council*Ghost Island* Tribal Council*Shipwheel Island* Tribal CouncilSurvivor: Cloncurry Tribal Council*Game Changers* Tribal Council
## Trivia

* Tribal Council sets may or may not have a roof, so in some seasons, castaways might suffer getting wet during a rainy Tribal Council.
* Tribal Council can actually last from 45 to 90 minutes.
* Red fire, which symbolically represents life, is used to light the entire Tribal Council set, except the walkway where the eliminated contestants exit, where the color of the torches is blue, which represents death and sorrow.
* There are three tribes that have never visited Tribal Council: Viveros, Trelew and To Tang.
	+ Trelew is the first and currently only tribe to have all of its original members make it to the merge.
* The Survivor: Tocantins Tribal Council set was repaired several times, because the roof caught on fire during hot days.
* The Survivor: David vs. Goliath Tribal Council set was specifically designed to hide the voting booth away from the contestants to prevent them from catching who played the Idol Nullifier advantage.