Hidden Immunity Idol

The **Hidden Immunity Idol** (also known as the "Hidden Idol" or simply as "the idol") is a pocket-sized talisman, and is widely believed to be the most groundbreaking twist ever to be created on *Survivor*. Its purpose is to, one way or another, prevent the user from being voted out in a Tribal Council vote. The idol has influenced many of the contestants' strategies, whether they use the object, or defuse its powers.

It is not to be confused with the tribal Immunity Idol or the individual Immunity Necklace, as the Hidden Immunity Idol is not won at challenges, and is flexible as the found idol is not forced to be applicable on only the following Tribal Council. However, clues to the whereabouts of the idol may exist at camp or may be given to the winners of a Reward Challenge.

## Types of Idol

### Regular Idol

**Appeared in:** Every Season

**Played:** Between the casting and reading of regular votes.

In every season, there has been one idol hidden in each of the tribe camps. Additionally, the format was once again changed. The idol must be used after the votes have been cast, but before the host reveals them.

This mechanic makes it possible for the idol to be wasted, as a castaway must play the idol on someone that can be voted against, but who is not guaranteed to have the most number of votes, making timing a crucial factor in playing it. A way to counter this type of idol is to force the user to waste it (i.e. if they do not have the most number of votes), a strategy several castaways call as *flushing*. Once the idol is used, it is usually re-hidden. Typically, these idols are valid up until there are only five castaways remaining in the game (including Redemption Island).

### Scorched Idol

In *Survivor: Zambia*, This idol could only be used at the first tribal council it is found, it shares all the characteristics of the Regular Idol.

### Voodoo Idol

In *Survivor: Zambia*, while the current format still applies, This idol can only be used premerge on a player attending the OTHER tribe's tribal council and cannot be used during the holder's own tribal council.

### Joint Idol

In *Survivor: Solomon Islands*, during the Silent Auction, 2 halves of a Hidden Immunity Idol were sold and these 2 halves could be combined into a regular idol. this idol has made appearances in *Survivor: Sicily* and *Survivor: Anjouan*. Ironically, the two halves of the joint idol have been connected in every season they've been active.

### Super Idol

In *Survivor: Patagonia*, while the current format still applies, there is also the option to combine two idols to create a "super idol" that can be played after the votes are read to save any player still in the game.

### Public Idol

In *Survivor: Storfjord,* a regular idol was hidden in public, alerting the entire tribe when it was unlocked by a key, won in challenges.

## Finding Hidden Immunity Idols

### Survivor: Sri Lanka

In *Survivor: Sri Lanka*, each tribe had a Hidden Immunity Idol and a coloured pen. Each tribe had twelve *Survivor* seasons which they had to order in a specific order to claim the Hidden Immunity Idol. People were allowed to guess every twelve hours. This was panned by the contestants due to the fact that it took the entire season to find either Hidden Immunity Idol, with Rhyno successfully finding it at the Final 5.

### Survivor: Zambia

Something with Maps? (Hayze Edit This Pls)

### Survivor: Turmoil

In *Survivor: Turmoil*, random images in challenge threads were linked to a jigsaw which if solved and placed in somebody's confessional would allow them to claim the Hidden Immunity Idol. Due to the method of finding idols not being made public or changed, this allowed for multiple people to keep on finding the same idols every time they swapped tribes.

### Survivor: Solomon Islands

In *Survivor: Solomon Islands*, contestants were given a 10x10 grid to guess for the location of the Hidden Immunity Idol. Clues were given to the Prisoner's of War every round where they selected one person per tribe to receive them. Each clue divided the grid by half.

### Survivor: Patagonia

For Survivor: Patagonia, idols were hidden on goats on a 7x7 (14x14 in the merge) grid, which moved every 24 hours. People were allowed to move every 12 hours to locate the goats.

### Survivor: Sicily

For Survivor: Sicily, people who fulfilled hidden criteria in challenges won 'tasks' which they would earn an idol for completing.

### Survivor: Anjouan

For Survivor: Anjouan, idols were hidden in a version of the game *Mastermind* with correct solutions leading to the idol.

### Survivor: Storfjord

For Survivor: Storfjord, a hidden immunity idol was hidden on an Instagram page, where putting in the correct answer would lead to the idol.

## Trivia

* *Survivor: Zambia* currently holds the record for the most idols found with 11.
	+ *Zambia* also holds the record for the most idols played, with 10.
* Will is the first and only player to be eliminated by an idol twice.
* Jacob W. is the first and only player to Idol themselves out of the game.
* Naga, Khmu, and Manaraga are currently the only tribes to have a Hidden Immunity Idol hidden at them and have it not by found.
* *Survivor: Patagonia'*s Super Idol was held by Jasper but was not played.