Survivor Northwestern: Into the Gauntlet

***Survivor Northwestern: Into the Gauntlet*** is the fifth installment of the Northwestern University version of the reality show Survivor.

The season saw 18 new castaways compete for the title of Sole Survivor alongside the return of the Edge of Extinction from Survivor Northwestern: Cats Collide. The team phase saw Morningstar lose every challenge, resulting in its absorption at the swap, while both iterations of Palisade dominated. Amidst the chaos of the merge, the powerful Mount Rushmore alliance took control and at one point held a majority before blowing up, bringing about a dynamic endgame. This season ultimately saw 1 quit and was won by Jocie Mintz in a 6-5 jury vote over Chloe Campbell.

## Production

The season was filmed at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois, and had a medieval knights theme. The complete season has yet to be released.

## Twists/Changes

* **Tribe Composition:** The eighteen castaways were divided into three tribes of six.
* **Hidden Immunity Idol:** Multiple Hidden Immunity Idols are hidden around the Northwestern Campus. Clues to find them were available at different opportunities in the game.
* **The Gauntlet:** After each challenge, one member of (typically) the losing team would be sent to The Gauntlet, where they would complete an individual challenge with the potential of reward or disadvantage.
	+ **Legacy Challenge Advantage:** This advantage would grant the holder an advantage in the Week 8 Immunity Challenge. If the holder is eliminated before then, they must will the advantage to another player still in the game.
	+ **Extra Vote:** A castaway would get the right to vote twice at the same Council.
	+ **Challenge Advantage/Disadvantage**: The exile castaway attending the Gauntlet during Week 4 would be able to place a bet on who they think would be voted out. If they guessed correctly, they would earn a Challenge Advantage good for the next team Immunity Challenge, but if they guessed incorrectly, they would earn a Challenge Disadvantage to be played against their team at the next team Immunity Challenge.
	+ **Twist Choice:** The winner of the Week 12 Immunity Challenge would be able to attend the Gauntlet and pick one of two twists to be released on the game: "Laryngitis" or "Sunburn"
		- **Blackout Vote:** The "Sunburn" choice was revealed to be a Blackout Vote, meaning only the name of the eliminated castaway would be announced at Council. The individual votes and final vote tally would be kept a secret, and all advantages had to be played in the voting booth.
		- **"Laryngitis:"** As this option was not selected, it is unknown what this twist entails.
* **Edge of Extinction:** Prior to the merge, any castaway voted out of the game was sent to The Edge, where they would wait for a chance to return to the game.
	+ **1-on-1 Edge Challenge**: Following the 6th Council, all castaways on The Edge chose one player still in the game to compete against in a 1-on-1 challenge. If The Edge players lost their challenge, they were permanently eliminated from the game. If they won, they got to take their opponents place in the first Individual Immunity Challenge, forcing their opponent to sit out and not have a shot for immunity at the first merge Council. The Edge member that lasted the longest in the first Individual Immunity Challenge would win both their spot back in the game and Individual Immunity for the first merge Council.
* **Team Swap/Absorption:** The teams were randomly swapped into two unnamed teams of seven during the Week 4 challenge, with one castaway sitting out of the challenge with immunity. The castaways then competed 1-on-1with a member of the other team. Following the challenge, it was announced that the teams for the challenge were not the official swapped teams, with the winners of each 1-on-1 matchup being placed on the new Palisade and the losers of each 1-on-1 matchup being placed on the new Ballista, with Morningstar being officially disbanded. The castaway who was not given a team
* **One-time Exile Island:** The castaway that did not receive a team during the Week 4 swap challenge would be exiled to the Gauntlet, where they would have immunity for the week. The exiled player would later join the team that went to the Week 4 Council, replacing the member they lost.
* **Merged Tribe Composition:** The merged tribe was composed of thirteen members: 12 from the main game and 1 from the Edge of Extinction.
* **Vote Steal**: Up for grabs at the Survivor Auction was a Vote Steal advantage, which allows the holder to steal another player's vote and vote twice at the same Council.
* **Fire Idol**: Up for grabs at the Survivor Auction was a Fire Idol, which was publicized as a Hidden Immunity Idol "Clue." The holder of the Fire Idol had to capture every other castaway saying a specific word on film, and when they wanted to play the Fire Idol, they had to play an audio recording of all the specific words strung together. When played, the Fire Idol would negate the vote tally and force the two people with the most votes to face off in a firemaking challenge, with the loser being eliminated.
* **Double Elimination:** In Week 10, Trebuchet was subject to a Double Elimination, where the team was divided into two groups of five and two castaways were eliminated through two separate Councils.
* **Final Council Format:** Two finalists faced a jury of eleven. The jurors individually addressed the finalists.
	+ **Surprise Final 2:** Due to a late-stage quit, the season was changed from a Final 3 to a Final 2. This was announced alongside the quit at the Week 14 Immunity Challenge.