‘Survivor’: 1 Castaway Reveals the Camera ‘Screws’ With Players Searching for Idols
Throughout the history of Survivor, there have been numerous times when the camera focuses on an idol while a castaway walks right past it. They are oblivious that an advantage in the game is right under their noses, and the cameraperson exaggerates that to the audience. So Survivor fans wonder why players don’t use the camera crew to their advantage when searching for idols. And one alum has an answer.
The ‘Survivor’ Season 43 castaways kept walking past an advantage in episode 11
In Survivor Season 43 Episode 11, the final seven castaways received mail that read, “With only seven left in the game, any advantage is an advantage worth having. There’s one hidden in your jungle. Go!”
They all scrambled to different parts of the island, searching for the advantage. The Survivor players didn’t know what it would be — one of the immunity idols or perhaps a new twist — they just knew they needed it.
Eventually, the cameraperson spotted the advantage in the jungle, and what followed was comedic. Several castaways, including Mike Gabler and Sami Layadi, walked past the hidden note multiple times without seeing it. Meanwhile, the camera continuously focused on the advantage until Cody Assenmacher spotted it.
When he opened it, Cody learned that he had received the opportunity to bet on one of his tribemates at the next Immunity Challenge. If whoever he picked won, then Cody would also be immune at Tribal Council. Ultimately, Cody chose Owen Knight. And his bet paid off when Owen, along with Karla Cruz Godoy, conquered the Last Gasp.
A former ‘Survivor’ castaway reveals an unknown fact about searching for idols
After Survivor Season 43 Episode 11, fans started wondering why castaways didn’t just look at the camera crew for help finding idols or advantages.
If someone with a camera isn’t following them, they should know they are nowhere near an idol. And if the crew is right by their side and tends to linger on a particular spot, that indicates an advantage is nearby. However, one Survivor alum, Rick Devens from Edge of Extinction, shut down that assumption.
Devens tweeted, “Viewers need to understand how much the camera crew screws with you when you’re looking for an idol. They know you are trying to use them, and they mess with you constantly, pointing the camera all over, quickly zooming in when you’ve found nothing.”
Peih-Gee Law, from Survivor: China and Survivor: Cambodia, commented, “They followed me for 2 hours while I looked for an idol, knowing damn well the whole time they were all hidden at challenges.”
So perhaps the cameraperson strategy to find idols in Survivor doesn’t work.
Fans react to the ‘Survivor’ camera crew focusing on idols and advantages
Survivor fans took to Reddit after watching the episode and seeing Devens’ comment about idols.
One Reddit user wrote, “Note to self: If I’m ever on Survivor, idol hunting, watch what the camera is watching.”
“I saw a tweet from Devens today that apparently the camera people intentionally screw with the players as well,” another fan shared. “So it might be harder than it seems.”
Someone else added, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re told to just film random hiding spots as if there’s an idol there, so the contestants never know if they’re filming an idol or just nature.”
Survivor Season 43 airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
