Redemption Island (twist)

Redemption Island is a major twist to appear on Survivor, being the primary twist of of Survivor: Redemption Island and Survivor: South Pacific. This twist provides a second chance to eliminated players to re-enter the game to continue their pursuit of the million-dollar prize, and the title of Sole Survivor.Because of Redemption island there no Reward Challenges.

Concept
The concept of Redemption Island rooted from three foreign versions of the Survivor franchise, namely, the Island of the Dead of the Israeli version, Isla Purgatoryo in the Philippine version's second installment and Ghost Island from the Serbian version. Instead of being eliminated for good, players that have been voted off from their tribes will be given an opportunity to re-enter the game and have a second shot at winning the game.

Comparing to the Outcasts' Twist
Survivor host Jeff Probst compared Redemption Island to the infamous "Ghost tribe" twist of Survivor: Pearl Islands. He stated that the twist received lukewarm responses from both players and fans alike, because the twist was not announced beforehand, thus deeming the incident as unfair for the remaining players.

As a solution, Probst revealed the twist of Redemption Island to the players at the very start of the game, just for the castaways to know what to expect. The aim of the said twist is to give a second chance for players to "redeem" themselves after doing early mistakes such as choosing the wrong alliance or making a backfired voting strategy.

Mechanics
Immediately after being voted out, the voted out players would take their torches with them as they walk out from the Tribal Council set. Then they would be instructed to go to Redemption Island.

When the next person is voted out, that player would be sent to Redemption Island as well, meeting up with current inhabitant at the same night. They would then live together from that point, until the next morning, where they will have to battle in the duel.

Living Conditions
Similar to a predecessor twist Exile Island, players would be living alone, away from their camps and tribemates. This encampment will have meagre supplies in a predetermined period of time and must fend for themselves during their stay. In Redemption Island, however, its current inhabitant will stay in a more indefinite time, as opposed to Exile, where the player is only banished after the Reward Challenge, but returns to his/her tribe before the next Immunity challenge.

Upon reaching the island, contestants will have a roofless shelter and it is up to the player to make its roof and maintain it. Players will have the same amount of supplies (such as flint, lantern, machete and fishing gear) as everyone had at their camp. Additionally, a short supply of rice will be replenished everyday.

Apparently, Redemption Island also have its own Tree Mail, which announces about the upcoming duels.

As seen on You Own My Vote, the eliminated player would also receive his/her luxury item from Tree Mail, to alleviate boredom.

Duels


The two players would then receive Tree Mail about their duel, instructing them to proceed to the Redemption Island Arena for their duel. The arena will be a special challenge area where all duels will take place.

Upon reaching the arena, they will be welcomed by the host. Also in the arena are selected players from the competing tribes, who would watch the duel. After the duel, it is up to these observers if they will spoil the goings-on at the arena, or stretch the truth.

In the special challenge, the winner of the duel will stay in Redemption Island and continue their quest to become the Sole Survivor, while the loser will be permanently eliminated from the game (this is denoted by the loser tossing his/her Buff in a fire wok). Theoretically, should the first person voted off make it to the reentering stage, he/she must win all proceeding duels. Meaning, this player must defeat all subsequent evictees.

On certain cases, there are more than two people residing on Redemption, with them participating in multi-person "duels." In this format, the number of eliminated players vary.

Reentry Point
There are two reentry points during the game. The first is the winner of the final pre-merge duel will join the merged tribe. The second reentry point would be two days before the Final Tribal Council, where the winner will be part of the final five. After the merger, all subsequent losers will complete the Jury.

Hidden Immunity Idols
In the advent of Redemption Island, many speculated that the idol is voided once its bearer gets voted out and sent to Redemption (which follows the standard rules that once the person gets voted out, his/her idol us wasted away in the process). But in a Twitter announcement, Jeff Probst revealed that the holder's Hidden Immunity Idol is still effective, and it is still usable when the owner reenters the game.

Strategy
For the remaining contestants, eliminating other players would be more difficult. Given that they would be voted out from their tribe, chances are that player they chose to eliminate may come back. In theory, if a player was removed from a tribe after a blindside vote, and returns after winning the final duel, a more unpredictable series of events would complicate the game. For instance, voting out a physically strong player can be potentially risky, as that player might win subsequent duels. Also, if the contestants are chosen as observers, any divulging of the goings-on at their camps is potentially fatal, because this will be substantial to the strategies of the returnee, and worse, to the rival tribe.

As for the Island's current inhabitant, he/she can have a longer time to rethink strategy and how he/she will re-assimilate with his/her former comrades. The "resurrected" player may forgive the same people who double-crossed him/her, or might show bitterness by making bolder and more rebellious moves, to avenge his/her untimely departure. Though all rethinking may all be wasted if they lose a duel. Furthermore, re-assimilating back into the game will be difficult because the the inhabitant is oblivious to the happenings at the tribe camps. Additionally, a "resurrected" player is not guaranteed free immunity, making him or her vulnerable from getting voted out once again.

Once the Redemption Island cycle restarts post-merger, inhabitants will have the perfect time buying Jury votes, gaining their sympathy as they share similar sentiments, stipulated they are both disposed from the tribe.

Reception
Redemption Island received mixed response from fans, stating that the returnees were both disposed right after re-entering the game, thus having little to no effect on the endgame. Additionally, many fans found the multi-person duels pointless, because more than half of the cast members were still in the game during the finale, and will be eliminated anyway.

Other fans panned the twist because the type of challenge they would perform do not suit to the participants' abilities, and would result into a mismatch (e.g. performing a physically-punishing challenge with a bodybuilder and a rail-thin contestant as competitors).

Trivia

 * In the advent of the Redemption Island duels, most of the challenges held in Survivor: Redemption Island and Survivor: South Pacific are for both reward and immunity.
 * Francesca Hogi is the first person to ever live on Redemption Island and also the first person to lose a duel.
 * Matt Elrod is the first person to win a duel, and is currently holding the best record, winning ten of eleven duels.
 * Duels are scaled-down versions of challenges which are used in past seasons. Additionally, the challenge props are colored in greyscale.
 * It was said that at the Survivor: South Pacific reunion Redemption Island will not return in Survivor: One World.

Links

 * Jeff Probst's October 27 Tweet