Duel

A Duel is a challenge that occurs at Redemption Island between contestants who have been voted out at a prior Tribal Council. The challenge format first appeared in, and has since been seen in all seasons featuring Redemption Island: , and.

The challenge accomodates two to four contestants in an individual challenge. The winner/s of the challenge remain at Redemption Island to await their next Duel, or at certain points (immediately prior to a merge or at the Final Four) re-enter the game. The losing contestant/s are permanently eliminated from the game, represented by the burning of their Buff as they exit the Arena.

In seasons featuring Duels, Reward Challenges tend not to occur (being replaced by Duels in the running time of an episode), or are combined with Immunity Challenges. This repercussion has been criticised by some viewers.

Overview
In Redemption Island, duels determined whoever would stay in the island and who would be permanently be eliminated. At the day of the duel, the castaways would receive Tree Mail about their duel, instructing them to proceed to the Redemption Island Arena. 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 are there to 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 both tribes were in attendance due to the switch out twist)

Unlike other times when tribes convene to meet with Jeff Probst, players on Redemption Island line up in a particular order with the most recent eliminated on the right whilst the current champion(s) are to the left. In the three person duels were in one of three colors, blue indicates the longest serving duelist, red for second longest duelist and yellow for the most recent.

In this 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 the castaway must defeat all subsequent castaways sent in the island.

On certain cases, there are more than two people residing on Redemption Island, with them participating in multi-person "duels." In this format, the number of eliminated castaways vary. A three-person Duel is unofficially known as a "truel", as mentioned by Mike Chiesl, Matt Elrod and David Murphy in a secret scene before the first three-person Duel took place. "Truels" replaced duels in Blood vs. Water.