Old vs. Young

Older vs Younger is a game-shifting paradigm employed at the start of a competition that divides the men and women into age-specific tribes for a pre-determined amount of time.

In most cases, both the younger and older tribes have suffered with camp life and delegation that has resulted in numerous factions and counter-alliances being created typically led by a more devious contestant.

Men have achieved more success with this twist than women, as six out of ten people to make the merge in Survivor: Panama were male, and Survivor: Nicaragua featured an all male final three.

Panama
The contestants were split into four tribes to begin the game: La Mina (older men), Casaya (older women), Viveros (younger men), and Bayoneta (younger women). This initial separation lasted only one episode, as the four tribes became two (La Mina and Casaya) on day 4 aftera schoolyard pick-em. This season featured one representative from each original tribe in the final four: Cirie Fields for Casaya, Terry Deitz for La Mina, Danielle DiLorenzo for Bayoneta, and Aras Baskauskas, the eventual winner, for Viveros.

Nicaragua
The twist returned in Survivor: Nicaragua; however, the tribes were only split based on age rather than age and gender as previously seen in Panama. La Flor was the "younger" tribe, consisting of contestants 30 years or younger. Espada was the "older" tribe, consisting of contestants 40 or over. On Day 12, both tribes took part in a switch, thus dissolving the "old vs. young" twist. This season featured a final tribal council made up of three members of the original "young" tribe, La Flor: Sash Lenahan, Chase Rice, and Fabio Birza. Birza went on to defeat Rice and Lenahan 5-4-0, respectively.

Reception
Fans responded mildly to this division as the first inception of the twist was between four different groups as opposed to the division in Nicaragua

Trivia

 * In both seasons that this tribal division was in play, the final "older" castaway was voted out on Day 38, leaving only "younger" castaways facing the jury.
 * Both seasons featuring this twist produced a younger male winner.
 * Both seasons featuring this twist had an older woman being the first person voted out and an older woman placing 4th.
 * Both seasons featuring this twist only had one younger male and one younger female voted out before the merge.
 * Both men to be eliminated pre-merge with this twist in play were the oldest male on the younger tribe.
 * Both seasons featuring this twist aired right after a season featuring returning contestants.