Redemption Island (twist)

Redemption Island is the latest major twist to appear on Survivor. This twist provided 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. This twist became the primary twist of the series' 22nd season, Survivor: Redemption Island.

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, voted out players were given the opportunity to reenter the game and have a second shot at winning the entire 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 future players to redeem themselves after doing early mistakes such as choosing the wrong alliance or making a backfired voting strategy.

Transportation
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. Whether the ousted players just walked away from Tribal Council, or they were transported using vehicles to be moved to Redemption Island is currently unknown.

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 (meaning, away from their camps and tribemates) with meager 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, players will have a roofless hut for a shelter and it is up to the player to make the roof and maintain it. Players will have the same amount of supplies (such as flint, a lantern, a machete and fishing gear) as everyone had at their camp. Additionally, the short supply of rice will be replenished everyday.

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

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

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 Jeff Probst. Also in the arena are selected players from the tribes, who would watch the duel. After the duel, it is up to these players 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, defeating all players voted out after him/her.

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 before the Final Tribal Council, where the winner will become a finalist on Day 39. This means that the subsequent losers will comprise the Jury.

Redemption Island Duel History
Note: An asterisk (*) denotes that the player was brought back into the game during a reentry point.
 * 1) Francesca Hogi was the first to arrive, where she would wait for her first opponent.
 * 2) Matt Elrod was the second to arrive and defeated Fancesca in the first duel.
 * 3) Russell Hantz was the third to arrive and lost a block stacking challenge to Matt Elrod.
 * 4) Kristina Kell was the fourth to arrive and lost a cube puzzle challenge to Matt Elrod.
 * 5) Krista Klumpp was the fifth to arrive and lost a tilting maze challenge to Matt Elrod.
 * 6) Stephanie Valencia was the sixth to arrive and lost a tile matching challenge to Matt Elrod.
 * 7) Sarita White was the seventh and to arrive and lost an endurance challenge to Matt Elrod. Matt returned to the game, merging with the eleven remaining players.
 * 8) Matt Elrod was voted out once again, sending him back to Redemption Island.
 * 9) Mike Chiesl and David Murphy were eighth and ninth to arrive.
 * 10) The three participated in the first triple theeat duel, where David Murphy lost in a tower-of-cards building challenge against Matt Elrod and Mike Chiesl.

Strategy
For the remaining players, 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.

As for the Island's current inhabitant, he/she can have a longer time to rethink strategy and how he/she will reassimilate 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, reassimilating back into the game will be difficult because the the inhabitant was out of the loop fro some time. Additionally, a "resurrected" player is not guaranteed of winning the game, because he/she might still be voted out (once again).

Trivia

 * In the advent of the Redemption Island duels, all tribal challenges of Survivor: Redemption Island were for both reward and immunity.
 * Francesca Hogi is the first person to ever be sent to Redemption Island and also the first person to lose a duel.
 * Matt Elrod is the first person to win a duel, and is holds the best record, winning all duels so far.
 * Jeff Probst revealed that the duels will be scaled-down versions of challenges which are used in past seasons.