Glossary

This is a page dedicated to briefly describe words that are frequently used in the Survivor series. Feel free to add new entries. To learn more about these term, there are links to direct you to its mother article.

A

 * Alliance - Refers to a group of people who band together for strategic purposes (see Alliance).

B

 * Blindside - To be eliminated from the game without much knowledge
 * Buff - A colored band of cloth which denotes tribe affiliation (see Buff)

C

 * Car Curse - Refers to the inexplicable coincidence where the winner of a Reward Challenge which has a car for a prize does not win the entire game.
 * Castaways - Refers to the contestants
 * Challenge - Refers to the competitions where the contestants vie for Reward or Immunity.

D

 * Day Thirty Nine - The final day of the competition.
 * Duel - A special challenge where the current inhabitant of Redemption Island and the most recent voted out contestant compete for a chance to get back in the game.

E

 * Exile - Either refers to Exile Island, or to send a player to Exile Island

F

 * Fan Favorite - Refers to the Sprint Player of the Season, where the season's most popular contestant gets a prize.
 * Fire-Making Challenge - A special challenge wherein the people involved in a tie duke it out to stay in the game. Only happens during the final four or when tribe is down to only two members.

I

 * Idol - Refers to Hidden Immunity Idol; barely refers to Immunity Idol.
 * Immunity Challenge - A competition where contestants vie for the guarantee of their stay in the game.

J

 * Jury - Refers to the group of recently eliminated contestants who will decide which among the final few is the Sole Survivor.

M

 * Merge - To combine the remaining members of both tribes into one final unit, effective until the end of the game (see Merge).

N

 * Necklace - Refers to the Immunity Necklace

P

 * Pagonging - To systematically eliminate the remaining members of the other tribe after the merge (see Pagong).
 * Parchment - Refers to the paper used by the contestants in their voting.
 * Purple Rock - The pre-final four mechanism to break a tie vote. Players (except immune players) will have to draw rocks, and the person who gets the purple rock gets eliminated.

R

 * Redemption - Refers to Redemption Island
 * Rites of Passage - Refers to the symbolic tribute of the remaining few to fallen castaways before they compete in their final Immunity Challenge.

S

 * Snuffing - To extinguish an eliminated contestant's torch.
 * Split The Vote - A strategy where an alliance would distribute their votes between members of an opposing alliance, to possibly defuse any power gained by playing a Hidden Immunity Idol.
 * Sole Survivor - The title that is addressed to the winner of the game.

T

 * To Flip - To betray one's own alliance by joining the other.
 * To Lay Down My Torch - To quit the game
 * Tribal - Either refers to the inter-tribal phase of the competition or Tribal Council.
 * Tribe - Refers to the competing teams in the game (see Tribe).
 * Tribe Switch - Refers to the twist where selected players are forced to join the rival tribe.
 * Twist - Refers to a drastic game-changing event.

U

 * Ulonging - To lose numerous, consecutive challenges (see Ulong).

V

 * Voted Out - To be eliminated from the game