A null vote is a rare occurrence at Tribal Council where all votes cast are cancelled out following either simultaneous Hidden Immunity Idol and/or advantage plays on the same night, or an unforeseen technicality following an idol or advantage play. Unlike tiebreakers where the votes cast remain valid, a null vote ends up with all players not receiving a countable vote that could eliminate them from the game.
Rules[]
In an event where multiple contestants have played Hidden Immunity Idols and/or advantages in a single Tribal Council such that all votes are negated, that round of voting is declared null and void by the host, who will initiate another round of voting. Players who have individual immunity after winning an Immunity Challenge and/or had an idol or advantage played on them remain ineligible to receive votes.
In the event that only two players are eligible to receive votes in the secondary round of voting, and a deadlock tie happens to occur during this secondary round, the two players will compete in a fire-making challenge with the loser being eliminated. This has been the rule since Winners at War.
When the Shot in the Dark is in play and a null vote is declared, no other player may invoke the mechanic for the rest of the Tribal Council.
History[]
Philippines[]
The first occurrence of a null vote globally happened in Celebrity Doubles Showdown during the pairs phase of the season. After winning the Day 5 Reward Challenge, Bulan also had the privilege to send a full pair from their tribe to partake in the Temptation Reward. Mother-daughter pair Maribel Lopez and Mara Yokohama, were chosen and tempted with "twin" Immunity Bracelets, but could only keep them if one of them moved to the rival Tala tribe. If one of them was voted out, the surviving partner would have to give up their bracelet or risk themselves being eliminated by default as the paired elimination mechanic was still in play. They decided to take the temptation, with Mara staying on Bulan while Maribel switched to Tala.
Upon moving to her new tribe, Maribel was immediately not received well, so much that following the tribe's loss at the Day 8 Immunity Challenge, the tribe planned to split their votes between her and former onscreen partners Chuckie Dreyfus and Isabel Granada. At Tribal Council, both parties played their Immunity Bracelets, causing a null vote. According to Survivor Philippines rules, the validity of the Immunity Bracelets only lasted for one voting round and would not carry over in revotes and tiebreakers. With her bracelet used up and unable to play another, Maribel was swiftly voted out, 6-1.
When the tribes convened for their next challenge, Mara had to give up her bracelet to stay in the game.
United States[]
The first occurrence of a null vote in the American version happened at the final six of Cambodia. Both Kelley Wentworth and Jeremy Collins played their idols to both negate three votes against them, forcing a revote. On the revote, a tie occurred between Tasha Fox and Kimmi Kappenberg, the latter receiving votes for flipping on the former's alliance. Faced with the consensus tiebreaker, Keith Nale initially offered to proceed to the rock-drawing tiebreaker, which would have eliminated him by default as the only player who could draw rocks, to let Kimmi stay in the game. Ultimately, Kelley talked Keith into staying and joining the rest of the tribe in eliminating Kimmi by consensus.[1]
The second null vote occurred in Game Changers. At the final six, Sarah Lacina played her Legacy Advantage, Tai Trang played both his idols on himself and Aubry Bracco, and Troyzan Robertson played his idol. Combined with Brad Culpepper having the Immunity Necklace, Cirie Fields was left as the only castaway eligible to receive votes and thus eliminated by default.[2]
The third null vote occurred in Winners at War, once again at the final six. Natalie Anderson played a Hidden Immunity Idol, prompting both Ben Driebergen and Tony Vlachos to play their idols as well. Because Ben and Natalie negated all six votes cast, a revote occurred between the two non-immune players, Denise Stapley and Sarah Lacina. On the revote, Denise was unanimously voted out 4-0.[3] Had the vote ended up deadlocked, Denise and Sarah would have competed in a fire-making challenge.
At the final thirteen Tribal Council in Survivor 45, Kaleb Gebrewold invoked the Shot in the Dark and picked the scroll that read "safe", negating all 11 votes cast against him, with Austin Li Coon having abstained from the vote to prolong the validity of his Hidden Immunity Idol. Because Kaleb was the only person to receive votes and had himself sacrificed his vote to use his Shot in the Dark, a revote occurred between the five remaining non-immune players. After a chaotic scramble for safety between J. Maya and Emily Flippen, J. Maya was voted out over the latter on the revote, 10-1.[4]
At the third Tribal Council in Survivor 48, Mary Zheng used her Shot in the Dark and picked the scroll that read "safe", negating 2 votes cast against her, since Justin Pioppi lost his vote at the Journey earlier that day. The vote restart resulted in a 1-1 tie between Justin and Saiounia Hughley. Nobody changed their vote on the revote, leading to a deadlock. Cedrek McFadden was the only person eligible to vote in the consensus round and he chose to vote out Justin, eliminating him from the game.[5]
Summary[]
| Episode | Players Engaged in Null Vote | Outcome | Eliminated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cambodia "Lie, Cheat and Steal" |
  Jeremy Collins* and Kelley Wentworth* |
Following the null vote, there was another tie, this time between Kimmi Kappenberg and Tasha Fox, causing a deadlock. Per Survivor rules, those who partook in the revote had to make a unanimous decision on which of the tied players should be eliminated, or risk elimination via a rock draw. Because Jeremy and Kelley were rendered immune following their idol play and Spencer Bledsoe had won the Immunity Challenge, Keith Nale was the only non-immune player left and would have been eliminated by default. At the discussion's conclusion, the four unanimously agreed to eliminate Kimmi. |  Kimmi Kappenberg |
| Game Changers "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" |
   Aubry Bracco*, Sarah Lacina* and Tai Trang* |
With Brad Culpepper having won the Immunity Challenge and Troyzan Robertson having also played a Hidden Immunity Idol, the entire Maku Maku tribe—sans Cirie Fields—had immunity, causing her to be eliminated by default without the need for Jeff Probst to read the votes or a vote restart. |  Cirie Fields |
| Winners at War "It All Boils Down to This" |
  Ben Driebergen* and Natalie Anderson* |
A vote restart occurred. Denise Stapley was voted out 4-0. |  Denise Stapley |
| Survivor 45 "I'm Not Batman, I'm the Canadian" |
 Kaleb Gebrewold* |
A vote restart occurred. J. Maya was voted out 10-1. |  J. Maya |
| Survivor 48 "Committing to the Bit" |
 Mary Zheng* |
Following the vote restart, there was a deadlocked tie between Justin Pioppi and Saiounia Hughley. Per Survivor rules, those who partook in the revote had to make a unanimous decision on which of the tied players should be eliminated, or risk elimination via a rock draw. Because Mary was immune following her successful Shot in the Dark play, Cedrek McFadden was the only player left able to vote and either had to vote out Justin or Saiounia or be eliminated by default if he could not decide. At the discussion's conclusion Cedrek chose to vote out Justin, eliminating him from the game. |  Justin Pioppi |
Trivia[]
- Sarah Lacina is the only contestant to be involved in multiple null votes.
See also[]
References[]