New Cagayan Info

On the TVGN Survivor: Cagayan preview tonight, it was revealed that this season, apart from the three idols hidden at each of the beaches, there will be an additional HII hidden once the tribes merge.

Ok, you say. What's the problem? Another idol won't change the game too much. Well, here's the catch. Remember ye olde idol back from Panama and Cook Islands? The overpowered one that was playable after the votes and the equivalent of winning immunity? Yeah. Well, it's back.

Remember me?

The reason that I wouldn't include Yul, who is obviously a very smart, strategic, charismatic guy inmy list of top players is solely due to his overpowered idol. Unlike an immunity necklace, you can't count on the owner to eventually fail to have immunity; the OPHII (new name for it) is there until it's been used, and the only way to "flush it out" is to give the majority of votes to that person.

And the 100% chance of the player you voted for staying in the game, as well as the votes needed to
successfully carry out this plan, makes the chances of this player ever being voted out extremely low.

Terry combined his OPHII with 5 immunity wins.

In Panama, Terry's OPHII basically functioned as a backup immunity necklace, and he outlasted his whole tribe and half of the other tribe at the merge. To give Terry credit, a lot of this had to do with his amazing physical prowess, but it was certainly nice for Mr. Deitz to have a fallback plan in his back pocket. 

In this instance, athletic ability was able to overcome the strategy and good social games of people like Cirie on the opposing tribe because the player who should have gone home had the OPHII. I like Terry, but him winning Panama would have been as bad as Ozzy winning South Pacific.

I don't usually get as upset as many people do at the inclusion of twists like Redemption Island or returning players, but I am indeed mad at the return of the OPHII. It robs a lot of the credibility from a great winner like Yul, and keeps lucky players around too long.

I fervently hope that the OPHII does not get found this season. I assume it will be, however, and I just hope the other players will realize the threat it poses and agree collectively to vote that player out. The only way to do this successfully is to have the majority alliance (we'll assume the OPHII player is in the minority; if not, there's no end in sight) split the votes between the OPHII holder and another enemy player. They'd have to have enough votes, though, so it needs to be done soon. 

For example, if the numbers are 8-3 or something like that, the majority alliance can vote 5 for the OPHII holder, forcing them to play the idol, and then vote out one of his or her allies. The problem is that you need a huge numbers advantage.

In conclusion, I hate this concept (as I'm sure you can tell) and I hope it does not ruin the upcoming season of Cagayan. I predict that the player who finds the idol will make it to the final 4 where they can then be mercifully voted out. And if the winner of the season is the one who held the idol throughout the game, then sadly, he or she must be condemned to the same winner purgatory as Yul.

In some happier news, the Miss/Mister Survivor interviews are going on this week. So far there have been two great interviews with Tyson and Ciera. After they're all done, I'll write up a quick recap of how everyone did, and then Ethan and I will be back next week to scrutinize the debates and lobby for our winners. Stay tuned!

Agree or disagree with my opinion on the OPHII? I'd love to hear your side. Leave a comment below!