‘Survivor’ Castaways Are Not Allowed to Talk to Each Other During This Moment of the Game

Socializing is very important to winning Survivor. Every interaction could make or break someone’s game. But there is one moment where castaways can’t talk to each other while making the show.

‘Survivor’ players are sent home through tribal council

Every episode shows at least one tribe going to tribal council. They then vote on one person to leave the game.

Sometimes the castaways are already set with their vote. But other times the tribe is live and people start whispering to each other to change their vote. This makes the whole thing very exciting and it feels like anything can happen.

But fans might wonder if there are any conversations that happen right before filming starts for tribal council. People from past seasons talked about how tough producers make it to talk right before filming the final decision.

Castaways are put on lockdown before tribal

There are many conversations between the castaways before tribal council. But producers make sure to stop them once it’s time to go to the meeting.

“It’s called lockdown—you don’t talk,” David Wright from Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X and Survivor: Edge of Extinction told The Ringer. “It makes sure that the game happens on camera.”

Rick Devens from Survivor: Edge of Extinction backed up this claim. “You’re not allowed to talk at all,” he said. “You’re in the boat and you have a production person there, just watching and making sure no one says anything. If you do say something—like, I’d always want to make a joke. They’d just tell you to shut up.”

Fans usually see the cast carrying torches while walking to the location of the tribal council, but that’s not how they get there. Today reports the players are driven to the meeting in vehicles. Castaways are then made to wait under a tent as council is being set up.

Jeff Probst is happy when people scramble last minute

Host, Jeff Probst has the tough job of asking the cast questions before the voting starts. He explained why he’s happy when the players start talking about changing their vote during the process.

“Nothing makes me happier than seeing panic start to spread because that reminds everybody that the game is a-l-w-a-y-s on,” Probst told Entertainment Weekly. “If you ever come to tribal certain you know the outcome, you’re a fool. And yet you have to trust your group because without trust you would simply lose your mind.”

It’s probably not a great thing for the players to not be able to use the time waiting for tribal start to strategize. But it’s a good thing for fans because we don’t miss it. That means players have to be smart and use all of their other time to strategize.