Survivor sit-out rules are in place to get everyone in the game.
Rather than have the same castaway sitting out every challenge, this forces tribes to strategize.
Or at least it used to before the seasons shifted from 39 days to just 26.
When Claire Rafson sat out three straight Immunity Challenges on Survivor 44, it also made some fans question the show.
Had the Survivor sit-out rules changed? Was that why host Jeff Probst wasn’t mentioning them?
Jeff did say that the producers will examine the sit-out rules again in preparation for Survivor 45.
What are the Survivor sit-out rules?
It is a rule on Survivor that a castaway cannot sit out back-to-back challenges.
This rule has been in place for years and enforced by Jeff at the challenges.
A caveat to the rule is that it only applies to the challenges within one cycle of the game. That cycle is everything taking place between Tribal Councils.
In the new world of Survivor, there are fewer Reward Challenges. This means that some episodes will only feature an Immunity Challenge.
Due to that formatting shift, Claire sat out Immunity Challenges for three straight episodes. As viewers saw on television, Claire now regrets her decisions.
Should producers keep the same Survivor sit-out rules?
Since the castaways found a way to deal with Claire sitting out, the game took care of itself.
This hints that producers may not need to do anything about a rules shift. Sure, it’s a bad look when one person keeps sitting out, but Claire paid the price for it.
But if the belief is that there is peer pressure that could have forced Claire to sit out, then maybe an adjustment to the rules is necessary.
Survivor rolls on with new episodes and new seasons
Many Survivor advantages are in play during Season 44, including a chaotic 11 Immunity Idols.
And Carolyn Wiger has emerged as a very intriguing player. In the latest episode, Carolyn pulled off a brilliant strategy that helped her stay in the game.
Carolyn should get invited back for a future season, even if she doesn’t make it to the end of Survivor 44. She is that entertaining and has quickly become a fan-favorite.
Looking forward, CBS ordered Survivor 45 to air during the next television season. Applications are already open, and the producers are looking for new people to play the game.
The addition of the On Fire podcast has also been a fun treat this season. Jeff stated that cheating is allowed on Survivor and explained why the producers tend to look the other way.
Survivor 44 airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on CBS.