Castaways:
$eason-Long Twists:
- Oasis of Odds: The titular location of the season. Castaways had various opportunities to head to the Oasis of Odds where they could win money, clues to advantages or idol tokens. The Oasis of Odds also served as a place of exile for castaways during certain challenges or tribal councils.
- Idol Token System: The idol token system continued from $eason 15, with players able to obtain tokens in a variety of different ways including three tokens from solving a mystery phrase. Two tokens could form a micro idol valid until the Final 5 (which would negate one or two votes depending on a coin flip); three tokens could form a full idol valid until the Final 5; and four tokens could form a $uper idol valid until the Final 6 which could be played on two castaways at once.
- Legacy Decision: Every castaway that was voted out up until (and including) the Final 5 was given a legacy decision - to give $2,400 in total to any player(s) left in the game. The person voted out at the Final 4 was given a different legacy decision, with the choice to make the Final Tribal Council a Final 3 or 2 (a standard endgame format of the $eries).
- Majority Tax: During the pre-merge phase, majority tax of $1,200 would be charged to each player voting in the majority during tribal council.
- Money Transfer: Every round during the pre-merge phase, castaways could transfer up to $3,200 to other player(s) (with no limit to the amount they could receive).
- Pre-Jury $anctuary: At various points during the pre-merge phase, the pre-jurors were given opportunity to send $400 anonymously to castaways of their choice.
$pecific Twists:
- $ecret Quartets: Before marooning, the 20 castaways were each asked to pick a lucky number. The castaways were then grouped into 5 $ecret Quartets of 4 castaways each in ascending order of the numbers they picked. A briefcase containing $4,800 was reserved for merge and the money would be split among the remaining members of each $ecret Quartet who were able to reach the merge. The $ecret Quartets could communicate among themselves (across tribes) until the end of the F20 immunity challenge.
- Initial Tribe Divisions: For the first time in $urvivor history, the tribe divisions were not pre-planned. The castaways in each $ecret Quartet had to divide the four poker suits among themselves (Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades). The initial tribes were based on the four poker suits: Clubs (Hausa), Diamonds (Fulani), Hearts (Toubou) and Spades (Zaghawa).
- Tribe Absorption: As part of the F20 reward challenge, the tribes which won the top two places would have the other 2 tribes randomly absorbed into them. OG Hausa was absorbed into OG Zaghawa and OG Fulani was absorbed into OG Toubou to form two tribes of 10 players each.
- Tribal Hero: At the Final 17, for the first time in $urvivor history, tribes competed by sending their representative (dubbed a "hero") to negotiate with the other tribe's hero for tribal immunity.
- Mock Tribal: At the Final 17, the tribes were both sent to tribal council and both tribes would cast their votes before the immunity challenge ended. The tribe which won the challenge would not have their votes read. The tribe which lost the challenge would have their votes read as per normal.
- Tribe $plit: At the Final 16, the two tribes were asked to pair their remaining castaways up supposedly for a challenge. Instead, one pair from each tribe formed a new tribe, for a total of four new tribes with four players each.
- Random Joint Tribals: For the Final 16 to 14 rounds, only the tribe which came in 1st in the immunity challenge would be guaranteed tribal immunity. It was left up to chance how many of the other three tribes would attend the joint tribal councils together.
- Bloodbath: At the Final 13, castaways were informed that all four tribes would go to tribal council and that the tribal immunity challenge would be replaced by an individual bidding challenge for two items: an immunity necklace which would be revealed before tribal council and an immunity bracelet which would remain unknown to the winner and would be automatically played as an idol after the votes were tallied but before they were read. The four castaways voted out of their tribes would be sent to the Oasis of Odds where they would have to vote one of their own out of the game. The three remaining castaways rejoined the other castaways.
- Minority Handout: At only the Final 10 tribal council, castaways who voted in the minority would receive a "minority handout" of $1,200.
Highlights:
Opening $equence: