Survivor Lexicon 2.0

[SVNBob]

When a show has been on as long as Survivor has, and has an established fan base that discusses the show regularly, like we do, some jargon and abbreviations are bound to be invented, and then become common parlance.  And while those of us that have been in the fanbase and discussions for a while can understand the jargon, it can sometimes be indecipherable at first to newcomers to the group, who will have to either ask what certain things mean, or try to infer meanings from the context, lest they be lost in translation.

To help remedy some of that confusion, I started the first version of the Survivor Lexicon.  As myself and other posters added to it over the seasons, it grew to be a bit disorganized.  And with a "new era"* of Survivor starting, it became time to clean things up.  Hence a version 2.0.

I started by categorizing the entries from the first Lexicon.  Those categories will each get their own individual post with their associated entries here at the top of the Lexicon.  And whenever possible, I'll add a new entry to a category post so as to try to keep the organization intact.

In addition, usernames in {} (ex:{@SVNBob}) indicate someone other than myself first defining a term or adding other information to the first Lexicon, even if they may not have been the person to originally coin the term.  If an entry does not have a by-line, it is one I added.

Terms and definitions may have been reformatted and/or reworded from their original entry for clarity and/or accuracy.

*That is not getting an entry at this time.

Edited September 21, 2021 by SVNBob

[SVNBob]

General use terms, initialisms, and acronyms that apply to more shows than just Survivor

• Mactor: A contestant who models and wants to be an actor.  Probably hanging around Hollywood and meets Survivor casting agents in bars.  Cast because they are eye candy.  Accept getting cast because they want the exposure for their careers {@marys1000}

 

• TPTB: The Powers That Be. The show's producers. {@simplyme}

 

• TH: Talking Head.  A reality show contestant's solo interview when they appear to be talking directly to the camera/audience.  Named so because it fits into the definition of the trope.

 

• Flying under the radar or FUTR - when a player tries to do as little as possible in the game to avoid being a target for elimination.   {@Chicago Redshirt}

 

• G.O.A.T.: Greatest Of All Time.  Contrast with Goat later in the Lexicon.  {@Fiftyninth}

 

• RHAP: Rob Has a Podcast. A podcast network created by former Survivor contestant Rob Cesternino. Different podcasts on the network talk about different reality shows, but most are Survivor-related and/or feature other former contestants as hosts. Found at http://robhasawebsite.com {@azshadowwalker}

• BOTH \ BOHH: Blood On Their Hands \ Blood On His/Her Hands.  Figurative terms for the perception by remaining players or jurors of a group or individual’s personal culpability for overt moves against an opponent, especially those resulting in the opponent’s eviction. {@Nashville}

• TOHB: Target On His/Her Back.  Generally perceived as a player’s sum total of game liabilities likely to increase their chances of receiving eviction votes. {@Nashville}

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by SVNBob

[SVNBob]

Survivor season initialisms and acronyms (in order of original airing):

• AO - Australian Outback (S2).
  • [note: as opposed to AUS, which usually indicates a season of the Australian-produced version of Survivor.]

• PI - Pearl Islands (S7).

• AS - All-Stars (S8).
  • [note: also known as ASS, for All-Star Survivor, and as a meta-commentary about how the season was received for a while.]

• CI - Cook Islands (S13).

• FvF - Fans Versus Favorites (S16).
  • (aka Micronesia)

• HvV- Heroes versus Villains (S20).

• RI - Redemption Island (S22).  {@Nashville}
  • [note: also used for the concept of Redemption Island in other seasons.]

• SP - South Pacific (S23).

• OW - One World (S24).

• BvW1 - Blood vs Water (S27).
  • [note: the season of returnees and their family members.]

• SJDS - San Juan del Sur (S29).
  • [note: see next entry.]

• BvW2 - Blood vs Water 2, aka San Juan del Sur (S29). 
  • [note: all new players, but in familial pairs.]

• WA - Worlds Apart (S30).

• SC - Second Chance (S31).
  • (aka Cambodia)

• KR - Kaoh Rong (S32).

• MvGX - Millennials versus Generation X (S33).

• GC - Game Changers (S34).

• HvHvH - Heroes versus Healers versus Hustlers (S35).

• GI - Ghost Island (S36).

• DvG - David versus Goliath (S37).

• EoE - Edge of Extinction (S38).

• IotI or IoI - Island of the Idols (S39).

• WaW – Winners at War (S40).

Edited September 21, 2021 by SVNBob

[SVNBob]

Survivor Specific Initialisms and Acronyms

• RC: Reward Challenge

• IC: Immunity Challenge

• II:  Immunity Idol

• HII: Hidden Immunity Idol

• TC:  Tribal Council

• F#: Final #, i.e., the last # of contestants remaining.

• FTC:  Final Tribal Council

• F#TC:  Tribal Council for the Final #.
  • e.g., F6TC is the Tribal Council for the Final 6.

• S#: Season #. 
  • Often used in place of the season location and/or gimmick for the first 40 seasons of Survivor.
  • According to TPTB, the default naming scheme as of S41.

• PRoD \'präd\ (noun): The Purple Rock of Death.  A method of breaking ties at TC that involves blindly drawing rocks from a bag, with the person drawing the odd-colored rock eliminated.
  • First seen in a tie-breaker in the Marquesas, in which it eliminated Paschal in a fit of irony. 
  • Last seen in Blood vs. Water I, where it was white instead of purple.

• BFM: Big Fucking Move.  A game play calculated (not always successfully) to effect a significant strategic shift in the course of the season’s progression.  {@cherrypj}
  • (i.e., something dramatic and/or splashy, but not necessarily smart)

• BAM: Big Ass Move.  See BFM. {@simplyme}

• BMF: Big Move Fever.  An affliction running through recent casts of Survivor that gives everyone catching it the impression that they must make at least one BFM in order to win the game. 
  • While not Patient Zero, the best case study for BMF is Zeke Smith.
    • Other case studies include Ciera and JT {@kikaha}

• MDQ: Million Dollar Quote - A quote from the eventual winner that stands out earlier in the season. {@Daisy}
  • Example: Hatch saying why they are going to sign him the cheque for the million dollars in the very first episode.

• MDM: Million Dollar Moment - A non-verbal scene (or scene where what is spoken is irrelevant) featuring the winner that indicates that they will be the winner.
  • Examples: Earl on the mountaintop,
  • Cochran's multiple THs from the stone throne.

• SITD: Shot in the Dark.  A twist in the game that allows for contestants to gamble on a 1 in 6 chance of becoming safe at TC, at the cost of their own vote.

Edited September 23, 2021 by SVNBob
New entry!

[SVNBob]

Words and Terms

• Pagong \pä - 'go[ng]\: The systematic elimination of one tribe/alliance by another in the post-merge phase of the game.

• Pocket Idol:  An HII that was found but never played. 
  • In most cases, someone with a pocket idol should have used it but did not, thus taking the idol home "in their pocket" when they got voted out. 

• Goat: a player who is kept in the game (particularly brought to a Final Tribal Council) because that player is not thought to be a threat to get votes in a Final Tribal Council. {@Chicago Redshirt}
  • (See also the Animal Archetypes thread)

• Plan Voodoo (noun):  A move to intentionally split an alliance's votes in order to counteract the opposition (potentially) playing an HII. 
  • Originally dreamed up (literally) by Cao Boi in CI; now a basic Survivor strategy.

• Destiny: a player who believes/plays as if winning the game is somehow their foreordained destiny.  {@Nashville}
  • Destinies tend to:
    1. Alternate between playing way too hard and not playing at all, with no in-between gear.
    2. Rub their hands together and cackle with glee “Everything’s going according to My Plan”,  even when they had zero input into or effect upon the current round of unfolding events.
    3. Take inordinate offense whenever anybody else - ally or not - has the unmitigated gall to PLAY THEIR OWN GAME in a manner which does not directly benefit the Destiny’s own game.
    4. Undertake personal vendettas based on the above #3, and nothing more.
    5. Cannot acknowledge a simple adversarial relationship as “game”, and must instead paint the other player(s) as “wrong” or “evil”.
• Nullifier: an Advantage artifact with the power to potentially nullify another player’s Immunity Idol at the Tribal Council vote. {@Nashville}
  • The Nullifier’s power extends solely to HIIs; it has no effect upon individual immunity won in an Immunity Challenge.
  •  When the player holding the Nullifier wishes to play it against another:
    • During the TC voting phase - in addition to casting their regular vote, the holder places the Nullifier in the vote urn and specifies the name of the contestant upon whom the Nullifier is being played, typically by writing the name of the target on the Nullifier itself.
    • Probst collects the Vote urn and, before beginning tally of the votes, asks if anybody has an Immunity Idol they wish to play.
    • If a HII is played for the Nullifier-targeted individual, then that idol’s protection is “nullified” and any votes cast against that player WILL count towards expulsion.
    • If a HII is (a) not played for the Nullifier-targeted individual or (b) played for the targeted individual but the target receives no votes, then the Nullifier is “burned” - it is taken out of play without its existence being disclosed.

• Meat Shield: A high-profile character such as a physical competition ‘beast’ who is temporarily protected and/or carried through the game by other player(s), because s/he presents as a much more visible, tempting, and distracting target. {@Nashville}

• Alpha Moron: A contestant, most likely male, with all their brains in their biceps, and not as much of either as they think. 

• Intentional Matsing: I guess that means tanking the pre-swap game in a three-tribe season so you're less of a target after the swap.  {@phlebas}

• Purple Edit: aka Invisible Edit.  When the editors barely give a particular contestant any screen time, don't show them strategizing or in TH's, etc. (possibly because the player has done something to piss off TPTB). {@jhummerbird}
  • Refers to S21 Nicaragua player Kelly Shinn, who was barely shown despite making the merge. There was another Kelly on her original tribe, so she was nicknamed “Purple” because she had a dyed streak of purple in her blonde hair (and that was pretty much the only thing viewers would learn about her for 28 days). On day 28, after several days of heavy rainfall, she quit, along with NaOnka Nixon, but they were both allowed to join the jury because TPTB didn't have a rule in place regarding people who quit after the merge. It's rumored (or confirmed?) that TPTB edited both NaOnka and Purple Kelly poorly out of annoyance with them, but while NaOnka got screen time, albeit unflattering most of the time, Kelly got erased as much as possible. 

• Twistfucked: a term used to describe when a player who goes from a dominant position in their tribe/alliance to a weak position due to an unforeseen twist in the game, or the unanticipated timing of a twist, and promptly gets voted out.  Subcategories include:
  • Swapfucked, in which the pre-merge tribal swap and/or shuffle is the key factor. There have been numerous examples over the years starting from the original victim Silas in season 3 to Anna in season 32. {@LanceM}
  • Mergefucked, in which the tribal merge happens at an unexpected time, which changes interpersonal dynamics and redirects targets.
  • Idolfucked, in which the unanticipated presence and/or use of an HII at a given TC leads to someone unexpected getting booted.

• Ulong: a team that loses all immunity challenges and is absorbed into the next tribe. {@Daisy}
  • ie: Tribe A is pulling a total Ulong right now.  (See Intentional Matsing)

• Peachy: Jeff Probst, the host of Survivor. {@Daisy}
  • Also: Just Peachy
  • or Jiffy Pop {@Nashville}

• Blindside: a move where one faction/alliance/person pulls a move that surprises the other faction/alliance.  {@Daisy}
  • This does not mean how Jeff means it (ie: 1 person doesn't know they are going home).
  • Examples of a great blindside/surprising move
    • Natalie Andersen giving her Idol to Jaqui in SJDS
    • The Edgardo Boot in Fiji (the video says it all).

• Eliza Face: Great Jury Reactions (because Eliza started it all, really)  {@Daisy}

• Bitter Jury: Jury member(s) who berate the finalists at FTC. {@Daisy}
  • classic examples:
    • Sue's "Snake + Rats" speech in Borneo
    • Everyone in All-Stars
    • Jury in Vanuatu

• 3-2-1 Move or Triple Play: the move that Cirie Fields made in Season 12 that is extremely complicated and hard to pull off.  {@Daisy}
  • You have the target you want to vote off (1).
  • You get 2 people (or more) to vote for another person (2),
  • You get the majority to vote off the target. (3).  that's the easiest to explain it.

• Swing-Vote: the person (or pair of people) who has the ability to give the majority to one alliance or the other. {@Daisy}
  • Depending on how the swing vote plays their hand (often, badly), this tends to get them voted off instead.
    • Example of a successful Swing Vote:  Jon & Jacqui in SJDS
    • Memorable Swing-Vote bootoffs:
      • Christy (Amazon)
      • Dolly (Vanuatu)
      • Sarah (Caramoan)

• Ponderosa: the nickname (derived from the name of the Cartwright's ranch from the NBC show Bonanza) for the resort where cast members go following irrevocable eviction from the game.  Serves as the temporary holding area for pre-jury evictees, who are relocated en masse prior to arrival of the first juror.  Footage from Ponderosa is often shown as an online extra. { @Nashville}

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by SVNBob

[SVNBob]

Alliances with their own well-known names:

• the Aitu4: From CI; Yul, Ozzy, Becky and Sundra.
  • aka Aitu nano {@NutMeg}

• the Rotu 4:  From Marquesas; John, Zoe, Tammy and the General
  • Thought they owned the game, showed their hand way too obnoxiously early, and got Pagong'ed. {@Daisy}

• the Black Widow Brigade: From Micronesia; Cirie, Parvarti, Amanda, and Natalie. {@Daisy}
  • The most successful alliance comprising only women, and the standard by which all other all-female alliances are judged.

• the Three Amigos: From FvF2; Malcolm, Reynolds, and Eddie. {@Daisy}
  • Ill-fated, despite having multiple HIIs.

• the Four Horsemen: From Fiji (the original); Alex, Edgardo, Mookie, and Dre.

And just because:

The Queen Who Stays Queen (so adios): Sandra Diaz-Twine, the first two-time winner of Survivor.

Edited September 21, 2021 by SVNBob

[SVNBob]

Two new entries, one from within the show itself.  That hasn't really happened since Plan Voodoo.

(Note: I cannot edit the original entries anymore.  New entries will be their own posts again.)

• Merge-atory or Mergatory: A state in the game where the Merge has happened, yet some active players are not on the Merge Tribe (yet).  Those who are not on the Merge Tribe are in Merge-atory.
  • Technically, everyone that went to EoE before the first return challenge, did not win said challenge, and stayed on EoE until the final return challenge could be said to be in Merge-atory.
• Jeffhanger:  The ending of a rare Part 1 of 2 episode (not airing on the same night as Part 2) in which a somewhat anti-climactic cliffhanger (or one that will lead to an unsurprising result) happens. {@cherrypj}
  • The start of the Outcast TC in PI in which 2 members would be voted back into the game was the first Jeffhanger.