What is ‘mergatory?’: The new-era ‘Survivor’ game phase, explained

We are officially five seasons into Survivor’s new era, and it appears “mergatory” is here to stay. But, what is that, anyway?

After season 40’s Winners at War in 2020, the beloved CBS reality competition series received a major overhaul, with the length of playing being shortened from 39 to 26 days, to new, game-changing advantages. And with the creation of mergatory, an exciting new phase of the game has upped the stakes every season.

Although we’ve gotten slightly different versions of it since it first came to life during Survivor 41, the idea of it remains the same through Survivor 45.

After a handful of contestants are voted out of their respective tribes and sent to Ponderosa, the remaining players drop their buffs and converge onto one beach. But, unlike the first 40 seasons, they aren’t actually merged into one tribe. Instead, they are sitting in mergatory — a play on the word “purgatory,” a religious term that’s used for the state between death and the afterlife.

As the castaways are concerned, they’re in the phase between the tribe and individual portions of the season.

Back in the day, the players would remove their buffs and replace them with the same colored ones to don. But nowadays, they have to earn their merge attire either through winning an Immunity Challenge or surviving the next Tribal Council.

After meeting and greeting, the remaining players (typically 12 or 13) head to the Immunity Challenge, and to hear what host and showrunner Jeff Probst has to say. What happens is that the crop of hopefuls are split into two even teams through random selection, while one or two players sit on the sidelines — more on them later.

They’re told that a few things are being played for. Most importantly, every person part of the winning group is guaranteed immunity at the next Tribal Council while also maintaining a vote. Also, they’re given their merge buffs, and then head off to enjoy a celebratory feast.

On the other end, the losing crew receives none of that. They all remain on the chopping block, and buffless.

Now, we’ve seen a few different ways the unselected castaways are dealt with. In season 41, there were two people who didn’t compete, and the winning group chose one of them to join them after the Immunity Challenge. They became safe and enjoyed all of the perks as if they had battled alongside the victorious few.

In season 45, only one player didn’t compete. For them, they bet on one team to win, knowing that if they picked correctly, they’d receive all of the benefits without competing.

After the feast, the entire cast assembles together on the beach and later, head to Tribal Council (if there isn’t another Immunity Challenge first). The voting ceremony acts like a typical merge one, but with several of the players sitting with safety. Once someone is ousted, the rest of the castaways receive their buffs, and the group officially merges into one tribe, ending the mergatory phase.