The format for the end of the game this season will be a Jury of nine and a Final Three will face that Jury.
For the first time in Survivor history, when a tribe wins the reward challenge, the leader of the tribe gets to choose a member of their tribe to visit the other tribe. That person would observe the other tribe for a day and would also get a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol hidden at the other tribe's camp.
For the first time in Survivor history, the tribes were instructed to choose a leader at the beginning of the game. They had to make this choice based solely on looks.
This season would begin the pattern where Survivor would film two seasons back to back in the same location.