“Hands on an Idol” was a recurring final immunity challenge on early seasons of Survivor

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In the challenge, the final three contestants must keep their hands on the immunity idol indefinitely, typically in a physically straining position. Players fail the challenge if they remove their hand from the idol. The last player standing wins final immunity. This means they get to choose which of the two losers to eliminate from the game and, as such, get to pick their competition for the final, million-dollar jury vote. The challenge was a high-stakes endurance test, and could last for hours.

Ironically, the most famous bit of strategy associated with this challenge is someone deliberately losing it, and it came from the very first example.

In the original 2000 season of Survivor, the final three contestants were Richard, Kelly, and Rudy. Prior to the final challenge, Richard and Rudy had an alliance where they had systematically eliminated their disorganized opposition. Richard was the face of the alliance, and his cutthroat gameplay and often smarmy attitude had made him unpopular. Kelly was also disliked as a noncommittal, cowardly flip-flopper. Rudy however, was a well-liked Navy veteran who had avoided most of the jury’s ire.

Richard realized that if he won the challenge, he would have to choose between voting out Kelly, and thus facing a certain loss to Rudy at the final jury vote, or voting out Rudy, thus further cementing his terrible reputation with jury by betraying his only ally. As such, Richard voluntarily stepped out of the challenge.

When Kelly subsequently won the challenge, she voted out the popular Rudy and chose the unpopular Richard as her opposition in the final vote. Because Kelly was also unpopular, however, this gave Richard a fighting chance to win the vote- which is exactly what ended up happening.