But if you want to talk seasons with quasi Pagongings you got 12, 13, 15, 20, 22, 23, 24, and 27.
And the with the non-pagonging seasons it generally wasn't the Immunity Idols that made them that way.
Fiji- Tribe swap made the alliances cross tribal, but it was basically the Nu-Moto alliance dominating. Idol saved Yau, which isn't a bad thing, but the season would have been "unpredictable" regardless.
Micro- Was unpredictable even without Amanda's idol play, and apparently the only reason Cirie voted against Amanada is that she knew she had the idol. Ozzy's fake Idol did cause a pretty fun moment though. But again, I don't think any idols helped avoid a Pagonging really.
Gabon- Idols definitely shook things up here, though I think a good deal of the unpredictability happened because of the double swap, fan sucking, and Sugar being Sugar.
Tocantins- Idols didn't really come into play much. Awesome comeback, anyway.
Samoa- Immunity idol play definitely helped this comeback. Though without Natalie/Dave getting Erik blinsided and Fincher it doesn't matter.
Nicragua- Idols don't really come into play at all.
Philippines- Idols shake things up a bit here too, but a three tribe format is always going to cause some interesting cross alliance as well.
Caramoan- Yuck, Idols can have credit for this. But mostly "favourite domination" despite idols. Despite saving the amigos for one episode, the idol's don't really affect anything.
Cagayan- Idols for sure helped Tony go nuts. But also made it nearly impossible for anyone to go against him. Most would disagree but I was getting a bit tired of seeing the same basic episode each week of "Will Tony and Woo flip? Or will they vote out a Solana.
Regardless, it isn't a pagonging, but you know that nobody from the Solana minority is going to win.
SJDS- This season was never going to be a Pagonging. Too many cross tribal alliances with BvW. But, I give the idols did cause some big moments yes.
Worlds Apart- Yep.
I'll be generous and say 6-7 seasons are made more unpredictable or are "improved" by idols. But it's probably less than that, to be honest.
And in the original 11 seasons like 4 have predictable boot order. But one and two didn't need to be unpredictable and are great seasons, and Thailand and All-Stars are pretty low tier, sure.
Still, less than half.
I think the way to keep the game "interesting" is to stick with the three tribe format, and get rid of the final three. At the point, people know how to defend against idols and they are mostly just going to buy an individual in the minority an extra three days without causing any great power shift. Unless of course someone pulls a Mike every season.