Day 23: Best Challenge
Survivor 39-Day Challenge
For this challenge, I’ll pick one tribal challenge and one individual challenge.
Tribal Challenge
The best and most entertaining tribal challenge of all time is Battle Dig, the first reward challenge of Heroes vs. Villains (2010).
The mechanics of the challenge is as follows:
The tribes would face off in pairs. The four castaways would race along the beach to dig up a single bag in a designated lane. The castaways would then have to race back to their respective finish mat. The first person to be touching the bag and their finish mat would score a point for their tribe. The first tribe to score three points would win.
Having this challenge open the tenth anniversary of Survivor couldn’t have been more perfect. This challenge put the emphasis on the word “versus” between the Heroes and Villains because of the physicality of the challenge and memorable moments between the castaways.
Courtney jokingly shouted “break her shoulders” in the very first round of the challenge was hilarious. It’s one of those funny moments from this diminutive castaway. The thing is Stephenie indeed dislocated her shoulders during that round, and had to be popped back into place.
This challenge also had Coach owning Colby, which gave us one of the best confessionals ever from Tyson.
And who would ever forget among Survivor aficionados when Sandra undid Sugar top? A villainous move, in my opinion. Sugar then let go of it and singlehandedly scored a point for her tribe.
And as a tiebreaker, it was between James-Rupert and Rob-Tyson. Even Boston Rob couldn’t stop the mighty mass that is James (how come this guy has no individual wins under his belt). To close the challenge, Rupert injured his toe, making the tally for the Heroes to two.
It was memorable, it was entertaining, it was epic — a perfect opening challenge for an immaculate season.
Runner-up: 11-Mile Hike (Survivor: Guatemala)
Individual Challenge
For the best individual challenge, I have Roundabout, the final immunity challenge of Cagayan (2014).
The mechanics of this challenge is as follows:
The Final Three have to race out into a maze with turnstiles (most of which move freely, while some cannot move, blocking the path) where they have to collect four medallions. Once they have all four medallions, they then have to use them to open a chest, inside of which are puzzle pieces in the form of wooden cogs. Once the puzzle is put together, they then have to turn the cog raising a flag. The first player to raise the flag wins immunity.
The sheer vastness of the challenge was a sight to behold for viewers, though for sure intimidating for the Final 3 of Kass, Tony, and Woo. Them running the maze gave it an interesting spin, watching if they’d run into a working or a non-working turnstile. It was almost a cascading puzzle challenge: the first puzzle being the maze, the second being the chest which could be opened up by placing the medallions correctly on it, and the third and main puzzle which is the cog. I love the cog puzzle because it’s so fresh, and being an engineering major myself, it had an engine vibe to it which I dig.
The most amazing part, however, was the photo-finish ending. It was literally just a split second that separated Woo and Kass. Some people actually joked that it was a three million-dollar second, as Tony is now three million-dollar richer because of that moment. Had Kass won that, Tony most likely didn’t win Cagayan and would consequently not be on Winners at War.
Runner-up: Blind Maze (Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains)
Personal Favorite
Just a post script, I’d like to share as well my personal favorite Survivor challenge. I’m not sure if it’s the best but I really like Simmotion (Survivor: Tocantins, Survivor: Cambodia, Survivor: David vs. Goliath, and Survivor: Winners at War).
The rules are simple:
Each castaway, usually with one hand tied behind their back, must drop a ball into a metal chute. The ball will travel down a spiraling metal track and exit out of one of two points (a turnstile gate in the middle of the track causes the balls to come out at alternate exits). The castaway must catch the ball and drop it back into the chute at the top. At designated intervals, an additional ball is added to the track until the maximum amount of balls are simultaneously in play. If a ball exits the track and is not caught at any time, the castaway is eliminated from the challenge. The last person standing wins.
The reason I personally love this challenge because imagining myself, this would seriously be a challenge for me. Simmotion requires strong mental focus and endurance, both of which I have the least amount of. Probably focus, but just a tad. My strong suit is puzzle, and this challenge is anything but.
Entertainment-wise, it’s an exciting couple of minutes of television. It’s also the final immunity challenge for Winners at War, so maybe — just maybe — it’s the best.
Runner-up: Operation Balance Build (Survivor: One World, Survivor: Blood vs. Water, and Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X)
