The Ten Worst Survivor Challenges

(You can skip this first paragraph if you want to.) Sorry for the lack of an update last week. I was suddenly sick and unable to post a new post here. But I'm feeling better and am back with a brand new blog post. Since I missed a day, I might update this blog on Wednesdays and Sundays until the next season starts. We'll see if we end up doing that or not. I probably will, if I can come up with enough things to say. But since I have a lot of blog posts written for the current hiatus between seasons, I should be able to keep coming up with new things to talk about. Anyways, since sickness is why I wasn't here last week, I decided to post my blog post on the worst challenges in Survivor history.

When you think of Survivor challenges, what do you think? Do you like them? Do you hate them? A little bit of both? Well, I’m choosing ten challenges that I think are the absolute worst in Survivor history. I will mention why I don’t like them and include pictures of them (stolen from Survivor Wiki, of course) so you know more about why I don’t like them. I hope that the pictures turn out well when put on this blog. If not, then go to Survivor Wiki and look up the pictures on the page of each challenge. There are different reasons why different ones will be on the list. I should tell you some of the rules I’m using and what honorable mentions I might have. As usual, information will come from the site I just mentioned. Before I get to the list, here are the rules that I’ve used: 1- The challenge must have appeared in more than one season. This is because it is easiest to find information on the challenges that have appeared more than once. So a challenge like Cat and Mouse, for example, will not be on the list, even though that Micronesia challenge was pretty bad to the point that it has been banned from appearing again. (Don’t worry though; I will have another banned challenge on the list.) 2- It is my choice alone what makes the list. There have been a lot of challenges and I’m just sticking with what I think are the ten worst. 3- Challenges that caused some type of controversy are worthy of the list. 4- Challenges that are too physical in natural are probably going to be on the list. 5- Challenges that caused medical evacuations are good choices. 6- Bad challenges that I can’t remember are not going to be on the list because I don’t know what they are like. There have been a ton of challenges and I’m sure that I’m forgetting some. 7- Any type of challenge that I deem as bad in some way, shape, or form, is probably going to be on the list.

As promised, here are the honorable mentions. Fallen Comrades, which appeared in the finale of the first four seasons, caused controversy in the third season with an obscure question that could have unfairly helped a contestant get farther in the game. You might wonder why it appeared in the fourth season. You see, the fourth season was filmed entirely before the finale of the third season aired. It wasn’t until the finale aired when they learned of what was messed up. I still liked the challenge, though, and think that it could have lasted longer without that controversy. Battle Dig, which I think was most notable as the opening challenge of Heroes versus Villains where it caused the earliest injuries in the show. It could serve as a replacement for number ten on the list, but I don’t think that it was bad enough in other seasons to make the list. Maybe it should, since I hated it in the twentieth season. Oh, well. Playing Bridge, which I haven’t entirely been fond of in the two times it appeared, I also don’t think that I should include it because it has probably worked more often than not. Survivor Sumo might be a bit too physical, but it doesn’t seem as bad as it could be. There are tons of bad ones that I can’t think of right now or some that were only bad one of the times they were used. Now, to the actual list.

#10 Idol Hands (from Philippines and Cagayan): This challenge doesn’t make the list because it is too hard or too physical. It makes the list because it is too easy. If you don’t remember, this challenge had people trying to knock an idol off of the other player’s hand before they knock an idol off of your hand. The challenge flaw basically is that the idol that hits the ground first is the one who’s out. So you can throw your idol up in the air as a distraction to knock theirs down and they will still be the one who’s out. This challenge just seems too easy to work. I’ll admit, this might only be on the list since I couldn’t think of something better to post here.

#9 Spin Cycle (from Nicaragua and Redemption Island): This challenge seems stupid even though it isn’t really that terrible in some ways. If you don’t remember, this challenge has some contestants submerged in water as they spin around trying to spit that water into a container to release a ball. Well, there’s more to the challenge than that, but it already sounds bad enough. The whole having to be in the water while trying to get the water into your mouth is a terrible idea. I’m surprised that people aren’t worried about the threat of drowning when they designed this challenge. Likewise, I don’t think it really works like it should. It’s not as bad as one I’ll get to later, but I still don’t like it.

#8 Boulder Smash (from Guatemala, China, and Philippines): This challenge has been brutal the times it has appeared. If you don’t remember, this challenge has one tribe pushing a boulder past certain boundaries to score a point. The challenge was so ineffective in Philippines that for the first time in the show’s history, they decided not to finish the challenge. It ended with a forfeit. It left a female contestant without a top once. I’m surprised that it saw no long term injuries.

#7 Block it out (from Samoa, South Pacific, and Blood versus Water): Okay, so when this challenge first appeared, it wasn’t as bad as it would become. If you don’t remember, this challenge had people try to sort out puzzle boxes so that there would be no repeating colors in the end. There is more to the challenge to that. Why is it bad? You see, as long as this remains a two-way challenge, this challenge is fair, even though it is still a bit too complicated. As soon as it becomes a three-way, then things don’t work (I think that I just made a dirty joke). There might have been some unfairness going on at the challenge in Blood versus Water. I don’t like it when/if you can lose a challenge very closely. Just two seconds sooner and Vytas wouldn’t have unfairly been eliminated from the game that season. This challenge just does seem fair anytime it has appeared. Blood versus Water was just the worst of the bunch. And I hope this challenge doesn’t appear again.

#6 Kicking and Screaming (from Cook Islands, Gabon, and Cagayan): Once again, I’m surprised that this challenge never saw any bad injuries. It can get too physical and brutal. If you don’t remember, this challenge had people hanging onto a pole while other people had to forcefully carry them passed a line in the sand. It doesn’t sound like a good idea. But it’s appeared often enough. While I don’t know enough details to explain my distaste for the challenge, I never really liked it.

#5 Last Gasp (from Palau, Micronesia, and Caramoan): Okay, this challenge poses such a risk to potential drowning and seems largely unfair to anyone who would play it. If you don’t remember, this challenge had individual players stay beneath a grate while the tide rises beneath them. They have to stay under there the longest to win. It seems far too intense to work and I’ve never liked it when it has appeared. Geez, I sound like a broken record, broken record, broken record.

#4 Free Fallin’ (from Australia and One World): While you probably remembered this in One World, you might not have known that it first appeared in the second season. If you don’t remember, while this challenge had other portions, its main one is when contestants have to fall backwards onto a net. The design fall of the challenge is mostly in that falling part. When this appeared as the opening challenge in One World, it lead to an injury that resulted in the show’s earliest medical evacuation. You can blame Kourtney as much as you want for not following the rules, but it was the challenge being poorly designed that lead to more of a problem than anything else. I’d be surprised if we ever saw this challenge in the show again. But, not as much as the next one.

#3 Pilfering Pirates (from Thailand and All-Stars): This challenge provided entertainment to Thailand. Speaking for the overall low quality of that season, it was one of the few enjoyable parts about it. But it had a bunch of players that were pulled from it from breaking the rules. And yet, it seemed to have an even more controversial appearance in All-Stars where it lead to an incident with Sue and Richard that lead to Sue quitting the game in the very next episode. (Meanwhile, www.tv.com has trivia with this episode that said that the wrong tribe won this challenge meaning that the other tribe should have gone to tribal council. I don’t know if this is true or not, as it’s unknown where they got this information from. But, it seems like it would be more notable if a controversy like that actually happened.) If you don’t remember, this challenge had people fighting to steal one set of things and put it on their pile. What made it notable was something that gave it a different name, an attack zone where you were allowed the only place to confront people in this challenge. If you weren’t in the attack zone when you attacked, you would be out of the challenge and the opposing tribe would get a point transferred from your tribe. That’s what made it humorous in Thailand. “We lost by a bunch of rules.” But this challenge never worked in either season it appeared in. And we are better without it.

#2 Schmergen Brawl (from Samoa and Heroes versus Villains): This challenge would be the worst were it not for the absolute stupidity of number one. But, it deserves the number two spot for never working in any season it appeared in. In case you don’t remember, this challenge had people basically fighting as much as they could to win. It’s more physically brutal than any other challenge. They even banned this challenge because CBS doesn’t want to get sued the challenge has been deemed as too dangerous to ever be used again. A player was medically evacuated because of this stupid challenge. I’m surprised that it even returned a second time. But it will never appear again and that is a good thing. The bad thing is that it appeared at all in the first place.

Okay, so what do I consider the worst challenge in Survivor history? What do I consider to be the most unfair challenge? What challenge do I think should have never appeared in the first place? What challenge fills me with the most disgust? What could the absolutely worst challenge in Survivor history be? Well, let me give you some back story for those of you who haven’t already scrolled ahead to the end of this list (cheaters!). When Redemption Island came out, I was under the impression that only past challenges would appear as duels. And this is the case for a lot of the challenges there. But sometimes, an untested challenge sneaks in as a duel and it normally fails miserably in execution that affecting the season and ending the great games that some players could have otherwise had. That’s why I’m probably glad that Redemption Island didn’t appear in the twenty-ninth season. All of the hero duels were new challenges that had never been done before. But only challenges that were done before have sure fire ways of succeeding in the game. That’s why this challenge is the worst of all of them in my mind. That challenge is

#1 A Leg Up (from Redemption Island and Blood versus Water): For those that don’t remember, this challenge was the last duel used in the both of seasons. This was the final chance for the contestants left on Redemption Island to get back in the game. And this is the dumbest way to get a contestant back in the game. Think about it. The contestants have to balance a vase in the air with their foot on a balance beam of sorts. It is, in my mind, without a doubt, one hundred percent, the absolute, worst challenge that they have ever done in Survivor. The fact that it has appeared, not once, but twice, just makes me wonder why anyone ever thought this challenge could be fair for anyone. We’ve seen many a great player eliminated from the game simply because this crapfest appeared as the final duel. I probably could never finish stating my disgust with this challenge. It is an absolute abomination. It should not have been played in any good season of Survivor. And it is what I deem to be the very worst Survivor challenge in the show’s history.

Well, that all of my talk about bad challenges in Survivor. I may have been milking it at some of these choices and I’m sure that I’ve forgotten about other bad challenges. Plus, even those that appeared just once were pretty bad, but I went with those that appeared more than once, as stated before. Maybe a top nine would have been better since I can’t really think of a different one to replace number ten and that can at best be considered a placeholder for some other challenge that I couldn’t of it. But I’ll just stick with these ten as the worst ten challenges that have appeared in Survivor. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.