My Top 10 Favorite Challenges of All-Time

Survivor has been on air for more than a decade now. Season 26 just wrapped up and a couple of new ones had been confirmed on the horizon (in fact, Jeff is somewhere in the Philippine Islands filming the 27th installment of the Reality TV show franchise!). There are a few things that has helped the show prove to be a success such as the strategy, the breathtaking locales, and the characters that are fun to watch! However, for me personally, the challenges are one of the things that have drawn me to watching Survivor. The intense competition that transpires when the castaways are put in situations wherein their physical and mental toughness are tested is undoubtedly a pleasure to watch.

Over the years, I've made a mental note of some of my favorite challenges from seasons past. I love watching these challenges over and over again! I have TONS of them but I have narrowed down the Top 10. You can check them out below and see just how exciting these challenges are for yourself:

10. Survivor Borneo Episode 2 Immunity Challenge

This challenge is a favorite of mine because it was the first time they did this kind of gross eating challenge, which eventually ended up being a classic. What I love about this challenge is that it is an equalizer. It requires no brawns or brains. It is all about the mental power! Gervase had a tough time, but he did end up eating the grub although he was outplayed by Stacy at the Final round to win it for Tagi!

9. Survivor Marquesas Episode 6 Reward Challenge

I can clearly remember this episode and why I loved this challenge. During Episode 4 of Survivor Marquesas, the episode after Hunter got voted off, the tribal switch took place. In an effort to shake things up as Maraamu was on the face of being decimated, the newly formed tribes got even more lopsided. In this particular challenge, to show you the disparity of the competition, a young and fit Boston Rob had to race through the jungle against Paschal during the first leg of the competition. Good thing, Gina and Kathy did an excellent job at the rowing portion of the competition to edge out a more athletic Rotu (though not one without some controversy as Rotu was initially proclaimed winner but they broke some challenge rules, causing Jeff to change his call for winner).

8. Survivor Vanuatu Episode 5 Reward Challenge

This is the first reward challenge since the Men vs Women tribe had been switched up. The reason why this challenge stuck out for me is purely because of the difficulty of the task. It is simple by design by difficult in execution. Castaways had to dive down for up to 50 feet or more in depth in order to retrieve a ring colored in their tribe flag that is tied to a rope that is stretches out to the bottom of the ocean floor. If you're a true Survivor fan, you know which challenge I'm talking about. And you know what they get for such a difficult challenge? Pringles and beer!

7. Survivor Pearl Islands Episode 6 Immunity Challenge

This challenge is a personal favorite of mine because not only was the first time that they had done it, but it was also the first win for Morgan after being nearly trumped by Drake in the competition. Andrew Savage, who literally carried his team to victory after this challenge, was fired up to win it for Morgan after Johnny Fairplay had previously told them that Drake had thrown the previous immunity challenge in order to vote off Burton. Savage was literally in tears when the challenge is over.

6. Survivor Africa Episode 1 Immunity Challenge

The main reason why this challenge made it into my favorite challenge list is merely because this season had several spectacular challenges in what I thought was one of the most difficult editions EVER! The best thing about this challenge is that it requires total team work in order to succeed. Plus, the challenge production utilized the natural landscapes and features of the land. If you're not convinced how difficult this challenge is, watch for yourself, and see Diane nearly collapse due to exhaustion. That's brutal!

5. Survivor Australian Outback Episode 2 Reward Challenge 

Here's another tough one... The earlier seasons of Survivor seemed to make full use of the locale's natural landscapes in their challenge conceptualization, which also explains I have a lot of favorites from the old-school Survivor. In this particular challenge, castaways had to jump off a steep cliff and swim to a buoy one at a time. Now that's some adrenaline rush right there! Watch the video for yourself to see how exciting this is!

4. Survivor Heroes vs Villains Episode 2 Immunity Challenge

This challenge has two elements - brawns and brains. The first stage involves the use of brawns as tribemates had to push a large crate back to their starting mat. Then, there is a puzzle on the latter stage that requires brains, obviously. There is also a teamwork aspect to it because the crates are heavy, it requires nearly all tribe members to move the crates (also serving as the puzzle piece) around to build the puzzle. This challenge was originally done in Survivor: Tocantins and then just recently in Caramoan; however, this is my top pick because it is most competitive. This is also the controversial animosity between Stephenie and James started from.

3. Survivor Palau: Episode 3 Reward Challenge

Water challenges are my weakness. But wrestling challenges on water? Even better. Palau had some really excellent challenges because probably half were done on water. And this one stands out for me because it was pure adrenaline rush even while I was watching on my couch.

2. Survivor Palau: Episode 3 Immunity Challenge

This is one of my favorite challenges of all time. They had done this again in several succeeding seasons and most recently in Caramoan. However, this is my most favorite run of this challenge because it was highly competitive. Can you tell that Palau is also one of my favorite seasons of all-time? Too bad, Jeff got injured before this challenge or else I'd think Koror would have a hard time beating Ulong on this one.

1. Survivor Guatemala 11 Mile Hike Challenge on Episode 1

This is, for me, hands down the best challenge that Survivor has ever had - and the toughest too! It requires no props or use of other equipment. It's just humans vs nature. The castaways had to endure over 12 hours of hike through a dense jungle that had even the toughest men during the season on their knees after. All it takes to survive and win this challenge is team work, persistence, and endurance. Nakum won this challenge and set the stage for what was going to be a physically tough season. Even Bobby Jon, who played in Palau a season before, said Palau was a piece of cake compared to the harsh elements of Guatemala.

What's your favorite challenge/s on Survivor?

Survivor Caramoan: Deciphering the Finale

My dry spell is over. I finally have a winning first pick in Survivor! For a die-hard Survivor fan, you'd think that I'd be better at choosing picks that are guaranteed to win. But who am I fooling? I easily fall for the hunky studs (*cough Bobby Jon, *cough Malcolm)! But I seriously thought I had it nailed last season with Malcolm since he is the ultimate combination of brains and brawns, and maybe a bit of charm that there wasn't a day since Malcolm first graced my TV screen that I didn't dream of him running away with the mill. But I digress, the star of this blog is supposed to be the newest winner - John Cochran! Cochran is the scrawny nerd who wrote papers on Survivor and I distinctively remembered asked Jeff during his first season to call him by his surname, just like he did with other Survivor greats. Jeff quipped to him, "Let's see if you earn it!". Fast forward to two years, here's a totally different Cochran who no longer just calls himself a "challenge beast" but also with the title Sole Survivor under his name.

The road to getting there was never easy. Cochran figured in one of the most controversy-ridden, twist-befuddled season that Jeff hyped up before premiere as better than the Philippines edition. For someone who loved the Philippines enough to relegate it as one of the top 3 seasons ever, I held high expectations.

Before the airing of the Finale episode, I had an inkling that Cochran had it in the bag. He had the advantage in jury votes in any given final 3 scenario. But I can't say I had some doubts lingering as the episode went by. This game seems to sneak up on you when you least expect it. And when you're complacent, it pulls the rug out of you. Just ask Andrea and Brenda. They got complacent and Cochran was smart enough to go after them because he knew either one of them would've given him a serious run for the money!

The first big twist of the finale episode was Erik's medical emergency. When the clip was shown last week, I knew it had to be Erik! They were building up this storyline of him being weak and out of his senses, especially since the timing was odd and it seemed even forced given that he basically had zero confessionals for the most part. It's like the editors forgot about him and they realized that he will be medevaced in the coming episode so they had to integrate that into the previous episode so it does not come as an entire shock to the audience.

The Erik situation gave Eddie a free pass to the Final Four. It's funny how Eddie thinks that if he can get to the finals that he has a shot at winning the million dollars. Who are you kidding, Eddie? I'm sure you're nice. But aside from flirting with any hot girl you can set your sights on and being bros with Malcolm and Reynold, you did nothing to merit a million dollar!

The first challenge promised a reward that was going to prep the winner for the challenge that matters - the final immunity challenge. Kinda anticlimactic, huh? I actually did not like this concept when they first used it in the Philippines. Jeff told the castaways that the winner of that challenge won an advantage to the Final Immunity Challenge! Hear me out here: it creates a sense of guarantee of winning the next challenge. I also feel it's a bit anticlimactic in a sense that their focus is torn between the current challenge and the one up ahead, which is the more important one. I'm sure it was a move done by the producers after Erik left rather unexpectedly due to medical reasons, since this was clearly being setup as another immunity challenge. Then again, Cochran ended up winning his third individual challenge and gets an advantage heading into the final immunity challenge that could seal his fate in the Final 3.

His advantage ended up being key to his final immunity win. I was expecting that the previous challenge would've worked more for a final immunity challenge than this win. Final immunity challenges typically require focus or endurance. This one was oddly similar to that same challenge that Malcolm won during the finale episode of Survivor: Philippines that earned him the advantage. But Cochran's advantage was huge! He struggled to figure out the puzzle early on such that Dawn ended up putting the first few pieces of her puzzle together. The competition might've kicked him into high gear as he ended up putting his puzzle pieces together quickly after he got the first one.

The Eddie vote at the Final Four tribal council was a feign attempt to make it seem as though Cochran will change things up. Earlier in the episode, we saw Cochran make a pact with Eddie about the Final 3 but we knew it was a defensive strategy on Cochran's part to secure his final three slot knowing that Eddie is the sole remaining threat to win immunity. And thus... the final three is Cochran, Sherri, and Dawn.

They celebrate with a feast in the morning before the real deal begins. Cochran delivered what I believe was one of the best opening speeches at tribal council. He covered all the grounds - he pointed out that he wasn't the best strategists nor was he the most physically competitive (although it's hard to ignore the fact that he won the most individual challenges this season!). He also pointed a realistic element to his gameplay that helped get him far and showed that he's a real smart player - timing. According to Cochran, his success in the game can be relegated to the fact that he managed to strike at his opponents before he can be struck at and he owned it!

Dawn took a beating at the final tribal council with several of the jury members thinking that she used relationships to gain an advantage in the game. However, she raised an essential point that these relationships were the key to the success of his alliance with Cochran because if it weren't for those relationships she built, she wouldn't have been able to gather the information needed to make their next big move.

Sherri, on the other hand, seemed to have been lost in the equation. The only memorable thing about her stint at the final tribal council would have to be her snide remark towards Erik who tried to ridicule her game and Eddie trying to make fun of her insistence that she got carried to the final 3.

However, nothing could've been more unforgettable as the Brenda-Dawn moment. Still reeling from the Dawn betrayal, Brenda refreshed everyone's memory of the day when Dawn lost her retainer and she dove in the water to get it. In doing so, she asked Dawn to take out her retainer so everyone would see what she looked like that day. Brenda lost a bit of favor with me for that particular move. While majority of the jury understood the strategy involved with taking them out, she seemed to take it the hardest and made an unconscionable move by asking Dawn to take out her teeth. We all know she voted for Cochran anyway, so what's the point with that? Apparently, she wanted to humiliate Dawn. And I think she crossed the line there. And the worst part of all, Jeff Probst even pushed Dawn (on live TV at that!) to apologize for Brenda! For someone whose seen this game first-hand and witnessed worst betrayals and backstabbing, I don't think Jeff was in a place to push Dawn to apologize for voting someone out! That's just plain ridiculous.

That moment, though, was only one of several awkward moments in what I thought was one of the worst reunion shows EVER! For someone whose seen all 26 seasons to date, it's saying a lot! After Cochran's announcement as the winner of Survivor Caramoan, the reunion show went downhill from there. Jeff had the decency to ask Dawn and Sherri for a short comment right before the reading of the votes. Little did we know that those were going to be Sherri's last words for the night!

It was also starkly obvious that the pre-jury members weren't on-stage. I thought that this was the setup during the reading of the votes, but as the show went on it was slowly dawning on us that the pre-jurors weren't going to have a part on the show. The worst part is that not even their presence were acknowledged! I understood the reason behind this was to make it less obvious that Brandon wasn't there - I caught word that he was banned by CBS from attending the reunion show! But who cares about Brandon? I'm sure a huge percentage of the fans would be pleased to know that the CBS producers finally got back to their right senses and not invite Brandon back! But what they had done to the pre-jury members was a disservice to those people who, regardless of how long or short they stayed in the game, were critical part to the journey.

While the pre-jury members were ignored, we got unnecessary airtime from Boston Rob (ugh), Richard, and Rudy, and some random girl. We know how great Boston Rob is and how Jeff Probst kisses the ground he walks on. But why not use that time instead to catch up on the Survivors that we haven't had much chance to see on the show? Do we really care about some stupid book that BRob is trying to promote?

The revelation of the Player of the Season was probably my only personal consolation during the finale. Malcolm won the title and the $100,000 that goes with it! I think it was well deserved because he undeniably played big. Come on, Episode 10 tribal council was memorable mainly for Malcolm! But above all the charades, he played a strong game but it just did not work out for him as he did not have enough people to make his plan work!

In conclusion, this reunion show did not do the season justice. It wasn't my favorite season despite the fact that I am ultimately satisfied with the winner and was entertained for the most part, although I would gladly do without the Phillip and Shamar antics, as well as all the drama with Brandon early on. But the strategy and gameplay at the latter part helped to save what would have been a disappointing season. I hope this only applies to this season's reunion show because it would be an insult for CBS to exclude the people who were out before the merge like they did this time out.

I'm sure most of you have an inkling as to what the next edition of Survivor is going to be, so I thought that teaser was pretty lame. What do you think of the concept for next season? As for me, it's something I'm not too excited about as with the Redemption Island concept, but this one might be worse. Share your thoughts below.

Survivor Caramoan Finale Preview

Following the blindside of Brenda Lowe at the previous episode of the ongoing Survivor Caramoan season, the Final 5 head into the finale wherein viewers will be treated to over 2 hours of show followed by the reunion show. A part of me is glad that we can finally crown a winner to what has been an unpredictable and emotional roller coaster ride of a season, which holds true for fans as it did for the castaways who competed.  There has been a lot of drama, memorable moments, crazy moves, blindsides, and so much more!

But it comes down to the Final 5: Eddie, Erik, Sherri, Dawn, and Cochran. It's safe to say that these are the 5 that most people wouldn't have predicted to make it this far.

image: blog.zap2it.com

Eddie, for instance, was on the outs since Day 1. He fell on the wrong side of the numbers going in as their Cool Kids alliance was picked off one by one. Somehow, he managed to survive along with his buddy, Reynold. But he is the lone amigo standing and he continues to evade having his torch snuffed. For how long? We've yet to find out.

Like Eddie, Erik also fell on the wrong side of the numbers after the first tribal council wherein he voted against Phillip. Erik eventually found his way back into the majority alliance and even earned a name under the Stealth R' Us crew. But his under-the-radar game has posed him as non-threat status and is slowly slipping into the finals again.

Sherri is the other fan who had managed to drizzle their way into the majority alliance post-merge. She was out on the loop for a while since Shamar got voted off. Then, she got a new lease in life at the game after Phillip brought her into the Stealth R' Us alliance to the point that she earned the nickname Tenacity. But can she hang on longer to make it to the finals?

Dawn is the emotional wreck this season. We've seen her breakdown at her previous season and things are no different this season. In fact, she probably holds the record for most breakdowns in one season... ever! But you can't deny that Dawn came into Survivor Caramoan with a different plan. She played hard and big! Case in point: taking out Brenda last episode because she was the biggest threat this deep into the game. Will that be enough to make her way into the finals and win?

Cochran has shown the biggest improvement out of all the returning castaways this season. He was a self-deprecating, non-athletic, and socially awkward player who is a self-confessed Survivor nerd during his first season. Remember the guy who asked Jeff to call him Cochran, his surname, instead of his actual name, John? Seems like he's lived up to it because he certainly didn't last time. In this season, Cochran has even dubbed himself a challenge beast after winning two immunity challenges! Heck, not even Malcolm can get one this season!

Of the final five, who do you think has the best chance to win? Be sure to comment your answers below and let's discuss!