Trail Blazer Physical Race

Survivor: Africa is known for being one of, if not the most difficult season of Survivor, and the season's first challenge, another new adaptation of "Quest for Fire," makes this reality brutally clear. This is easily the most difficult version of this challenge we have seen so far, and its difficulty is what makes it so engaging to watch. Much like last season's first challenge, I think this is a great challenge to kick off the season.

4/5

Safari Supper Miscellaneous Challenge

Once again, the season's second Immunity Challenge is a food-eating competition, and holy cow, they're drinking blood— that they retrieved from a cow only minutes prior. I love what they do here- I feel like there's a shock factor in this food challenge that has never been topped since; it is easily the best food-eating challenge in the series so far.

5/5

Distress Signal Miscellaneous Challenge

It's the return of the SOS Signal challenge from Season 1, and this time, it's even better! I already mentioned how I love these types of challenges, and this is one of my favorite renditions of it. The Boran tribe's spirit is so electric, and the upbeat music that plays during the challenge is fantastic. I also think that this season's flat location really benefits this challenge, as it allows the distress signals to pop a bit more in the midst of such a barren landscape. I want this challenge back in a modern season so bad.

5/5

Movin' on Up Physical Race

Here, we get a challenge that really plays into the culture of Africa. To simulate the ways of the nomadic tribes of East Africa, each tribe has to disassemble a camp, transport it 200 yards uphill, and then reassemble it. In the scorching heat of Kenya, this is yet another extremely difficult challenge. I appreciate the cultural reference, and I think even on its own, this is a really fun and unique idea for a challenge.

4/5

Puzzle of Shields Mental / Physical Race

To me, this challenge kind of falls into the same pitfall last season's slide puzzle challenge falls into. It's just too simple and static. There is a physical component where they have to run to retrieve the pieces, but the majority of the challenge is just watching people put a puzzle together, and without any commentary from Jeff, it just kind of drags on. (I will say, however, the music they play when Samburu wins (I Can See It) is my favorite piece of music on Survivor.)

1/5

Spear-it Hunt Skill

Time for a weapons challenge! The Survivors have to shoot flaming arrows at targets, and the first team to burn all of their targets wins. It's simple, but it's really fun. This challenge also has the unintentional humor of Frank, who talked up his archery skills relentlessly before missing every shot in the challenge.

3/5

When It Rains, It Pours Endurance

Here it is everyone, the birth of an all-time Survivor classic! And oh my gosh, does it start with a bang. For starters, this is just such a novel concept. Nowadays, endurance challenges are a lot more common, and we see all sorts of different torture-devices, but back in Season 3, this was an incredibly different type of challenge. It's really great- another super difficult one, but not in a way that feels unfair in the slightest. During this challenge, in a very sweet moment, T-Bird breaks out in song, and after six hours, she wins the first individual Immunity Challenge of the season.

5/5

Box Your Mind Mental / Physical Race

And here's yet another Survivor classic originating in Africa. Jeff allows the Survivors a short amount of time to study items, and then they have to gather items to recreate what they saw. I like how in Africa's version, all of the items are very much Africa-related, and they actually have to race out and search for what they are looking for. I think this is a really good mental challenge. Also, Ethan is super impressive here.

4/5

Light It Up Miscellaneous Challenge / Physical Race

I've mentioned before that I just don't find this "Fast Fire" challenge very interesting. Like in Borneo, they have to race out to get their materials, but instead of going into the ocean, they just have to run a few yards to a pile of supplies. I just find it to be really generic.

1/5

African Folklore Mental / Physical Race

It looks like it's time for me to talk about how obsessed I am with this challenge for the third season in a row. FOLKLORE!!! This time, we get possibly the most gruesome story of any of this challenge's renditions, about the rough, depressing life of the Samburu Warrior. The challenge itself is incredibly entertaining, especially towards the end as it comes down to Frank and Lex being neck and neck. Lex loses one of his ostrich eggs (that's right, ostrich eggs), giving Frank a chance to take the lead, but Lex finds it just in time, taking the win. The only thing that could have made this challenge better is if it were done at night time, but that's like complaining there are too few sprinkles in an already delicious cake.

5/5

Pot Shots Skill

This is the return of "Blue Plate Special" from last season, a challenge I praised for being a fun weapons challenge that also encourages the revealing of the pecking order, as you can choose whose pots you try to shatter. The only difference is this season, instead of Australian macadamia nuts, the Survivors throw the admittedly more exciting "Ringas," a traditional African weapon.

4/5

Second Chance Physical Race / Mental

Once again, we have the "Survivor Pentathlon," a giant obstacle course consisting of a whole bunch of different elements from past challenges. It's really a great time, I love these "second chance" challenges.

4/5

Fallen Comrades Mental

Fallen Comrades is back, calling back to Borneo in its usage as the penultimate Immunity Challenge. I think this is the best rendition yet– having this challenge be the second to last challenge instead of the final challenge is so much better. They also made the questions a bit more difficult from last time, which helps a lot. Now of course, we have to acknowledge perhaps this season's most infamous moment- the "who has no piercings" question. In case you don't know, Lex lost a point for answering Lindsey instead of the answer the producers had in mind, Kelly. The producers didn't know Lindsey also had no piercings, which lost Lex the point he needed to win the challenge. Then, Lex gets voted out. It is a super unfortunate mistake on production's part, but I don't think that takes away from the quality of the challenge.

3/5

Hard Idol Endurance

It's back— with a shortened title, but back nonetheless. I think to this day, "Hands on a Hard Idol" is the most iconic final immunity challenge, which was, of course, last seen in Season 1. It's a fantastic challenge, all coming down to willpower. After 3 hours, Kim Johnson won a well-deserved immunity.

5/5