It's a Long Way to the Top Physical Race / Skill

In the lead-up to Survivor 50, Parade conducted an interview with challenge creators John Kirhoffer and Chris Milhouse where they named their top fifty favorite challenges. It's a surprisingly detailed interview and a lot of fun if you're a challenge buff like me. There is some interesting trivia in there, for example—did you know the "TLP-O Course" challenge from Nicaragua stands for "three little pigs?" And that's why it's designed around hay, sticks, and bricks; it's so obvious and yet all these years I never made the connection. I digress, you could have given me a hundred guesses as to what Kirhoffer's favorite challenge is and I never would have got it. It's this one! A challenge that they've only used one time. I mean, I respect the choice, but it's such a WTF pick. I've literally never seen anyone talk about this challenge, production or otherwise. Essentially, it was inspired by the visual of rockstars throwing TVs out of hotel windows and watching them smash to the ground. It's a super massive set and each tribe has to send two members at a time climbing up ladders until they reach some crates. Each subsequent pair has to go up to a higher story of the tower. When they get to the creates, they can toss them over the edge allowing them to plummet to the platform below and break open. To Kirhoffer's credit, it is really fun. Just the spectacle of the whole thing. Once all the crates have been smashed, one pair has to use sandbags that were inside the crates and land them in six holes on a small platform. It ends up being a really close bout between the two tribes, with the Favorites leading heading into the bag-tossing portion but Reynold makes an incredible comeback for the Fans and overtakes Malcolm at the last second. It would have been extra-exciting if I cared about the Fans tribe even a little. I'm not sure if this would make my list of the top fifty Survivor challenges, but I think it deserves a high score just for the impressive build alone.

4/5

Plunge, Pull, Pop Physical Race / Skill

Before this challenge begins, we get a glimpse of the rarely seen "minute to strategize" Jeff affords the players each episode. Whenever this happens, you can pretty much bet your life whichever tribe is shown to look incompetent is going to lose. In this case, the Fans argue about who should take which role, and Shamar in particular throws a small pity party about how his ideas never work and how he's a fool. Onto the challenge—it's a really cool one we previously saw in Survivor: China. In that season, it was part of an infamous plot by Peih-Gee and Jamie to throw the challenge so they could vote out the Fei Long members on their tribe. There's nothing quite as memorable about this season's version, but I still really like the design. There have also been a few changes; before, members from each tribe had to swim out to the pontoon, but now, they have to get on a raft and the remaining tribe members have to pull on a rope to move the raft forward.  Once castaways get to the pontoon, they need to dive down and remove bamboo poles from a cage. This allows a collection of rings, previously blocked by the poles, to float to the top of the cage so the tribe can retrieve them. It's a very clever idea. After all the rings are collected, the players get back on their rafts and are pulled to shore. In China, we ended with a puzzle, but in this season, we're ending with ring toss. The Favorites lead for the entire challenge, but slow down near the end with trouble landing their final ring. This allows the Fans to almost catch up, but it proves to be too little too late. I think just one of these days the editors need to throw us off by making a tribe look like total buffoons during the strategy portion and then they miraculously go on to dominate the challenge.

3/5

Cell Block Sea Physical Race / Skill

This is one of these really cohesive challenges where each section bleeds into the next in a satisfying way. To begin, the entire tribe has to swim out to a large bamboo cage out in the ocean. Once there, they have to climb over it, which I always thought looks like fun. After the entire tribe makes it into the cage, members from each tribe have to dive down and untie the cage door. Once it's open, the entire tribe can begin dragging an extremely heavy chest through the cage doors and back to the beach. All in all it's an extremely physical challenge that DEMANDS great teamwork within the tribes. But wait, there's more! Once the tribes get their chests back to the beach, they have to hoist the chest up onto a track, and this next part is genius: One tribe member uses a grappling hook to latch onto the the next platform; if they connect successfully, they can pull the platform towards them, connecting the pieces so the tribe can slide the chest closer to the finish. After repeating this process a few times, tribes can push their chest to the end of the track and carry it one last time to the finishing platform. To be frank, it's an epic challenge. So much creativity on display here from the challenge team. As far as memorable moments though, honestly not too many; Shamar gets upset that another tribe member took the goggles because he needs them to dive down since he wears contacts... Little does he know, this will be the least of his ocular troubles this season. We continue the trend of close showdowns between the tribes, getting multiple placement shifts but ultimately it's the Favorites who come out on top this time.

4/5

Smash and Grab Physical Race / Skill

Four episodes in and I've gotta say: If you like water challenges, Survivor: Caramoan is DELIVERING. It's like the producers still feel bad about the wimpy Survivor pool from Nicaragua and Redemption Island and are making trying to make up for it with all of these incredible water builds one after the next. Speaking of the Survivor pool, the last time we saw this familiar challenge was in Redemption Island, and they played it in the pool. Looking back on it, it was lame. Caramoan's version is a complete return to form, almost identical to how it looked in the last fans Fans vs Favorites with the floating platforms at the start each player has to run across. That section looks pretty tough to me, but the rules are pretty lenient—If you fall, you don't have to start over, and you can kind of just pull yourself along the platforms, albeit it's slow. The core of the challenge is the same as always: Players from each tribe swim out, one at a time, and have to jump off a tower to smash a tile on their way down. This releases a key, and once all five keys are collected, they can use them to unlock a chest. In this version of the challenge, the chest contains sandbags, which a different tribe member has to use to knock down blocks on a faraway table. If you had to draw a comparison, it's kind of like the lawn game kubb. This will go on to become a fairly common challenge element, but as far as I can remember, we're seeing it for the first time here. Reynold continues to be really good at this kind of stuff, but once again, it's a scenario where the Favorites have a pretty good lead and the Fans aren't able to overtake them. This is one of those challenges that you see and just want to try yourself. Jumping off those platforms and taking a swing looks like so much fun. 

3/5

Crate Outdoors Physical Race / Mental

This next challenge was supposed to be played in Episode 5, but thanks to Brandon leaving the game, it got pushed back and now we have new tribe divisions! Anyone whose seen Heroes vs Villains will instantly recognize "A Crate Idea," probably the angriest we've ever seen James Clement. But what do you expect? His tribe refused to listen to "one voice!" Anyway, in this challenge, two members from each tribe at a time race out large tribe-colored cubes that are scattered around a field. They have to roll the heavy cubes back to the start where they will eventually be used to build a puzzle staircase. Something that I failed to point out in my Heroes vs Villains entry is that the original Tocantins version actually had a slightly different staircase design. In that season, it looked like this:

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But in this version of the challenge, the six blocks are arranged like this:

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☐⏹⏹☐

⏹⏹☐☐

I don't really think it matters, but I figured if you've read this far, you might be like me and find that amusing. The Tocantins version was probably a little more dangerous, but this is still a gnarly challenge. If any of those blocks were to slip and fall on someone while constructing the staircase, that could easily lead to a medevac. Maybe more than one. That's probably why this is the last time we ever see this challenge; they have a tamer version where the blocks are like half the size, and they still do that one every now and then, but it's just not the same. The Bikal tribe, now a blend of Fans and Favorites, struggles badly here. Despite his protests, they send Phillip out three times in a row to roll crates, and as you'd expect, he gets very exhausted. The Gota tribe has a massive headstart on the staircase puzzle, and if you're expecting this to be one of those challenges where the underdogs make a dramatic comeback and win against all odds... you're gonna be disappointed. Jeff remarks "Bikal appears to be on some sort of medication, they're moving so slow!" And when they do inevitably lose, he chooses to rub it in: "That was pathetic." I think Jeff should cut them some slack; win or lose, this is easily one of the most physically demanding challenges in all of Survivor, and it was enjoyable as always.

4/5

Phoenix Rises Physical Race / Skill

I have to say... it would suck to be cast for Survivor: Caramoan if you're not a good swimmer. Actually, it would suck to be cast for Survivor: Caramoan. I digress, I think this season might have the record for most highest percentage of water challenges. The producers must have realized this was a dream location for aquatic builds, and seized the opportunity to bring back lots of terrain-sensitive classics like Hot Pursuit, United We Stand, and (spoilers) Last Gasp. What I find really impressive though is that at no point do I feel like there are too many water challenges. It's not like they are blending together or starting to get repetitive; they are creatively distinct. That being said, Phoenix Rises is easily the least interesting challenge so far this season. Three members from each tribe get on a canoe and paddle out to a platform which they clip their boat onto. Then, they have to dive down in the water and untie a large statue before they can lift it up to the surface. Then, they get back in their canoe, paddle back to shore, and place the statue on a platform. Then, another tribe member uses a grappling hook to retrieve key rings; this is a fine skill-based element, but we already saw a grappling hook obstacle in Episode 3 and it was incorporated in a far more organic way, so I have to wonder why the producers thought we needed to see grappling hooks again. After the keys are collected, they can unlock the platform the statue is resting on, and then the entire tribe pulls a rope, hoisting the platform up a wall which raises a flag. Even though each stage of the challenge is quite simple, the flag mechanism itself is pretty cool and intricate. This plays like an old school challenge. I honestly don't think they would do this challenge in a modern season. And I think there's some beauty in its simplicity. But it's also kind of boring.

2/5

Caramoan Catering Miscellaneous Challenge

For the first time since Survivor: Samoa, the merge challenge is NOT endurance. And sorry Samoa fans, but it's not the return of Survivor Tee-ball either. Instead, we have a more sinister throwback upon us: The food-eating challenge. What fun! It's been a little while since we've seen this; seven seasons, just long enough that some of these castaways may have gotten their hopes up the powers that be had decided to retire this challenge. The last time this appeared as an individual challenge though was all the way back in All-Stars, where the loved ones competed on behalf of the Survivors. They did the same thing in Thailand, and can I just say, forcing the unsuspecting loved ones to play in this challenge has got to be the most underrated sadistic thing the producers have ever done... I'd kill for them to do it again. Imagine if they pulled that stunt on Winners at War: "Okay kids, who can devour these live tarantulas the fastest?!" In Caramoan, the contestants face off elimination-style, beginning with two separate heats of six people where the first three to eat their beetle larvae get to advance. The final six have to eat shipworms, which Jeff describes as the "termites of the sea." These are really gross, they produce a revolting black residue when the players bite into them. The first three to finish that get to enjoy a Survivor staple, never more appropriate than here in the Philippines, balut. We all know what this is by now, let's just gag and move on to the final round: Pig brain. Something tells me Papa Smurf would dominate on this one. Cochran wins this challenge by the way; I know he's a somewhat polarizing figure, but it's hard not to rejoice at his victory. He's so excited that Jeff is going to touch his neck to put the necklace on him.

4/5

Last Gasp Endurance

We finally found it! The challenge featured in Survivor's Netflix banner! Well, back when Survivor was still on Netflix. (Which is really bizarre because Caramoan was actually never on Netflix. But I digress.) The last time we saw this challenge was in Fans vs Favorites 1, and so, how fitting that for Fans vs Favorites 2, we get the return of my all-time favorite Survivor challenge: Controlled drowning. I'm not going to explain how the challenge works, you all know already. And I'm not going to write another essay about why I love it so much, I basically did that twice in my Palau and Micronesia entries. I will say that if I were to make a Survivor season tier list, any seasons that include Last Gasp may get bumped up a spot or two. For example, Survivor: Caramoan? Bad season. Hypothetical Survivor: Caramoan that doesn't even have Last Gasp Downright irredeemable season. I sometimes consider Survivor 44 to be the worst New Era season of Survivor, but then I think to myself "Well...... It did have Last Gasp. So I guess it's not." In 25+ years of Survivor, Last Gasp remains without question the most brilliant idea the challenge designers have ever come up with. I think you could tell from the lagoon setting that Last Gasp would very likely show up in either S25 or S26, and I guess the producers wanted S26's challenge line-up to be even more stacked. But honestly, they should have just used it in both. Something odd you may have noticed in this version is that there's an extra grate on the end, implying it was meant to be played with an extra person. They also got rid of that submerged row of grates we saw in the Micronesia version.

Those cosmetic differences aside, this is the same challenge we all know and love. It takes about an hour for the tide to pose any real threat to the players, but that's alright; just more time for the psychological torment and dread to set in! The editing and music cues are really good in this version, as is Jeff's eerie commentary, i.e. "You are running out of space........." At a certain point, the tide is above the grate and people start dropping like flies, but there are always two or three badass players who stick it out for an epic showdown. In Micronesia it was Ozzy vs Jason, but this season, the last ones standing are both women: Andrea and Brenda (who makes another cameo this episode). The last minute or two of this challenge is truly spectacular. First of all, both ladies have their legs wrapped through the grate which is just so bold. Maybe they find that more comfortable, but I find it terrifying because if you start to panic, you can't just pop your head out, first you have to free your legs and then pop your head out. Even crazier though, Andrea goes underwater and it looks like she's about to forfeit, but then miraculously comes back up and the challenge keeps going. It's INCREDIBLE. She's only able to last maybe another 15 seconds, but it was still a remarkable effort. Brenda wins the challenge, and will be the reigning Last Gasp champion for almost a decade.

5/5

Keel Hauling Physical Race

Well here's something rather unexpected! For this episode's Immunity Challenge, the producers have crept back into the archives and revived something that was previously a one-and-done from Pearl Islands. The "liaison" anagrams challenge? No. Actually, it's one of the pirate-themed ones, Keel Hauling! If you don't remember the lore behind this challenge, it's supposed to emulate an old torture method used by pirates, where they would tie someone up and drag them underneath the boat. I'll be honest, I've never really thought this challenge really captures the spirit of that torture method particularly well... for the best, I guess. Nevertheless, it's a pretty neat idea where the players have to run across a platform, dive into the water, and pull themselves under water beneath a platform using a rope. They have to repeat the process a couple of times to advance; like in Pearl Islands, this challenge is run in two heats, and the winners of those heats face off in a final showdown. Notably, Phillip declares that he will be sitting out of this challenge, due to a traumatic, water-related incident from his childhood. I'm pretty sure this is the only time in Survivor history where a player just noped out of doing a challenge, barring temptations from Jeff and stuff like that. Unsurprisingly, Jeff is kind of douchey about it, and says something like "TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS into a game where Immunity is the only way to guarantee your safety... Must be a big fear, huh?" I respect Phillip's decision, I've always just found it perplexing that he was willing to play Last Gasp but Keel Hauling is where he draws the line. I digress, the challenge is mechanically very similar to the Pearl Islands version, except now there are rings the players need to bring with them. It seems like an aesthetic change, mainly, but it leads to the most memorable moment of the challenge, when Eddie is about to earn his spot in the finals, but somehow misplaces the ring just before he leaps into the water. That allows Brenda to make the finals instead, but it's ultimately Reynold who ends up winning. This is a fairly basic challenge; you can kind of tell its origins lie in a simpler era of challenge design. But as I've stated so many times throughout this series, I appreciate a challenge that commits to a simple premise. That is to say, I don't think the challenge would be better if they decided to tack on a random turtle puzzle or something at the end. It would actually make it feel more generic. At the end of the day, it's a pure test of strength and speed, and a visually engaging one at that. Perhaps the present-day producers could take some lessons from Keel Hauling.

4/5

Drop a Log Endurance

It turns out that the advantage Cochran won in the Auction was the exact same one Jaison bought in Survivor: Samoa; it's the same endurance challenge, where everyone has to hold onto a rope that's hoisting a pole, equating to one-third of their pre-game body weight. Every five minutes, the players have to move their hands down one section of the rope, but Cochran's advantage allows him to move to sections back up whenever he chooses. As I pointed out in the Samoa entry, this advantage is MEGA BUSTED. I guarantee that even Chet Welch could win this challenge if he had this advantage. The obvious strategy is to use the advantage at the start of Stage 3, in order to save as much energy as possible, but the true power of this advantage comes near the end of the challenge. Normally, the last stage is super tough because you know longer have a knot to rest your hand on. But with the advantage, you get to stay on the third-to-last section forever. Cochran indeed ends up winning (it would be funny if he didn't after all that build-up...), which effectively seals Malcolm's fate in the game. My thoughts haven't really changed since Samoa—I think this challenge is fine; a good test of strength, if a little dull. If anything, it's probably a bit underused given we will not see this challenge again for about a decade. Only other thing worth mentioning? We do get a classic "DIG, WOMAN" from Jeff to Dawn.

2/5

Bermuda Triangle Endurance

At long last, we have made it to the premiere of another classic: Bermuda Triangles. Almost the quintessential Survivor endurance challenge, castaways have to balance themselves on a triangular platform floating on the sea. Every 15 minutes, they have to move to a higher level of the triangle, until they reach the final stage, where they have to perch themselves on the narrow beam at the top. Last person standing wins. Simple, but fantastic. In fairness, we've seen similar challenges in the past. Pearl Islands and Panama both had Final Immunity Challenges involving balance on a wobbly platform in the ocean. And the true genesis of this concept was the "Sea Legs" challenge in Marquesas. But Bermuda Triangles is just a far more visually engaging execution of the same idea. There is something unmistakenly epic about those drone shots that display all of the players on their prisms lined up in the water. Plus, the falls tend to be more dramatic. The Marquesas/Pearl Islands version had an issue of anticlimactic eliminations, because simply touching the platform with your hand or butt was disqualifying. It's a lot more fun to see someone lose their balance in real time and plummet into the water. Also, I like the implementation of stages here. Most of the time, I lean towards being anti-stage; I prefer when endurance challenges are simple to do, but last for hours. There's no need to artificially  truncate a challenge by adding in new rules over time. But the stages of Bermuda Triangles are so seamlessly (and cleverly) built into the challenge's design that I have no problem with them whatsoever. I think there's also an element of "fun factor" at play here as well. A lot of the best Survivor challenges are ones that you watch, sitting on the couch in your living room, and think "I actually want to try that." Simmotion is another perfect example. Stuff like Get a Grip and When It Rains It Pours? Great challenges, but man... I'm not sure I would want to do them. But who doesn't have a kid in them wanting to play Bermuda Triangles?! That being said, this is a challenge that has been consistently knee-capped by production, mainly due to a new rule added in later seasons. It's an incredible challenge, but it peaks right away in Caramoan. Let's talk about it.

The final 8 get into position, perched upon the distinctly calm Caramoan waters. Just minutes into the challenge, Jeff walks out with a plate of donuts. That's right, temptations! Always a welcome addition. Eddie & Erik take the bait. Honestly? Pretty bold to step down so quickly in a challenge this late into the season. During the next stage, Jeff offers a plate of hot dogs and a soft drink; Cochran seems to be struggling, so he decides to bow out. Before he does though, he comically attempts to get the permission of the remaining players: "My thighs are about to burst... I'm going to do it... Okay guys? Okay?" He receives no affirming words. Awkward! As Cochran takes his seat on the bench, he gets a winner edit confessional explaining that he wasn't going to last much longer anyway, and as long as Reynold doesn't win, everything's fine. We then get to the final stage of the challenge, and this is where things get really exciting. Dawn and Sherri fall pretty quickly after making the transition, and we're left with Andrea, Brenda and Reynold. There are a couple of astounding recoveries as Reynold teeters so close to falling off, but somehow reorients. He's only able to get lucky so many times though, finally plopping into the water to the audible joy of most of the cast. So it comes down to Andrea vs Brenda; Andrea floats the idea of making a deal, but Brenda shuts it down pretty quickly. Factoring into this stalemate, the winner of this challenge was also promised to receive "information in this game," i.e., a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol. As a result, this becomes one of the last truly great endurance showdowns in Survivor history. We get a short montage of the passage of time, followed by an astonishing "Elapsed Time" of THREE HOURS. That is so unbelievably impressive. This isn't a challenge like "Perch" where you just have to stand there; this takes an intense amount of focus and masterful poise. At this point, Andrea and Brenda do make a deal, but not the kind you're used to: They agree to both on their right foot only, a made-up "fourth stage" of the challenge. Jeff even counts them in like it's an actual part of the challenge. It's a really cool moment; something that, in 50+ seasons of Survivor, has only ever really happened this one time. Of course, the challenge doesn't last much longer after this; Brenda is the first to lose her footing, and Andrea is crowned the inaugural Bermuda Triangles winner.

5/5

Fun Climb Physical Race / Mental

Now for something a bit more forgettable... It's just a couple familiar (but good) Survivor obstacles thrown together. The players begin out in the water, and have to maneuver a buoy through a rope maze, all the way back to shore. It's basically "Strung Out," a favorite challenge of mine, albeit much shorter and less involved. Once they're on dry land, they have to untie a series of knots to release a key, which unlocks a chest. I've never liked "untie knots" as a stage of a challenge. It's just boring, no? Has there ever been exciting knot drama on Survivor? Inside the chest are puzzle ladder rungs, an obstacle dating all the way back to Survivor: Vanuatu. The players are pretty evenly matched until the ladder assembly, but Erik figures out the puzzle really quickly and is able to finish with little suspense. I think this is a serviceable challenge, especially as we haven't had a "series of obstacles" contest like this since the Post-Merge started. And I'm always game for Strung Out. Still, a fairly bland challenge by Caramoan standards. Even the name feels oddly generic. "Fun Climb?" Is that supposed to be a reference to something? Smh.

2/5

I Hold On Endurance

One last endurance challenge to discuss this season, and it's the return of a favorite instrument from Jeff Probst's dungeon: THE CRANK. For a quick reminder, this "Splash Back" challenge originated in Nicaragua; it was the one where Jane earned her inspiring Immunity win. This variant however dates to One World, and that's where we first saw this clever little mechanism where Jeff turns a crank, and that lowers all of the players closer to the water. The objective is to hold onto a rope for as long as possible without falling in, but the more Jeff turns the crank, the more slack exists on the rope, making it more difficult; another really good implementation of stages in an endurance challenge. The narrative established so far this episode is that Eddie is the target to go home, thus needs to win Immunity. He openly explains this to Jeff as the challenge is going on. We also get another mid-challenge Cochran confessional, where he basically says he doesn't want to fall until Eddie does; these mid-challenge confessionals feel a bit more common to me this season, and ehhh—I'm glad they've since dialed it back. One thing I've always appreciated about Survivor compared to almost every other reality show is how they just let the challenges breathe, uninterrupted. Survivor never even cuts to commercial during a challenge which is so incredibly rare and admirable in this medium. I digress, Eddie doesn't actually survive long in this challenge, and before long we're down to just women.

This is random, but at one point, the background music shifts to the Micronesia voting music, think Erik getting voted out. I'm not sure why they decided to play it here, but I've always loved this piece; it has a rare 7/8 time signature and is a total bop. #ShouldHaveBeenInSeason50. But anyway, we get down to the final 2 and it's Brenda vs Dawn. This brings us to another very awkward moment. (This entry has to take the cake for most times the word "awkward" is used.) Dawn looks over to Brenda and essentially makes the following pitch: "I don't want to stay up here for hours, Eddie is already out, can you just let me have this." She does this very publicly by the way; yes, Eddie already knows he's a target, but this is some pretty shameful jury management on the part of Dawn. Brenda shuts this down and Dawn backs off, but Jeff does everything he can to fan the flames and make sure the whole cast understands what just happened. A short time later, Brenda falls into the water, and a beaming dawn claims her Immunity necklace. If this seems like a surprising outcome to you, you're right to be suspicious. Before we cut to commercial, Brenda says this in confessional:

"I never ever want to be that person who jumps into the water, who gives up Immunity. If that was Eddie up there, I would've hung on a lot longer. But someone as paranoid as Dawn—gotta keep her happy. Jumped in the water, it was all good."

And if you remember how this episode ends... YIKES. So yeah, definitely some interesting story threads going on throughout this challenge, and the challenge itself is pretty cool also.

3/5

Vertically Challenged Physical Race / Skill

At long last, we've reached the end of Survivor: Caramoan. Brighter days are ahead, my friends. We just have to get through this one, final challenge. We're introduced to a pretty huge set, and if this looks familiar to you, that's because it's actually the same exact tower we saw back in the first Immunity Challenge of this season. You know, the one Kirhoffer said was his favorite Survivor challenge of all time. We can imagine that the challenge and art departments were hard at work all season long, transforming that old set into a completely new challenge just in time for Day 38. I find it to be very clever. They actually did something similar back in Redemption Island, where the giant temple set piece was used in both the first and last challenges of that season. I still come from the school of thought where I don't really like seeing a physical race Final Immunity Challenge; ideally, I'd like it to be something as equitable as possible, so Hands on a Hard Idol or a dexterity challenge. I would normally say that Teeter Tower would have been a much better Final Immunity Challenge, but for Caramoan I will concede; having that symmetry between the first and last Immunity Challenge is really cool. With that being said, it's a good challenge, but I wouldn't call it one of the best Final Immunity Challenges. It's an impressive set, for sure, but I just don't find it to be all that interesting mechanically. The castaways have to race up a huge set of stairs, untie a bag of puzzle pieces, and then slide down the giant water slide. (I am always pro-water slides being in Survivor challenges.) They have to repeat this process three times, so a total of three bags of puzzle pieces. It's appropriately exhausting for the season's final test of will, but the only part that's really exciting in my opinion is when they are going down the slide. Cochran's advantage is that he doesn't have to untie his bags of puzzle pieces; they are already untied in advance. That might not sound like a big deal, but it's actually a HUGE advantage. In fact, it's so good that it kind of kills the suspense a little bit. Cochran is already working on his puzzle while everyone else is still working on untying their second bag. But maybe things aren't as lopsided as they appeared—despite having a major headstart, Cochran flounders on the puzzle. It's a puzzle we've seen many times since, the classic Survivor flame. I've tried a replica of this puzzle before, and I totally get it, it's way harder than it looks. It becomes much easier as you progress, but fitting that initial piece can be BRUTAL. I can't imagine trying to solve it with a potential million dollars on the line. Everyone except for Sherri manages to catch up to Cochran before he makes much progress on the puzzle; Dawn even overtakes him for a bit. It is a learning curve though, and once Cochran starts to pick up steam, no one there is able to stop him. Cochran wins the challenge, and the only one happier than him...is Dawn for some reason.

3/5