Lock, Load and Light Physical Race / Mental

The first Immunity Challenge of the season is the return of the first Immunity Challenge from Survivor: Cook Islands— and if you've been keeping up with this series, you already know that I love almost every challenge in that season. This is a great first challenge, because it is cleverly designed, demands teamwork, and it's fun to watch; basically exactly what you're looking for in a Survivor challenge. The rules are exactly the same as they were in Cook Islands, the only difference being that there are now only two tribes playing instead of four. To refresh your memory, each tribe has to maneuver over some sand hills, assemble a puzzle boat (awesome!), paddle out into the ocean to light a torch, paddle back to shore, take apart the puzzle board and use the puzzle pieces to form a ladder (awesome!). Meanwhile, the other tribe members have to assemble a separate puzzle in the form of a compass, which must then be carried up the ladder and placed in a designated spot. Finally, all of the tribe members must race to the top of the ladder and where a ceremonial fire barrel must be lit, the final objective of the challenge. The highlight of the challenge is during the rowing portion, and is once again courtesy of Jeff's commentary: "Coach leading the tribe for the Villains, using all of that life experience in the kayak!" Have I mentioned yet that I love this season? The Heroes establish a pretty significant lead in the physical part of the challenge; as the Villains make it to the torch-lighting station in the ocean, the Heroes are already back at the beach, lit torch in hand. However, the tides change during the puzzle portion of the challenge, where Boston Rob and Sandra make up a ton of time for the Villains. To put it simply, they are exceptional here, and meanwhile, Hero puzzle-doers Amanda and Cirie begin to flounder. Things only get worse when Sugar and Rupert try to chip in, and suddenly, it's the Villains who have the notable lead. James gets frustrated with his tribemates, yelling at them to calm down and "let two people do it." This is going to be a comical, recurring plotline throughout the season, where James gets mad at his tribemates for having terrible teamwork. The Heroes are never able to finish the puzzle, and Jeff puts it best— "It started as a blowout for the Heroes, it is ending as a blowout for the Villains." All of these lead changes on top of an already great challenge make this an excellent viewing experience, and a great way to kick off the season.

4/5

A Crate Idea Physical Race / Mental

Now it's time for a more recent challenge to make an appearance, the Tocantins sensation "A Crate Idea!" I had high praises for this challenge back then, and the format is completely unchanged here, so it shouldn't be too surprising to hear that the challenge is great in Heroes vs Villains as well! A brief recap of the rules— each tribe has to send out two members at a time to retrieve a giant puzzle crate, rolling it back to the start. The crates are heavy and it's very difficult. Once all six crates have been received, the tribe must work together to use the crates to assemble a staircase. To make it even more challenging and to add a mental component, the crates have to be arranged in the correct way so that the side of the staircase displays their tribe name. Once all of this is complete, the tribe has to scale the staircase up to the finishing platform— it's exhausting. I don't have a ton to say about the rolling portion of the challenge, but once again, you can easily see the wear it is having on the players. At one point, Randy, who is on the sit-out bench, quips that his tribemates should try and "roll it on Rupert's toe," who is also sitting out. Ah, joys of the Villains tribe. Rupert provides some interesting commentary as well, praising his tribes' efficiency with lines such as "it's like a ball rolling down that aisle!" At any rate, the tribes remain fairly neck-and-neck throughout this portion, with the Heroes finishing first, giving them a slight advantage in the more cerebral second half. Once the Villains arrive, Jeff waits no time to set the stage: "The last challenge was decided by a puzzle, and the Villains won. Heroes looking for some redemption." This does a great job at foreshadowing the beautiful symmetry between the outcome of this challenge and the outcome of the previous one. It becomes quickly apparent that once again, the Heroes are struggling to communicate during the puzzle part of the challenge, and Boston Rob's leadership proves paramount for the Villains yet again, as they squash the Heroes' lead in no time at all. From the sidelines, Rupert begins to get frustrated, reminding his tribe that they've "got to work. You've got to WORK!" The scene of the Villains transporting their uppermost piece is an epic one, as Rob symbolically stands and pushes it over the edge, his tribemates below him. Meanwhile, a devastating mistake becomes apparent to the Heroes, who notice that they've placed one of their cubes in the wrong spot, which frustrates Stephenie, who claims to have noticed the error from the beginning. The Heroes proceed to make more mistakes, and a communication breakdown unravels. Everyone on the tribe is annoyed, but James is furious. He tells his tribe that they need to listen to "one voice." Then, J.T. tells his tribe to bring a piece to the top, and Stephenie says "No, this is not right." James' response is to start screaming "SHUT UP!" at her. Jeff takes note of this: "Heroes begin talking trash to each other. Not a good sign." I love seeing the dichotomy of the supposed Villains, who communicate great with each other and are evening joking around during the challenge, with the supposed Heroes, who are screaming at each other and once again blowing a challenge lead, it's such wonderful irony. Even after the Villains inevitably win the challenge, James continues to scold his tribe for not listening to "one voice;" it sort of becomes his catchphrase this season. Ultimately, the challenge provides a very satisfying narrative in addition to being the well-designed challenge we already knew it to be thanks to its Tocantins appearance.

4/5

Sumo in Mud Physical Race

It's time to jump for joy, because a top tier challenge has returned! This is Sumo at Sea, which originated in Survivor: Palau, but I guess its appearance in Heroes vs Villains is technically the Fiji version of the challenge, because it is played over a pit of mud rather than a platform on water. If you've read my Fiji entry, you know I like the mud better, so everything looks good so far. You may also recall I gave the challenge a lower score than usual in Fiji, but that was because it was a predictable blowout which felt unfair, because one tribe was living in luxury and the other was starving to death. Thankfully, this is not an issue on Heroes vs Villains, and we get the glorious privilege of watching two strong, absolutely iconic tribes battle it out, and it seems like either tribe could win. Once again, the tribes are playing to 8, and the first matchup is Tom vs Russell. Listen... I know I already stressed this three challenges ago with Battle Dig, but these matchups are just so insane. A Survivor fan's dream, that's what they are. Like, Tom, the charismatic and dominant winner of Palau versus arguably the show's most greatest villain in a physical sumo challenge? Surely there's no universe where that would happen... And yet, here we are, rightfully still talking about it 12 years later. I'll admit, that was a lot of prologue for what ends up being a fairly anticlimactic (but probably satisfying to a lot of people) round, as Tom knocks Russell into the mud in a matter of seconds.

Meanwhile, Colby is very lively in the audience of this challenge; he loudly hollers all throughout and is comically intense, like at the start of the second round, Candice vs Parvati, where he tells Candice to "attack her. ATTACK her Candice." This is a huge step up from the first round, as we get a long, back-and-forth brawl between the two women and who are nearly defeated at one point or another, but ultimately Candice wins with an epic finishing move, knocking Parvati into the mud while falling down on top of her, and of course, Colby is ecstatic about this. Sometimes I wonder if the reason Colby seems so reserved this season is because he used up all of his energy on this one challenge... The third round is a particularly exciting one, as two Survivor's most iconic OTT men take each other on, Rupert the Pirate vs Coach the Dragon Slayer. And of course, right from the beginning, the two guys are as melodramatic as possible— you know how when you play a fighting game the characters do little opening poses before the round begins?— They do that. As Jeff introduces them, Rupert slams his bag on the ground, and Coach starts beating his chest like Donkey Kong or something. During the round, the two men exchange hits a few times, but then Coach says screw it and just pushes Rupert into the mud with his hands. What follows is spectacular: Jeff waves his arms "No, no, you have to replay it..." But Coach doesn't hear him because he is in the middle of his victory animation, warrior scream and all. Jeff continues "NO! COACH!" and some of the bitter Heroes join in, like James, who exclaims "No karate chopping!" Finally Coach gathers wind of the ruling and retaliates by... flipping Jeff Probst off. And Jeff, very reasonably, thinks this is hilarious and almost starts laughing, but offers Coach some advice: "Take that anger and direct it towards the Pirate, not me!" So here we go again, Round 3 Part 2: Rob yells to Coach to "finish the job..." J.T. yells to Rupert to "Get low and get mean out there..." As Jeff prepares to yell "GO!," the editors play dramatic music and slowly zoom in on Coach and Rupert's faces, possibly the most underrated moment of the entire season. This time around, Rupert is able to knock Coach into the mud pretty quickly, and from the sidelines, James, somewhat distastefully, yells at Coach to "Get your ass up!" Personally I think James should have had some compassion for Coach, having just lost to a bunch of rules.

Round 4 is Cirie vs Jerri, and I don't have much to say about this one, other than that James continues his plunge into toxicity, yelling at Cirie to "whoop her ass!" She does, and the Heroes lead 4-0, setting up a somewhat similar blowout to what we saw in Fiji, albeit much more entertaining. Round 5 sees Tyson and J.T. duke it out, and it begins with Tyson... marking his territory, so to speak, clearing the mud off his shoes on J.T.'s side of the arena. It's so ridiculous that it's funny. This is another great round; it's super evenly matched and it looks like anybody's game for a while, until eventually J.T. is able to knock out Tyson and score yet another point for the Heroes. Round 6, Danielle vs Amanda, is a similar story; a great, evenly matched round that ends in victory for the Heroes. By this point, the Heroes are in total euphoria; this challenge will ultimately end up being the highlight of the season for most of them, so it's understandable. Round 7 is the round I think a lot of fans were waiting for, two of the shows biggest legendary alpha guys battling it out, Colby vs Boston Rob. Yes, it's finally Colby's turn, if you can believe he has any energy left after all the screaming. As expected, it's an epic round, so many near-eliminations and Boston Rob sliding all around, but once again, it's deja vu; Colby scores a point, the Villains still with 0 points. This means that that it all comes down to the next round, James vs Randy and... Come on. No disrespect to the great Randy Bailey, but I think we all knew where this was heading. But wow, it ends up being more glorious than we ever could have imagined. I think the Villains also knew by now that they had lost the challenge, but Jerri still tries to prop up Randy as best as she can: "Randy, fight as dirty as you can." And once again, James is so toxic! I actually think it's more funny than anything, like, why is James so mean this season out of nowhere??? Here's a guy who won America's Favorite Player two seasons in a row, now on the Heroes tribe but consistently behaving ruder than any one of the Villains. As Randy approaches the arena, James taunts him: "Come on, get down in here," sort of doing the whole... bully motions, if that's a thing. Randy quips "You like picking on an old man, don't you?" And the two guys continue to bicker back and forth a bit until Jeff begins to countdown. "Survivor's ready..." (Queue extremely dramatic music and close-up shots of both men) ... (Still waiting in suspense) ... (Do you see how dramatic they're making this?) ... (Wow, this must be an epic round) ... (Certainly) ... "GO!" And BAM, James slams into Randy, and in that ONE SINGLE HIT, Randy goes FLYING backward into the mud. It. Is. SPECTACULAR. The comedic timing to this moment was absolutely perfect, and wow, what better way to end this challenge. Would it have been nice to see more rounds? Yes. Was this particular outcome/storyline even better than that though? Definitely. As the Heroes are celebrating, some of the Villains start condemning James for KOing Randy like that... "Yeah, that was real Hero-esque..." "Real classy..." James is annoyed by this and yells to Randy, who is still laying in the mud, to "Get your f***ing ass up out of there!" Courtney delivers a cathartic line, "I told you you were on the wrong tribe, James!" And with that, one of the greatest challenges of all time comes to an end.

5/5

Roll With It Physical Race / Skill

Jeff opens this challenge with the following monologue: "This entire season we've been doing classic challenges from past seasons of Survivor. This challenge is classic for another reason— this is the only challenge in the history of Survivor to not be completed." Perhaps a bit overdramatic, but I think it's a really cool way to frame the return of "Roll With It," the first of multiple challenges this season to return from Samoa! For those who don't know, Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs Villains were the first seasons of the show to be shot back-to-back and reusing the same location, and you can see them getting their mileage out of a few of the challenges this season by using the same sets that they used in Samoa. Which is something I don't mind at all, because the challenges they chose to bring back from Samoa are generally very good. To briefly recap the rules, each tribe has a set of blindfolded members who have to roll a wicker ball through a course at the guidance of their caller. The twist is that the caller is inside the wicker ball, making for an extremely dizzy experience. At the end of the course, the caller has to direct their still blindfolded tribemates to complete a table maze, and as I'm sure you remember, in Samoa, this is where Russell Swan blacks out, leading to what was the most frightening medical evacuation in the history of the show. It's no surprise that the two most natural leaders, Tom and Boston Rob, step up to be the ones in the wicker ball for their tribes, and both guys do a great job at directing them. The Villains begin the table maze first, but only by a few seconds, and this portion of the challenge ends up being stressfully close. A matter of seconds separates the Villains winning the challenge and the Heroes winning the challenge; both tribes get their ball to the very end of the table maze, and both balls skirt the hole on at least one occasion. But in the end, the Villains are able to prevent the Heroes from winning two Immunity Challenges in a row and take the game. It's still a difficult and well-designed challenge, but I will say, it's definitely less memorable this time around without the Russell evacuation. It just goes by pretty quickly and doesn't produce any big moments, so it ends up being a very pleasant but unspectacular viewing experience.

3/5

Blind Cube Crisis Physical Race / Mental

Next up we have a Survivor classic, Blind Leading the Blind. But this time, we are using the All-Stars version, "Blind Cube Crisis," which itself incorporates a Survivor: Thailand Immunity Challenge, which was simply called "Cube Crisis," which just involved putting together the puzzle. Not a good challenge in Thailand, but the blind version in All-Stars was very good, and is probably the most brutal blindfolded challenge ever in terms of number of injuries. I even wrote how I was surprised they continued doing the challenge after that, because it really seemed like a few people could have been evacuated if they had been hit just a little bit harder. That being said, we're all humans here, which means we all love to watch people fall down and run into things. For some reason it's funny to our sadistic little brains. On that note, this challenge is significantly less entertaining than it was in All-Stars because it lacks memorable moments. Almost no one falls or trips and both of the tribes communicate well for most of the challenge, making this one a bit underwhelming compared to its original appearance. My favorite thing about this rendition of the challenge is James, who due to his injury, takes on the role of caller for his tribe. He is a very funny caller, there are definitely a few moments that will make you giggle as he packs so much energy into his commands. Once again, this is a challenge where we see the Heroes secure a head start going into a puzzle, but still end up losing the challenge after the Villains make a comeback. The Heroes are absolutely demoralized by this loss. Rupert kicks the puzzle (which always helps). Decent challenge but unremarkable compared to the rest of the season so far.

2/5

Rope-a-Dope Physical Race

Next we get to see Survivor try something new— kind of. See, this is one of those episodes where both tribes are going to tribal council, both tribes are voting someone out. (It also happens to be one of the best episodes of all time, but I digress.) We've seen this type of twist before, first in Vanuatu, and as recently as Gabon. (I know it happens in Pearl Islands too but that was a bit of a different situation.) In those seasons, what would typically happen is all players would participate in an individual challenge, and whoever wins the challenge gets to award Immunity to someone on the other tribe. In Gabon it happens immediately after the challenge, but we've also seen it where the winner goes and lives with the other tribes for a little while and decides at Tribal Council who to give safety to. This season they have changed things up a bit, and while I liked the old way, I think this is a good way of doing it as well. Now, both tribes will compete as individuals separately, so two people will win Immunity on their own merit. In other words, the challenge will be run twice. The challenge is the return of Around the Bend, which first appeared in Guatemala and also appeared in Tocantins; it's a physically demanding but simple challenge that involves racing through an obstacle course while tied to a rope. Previously this challenge would be played in two parts— the first few people to finish Part 1 would move on to the more difficult Part 2, a three-leveled version of the course. In this season, only the first part of the challenge is used to award Immunity, but the second part still appears in a new way: The two people who win Immunity get to duel each other in Part 2 in order to win reward for their tribe. I think this is a pretty interesting way of doing it, and I appreciate Survivor: Heroes vs Villains for mixing the format up a little bit. Candice wins the challenge in the Hero heat and Boston Rob wins in the Villains heat. There's not a lot to say about it, it's just a fun challenge to watch. This means that the second part of the challenge, the reward part, comes down to Boston Rob vs Candice, and Boston Rob wins it. All I can say is THANK GOSH Candice doesn't win. Can you imagine if the Heroes got to watch the Villain's tribal council? They would have realized that there wasn't an all-women's alliance after all and we never would have gotten the J.T. letter to Russell or the best Merge episode of all time or anything! Thank you for your failure Candice!!!

3/5

Caught in the Web Physical Race / Mental

Well this is a throwback! It's the return of Caught in the Web, a challenge originating all the way back in Africa. It also makes an updated appearance in Guatemala, and this appearance in Heroes vs Villains will be the final one. The version in Heroes vs Villains is more faithful to the original design than what we saw in Guatemala, but there are some tweaks. Like many early Survivor challenges, it's very simple. One person at a time from each tribe has to run across a netted platform to a rope web, which they have to climb to retrieve a bag and bring back to the start. This is repeated until all of the bags are collected. Guatemala overhauled the rope web part of the challenge by putting it over a pool of water and making it more like a spider web, but we're back to the old way now. Guatemala also made the net-walking section a bit longer than it was in Africa, a change which carries over this season. There's also an entirely new element this time, a puzzle. In Africa you just had to collect the bags, but now there are puzzle pieces in the bags which the tribe must use to put together a jigsaw puzzle. So still a very simple challenge, but there's that extra room for a shake-up now as well. There's not a ton to say here, other than I really enjoy this challenge and it's simple but effective nature. As to why we haven't seen it again, my guess is because of safety concerns involving the net platform. When the players are jumping down onto it from high on the rope web, it can get a bit dodgy, and there's a bit of a scare with Courtney. After an incident in One World regarding a different net-related challenge, I think that was probably the nail in the coffin for this old-school challenge. The outcome is a bit surprising, as we see Boston Rob and Sandra fail to beat the Heroes at the puzzle, but in fairness, the Heroes had a head start because of Courtney losing a lot of time for the Villains. What an episode for the Heroes, they won both challenges for a change!

3/5

Mud Slide Physical Race

Next up we have another challenge that debuted in Survivor: Guatemala, and I've got to say, out of all the challenges that appear in this season, this is the one that I'm confused as to why they decided to bring it back. It's not that it's a bad challenge, it's perfectly fine, but it's just kind of forgettable and even just looking at Guatemala I think there were some much more interesting options. The challenge involves tribe members being belted together and having to run through a muddy obstacle course as quickly as they can. There have been some changes since we saw this in Guatemala. First, in Guatemala, the tribe members were racing to retrieve pots of corn, which tied into Guatemalan culture. Well, we're not in Guatemala anymore, so now they are racing to retrieve flags; just a cosmetic detail, but I felt it was worth mentioning. The more important change is in the format, and this is something I really like: Before, it was just a race to see which tribe would be the first to collect enough corn to win the challenge. In this season, it's a challenge that plays out in multiple rounds, where pairs compete against each other to see who can retrieve a flag first in order to score a point. The first tribe to earn 2 points wins. Because there is an odd number of players, one of the rounds in a 1-on-1 showdown, which feels a little awkward, but it doesn't really matter I guess. As for the gameplay itself, there's really not much to say. I do think there's entertainment here, mainly just seeing everyone get all covered in mud. The main storyline of this challenge is that the Villains are in trouble, because Coach made Sandra and Courtney sit out of the Reward Challenge because he really wanted the feast. Not only did they not win the feast, but now Courtney and Sandra have to compete in the Immunity Challenge, and they are huge liabilities. It's a costly mistake for Coach because he's going to end up getting voted out in this episode, which does put a fun narrative bow on this episode's challenges.

2/5

Strung Out Physical Race / Mental

Well this was a nice surprise! One of the best challenges from Survivor: Vanuatu is back! In this challenge, each tribe starts on a platform out in the ocean. Between the platform and the shore is a long rope that has been "strung out" over a series of obstacles. One member at a time from each tribe has to maneuver a bag of puzzle pieces, which is clipped to one end of the rope, all the way through the obstacle course to the other end of the rope, where it can be unclipped. This is a daunting task because the rope is tangled around so many obstacles, and thus, each bag requires a lot of physical tenacity to transport. I think it's just an extremely awesome challenge, one of my favorites. The only real difference between this version and what we saw in Vanuatu is the terrain. Here in Samoa, the obstacle course takes place over very shallow water, whereas in Vanuatu, I don't think anyone could stand at any point along the course. I think this probably makes the challenge a bit easier, just something worth noting.

So alright, I've set the stage for the challenge, but I haven't even talked about the main attraction here yet— this is the challenge. The challenge where J.T. makes what many consider to be the "dumbest move in Survivor history." I mean, he literally wins a trophy for it during the Reunion Show. All that speculation about an all-women's alliance on the Villains tribe has been leading up to this challenge, to this moment. But you need a little bit of context to understand it. At this point, Russell is now the only man left on the Villains tribe. From the Heroes' perspective, he is a dead man walking and the obvious boot should the Heroes lose another challenge. And while the Villains made a bad assumption a few episodes ago, everyone is basically certain that the Merge has to be next. I mean, how much longer could they possibly wait? This isn't Survivor: Thailand! So the idea was, J.T. has this Hidden Immunity Idol, let's give it to Russell; save Russell at this Tribal Council, have him deflect to the Heroes side creating a 6-4 majority, and proceed to Pagong the Heroes. Honestly, if the Heroes were right about there being an all-women's alliance, it would have been an epic move. But I think we all know how this story ends. The beautiful thing is that the audience knows that not only is Russell not in danger of being voted out of the Villains tribe, but he is running it. That makes this whole situation so much funnier. This entire challenge is like watching a slow-moving car crash. We all know what is about to happen and yet it feels like it can't be possible. Surely this isn't really happening. Your mind starts racing, you can already imagine the confessionals back at camp, Russell and the rest of the Villains making fun of the Heroes. And the challenge is perfect for this storyline. It's just dumb luck that it happened this way, but it could not have played out any better. Due to the nature of Strung Out, where each person departs from the platform one at a time, it creates an opportunity where eventually someone will be alone on the platform on each tribe. Russell ends up being the last person to leave for the Villains, which allows Colby to talk to him privately. He asks if Russell is going home tonight, to which Russell replies "Mhm." So Colby gives him the heads up that when the challenge is over, Russell needs to go over to J.T., who will "give him something." Use it tonight, and vote out Parvati, who the Heroes have determined are running the show over at the Villains camp. Again, the irony here is just spectacular. We know that Parvati is Russell's biggest ally. This literally could not have happened in a funnier way. We are living in that impossibly perfect timeline. And love Russell or hate Russell, he is hysterical in this episode. He tells Colby that he wishes that he could shake his hand. Colby replies "We'll have plenty of time for that." I can't even type this stuff without laughing. Colby jumps into the water before Russell, and Russell instantly produces an evil grin and mouths "Wow." Yep, I guess this is really happening. The Heroes have a decent-sized lead heading into the puzzle part of the challenge, which is putting together a little totem-pole structure just like in Vanuatu, and finish quickly, sending the Villains to Tribal Council and putting the plan into motion. Everyone's back at the beach celebrating, Russell casually walks up to J.T., J.T. slips it into his pocket, and boom. Survivor History. One of my favorite episode titles of all time. On another note, given how this Pre-Merge started, I think it's quite remarkable that we are heading into the Merge 5 versus 5. Credit where it's due to the Heroes for rebounding after falling so hard at the beginning. Anyway, this challenge sets into motion possibly the biggest blindside in Survivor history coming up in the next episode. Let's talk about its challenge:

5/5

Get a Grip Endurance

So here we are, the tribes have merged, and a chaotic Tribal Council is looming. What better backdrop for such an occasion than the return of a classic Survivor endurance challenge? No tee-ball Merge challenges today! This is another Vanuatu challenge, but it was also in Cook Islands and Tocantins. Hold onto a pole for as long as possible, doesn't get much simpler than that. Once again, Colby is the first person to drop out of the challenge, and this time Jeff confronts the former challenge beast about his performance: "Colby, disappointed about how fast you were out, or something going on?" Colby just says that this type of challenge is not his forte, that's all. Maybe the next challenge will be something in Colby's toolbox. Once we get down to only 5 people left in the challenge, J.T. loses his footing but rebounds, but jokes to Parvati "You thought I was going, didn't you! Nah, I was just getting a little break." Jeff is amused and asks J.T. if he was just playing around, and J.T. replies "Nah, I almost fell!" So that's a fun moment, but nevertheless, J.T. is the next person to fall out of the challenge, his fate sealed. We see Parvati hanging onto her pole with a lot of pizzazz, which bemuses Jerri, who asks how in the world she is hanging on like that. Jerri herself is fatigued from dehydration, and finally bows out at 1 hour and 30 minutes, which is still a very impressive time. Shortly after that, Candice announces that she is stepping down, but without any clear reason as to why, as it appears that she could certainly go on for longer. Jeff confronts her decision but she doesn't really give a satisfying answer. He tells her "Alright, step down." I think Jeff is disappointed in you Candice! Not as disappointed as he is in Colby, but disappointed nonetheless! This leaves just Danielle and Parvati, who almost immediately start talking to each other about who should win. Danielle asks Parvati to let her have it since she has an Immunity Idol, and Parvati agrees, so she steps down. This is an interesting move, and definitely evokes some paranoia among the Heroes who now suspect Parvati must have a Hidden Immunity Idol... But I don't think any of them suspect that she has two Hidden Immunity Idols. One of the best Tribal Councils of all time incoming!

4/5

House of Cards Dexterity

We finally have a Gabon challenge gracing our screens! The Final Immunity Challenge from that season, House of Cards, is back! One of the rare but spectacular "Dexterity" classified challenges, it's an excellent test of skills that aren't usually tested in Survivor challenges. Namely, precision, resource management, and patience. Each player has 200 tiles which they have to use to build a house of cards. The first player to erect a 10 foot-tower, or the person who has the highest tower at the end of 30 minutes is the winner. I went on and on in Gabon about why this format is so interesting, so I won't repeat myself too much about that. Just know it's one of my favorite challenges, and let's talk about how it plays out with the Heroes vs Villains cast. It actually goes by a bit quicker this time around, because there are two competitors who have a natural talent for this type of thing. Jerri Manthey, and unexpectedly, Russell Hantz. We see a few of the other players try to catch up to them, but they are either too slow or knock over their towers. This is that risk vs reward element that makes the challenge so good; you need to go quickly in order to win, but too quickly and you're completely out of it. Russell and Jerri remain extremely neck and neck throughout the entire challenge, and once they both reach 9 feet, it becomes an absolute nail-biter. Russell seems to be slightly ahead of Jerri, but just as he is about to win the challenge, he runs out of pieces. That means he has to climb back down his ladder to collect some more, giving Jerri the opportunity to overtake him. In what is an extremely tense moment, she places her final few pieces, just as Russell is on the way back with his final piece, and mere seconds ahead of Russell, Jerri is able to win the challenge. And she is over the moon about it. This has always been one of my favorite challenge win celebrations, Jerri is just so happy about having won the first Immunity Challenge of her Survivor career. You can't help but to feel happy for the former nemesis of America! It's a really great challenge with a very exciting ending and outcome, what more can you ask for?

4/5

When It Rains, It Pours Endurance

It's endurance challenge time once again, and in the spirit of Heroes vs Villains, it's yet another all-time classic. When It Rains It Pours dates all the way back to Survivor: Africa, and most recently showed up in Micronesia— an appearance that I called one of the greatest challenges of all time when, after a series of hilarious events, Parvati won after 6 hours of pure agony. Probably the most consistently fantastic endurance challenge to this point, Heroes vs Villains has a tough act to follow, and unfortunately, I do think its appearance in this season is obviously the weakest of the 4. The concept of the challenge is still sadistic and wonderful— everyone has to hold their arm up for as long as possible; lower your arm too much, and your bucket will spill, eliminating you from the challenge. This season adds a new addition to the challenge, and I've got to be honest, I wish they hadn't done this: They made the challenge more difficult by forcing the players to stand on a narrow perch. It seems like every time this challenge appears after Micronesia, they find ways to make it "harder," which in turn, makes the challenge end quicker. By the time we get to Winners at War, it's really not even that same challenge anymore. Personally, I think having to endure a moderate pain for 6 hours is way more difficult than having to endure a more extreme pain for 30 minutes or so. The change in Heroes vs Villains isn't that big of a deal, but it is the start of the producers intentionally finding ways to shorten its length. This is still a good challenge, but it's missing memorable moments compared to the previous 3 iterations which were all iconic in some shape or form. Like in past seasons, Jeff offers temptations to the players, and only 1 minute into the challenge, Sandra and Russell eagerly accept the first one without even seeing what the food was, which was a pretty funny moment, I'll admit. 20 minutes into the challenge, Colby steps down for some donuts. 35 minutes into the challenge, three players step down for some candy and PB&J (including Candice, which is a big mistake), which leaves only Parvati and Rupert in the challenge. Finally we get to the outcome, which is probably the best part of the challenge: 1 hour and 10 minutes in, Rupert, who is the target to go home at this point in the episode, accidently slips off of the perch, which means that Parvati has won When It Rains, It Pours again. She is officially the queen of this iconic Survivor challenge. This is also the second time Rupert comes in 2nd place in this challenge, a delightful bit of symmetry to Survivor: All-Stars. Overall, it's still a pretty good challenge, but definitely anticlimactic coming off of Micronesia.

3/5

Pegatory Knockout Physical Race / Skill / Mental

For this episode's second Immunity Challenge, we have another challenge that originated back in Survivor: Panama! But do you know what's weird about this one? They changed the name! It's one of the only challenges this season to have a different name than what it had in one of its previous appearances. Anyone have a guess as to why we're not calling this "Wall to Wall" anymore? I digress, this is a decent challenge; it was pretty fun in Panama, and it works well enough here as well. There has been a significant change though, which is that now, it's an elimination-style challenge. Before, it was just one long race, but this season, each section of the challenge has been broken into parts, where only the first few people to finish one part get to advance to the next. The first part of the challenge includes something new; like in Panama, there's a table maze at the start of the course, but now, you have to dig up your peg out of the sand in order to do the maze. Only the first 5 players to complete the maze get to advance. The second part is the table maze, where you have to navigate your peg across the table as quickly as possible. In Survivor: Panama, this section was followed by a logic puzzle, but that part has sadly been completely removed in this version of the challenge. I'm guessing it's because the producers thought it didn't make for very good TV, but I really liked that part and thought it made the challenge more unique. Instead, Part 2 of this challenge jumps straight to the climbing part, where the players have to use pegs in order to scale a steep wall. In Survivor: Panama, I commented that the wall was very pretty... I can't say the same for this season, it looks very plain now, which is a tad bit disappointing. I think the wall is a bit shorter this time as well. Originally the wall was the end of the challenge, but Heroes vs Villains has added something new, a Part 3: Complete a slide puzzle. I guess this sort of makes up for the missing logic puzzle stage of the challenge, ensuring there is still some sort of mental component in here. First Survivor slide puzzle since Gabon, so there's that! Nothing of note-worth really happens during the challenge, but it's a fine viewing experience. I will say, I like Panama's version better. Russell ends up winning this challenge.

2/5

Keep It Up Endurance

There isn't too much to say about this next challenge. It's the return of "Keep It Up" from Gabon, a challenge I mentioned earlier in this entry when I was talking about Chimney Sweep and comparing it to the awful format this challenge took that season. Thankfully, this season it is now an Individual Immunity Challenge, which I'm 99% was what it was originally tended to be. So I'm very happy about that change, but the challenge itself still isn't all that interesting. Each person has to extend their arms outward and balance two poles, keeping them ledged between the backs of their hands and an overhead structure. It's a pretty difficult thing to do, so it's the type of challenge that's not going to last very long. Still, it can definitely get tense when it's down to the last couple of players and you can see the tops of their poles creeping along the edge of their structures. That's when this challenge becomes exciting, when it becomes a showdown of Parvati vs Rupert (once again), and they are both teetering on the edge of failure. The other highlight of this challenge comes 15 seconds in, when Colby is yet again the first person out, and by this point in the season, all you can do is laugh. No disrespect to the great Colby Donaldson, but what a comical arc of going from the ultimate challenge beast— the guy who only knew one way to play, and that was full tilt— to the worst challenge competitor on the same, maybe even worse than Sandra.

2/5

Offer It Up Endurance

For our Final 5 Immunity Challenge, we have yet another test of endurance, and hey look, it's the Survivor: China Final Immunity Challenge! Definitely one of my favorite Final Immunity Challenges to date, so it's a very nice surprise to see it appear here in the Heroes vs Villains finale. Of course, they did strip away some of the Chinese culture from the challenge, which does make sense— we're not in China anymore. Still, that's an element of this challenge that made it extra special in that season, with the epic monument in the background and porcelain dishes; this season, they've replaced the porcelain with more generic, colorful plates that feel more appropriate for this particular season. The goal is still the same— Everyone holds onto a wobbly balance arm which they have to stack dishes onto and ensure that none of them fall to the ground. At regular intervals, Jeff instructs them to add more dishes to their stack, and the detail that I've always loved is that the dishes come in various shapes and sizes. This makes it a lot more interesting and opens the door to potential strategies, like we saw in China where Amanda won the challenge after stacking dishes upside-down. It's not as exciting this time around, partly because last time it was Final Immunity, but it's still a very good challenge. It ultimately comes down to a showdown between Parvati and Colby, who was finally able to make a deep run in a challenge. This part of the challenge is extremely tense, especially when the players are in the middle of adding another dish with one hand while still balancing the stack with the other. Eventually, Colby's stack of dishes just collapses without warning, and Parvati wins yet another Immunity Challenge!

3/5

Blind Maze Physical Race

Don't worry Survivor: The Amazon, we didn't forget about you! Think of it as saving the best for last. That's right everyone, for our Final Immunity Challenge of Survivor's grandest season of all time, we are getting the return of Braille Maze from all the way back in Season 6! It's a bit of an unexpected choice— Definitely not what I would have predicted showing up in this spot— But ultimately, it becomes clear that it was an extraordinarily good choice. To briefly recap the rules, each person has to navigate through a maze— while blindfolded. In order to accomplish this impossible task, there are guideposts throughout the course that have symbols and arrows ingrained on them. The players have to use their fingers to feel the posts, which will point them to one of four stations that they need to visit to collect a necklace. Once all four necklaces are collected, players have to navigate back to the start and claim the Immunity Necklace, which of course, wins them the challenge. It's a really cool and well executed idea, and it is accompanied by a very awesome set. Mazes are pretty much always great on Survivor, and this one is no exception; while not as flashy as other recent ones, it's colorful and gets the job done for a challenge of this type. If you've read my past entries, you know that I tend to be very critical of what type of challenge is used for the Final Immunity Challenge. I am of the opinion that the final challenge should be something that is mostly fair for everyone, so mainly, nothing too physical. Dexterity challenges work amazingly in this spot, as do endurance challenges that are more about focus than brute strength. It can be risky to attempt a "physical race" Final Immunity Challenge, but you know what? I think they nailed it with this one. While this is a race challenge, it's not really physical in the same sense that most other physical races are. It has a lot more elements you'd normally see in dexterity challenges like an emphasis on staying focused and working calmly but efficiently. I wouldn't really say physically stronger people have much or any advantage here over physically weaker people, so I think it's perfectly fine as a Final Immunity Challenge.

We also saw this challenge make an appearance in Survivor: Fiji. The design that season was very different from what we saw in The Amazon, opting for a more linear structure that progressively got more difficult. I think I appreciate that Heroes vs Villains has returned to the more open-ended, Amazon design, even though the other way worked well too. What really makes this challenge stand out though, more than any of its other appearances, is just how freaking close it ends up being. It's Final Immunity, so there's already an extra level of excitement and anxiety that normally isn't present, so when you have an ending like this on top of that, you end up with one of the best challenges of all time. Let's talk a little more about it. Parvati and Russell are in the lead, both with 3 necklaces, and it turns out that they are both missing the same one. They arrive at the final station at the exact same time, and that really makes things interesting, because all either of them need to do is get back to the Immunity Necklace at the start. Because they are right next to each other, it's kind of impossible for either of them to lose the other, as much as they try. It is a very fun scene though, watching them both try and scramble back to the beginning, Parvati yelling at Russell to "get off me!" while laughing. Suddenly, Jerri gets her final necklace too, and now we have THREE PEOPLE all in contention to win Final Immunity. It all comes down to that final sprint to the start. Eventually, all three of them make it to that starting area, and it's just a question of exactly where the Immunity Necklace is. It is SO. NERVE-WRACKING. You see people walk past it a couple of times. The dramatic music cue is absolutely phenomenal. Russell, Jerri, and Parvati are all within inches of each other, you can see the Immunity Necklace hanging above them, and at last, Russell is the one to grab it. Half a second later and Jerri would have gotten it. A full second later and it would have been Parvati. It's just absolutely insane how close this final challenge ends up being. What an amazing way to tap off this magnum opus of Survivor seasons.

5/5