Outrigger Fire Quest Physical Race

The first challenge of Survivor's fourth season keeps tradition, as it is the return of "Quest for Fire." This version is very similar to the original Borneo version, except the castaways don't start in the water, they have to paddle out, and once they get back, they have to run through through an additional obstacle to the finish. While I don't find this version as interesting as what we saw in The Australian Outback or Africa, it is still a super solid challenge.

3/5

Marquesan Menu Miscellanious Challenge

Also in keeping tradition, the season's second immunity challenge is a food-eating challenge. Like in all of the seasons so far except for The Australian Outback, this challenge highlights one particular food, and to befit Marquesan Culture, that food is "fafaru." Jeff does a great job at making fafaru sound as disgusting as possible before the challenge starts, and while I don't think it quite lives up to Africa's cow blood as far as shock value goes, it is probably the grossest thing the Survivor have had to eat so far. One complaint though, I'm not a fan of how they made the Survivors bob for the farfaru; I don't know, it just seems unnecessarily cartoonish to me.

4/5

Coconut Maze Race Skill

One of my favorite things about doing this "Revisiting Survivor Challenges" project is that I get to see all of the Survivor firsts. Here, we have the first ever Survivor table maze! And it's just a table maze. Maybe not all that exciting, but there are 2 things I sort of like about it. First, this acts as a nice bit of variety, as most of these early challenges are strictly physical. Second, they use a coconut instead of a ball, which I guess is them kind of playing into the season's location. Plus, there's still a novelty here given this is the first time we are going to see something like this.

2/5

Life's A Tapestry Mental

We're going to get a few challenges this season that just feel like they do not belong on Survivor, and that's likely because Marquesas was a last minute back-up location when the show's intended location, Jordan, became infeasible. Some people make enjoy these challenges just because they feel so out of place it's almost comical, but I am going to continue to assess these challenges based on how interesting they are to watch, how creative they are, and how well they fit into the show. If you disagree with me about some of these assessments, then that is totally fine! But I feel like this challenge, which simply involves solving a tapestry puzzle, is not one of most entertaining challenges.

1/5

Distress Signal Miscellaneous Challenge

I've made it clear by now that I really enjoy this "SOS" challenge. In Marquesas, instead of a plane flying overhead, a rescue boat drives by each camp, which I think is a nice way to mix it up a bit. I don't think this plays out as fun as Africa's rendition did, but I still love this challenge and seeing the whole tribe work together to try and create the best distress signal.

4/5

The Maze Physical Race

Here's the return of another challenge that originated in The Australian Outback. It's "The Maze!" I have to say, this is definitely an improvement over the Season 2 version; everything just feels a lot more refined. It is still a tribal challenge, which I don't like as much as if it were individual, but this time, both tribes share the same maze, which has a much sleeker, circular design. Instead of all of the tribe members running around on their own like total chaos, each tribe is belted together, similar to The Australian Outback's "Lock Step" challenge. Still not even close to the coolest mazes we will see on Survivor, but it's still definitely a really great challenge!

4/5

Sea Legs Endurance

I feel like this is one of the few challenges that originated in Marquesas that really stands out as being a Survivor classic. Whoever can balance on a floating platform the longest wins immunity. There are a few fun moments here, like Boston Rob getting eliminated after trying to splash someone, but there is also some stuff that bogs the challenge down in my opinion. First, the challenge seems to be a bit too hard, as it goes by really fast. Second, the ending is incredibly anticlimactic, as John accidently touches the platform with his hand, and that's it, challenge over.

3/5

Parang Swing Mental

Here it is— the challenge that completely flipped Survivor: Marquesas on its head. Let's start from the beginning though; it's the return of the "Survivor Quiz Show," and harkening back to Borneo, it's an individual challenge, hooray! As always, I appreciate how this challenge incorporates the season's location into the show. But everyone knows why this challenge truly stands out– the new format. Instead of earning points, getting a correct answer allows you to chop someone else's rope; when all 3 of your ropes are chopped, you are out of the challenge. It's somewhat similar to "Blue Plate Special" from Seasons 2 and 3, but to a much more extreme extent; you have to chop someone's rope, and there's no way you can claim that you didn't mean to do it; it is designed to indirectly reveal the pecking order, particularly to those in the majority alliance. This format, commonly referred to as the "coconut-chop" format, is a favorite among the Survivor community, and for good reason– it has the potential to completely shake up the game, and that's exactly what happens in Marquesas, as members of the majority Maraamu tribe, insulted to be the first eliminated from the challenge, flip over to the Rotus, culminating in a historic John blindside. It all sounds so perfect– but there's just one big problem- is this fair? I would argue that as a Reward challenge, this is fantastic. But as an Immunity Challenge? I have huge problems with that. Imagine the outcry that would have occurred if this was the challenge that ended Worlds Apart Mike's or Panama Terry's Immunity runs, prompting their immediate eliminations; it's just not fair, everyone should have at least a chance at winning Immunity, and that's not the case with this challenge, and that's the only thing preventing this being a 5/5.

4/5

High Stepping Miscellaneous Challenge

Here's the third oddball Marquesas challenge, and this is bad. Like, bad in the way that I can't believe this got past the Dream Team. Apparently stilt-offs are still common in Marquesas, so I appreciate the culture here, but wow, none of these people know how to use stilts! No one can stand for more than 3 seconds! And you're telling me that the goal of this challenge is to make the other person fall? Please! Good luck even getting close to the other person before one of you falls. I will say, I like this 1 on 1 format— in the tribal phase of the game. This just doesn't feel right.

1/5

Virtues of Fire Miscellaneous Challenge / Physical Race

Time for Marquesas' fourth oddball challenge— making popcorn. Well, really, this is a new adaptation of the "Fast Fire" challenge we have seen in every season so far. I've been pretty low on this challenge in previous seasons, but this is easily my favorite version. For one– NIGHT TIME CHALLENGE! It's especially refreshing after Africa didn't have any (outside of Fallen Comrades which occurred at Tribal). Visually, the challenge is beautiful. The extra bit about making a popcorn kernel pop is just goofy and I enjoy it.

3/5

Sands of Time Skill

This is this season's version of "Blue Plate Special," and I don't like this version as much. This time, each person has their own structure, and each round, the castaways rotate over to the next square to attack the next structure. This kind of removes the "reveal the pecking order" aspect of this challenge, since now you don't have a choice of whose structure you are attacking, but it's still a fun weapon challenge nonetheless. I should also add, we are using slingshots again like in The Australian Outback.

3/5

Marquesan Folklore Mental / Physical Race

FOLKLORE! NIGHT TIME CHALLENGE! It's back everyone, and this is the last time we are going to see it for quite a few seasons. I've already made it aggressively clear how much I love this challenge, so let's just dive right in. This time the story is about the fearsome, stealth-bombing warrior Keikahanui. Honestly, I have no idea how the producers learned this story; I tried researching it, and it took me a while to find even a single reference to this guy– it's real though, so props to the producers for digging deep on this one!

5/5

Fallen Comrades Mental

Just like in Africa, Fallen Comrades appears as our penultimate Immunity Challenge, just where it fits best. We see a great performance here by Vecepia, who anticipated the challenge from the start of the season. It's a good challenge, which makes it a shame that this is the last time we are going to see until 25 seasons later, newly formatted in San Juan del Sur.

3/5

Hard Idol Endurance

Once again, the iconic "Hands on a Hard Idol" appears as the final Immunity Challenge of the season. It's still a fantastic Final Immunity Challenge, but it does end a lot sooner than any of the other renditions of the challenge because after Kathy drops, a deal is promptly made between Neleh and Vecepia, ending the challenge straight away. I do like how they started the challenge later in the day so we get some night time action, that's a nice touch!

4/5