Fire Starter Physical Race / Skill / Miscellanious Challenge

Survivor: Vanuatu kicks off with a very memorable challenge, although it's worth noting that a lot of what makes this challenge stand out so much today is in retrospect- Chris goes from certain elimination due to his poor performance in this challenge to winning the show is an awesome story, but I'm going to try and avoid being results-oriented. The challenge begins with a new obstacle, although quite similar to the army crawl from previous seasons, this "mud crawl" obstacle is simple but fun. The second stage of the challenge is straight from Survivor: Marquesas- it's a table maze. We then get what is likely the most difficult balance beam obstacle to be seen on the show thus far, and the challenge ends with using matches to build a fire. The men take the lead early on, but at the balance beam section, Chris struggles immensely, and the women are able to finish the challenge before Chris is ever able to cross it. You really feel bad for him while watching this; there's one part where the music gets really dramatic like he is about to finally makes it, but nope, he just falls again. Chris is fantastic at Survivor, so he is able to survive this blunder, and so concludes a memorable but pretty typical Survivor challenge.

3/5

Four On The Floor Physical Race / Mental

Here is this season's version of Blind Leading the Blind, and once again, the challenge team is trying something new. This time, everyone is divided into groups of two, and each pair is tied together. Also, for the first time, the course includes a water section, which is something I really like in these challenges. Scout, the caller for her tribe, makes the hilarious challenge mistake of the season when she forgets a puzzle piece in the water, even after Eliza asks her if there are any more pieces in the water, and proceeds to instruct her tribe to take off their blindfolds. This results in Jeff yelling at Scout and pointing the puzzle piece, very obviously still out in the water. This makes Eliza really annoyed, and whenever Eliza is frustrated about something, it's great television. Unsurprisingly, the men win this challenge.

3/5

Great Escape Run Skill / Physical Race / Mental

This challenge is going to introduce several, now common Survivor obstacles for the first time. The challenge is also divided into two parts, the first half is for Reward, and the second half is for Individual Immunity. Let's start with the first half. Essentially, there are three cage walls, and a different task has to be completed to move past each one. The first wall is quite simple- it's just untying knots. The second wall is where things get interesting; tribe members have to throw grappling hooks to try and grab onto rings which have keys, and drag them back to the cage. I've always found this obstacle to be super engaging; it's a simple task but it requires a lot of precision, and it's so easy to be so close but end up missing. At one point, Jeff asks Scout if she's going to throw the grappling hook or "dance with it-" I love when Jeff is sassy for no reason. The third wall is a unique puzzle of interlocking poles; it's tricky to describe, so I'll just say, while I admire the creativity, I don't think this portion translates very well to TV. 

So that's it for the first half, now let's talk about the individual portion of the challenge. Each person has to dig up ladder rungs from the sand, and then use them to build a ladder to climb. Now, this is different from the "Step On Up" challenge from Thailand, because there, you were making a staircase out of puzzle pieces. Here, you are making a ladder, where certain rungs only fit into certain places and you have to figure out where each rung belongs. It's a decent challenge but nothing incredibly exciting. I would describe this entire 2-part challenge as being a fun showcase of new, albeit mostly unspectacular ideas.

3/5

Tribal Tiles Mental

This is a simple but interesting puzzle- there are four different symbols, and each symbol comes in four colors. You have to move the tiles around so that none of the same colors or symbols are in the same column or row. It sounds really hard... The men just completely fall apart during this challenge, which can be kind of amusing to watch, but I've never found these giant puzzle challenges to ever be that engaging to watch- it was still good though.

2/5

Outwit, Outplay, Outrig Physical Race

This is a pretty creative challenge that involves gathering canoe parts to ultimately use to paddle out into the ocean to bring a flag back to shore. There are three stations in the jungle with parts that need to be retrieved, each station a bit further out than the last. One pair from each tribe is responsible for each station, and the challenge plays out like a relay race. The challenge begins pretty close, but Lopevi's lead becomes more and more apparent until they eventually win.

3/5

Strung Out Physical Race / Mental

I might be alone in this, but this is one of my favorite Survivor challenges. First of all, it's an incredibly difficult challenge, in which a lot of stamina is required to succeed. Second, it's very creative and every time I watch it, I'm always just thinking "man, that's such a cool idea!" Essentially, each tribe starts out on a platform in the water, near a rope that is threaded through a whole bunch of obstacles all the way back to the shore. Each tribe member has to push a tiki segment, looped on one end of the rope, all along the rope until it gets back to the shore. This is very hard because it means you have to move yourself through all of the obstacles, including going up and over a wall and around a boat. Once all of the tiki segments are back at the shore, the tiki puzzle is assembled. This challenge will appear a couple more times on the show, and I will continue to love it each and every time.

5/5

Shoot Your Way Home Skill

This is an interesting "skill" challenge; each tribe has a grid of tiles, and tribe members have to use slingshots in order to break the tiles. The entire thing is very unremarkable, but it does add some variety into this season's pre-merge challenges.

2/5

Jumper Physical Race

The first Individual Immunity Challenge of the season uses a new idea that gets repetitive pretty quickly in my opinion. The format is very similar to Keel Hauling from Survivor: Pearl Islands- there are two heats, each involving 5 Survivors, and the winners of those two heats face off in a final round. This format is okay, but I don't find the challenge itself to be very exciting. All you do is swim out, climb a tower, walk across a balance beam to grab a flag, bring it back, and repeat three times. It's definitely a physically exhausting challenge though, which I do appreciate.

2/5

Memory Mosaic Mental

This is a very different type of challenge- Jeff presents everyone a mosaic puzzle to memorize, which they will then be given a set amount of time to recreate exactly on their own puzzle boards. Anyone who fails to complete the task is eliminated. I think stuff like this is pretty interesting, and it wouldn't at all surprise me to learn that I'm higher on this challenge than most people. But when it comes to mental challenges in Survivor, I like ones like this where the audience can sort of play along with the contestants. Also, it's good to have a little variety in the types of challenges that appear on the show.

3/5

Get a Grip Endurance

Out of all of the challenges that first appeared in Survivor: Vanuatu, there's no question that this is the most famous of all. It's for good reason too- it's another one of those challenges that's so simple- but extremely difficult. Everyone holds onto a pole, last person still hanging on wins. It doesn't take long for everyone to fall off, leaving Twila as the first ever person to win this legendary Immunity Challenge.

4/5

Love is Blind Physical Race / Mental

Just like in Survivor: Thailand, the Loved Ones return to play in the episode's Immunity Challenge along with the Survivors. This challenge is kind of just another variant of Blind Leading the Blind; the Survivors act as the callers for their Loved Ones who have to retrieve three bags of puzzle pieces, which they then use to assist their partner in a puzzle. It's pretty enjoyable to watch, especially with Eliza's loved one seemingly refusing to listen to what she has to say. When it gets down to the puzzle, there is a lot of emotion, because Chris is certain that he needs to win or else he is to be voted out that night, and even though the challenge is very close, Chris comes out short. (Spoiler alert, he doesn't get voted out!)

3/5

Island Hopping Skill

We saw a shuffleboard challenge in Survivor: The Amazon, and this challenge is quite similar, with a few very interesting changes that, in my opinion, make it a much more interesting challenge. I actually kind of forgot about this before going back and looking at all of these challenges, but something that makes this version of Survivor Shuffleboard unique is that instead of trying to see who can land a puck closest to the center when the game is over (which I found to be very unfair as whoever goes last has a huge advantage), in this version, whoever has the most pucks on any of the islands on the board wins. I think it's a really neat change, and it adds a lot more strategy to the challenge. On top of that, each of the islands have a "volcano," that is, a small indenture for which the Survivors can aim, landing a puck there guaranteeing it will not be knocked out for the remainder of the game- another really cool addition. I actually really like this version of Survivor Shuffleboard!

3/5

Warrior Mental / Physical Race

SURVIVOR FOLKLORE!!! It's been a while since we've seen this (fantastic) challenge (that is one of the best challenges on the show), so the fact that it finally reappears on this season makes it even more exciting. This time, Jeff tells the Survivors a rather gruesome story about the Melanesian chief, Roy Mata. Roy Mata conquered the land of Vanuatu and sought to bring peace to the land, which he did, but fifteen years later, he was murdered by his brother. The locals were afraid of the power of Roy Mata's spirit, so they took his body and buried it in a remote location, along with his 18 assistant chiefs, all of their wives, and all of his wives. The men were drugged to relaxation before being buried alive, but the women were strangled to death... No one visited the land again for seven centuries- in the finale episode, it is revealed that the island Roy Mata was buried on was the island the Survivors had seen in the distance during the entire season, that revelation being one of my all time favorite Survivor moments. The challenge also has another unique twist that I find to be pretty interesting- instead of simply reading the question and picking the answer, you have to open a box and solve a small puzzle in the box' lid to reveal the question. Obviously, when you close the box, the puzzle pieces fall out which means the next person to visit that station has to reassemble the puzzle. It's a nice little idea! Anyway, I think I better end it here or else I'll just keep rambling on about how much I love Survivor Folklore.

5/5

Snakes & Ladders Physical Race / Mental

We've seen many mazes on Survivor, both before and after this season. However, they've only done this once- That's a tragedy. It's a tragedy because the "vertical maze" of Survivor: Vanuatu - Islands of Fire is one of the coolest challenges to ever appear on Survivor. I don't even have to explain anything with this one- anyone can tell, just by looking at it, that this is something special. PLEASE John Kirhoffer, DO THIS AGAIN!

5/5

Ready, Aim, Don't Fire Endurance

Endurance-based Final Immunity Challenge? Check. Ties into Ni-Vanuatu culture? Check. Really awesome location? Check. The underdog wins in the end? Check!!! That's Vanuatu's fantastic final Immunity Challenge for you- much luck the previous Immunity Challenge, they have only done this one time, which actually surprises me, because it looks simple enough to set up and could be a great challenge to use when there are still a lot of players left in the game. Essentially, everyone has these giant bows, and they have to pull back on the bow, entering the "warrior pose," and hold that position while standing barefoot on logs for as long as they can. If they release the tension, the arrow will pierce through the white disc, and you're out. After over an hour, Chris wins the challenge, and I just really love this one. And it's definitely not just because of the challenge design, it's all of the other stuff I mentioned too. It is such a clever way to incorporate culture into the final challenge of the season, and again, the scenery here is stunning. It's some sort of lagoon-like setting like nothing we had previously seen on the season, and it makes me quite happy.

5/5