Survivor: David vs. Goliath episode 5: Immunity/Reward Challenge

For the first time on Survivor: David vs. Goliath, we got two challenges! One of them wasn’t anything special, but the other challenge certainly made up for it.

Early in episode 5 of Survivor: David vs. Goliath, we had our first separate Reward Challenge. The winning tribe receives a rooster and four egg-laying hens, and the second tribe that finishes wins a dozen eggs. Let’s just say this challenge was an excuse to give away chickens. Below is the video of the forgettable Reward Challenge.

The first part involves two members from each tribe using poles to knock off bean bags from a large over-laying net. Dan and John flew through it for Tiva, while Nick and Mike weren’t far behind for Jabeni. The only person who struggled on this part was Davie for Vuku, but Alec was able to help him out fairly quickly.

After gathering their sandbags, the castaways then moved onto the slingshot portion, where they had to hit only two targets. Although not stated, it appeared that the same tribe member wasn’t allowed to get both targets.

Despite being the last tribe to arrive at this stage, Alec nailed his target in one attempt, giving Vuku the lead. It took Angelina just a few tries to hit her target. Elizabeth then sunk Vuku’s last basket, winning chickens for their tribe.

After several attempts, Dan finally connected, sending John to the sling to try to pull off the comeback win. That didn’t last long as Nick was able to hit Jabeni’s final target, winning a dozen eggs and handing Tiva their first challenge loss.

Reward Challenge Rankings:

Creativity: 1/5

Difficulty: 1/5

Entertainment Value: 2/5

While the final part of the Immunity Challenge was more entertaining than anything in the Reward Challenge, it was Dan’s sneaky idol find that created a lot of the suspense. Here’s the video of the tense Immunity Challenge.

The first section of the Immunity Challenge was a unique but rather odd obstacle course. All three tribes got over the first obstacle no problem, with Natalie lagging behind a tad bit.

Then one member from each tribe climbed up a ladder to throw down a rope for the rest of their team to pull. This rope partially lowered a bridge, allowing a castaway to walk across, pulling a lever to secure the bridge. Once the bridge was completely down, all the tribe members could walk across it and then descend down a fireman’s pole.

The green tribe, Tiva, and the orange tribe, Vuku, both finished that portion at roughly the same time, while the purple tribe was farther behind. It came time for the final part; a castaway navigating a ball up a narrow, vertical snake maze. Three times since Survivor: World Apart this type of challenge has been used, but this time, instead of having to maneuver around holes, the castaways had to balance their ball along a thin piece of wood shaped like a snake.

John and Alec both made quick progress, but their ball dropped off the maze about halfway up.  Nick took the reigns for Jabeni, and he was progressing but at a very slow and steady rate. The rest of the tribe members were standing behind the maze solvers on a mat. Just a few feet behind this mat where Dan was standing, there was a wooden structure with the Hidden Immunity Idol inside of it. Dan was able to slyly back up, bend down, and grab the idol without anyone noticing!

Meanwhile, Christian voluntarily replaced John and began making up time fast. Alec stayed on for another attempt and was much more aggressive. Although Nick had the lead because the other two tribes dropped their ball, that didn’t last long due to his extremely slow pace. Both tribes caught up and they were all at the last part of the maze! Alec was able to sustain his fast pace and won immunity for Vuku. Nick was very close to the end, but Christian was able to get his ball in the top hole to bring Tiva to another victory.

Top Performers: Although it’s not really challenge related, Dan just found his second idol of the season! Now having an idol that no one knows about gives him a lot of leverage going forward. Alec continued to show his physical ability in both the Immunity and Reward Challenges. He has to continue to lift his team to victory, because if he doesn’t, Kara might be able to get the numbers to vote him out.

Christian yet again showcased his brilliance at puzzles and mazes, decisively coming in for John and winning it for the tribe. So far, Christian has been owning the show in terms of puzzles and his social game, which is allowing him to infiltrate the Goliath alliance. And for Nick, despite not being able to pull off the win, he still performed well and his tribe members appreciated that effort.

Weakest Links: No one performed terrible enough to put them directly on the chopping block. Lyrsa and Gabby are the only ones I could see being voted out partially due to their physical ability when it comes to challenges. At the same time, Alec’s strength in challenges is beginning to put an additional target on his back.

Immunity Challenge Rankings:

Creativity: 4/5

Difficulty: 4/5

Entertainment Value: 4.5/5