Survivor: David vs. Goliath episode 8: Immunity/Reward Challenges

We’ve seen both of these Survivor challenges before, but each one delivered tense, edge-of-your-seat thrills!

In yesterday’s episode of Survivor: David vs. Goliath, both the Reward and Immunity Challenges involved standing in the same spot with minimal movement. Sounds like it would be boring to watch, but it was quite the opposite. Let’s take a look at the Reward Challenge first.

For the Reward Challenge, the 12 castaways are split into two teams of six, holding up a total of eight sandbags above their heads. If they let a sandbag drop below their shoulders, a tub of water will fall handing that team a loss.

Every 15 minutes a member of each team will leave the challenge but their sandbag has to be carried by another castaway from their team. The last tribe standing wins the wonderful reward of yummy Fijian pizza! Gabby was one captain and selected John, Alison, Christian, Alec, and Nick. The other captain was Mike, who picked Dan, Davie, Kara, Carl, and Angelina.

As expected, Angelina and Gabby were the first two to bow out after fifteen minutes. After fifteen more minutes went by, Christian and Carl left the challenge as well. This is when the remaining castaways struggled the most, as four people had to lift eight bags.

Is was entertaining to watch the constant shuffling of sandbags to give someone at least a tiny break before having to take their bag back and hold up two again. Dan got a little too overconfident, as he attempted to balance three sandbags above his head with just one hand! He even began to taunt the other team… until one of his bags rolled off his hand, costing his team the Reward Challenge.

Although this appears to be a new challenge for Survivor US, almost the exact same format was used earlier this year in Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders. But why not rehash an Australian challenge that combines strength, determination and even a little strategy! It is a phenomenal idea and almost seems too good for a Reward Challenge.

Reward Challenge Rankings:

Creativity: 2.5/5

Difficulty: 4/5

Entertainment Value: 5/5

As Jeff mentioned, this Individual Immunity Challenge has only been done once before, which was in Game Changers and was won by Brad Culpepper. This challenge involves holding a buoy with two arm-length poles, all the while standing on a narrow perch. The last person that keeps their buoy from touching the ground while staying on their platform wins immunity.

Culpepper lasted over 20 minutes for his win, but it took a mere 60 seconds or so to knock out Kara, Christian, and Alison. Not too long after, Davie, John, and Gabby all fell off their thin platform.

Four more castaways were eliminated, leaving only Angelina and Dan, two people who at that point needed that necklace. After a tense battle full of dripping sweat and irritating flies, Angelina’s buoy slipped off and landed on her lap. Dan won his first Individual Immunity of the season!

The great thing about Survivor is that production doesn’t usually overkill us with their challenges. If they come up with a good idea, they’ll do it once every three to five seasons or so. Although simple, this unique challenge sets the castaways on a fairly neutral playing field and is exciting to watch.

Top performers and potential threats: With John now eliminated, Alec and Dan are the two clear physical threats, and they’ve both shown it in these challenges, especially with Dan winning immunity. It’s hard for me to see them getting far in this game when there are so many players that are conscious about big threats.

Kara surprisingly had an incredible effort in the Reward Challenge, as she was comfortably holding up two sandbags and was willing to hold three when someone needed relief! If she could get to the final six or five, she might be able to win her way to Final Tribal.

Christian and Gabby’s weak performance will help to mask their puzzle making skills, as it seems in the Individual Challenges puzzles are less frequent. Also, Angelina proved that she could succeed at endurance and balance type challenges, especially when her life is on the line.

Immunity Challenge Rankings:

Creativity: 2/5

Difficulty: 4/5

Entertainment Value: 4.5/5