Survivor Edge of Extinction: Best new challenge ideas of the season
For the most part, Edge of Extinction reused old Survivor challenges, but there were a few interesting ideas that we would love to see return.
In addition to being an overall exciting season, Survivor: David vs. Goliath introduced a variety of new challenge ideas. Production wasn’t able to replicate that same level of creativity in Survivor: Edge of Extinction as a majority of the challenges have been featured before, especially from the seasons set in Fiji. However, there were some unique portions within a few challenges that present interesting new concepts that are worth taking another look at.
Social Network (Episode 1 Immunity/Reward Challenge)
The first challenge of the season was one huge obstacle course ending with a massive block puzzle. It consisted of maneuvering through a tunnel of ropes, one member climbing up a tall rope to ring a bell, crossing a three-tiered balance beam and a passing through a rope bridge. My favorite part was the unique take on the balance beam.
It wasn’t simply the layers of the beam that made this portion interesting, but it was also the shortcut option. Once someone successfully crossed this tricky balance beam, they could then begin untieing several series of knots. That would eventually release a small pole which opens up the balance beam, making it much easier to cross. You can watch this challenge again here.
This opening challenge wasn’t entirely a new concept, as the giant slide puzzle was seen in South Pacific. That said, production did a great job of spicing up a traditional balance beam and obstacle course and served as a great opener.
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Beyond the Wheel (Episode 3 Immunity Challenge)
The third fight for immunity introduced probably the most obscure challenge idea of the season. Who would have thought of players pulling a boat by swimming? The first part of this challenge required four castaways in the water, tied to a boat, while the remaining three were inside the boat.
The tribe members in the water literally pulled the boat by swimming with all their might to reach the next platform. I’m not saying that this is the best challenge idea ever, but it’s such a unique take that required serious out of the box thinking from the production team. Here’s the link to the challenge video.
Running Down a Dream (Episode 13 Reward Challenge)
The penultimate episode of Survivor: Edge of Extinction showcased one of the coolest challenge segments I have ever seen. Each castaway has to toss a ball in an overhead trap. At the same time, they have to high step through a series of ropes to catch the ball at the other side of the trap before it hit the ground.
There are some Survivor challenges that look utterly painful, and there are others that make you want to jump off of the couch and try it. This was definitely the latter. It was only a small part out of a Reward Challenge, but it stole the show in a rather boring episode of challenges. You can have another look at this brilliant idea here.
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I’m sure there are a couple more new challenge concepts from Survivor: Edge of Extinction that I forgot about, but these three stood out the most. Hopefully production can find a way to reuse these effective challenges in the future.