Survivor Winners at War episode 2: Immunity Challenge

Yesterday’s episode of Survivor: Winners at War featured the first puzzle of the season, which proved to be a decisive element in the Immunity Challenge.

This article discusses the events from episode 2 of Survivor: Winners at War. If you haven’t seen it yet, go watch it first!

Some challenges are exciting because of the results, while others are made memorable by events not directly related to the challenge itself. When emotions and rivalries are brought into an Immunity Challenge, it adds another element to the episode. In last night’s action, it was clear that Boston Rob was pissed at Dakal for voting out Amber, you just saw it in his eyes. Although the challenge wasn’t anything special, Rob’s reaction and the anger in his eyes made it a little more entertaining.

Immunity Challenge Overview

Seven tribe members were tasked with rolling a cart through an obstacle course. Along the way, there are three stations where one player has to climb up a ladder to reach a key. The key releases a heavy chest that has to be placed on the cart. After three chests are collected, the tribes will have to get past a wall.

The cart has to be disassembled to fit through narrow openings, while the castaways must go up and over the wall to progress. Once on the other side, the tribes will reassemble their cart and roll it through a sandpit to the puzzle phase. The first tribe to finish their circular dragon puzzle will win tribal immunity plus an array of spices. You can have another look at this challenge below.

Both tribes did a great job on the first half of the obstacle course, as Tyson for Dakal and Ben for Sele made quick work of reaching their keys. Dakal built up a decent lead when they were able to reassemble their cart quickly and bulldozer their heavy cart through the sandpit. Whereas, Sele struggled in rebuilding their cart and getting it past that final obstacle.

Sandra and Sophie took advantage of their lead by putting together their first of four puzzle sections before Boston Rob and Denise got their first pieces in. However, Denise and Rob caught up quickly, completing their first section before Sandra and Sophie started on their second. You could see there was an extra fire burning in Rob to win this challenge, but that might have ended up hurting him.

Instead of continuing to put the pieces in the puzzle sections, Rob and Denise decided to sort them on the table first. As Sophie and Sandra kept on inserting more and more pieces, the hope of Sele’s sorting idea turning into a successful plan dwindled. When they finally tried to put their puzzle together, they were lost. Sophie and Sandra continued their progress, giving Dakal their second Tribal Immunity victory of the season.

Challenge Takeaways

This is the third time this challenge has appeared on the show. The first time was in Cagayan, where both Tony and Sarah lost. Maybe they offered valuable insight into this challenge that helped their tribe? Jeremy also took part in this challenge in Cambodia, where he lost as well. Even though it isn’t a new idea, it’s one of the more creative ways to incorporate the typical obstacle course capped by a puzzle format.

One trend we saw continue from last week’s episode is the superior physical strength from the Dakal tribe. They simply have a stronger group of players, and that became evident when each tribe had to push their carts through that sandpit. I would continue to expect Dakal to dominate in any physical parts of challenges.

As for the puzzle, Boston Rob tried to go big with his unorthodox strategy and it didn’t land. That’s what can happen when you overthink in Survivor. Maybe even the frustration of not seeing his wife there frazzled him. It doesn’t change the fact that he is still a strong challenge performer. Sophie and Sandra proved their puzzle-solving skills, but besides that, there weren’t any standout performances.

Immunity Challenge Rankings:

Creativity: 2/5

Difficulty: 3/5

Entertainment Value: 2/5