‘Survivor’ Confirms Its All-Time Greatest Challenge Was Hidden for 26 YEARS

Over the last 26 years and 49 seasons, “Survivor” has tested its contestants’ ability to outwit, outplay and outlast in dozens of unique challenges.

Whether the show’s castaways were competing for an array of different rewards – from brand new cars to feasts catered by Applebees – or for safety in the game in Immunity challenges, the contests have required players to test every aspect of their “Survivor” mettle, from endurance and strength, to smarts and social savvy and everything in between.

Now, in anticipation of the upcoming premiere of “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans,” longtime challenge producers Christopher “Milhouse” Marchand and John Kirhoffer have provided fans with a definitive ranking of the 50 best challenges the longrunning reality competition series has ever seen, as well as revealing that the greatest-of-all-time challenge has only ever seen the light of day once in show’s unprecedented 26-year run on CBS.

‘Survivor’ Producers Identify Greatest-of-All-Time Challenge

CBS

Marchand and Kirhoffer discussed the legacy of “Survivor”s multitude of challenges in a new interview with Parade, revealing that while fan-favorite challenges like the “Survivor” auction, “Last Gasp” and “Hand on a Hard Idol” cracked the Top 50, they all fell short of the top spot, which ultimately went to a challenge known as “It’s the Long Way to the Top.”

Also known as “Crate Smash,” the challenge was first introduced in “Survivor: Caramoan,” and required pairs of tribe members to “make their way up a four-story tower. On each of the floors, the pairs will throw crates down the tower, breaking them to release sandbags or coconuts, which will be collected as ammunition. Once all four sets of crates have been thrown down, one pair will collect the ammunition, and the tribe will throw them at targets. The first tribe to hit all their targets wins.”

While the challenge was later replicated on international spin-offs of the franchise like “Survivor South Africa: Champions,” it has never been recycled for the flagship U.S. series.

According to Kirhoffer, the idea for the challenge came to him while reading a story in “Rolling Stone” magazine.

“They were talking about the heyday of Led Zeppelin and Van Halen,” revealed the challenge producer. “And that they would throw televisions, and they would throw anything out of hotel windows to watch them smash on the ground.”

Marchand explained that they wanted to replicate this same rebellious rock-and-roll spirit for the challenge.

“What we do is try to make these people look like rock stars,” Marchand added. “We give them every opportunity to look like a rock star all the time. And in that challenge, they couldn’t not look like a rock star.”

Top 5 ‘Survivor’ Challenges, According to Their Creators

The following challenges joined “It’s a Long Way to the Top”/”Crate Smash” in Kirhoffer and Marchand’s definitive list of the Top 5 “Survivor” challenges of all time:

5. “Always on the Run” a.k.a. “Giant Simmmotion”