Survivor: Exile Island Ep. 3 - "Crazy Fights, Snake Dinners"

So … he survived the wilds of the coast of Costa Rica. But will he ever survive the embarassment of having the whole world know he wears Scooby Doo boxer shorts? (Even though I think that’s kind of hot.)

I was surprised by the reaction to this challenge in my own household. I’m of the “they signed four inches thick contracts to get here, they knew what they were in for” opinion, so I simply winced my way through it. When replaying it for Mr. singular, he was appalled! Genuinely disturbed by what he saw, and called it lawsuit bait. Where I can see how easy it would be to cause some serious damage, I simply wasn’t that concerned for them. Of course, to me they’re simply media whores that are dancing for my amusement, so I’m not all that invested in their safety.
I did like the snake - and the hitchhiking baby monkey! (Was that last week or this week?) The scenery and local wildlife is one of my favorite parts of this show. I wonder if InShane could fit into that snake’s big mouth? I’d have to burn that onto a DVD and play it on a consistent loop…

My thought on their safety is there have been many more challenges where they were in far greater danger. In this challenge, the pain was noticeable, but there have been many challenges where they could fall and crack their skull open.

I look at each challenge in terms of how much fun my friends and I would have, were we the contestants. The answer this time? A lot. As middleman said, I don’t think this challenge was any more dangerous to life or limb than the average challenge. Yes, it’s a little unfair that Giant Bobby was up against Little Ruth Marie, but all’s fair in love and Survivor.

Seriously–stop sharing my brain, 'kay?

That seems to be one of the odd gray areas in the game. We’ve heard from Probst:

  1. No hitting. Hitting = going home, no questions asked. Within the context of this violent challenge, a higher level of contact is expected (like the one on Pulau where they were pushing each other off the rafts with big pillows), but actually hauling off and socking somebody is a ticket home.

  2. The local laws must hold. I don’t know if the beach that All Stars was on was a nude beach, but if it wasn’t, Hatch should have been arrested.

  3. In All Stars, when they had the balance beam competition where people had to push past each other and Hatch ran the competition naked, the lady he rubbed up against said she had been assaulted, with the point being that if he had done that on a New York city bus, Hatch would be in jail. I have to assume that the laws in whatever country All Stars was filmed would be at least that harsh, but, so far as I know, there was no legal action.

So, they’ve got some rules, but they don’t always follow them, particularly if it makes for better TV, fewer lawsuits, and less embarrassment.

I think he even mentioned that his wife gave them to him - they had hearts on them as well.

That reward challenge would be a BLAST to play.

The first time there was ever a challenge that had “contact zones”, one of my friends decided then and there that she was going to outline contact zones in my living room, and any two people who happened to be inside at once would have to fight to the death. Or at least, fight to the “uncle.” :slight_smile: It made parties more interesting, I’ll tell you that.

They had a similar challenge in Thailland, where they had to knock their opponent off a beam over the water. That was the one where Idiot Robbbb famously proclaimed, “We only lost because of the rules, man!”
After he knocked Clay in by grabbing him around the neck (IIRC), which was against the rules.