‘Survivor’ Makes A Decision That Has Never Been Made Before

survivor 43 episode 11 challenge
Nick Davis

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR SURVIVOR SEASON 43, EPISODE 11:

Survivor is no stranger to breaking its own records and always upping the bar every season. Season 43 has generally been slow on this front, but this most recent episode is changing that. The season now officially has a moment that we have never seen before in the history of the show. The moment involves the brutal, old-school challenge that was the immunity challenge of the episode. Jeff Probst has spoken with Entertainment Weekly about the decision and why it had to be made.

A New Landmark For The Show

The immunity challenge for the episode involves all of the players being underneath a steel grate in the ocean. As the ocean’s tide rises, things get very claustrophobic as each swell gives them less and less of an ability to breathe. This challenge has been run a number of times in the past, and always to viscerally unnerving results. It’s a brutal one, to say the least. So no one was expecting not just one, but two players to last under those conditions for hours. So long, in fact, that they actually outlasted the high tide for the first time in the challenge’s history. This gave the production team an incredibly tough decision.

survivor jeff probst
survivor jeff probst

“I looked across the ocean to our challenge team monitoring from a barge. It was clear, they were as surprised as I was. That was when we all started to realize that Karla and Owen may have just outlasted our challenge. Now it was us, the producers, who were going to have to adapt. After a moment of considering options, I very subtly held up two fingers to the challenge team. They gave me an equally subtle nod in agreement. We had our new plan. Both players would win immunity,” said Jeff Probst about the historic decision.

survivor 43 karla and owen
Karla and Owen, the first players to outlast the tide on The Last Gasp challenge

This is the first time ever that the winner of a challenge has been expanded to multiple people due to unforeseen circumstances. The circumstances were that everyone thought this challenge is just too brutal for anyone to truly outlast the tide. Anyone who’s seen the challenge knows how much mental dexterity and breath-holding ability you need to have to accomplish something like this. Hats off to Owen and Karla.

Survivor 43 Is Boiling

What began as a very standard-feeling season is shaping up to be something very interesting. Season 43 is gaining more and more notable moments with each episode. The remaining players are all solid and seem to each have a good shot at making it to the end and pulling out a win. So it’s truly a nail-biter to see each week which player will bite the bullet. Let’s hope it maintains that level of unpredictability.

New episodes of Survivor Season 43 are still coming every Wednesday, but the finale is almost here.

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