House of Cards

House of Cards (also known as Teeter Tower) is a recurring skill and balance challenge in Survivor. It debuted in as the Final Immunity Challenge, and was reused in, , and. A variation of the challenge was introduced in and.

Rules
Each competitor begins the challenge with 150 to 200 wooden tiles. Using the tiles, they must build a house of cards up to certain height. The first person to reach this target height would win. However, if there is a specified time limit, the person with the tallest house of cards when time expires would win.

The Teeter Tower variant complicates the challenge by requiring contestants to build the house of cards with one hand, while using the other hand to steady a platform on which the tower is built.

History
This challenge was first used in  as the Final Immunity Challenge. In this case, each person had 200 tiles and had 30 minutes to reach ten feet. The person who reached ten foot mark first or whoever had the tallest house of cards after the time was up would win immunity and a spot in the finals. Bob Crowley struggled in the challenge, unable to build a stable house of cards. Sugar Kiper built a tall house of cards, but its instability caused it to fall at the last minute. Matty Whitmore built a stable house of cards seven feet tall. In the end, Susie Smith built the tallest house of cards, at eight feet tall, within 30 minutes and won immunity.

This challenge later reused in  as an Immunity Challenge. In this case, there was no time limit, and contestants had 150 tiles. Russell Hantz and Jerri Manthey got an early lead and it ultimately came to down them. In the end, Jerri edged out Russell when he ran out of cards in his hand and she won immunity.

This challenge was also used in  as a duel between Matthew Elrod, Mike Chiesl, and David Murphy. The rules for that duel was that contestants had 150 tiles to build an eight foot tall house of cards. Mike had a steady house of cards with Matt right behind him. Mike's house of cards however, threatened to collapse at the eight foot mark, allowing Matt to finish first. Mike was able to finish his house of cards, eliminating David from the competition. As soon as Mike was finished, his house fell down immediately.

A small variation of this challenge was also used in. Also known as Teeter Tower, the final five would place their hand on a very uneasy balance beam that would flatten a table. While holding the balance beam down, the contestants would build a house of cards. Contestants Ozzy Lusth and Sophie Clarke had to rebuild their houses twice due to their usage of all tiles. Frustrated, Sophie attempted to convince Albert Destrade into dropping his stack, which he refused to. Eventually, Ozzy caught up to him and made it into the Final Four.

The Teeter Tower variant reappeared in. This was originally a Immunity Challenge, but it was changed to a Reward Challenge due to Erik Reichenbach's evacuation. After many attempts and the towers falling down repeatedly, John Cochran was able to reach the target and win a advantage to the Final Immunity Challenge.

In, the challenge was used as a Redemption Island duel. The contestants had to stack a tower eight feel high in thirty minutes. If after 30 minutes the contestants couldn't stack a tower 8 feet high, the winner would be whoever had the highest tower. Laura Morett completed her house of cards after 27 minutes to come in first. Caleb Bankston was leading against Tina Wesson by almost 2 feet as time was expiring, but with seconds left to go, his tower collapsed and Tina, stopped building, in fear of her tower also collapsing. Tina counted the time until the challenge ended, and when the time ran out, Caleb ended up being eliminated.

Trivia

 * 4 women and 4 men have won this challenge.
 * and  are the only times this challenge has been won by more than one person.
 * This challenge is the first - and only - Individual Immunity Challenge that three-time returning player, Jerri Manthey has won.
 * This marked the first time a player who competed in three seasons won his or her first immunity on his or her third season.
 * Jonathan Penner would be the second player to accomplish this feat in the episode, Dead Man Walking of.
 * The challenge appeared in all seasons to feature the Redemption Island twist:, and.
 * The only time the challenge wasn't won by multiple people, a post merge duel, or a duel at all, was in South Pacific.
 * When this challenge was used as Teeter Tower, only returning players have won.
 * The challenge Teeter Tower was first used in South Pacific.
 * In Caramoan, returning players John Cochran and Dawn Meehan from South Pacific competed in it, but in their original season (South Pacific) they did not.
 * Every time the original variant was used, a woman won if one was participating. Conversely, A man won every time the Teeter Tower Variant was used.
 * This challenge, along with Snag, Drag & Bag and Jail Break are the only challenges to appear in every season featuring Redemption Island.
 * It is the only one of the three to not appear as a duel in all of these seasons.