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Box Your Mind (also known as R.A.M., Marine Memory, River Rats, Bai Bai, Propellerheads, Shut Your Trap, Memory Lane, Running the Numbers, and Paddle Wars) is a recurring memory challenge on Survivor.

Rules[]

The castaways are given a series of symbols or items that they must memorize and then replicate at their station. The first person or team to correctly reproduce all their symbols wins (or scores a point for their tribe in One World and in Worlds Apart).

History[]

United States[]

The challenge debuted in Survivor: Africa, where the final nine castaways had 30 seconds to look at a board of 9 items. They would then run out and collect the items and correctly place them. In the final round, Lex van den Berghe found five items, Brandon Quinton and Tom Buchanan each found six items, and Ethan Zohn came out on top with eight items, winning him individual immunity.

In Survivor: Palau, the final five battled it out by traversing a complicated obstacle course. Tom won the challenge, earning himself immunity.

In Survivor: Panama, the powerful Casaya Alliance chose to sit out and eat, with only Aras Baskauskas competing against Sally Schumann and Terry Deitz. For the third consecutive time, Terry won immunity.

In Survivor: Fiji, the newly merged Bula Bula tribe was randomly split into two teams of 5 for the first post-merge Immunity Challenge. The teams had to memorize a seven-symbol shape on a mask design, then row down a river, collecting three puzzle bags along the way, to the finish platform. At the finish platform, two players assembled the 12 pieces to form six of the seven symbols and place them in the right places on their team's replica of the mask. The team of Boo Bernis, Cassandra Franklin, Earl Cole, Edgardo Rivera, and Yau-Man Chan won reward and immunity.

In Survivor: Micronesia, one at a time, a castaway from each team would swim out to a multi-level net tunnel that they would have to crawl through. After another short swim, they would reach a floating platform that contained a wall with a set of Micronesian symbols laid out in a pyramid shape. The castaway would then return to the starting position and attempt to replicate the pattern of symbols onshore. The first team to match the symbols onshore with the pattern on the platform would win. The team of Amanda Kimmel, Erik Reichenbach, Jason Siska, and Ozzy Lusth won the challenge.

In Survivor: Tocantins, the contestants would have to traverse an obstacle course to a grid of ten rotating mathematical symbols. They must memorize the symbols and run back to their solving stations and use the symbols to solve a math equation. Stephen Fishbach won the challenge for immunity.

In Survivor: One World, Salani won in a clean sweep against their male rivals Manono, winning reward and their first challenge of the season.

In Survivor: Worlds Apart, Nagarote managed to win in a 3-2 victory over Escameca after Escameca members Rodney Lavoie Jr. and Mike Holloway conspired to throw the challenge in order to vote out Joe Anglim

In Survivor: Kaôh Rōng, the challenge reappeared as the final seven Immunity Challenge. The castaways had to race out to a platform in the ocean to memorize a series of animal symbols and numbers. They then had to return to their stations to work out their numbers such that they correspond with the animals. They had to turn their wheel according to the numerical instructions to find the section with the key that unlocked a box. The box, when unlocked, held puzzle pieces which had to be put together to solve the word Blindsided. Michele Fitzgerald won the challenge after a close race with Julia Sokolowski.

Australia[]

The challenge made its first appearance as a tribal Reward Challenge in Australian Survivor (2016). Saanapu continued their domination in tribal challenges, extending their streak of victories by winning this challenge against the demoralized Vavau tribe.

The challenge appeared as a Reward Challenge in Brains v Brawn. The Fire tribe was divided into two teams of five, with one member of each team facing off in each round. The competing team members started on a pontoon, from which they would swim out onto another pontoon. There, they would hop on a raft and pull themselves along a rope to the next pontoon, where they will memorize a series of symbols. Hayley Leake beat Laura Wells in the first round to score a point for the white team, but Flick Palmateer proceeded to defeat Emmett Pugh and Dani Beale beat Cara Atchison in the next two rounds to win the green team a trip to the Outback Pub.

The challenge was reused as a tribal Immunity Challenge in Heroes v Villains. The Villains successfully conspired to throw the challenge to vote out tribe pariah Simon Mee, allowing the Heroes to easily clinch the victory.

Quebec[]

South Africa[]

In Philippines, the Memory Lane format of the challenge from Australian Survivor (2016) was used as a combined individual Reward and Immunity Challenge. Werner Joubert was the first person to get his blocks stacked, but he put his bird in the wrong orientation. This allowed Tom Swartz to swoop in and win his first individual challenge and lunch at the Survivor restaurant.

Winners[]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Michele Fitzgerald is the only female to have won the challenge individually.
  • Each individual winner of this challenge has always made it to the finale of their respective season and would return for an all-returnees season.
  • Every winning team/tribe has always contained the season's runner-up.
  • Jason Siska was the only person to win the challenge in Micronesia, but not return for a later season.
  • Monica Culpepper is the only person to win the challenge without making it to the merge.
  • Survivor: Africa is the only odd-numbered season that this challenge has been used in.

References[]

Recurring Challenges
A Bit Dinghy · A Bit Tipsy · A Crate Idea · A Leg Up · A Numbers Game · Air Raid · Angry Chair · Around the Bend · Back in Slack · Balancing Point · Ballin' A Jack · Barrel Bridge · Barrel of Monkeys · Basket Brawl · Better Homes and Island Living · Beyond the Wheel · Blind Leading the Blind · Blue Lagoon Bustle · Blue Plate Special · Boats, Brains & Brawn · Bone to Pick · Boulder Smash · Bow Diddley · Box Your Mind · Braille Maze · Broken China · Buggin' Out · Build It Up, Break It Down · Butch Cassidy · By Any Means Necessary · By the Numbers · Cage Against the Machine · Can't Buoy Me Love · Cannonball Run · Caught in the Web · Cell Block Sea · Challenge Pitch · Chief's Choice · Chimney Sweep · Chinese Zodiac Symbols · Cling Ons · Choose Your Weapon · Coconut Juice · Crate Escape · Crocodile Rock · Crosswalk · Cube Crisis · Dear Liza · Dive Masters · Dizzy Gillespie · Dizzy Miss Lizzy · Domino Effect · Draggin' the Dragon · Dragging the River · Drop A Log · Drum Roll · Dulcimer Stomp · End of the Line · EOC · Eve 6 · Fallen Comrades · Fast Fire · Faulty Towers · Fauxconut Bowling · Fire and Water · Fire Fighter · Fire Starter · Flips, Flops, & Flags · Float Your Boat · Floating Puzzle · Game of Bridge · Gatecrasher · Get a Grip · Get Barreled · Get Hooked · Get Your Goat · Gimme Three Steps · Great Escape Run · Hands on a Hard Idol · Hear About It Ladder · Hot Pursuit · House of Cards · House of the Holey · Idol Hands · Jail Break · Jump Shot · Jungle Relay · Kamikaze · Keel Hauling · Keep It Up · Keep on Your Toes · Kenny Log-Ins · Kicking and Screaming · Kitty Litter · Know Your Loved One · Ladder Tree Golf · Last Gasp · Letter Hunt · Lock, Load and Light · Lock Step · Log Jam · Losing Face · Mask Match · Matchmaker · Matt Finish · Mayan Pizza · Memory · Mud Pack · Mud Slide · Muddy Waters · New School · New Tribe Member · Nut Bucket · O-Black Water · Odd Shaped Bottoms · Operation Balance Build · Out on a Limb · Over-Extended · Paddle Battle · Paddle Out · Perch · Pilfering Pirates · Piranha Feast · Pole Dancing · Pot Head · Push Me, Pull You · Puzzle Dig · Q and A · Quest for Fire · Race to Shore · Ram-Ball On · Rescue Mission · Rice Race · Rise and Shrine · Rock Bottom · Rock n' Roll · Rock the Boat · Rod Screw-It · Roll With It · Roller Ball · Rung O Star · Running Down a Dream · Sacrificial Lamb · Schmergen Brawl · Sea Crates · Sea Legs · Sea Salvage · Shipwrecked · Shoot 'n' Shuffle · Shooting Gallery · Shoulder the Load · Simmotion · Slip, Slide & Score · Slither Me Timbers · Smash and Grab · Snag, Drag and Bag · Snake in the Grass · Snake Island Relay · SOS Signal · Spear-it Hunt · Spit It Out · Splash Back · Sprung a Leak · Squared Off · Squatty Probst · Stacked Up · Stairway to Heaven · Stairway to the Stars · Star Man · Station By Station · Step on Up · Stomp-ede · Strung Out · Sumo at Sea · Survivor Auction · Survivor History · Survivor Pentathlon · Survivor Quiz Show · Swahili Scramble · Swing Break · Tangled Up · Temple Transfer · The Ball Drop · The Cruel Sea · The Game is Afoot · The Gauntlet · The Home Stretch · The Maze · The Obstacle Course · This Much · Thrash, Splash & Bash · TLP O-Course · Tomb Raider · Total Recall · Troubled Water · Uncomfortably Numb · United We Stand · Vampire Bats · Vertically Challenged · Vertigo · Wall to Wall · Well Stacked · What-er Drag · When It Rains, It Pours · Wicker Flicker · Will It Go Round · Witch Hunt · Wrist Assured · Yank Your Hank · You Shook Me
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