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[]
Episode | Challenge Type | Winners |
---|---|---|
Africa "Smoking Out the Snake" |
Individual Immunity | Ethan Zohn |
Palau "It Could All Backfire" |
Individual Immunity | Tom Westman |
Panama "Fight for Your Life or Eat" |
Individual Immunity | Terry Deitz |
Fiji "Are We Gonna Live on Exile Island?!" |
Team Reward/Immunity | Boo, Cassandra, Earl, Edgardo, Yau-Man |
Micronesia "I Promise..." |
Team Reward | Amanda, Erik, Jason, Ozzy |
Tocantins "The Ultimate Sacrifice" |
Individual Immunity | Stephen Fishbach |
One World "One World Is Out the Window" |
Tribal Reward | Salani |
Worlds Apart "Odd Woman Out" |
Tribal Immunity | Nagarote |
Kaôh Rōng "It's a 'Me' Game, Not a 'We' Game" |
Individual Immunity | Michele Fitzgerald |
Episode | Challenge Type | Winner |
---|---|---|
Australian Survivor (2016) Episode 13 |
Tribal Reward | Saanapu |
Australian Survivor (2016) Episode 20 |
Individual Immunity | Brooke Jowett |
Champions v Contenders (2018) Episode 20 |
Team Reward | Brian, Shane, Sharn |
Brains v Brawn Episode 16 |
Team Reward | Dani, Flick, Gerald, Laura, Wai |
Heroes v Villains Episode 12 |
Tribal Immunity | Heroes (Australia) |
Episode | Challenge Type | Winners |
---|---|---|
Survivor Québec (2023) Episode 27 |
Tribal Reward | Tiyaga |
Episode | Challenge Type | Winners |
---|---|---|
Philippines Episode 12 |
Individual Reward/Immunity | Tom Swartz |
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.
- Terry Deitz is the only person to win the challenge individually but not reach the Final Tribal Council.
- 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.
- However, she made the merge in a return appearance.
- Survivor: Africa is the only odd-numbered season that this challenge has been used in.