Muddy Waters (also known as Shakedown Street) is a challenge in Survivor. It premiered in Survivor: Philippines and reappeared in Survivor: Caramoan and Survivor: San Juan del Sur.
Rules[]
The contestants are divided into equal teams. One at a time, they race through an obstacle course. They crawl under a low cage (or walk across a series of balance beams), clamber up a steep slope and slide down into a mud pit. They then search for a bag of balls buried in a designated mud pit. Upon retrieving the bag of balls, the contestant crawls under a wooden bar by digging through a pit of rice. Upon reaching the mat, the next teammate may begin the course. Once all teammates have reached the end, the balls must be thrown into a narrow tube about as high as a basketball hoop. The first team to sink all their balls into the tube wins the challenge.
In Survivor: San Juan del Sur each tribe had to race to dig up a bag buried in the sand, which contained two keys. They had then to crawl through the mud and use one of the keys to open a gate. The next step was to shake a basket to release sandbags. Once a tribe had collected all their sandbags, two tribe members had to attempt to toss those sandbags onto wobbly targets.
History[]
United States[]
This challenge debuted in Philippines as a Reward Challenge. Jonathan Penner pioneered the strategy of finding all the ball-bags in the mudpit and placing them in a corner, allowing the contestants that followed to simply grab a bag of balls on their way through. The strategy gave his team a strong lead, and Penner, Carter Williams, Denise Stapley, and Malcolm Freberg won the challenge, winning a trip to a local Filipino village where they delivered school supplies and various toys, and enjoyed a feast.
The challenge reappeared in Caramoan, again as a Reward Challenge. Malcolm Freberg utilized Penner's successful strategy from the previous season to find all ball-bags in one go. However, the opposing team adopted the strategy partway through the challenge, and Reynold Toepfer found all the bags first. This gave Reynold, John Cochran, Dawn Meehan, Erik Reichenbach, and Phillip Sheppard a lead, and they won the challenge, winning a trip to a resort for lunch.
In San Juan del Sur, Coyopa had trouble digging for their keys, and Hunahpu held onto their early lead to land ten sandbags on the platform before Coyopa even threw one, sending Coyopa back to Tribal Council.
South Africa[]
In Philippines, the challenge was used as the Reward Challenge immediately following the tribe expansion. Werner Joubert helped Luzon to place first in the challenge and win a new beach and shelter, while Marthunis Oosthuizen followed closely behind to give the new Mindanao tribe a second-place finish.
Winners[]
| Episode | Challenge Type | Winners |
|---|---|---|
| Philippines "Little Miss Perfect" |
Team Reward |     Carter, Denise, Jonathan, Malcolm |
| Caramoan "Zipping Over the Cuckoo's Nest" |
Team Reward |      Cochran, Dawn, Erik, Phillip, Reynold |
| San Juan del Sur "Blood Is Blood" |
Tribal Immunity |        Hunahpu |
| Episode | Challenge Type | Winners |
|---|---|---|
| Survivor Québec (2024) Episode 27 |
Tribal Reward |        Bayani |
| Episode | Challenge Type | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| Philippines Episode 4 |
Tribal Reward |      Luzon (South Africa) |
     Mindanao |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Malcolm Freberg is the only contestant to compete in this challenge twice. He won on his first time and lost on his second.
- All three times this challenge was used:
- Both names used for this challenge are in some way musical references.
- Muddy Waters is a reference to the American blues singer of the same name.
- Shakedown Street is a reference to the Grateful Dead song and album of the same name.
References[]