‘Survivor’ Names Its Greatest Challenge of All Time — It’s Only Been Played Once

Kelli Boyle January 21, 2026, 11:50 am

What To Know

Survivor‘s challenge producers ranked the Top 50 challenges of all time.
Their No. 1 pick has only played once in 49 seasons.
The inspiration for this challenge came from stories of rock stars throwing objects out of hotel windows.

What’s the GOAT Survivor challenge? The creators of the games have revealed their pick. Challenge producer John Kirhoffer has made every challenge on Survivor since the show’s inception. He and his team have ranked the 50 best challenges ahead of the Survivor 50 premiere in February. Surprisingly, their top pick has only been played once in 49 seasons.

Kirhoffer was joined by Christopher “Milhouse” Marchand to discuss this ranking with Parade. Marchand first joined Survivor on Season 24 and has since become a challenge producer. He’s also the head waiter for any Applebee’s reward challenges (there will be an Applebee’s in Survivor 50, per Vanity Fair).

Some of the challenges that made the top 50 list are Simmotion (which Survivor 45 winner Dee Valladares hopes is the Season 50’s final challenge, she told TV Insider), the Survivor auction, Smash and Grab, and Last Gasp. Their top 10 are as follows:

10. United We Stand

9. Lizard King, Serpent Turf, Gulliver Travels (any challenge that requires players to carry a giant stuffed object through obstacles)

'Survivor 50' Preview: On Set With Jeff Probst and the Cast (Exclusive)

8. Hot Pursuit

7. Vertigo

6. Pinball Wizard

5. Always on the Run

4. Get a Grip

3. Rise to It

2. Vin Skully

1. It’s a Long Way to the Top

It’s the Long Way to the Top is also known as Crate Smash. It first appeared in Survivor: Caramoan and was later used in Survivor South Africa: Champions. Here are the rules, per Survivor Wiki: “Pairs of tribe members will make their way up a four-story tower. On each of the floors, the pairs will throw crates down the tower, breaking them to release sandbags or coconuts, which will be collected as ammunition. Once all four sets of crates have been thrown down, one pair will collect the ammunition, and the tribe will throw them at targets. The first tribe to hit all their targets wins.”

Kirhoffer told Parade that the idea for the challenge came from reading an issue of Rolling Stone.

“They were talking about the heyday of Led Zeppelin and Van Halen,” Kirhoffer said. “And that they would throw televisions, and they would throw anything out of hotel windows to watch them smash on the ground.”

Marchand said this challenge makes their players look great.

“What we do is try to make these people look like rock stars,” Marchand explained. “We give them every opportunity to look like a rock star all the time. And in that challenge, they couldn’t not look like a rock star.”

What’s your favorite Survivor challenge of all time? Let us know in the comments below.

Survivor 50, Premieres Wednesday, February 25, 8/7c, CBS