While harnessed together, the two competing tribes will circle around an oval course (either in shallow water or on land) while carrying a twenty-pound backpack each (or similar heavy load). Players can drop out of the challenge at will, but they must give their weight to a tribemate before unclipping themselves from the rope. The first tribe to catch the opponent and touch one of their members wins.
The challenge reappeared again in Survivor: Cook Islands. In this version, the tribe that tackles the opposing tribes last member wins. Both tribes started equally. Eventually the Aitutaki tribe had all their women aside from Jessica Smith drop out at once, strategically handing each of their bags to a man. In spite of this, the physically stronger men of Raro was able to exhaust the men of Aitu. Rebecca opted out when the Aitu tribe was weakened. Yul Kwon tried to defend the tribe, but J.P. Calderon grabbed and pushed down Cao Boi Bui, giving victory to the new Rarotonga tribe.
In Survivor: Gabon, the challenge was adapted to be played on land. The course comprised of a dirt track, and instead of 20-pound sandbags assigned to each player, the tribe was required to carry a single, heavy snake. Corinne Kaplan sat out for the Kota tribe. The Fang tribe struggled, as most of its members dropped out, leaving Matty Whitmore and Ace Gordon to pick up the weight. Kota was much stronger, and Susie Smith's choice to drop out only made them faster. Kota won easily and got coffee, tea, and pastries as a reward.
The challenge moved back to its original design in Survivor: Caramoan. Brenda Lowe sat out for Gota, acting as a cheerleader. Gota won the Reward Challenge, as Bikal's strategy of walking for most of the challenge in an attempt to tire out the other tribe failed miserably, especially since Phillip Sheppard stayed in the challenge the whole time despite being exhausted quickly, costing them valuable time.
Ironically, when this challenge was originally used in Palau, the order of which the members of Ulong dropped out (Jeff, Kim, Angie, and James) was the order they were voted out.
Based on the season's TVGN preview, it appears that this challenge had been planned to appear in Survivor: Micronesia, but was presumably axed due to the medical evacuation and quit that took place before the merge, limiting the number of tribal challenges needed.
Corinne Kaplan is the only castaway to have competed in this challenge more than once. She only won the challenge once.
