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Swahili Scramble (also known as What Do You Make Of This?, Survivor Scramble, and Under Current) is a recurring mental challenge in Survivor.

Rules[]

The castaways had a word scramble with a certain number of words, all with a theme. After they solved the puzzle, the must used the intersecting letters to solve a word. First person to unscramble the word wins.

History[]

United States[]

The challenge was first used in Africa under the name Swahili Scramble. The castaways had to find twelve Swahili words, then use the letters to make a nine letter word. Lex van den Berghe had an early lead and kept it. Lex solved the word, "Avalanche", and won a Chevy Avalanche pickup truck. Lex was allowed to used the truck to deliver supplies to a local hospital.

A variation was used in Pearl Islands; each castaway has a board with three words on it broken up by their letters: "Survivor Pearl Islands". The castaways must use the letters to form twenty new words. Words must be in English and must be spelled correctly. Plurals, proper names, acronyms, as well as the words Survivor, Pearl and Islands are not allowed. If a castaway broke any of these rules, he or she would be eliminated from the challenge. The first player to form twenty words, spelled correctly, wins. Christa HastieTijuana Bradley, and Jonny Fairplay all thought they had it, but each had broken a rule, thus disqualifying them all from the challenge. Burton Roberts was initially declared as winning immunity, but he lost it when Jeff Probst realized he'd misspelled a word that he failed to notice (he misspelled liaison as liason). Because of this, a second round was held between Darrah JohnsonLillian Morris, and Sandra Diaz-Twine. In this round, the three women had to find as many four or more letter words as possible from "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast" in one minute. Darrah found the most words and won immunity.

The challenge was reused in All-Stars as the final five Immunity Challenge. This time, each castaway had to find the names of the seventeen starting tribes from the first eight seasons of Survivor. Amber Brkich initially had the lead and the first castaway to start unscrambling the eleven-letter word. However, Rob Mariano was not far behind. In the end, Boston Rob was the first to figure out the phrase (Chaboga Mogo, the name of the season's merged tribe) and thus won immunity.

A modified version was used in Palau. Because Ulong was down to its last two members, Koror selected Coby Archa and Gregg Carey to compete. The tribes had to race out to a series of floating platforms, swim under them in order to collect puzzle pieces, swim back to shore, and drop off the puzzle pieces on the beach. Once they had collected all the pieces, the tribes assembled the puzzle and solved a word jumble using the pieces. They were required to find listed words in the grid, take the letters used in more than one word, and rearrange them to form a mystery three-word phrase ("victory at sea"). Koror won their seventh consecutive Immunity Challenge, sending Ulong to a unique two-person Tribal Council.

South Africa[]

Winners[]

Episode Challenge Type Winner
Africa
"Truth Be Told"
Individual Reward S3 lex t
Lex van den Berghe
Pearl Islands
"The Great Lie"
Individual Immunity S7 darrah t
Darrah Johnson
All-Stars
"The Instigator"
Individual Immunity S8 robm t
Rob Mariano
Palau
"Neanderthal Man"
Tribal Immunity S10 caryn tS10 coby tS10 gregg tS10 ian t
S10 janu tS10 jenn tS10 katie tS10 tom t
Koror

Episode Challenge Type Winners
Panama
Episode 12
Individual Reward ZAS1 zayn t
Zayn Nabbi

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Tom Buchanan is the only person to compete in the challenge twice. He lost the challenge both times.
  • Darrah Johnson is the only woman to win this challenge individually.
    • She is also the only woman to compete in this challenge and win, as only male members of Koror competed in Palau.
  • It was revealed at the Pearl Islands reunion show that the person who invented this challenge was a fan of the show, a fourteen-year-old girl named Kylie Cusick.
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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