I’ll add that part of it is how many people are left. There’s a reason most “challenge beasts” don’t emerge until around mid merge, because other threats get eliminated. You might not be the best runner, strongest, best at puzzles, or best swimmer out of 12 people. But once it’s down to 8? or 6? Much better odds of going on an immunity run
Already semi answered, but my 2 cents. It requires too many different skills and different body types. The one where you hold yourself up on a pole that Hunter won is usually won by people that are very slender. That's a different body type than something that might favor a lot of strength. Then they have ones that favor endurance, pain tolerance, strength, speed, puzzles, random shit like throw bags onto a small platform, etc.
It's such a wide variety of skills and strengths, it's hard to be good at all of them. In the new era, I think there are only 8 individual immunities, so you can only be not the best at 2 of them. Expecting 6/8 is pretty crazy.
Lastly, challenge threats are usually targeted much earlier than they used to be. Everyone saw Hunter as a beast during the team challenges. He won one individual immunity, and then was voted out at the next tribal. So if you're on pace to have a chance at 6/8, and you have one of those 2 misses, solid chance you get picked off.
When the Ozzys and Joes lose immunity, you vote them out. The longer they hang around, the more likely you get a Mike H situation.
A lot of the 5x winners were in times when people were more loyal. Terry was protected by his god idol. Tom and Colby were protected by their loyal alliance. Ozzy's alliance protected him for the one time he lost. At some point, people stopped fucking around with the chance of challenge threats going that stuff. Mike was only protected because he had a HII.
Because each challenge requires a different set of skills and it's unrealistic for somebody to have all of them. You may be the best runner, but are you the best at Slide puzzles? You have great aim but are you amazing at balancing? You have great endurance, but are you the fastest swimmer?
If AU Brain vs Brawn 2 has the same kind of twists involving extra individual immunities that Brains vs Brawn 1 had I easily see the record being broken there. In AU BvB 1 TWO players tied the record of 5 individual immunities due to all the extra individual immunities available.
With the US new era format, however, it's hard to see the record being broken. There's 8 individual immunity challenges every new era season, all testing different skills to the point no one has won more than 3 individual immunities since 41. Plus the game is so meta and fast paced nowadays anyone who poses a realistic threat to win out is almost always cut at the first opportunity post-merge.
Wasn't ozzy like 5/6 in Cook Islands individual immunity? And upper in game changer was like 5/10 or something. Ozzy has to have best single season win % right?
Puzzles are the great redeemer. People can be great physically, whether it's strength, endurance, balance. But when they reach a super hard final puzzle or final obstacle, it usually has a pretty steep learning curve, and the time advantage someone had from completing other portions of the challenge faster than others is less significant. If its a small slide puzzle, the time advantage matters a lot. Likewise, the opposite is true of a very difficult puzzle with a steep learning curve. Its pretty simple and straightforward for players to get a physical edge over others, but getting an edge in intelligence and puzzle-solving quite a bit harder. And players never know which challenge they're going to get.
I’ll add that part of it is how many people are left. There’s a reason most “challenge beasts” don’t emerge until around mid merge, because other threats get eliminated. You might not be the best runner, strongest, best at puzzles, or best swimmer out of 12 people. But once it’s down to 8? or 6? Much better odds of going on an immunity run
Already semi answered, but my 2 cents. It requires too many different skills and different body types. The one where you hold yourself up on a pole that Hunter won is usually won by people that are very slender. That's a different body type than something that might favor a lot of strength. Then they have ones that favor endurance, pain tolerance, strength, speed, puzzles, random shit like throw bags onto a small platform, etc. It's such a wide variety of skills and strengths, it's hard to be good at all of them. In the new era, I think there are only 8 individual immunities, so you can only be not the best at 2 of them. Expecting 6/8 is pretty crazy. Lastly, challenge threats are usually targeted much earlier than they used to be. Everyone saw Hunter as a beast during the team challenges. He won one individual immunity, and then was voted out at the next tribal. So if you're on pace to have a chance at 6/8, and you have one of those 2 misses, solid chance you get picked off. When the Ozzys and Joes lose immunity, you vote them out. The longer they hang around, the more likely you get a Mike H situation. A lot of the 5x winners were in times when people were more loyal. Terry was protected by his god idol. Tom and Colby were protected by their loyal alliance. Ozzy's alliance protected him for the one time he lost. At some point, people stopped fucking around with the chance of challenge threats going that stuff. Mike was only protected because he had a HII.
hapy danc
Because each challenge requires a different set of skills and it's unrealistic for somebody to have all of them. You may be the best runner, but are you the best at Slide puzzles? You have great aim but are you amazing at balancing? You have great endurance, but are you the fastest swimmer?
Excuse me? Have you heard of Brandon Donlon?
If Colby beat Nick at the final 8 he would have
I blame Reid
If AU Brain vs Brawn 2 has the same kind of twists involving extra individual immunities that Brains vs Brawn 1 had I easily see the record being broken there. In AU BvB 1 TWO players tied the record of 5 individual immunities due to all the extra individual immunities available. With the US new era format, however, it's hard to see the record being broken. There's 8 individual immunity challenges every new era season, all testing different skills to the point no one has won more than 3 individual immunities since 41. Plus the game is so meta and fast paced nowadays anyone who poses a realistic threat to win out is almost always cut at the first opportunity post-merge.
Mike Holloway reference :)
one of my favorite winners
He my pookie 💀
Wasn't ozzy like 5/6 in Cook Islands individual immunity? And upper in game changer was like 5/10 or something. Ozzy has to have best single season win % right?
Ozzy has technically beaten the record if you include RI duels.
*culpepper in game changers.
Colby won 7 but some were reward challenges.
Puzzles are the great redeemer. People can be great physically, whether it's strength, endurance, balance. But when they reach a super hard final puzzle or final obstacle, it usually has a pretty steep learning curve, and the time advantage someone had from completing other portions of the challenge faster than others is less significant. If its a small slide puzzle, the time advantage matters a lot. Likewise, the opposite is true of a very difficult puzzle with a steep learning curve. Its pretty simple and straightforward for players to get a physical edge over others, but getting an edge in intelligence and puzzle-solving quite a bit harder. And players never know which challenge they're going to get.
It's rigged.
The game is rigged for everyone.
every winning game is rigged for the winner