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Michael Gets Burned!
Michael Skupin was a strong player on Survivor: Australian Outback. That was no small feat as this was one of the toughest terrains contestants had to deal with. But even strong Mike fell victim to dizziness, collapsing while tending to the fire. His screams were captured on tape as he received severe burns to his hands that needed medical attention. He was forced to leave the show.
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Kathy Goes Batty
Kathy Sleckman was always a little..eccentric. But after two weeks in Micronesia, her eccentricities transformed into a breakdown as she got terribly depressed. She claimed later to wanting to cut herself with a machete to get out of the game. Instead she just quit, later claiming it was her attempt to get off prescription drugs that drove her to the edge of madness.
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"Tastes Like Chicken"
You get hungry after a few weeks on Survivor. There just aren't enough cheeseburger challenges to keep you going. So it should be no surprise that the contestants of Survivor: Borneo might choose to chow down on a rat. Tiny little crunchy rats. But free range rats, if that makes it any better. I suspect it does not.
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Nature Boy
Scary - but in a different way. As this was the first season of Survivor, viewers were taken totally by surprise when contestant (and future winner) Richard Hatch took off his clothes and began wandering about in his birthday suit. It didn't help that Hatch wasn't one of the 'buffest' survivors in the cast. Hatch really knew how to draw attention to himself and play the game with naked determination. Survivor nudity would become fairly ho-hum after this. Hatch would later return for Survivor: All Stars, taking part in every competition naked.
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Bruce Go Boom
Though he wasn't exactly young, Karate teacher Bruce Kanegai looked like he might go all the way on Survivor: Panama. But then he got some internal 'blockage', suffering through a night of pain as the camera crew filmed his agony. It looked pretty intense. Bruce was eventually medivaced away, recovering in time to join the jury.
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Pigging Out
Poor Mike Skupin. He gets called an 'idiot' for using the tribe's one knife for a pig hunt. Then he kills a pig and how does his tribe react? They're grossed out and call him blood-thirsty. It didn't stop anyone from eating that little piggy though. Odd that the pig didn't appear anxious to flee Mike before meeting its bloody end. Guess it wanted its 15 minutes of fame.
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They'll Do ANYTHING For Peanut Butter
When Jeff Probst brought some Oreos and a jar of peanut butter to a challenge on 'Survivor: Amazon', the prize was so tempting that Jenna Morasca and Heidi Strobel came up with one of the most infamous 'Survivor' gambits ever by stripping naked for some peanut butter.
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Swan Dive
Jeff Probst called it the scariest moment in Survivor history. And it was scary to watch big, strong contestant Russell Swan collapse suddenly on Survivor Samoa. Later diagnosed with a very low heart rate due to dehydration, Swan was medivaced out immediately. He later talked of the moment as a near-death experience he described as quite pleasant. He would return for Survivor: Philippines.
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Blood On Their Hands (And Tongues)
This Survivor: Africa challenge involved tribe members downing shots of fresh cow's blood (mixed with milk). When that proved gross but easy, one person from each tribe was chosen to speed drink a pint of pure blood. Ewww. Still the scariest moment had to be an African tribesmen demonstration in which they extracted the blood from the cow with a long stick. Double eww. Sort of looked similar to tapping a keg.
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Naked Man versus Nature
Good ol' Richard Hatch can always be counted on for something unexpected. On Survivor: All Stars, he outdid himself as tribe provider when he took on a small shark in a life/death struggle of naked guy-versus-predator. The little shark never had a chance, After the animal clamped on to the contestant's arm, Hatch bit the shark. That's right - Hatch bit a shark. Frankly, I question doing anything naked around a predator with sharp teeth but that's just me
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Jeff Loses It
Colton Cumbie was a scary flake who seemed to bring out the crazy in host Jeff Probst. Insulting, bigoted and paranoid, Colton made a lot of enemies on Survivor: One World. Then he collapsed for what was termed to be appendicitis and quit. When he returned for Blood vs. Water, Colton was the same old Colton, quitting when he felt he was getting picked on. This drove Probst nuts. In a rare moment of on-screen crazy, Probst attacked the departing Colton for faking his appendicitis. Gee, Jeff. That was years ago. Hold a grudge much?
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Jonny's Big Lie
Wannabe pro wrestling manager Jonny Fairplay will go down in the annals of 'Survivor' history for telling the biggest, most-lowdown lie ever when he sought sympathy by informing his fellow castaways that his beloved grandmother had died while he was sequestered on the island. Were they upset when they learned Grandma was alive and perfectly fine? You bet there were...
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Jumbo-sized Neighbour
Survivor: Gabon took time out from the bickering and back-stabbing for a moment of nature at its wildest. Turns out the Fang tribe were neighbours to a big elephant who liked to bellow and knock down trees. It was more awesome than scary, though the decision of several survivors to take a closer kayak view of the beast did seem a little risky. Can't see the Survivor camera crew stepping in to stop a charging pachyderm.
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Bugging Out
In the season 32 premiere, Jennifer Lanzetti was complaining about a strange pain in her ear — which was revealed to be the result of a wriggling insect that had burrowed into her ear canal. When a pair of her fellow castaways — and the viewing audience — saw the bug crawl out, a collective "Eeww!" erupted throughout TV Land.