Each week, the contestants will face a new challenge or trial, designed to test their skills and push them to their limits. These challenges often involve completing a task or competing against their fellow contestants, and can be physically and mentally demanding. Some of the challenges that have been featured on previous seasons include:

“No,” said Tom. He looked around, eyes catching each face like a lighthouse checking on ships. “We do it by telling the story we miss the most. Loser gets the donut.”

– Once you have seen one cockroach pit, you have seen them all. The real drama is in the audio: the high-pitched screams, the crunch of a witchetty grub, the crowd roar during a trial win. Your imagination fills in the gross parts.

Next came Mila, on the height obstacle. For a moment she froze, the camera catching a hundred micro-expressions: glitter, fear, resolve. She swallowed and launched. A gust snatched her scarf, but she laughed — a high, incredulous sound — and returned clutching a second token.

The trial for Episode 4B was brutal: “The Viper’s Vault.” Contestants had to navigate a suspended maze of ropes, swinging platforms, and enclosed tunnels, picking up golden tokens stuffed with ants and cockroach fragments — the currency of survival. The verdict from the studio: three tokens would win a communal meal and a luxury treat; zero would mean rice and beans for everyone.