In anticipation of Survivor 50 I’ve been rewatching Heroes vs Villains. In terms of excitement, season 20 is the closest thing I’ve felt to season 50. At the time I could hardly believe that the show was heading into its 10th year and 20th season. Little did I know that it would last a further 30 seasons and I’d get to watch several players from this marquee season play again in season 50. One thing I don’t expect them to bring back from this season is the challenge called Schmergen Brawl. A combination of basketball, rugby and just straight up fighting one another.
This ill conceived challenge first premiered in Survivor Samoa, and was during an era of the show where Survivor was a lot more physical when it came to pitting the castaways against one another. Something they’ve strayed away from in the New Era and one of the changes I’m actually more than okay with. Basketbrawl, Sumo at Sea and that challenge where players have to fight over bags all come with their own risk and undoubtedly left players battered and bruised but only Schemergen Brawl felt like you were watching something that would fit in better on live leak than CBS.
The players are placed into a small arena and made to fight over three balls. These balls are then passed to other players on a platform who have to shoot them into a basket with no backboard. In the pit things get aggressive as players struggle for control of the ball, for example we saw Jerri get her face smashed into a wooden pole and JT body slam Coach when it was run during Heroes vs Villains.
In Survivor Samoa we watched as the physicality led to players getting heated with one another and cheap shots ensued. Jeff Probst even stopped the contest at one point to warn the players that they were close to crossing a line and if they continued down this path players would start to get ejected. Naturally contestant Ben Browning, a self proclaimed rebel and complete d-bag as proclaimed by me the writer of this article tripped Russell Swan by kicking him and was quickly ejected by a furious Probst. After Russell’s tribe Galu emerged victorious things would get worse for Ben’s tribe Foa Foa as Mike Borassi was medically evacuated from the game. The official reason for Borassi being pulled was due to incredibly low blood pressure putting him at risk of further medical complications.
So with the challenge being such a disaster surely the set was demolished and never used again? I mean it robbed us of a very entertaining character in Borassi, production wouldn’t risk that happening again especially not to one of their all stars right? Wrong of course as I was reminded during my Heroes vs Villains rewatch. In episode 5 with the Villains dominating the challenge portion of the game the Heroes came to this challenge with their game faces on, even refusing a taste of chocolate from Probst, a tease of the chocolate feast they were playing for. This led to a memorable confrontation between Colby Donaldson and the host. Adding to an underrated Survivor rivalry of Colby vs chocolate.
Pictured: A Man who is neither a Hershey Bar nor a fan of Hershey Bars
It seemed that fortune was finally favoring the embattled Heroes tribe as to this point they had only won two challenges all season. Both of which involved them being able to physically dominate the Villains. However almost immediately James Clement, a man who possesses the body of comic book superhero tore his ACL removing him from the challenge and essentially neutering him for the remainder of his stay on the island.
At the time of the injury James was one of the stars of the franchise, he had appeared on Survivor China, Survivor Micronesia and Heroes vs Villains all within a 6 season period. He would survive one tribal council but be voted out at the next one the Heroes attended due to his knee injury. He has yet to return to the show outside of an appearance at the Survivor Ghost Island finale. Which was really just an opportunity for the show to dunk on him for getting voted out with two idols during his run on China.
A moment James will never forget… mostly because Jeff Probst won’t allow him to.
Unsurprisingly with James’ game derailed by the injury and Borassi almost dying the challenge was officially banned from being used again on the US version. Though according to the Survivor Wiki it did reappear on the show La Isla an unofficial version of Survivor in Mexico and resulted in a player named Daniel Elbittar also injuring his knee and needing surgery after the show. So rest in peace to the most dangerous challenge ever created, Borassi, James and Daniel send their regards, you won’t be missed.
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