Flips, Flops, & Flags (also known as Box Car Blues and Stage Presence) is a recurring challenge of Survivor. It debuted in Survivor: San Juan del Sur, has since appeared in Game Changers, Island of the Idols, Survivor 44, and Survivor 47.
Rules[]
The contestants must roll a large wooden cube to a series of posts. At each post, they will grab either a bag of puzzle pieces or a key which will be used in a final task.
History[]
United States[]
The challenge debuted in San Juan del Sur, where it was used as the final tribal Immunity Challenge. The tribes first climbed over a wall before rolling their cube, which they would stop at three posts to retrieve their puzzle pieces. The puzzle was a vertical flag. Hunahpu won, sending Coyopa to Tribal Council.
In Game Changers, the challenge appeared as an Immunity Challenge in combination with Losing Face. The tribes needed to go over a wall before reaching the crate, but they only needed to stop at one post to retrieve a key. The key unlocked a crate with sandbags, which the tribes had to carry across a balance beam. Once all of the sandbags were at the finish, the tribes used slingshots to fire the sandbags at targets. The first two tribes to knock down all their targets would win. Mana finished first and Tavua finished second, sending Nuku to Tribal Council.
In Island of the Idols, the challenge was used as an unaired Reward Challenge. The tribes began by climbing over a net obstacle, and then retrieving a key from a post to unlock a batch of sandbags. The tribes then needed to land one sandbag on each of the five overhead targets. Vokai won, winning pizza.
In Survivor 44, the challenge appeared as the third Immunity Challenge, where it was adapted for use as a water challenge. The tribes had to roll the cube in the water, and retrieve two keys. Once the tribe had both keys, they could swim to the beach. They then had to dig under a log, and use the keys to unlock the Sea Crates puzzle. Tika fell behind during the first part of the challenge, while Ratu blazed ahead and solved their puzzle first. However, it was Soka that ended up losing to Tika at the puzzle.
In Survivor 47, the challenge was used as the fourth Immunity Challenge. The tribes had to roll their cube to a post to retrieve a key before using blocks to build a goalpost, which they had to throw sandbags through without knocking it over. Once two sandbags were landed, the tribes could unlock and solve their puzzle. All three tribes were even throughout most of the challenge until the duo of Rome Cooney and Genevieve Mushaluk floundered at the puzzle, allowing Gata, then Tuku, to easily win immunity before Lavo placed a single piece.
Australia[]
New Zealand[]
Winners[]
| Episode | Challenge Type | Winners |
|---|---|---|
| San Juan del Sur "Make Some Magic Happen" |
Tribal Immunity |        Hunahpu |
| Game Changers "Dirty Deed" |
Tribal Immunity |      Mana |
      Tavua | ||
| Island of the Idols "I Was Born at Night, but Not Last Night" |
Tribal Reward |        Vokai |
| Survivor 44 "Sneaky Little Snake" |
Tribal Reward/Immunity |      Ratu |
    Tika | ||
| Survivor 47 "Is That Blood in Your Hair" |
Tribal Reward/Immunity |      Gata |
     Tuku | ||
| Episode | Challenge Type | Winners |
|---|---|---|
| All Stars Episode 10 |
Tribal Immunity |          Mokuta |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Each time this challenge was used, the eventual Sole Survivor was on the winning tribe.