Hear About It Ladder (also known as Beastie Buoys and Discography) is a recurring physical challenge on Survivor.
Rules[]
Castaways must swim out to a giant ladder jutting out over the water, climb it, leap into the water, and dive down to retrieve buoys. They must then use the buoys to score in several baskets. The first team to score in all their baskets wins.
In Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers and Island of the Idols, the baskets were laid out in the water for the castaways to shoot into, while in David vs. Goliath a ramp was provided for the castaways to run up from and attempt to shoot their buoys into the baskets.
History[]
United States[]
The challenge debuted in Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers where three members of each team climbed the ladder and collected the buoys, while the last two members used the keys attached to the buoys to unlock another set of buoys that they would need to shoot into the baskets. The red team of Chrissy Hofbeck, Cole Medders, Joe Mena, JP Hilsabeck, and Mike Zahalsky took the lead early on, and although the blue team managed to catch up while shooting buoys, the red team still pulled it out in the end to win reward.
The challenge returned in David vs. Goliath where all members of each team would have to climb the ladder and release two lines of buoys in the water before shooting five marked buoys into the baskets. In a random draw, Christian Hubicki was left out, with no shot at reward. The challenge was relatively even until Carl Boudreaux and Davie Rickenbacker led the orange team consisting of themselves, Kara Kay, and Mike White in shooting their buoys into the baskets to win reward.
The challenge was used as a tribal Immunity Challenge in Island of the Idols where four castaways from each tribe would have to climb the ladder and retrieve the buoys, then maneuver the buoys across a set of balance beams. The last four members then had to shoot the buoys into three baskets. Lairo fell behind early on as Karishma Patel struggled to keep up, giving Vokai an early lead. Although Dean Kowalski was able to use his collegiate basketball background to help Lairo catch up in shooting the baskets, Vokai managed to score all of theirs first to win immunity and send Lairo to Tribal Council.
Australia[]
In Brains v Brawn (2021), the challenge appeared as the final six Immunity Challenge. The contestants had to grab four balls over a series of obstacles in the water, first by jumping off a ladder, second by walking over a net, third by maneuvering a ball out of a receptacle, and lastly by crossing a bridge in the water. Once they have all four balls, they will attempt to land two balls in a basket on the final pontoon. Wai Chim and George Mladenov bailed out of the challenge early on, leaving the four remaining women to compete for the win. In the end, it was Dani Beale who landed her two balls first to win her second individual Immunity Challenge.
Winners[]
| Episode | Challenge Type | Winners |
|---|---|---|
| Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers "Fear of the Unknown" |
Team Reward |      Chrissy, Cole, Joe, JP, Mike |
| David vs. Goliath "Tribal Lines Are Blurred" |
Team Reward |     Carl, Davie, Kara, Mike |
| Island of the Idols "Don't Bite the Hand That Feeds You" |
Tribal Immunity |         Vokai |
| Episode | Challenge Type | Winners |
|---|---|---|
| All Stars Episode 6 |
Tribal Immunity |           Vakama |
| Brains v Brawn (2021) Episode 20 |
Individual Immunity |  Dani Beale |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Three of the names used for this challenge are in some way musical references.
- Hear About It Ladder is a reference to the Van Halen song Hear About It Later.
- Beastie Buoys is a reference to the American hip hop group the Beastie Boys.
- "Discography" refers to the cataloguing of musical recordings.
References[]