The Messiah Survivor club took over campus April 16-17 in a series of exciting games and challenges with many students participating or supporting the competition.
The club, which started four years ago as an underground group of people who had a love and passion for the television series, has flourished and become a staple event within the Messiah community. However, it wasn’t until this year that Messiah Survivor has become an official chartered club.
Messiah Survivor is a recreation of the long-running Emmy-awarding competition reality television series, Survivor (minus the drama, deceiving and lying).
Similar to the CBS show, the club splits the contestants up into two tribes where they are pitted up against each other through a series of physical and intellectual challenges. The tribe that loses the challenge is required to attend the “Tribal Council”, where they must decide who gets voted off their tribe. Halfway through the game, the tribes merge, and then it turns into an “every man for himself” situation until there is one winner.
The winner of Messiah Survivor’s two-day event this semester was Jonathan Logan.
The type of challenges that Messiah Survivor puts into the event alludes to its theme. The theme of this two-day event was Hidden Treasures, so all of the challenges were pirate-themed.
One of the physical challenges, for example, included tribes protecting a tower and battling each other using pool noodles. While that was going on, there were two on the outside throwing balls to try to knock down the tower.
A mental challenge that also took place was a spin-off of the telephone game, where they had to transfer the message to find the hidden treasure.
Kyle Luce, the host coordinator of Messiah Survivor, notes that they had to keep the challenges simple and condensed this time around to keep things moving and ensure that they had time to get to the other games.
The differentiating types of challenges show that anyone and everyone can participate. When signing up, contestants could identify if they had physical limitations that might limit the kind of events they can participate in. From the information gathered, the club members can make accommodations to ensure that everyone can participate safely.
Like many other clubs and organizations on campus, the pandemic presented its own set of challenges that Messiah Survivor had to adapt to. Because of COVID-19, the Messiah Survivor Club had to cancel its semester-long version of the event.
Pre-pandemic times the club used to meet weekly but it was difficult for them to reserve rooms and space where they could meet safely. Luce and the other members made sure all CDC guidelines were followed, such as wearing masks, keeping the one “Falcon wingspan” distance from other participants and having hand sanitizers located at every station.
Luce’s favorite part about Messiah Survivor is the community and the friends that he has made.
“I was a big fan of Survivor growing up,” Luce said. “It was the show that my family used to watch every Wednesday night and my goal was always to be on it.”
Being a part of Messiah Survivor has helped Luce find his group of friends. When he heard about the club freshman year, he got involved right away.
“What I love most about [Messiah Survivor] is that it creates this community of people who have these memories from the event,” Luce said.
Messiah Survivor has a lot in store for the next academic year. The members of the club are in the works of returning to the original semester-long event format, as well as another weekend event.
They are also working on forming a crew to film and help set up the different events. Other Messiah Survivor events include Survivor watch parties in Parmer Hall and board game nights.
If you are looking to make memories and find a good community of people, then Messiah Survivor is the club for you! There are many ways you can get involved besides participating in the events; you can help make the challenges, work on the film on the crew and more.
To stay up to date on all things Messiah Survivor, you can follow the club on Instagram and Facebook under the handle @MessiahSurvivor and watch their highlight reels on their YouTube channel. To find out more information on how you can get involved, contact Kyle Luce at survivor@messiah.edu.