Survivor & Fear Factor Evening Programs!
After dinner at camp, you might think that things start winding down for the day. But actually, Evening Program is just getting started! Every camper has a favorite Evening Program, or EP, whether it’s TacoCat, Counselor Hunt, Multiball, Green vs. Gold relays, or any of the other classics. However, last night we were introduced to not one, but two new EPs! The older boys in Robinia and Betula played “Survivor,” while the younger boys in Sorrel and Tsuga played “Fear Factor.” Next week we’ll swap so they can all have a chance to test out the new games!
Matt Sloan hosted Survivor on the landsports field, where the cabins were split into 4 teams. The teams then took part in multiple rounds of mini games, where the winners would receive an extra piece of fatwood to aid them in the final stage: firebuilding. In the first round, each team had a bucket of water that they had to lift into the air using their feet, and then take their shoes off without dropping the bucket. Their shoes were then thrown into a pile, and in the second round they had to be the first team to successfully find and put their shoes back on quickest.
The next round was a puzzle, where teams had to figure out how many triangles were pictured (it was 51 total!). This was followed by a game of dexterity (and luck) where the first team to flip a water bottle and land it on the table 10 times won. Next it was charades, where each team had to act out the secret word so they could be the team with the first person to guess it. The penultimate task was a tennis ball chute, where each team was given a set of tube and tennis balls, and had to be the first to send all their tennis balls through the tubes and into the bucket on the other end.
Finally, after all the rounds were complete and all the fatwood that was up for grabs had been awarded, we came to the final round. Each team designated their firebuilders and their puzzlers (I recently learned that a puzzle enthusiast is apparently called a dissectologist?) to complete the final challenge. Those who were on the task of completing the puzzle had to finish putting together the FCC Code, and list all the attributes of the four parts under the correct heading. Only once they had property sorted out all the Code parts in the correct order, could the firebuilders begin! The firebuilders were equipped with fatwood (plus extra if they had won rounds!), a candle, and a lighter. Team members could go into the woods to collect sticks and wood to burn as well, and the goal was to build a tall enough fire that the rope over the fire pits would burn.
All four teams got to work quickly, but Team #1 had the biggest fire right off the bat! “I feel like it’s cheating to have a member of the Adventure Staff on your team!” the other team teased, saying that Harry from backpacking staff was giving them an unfair advantage with his fire skills. They kept at it though, feeding the flames as they got taller, and sending more people out to collect wood and keep it going. Finally, Team #1 burned through their rope! John G., one of our Men of STEEL, said that he really enjoyed this new EP. “It’s so complex, but everything fits together. I just like the whole idea behind it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the youngest boys had been at the Gym playing their own fun new game: Fear Factor! Zach Rivera and Nemo, the Sorrel Linehead, were leading the game. Just like the real Fear Factor TV show, they introduced things that were icky or startling, to see who could overcome their fear and win! However, nothing was too scary - some of the dares included eating a bite of baby food, or putting your hand inside an empty tissue box filled with crickets to get out a key. There were multiple keys in the box (and multiple crickets!) so you had to brave the bugs to be the first team to find the right key and open the lock!
The counselors were great sports during Fear Factor, and participated in the “worm pie” eating contest! The campers were told that counselors would get pied in the face with whipped cream and worms, but some pies had real worms while others had gummy worms. The campers couldn’t wait to see how brave their counselors were! However, no one knew that Zach had taken it easy on the staff and didn’t actually put any real worms in the pies, so they all got lucky with the gummy worms!
The final Fear Factor test was the “egg roulette,” where campers chose an egg and smashed it on their counselor’s head to find out if it was raw or hard boiled. There was tons of laughter as campers smashed the eggs and found that over half of them were raw! The counselors were great sports, and that EP is sure to be a memorable one for all their campers. There’s plenty of excitement in store for us today on this Wednesday, and we’re looking forward to telling you all about it!