Within the world of going into elimination, and most players will do anything they can to avoid going in (in fact, the recent invention of skulls seems to be a work around for the fact that the contestants want to dodge elimination rounds at all costs).
However, it's easy to see why. Not only does elimination put a player at risk for going home, but The Challenge team clearly loves to get creative.
I Can
I Can is an elimination that is creative for all of the wrong reasons. This classic from The Duel was never resurrected in future seasons unlike most successful or interesting eliminations, and it's easy to see why.
The game is essentially a betting game, each player claims that they can lift a certain number of a certain object, and if their opponent thinks they can't they can challenge them to it. If the lifter succeeds, their opponent loses, if the lifter can't do it, their opponent wins. A unique idea, but one that didn't work well in reality.
King Of The World
This elimination from War of the Worlds is better because unlike many other eliminations, it incorporates TJ's favorite element of any game, trivia.
King of the World is sort of a spin on Name That Coconut, which essentially involves a question being asked and a variety of coconuts/balls with answers written on them. The player has to find the right answer and put that ball into their goal to get a point.
Branched Out
It's unclear as to whether or not this elimination will hold up if it becomes a regular like Hall Brawl or Pole Wrestle, but it definitely confounded two of the best players and created one of the most memorable eliminations in recent history.
Branch out seems simple, climbing a tree while placing pegs in holes on the way up, but both Laurel and Ninja wound up doing it incorrectly the first time and it took a moment to figure out, which is usually the hallmark of a creative elimination.
Don't Toss Your Cookies
This was a very memorable showdown between Shane and CT in The Inferno, especially because CT wound up taking David's place in the elimination.
The idea is simple but unique, Shane and CT had to eat cookies and drink a glass of milk, then sit on a spinning platform for 10 minutes before eating more cookies and milk. Whoever threw up first was the loser.
Crunch
This classic from The Ruins is definitely an interesting and unusual idea, especially since it incorporates water.
Each player in the elimination is hanging upside down by their legs in a tank of water, and they have to hold themselves up in a sitting position in order to stay above water. But the trick is, they all have 40 pound weights on their chest pushing them under.
Bug Helmet
Some of the most interesting eliminations in the history of the game are also the weirdest, but that does make for a more unique competition given that they are eliminations that don't necessarily favor any one player over another.
Bug Helmet certainly qualifies as weird and a pretty even playing field, and it's what it sounds like. In The Inferno, this elimination involved putting a helmet full of bugs on top of a contestant's head after it's been covered in honey, and the one who stays in the longest wins.
Dust To Dust
Dust to Dust is a concept that has only been played once so far (in Total Madness), and it's still difficult to understand exactly what strategy would work best with it. But, that is part of what makes the design a good one.
Essentially, the players must take a bunch of bricks and smash them through a metal gate. Below the gate is a wheelbarrow, and the players must take the smashed bricks and dump them into a container. First to fill the container a designated amount, wins.
Chill Out
This elimination from Rivals III is tough to watch, but undoubtedly even tougher to actually compete in.
At it's core it's just a puzzle elimination, but the variable that makes it even more creative is that the teams have to sit in a tub of ice before and during the completion of their puzzle. The competitors have one minute in the tub for every two minutes of puzzle time until one wins.
Home Wrecker
This elimination from Battle of the Bloodlines is undoubtedly one of the most fun sounding and interesting out of all of the eliminations in the history of the show.
The concept is easy. Each contestant is given a room full of stuff that they have to smash into small enough pieces to fit through a slot. The first player to destroy it all, wins.
Knot So Fast
As far as Challenge eliminations go, this one does seem to be the most creative while still being simple and straightforward. It incorporates physical strength, endurance, strategy, and intelligence, which makes it a real gauntlet to prove who is the best of the best.
The basic concept is that each player has a length of rope that they have to tangle up within a structure, then the players switch structures. Whoever undoes their opponent's knots first, wins.
