Did Survivor go too far with this 'water torture' challenge?

Last night’s episode of Survivor saw contestants participate in an intense water challenge, which many outraged fans have since labelled as “torture” and a “drowning challenge”.

Participants were forced to keep afloat in the water as a heavy grate was placed on top of them, all the while having to fight the unpredictable tide levels and fish swimming around.

The Channel Ten show’s most recently eliminated contestant Samuel Hinton admits “I didn’t want to put myself through that torture” and therefore gave up his spot in the challenge very quickly.

“It was very daunting,” Sam tells Be. “I went out and you saw that challenge and you see these prison bar-like grills.

“I gave up quite early in that challenge. I knew that I couldn’t win it. I didn’t want to put myself through that torture.”

After the episode aired last night, horrified viewers took to Twitter to express their concerns.

“How on Earth did this challenge make it through OHS?? You essentially water board them in freezing water with biting fish, then make them sit shivering in the cold to watch the rest endure more torture??” one viewer tweeted.

“Is this challenge not literal torture #SurvivorAU,” another wrote.

Sam says that despite the inherent dangers, he and the other contestants were assured of their safety by the show’s producers in Fiji.

“They looked after us. They made sure we wouldn’t take in too much water,” he explains.

“We went into that knowing that it would be painful, knowing that it wouldn’t be fun but knowing we’d still be safe doing it.

“So that was reassuring but I still decided it wasn’t worth the pain,” he added.

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