The best way to survive a team building session is to embrace it! Allow me to explain why. Team building is one of those things that many people recoil at the thought of doing. They may view it as touchy-feely, embarrassing, too difficult, or a waste of time. But for most people that changes once they do the activity, have some fun, and end up feeling closer to their workplace tribe. The need to be part of a team, where the sum is greater than the whole of the parts, is in most of us.
Of course, there are bad team building activities with little value that end up making funny Youtube clips. There are no regulations for use of the term 'team building' which can be applied to things that have nothing to do with it. Some hotels, for example, offer team building on their websites. When you click on the link you are shown a picture of a golf course or a spa. These types of activities offer minimal team building value at best.
A team building activity is an arc that takes you from point A to B with thrills and spills along the way. In most cases it contains an assigned task that can only be accomplished as a group. Good team building is well designed, fits the culture of the company, and is inclusive of everyone participating. It is designed to solve a problem and meet an objective(s). It is the objectives where things can come off the rails.