Challenge Invasion Episode 12 Recap: A bad episode

This was a bad episode to say the least. After the Champs elimination being hyped all week, we only get the female elimination, and are forced to wait an entire week before the males go at it. Considering we dealt with the same shit last week, I think we are all mad at MTV. They want people to watch the first episode of the final next week and are having a cliffhanger for that reason, but the episode today was just unreasonable.

Continuation from last week: We pick up this week’s episode with the elimination 1 on 1 of Shane and Cory. Cory wins due to his size advantage, Shane somewhat chokes at the end, and it just sucks as Cory has done nothing all season, where Shane has been the best player in the game so far. Just like Exes 2 (Wes), Rivals 1 (CT), Duel 2 (Landon), and Duel 1 (CT), the best player in the game simply did not make it to the final.

House Aftermath: Nelson and Cory make out (okay, they didn’t). They are boys again after almost fighting each other, mostly because they both have at the most, 5 brain cells between them. The house is relaxing by the pool, and we find out that Laurel hid Nicole’s peanut butter three weeks earlier while drunk. Unbeknownst that it was Nicole’s, she now feels guilty. This is a lame storyline that we are missing an elimination for.

Daily Challenge: Why do we have a daily challenge when we know who is going into elimination? The Underdogs money count is hilariously at 55k, while the Champs are at 22k, despite the Champs being better than them at every Challenge so far. TJ informs them that the daily mission will be worth 30k, and it is the Champs time to equalize their bank accounts.

The challenge is they have 8 cages with trap doors that the competitors must traverse and find their way through. In these 8 cages, they have multiple obstacles: a ton of coconuts, cement blocks, ropes, bamboo sticks, levers, and then of course being able to actually open the doors.

The champions get to a quick start where they get into the second cage first. Laurel is leading the Champs team when it came to leading their path, while Ashley led the Underdogs. Ashley was terrified to realize that she was easily the smartest person on her team, which makes losing Amanda last week actually hurt.

Around the third cage, the Underdogs catch on that they should kick down the dirt to open a trap door instead of pull it out. This gave the Underdogs a 1.5 cage lead that the Champs were able to catch up on pretty quickly once they were able to get it done, but the last cage was a mad dash for a key buried at the bottom of a pile of coconuts. They scramble, and the Underdogs win their first legitimate fair daily mission. Their money total is now at $85,000 , which guarantees all four of them, at least $21,250.

The Champs are really disappointed in themselves, Darrell and CT have their heads down, while Laurel and Camila start fighting with each other, playing the blame game.

Elimination: We get to the elimination to find out they are playing Knot So Fast. The game with the giant jungle gyms and ropes where you have 10 minutes to create as many knots and patterns as possible. Your opponent(s) then have 10 minutes to unwrap it all, and then proceed to carry the rope out of bounds. Famous examples of this game: Johnny/Nany beating Zach/Jonna(Exes 2), Sarah/Chet beating Cara Maria/Brandon(Seasons 2012) and Dustin/Nany beating Trey/Laura(Seasons 2012). It’s a puzzle game, and that was exemplified by Sarah and Chet when they played it, however each time that Nany has won, it has been more of an endurance game, where the team that doesn’t die out wins.

During the knot making session, Laurel destroyed it, she used her size, while Camila struggled carrying all of the rope. Laurel’s size and upper body were great, she spun some intricate weaves and looked like the clear favorite to win at the end of the 10 minutes. It does not help that Camila was coached by Cory and Nelson when creating her knots.

The second round begins and Camila is panicked, she’s crying, but she’s forcing herself to keep going. Laurel is getting flustered, going too slowly, and eventually just gives up. Her loss reminded me a lot Wes’s loss on the Ruins, where she couldn’t comprehend that she was losing, and then just accepted it.

Camila falls on her ropes, and just cries in victory, she cannot believe she beat Laurel. She talks about how important making the final is for her, and acknowledges that it has been a long time (Season 24 Rivals 2), which it has. CT and Darrell are probably upset inside knowing that they lost their best girl, but are proud of Camila making it to the final. TJ shakes Laurel’s hand and tells her she is a phenomenal competitor.

Camila tries to hug TJ, and TJ tells her he doesn’t do hugs.

See ya next week, and fuck you, Bunim-Murray’s editing team!