Challenge War of the Worlds 2 Episode 12 Recap : 10 Biggest Takeaways

Episode 12 is in the books and I decided to focus on the 10 Biggest moments/takeaways from the twelfth episode. Since you’re Challenge fans reading this, I figure you likely have watched the episode already. These will be integral storylines that the twelfth episode focused on. I’ll breakdown why they matter for the season:

10 Cara is an engagement truther

My favorite part about Cara Maria on this show is she is now more like a Twitter Stan than an actual human being. I don’t expect Cara to be happy or even indifferent to Jordan and Tori’s relationship and engagement. Did I expect to her speculate that the engagement was fake/planned? Now that’s some fucking deep conspiracy shit for two people who dated for a long time, eventually moved in together (where one person moved states), have an obvious connection, and he even gave her his mom’s ring. Cara must not believe it as they have never faked a break-up as a “social experiment.”

Edit: it might be Tori’s mom ring, and not Jordan’s. Regardless, super cute.

9 The Best Version of Paulie is maybe a bad boyfriend

When Cara threw in her snide comment during the Jordan/Tori proposal, Paulie was immediately offended by her lack of tact. He went to the “engagement party” and got along perfectly fine with his other cast members, even those on the other side of the alliance lines. What’s even funnier is Paulie dressed entirely different from his typical attire. It took me until someone asked Paulie where Cara was to realize he was at the party. It was as if Paulie didn’t want Cara to know it was him at the party.

Distancing himself from Cara makes him a better person, and I think most would agree that Cara is better without Paulie too. Yet, part of you kind of wonders why Paulie didn’t spend the night with his girlfriend if she felt passionate about steering clear. It reminds me of when Cara and Kailah were feuding on social media (the last 15 years it feels like), and Paulie spent time hanging out with Kailah’s boyfriend.

8 Another Disappointing Daily Challenge

I get incredibly bored watching the daily challenges most seasons. This season has been a complete insult to those who care about them. This challenge would have been enthralling if the terrain was a bit more slippery, and two players were forced to meet in the middle every round (a water hall brawl).

Fun fact: The US men did participate in this daily challenge, and CT was the blocker for the UK. I know this from my mid-season trailer breakdown as there was a still of CT and Leroy meeting in the middle with CT jumping off the platform.

7 Rogan’s sloppy gameplay

Rogan and CT are so dumb. If you want to get Dee off your team, then you vote Dee in during the nomination ceremony. By voting in Tori, they gave the power to Kam and Leroy to choose whether to send out Jenny or one of their alliance members. Kam and Leroy are going to put in the person who is not in their alliance and who makes the UK team stronger on paper. Likewise, you show your entire ass to a group of US females who are running the game and love Dee. Rogan executed the move so poorly that it could lead to his downfall.

It was such an unnecessary move. Also, Dee killed the challenges last season, many of which involved endurance. We have not seen Rogan exhibit any signs that he’s better than the guy who died on the mountain when it comes to long-distance events yet.

6 Dee’s going down under

The biggest positive for Dee is the female US alliance controls the overall numbers of the game, and they should protect her. However, there are only three UK women left on her team with one or two eliminations. If she does go into elimination, she has to face a decent Nany or an incredibly scary Tori.

While she should distance herself from a user like Rogan, the feeling of comfort that he gave her is now gone, and even worse, she probably feels as though she can trust nobody, except maybe Ninja. Which is like saying you can only trust the comfort of a Burger King bathroom.

Considering next week’s Purge involves swimming, Dee should be fearful.

5 Jordan vs. CT

Jordan and CT are one of my favorite Challenge feuds because neither player quite wants to attack one another head-on. I think at the age CT is at; he is aware that Jordan is currently a much better player than him. CT’s general strategy is to not rock the boat, especially with someone as good as Jordan potentially at his neck. Jordan is aware of the person CT can be, and he knows in elimination, CT is a big man who can eat him in two bites without pickles. Jordan also knows he can beat CT in a final, as he did so by over an hour with a fractured leg.

When these two collide, you can tell neither like one another. Although both know what the other is capable of doing. It is like watching two lions sizing each other up. Or like imagining a wild Pokemon approaching a Voltorb who is ready to use self-destruct.

4 Nany and Kam’s battle for Leroy’s loyalty

When I was in high school, they would give you extra credit for dressing formally during presentations. I remember 14-year-old me thinking it was annoying to have to wear a tie for my honors world history presentation, but as I got older, I learned that looking formal does give your argument the facade of confidence at least. Watching Nany argue with Kam while in that rocking red dress and Kam was in her pajamas, it swayed me towards Nany’s side as a superficial viewer. When being objective, their argument in the team bedroom had me on Nany’s side as Kam seemed to be talking in circles a bit more, although Nany did have a bit more of an angrier tone. I did get a chuckle when she called Cara “corny.”

In the overall view of things, I think both Nany and Kam are incredibly selfish in their treatment of Leroy. Nany needs to let Leroy play his own game and realize that he’s chosen the path that he thinks is best. Kam needs to understand that Leroy has hurt his friendships with her and her alliances game.

3 Leroy’s up and downs

It is incredibly fair to critique Leroy’s gameplay and his decision to align with Paulie. Leroy is choosing to have a guaranteed spot in the final over having a potentially strong team in the final where he could get thrown into Proving Grounds at any moment. He’d rather know he is getting a coin flip than the risk it for 75% shot of winning. Put yourself in Leroy’s seat, would you rather have a job where you get paid a stable salary with excellent benefits and a retirement plan, or would you instead work a job with potentially high commission where you have to figure out all the little stuff?

Watching him manage his two best friends in the game and get the ire of each despite trying to maintain the relationships is depressing. Leroy might be playing a bad game, but he is a great person who truly cares about both Kam and Nany. I did enjoy watching Leroy tell the Jordan alliance that he believes regardless of how it plays out, Team USA is winning. The man has made a choice, and he believes in it, no matter how much they poke at him.

2 Flying Jenny

The Challenge is about more than burpees and squats, and Jenny learned it tonight. Despite having an elite fitness level, Jenny had no experience when it came to physical contact. I do not like using the term flung when it comes to one challenge competitor defeating another. I think Jenny got flung in the second round of the elimination. Watching her cling to Tori’s ankles as she ran to victory was a bad look for a girl who was talked up as a massive threat in the house.

I hope Jenny comes back because, in the one genuinely individual challenge of the season, she proved to be an excellent swimmer. If she can learn how to handle the physicality of the game, then she could become a top player.

1 Tori the Terrific

After watching Tori’s performance on Final Reckoning, part of me wondered whether myself and some of the fanbase had gotten lost in the hype. This season she has come into the game in fantastic shape and took out the two strongest girls on Team UK. While it is not winning four of five eliminations in a season, Tori has two high-quality elimination wins. Finally, she has some of the women on Team USA wondering if they made a wrong decision in giving her and Jordan to Team UK.