Champs vs Pros Episode 3 Recap: Tia Blanco is America’s Sweetheart

Maybe it is because the Champion girls are not on the level of the Champion guys, but for some reason the female elimination days seem have to less tension. If Lolo Jones was not popping off on everyone, it would be very mild.

When it comes to the male champions, you have a group of heavy-hitters. If Wes is your worst athlete, it is a good problem to have, making every elimination a must watch. For the girls there’s a clear rank between all of them, Cara being #1, Camila being #2, and the Ashley’s a clear tier below the other two.

Now let’s talk a little more about the episode:

The Challenge: They play the Pole Push game from Gauntlet 3, which to me is not a memorable game. The only thing memorable about it was that the Champion guys were disappointed that they were unable to throw it, due to it being way too obvious if they lost. Except these will all be 1 v 1’s.

Ashley M. decides to be captain again due to the other girls not wanting to step up, and it being her best chance to get safety from elimination. Lindsey steps up for captain of the Pros, to the chagrin of Lolo, who gets angered when she gets put up against Cara Maria, the strongest champion girl. Lolo believes as captain that Lindsey should be stepping up to face Cara.

In the First round, Wes tells Ashley M. to put him in against Kamerion. He thinks that Kam will beat all of the guys, so they should just throw him in with the off-chance he’s able to pull some classic Wes-like shenanigans. The fun fact that Wes revealed on Twitter, was the face-off was a rematch of a High School track meet between the two in hurdles where Kam won. I did not believe it until I googled Kam to find out he was from Kansas (where Wes is from), and is in the same age range as Wes. The end result was the same, Kam torched Wes, with Wes laughing as he fell in the water.

The Second round was CM Punk versus CT. They believe that as a wrestler, CM will be able to take out CT. Dad Bod CT uses all 245 lbs of himself to push CM in the water easily.

Third round is Lolo against Cara Maria. As strong as Cara Maria is, Lolo has 25 lbs on her according to the internet. She’s also a sprinter (low-key great lifters), and bobsledder, so as strong as Cara Maria is, it’s not a fair match-up. Cara Maria actually makes a nice sweep around move at the end, but is a couple feet off where she should have turned, and falls into the water. Good showing against a Pro.

Round Four, the Champs put Tia against Camila, thinking Camila is bigger and fiercer. Like the final for Invasion, Camila was upset and in the water. Tia proves herself yet again.

In the Fifth round we get to see Darrell against Louie, which is a bad choice, as Darrell should go up against Gus (who he has the size advantage on). Both Jordan and Darrell are a good deal bigger than Louie. In this round, Louie puts up a surprisingly good fight, sending Darrell to the ground once or twice. Darrell gets the win.

Round 6 is Lindsey against Ashley K., Lindsey wins. Round 7 is Jordan against Gus, Jordan falters, a bad loss for someone who was cocky going in.

Pros win 5–2.

Elimination Deliberation:

Before the voting, the Pros get into arguments about who should go into elimination. Lolo is very defensive that she’s been a day 1 target, and that others should step up and finally feel what she has gone through. The other 3 girls look at each other and swerve her, knowing she is going in.

Voting

Ashley M. automatically goes in for the Champions as she was team captain. Darrell gets first vote and picks Ashley K. CT picks Ashley K. as he has seen less of her competing and that she should never say his name (as she did during the previous episode). Ashley K. votes for Cara Maria to get revenge (jokingly) for Cara Maria eliminating her on Invasion. Cara Maria throws her vote back at Ashley. Jordan as close friends with Ashley chooses Cara Maria. When it gets to Camila, she it torn on who to vote for, until Wes tells her that if she votes for herself, then there’s no way she goes to elimination, and she does not have to make a choice. Upon learning this, she votes for herself. Wes starts laughing as this was his plan so he could tie the vote up and put a wrench in the game.

Wes is so bored that he has gotten to the point where he wants to mess around with the team as there’s nothing better for him to do in this game with little politics. Victor tells the group that as a tie, it is Ashley M.’s choice. She chooses Ashley K., mostly out of fear of Cara Maria in elimination.

When the Pros get the turn to vote, Wes convinces them to tie the vote to let Lolo decide so they feel no grief picking between Tia and Louise. Wes is playing the game for both teams. Lolo asks Wes as the smartest person here if he could help her decide, to which Wes declares as the smartest person he will be abstaining from the conversation. Wes is a troll lord. Lolo picks Tia.

Spa Time

After the deliberation, the girls head to the spa. Tia is so adorable. Her tan is perfect, her hair is pretty, makeup is on point, she’s tiny with a great body, and has a perfect goofy smile. Tia’s sweet voice and smile brings it all together, forget about Jenna, forget about Averey, forget about Ashley K, Tia Blanco is America’s sweetheart.

Elimination Time

They plays Balls In, which for some reason they call it Basket Brawl. Production decides to make this version more difficult by using Medicine Balls and elevating the basket. Except, both of those things make it easier. When it was a light volleyball, it was easy to poke out of someone’s hands with a quick tap or swipe. It was also tougher to shoot in a basket as it is light and bouncy. The bigger medicine ball is dense and won’t bounce off the top of the basket, just roll in.

We get a best of 3 between the two Ashley’s. In the first round, Ashley M. was not ready and got straight up beat to the rim by Ashley K., and was easily taken down on offense. As they got physical when Ashley M. was on offense, Victor Cruz was shocked by the physicality. Guess he had never seen the Challenge.

After going down 1–0, Jordan said in the stands a bit loudly that Ashley M. is the weakest member on their team. She hears this, looks down to the ground and turns on a switch. On defense, she manhandles Ashley K., holding her head to the ground, grabbing her neck. In her confessional, Ashley K. calls Ashley M. kinky. Maybe Ashley K. is America’s sweetheart after all. When Ashley M. goes on offense, she almost gets the ball into the basket, and leaves it in on the top of the rim of the basket. It’s there for a good 10 seconds while the 2 girls wrestle on the floor. In previous iterations the ball would fall to the floor, except for some reason there’s a lid around the basket keeping it there. Ashley K. gets up first and swipes for the ball out, accidentally knocking it in due to the weight of the medicine ball.

Round 3, Ashley K. gets knocked down by Ashley M. relatively quickly. Ashley M. goes back on offense, and she decides to take a jump shot over Ashley K., and sinks as it rolls through the basket. The weight of the medicine ball made it easy. This was the first time someone has ever made the jump shot. A good win by Ashley M. after being down and out. Ashley M. starts cursing at Jordan that she will be coming for him. Not looking good for Jordan as he has two people on his 7 man team already against him.

Right before the female Pros elimination begins, Lindsey decides she wants to take the place of Tia in elimination, we are unsure of whether this will be let fly, as he Victor says it is up to Lolo. We get a to be continued, where for once I desperately want to see what happens next week.

Post Script

Tia being in this elimination is a bit unfair. She completed the Against the Ropes challenge, being one of only 5 people to get across. She demolished the other females in the BBQ hotdog challenge, and beat Camila in her round from this episode. I really hope America’s sweetheart stays longer.