The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras Episode 11 Recap: 6 Biggest Takeaways
The 11th episode of The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras is in the books. You probably have some thoughts, so let’s compare. Instead of giving a simple summary, I decided to focus on the 6 Biggest moments/takeaways from Episode 11.
I typically do 10 takeaways; this week, I did 6 because the episode didn’t warrant 10. I didn’t hate the episode; there was just stuff that I didn’t feel the need to hammer.
If you prefer audio/video, my podcast recap can be found above/below:
6 Donkey Kong Daily Challenge
The daily challenge this week was fantastic. It was a fun and intense obstacle course that clearly had a decent degree of difficulty.
Four players did not complete the daily challenge — three of which were the Ladies of Leisure. All three of them were at the bottom last week, and now, with their games on the line, they had an even worse performance. I don’t think competition is the end-all-be-all on this show; the issue is that they’re not competing at a high level or being super entertaining. Nia and Olivia didn’t get far at all in this daily challenge, not that Michele did either, but she at least got further than all the other people who DQ’d. The big DQ standout was Cara Maria, though. As much as Cara has improved as a competitor over the last decade and a half, these daily challenges mix heights and problem-solving — she’s just not a natural in. She’s improved dramatically since the start of her career, but it’s still not a strength for her. You can’t even use size as an excuse, as we saw the much smaller Aviv be able to traverse the same rock climbing portion that led to Cara and others DQ’s. Sidenote: shoutout to Aviv, while she’s not dominating competitively, she’s proven throughout the season that she’s definitely not a weak player. Unfortunately, it seems like she sustained a significant injury during the daily. Theo stunk up the joint so much in the daily challenge that we had no clue who else on the men’s side even did poorly.
In terms of the winners, it came down to Jenny & Tori and Kyland & Bananas. Tori once again had a standout performance that Cara praised. While I agreed with Cara’s sentiment that Tori has improved a ton since the last time the two competed against each other, I found it weird that she almost painted the picture that Tori wasn’t already a top-level player in their past seasons. On Dirty 30, Tori, as a rookie, was neck-and-neck with Cara, and on War of the Worlds 2, Tori was the standout female competitor. Tori didn’t win, though; Jenny did — which was a big win for Jenny as she lost a bit of luster after her elimination to Aneesa.
Meanwhile, Kyland edged out Bananas — with two elimination wins and another Top 2 finish, Kyland is establishing himself as a legit threat to win. Bananas had an outstanding performance, and he might’ve won if he had not gone first.
5 The Deliberation That Didn’t Need To Happen
I originally had no interest in talking about the deliberation as it was clear that Michele would go into elimination as Nia is closer to Olivia than she is to Michele, and Kyland was going to abide by Nia. Credit to Michele for telling Kyland that whatever he decided would not affect their alliance/bond going forward. That’s looking forward rather than being reactive. What was weird was that Jenny, whose vote didn’t matter in this scenario, voiced her anger at Olivia and Michele. Yes, Olivia & Michele did not volunteer a bunch for eliminations, but that’s not their responsibility in the game; the men ultimately decided the targets, and, so if Jenny should be mad at anyone, it should be the men, not Olivia & Michele who truly pose no threat to Jenny in the Final. When Jenny gets angry, she talks like there are only 13 letters in the English language.
4 Bananas Shockingly Stirs the Pot
Once Bananas lost the daily challenge and it became guaranteed that two of the three women he nominated would be going into elimination, he knew he was going to be the target. From there, his goal was to drag other people into the mud. Bananas took all the attention he could get at the bar, stirred the pot, and even played some offense by exposing Jordan’s game a bit.
Credit to Bananas because people give him way more attention than he deserves or needs. It was a foregone conclusion that he’d be the nominee, and yet, Bananas was able to get emotional reactions out of Tori, Olivia, and Michele. It’s actually good gameplay for Bananas because he already has a big target, and it’s not going away, so this loud display is more Bananas fully showing his allies who he is against and why they shouldn’t worry about his loyalty. Likewise, Bananas is baiting his opponents to slip and say the wrong thing that will catch the eyes and attention of others.
In this game, the women control the nominations for the men, and so Bananas loudly telling Nia that she’s not on Jordan’s Top 4; it tells other women in the game that they might not be on his either. If Bananas is going to win this season, he needs to get Jordan out before the Final, and he’s got to pull out all the tricks in his bag because Jordan is in a pretty position right now.
3 Rachel Is Playing A Survivor-esque game
On top of being part of Bananas Angels, Rachel has cut deals and formed alliances with Jordan, Cory, and Nehemiah visa-vie Cory in the last two weeks. Being the only player remaining from Era 1 has been a godsend for Rachel’s game. She took the narrative of being on an island by herself and has used it as a means to establish immediate trust with players. They all want Rachel as an ally because she’s a strong player, but they also think they’ll instantly be at the top of her list. We also know Rachel is close with Josh and Derek, so going into next week, she’s theoretically protected by 6/8 guys left in the game. The game Rachel is playing reminds me of a dominaint Survivor player who is the clear #1 threat to the fans and yet some people in the game are still oblivious to how much power they hold.
Rachel being protected by that many guys could become messy if she got put into a position where she would have to nominate or vote someone into elimination from this point on. She won’t have to worry about it as long as she doesn’t win the daily challenge on men’s elimination days and doesn’t finish last in dailies on women’s days. Rachel’s in a prime position to make it to the Final, and there’s a clear winner arc for her.
2 I’m So Fucking Tired Of Watching People Do Math
Not every Challenge elimination needs to be a headbanger. At the same time, we don’t need so many eliminations and daily challenges that involve people doing math. We also didn’t need to see Michele compete in a second math elimination this season.
From the first Michele elimination this season, we learned math is not her strong suit. Except she blew Nia out of the water for the most part when it came to the actual math in this elimination — and that means Nia sucks worse at math than a person who is bad at math. On top of being bored, I didn’t get to walk away from this elimination being super impressed by either player. Ultimately, I’m happy Michele won because she’s been the superior competitor and has a bit more juice right now.
When it comes to Nia…I have no interest in seeing her on this show anymore. Nia is a 6' former college athlete and yet shows no real instincts when it comes to the competition aspect of this show. While I enjoy she’s able to mix up when it comes to hooking up & showmances — she’s no real threat to win on this show, so put her on an Ex on the Beach or a Love Island-type show. I’m proud of the growth Nia has shown in that she’s no longer Hurricane Nia and I don’t ever want to see her revert back to that person (even if I found it entertaining sometimes). In terms of character arc and intrigue, I don’t think there’s much to tap from left.
1 Big Targets and a Big Purge Coming
It was obvious that Michele was going to nominate Bananas as a target. That said, kudos to Michele for swinging big and nominating people who could beat him in elimination as the other targets in Jordan and Nehemiah. Additionally, Michele does not rate highly on either of those guys’ lists, so it’s a no-brainer from that perspective as well. Even if these men don’t face each other, there’s a 2/3 chance either Jordan or Bananas will see elimination, which is huge.
Now, there is one intriguing wrinkle to the equation, and that is we are getting both the Mini Final and a Purge next week. Look, I’m not the biggest fan of Purges, but if you’re going to have them, it should be in a daily challenge like the Mini Final, which will test whether or not you have what it takes to win. Going into next week, I think the obvious women vulnerable to getting taken out via the Mini Final Purge are Michele & Olivia, as they’ve been at the bottom of both solo daily challenges — although Aviv’s injury could knock her out of the game. For the men, I think Derek and Theo are most likely to lose. Theo’s cardio seems to have fallen off with how much weight/muscle he’s put on; meanwhile, Derek was second to last in the previous solo daily challenge and would’ve come in last had Ryan not been Ryan. I could see Josh getting taken out if he crumbles during a puzzle or eating portion.
Since we’ve moved into a male/female elimination day format, a Purge here feels like a good boost so that the season doesn’t feel dragged out. It gives everyone a kick in the ass and tells them who they should be worried about most, with the Final around the corner. My only worry is that there will be no elimination, and Michele’s targets will mean nothing.
