The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras Episode 16 Recap: 7 Biggest Takeaways
The 16th 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 7 Biggest moments/takeaways from Episode 16.
I typically do 10 takeaways; this week, I did 7 because the episode didn’t warrant 10.
If you prefer audio/video, my podcast recap can be found above/below:
Sink or Swim
If I were part of The Challenge editing team, I would’ve figured out a way to make it seem like Jordan went last instead of first because after Jordan went…it was clear no other man was winning. Shoutout to Jordan because, with a target on him, he crushed his competition to essentially guarantee his spot in the Final.
Now, I do want to give Cory credit for not even coming in the bottom two — historically, Cory’s quietly been one of the worst swimmers in challenge history, where’s he mostly been able to escape the tag as he’s always been slightly better than Nelly T. Thus, I was impressed when I heard Rachel mention that he’d been practicing his swimming every day, and when we saw him in the water, he performed better than I’d ever seen. Kyland struggled during the swim yet did just enough to beat Derek. I don’t know if I was utterly shocked that Derek came in last — I was just caught off guard as people in the house have mentioned that he’s so smart and that he’s like a fish in the water, yet he failed in both the mental aspect and the swimming aspect of the daily challenge.
6 Shady Ladies & A Mount Rushmore
The most interesting part of the daily challenge was watching Cara and Rachel take shots at one anothers abilities in confessionals. Cara made a remark about how Rachel might not be a big Final threat because of her lack of puzzle prowess, and Rachel looked outright disgusted by Cara’s swimming performance. At the beginning of the season, Rachel was one of Cara’s most prominent cheerleaders when Laurel & Bananas threw her into that opening elimination. Since then, the two have become very distant, and they don’t seem super fond of one another anymore. Unfortunately, we’re only seeing them make these shady comments about each other in confessionals, and we’re not getting any actual confrontation. The Challenge is feeling less like Reality TV and more like two people tweeting about each other.
With this format, these women can side-eye each other without coming into direct conflict as they won’t ever have to vote each other in as the men hold that power. It sucks that we’re in the end game, and we aren’t watching Cara, Rachel, Jenny, and Tori going for each other’s necks. Instead, it’s all compliments to their faces, with occasional passive aggressiveness sprinkled in.
To which, I have to compliment Tori because she once again won another daily challenge. Tori’s won 4/7 daily challenges in the solo phase; for reference, Cara, Rachel, and Jenny have all won 1 each. Meaning, Tori’s got more wins by herself than all these badass women do combined. If Tori wins this season after all this, then we have to begin conversations about her being a Top 3 competitor all-time, and her spot on that Challenge Mount Rushmore will be warranted. It was fascinating to see MTV put Laurel, Evelyn, Cara, Emily, and then theoretically Tori as their Mount Rushmore. I wonder how Rachel and some other legends will react to MTV’s Mount Rushmore because there are so many names that you could potentially put into that Emily slot: Sarah Rice, Rachel, Veronica, Paula, Jenn Lee, Coral, etc. I’m sure everyone will react rationally to MTV’s Rushmore.
5 Have It Your Way
Burger King has remained loyal through The Challenge’s highs and lows over the last decade. Everyone on this show looks like models, actors, or physical specimens, so it always makes me laugh when I see them wearing paper crowns and munching on Whoppers. And yet, I’ve come to realize that because the players are often limited diet-wise based on what production provides them, they’re not joyfully eating Whoppers ironically — it typically comes from a sense of comfort. They’re getting a bit of home by getting burgers and fries.
I noticed Tori stayed committed to her vegetarian diet as she was only eating fries as they didn’t seem to have an Impossible Whopper for her. I was disgusted when Tori grabbed the box of fries and tried to bite the top of 7–10 fries simultaneously. It’s not the gluttony that off-put me because I could take down the endless amounts of fries — it’s the fact that there was no possible way the fries could taste good that way. Fries are good because you eat them one to two at a time, either on their own or dip them into something where you can fully taste the salt and the crispness. You’re not getting any of that by tossing a bunch of fryheads into your mouth.
I don’t know what I’m going on about at this point — I’ll end this portion by saying that I’ll always be a fan of sponsored product placement on The Challenge, especially when it results in the competitors winning money and having to eat Whoppers.
4 An Honorable Brother
Going into this episode, if you had told me Derek was facing Cory in elimination, there was no chance I’d be rooting for Derek because I think Cory’s had a much bigger impact this season. Then we got to hear more about Derek’s story with his sister and the fact that he’d be competing in the elimination on her birthday, and from there, I suddenly was on Derek’s side. The thought of Derek losing after all that would’ve felt so painful. Derek has been desperately wanting to prove himself for years, and while he hasn’t had a dominant season, the fact that he’s still here is impressive, considering the legendary names on this cast.
As fun as drama can be, it was great to see some authentic character stories that make us feel invested in the show. We got that from both Derek and Cory in this episode.
3 I’m Here For My Kids
When we started getting an influx of moms and dads on The Challenge, fans were warm and receptive to them as they were rooting for them. As time has gone on, fans roll their eyes quickly at players when they say they’re here to win for their kids because we’ve heard so damn much now, and it can’t be your sole storyline. Cory has drawn a lot of ire as it really has become his major story for 5+ seasons now. Except I’ll say this as someone who has followed and blogged about Cory’s journey since the beginning…the guy seems like a kickass dad.
When I first started covering The Challenge, Cory was a fuckboi sharing a 1-bedroom California apartment with Cousin Mitch. Ever since Ryder came into his life, Cory has been grinding and using Reality TV as his path to put bread on the table for his family. Cory built a house for his family, where he has two kids with his long-time girlfriend Taylor, and he’s successfully co-parenting his daughter Ryder with former Challenger Cheyenne Floyd. Cory was a poor kid in Michigan, and now his daughter is a child who goes to school with Kardashians. For some, that doesn’t sound like a dream scenario, but the come up for Cory has been undeniable.
2 Brainless Brit
If Jenny didn’t work out 12 days a week, her gaps as a player would be so much more pronounced than they already have. Jenny tried to “cash in” on an IOU from Derek where she “saved” him during the team phase of the game. Except the episode where she saved Derek, Jenny was voting in Cory, who she had already voted in once earlier in the game — so really, it wasn’t like Jenny was going out on a limb for Derek.
Second, the game has moved on massively since the team portion, and the alliance lines have been drawn where Jenny has been a ride-or-die Bananas Angel girl. So much so that Jenny saved Bananas and put the Target on Derek that he had…THIS WEEK! The fact Jenny thought there was any chance she’d get saved when Derek was already internally battling on whether to save which of his two actual allies (Michele or Cara) was baffling. Jenny’s game awareness is just so bad; watching her plea to Derek was like watching someone try to use a Black Friday coupon in March.
1 Cory vs. Derek
Cory’s cardio and strength were on full display in this elimination — he truly gave 110% physically. Unfortunately for Cory, Derek gave 110% strategically, and that was the difference in this elimination. Derek put on a masterful performance in this elimination where not only did he put every block down precisely for solving, but he did so in a matter where Cory couldn’t even copy off him. It was a perfect elimination performance by Derek.
I don’t want to admonish Cory’s performance because I don’t know if he’s someone with the skill set to play the elimination like Derek did. Cory should’ve been more organized throughout this elimination — even then, I felt like he was gaining momentum near the end when it came to solving. It’s not that I think Cory would’ve ever beat Derek in this elimination — it’s more that I think Cory probably actually would’ve beaten a decent amount of people from this cast in this elimination. Except not the ones left on that stage…Because I think Kyland & Jordan would’ve been almost as organized as Derek with better cardio. Additionally, Bananas would’ve been more organized than Cory because he learned his lesson during the Ride or Dies Final. It sucks because compared to the Cory we saw on Invasion seven years ago, this guy’s cardio, swimming, and puzzle ability are all 500% better. Except it still feels like he’s a decent gap away from winning.
Probably the toughest part about this elimination between Cory & Derek is knowing that whoever won is likely going to be the least biggest threat in the Final. Cory and Derek are both good competitors — it’s just hard for me to believe anyone is beating Jordan in a Final, not to mention Kyland has been a sensation this season, and Bananas is a 7x Champ. So, although Cory lost, it’s not like I can pretend that if he had won this, he would’ve won the season.
Overall, congrats to Derek because this is the biggest elimination win of his career, and it will likely be the first Final on the flagship of his MTV Challenge career. For that to come on the 40th season is so insane. It would also be Kyland’s first Final, which it’s remarkable that we had a cast with 17/20 former men’s finalists, yet half our Season 40 Final will include two men who have never been there.
