The Challenge Battle For a New Champion Episode 10 Recap: 5 Biggest Takeaways
You’re all getting an abbreviate recap this week. The 10th Episode of The Challenge Battle For a New Champion 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 10 Biggest moments/takeaways from the 10th Episode.
If you prefer audio/video, my podcast recap can be found above/below.
5 Dumb Daily
In the trailers for this season, this daily challenge looked awesome. Then, in actuality, it was a boring mess that didn’t tell us too much about most players’ competitive abilities. Overall, the dailies this season have been underwhelming and often haven’t allowed players to stand out unless it’s a superhuman swimming performance by Ed or a catastrophically lousy performance.
The only good thing to come out of this daily challenge was that half the house was safe, meaning 2/4 of the losers would have to get nominated for elimination. It was a good thing as it forced players in the game to scramble and think in a way they haven’t before. Ed’s name became a possibility this week for the first time ever.
When it came to the winner’s decision, Horacio tried to play a slick move by asking everyone who was one person they could not say. Horacio did this to get people to show their cards and as a Hail Mary to protect his top ally, Kyland. For a second, I thought it might work as nobody said Corey, except then they actually voted, and it was a Kyland steamroll. I typically knock Horacio’s lack of gameplay; in this moment, he deserves credit as he at least made an effort to save Kyland and, in the process, got Jay to show his cards.
4 Michele & Berna
I’m unsure if we have ever had a Challenge relationship like Michele & Berna.
Michele is one of Berna’s only friends in the house. Throughout the entire season, Michele has looked out for Berna during her meltdowns and actively told people in her alliance that she is someone who can be a number for them. Berna has not gone into elimination this entire season because of Michele.
At the same time, Berna feels like a burden for Michele. As much as Michele cares about Berna when she goes to the club, Michele wants to unwind. She doesn’t want to deal with any potential emotional blowup that could come with Berna.
When Berna called her out for saying Michele didn’t want to hang out with her, Berna wasn’t wrong either. Yet I don’t blame Michele. Berna seems like a buzzkill, and her friendship wouldn’t seem worth it to me if I were Michele. There’s something deeper between these two that we aren’t seeing because I don’t know why this relationship is so important to Michele.
3 Messy Moriah
In my recap a couple weeks ago, I praised Moriah for being part of the majority yet clearly playing the game for herself by establishing friendships/connections on the other side of the house. I was impressed that Moriah was playing a game for herself.
Throw most of that out the window, as Moriah is completely derailing her game for James. After the daily challenge, Moriah went to war, petitioning to as many of her allies as possible to save James over existing alliance members (Corey & Ed). I watched Moriah talk more in defense of James in this one episode than she talked all last season. With each word Moriah said for James, she painted a bigger target on herself for weeks going forward with her alliance. Now, I respect Moriah’s loyalty; however, what makes the amount of effort she puts in so frustrating is the total lack of effort put in by James.
James is an absolute shithead. I understand that James doesn’t want to kiss ass, but when Moriah is putting her game on the line for him, the fact he’s not willing to give an olive branch to her allies is absolutely bonkers. At the deliberation, James undid even more of the work by talking in his egotistical fashion that he’s a winner and all he does is win as long as that winning doesn’t involve running a mile.
In defense of Moriah, I will say that her alliance is judging her a bit too harshly for going to bat for James when the other men in the house don’t prioritize her.
Jay has Michele & Nurys as his 1 & 2, Horacio has Nurys & Olivia as his 1 & 2, Corey has Michele, Asaf has Michele & Nurys, Emanuel has Berna, and Kyland had Melissa.
Moriah knows when those numbers dwindle, Jay & Horacio are tossing her in before Michele/Nurys/Olivia. All Moriah wants is a guy who will have her back — specifically, one she enjoys kissing.
As much as her showmance with James has derailed Moriah’s entire game, it is critical to note that it has unequivocally made her far more important on the show, to an exponential. Moriah was a massive wallpaper character last season, and now I’ve blogged about her in greater detail three consecutive weeks in a row. After Ride or Dies, I never imagined a world where Moriah would be such a big part of the season that if they now do an Exes, she has to be Johnny’s partner!
2 Kyland vs. Darrell
It’s always awesome to see Darrell on my TV screen. He’s funny and brings the vibe you want from a mercenary. Now, it would’ve been fun to see 44-year-old destroy one of these younger jabronis in Pole Wrestle. Nonetheless, it was good to see him, and I’m glad it was an elimination where the challengers had a fair shot.
I’m going to be transparent — I did not have many thoughts about the elimination other than I am very proud of Kyland for winning and taking down a beast like Darrell.
I don’t have many thoughts about the elimination because I don’t have any insight as to the best strategy. Kyland said in his confessionals that people kept trying to direct him on what to do, except they didn’t understand how difficult it was to move the contraption he was working on. Based on how these two competed and looked, the elimination had a high degree of difficulty, and Kyland took home a much-deserved win.
1 Midseason Trailer
Credit to whoever edited the midseason trailer because it reinvigorated. In the trailer, we saw a ton of drama, TJ teased that they’re going be to “trimming the fat”, and we’re going directly into a night-time daily challenge. We also still have CT, Cara Maria, and Laurel coming right around the corner. This season has been decent so far, and if it finishes strong, I’ll feel optimistic about The Challenge as a whole.
