The Challenge Double Agents Episode 10 Recap: 10 Biggest Takeaways
Episode 10 of Double Agents 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. These will be integral storylines that the 10th episode focused on, and I’ll breakdown why they matter. Also, if you prefer a traditional Summary, the YouTube Podcast breakdown is above, and the Spotify/Apple Version below.
10 Kam and Leroy have set the Chess Board Up Perfectly
After the elimination, Kaycee, Fessy, and Josh bask in the glory of all three of them having Gold Skulls. The Big Brother alliance (mostly Kaycee) is playing the game well. On the other side of the house, Devin and Kyle’s focus is to get Josh and Fessy out and get CT a Skull. These two sides are in direct opposition, which speaks volumes to the game Kam and Leroy are playing because they hold so much of the power in this game and do not have much of a target on them now that Theresa is gone. Hell, each of them is partnered with a member of the two alliances and are still in a good spot.
9 Fessy and Gabby sitting in a Tree
They showed Fessy and Gabby kissing in all the trailers this season, and we finally got it this week. It was as underwhelming as their “relationship” has been to this point. Fessy talking about being an introvert while also peacocking in front of the camera was hilarious. Gabby is clearly physically attracted to Fessy and has probably wanted him to kiss her for weeks. If anything, she would rather that than have more fake small-talk. There is no connection there, it is two attractive people wanting to hookup, and that is what reality television should be. Do not try to sell me on this being anything more than that.
Fessy’s Ex-GF Haleigh, his entanglement with Tori, and Gabby’s boyfriend Brandon is background noise.
8 Stop Calling Things Puzzles That Are Not Puzzles
In general, I am not a fan when they add luck elements to daily challenges/eliminations. Players digging aimlessly for their pieces to potentially find nothing in their first ten digs while an opponent might get all ten pieces in their first ten digs is not fair. The game’s social element with teams helping their allies was a fun added twist, but even then, it stacked the odds much harder against the teams who were already fighting for their lives. Josh and Nany had at least three pieces handed to them. On the other side of the coin, people kept burying Devin and Gabby’s pieces deeper since they did not want them to win.
What amazed me in this daily challenge was that people kept referring to this as a puzzle, which it would be if you did not have the pillar standing twenty feet away for you to memorize and copy. That is not solving anything; that is basic second-grade memorization. Even with that, Josh and Nany, who had a significant lead on everyone, were not even close to winning. Amber M and Cory also had a decent lead as the second-team to collect all their pieces and were not able to capitalize, which is a massive difference-maker because if they win, then I believe we would have had Cory and Amber volunteering to face the House Vote, which likely would have been Devin and Gabby.
Shoutout to Devin and Gabby for winning this challenge. Most of the house was actively trying to sabotage them. Devin prides himself on his intelligence, so to be one of the few players with two daily challenge wins this season, both involving a mental portion, is huge. CT and Big T were close; they accidentally flipped one of their pieces upside down close to the bottom of their tower, forcing them to rebuild it. Had they won, it would have been fascinating to see how the votes would have played out. If Amber and Cory volunteer as house vote, then CT has no incentive to volunteer as there would not be a skull on the line, and Big T is friends with Amber (in all honesty, I think Big T wants to last as long as possible). Had Devin and Gabby been the house-vote, maybe CT volunteer them since there is a 50–50 shot at a skull for him. As much as Devin and CT are #1 allies, I think CT could sleep easy at night after taking Devin’s skull. At the same time, would Big T be comfortable facing Gabby? Darrell/Amber and Josh/Nany are still options on the table as well.
7 Nam and Lolo Break-Up, But They Cannot Afford a Divorce
Piggybacking on the previous section, it looked like Nam and Lolo dug up many pieces that were not theirs. To make matters worse, Nam hurt his back in the process. He has already been carrying the emotional stress of being Lolo’s partner this season; a physical injury might be his ultimate undoing. Their break-up in the outdoor gym was one of the most awkward moments in television history. Lolo wants so much out of Nam when arguably, they would be the worst team without him.
Despite them emotionally “breaking up,” they are still together because none of the women want to let Lolo get a skull, and Nam does not have the political power to get voted in unless CT first gets his skull. They need to win a daily challenge to split up at this point officially.
6 What The Hell was Amber M thinking?
I have no idea how Cory convinced Amber M to volunteer herself as the house vote. Amber spent the first ten weeks of this show dodging bullets left and right, and now when one of her top allies is the Double Agents, she volunteers. I understand wanting to get your Gold Skull. Except if you want to win this game potentially, you need to make sure the people who see you like a Free Gold Skull get taken out first. They should have politicked to make Josh and Nany the house vote and then pitted Amber B (whom she said last week is her enemy) against each other in elimination. Congrats to Cory; he got what he wanted, at least.
5 Devin and Gabby’s Mismanagement of Power
This was the second time this season where the winning team had one player who had a Gold Skull, and the other person did not. The first time it was Devin and Tori, and now it happens with Devin and Gabby. From Gabby’s standpoint, it is annoying that when you finally win and your teammate already has a gameplan in mind that does not involve helping you get your Skull. Although, Gabby is already looked at as one of the weaker players due to her size and similar to my argument about Amber M above, keeping the smaller girls in the game as long as possible is better in the long-run for when you get forced to go into elimination rather than when you have the option now.
Devin mucked the week up by openly announcing Josh as the house vote plan in the most douchey way possible. If they worked covertly, then Devin and Gabby could have had the votes of Kyle, CT, Amber M, Big T, Nam, Lolo, and Cory, and then at that point, you are only one vote away from an 8–8 tie and two away from a 9–7 majority. Had Devin promised Darrell a shot at Josh in elimination, then maybe he gets his vote. If you switch the target itself onto Amber B/Darrell, then it is possible Kam and Leroy votes for them since they would see Darrell as a threat and do not 100% trust Amber B either.
4 Deliberation and Votes
The deliberations get funnier every week. Lolo pouring out her soul about wanting to go into elimination to split up her and Nam’s partnership, and having nobody in the room caring was a quintessential Lolo performance. The votes themselves came out 12 votes for Amber/Cory, 2 votes for Josh/Nany (from Kyle/CT), and 2 votes for Nam/Lolo (from Nam/Lolo). Sidenote: I have not seen CT actively dislike someone as much as Josh since Adam King. That should tell you a lot.
Had Amber M not volunteered, this week would have been interesting. When someone like Amber M volunteers, nobody has to think about whom they are voting for because all the women think they can beat her. When Devin and Gabby find out it is Amber M/Cory, Devin wants to put Kam, Kaycee, or whatever top player against them. In Devin’s defense, he is a known lay-up who has eliminated Johnny Bananas, Wes Bergmann, and Zach Nichols. Sometimes you invest in GameStop, and you become a millionaire. Gabby refuses that because she is afraid of having a target on her, which is not the type of game you play when you are 5'0. When you are 5'0, there is already a target on you, and you have to swing for the fences.
3 Josh’s Random Aggression
Josh keeps cursing Devin out and calling him a pussy. He keeps showing all this aggression towards Devin in a way that I find oddly disturbing. At this point, you either have to brush it off or hit him back with something legitimately clever and not cliché, and if you cannot do that, you need to punch him in the face. It has hit a breaking point where if this guy is getting you this riled up, calling him a pussy does nothing except maybe show that his actions and words are beating you up. Right now, what we see on screen is that Devin has a more impressive elimination win and is actually winning challenges with the house working against him. In contrast, Josh has been unable to win one with pregame alliances assisting him along the way.
2 Small Brawl
There are Hall Brawl elimination battles where you become impressed by both players for having gone to war with one another and showing something in themselves you never expected. This Hall Brawl was the opposite. My opinion of Amber M is now worse, and my opinion of Amber B is relatively the same, maybe even a little less. The version of Hall Brawl they played was similar to the game CT/Adam played against Bananas/Tyler on Rivals 1, except a straight line versus a dug-in trench.
On the initial contact between the two women, Amber M got low, similar to the way she saw Nelson play the game, except when she made contact, it was clear she had never made a tackle in her life, and thus, looked like a small child waiting to get knocked over. Amber B was relatively fast and made use of her long legs. However, I cannot help feeling that someone who has claims to play rugby and has 9 inches of height and 20–30 lbs on Amber M should have won more dominantly. It was a still blowout, I guess. Gabby choosing not to go down into elimination is questionable because if Amber M is down there, you somewhat have to take the shot at that point. Even then, we still did not know whether it was a male or female elimination day, and Cory would have wrecked Devin in Hall Brawl. A Cory-Darrell Hall Brawl would have been interesting. Darrell is known for being a physical specialist, and Cory is one of the fastest guys in the house who played college football. It is a coin flip.
1 Aftermath
Amber M will not be making any more heart hands this season. Great personality for the Challenge, not-so-great competitor. Cory will be getting his 6th partner of the season, meaning he will have partnered with 40% of the cast, and that stat becomes crazier when realizing that Liv/Nicole DQ’d medically before he got the chance to partner with them. As smart as it was to dump Amber M as a partner, Cory now theoretically only has 3 shots at a Gold Skull instead of 4 as he will have to wait for an extra elimination to get a partner again. Even then, if he gets Lolo as a partner, he might never get to see an elimination. Cory is playing with fire.
Amber B keeps Darrell as a partner, which is a no-brainer. The women who do not have skulls with one freebie left are Nany, Gabby, Lolo, and Big T.
