The Challenge Double Agents Episode 11 Recap: 10 Biggest Takeaways
Episode 11 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 11th episode. These will be integral storylines that the 11th 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 Josh getting shut down by Nany
After a tender moment of friendship and support, Josh tries to make a move on Nany subtly. Nany quickly shuts it down and calls him creepy in the friendliest way possible. The second-hand embarrassment in this scene was through the roof. Nany didn’t put him in the friend-zone; she put him in the family-zone. You never want to be in the friend-zone, but at least people have worked their way out of it in the past. Only if you are from the South could you potentially get out of the family-zone.
It was reminiscent of Josh and Amanda on War of the Worlds 1, except Nany was much nicer about the situation, which is on-brand for all parties involved. This was not a great episode for Josh; CT called him the goof with MTV doubling down on the joke by showing footage of Josh making a weird face and then tripling down by putting up a fucking graphic labeling his name as THE GOOF. Social media will be calling him the Goof for the next decade. There will be Reddit Threads and Facebook posts will people pleading to stop calling him the Goof, to which commenters will reply, “Nah, Josh is the Goof.”
9 Swimming To Safety
My only real issue with this daily challenge was production not posting the time it took players to complete the challenge. We genuinely had no clue what team was winning, who did well, and so on. In the past, like on War of the Worlds 2 and Exes 2, they have had two teams go simultaneously during swimming challenges, so that way, we can at least gauge how one team is doing against another. I understand why they didn’t do that this time around due to the helicopter twist on things; it just is something that has helped fans visualize how well people are doing.
Suffice to say; we were able to figure out who was not doing well based on the fact they didn’t even get the rope portion down. Josh had the meanest DQ in that he not only missed his rope but sabotaged Nany and knocked her backward into the water. Even funnier was Josh asking production whether they will get a redo when it was a clear DQ on his part, and then getting infuriated once he found out he DQ’d. Sidenote: I don’t blame Josh for trying to hookup with Nany; she made a wet suit look gooood. The whole damn episode, she looked gorgeous. Second-worst DQ had to be Aneesa since she was the only person who got onto the rope and did not have the strength to keep herself up (plummeting immediately). The third worst DQ was Devin. At least he didn’t knock down Gabby like Josh did and didn’t prove to have zero upper body like Aneesa. He also took it in stride and made fun of his blunder, whereas Josh had to separate himself from everyone.
I also want to give Kam and Leroy a shoutout for working on their swimming in the off-seasons. Kyle’s face after Kam called him a shark was a top tier Kyle moment.
8 BIG TUNA
Big T crushed this daily challenge. She swam like a fish and had zero problems holding the rope. After the challenge, she tells CT that she had taken Pole Dancing classes and was on the Swim Team in school but didn’t want to reveal that in case she sucked. Over 35 seasons of the Challenge, I have seen so many different players overhype their abilities and past athletic feats only to fail. Big T kept a couple of aces up her sleeve, and with CT, they pulled out their second daily challenge win this season. They tied with Fessy/Aneesa, Leroy/Kaycee, and Devin for most daily wins this season. This is Big T’s world; we are just living in it.
Likewise, I was impressed by CT holding his big self up. Even though he lost weight entering the season, he is still a massive man in his 40s.
7 Devin and Gabby Are A Throwback Pair
Gabby and Devin compete almost like a duo on a Rivals/Exes season despite not having any relationship on the show before partnering up. They both have gotten put into challenging positions in that their gameplay and communication styles vastly differ. Add in that Devin has a Skull already, and Gabby doesn’t. It creates a more significant gap between the two. Anything Devin does is inherently seen as selfish by Gabby, and Devin also needs to play selfishly because they could each have three different partners by the end of the season the way the game is going.
When they fight, they go at it, and despite that, you can tell Devin still likes Gabby far more than his two previous partners. In the few challenges we have seen, they have competed well together (besides this week’s DQ).
6 People Had Fun In a Challenge House!
For the first time since 1985, people had fun in a Challenge house! CT and Big T walked in with the most epic outfits ever, declared if you are not having fun, you will not be safe! The whole house was shot-gunning beers and playing flip cup; it looked like a house that I wanted to be in. Production has focused so much on turning the Challenge into a sport with drama storylines that it has lost the charm and fun from the old days where it looked like people enjoyed being there. Watching people have fun is infectious and breeds positivity. It also creates better gameplay since people are open to more opportunities.
Thank you, Big T and CT, for a great night.
5 “Adult Cory” is hilarious
The visual of Cory sitting in bed with a book open, taking notes of how the votes were going to go made me pause my television and laugh. Watching Cory mature the last couple of seasons reminds me of the Step Brothers’ scene where Will Ferrell and John C Reilly learn how to become adults. It’s endearing.
Cory has lost 5 partners, watched the godfather of his child (Nelson) get stabbed in the back by someone he thought was a friend (Fessy), and probably had to listen to Tori Deal rap at some point in the house. The game has not gone his way thus far, and yet, I feel just being in the game at this point puts him in a great position to win. If he wins an elimination at some point, he gets the power to take either Kaycee or Kam to the final with him, and suddenly, Cursed Cory could become Champion Cory.
In the scene where Cory hugs and embraces an emotional, Josh, it felt like a man salting a buttering up a piece of lobster. Cory likes Josh; however, I think he LOVES Josh as a potential elimination or final opponent.
4 Devin’s Deliberation
Devin had the best deliberation speech this season. He made a fantastic point that those without Gold Skulls should not serve the lay-up on a silver platter to CT. Even Nany (who loathes Devin) admitted Devin was making excellent points in the deliberation. The only flaw in Devin’s pitch is that Josh is statistically a much bigger lay-up. Theoretically speaking, they could have gotten Cory and Darrell on board had the plan been to vote in Fessy since Cory would not mind getting revenge on Fessy. The critical flaw in that hypothetical is that CT would not want to face Fessy, and as well as he and Big T performed, them winning another daily challenge on a male day would be statistically unlikely.
Regardless, Devin spoke well and brought the energy you are supposed to at a deliberation. Him dragging Aneesa down with him in his speech by calling them the IT guys had me cackling.
Also, his composure after finding out he was going to face CT in elimination was awesome. Devin mentioned eliminating Bananas and Wes, and then says all he needs now are CT and Darrell. It was almost like he was talking about collecting legendary Pokemon. He already has Moltres and Articuno, now all he needs are Zapdos and Ho-Oh.
3. Was Darrell a swing vote?
The CT/Kyle/Devin side of the house somewhat pressured Darrell into flipping on the Big Brother alliance by voting Josh into elimination instead of Devin. It was a bit unfair to put Darrell in this position as to this point, Darrell has been carried by Amber B’s social connections. Darrell very well could have been targeted from the onset, similar to CT, Ashley, and Wes, and because he had that tie to the Big Brother players, he’s sailed smoothly. He stayed loyal to Amber B and voted Devin in, which is the logical move. Although, Darrell did somewhat put a target on himself by drawing a line in the sand. While the BB alliance has treated Darrell well to this point, if it becomes between themselves and him, they will throw him to the wolves.
What is crucial to note is that Darrell technically wasn’t even the swing vote. CT told the house it was 8–7, except it was 8–5–2 with Leroy and Kam burning their votes on Nam and Lolo. Leroy and Kam did this to keep Josh safe and keep the heat on Darrell and the Big Brother players. This might be Leroy and Kam’s best move this season in a game they are already dominating.
2 Lolo quits
From what we saw in the edit, Lolo Jones quit Double Agents because she was getting outplayed every week. She is a loser. The odds in this game are stacked just as hard, if not harder, against other people, and she crumbled under pressure. When you are a World Champion sprinter who grew up getting first place in High School, Regional, State, College, and National meets, losing daily challenges to Amber and Gabby must be a bit frustrating. Except a real athlete would look at their losses and analyze what they are doing wrong. Not Lolo Jones. She blamed everyone else but herself and decided to take her ball and go home.
She tried to spin her decision as her training for the Olympics was comical; if you were committed to your sport, you don’t go to film the Challenge at all, and you definitely don’t change your mind after filming for 6 weeks. Had she dipped around the same time Lio Rush did, then yeah, it would be somewhat defensible. At this point, after 11 daily challenges and eliminations? That’s weak. The only positive to come out of this moment is everyone’s face when she quit and Nam’s final words where he said he loved her, then had to clarify that he’s not in love with her, that he just likes her, then he even second-guessed that statement as well.
Nobody will miss you, and in the words of TJ Lavin, I hope to see you never.
1 Security Breach
The episode ends on a Cliffhanger/To Be Continued, and I am completely fine with it. This was legitimately one of the best episodes of the Challenge in recent years. They displayed house dynamics, politics, inter-team dynamics in the daily challenge and is chalked full of comedic moments.
Having covered the Challenge during the Dirty 30-Final Reckoning era, this cliffhanger was much better than in previous seasons. On Dirty 30, they literally had a Cliffhanger in the middle of a Cory/Hunter elimination. They then proceeded to show the next week on teaser, which clearly displayed Hunter competing in the daily challenge. Whereas this week, we have no idea what the Security Breach means. We have an entire week to speculate what will happen, and they have gotten me excited to tune in. Could Security Breach mean they are bringing an eliminated female player back or a mercenary into the game to equate for Lolo quitting? As it stands, Nam and Cory are both Rogue Agents without Gold Skulls, meaning one of them will get skipped over for a chance at a Skull unless they either bring someone into the game or pull a War of the Worlds 1 and make this a triple elimination, which in that case would ruin CT and Big T’s Double Agent experience.
There are so many possibilities, and that excites me for next week. I’m shocked that the best episode this season did not include an elimination.
