The Challenge Final Reckoning Episode 1 Recap: Buried in Drama

It feels good to have a real Challenge season happening again. Champs vs Stars is a fun appetizer whose stakes never seem high enough to keep fans fully engaged. An actual episode of the Challenge becomes an entire event on social media with live tweeting, Reddit threads, and Instagram Lives by cast members. Tonight’s episode was short and simple for a game with many twists. It was far from the best premiere in Challenge history, and it was not the worst ever either. Let’s dig into it.

The video reveals the first challenge/purge of the season. Fourteen players will be digging a grave containing their partner for the season, once out of the grave, they will run to the finish line. Bottom two teams will be automatically eliminated. Players will figure out where their teammates’ graves are via a walkie-talkie with a voice manipulator. It was the buried players’ job to remember where they were buried and their surroundings.

Player finished in this order:

1st Place Zach (dug up Amanda) without a shovel!
2nd Place Nelson (Shane) moons Nelson coming out of the casket.
3rd Place Natalie (Paulie)
4th Place Kam (Melissa)
5th Place Cara Maria (Marie) she was expecting Bananas/Wes, got Marie.
6th Place Tori (Derick)
7th Place Sylvia (Joss)
8th Place Kailah (Kayleigh)
9th Place Kyle (Brad)
10th Place CT (Veronica) CT is pissed.
11th Place Faith (Angela)
12th Place Jozea (Da’Vonne)
Bottom 2:
13th Place Britni (Chuck) digs three graves because Chuck has no idea where he is buried.
14th Place Jenna (Jemmye) simply could not find Jemmye despite being given detailed instruction.

**Johnny Bananas original partner was Devin. Unfortunately, Devin’s father passed away after the flight to South Africa and he had to rush home. Bananas was exempt and given safety until the next challenge**

Zach and Amanda were given the power to eliminate any of the teams, except for Bananas. They chose to eliminate Jozea and Da’Vonne as they had no connections to anyone in the house and it was the safest move. Da’Vonne even calls it a “pussy move” on their part. Britni/Chuck, Jemmye/Jenna, and Jozea/Da’Vonne are “eliminated”.

Players Move In the House and Night One Drama

• Angela’s room has no closets in it, so she attempts to move her stuff into another person’s room and gets into it with Shane. She is yelling too much.
• Kailah makes it obvious she is moving out of the bed she already chose because Kayleigh and Melissa are moving into the same room.
• Joss has his hands all over Amanda. He calls her his pocket rocket. Eventually, the house eggs them on to kiss. Sylvia in unsure whether the relationship will be good or bad for their alliance.
• Faith attempts to hash out any problems between her and Angela made on Ex on the Beach.
• Bananas talks to Kyle and Cara about their relationship. Cara wants another ride with the pirate, while Kyle wants to have sex with other people. Kyle is making out with Faith by the end of the night. In order to make Kyle jealous, Cara tries to seduce(?) Paulie. Paulie has a girlfriend, she tells him he can win the game polidicking if he wants to. He can go home to his boring relationship, or he can win by straddling her.

Redemption House Shenanigans

• Surprise, they decided not to eliminate six people in one swoop again and instead we have to deal with the Redemption House twist yet again. Having people dig up their partners was not a big enough twist already apparently.
• Chuck and Britni do not want to work with another, Jenna is actually happy to have a snakey partner like Jemmye, and Da’Vonnea/Jozea are seemingly cool with one another.
• TJ informs them to pay attention in order to find out what is going on in the main house.

Back to the Main House

• Kailah and Kayleigh get into a mini argument over how they do not get along. Truly no substance.
• Melissa approaches Kailah saying she wants to be her friend, though she does it in a condescending and aggressive fashion. They continue to yell, Melissa encroaches on Kailah with her first raised. Eventually, the two get into a shoving match until they are separated. No major bruises, mostly a weak fight that was louder and more dramatic than it actually was.
• In the morning, Kailah tells her sob story. Bananas tells her to stop being a victim, he is somewhat correct, however, in his confessional he makes fun of Kailah’s face and her lip fillers. Really, Bananas is still salty Kailah blindsided him on Vendettas and is taking enjoyment in Kailah possibly going home.
• Kayleigh and Kam are fearing the possible repercussions of their partner.
• Before the episode ends, TJ comes to the house to inform Kailah and Melissa they are going home. We are left on a cliff-hanger regarding the status of Kayleigh and Kam.

Winners and Losers of Episode

Winner #1 Amanda Garcia

She got the hottest guy in the house to be all over her. On top of that, she has Zach as a partner. Meanwhile, her arch-nemesis Jenna was sent straight to the Redemption House. Everything is coming up Amanda.

Winner #2 Kyle

He has Cara jealous enough that she is trying to get Paulie to cheat on his girlfriend. Also, he got Brad as a partner and made out with Faith (who is gorgeous).

Winner #3 Marie

Cara Maria liked tweets saying she hope Marie never gets cast again and now Marie gets a two time Champion as her partner. Winning.

Loser #1 Kailah and kinda Melissa

Kailah trains hardcore for these Challenges and went home with 21k last season. Melissa comes for drama and hookups, so she already accomplished half her goals this season.

Loser #2 Cara Maria

She won close to 400k dollars last season. Unfortunately, she got caught up in a guy who did not care about her so much that she made some poor decisions this episode. She also got a partner who has never even sniffed a final.

Loser #3 Jozea & DaVonne

They come in as the new team from Big Brother and narrowly escape finishing in last to only get sent straight to the Redemption House by Amanda/Zach. Pour one out for them.