The Challenge Spies, Lies & Allies Trailer Breakdown

I will be breaking down the trailers of the Challenge Season 37 Spies, Lies, & Allies as I do every season. There are no spoilers in this article that you won’t figure out by watching the trailer super slowly. YES, there are spoilers, but they are spoilers via inference and analysis. Essentially, if I see something with my eyes in this trailer, it is not a spoiler.

Here is the trailer in video format if you have not seen it. ^

The opening is the coordinate locations of Croatia, i.e., where this season got filmed.

Our first action shots include Nelson peaking out the sunroof of a car towards a helicopter flying above. They then give two shots of players sitting on the roof a car sideways, reminiscent of some of the daily challenges from Total Madness. You can tell these are two completely different challenges based on the weather and style of cars. In the second photo, you can see a toxic waste truck in the challenge background with logos on the side, potentially the players have to memorize the colors/patterns as the car they are on top of veers erratically.

We get an action scene of Fessy and new Rookie Esther Agunbiade running towards a finish line as something explodes behind them. If their running is connected to the players on the car, then this is incredibly reminiscent of a daily challenge from Total Madness where players had to relay a number pattern to teammates, those teammates did mental math, and then the remaining players raced to the finish with a code/color combination.

TJ welcomes us to the Challenge: Spies, Lies, & Allies. I wonder if he is hosting this season or if he is going to be a “handler” again. I’m kind of getting handler vibes.

We proceed to get some action shots. Players are harnessed over water in what I expect to be a trivia challenge since nothing else is going on and it does not seem as though the players are holding themselves up either. There is a shot of a male player beginning to sprint towards his opponent in a Hall Brawl. Sadly, I am getting a bit tired of Hall Brawl. They need to give it a 1–2 season break.

CT is holding for his life as a speedboat drags him around in the middle of open water. My guess is that this is a midseason challenge because they usually don’t do water challenges like that until there are less people on the cast as they can be time consuming. Big T looks terrified as she sits in the passengers seat of a vehicle.

They then show us a faux plane structure falling into water — allowing us to assume that this is what scared Big T. On War of the Worlds 1, they had the airplane turbulence challenge where players had to solve a puzzle to win. Could this be the same thing?

There is a house shot of the players (Amanda, Ashley, Nany, Michele, Kaycee, Michaela, and others) shocked by some news. Based on their attire, this looks like the first night in the house, and they are getting told to be ready for a daily challenge/elimination early in the morning. There was a similar shock factor like this on Dirty 30.

Edit: After re-evaluating, I am sure this is night one because all the players are in their cast photo outfits.

The trailers tell us that the cast will consist of 17 US players and 17 international players. Nelson looks like a Seal Team/Air Force captain with his jacket, shades, and Bald Eagle/US flag patches. Losing Nelson so early on Double Agents was a massive blow to the season, and now we get two good shots of him in the trailer before the 16-second-mark.

Ashley looks like a total badass in a power pose while wearing gloves and her hair in a bun. Either she is gearing up for an elimination or to make someone’s bad day infinitely better. Meanwhile, Cory hypes himself up. Cory and Ashley are two of the modern-day faces of the Challenge since Invasion, and without the Bananas/Wes/Cara’s, they are stepping up to the plate to rep the USA. There is a background generic Tori Deal sound byte saying, “these guys are going to be lethal,” right before we get a look at some international players.

They show off the international side and start with Kyle Christie, a known Brit who generally only aligns with American players. He is about to be on his 7th straight season of the Challenge! The longest active streak of any player currently.

Then we see two more international players: German Rookie Berna Canbeldek and America’s British Sweetheart, Big T. A background sound byte from a male voice, “we are going global with this thing.” The voice is indistinguishable, it is maybe Cory or Devin, which I know they don’t sound alike, but they are only two known voices I could perhaps attribute it to being.

We get a wide shot of players entering what looks like the elimination arena. It is vital to note that both men and women are in their challenge gear, which means we will be getting either double eliminations or pair-based eliminations. The last time we had 34 people on the cast (WOTW 1), two people got eliminated at a time until the twist to split up pairs. As this goes on, there is a CT sound byte, “They know how the political game works.” I am unsure who this is referring to; maybe it is regarding Rookie Survivor winners Michele Fitzgerald and Tommy Sheehan. There is an additional side shot of players: Fessy, Kaycee, Josh, CT, Michele, Tommy, and Aneesa looking at a European player, I believe.

Somewhat spoiler warning.

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Kyle smashes into a player named Ed in a mud pool. Ed Eason is from Season 1 of Netflix’s The Circle and was listed as an alternate before Season 37 left to film. He must have got brought in due to a player injury, DQ, quitting, or another reason. Ed is tackling someone as Kyle jumps on top of them.

Kyle says we got Team Germany (Nam), Team Romania (Rookie Emy Alupei), and Team Nigeria (Esther). Nam looks like he is carrying a hammer, Emy is prepping to go into a headbanger elimination (she has pads on), and Esther is pulling in a rope as someone behind her climbs a wall.

There is another Kyle confessional saying that if THEY ban together, the WE’RE screwed, which is funny because even though the trailer highlighted him as an international player, he is firmly with the US/Vet group. We get a wide a view of all the international peeps gearing up to compete in what is probably the first daily challenge of the season. They then show Ashley gasping for while drenched — I am guessing she just got done competing in the same daily challenge that we saw CT in earlier in the trailer.

Nam Vo is seen making a roll the dice gesture while saying, “Russian Roulette” to rookie Pumped Gabo. The show premieres August 11th, which means I have roughly 25ish days to write 34 player previews on top of other content as well. Woof.

Rookie Tracy Candela is spinning while attached to a structure, it is similar to the elimination that Kam/Ashley C. played against Paulie/Ninja on War of the Worlds 1. Cory looks to be unlocking some chains in the middle of the ocean as a snake crawls up his shoulder.

We get an “oh my god” sound byte from Nelson (I think). Followed up by some hookup teases. Nany and Kaycee go for a kiss and might I say, I’ve been waiting for them to do this since Total Madness, they have undeniable chemistry with one another. Fessy is shockingly kissing a non-blonde woman, and I think it might be Amanda Garcia, or one of the rookies with darker hair. Amanda did tweet that Fessy was hot during his original Big Brother season.

CT, Cory, and Devin pop some champagne. Since the house looks pretty clean, I am guessing this is night one. Survivor Rookie Michaela Bradshaw is a little startled by the pop of the cork. Rookie Corey Lay is in the red blazer. All the players are wearing their cast picture outfits as well.

Ashley says all the vets are in a super alliance, it pans in on CT, herself, Nelson and Amanda. CT is in even better shape than last season and is really turning back the block.

Big T tells off Nelson, saying she does not want to get used as a pawn. Could Nelson be a power political player this season?

Players are seen running down a path in one shot, followed up by Romanian Rookie Emanuel Neagu carrying a big block. Since there are chains around his left arm, I am assuming this is what Cory was trying to untie in the image above, and it seems to be a 3D puzzle piece.

CT in the background says: “Lotta new people here, and they are looking strong.”

Pumped Gabo and Josh are covered in mud and are drying off. I am guessing we have a daily challenge similar to the Muddy Pole Wrestle daily we got on Double Agents. Nigerian Rookie Tacha Akide is looking fabulous. We then get a Kyle confessional saying, “Why do they keep casting hot people?”

The trailer revs up a few levels showing injuries and drama. We see a Bloodied Berna post-elimination, or maybe even during. Aneesa’s arm is in a sling as she is being treated by the medical team.

Nelson curses out Fessy saying, “Don’t get it twisted, what you did last season was bullshit, bro.” Emy is yelling at someone to shut the fuck up after a daily challenge. Ashley is seen crying.

More daily challenge looks. A panned out version of the daily challenge with the helicopter flying over a car. Cory is smashing some cinder block rubble.

Players dive under a cargo net with fire in the background for some reason. Nany is diving in the same mud pool we have seen a couple times in this trailer.

Cory (while covered in mud) tells someone that it’s a dirty game, and asks the person if they think they are playing patty cake. They then show us a mud covered Josh who looks disheveled. I don’t think Cory is talking to Josh, because Josh would usually make some loud incoherent babbling noise, rather than listen to logic and reason.

Emy is trying to jump from one beam over water to another. They had a similar daily challenge off the side of a truck on Challenge All Stars. You can tell it is Emy based on the Romanian flag on her shorts.

Kyle is tackling Josh in the mud pit. You can also see CT.

Nelson hilariously tells someone the worst thing that could happen to you in a daily challenge is you die. Right after, we see someone plummet to their death in the same challenge Emy was competing in. It seems that water is being sprayed at the opponents as they try to jump and navigate the structure.

A player is riding a mini jet ski underwater. I have never seen this on the Challenge before. There is an additional challenge where players are clinging to a wall with narrow cliffs. This could be an endurance challenge similar to those on Survivor where a player has to stay up as long as possible. The panels they are holding onto look to be moving as well — they had a similar daily challenge on Invasion of the Champions.

Big jet skis.

Players are seen cliff-jumping into water. One of them got very little air on their jump. Based on a random close-up, Devin is still in the game for that cliff-jumping challenge at least.

More fire for no reason as British Rookie Hughie is seen running. Players are watching an elimination, Big T looks focused, Tori looks worried, and Amanda seems completely unimpressed/bored. I can’t tell if the guy behind the girls is Ed or Logan.

Amber B makes a surprise appearance. She was originally an alternate for this season and it now looks like the former champ will get to defend her crown. I will say, Amber B as the big surprise at the end of the trailer is similar to when your mom brings home a Little Caesars pizza out of nowhere. It’s obviously not bad, just not enough to get hyped up for.

The last footage we see is Fessy yelling, “let’s go baby, I love it,” after completing the daily challenge with players splayed across the roof of a car.

And that’s your trailer.

QUICK NOTES

The people we see most prominently in this trailer are:

• Nelson (The Most)
• CT
• Kyle
• Cory
• Fessy
• Ashley (2nd Most)
• Amanda
• Berna
• Big T
• Emy

People we see a decent amount:

• Devin
• Josh
• Nam
• Tori
• Nany
• Kaycee
• Esther

People we see once or twice

• Corey L
• Gabo
• Emanuel
• Ed***
• Hughie
• Tommy
• Logan
• Amber B***
• Michele
• Tacha
• Aneesa
• Michaela
• Tracey

People We Don’t See or I Just Plain Missed Them:

• Jeremiah
• Kelz
• Renan
• Bettina
• Lauren
• Priscilla

If you want to get to know a little more about this cast, specifically the rookies, my podcast cohosts and I discuss who had the best and worst cast pics while also giving some insights towards certain players.