The Challenge War Of The Worlds Episode 9 Recap and Power Rankings
This episode opens with the house returning from Da’Vonne and Bear’s elimination win. Paulie and Cara Maria are engaged in adult activities, much to the annoyance of Kyle. Ninja says that Paulie’s attachment to Cara Maria has occasionally gotten in the way of she and Paulie’s partnership. Wes and Dee comfort Ninja, but she is still concerned. Kyle also isn’t a fan of Paulie and Ninja’s relationship and says it has made him feel like an outcast in the house.
Elsewhere another pair in crisis tries to work through their issues. Hunter and Georgia are still rocky in their relationship, and Hunter goes to Wes for advice on repairing it. Wes tells Hunter he has to be “a sociopath” and at the very least pretend to get along with Georgia to move forward as a pair. Wes then brings Hunter and Georgia in for a “couples’ therapy” session. Hunter apologizes to Georgia at the behest of Wes, and they seem to make up. However, after they leave, Hunter makes a comment of his performance deserving “an Oscar”, much to the ire of Georgia (via Twitter commentary.)
Hunter was not pleased with the way this was portrayed and seemed to smooth things over with Georgia as this was happening. People were pretty upset with Wes for the sociopath line, but I think it got taken out of context and his overall point was correct. In a Challenge house, riding the day-to-day emotional rollercoaster is going to cause problems, and you have to be able to remove yourself emotionally from that and focus on the points that actually matter.
We get to the mission for the episode, entitled Road Warrior. This mission entails the pairs to stand on opposite trucks and transfer rings between their trucks as they move at fifty miles per hour. There are sixteen rings total, and whichever team gets all sixteen the fastest wins.
Pretty crazy mission overall and a combination of athleticism and height seemed to be needed to succeed. Kyle/Mattie, Hunter/Georgia, and Theo/Cara Maria end up as the tribunal. Nany/Turbo and Kam/Cain got all sixteen as well, but not fast enough. Wes/Dee had a down mission, and Wes also got into a spat with Da’Vonne and Bear. This argument spilled out into Twitter as well, and there is a recap of it here.
We head to the Tribunal meeting, and this one promises to be much more complex than the last one. Hunter says he and Georgia plan to burn a vote on Turbo and Nany, while Kyle and Mattie say to vote for Paulie and Ninja. Cara Maria says Wes/Dee more out of lack of other options rather than wanting to go after them. Hunter says he is perfectly willing to tie if necessary, but Cara doesn’t seem so sure about that.
In the Tribunal Ceremony, Theo asks Kyle if he is working with Wes to which he responds no. Cara says Kyle will lie about anything, and their argument spills over as Wes and Dee enter the room. Theo asks Wes and Dee who their alliance is, and he says Hunter and Georgia are their number one allies, and he doesn’t want to go down to the Killing Floor regardless of his abilities down there. Paulie and Ninja are next, and Paulie says he has no real alliances outside of Cara Maria. Nany and Turbo come next and say they don’t know who they would call out but understand the game is a game if they go into elimination.
After the tribunal, Paulie/Ninja and Wes/Dee talk about potential eliminations. Paulie tells Wes that calling him down is worth it because if he loses it isn’t a big deal and if he wins it adds to his resume. However, Ninja and Dee have gotten really close and doesn’t want to call her down. Nany tells Hunter and Kyle to not worry about her, while Hunter seems reserved to just tie the vote and roll the dice. The vote starts, and Kyle and Mattie vote for Paulie/Ninja. Cara Maria votes for Nany/Turbo, Theo votes for Wes/Dee, Georgia votes for Nany/Turbo, and Hunter votes for Wes/Dee simply to tie the vote. I’m not quite sure why Hunter is so set on tying the vote, I assume he just wishes to make no enemies and is willing to go to whatever lengths to do that. TJ has the competitors vote again, and everything goes the same way except when Georgia switches to Paulie/Ninja. People seemed to interpret this as Hunter attempting to deflect blame onto Georgia, but I think he just wanted to roll the dice on a tie vote. Paulie/Ninja debate a bit about who to throw in but decide on Kam/Cain.
TJ introduces the elimination game, called Wheel Of Death. One partner is tied to a spinning wheel, while the other is blindfolded and in charge of a puzzle board. The spinning partner must call out the parts of the puzzle to the other partner and get to place the symbols in the right places at the right perspective. The first pair to place all the pieces correctly wins.
The elimination opens, and each pair gets to work. Paulie is on the wheel for he and Ninja while Kam is on the wheel for her and Cain. Both pairs have developed a strategy of giving each column and row a number and then calling it out that way. Kam is doing well but starts vomiting. Paulie and Ninja call for a check, but they have one wrong. Kam calls for a check as well, but they also have one wrong. Kam keeps vomiting, and it’s easy to feel for her as being sick in this elimination would be the worst. Paulie/Ninja call for another check, leading to TJ giving them the victory.
Paulie immediately explodes after the elimination, saying everyone outside of Cara needs to be on watch. TJ dismisses Kam/Cain, while Paulie is yelling about coming after everybody. TJ also announces that this relic is the last one, as the game is now shifting from pairs to individuals. I am very skeptical of this twist, but I’ll reserve final judgment until the next episode to see what comes from it.
Eliminated
Kam/Cain: Relatively disappointing season from the pair. Many had Kam rated as the second best female alumni (some even had her number one) and Cain had a lot of buzz coming in, but they only had one mission win and their elimination win was far from impressive. I still have faith in Kam moving forward though, and with her mental ability I still see her as a heavy factor in the show’s hierarchy.
Power Rankings
14) Bear: This cast is legitimately one of the most stacked in terms of physical, mental, and social abilities we have seen in a while. Bear ends up at the tail end of it for now, the UK alliance seems to have lost it’s hold and not having Da’Vonne I think will hurt him.
13) Da’Vonne: I hate putting her this low, as I think she gets overlooked competitively and socially way too often. However, the political landscape seems to be closing in on her and there just aren’t a lot of bad options.
12) Dee: Dee has been impressive this season, and one would imagine Wes still has her back. However, we have yet to see her perform without Wes by her side, so she remains a little lower for now.
11) Nany: Similar to Dee, Nany has been extremely capable throughout the season but without Turbo it is hard to say how she will perform. She does hold a veteran presence so perhaps I’m underrating her political standing, but she seems likely to be called out by someone in elimination.
10) Kyle: I think Kyle has been underrated by a lot of people for some time now. However, Mattie was a big boost to his stock and he also seems to lack the allies to carry him politically.
9) Mattie: I can’t imagine calling her out for any physical elimination, but I also can’t see her being a major threat to win.
8) Theo: Theo certainly brings a crazy level of athleticism to the table and having friends with Cara Maria and the UK puts him in a solid spot. However, the guys ahead of him have a slightly more proven track record putting him at eight.
7) Georgia: I honestly think Georgia is a legitimate threat to win if she gets to a final. However, she also is a rookie and I could see her getting called out depending who gets thrown in.
6) Ninja: She has fallen off a little bit the past few episodes, and while she seemed happy to play an independent political game, not having Paulie at her side could lead to the house rallying to get her thrown in rather easily.
5) Hunter: As Wes’ number one ally and a physical force, his main hindrance is his own emotions.
4) Cara Maria: The house has seemed to clear out for Cara, and she has flown under the radar in a lot of ways the past few episodes. She still has the best track record of any woman currently on the show by a meaningful amount and has won an individual final before.
3) Paulie: The house seems to want Paulie out, but his performance this season has been incredibly impressive, and he performed very well in the final last time around.
2) Turbo: Turbo is difficult to judge because he kind of just shows up for competitions and disappears into the darkness in house drama. However, his physical prowess has shown throughout the season and calling him out in elimination seems foolish.
1) Wes: I honestly think this is the best Wes we have ever gotten. His combination of physical, mental, social, and political abilities has never been higher and while he has a few enemies in the weeds I think it’ll take more than that to bring him down.
Extra Notes
· Make sure to vote in the best female Challengers of All-Time poll. Voting closes soon!
· Paulie had an interview with Challenge Mania recently that I thought was actually very informative. I know Paulie has a negative reception amongst a lot of the audience, but I did think he released a lot of good behind the scenes information in this interview.
Fantasy Scoring
