The Challenge: Final Reckoning Episode 1 Recap and Power Rankings
The Challenge: Final Reckoning is upon us, which means recaps and rankings are on the way as well. This season has had a ton of hype building it up and is the culmination of the “Revenge” trilogy of Dirty Thirty and Vendettas. It takes place in the beautiful but dangerous place of Hermanus, South Africa; and entails fifteen pairs of Challengers duking it out in a season that’s essentially a combo of Rivals and Battle of the Exes. While I’m not a fan of some of the format quirks (having male/male, male/female, and female/female teams); having a pairs season is super refreshing after the last three seasons being individual.
We get started, and TJ tells the fourteen cast members currently there that their partners (whom they are not aware of yet) are buried in the ground and have to be dug up. Their graves are unmarked and have to be dug up based on instructions given by the buried party. Last two teams to finish are launched from the get go.
Zach and Amanda finish first, winning the opening mission. Nelson started out using his hands, but once he gets the shovel he and Shane are able to nab second place. Natalie and Paulie pull off an impressive performance and get third. Kam and Melissa get fourth, followed by Cara Maria and Marie in fifth. Tori and Derrick get sixth, Sylvia and Joss in seventh, Kailah and Kayleigh in eighth, Kyle and Brad in ninth, CT and Veronica in tenth, and Faith and Angela get eleventh. This leaves Jozea and Da’Vonne, Britni and Chuck, and Jenna and Jemmye battling for the last remaining spot. Britni is running around digging like crazy but can’t get Chuck to direct her to the right spot. Jenna takes forever to get to the right spot, and once she does she is digging SUPER slow. Britni and Chuck get out and start to race to the exit, but Jozea and Da’Vonne barely beat them there getting the last spot and eliminating Britni and Chuck and Jenna and Jemmye. Bananas ends up being left behind, with his partner to be revealed later.
TJ announces Zach and Amanda also get to pick one more team to eliminate right off the bat. They debate whether to for a strong team or play it safe with a Big Brother pair. They decide to go for the latter and eliminate Da’Vonne and Jozea who in addition to being Big Brother were also the last team safe. Da’Vonne disagrees with this selection, but nonetheless they join Jenna and Jemmye and Britni and Chuck on the early trip out of the game. TJ also announces that this season is a winner take all for one million dollars. This is something that was buried under the rug during the lead up, but a winner-take-all for one million could be huge for the game in encouraging the most cutthroat attitude possible for the competitors. One issue I’ve had with these past few seasons of the show are how it has seemed to encourage cast members to play the game emotionally and target people they’ve previously had an issue with versus what the best game move would be. With this format, it would seem to go in the opposite direction and encourage the most aggressive and cold gameplay we’ve seen in a while.
Once we get back to the house, we get the usual drama you’d expect from an opening episode with Shane, Angela, Kailah, Kayleigh, and Melissa all arguing about rooms before some more noteworthy material from Paulie and Natalie emerges. Natalie apparently is not speaking to Bananas or Kayleigh since Vendettas because of the make out incident and subsequent suitcase gate that happened there. I don’t buy this at all considering the two were pictured on a “date” in between shows, but hey what do I know. Amanda and Joss start getting flirty and kiss in front of the house. We also find out Kyle ghosted on Cara after Vendettas ended. The two interact for a little bit before going their separate ways. Faith and Kyle ended up making out right after Kyle is done with Cara, throwing some more shade Cara’s way.
After that drama, we head elsewhere to the six people just eliminated. We find out that, shocker, there is a Redemption House this season. With mercenaries everything but confirmed this season and six people leaving after the first mission, you knew a Redemption House or something akin to it was happening this season. We get the typical run for the rooms in the Redemption House and get introduced to the pairs before heading back to the main house.
Cara Maria starts going after Paulie hard after finding out about Kyle and Faith through Bananas. She’s not in the clearest of states at the moment, as she looks lovingly at Paulie and tries to get his attention. Paulie has a girlfriend back home and tries to use that to shoot down Cara’s advances.
Kailah starts getting into it with Kayleigh and Melissa, who said on the Vendettas reunion that Kailah kissed Tony during filming. Kailah and Melissa start getting real into it, and all of the sudden pushes are flying, and the rest of the house has to break the two up. The next morning, Kam and Kayleigh start worrying about if Melissa and Kailah leave what will happen to them. TJ decides to show up to the house and tells Melissa and Kailah that they’ve been disqualified from the game. What will happen to Kam and Melissa is left for next episode.
Extra Notes
o This a new section I want to start for this season to talk about any extra notes that didn’t fit into the normal flow of the recap.
o Amanda said through Instagram that she and Zach wanted to eliminate Bananas, but production wouldn’t let them.
o Bananas’ partner was originally going to be Devin, but his dad died at the beginning of filming.
o Bananas also is now scheduled to be the host of 1st Look on NBC, a show which highlights travel locations throughout the United States.
Eliminated
Melissa: It’s a shame Melissa is home so early. She brought a lot of fire to last season, and I still hold out hope that she could be a strong competitor down the road.
Kailah: It’s quite shocking to see Kailah go so early. Kailah was seen by many at the beginning of the trilogy as Cara’s top competition, but she’s taken a fall from grace as new contenders for that throne have emerged.
Shoulder Shrug
Kam: We do not know yet what will happen to Kam, so he’s unrankable.
Kayleigh: Ditto for Kayleigh.
Redemption House
3) Jenna and Jemmye: I do not see them winning anything, although if there is any politics involved in the Redemption House they do have the most friends.
2) Da’Vonne and Jozea: Da’Vonne seems like she could be a competitor, but Jozea has a proven track record of incompetence which will drag this team down.
1) Britni and Chuck: Putting these two number one feels odd, but there isn’t a ton of competition for that spot.
Power Rankings
10) Faith and Angela (+5): Hard to say anything definitive yet about these two, but their political situation and lack of track record is enough to keep them at the bottom.
9) CT and Veronica (-2): I’ll probably get shoes thrown at me for ranking a team with CT on it this low, but this team has pronounced weaknesses (endurance, agility) and I don’t see them having the political invulnerability CT is used to with the makeup of this cast.
8) Cara Maria and Marie (+1): They are in a fantastic political situation with the two having strong friends on both sides of the house. However, I just don’t see them matching up well with the cast physically despite Cara’s dominance in recent seasons.
7) Tori and Derrick: (+1): Something about Derrick has always given me a bad feeling about him; which probably isn’t fair, but he lacks that killer instinct of a Darrell, a Wes, or even someone like Nelson. Tori’s a magnetic personality though who should give this team a boost socially and in the competitions.
6) Natalie and Paulie: It seems I’m higher on Natalie than most, but I think this is a really solid team that could rise up the ranks quick.
5) Joss and Sylvia (-1): Falling down based on others moving up.
4) Shane and Nelson (+1): This team will be a force physically, but I could see them fighting a lot.
3) Brad and Kyle (-1): I’m not completely sold on Kyle as a competitor, but Brad’s a monster and I still think these two are the favorites in anything physical.
2) Zach and Amanda (+1): They get power early and they should also be getting it often.
1) Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio: The Banana Man is by himself for the moment, and doesn’t give any reason to knock him off the top spot.
