The Challenge: Final Reckoning Episode 10 Recap and Power Rankings
The episode starts with the main house at the pool. Johnny is joking around with some of the girls until Amanda mentions he’ll make fun of anyone except Angela. Johnny however does not take this lightly and gets offended saying everyone in the house is way too concerned with what he is up to. Johnny and Amanda start arguing with Amanda saying Angela wouldn’t give Johnny the time of day if he wasn’t on the show to which Johnny responds he doesn’t know if she would and that Joss wouldn’t give her the time of day if she wasn’t on the show. Joss of course says he would, but Johnny doesn’t seem convinced.
Over at the Redemption House, Faith and Angela are talking over whether or not Jozea and Da’Vonne will pick them. However, they think CT and Veronica would be the easiest option. Tori and Derrick are thinking of any way they could convince Jozea and Da’Vonne to select them; while CT tries to schmooze over Jozea to win his favor. CT grabs a fake muscle suit and tries flaunting it around to grab Jozea’s attention but to no avail. The house heads to the club, where Derrick turns up his polidicking game. He and Da’Vonne start getting really close while dancing, but afterwards she turns him down.
Back at the main house, Zach and Cara are working out and talking about their friendship. They are very tight with each other at this point but since Amanda and Cara have issues they could be at odds at some point. The main house then gets a text that says they will be headed to the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse elimination. Kam isn’t too happy, considering she had a hand in over half of the teams being there.
We head to the elimination, where as soon as they arrive Jozea announces they are doing a “read.” Apparently, a read is where you trash talk people to their face, but I’m just going off what Shane said so take that with a grain of salt. Angela thanks Bananas for defending her against the Lavender Ladies at the pool, Natalie is angry with Kam for calling her fake, and Faith calls out Kyle for sleeping with both her and Ashley. Overall not very eventful, although it did confirm to the house that Ashley and Kyle slept together.
TJ asks Jozea and Da’Vonne who they want to take into elimination, and unsurprisingly they take Natalie and Paulie; eliminating Tori and Derrick, CT and Veronica, and Faith and Angela. The elimination is entitled Pyramid Schemers and has the pairs alternate working on two separate puzzles for each team on a rotating pyramid. The first pair to complete both puzzles wins. Jozea and Da’Vonne get to go first since they pulled the Double Cross.
The elimination starts, and Da’Vonne and Jozea get going. Both work on the same puzzle and seem to be working well together. They end up finishing their puzzle as time expires. Natalie and Paulie then get their turn, and they work separate puzzles. Da’Vonne and Jozea are actually cheering them on from the sidelines, showing the bond between the two pairs. Someone else who was clearly rooting them on was Johnny Bananas, which I found odd due the supposed beef between he and Natalie. After the round, they don’t complete either puzzle. Jozea and Da’Vonne get back on their puzzle and start working. They are going very quickly and seem to get it done rather fast; meaning Natalie and Paulie only have one shot to get both puzzles done. Paulie gets his done, but he is unable to help Natalie finish hers in time and Jozea and Da’Vonne win; putting them in the main house while Natalie and Paulie return to Redemption.
When the house returns from Redemption, Hunter is talking to Zach about the Ashley-Kyle situation. He is really upset about Ashley not telling him she slept with Kyle, and also isn’t a fan of how Ashley plays the game. Hunter always seems to have these feuds that are mostly one-sided and should be overcame relatively easily. Going back to Invasion of the Champions with Kailah, Dirty XXX with Jordan, and this current season with Ashley; there always is some petty dispute he gets involved in that is initiated and perpetuated primarily by him. He does get over them though, so I’m not worried about the long-term effects of this rift.
After this, we head to the mission for the day, entitled Dunking for Dinner. The mission has the pairs select one member to pick up bags with their mouths and transfer them from one ring to the other. Each bag corresponds to a plate of food. After the first round, the other partner has to consume the plates the other player has picked for them. The person to eat the lowest number of plates is set directly to the Redemption House.
The mission starts, and Shane and Nelson immediately start going at each other. They don’t even seem to be doing that bad, but Shane is having a complete freak out screaming at Nelson. Hunter and Ashley are killing it, moving very efficiently between the two rings. Kyle and Brad are struggling a little bit, just due to Brad being so heavy. The first-round ends, and Hunter and Ashley have the most bags meaning if they eat all their food they win. Marie and Cara end up with the least, so even if they all of them they could still be passed up rather easily.
The eating round starts, and everyone but Hunter seems to be struggling. Zach in particular is vomiting his brains out but is powering through. Kam is going really slowly, and she and Kayleigh start to fall behind. Hunter wins, and Zach and Kyle are right behind him. Nelson, Joss, Tony, and Jozea also complete it; leaving only Kam and Cara Maria left. The girls are neck and neck, but then the credits start to roll completing this mission.
Extra Notes
o Jozea and Da’Vonne said that Hunter and Ashley were able to award extra plates which wouldn’t count towards their total but had to be consumed before they could move on to a team due to getting the most bags. Interesting that this was cut from the episode but was probably done because it didn’t fit into the narrative of the show at all.
Redemption House
1) Paulie and Natalie: Only team in so far, so they get the purely nominal #1.
Main House
9) Kam and Kayleigh: Kam seemed to be really struggling, so I think she’s the likeliest to go.
8) Marie and Cara Maria: Cara seemed to be going a little stronger than Kam, so she gets the nod.
7) Da’Vonne and Jozea: These two have been by far the most surprising pair on the season, but they are still such an easy throw-in for the majority of the house.
6) Tony and Bananas: Physically dominant but in a very vulnerable position politically.
5) Nelson and Shane: I think Johnny and call them out if they are put in elimination, and they seem the likeliest team to be cut from the Lavender Ladies alliance.
4) Zach and Amanda: They have probably the worst chemistry of any pair left so they move down a peg.
3) Brad and Kyle: They are in a pretty good position politically with friends on both sides right now but there is still the chance being in the middle ends up costing them.
2) Joss and Sylvia: They seem to be consistently performing, and they aren’t on the chopping block.
1) Hunter and Ashley: They’ve been fantastic in competitions and are in a strong spot in their alliance.
