The Challenge Final Reckoning Episode 19 Recap and Power Rankings
The episode opens with the mission from last episode, entitled Painfully Wrong. It’s a Trivia Challenge with a very similar format to last time, where teams make opponents move through an electric curtain upon getting an answer correct. If they get it wrong, the team which received the question has to move. The last team to move through five levels wins.
Similar to last trivia mission, I’ll give an overview of some of the highlights rather than recap all the questions.
o Hunter and Ashley went after Cara and Marie, who returned the favor.
o Bananas and Tony went after Sylvia and Joss, who did the same to them.
o Natalie and Paulie tended to play the middle.
o Natalie and Paulie didn’t know who the Prime Minister of United Kingdom was, much to the disappointment of Joss.
o Natalie and Paulie also argued over what the largest town in South Africa was; with Paulie giving the wrong answer of Cape Town when the answer was Johannesburg.
o Cara and Marie tried to outsmart TJ by saying that cars in Canada drive on both sides of the road, but TJ wasn’t having it.
o Johnny said Corn Syrup comes from sugar that comes from corn, which TJ did not accept.
o At one point, Natalie and Paulie chose to make Hunter and Ashley move forward sending Ashley on a tirade.
o At the end, Natalie and Paulie had to choose between sending Johnny and Tony or Joss and Sylvia out. They chose Johnny and Tony, letting Joss and Sylvia win.
o After the mission, Hunter went on a rant calling Ashley “god” multiple times.
The crew heads back to the house, and immediately everyone is on edge. Joss and Hunter are game planning the best way to use the power vote; and they say how Natalie and Paulie have endurance while they don’t think the boys have that same ability. Cara, Marie, and Natalie eat pizza by themselves; while Marie cries about their situation (more on that later.)
We head to nominations after this. We don’t see who anyone voted for in the whole process, presumably to hide for the reveal at the elimination. At Armageddon, it is revealed Bananas and Tony got the most votes with Joss and Sylvia and Natalie and Paulie sending votes their way. Since Joss and Sylvia are immune, Natalie and Paulie are the only option to face Tony and Bananas. TJ also announces the other three teams have all made the final, with the winner of the elimination joining them.
The elimination is called Milk and Cookies and has one member of the pair consume a large number of cookies and fermented milk. The other member has to hold up a bucket of fermented milk. Once the bucket drops, the other member of the pair has to stop eating. If both competitors finish all of the cookies and milk, then whomever holds up the bucket longer wins.
The elimination starts and Tony and Paulie both get vicious eating the cookies and milk. Both don’t seem to have much issue getting through the cookies and milk and it becomes clear it is going to come down to Johnny vs. Natalie. One thing that is interesting is the crowd seems to be pulling for Johnny and Tony, even though they have been public enemy number one for a while now. Tony and Paulie end up finishing the milk and cookies about an hour and a half in, leaving it to Johnny and Natalie. Natalie is looking a little more stable than Johnny, but it is taking quite a while. We get the five-and-a-half-hour mark before Johnny finally drops giving Natalie and Paulie the win.
Johnny looks devastated by the loss, crumbling into a ball on the stairs after losing. Tony comforts him, as TJ dismisses them and welcomes Natalie and Paulie to the final. Back at the house, rumors start swirling that Cara and Paulie slept together the night before. Cara and Paulie both deny it, but Sylvia seems to indicate otherwise.
After this, we head to the final. TJ states that each competitor’s times will be recorded individually, and the person with the best individual score on the best team will have the option to share the money or take it all for themselves. And with that, the episode ends, and we are left waiting until next week for the final.
Extra Notes
o Whole lot of controversy with this episode, but let’s start with the most pressing. Multiple sources including Johnny and Marie have confirmed that the elimination was originally supposed to be something else; but due to equipment failing they had to switch the event. You can clearly see the other elimination in this image here, and current buzz is Johnny and Tony were on track to win that elimination handedly. Producer chicanery has of course been accused, but I can’t really see that being the case as if they were attempting to set it up so Natalie and Paulie would win they could easily come up with an elimination that favored them from the onset.
o Marie mentioned in her recap that she, Ashley, and Sylvia set up a scheme to get Bananas/Tony and Paulie/Natalie thrown in against each other. Marie detailed it all in her recap, but in short, she feigned that she was being thrown in to encourage Paulie/Natalie and Bananas/Tony to burn votes and set up a situation where they would go in against each other.
o Perhaps the weirdest reveal of the night came from Natalie. She said numerous things in a twitter statement on the episode, such as that she and Paulie tanked the first few mission to see where they stood and seemed t know they were going against Johnny and Tony. However, perhaps the wildest thing said here was that Johnny and Ashley made out the night before and she didn’t think they were going to target each other because of it. While Ashley and Johnny of all people making out sounds crazy, it does pass the smell test where Ashley seemed to be rooting for Johnny and Tony and I can’t recall either of them moving the other forward during the mission.
Power Rankings
4) Cara/Marie: The fact they got here is a huge accomplishment, but hard to see them winning.
3) Ashley/Hunter: I feel like a lot of people will have them number one, but I just haven’t been impressed by them and Ashley’s conditioning is a major concern.
2) Natalie/Paulie: The fact they were viewed as such a huge threat is a testament to being built for a final.
1) Sylvia/Joss: Really close between them and Natalie/Paulie for number one, but they’ve been winning and I’ve been riding them for this long would seem dumb to jump off the bandwagon now.
