The Challenge Final Reckoning Episode 2 Recap and Power Rankings
This episode opens up with the Redemption House members being introduced to the Surveillance Room via TJ. Initially it seemed like they would have 24/7 access to a set of cameras all around the house. However, they only end up showing a brief lip of the Kailah-Melissa skirmish while the six redemptorists scream like they are watching a prizefight. We’ll see how often and in what context the surveillance room is used but if it’s just brief highlights it won’t have much effect on the game. I do applaud the producers though for trying something outside of the box to spice things up.
After that, we return to the main house where we find out that with Kailah and Melissa gone, Kam and Kayleigh will become a team. Kayleigh seems happy about her new partner, while Kam is less enthused. We then get a quick montage of Kailah and Melissa as they leave. Both do seem very disappointed to leave, and I’d bet we see both again soon.
We get a quick scene of Cara and Paulie flirting before Brad walks over and asks Cara for her opinions on Kyle. Cara does not give a ringing endorsement and mentions how a problem with politics this season is you will often support one side of a partnership (Brad) but not the other (Kyle). This issue also occurred on similar themed seasons of The Challenge as well, notably Rivals 1 and Rivals 2. In those cases, the veteran teams (Wes/Kenny, Evan/Nehemiah, Johnny/Tyler, Paula/Evelyn, and Jenn/Mandi on Rivals 1 and Wes/CT, Johnny/Frank, Paula/Emily, Diem/Aneesa on Rivals 2) were able to boss around the other teams politically and get basically whomever they wanted thrown in. However, The Challenge has changed a lot since then with more imaginative voting concepts being introduced meaning it may not be that simple this time around. It will be interesting to see how those dynamics play out going forward.
We move on to Kam, who is discussing how her partner’s animosity towards Natalie could cause some issues for her on the season. In between seasons, Kayleigh outed Natalie as a lesbian over Instagram. Natalie was of course extremely upset by this, and her and Kayleigh seem as at odds as any two people in the house. We then move on to Natalie’s relationship with Bananas, who she supposedly hates now although the two were pictured on a date between seasons.
Cara Maria and Kyle have some more drama, but it all seems to be coming from Cara at this point. She talks about how Kyle is flaunting around Faith to make her feel jealous. Marie at this point says that her faking like she doesn’t care when she clearly does is one of the big reasons they have problems. Hopefully this storyline is being overplayed early and reaches an early end, so we can move on to more interesting house dynamics, because this whole situation has turned way too much into a teenage drama for me. We move from one annoying drama story to another in Britni and Chuck. Jemmye thinks the two still have feelings for each other, but Britni pledges her heart to Brad and Brad alone. The two attempt to air out their differences to move on as a partnership, but it seems to yield little success.
We then go back to the main house where the reading of the first official clue is to occur. As per tradition in the Challenge house, whomever reads the first clue has objects thrown at them (usually pillows). However, it is Angela who reads the first clue and she does not take kindly to this practice. She starts yelling at everyone for being immature and whatever before heading downstairs with partner Faith to cool down. Bananas and Brad follow them down to explain the situation and apologize and the girls accept their apology after an initial freak out. Bananas’ motives seem to be wanting to have Angela follow the tradition of seemingly every girl from a new show having to ride the Banana Boat over the past two seasons, while Brad seems to be more about establishing himself as the good guy after the heel edit he got to begin last season as well as make a savvy political move to make sure the girls are another vote if he needs it.
Now we finally get to the mission for this episode, entitled Wreck Yourself. Before TJ explains the mission though, we have to get to the business of identifying Bananas’ partner. TJ motions for the partner to come on in, and in walks Turncoat Tony Raines. Tony being Bananas’ partner had been widely discussed across The Challenge landscape, but it had yet to be made official until he walked onto the scene just now. The two should be the on paper favorites to win, but also have a massive target on their backs. I love Tony and think he was the driving force behind the majority of the entertainment in Vendettas, but his backstabbing ways on last season and misguided goofball attitude before then have caused a lot of people to dislike him.
TJ then gets to explaining the mission for this episode, discussing how each team will need a swinger and a pusher. The pusher will push the swinger on a zipline, who will then attempt to grab rings set in the middle of the field. There will be two heats of six teams each, with the winner of the first heat getting another shot in the second round. The first heat is CT/Veronica, Joss/Sylvia, Zach/Amanda, Kam/Kayleigh, Faith/Angela, and Kyle/Brad (pusher listed first). The mission starts, and Brad is just smashing the competition. He’s the only male in this heat, and his physical presence is just too much for the other pairs to handle. Veronica and Amanda end up getting tangled up together and stuck unable to do anything. As the heat wraps up, the leaderboard ends up as:
Zach/Amanda-1 Ring
Joss/Sylvia-4 Rings
CT/Veronica-5 Rings
Kam/Kayleigh-7 Rings
Faith/Angela-9 Rings
Kyle/Brad-11 Rings
The next heat begins, and the teams are Natalie/Paulie, Tori/Derrick, Nelson/Shane, Marie/Cara Maria, Tony/Bananas, and Kyle/Brad (due to winning the first round). In the first round, the more physically imposing competitor was the pusher while that seems to have flip-flopped for this round after Brad’s success. The heat starts, and Derrick immediately starts failing. Tori is constantly yelling at Derrick as he flails around incompetently. Bananas makes the comparison of Derrick being a good looking car which breaks down as soon as it leaves the lot, which seems pretty spot on to me. Brad/Kyle and Bananas/Tony are in a deadlock, but then Shane gets tangled up with Bananas. TJ blows the horn soon after, and the leaderboard shakes out as:
Tori/Derrick-3 Rings
Marie/Cara Maria-6 Rings
Natalie/Paulie-7 Rings
Nelson/Shane-7 Rings
Tony/Bananas-11 Rings
Kyle/Brad-11 Rings
Since Kyle/Brad and Tony/Bananas end up tying, so it goes to whomever got the rings in the least amount of time. Kyle/Brad get the win, giving them immunity for the week. However, instead of the usual last place goes to elimination, this season is using a different voting method meaning anyone not named Brad or Kyle is up for elimination. The episode cuts out before we get the full story on how eliminations will be decided meaning that will be for next week.
Extra Notes
o CT apparently has a TV special on his wedding that is in the works. It is unknown who else will be involved, but one would imagine friends from the show like Wes or Cara Maria would be included.
o I’m super curious to see what kind of eliminations these will be, because I just don’t see how a Brad/Kyle vs. Kam/Kayleigh matchup could be a traditional physical elimination like Pole Wrestle or Hall Brawl.
Redemption House
3) Jenna and Jemmye: No movement due to no action this week.
2) Da’Vonne and Jozea: Ditto.
1) Britni and Chuck: Maybe they should move down considering they seem to have the worst relationship of the three pairs, but I’d prefer to wait until some action happens
Power Rankings
11) Kam and Kayleigh: Kam’s a good competitor, but Kayleigh is not and I’m not sure how many allies these two have.
10) CT and Veronica (-1): Getting tangled up can happen to anyone, but these aren’t Inferno II CT and Veronica and people could reason to throw them in because CT is CT and they aren’t in with the younger crowd of the show.
9) Tori and Derrick (-2): Derrick has done nothing to alleviate any concerns about him.
8) Faith and Angela (+2): Being cozy with two of the strongest teams in the game and having an impressive showing in the mission, I almost want to move these two higher. However, it’s just one mission and they could be an easy thrown in as the only all-rookie team in the game right now.
7) Cara Maria and Marie (+1): Nothing to say too positively or negatively about their performance but they could be in trouble if Kyle tires to go after Cara for petty reasons.
6) Natalie and Paulie: I still think they have untapped potential but Kyle possibly gunning for them is worrisome.
5) Joss and Sylvia: I almost moved them down, but Joss still hasn’t gotten the chance to perform yet for this team.
4) Nelson and Shane: These two are physically imposing but Nelson accusing Bananas of sabotaging them is laughable.
3) Zach and Amanda (-1): Like I said before I don’t blame them for getting tangled up but Zach not freaking out at Amanda is hopefully an indication of growth from him.
2) Brad and Kyle (+1): If I could pick one person on the cast to be my partner for the show, it might honestly be Brad. He’s as physically imposing as almost any guy on the cast and seems to not be a target of anyone.
1) Bananas and Tony: These two are the easy on-paper favorites, but the other teams could target them early and often.
