The Challenge Total Madness Episode 13 Recap And Power Rankings
The episode opens with the cast returning from Swaggy C being eliminated. Melissa, Nany, and Bayleigh all plot to find a way into the next female elimination. Bayleigh is clearly upset about Swaggy being gone, while Melissa seems to make up with Josh. Nany talks with some of the veteran guys who assure her, they have her back on being put in. Bayleigh talks with some of the other people in the house, and says she is ok with how things are going. Kaycee and Nany are flirting and clearly have sprung up something of a relationship. Bayleigh talks to her about it, and eventually Kaycee reluctantly admits to kissing Nany.
This mission is called Bloc’d In, and involves the cast is split into two teams of seven. The teams have to complete a gridlock puzzle of cars by pushing the cars back and forth. Whomever completes the gridlock first will win, and all seven members form the Tribunal. The teams are as follows:
Team One — Aneesa Nany Jenny Cory Johnny Josh Rogan
Team Two — Bayleigh Kaycee Melissa Dee Nelson Fessy Kyle
This was one of the worst missions from a production perspective of the past few years. For starters splitting the cast into two teams with everyone involved made NO SENSE. They essentially gifted Nany a chance at a Red Skull while the interrogation became a complete formality. It also set up Bayleigh to be completely screwed based on the “random” team setup. The edit was also incredibly disingenuous, as the team that ended up winning (Team One) was on screen for twice the time of Team Two yet also was quicker in the mission. Absolute disaster of a mission, that was also a holdover from Battle Of The Seasons (2002) to boot.
Back at the house, Kaycee and Nany are talking and Nany says she would rather see Melissa in elimination instead of Bayleigh. Kaycee goes to Bayleigh and discusses the decision, who as one might expect is not happy. Kaycee claims Swaggy and Bayleigh isolated themselves from the house and she can’t expect to be held to an alliance made at the onset. At nominations, Bayleigh is out of it as they begin to start voting. Dee and Kyle vote for Melissa with Nelson and Fessy voting for Bayleigh, and Melissa and Bayleigh each also vote for themselves turning Kaycee into the deciding vote. Kaycee votes for Melissa, sending Bayleigh into a tizzy.
Bayleigh is having a meltdown in what appears to be the room where they shoot confessionals and the producer has her go back to her room. Nelson and Kyle talk to her to express sympathy, and she is appreciative of that. The cast heads to the bar, where outside of a Melissa toast and Kaycee/Nany flirting not much happens. At the Tribunal, they don’t have a choice and nominate the three remaining women despite Nany clearly indicating she wants to go in. I’m surprised we even get a clip of Dee who Jenny tries to make peace with. The Tribunal then asks Kaycee to explain her side of the situation with Bayleigh. Kaycee says she and Bayleigh are tight but gamewise she does not feel she can trust her. I don’t see what Bayleigh has done to sew distrust in Kaycee, but evidently that is the reasoning Kaycee is sticking behind.
After the Tribunal, Jenny tells Bayleigh nobody knows of her and Kaycee’s history. Bayleigh and Kaycee eventually get into a massive argument with each calling the other a liar, before Bayleigh leaves the room and later runs into Nany who she also gets into an argument with. I typically avoid taking sides in these altercations, but Bayleigh seemed to get the short end of the stick from an editing standpoint here. For some background, live feed footage did reveal that Bayleigh and Kaycee appeared to have a romantic relationship of some kind on Big Brother. The full extent is unknown, but some confusion on the issue is not unwarranted. Bayleigh also was the deciding vote in giving Kaycee the win over Tyler Crispin on their season of Big Brother, which the show fails to mention although it would indicate some type of loyalty between the two. Bayleigh also appears from all the footage shown to be mostly correct that Kaycee’s reason for voting in Melissa is tied to her relationship with Nany. If Bayleigh really is isolated politically in the house and has never done anything in the past that we have seen to show a lack of loyalty in Kaycee, there shouldn’t be any reason for Kaycee to lose trust in her.
We head to the elimination, where all we see is a ring indicating a physical elimination is on the way. Nany unsurprisingly throws herself in, setting up Melissa vs Nany in the elimination. TJ introduces the elimination as Off With Your Heads, an elimination where each competitor has five Red Skulls taped to their jacket and their opponent must attempt to tear them off before they do. Very similar to an elimination that has been played multiple other times, but usually with stickers.
The elimination starts, and it appears relatively even. Nany has a slight size advantage, but Melissa has experience in MMA. The first three rounds, both women get skulls at about the same time and are tied. The fourth round, Melissa grabs a skull just as they are rolling out of bounds. This sets up a fifth round where Melissa is up 4–3, and she is able to pull out a skull as they are on the ground, getting the win.
TJ dismisses Nany, falling just short of the final once again. Melissa earns a red skull, and the crew returns to the house.
Eliminated
Nany: Nany falls just short once again, it appears her best chances to win were either on Team US last season or with Turbo the year before but now may be out of luck.
Power Rankings
13) Josh: Stays at the bottom as the person without a skull and no finals experience.
12) Bayleigh: Would still think she gets her shot next week.
11) Kyle: Will have his chance next week, likely against Josh but a curveball may be thrown in.
10) Aneesa: If there is any type of Purge coming up here, she could really be in trouble.
9) Melissa: There still has to be another woman to face Bayleigh, and outside of Dee she looks to be on the bottom of the totem pole.
8) Cory: Now is not the time to have a bum knee.
7) Fessy: If there is another male day, I think there is a good shot he is put in.
6) Kaycee: Perhaps she will receive some blowback and will be put in against Bayleigh.
5) Dee: Has the strongest chance of the top five of finding her way into elimination.
4) Rogan: Has played very well so far this season.
3) Nelson: He should be doing anything he can to get Johnny into elimination before the final.
2) Jenny: Still is the favorite for the women.
1) Johnny: Holds the top spot for the men.
Extra Notes
o In addition to releasing a new song, Tori and Jordan are also making masks to sell to the public. Please check it out, as each mask bought will also result in a donation of a mask to workers on the frontlines. Always great to see Challengers supporting the community in this trying time.
o Not Challenge related, but if anyone is in need of objective and useful COVID-19 news, check out Nate Duncan and Ben Taylor’s COVID Daily News podcast. Easily the most unbiased news aggregation service I’ve heard and gives much useful information including best practices for the virus and projections on how things are developing.
Fantasy Scoring
o NOTE: I periodically go back and check through the scoring throughout the season, so these are liable to change. If you have specific matter you want to address, email rmcintyre1699@gmail.com.
