The Challenge Total Madness Episode 14 Recap And Power Rankings
The episode opens with some of the guys talking about which female to throw in. Johnny pushes for Aneesa to go in, mentioning how the other men of the house would feel if they were paired with her for the final. I think this is a common idiom in The Challenge that gets massively blown out of proportion. The male competitors are competing against EACH OTHER in the final. Each has just as much of getting paired with Aneesa or any other female in the final, and all having Aneesa not around does is reduces randomness. Johnny perhaps should be worried about this as I think he stands as the clear favorite right now headed into the final, but for anyone else to be overly concerned about this seems to be wildly misplaced priorities.
Aneesa talks to her mom via webcam. The mom tries to pry information out of her, which Aneesa declines. Funny to see, as the Challenge world has had massive issues with spoilers but at the very least Aneesa does not appear to be the leak. Cory and Fessy are talking about some back-home issues, and Fessy discusses how he was the thirtieth ranked tight end and was not drafted after his injury. He also talks about the issues being in an Islamic family around the time of 9/11, and overall seems to be a genuinely nice guy.
The alarm bells ring in the dead of the night, and it looks like we are headed for a mission in the dark. TJ announces the mission as Running Out Of Time. The mission entails the competitors running to collect materials and put them in their competitors’ buckets for the first portion. The second portion then has the competitors attempt to hold their bucket up for as long as possible. Whomever holds their bucket up the longest from each gender wins. The winners will pick a third member of the Tribunal, and the two will pick two people of each gender to go into the interrogation and have a double elimination.
Good format for a mission, however with so much of the cast seemingly not giving a full effort it felt a little flat. Fessy and Jenny pull off the wins respectively, with the main controversy stemming from whether to select Cory or Josh as the third member. During the mission, Fessy appeared to make a deal with Josh to put him into elimination to acquire the Red Skull, while also telling Cory he would go into the Tribunal. Fessy wants to put Cory into the Tribunal, but Josh and Jenny get very upset about it and Josh ends up going in.
We head to the house and after some vitriol between Fessy and Cory, nominations begin. Kyle and Bayleigh are both easy consensus votes, sending the two non-Red Skulls available into elimination. The house heads to the bar for the episode, where outside of some banter between Fessy and Josh not much happens. Jenny and Aneesa do get into it a little bit though, with Aneesa overhearing that Jenny may be plotting to throw her in.
At the Tribunal they discuss who to throw in. This scene seems absolutely pointless from the male perspective considering everybody knows Josh will throw himself in (that was the whole point of him going into the Tribunal) but the women is a bit more interesting. More discussion about Aneesa not being able to perform in a final arises, with Jenny and Josh wanting her to go in. Melissa is also picked. Nelson and Rogan are jokingly upset about being called in, while Melissa and Aneesa actually have some beef.
We head to Purgatory, where two cars with ropes by them are set up. The women are first, and Jenny votes for Aneesa while Fessy votes for Melissa. Josh votes for Aneesa, sending the vet into elimination. Josh also puts himself in. TJ introduces the elimination as Knots Of War, which entails the competitors playing essentially Knot So Fast, but with cars. Each has to use a rope to weave through a car for a set period of time. After that, their opponent will attempt to undo the knot. First to undo the knot wins.
The women are first. Bayleigh seems to have a little more fuel in the tank than Aneesa and is making more concentrated knots while Aneesa makes larger loops. Both are incredibly out of it by the end, and barely have the energy for the second round. However, Bayleigh can muster up a bit more force and pull out the win.
The men are next. Kyle takes the strategy of diving through the car consistently, while Josh seems to concentrate on one side of the car and lopping around it constantly. The second round begins, and Kyle seems to be moving much more quickly. He is able to blow through Josh’s ropes and get the win rather easily.
TJ dismisses Aneesa and Josh, and Bayleigh and Kyle are given their Red Skulls as the episode concludes.
Eliminated
Josh: Some terrible gameplay this episode and is unable to get it done in elimination again. While I think he is from a disaster as a competitor, he clearly has much room for improvement.
Aneesa: Felt terrible for her this episode. Got unfairly lambasted for logic that makes zero sense if you think about it for two seconds.
Power Rankings
11) Melissa: Impressive elimination win, but still the least proven female competitor.
10) Kyle: He really hasn’t shown anything overly impressive physically this season.
9) Bayleigh: Has been more than competent but still a clear step below the other female competitors.
8) Cory: Not trusting his leg in a final.
7) Fessy: Biggest wild card in the final, could easily either win or come in last just with no history.
6) Kaycee: Has a legit shot to win if she gets into a good position.
5) Rogan: Has been very good competitively this season and is in a good spot politically as well.
4) Nelson: Has always been a monster competitor, as long as he doesn’t get in his own way he’ll be aces.
3) Dee: Not in a good spot at all politically but outside of Jenny think she can beat anybody else.
2) Johnny: He is the kingpin right now and does not look likely to be pushed off anytime soon.
1) Jenny: In a great position both socially and physically.
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.
