The Challenge Vendettas Episode 3 Recap and Power Rankings
This week’s episode opened directly where last week’s left off; with Cory and Nelson in elimination. The elimination was called Balls on Fire and was essentially a penalty shootout with fire involved. This elimination turned out to be a complete disaster. Cory had a decent kick to start (which Nelson made a good save on) but outside of that it was a completely pathetic showing. After 12 rounds (that they showed us) of seemingly no kicks even being on goal, eventually they decide the players will not be allowed to play goalie and whoever can make the shot on an open goal first while the other player misses will win. Nelson kicks a slow dribbler down the middle which barely makes it to the goal, while Cory’s shot stops with still about a third of the way to go, giving Nelson the win and eliminating best friend Cory. Alicia looks on disappointingly as Cory saunters off into the horizon, but that isn’t the only outcome of this elimination.
After the elimination, TJ announces the “Grenade” twist which was teased before the season started. How it works is after a player wins an elimination, before the next mission they will be able to select one of three Grenades which will influence gameplay. Nelson’s options are:
Cash-Allows him to steal $5,000 from anyone’s bank account who was not just in the Troika.
Time Crunch-Allows him to add time to someone’s mission that day.
Put Up or Shut Up-Allows him to add himself to the Troika or add someone directly to the Inquisition.
While I like the idea of the grenade, I think the execution may be a bit flawed. If the show sticks with the alternating elimination weeks and forces players to play the grenades the week after they receive them, it dramatically reduces their incentive to use one of the more game related moves. After describing them, TJ announces that Nelson will be able to select his grenade directly before the next mission.
Once they get back from the elimination, Nelson tells everyone about Kyle going back on his deal with Cory. Kyle says he was shaking his hand to agree to the proposal, not the deal. I’m not quite sure what he means by this, but Nelson seems to be the only one concerned about this. Britni and Melissa then decide clothes are boring and jump into the pool nude (Britni has also been naked at least once every episode this season.) Melissa then tells Nicole to jump into the pool, who takes off her shirt and hops in. They then go back into the house where they make out in the bathroom, much to the delight of one Johnny Bananas. Melissa says (via confessional) that she views Nicole as a strong competitor and is not afraid to flirt her way through the competition.
We then move to the night before the mission, where Nelson is talking to Leroy, Victor, and Devin. Devin says (via confessional) he thinks he can control Nelson now that Nelson has no allies in the game. After this, Natalie and Melissa start doing a cheerleading routine. Melissa ends up cutting her foot on a lamp, allowing Nicole to flaunt her EMT abilities in checking on it. Nicole seems really into Melissa, while Melissa is very clearly using Nicole for game reasons.
This takes us to the daily mission, which is called #Vendettas. The competitors will participate in four heats (two of guys and two of girls), and it entails each competitor placing a hashtag of their color on each pole that occupies each end of a giant hashtag suspended over water. TJ also declares that Melissa is not able to participate in this round due to the cut on her foot and is forced to forfeit, sending her directly into the Ring. Nelson is then asked which grenade he would like to play, and chooses Cash. He decides to steal the $5,000 from Joss. The first heat for the guys was Tony, Nelson, Victor, Shane, Joss, and Zach. Shane’s terrified of heights, so he spends most of the time clutching the ground, and the top three for this heat ends up as Victor, Nelson, and Zach (in that order). The next heat is a female heat, and participating in it is Veronica, Nicole Z, Natalie, Kayleigh, Britni, and Alicia. The top three for this one is Natalie, Nicole Z, and Veronica. The big moment here though occurs right after Nicole finishes. As Alicia is about finish and get the third spot, Nicole decides for no reason to push her off the platform, sending Alicia into the water. Alicia actually is pretty hurt from the fall, and Nicole makes a futile attempt to make up for it. The second heat for the guys is Devin, Bananas, Leroy, Brad, and Kyle. Kyle can’t handle the height either, and the top three for this heat ends up being Devin, Bananas, and Brad. The final heat is a female heat consisting of Marie, Jemmye, Cara Maria, Sylvia, Kailah, and Kam. The top three for this heat ends up as Sylvia, Marie, and Kailah.
TJ announces Natalie and Devin as the female and male winners, with the two of them and Bananas and the Troika. Once they return, Natalie and Bananas start talking strategy. Bananas says it would be best to start making deals while she has some power on her hands. She initially talks to Veronica who is relatively receptive to her talks but also mentions she’s a little bit intimidated by her. Natalie then goes to talk to Kailah to try to make a deal with her, but Kailah seems very put off by the conversation and after she leaves expresses how weird it was to Kam and Marie. I think how poorly this went reflects more on Kailah and her inexperienced political game, but part of politics is knowing who you are talking to and Natalie did not appear to do this very well.
We then get to the Troika, where off the bat Devin and Bananas seem set on putting Alicia in. Natalie then says she wants nobody else from her room to go in, and when Devin wants Jemmye and Veronica to go in she says it is a hard no on Veronica. Eventually, they reveal the Troika as Kayleigh, Kam, and Alicia (all rookies.) At the Inquisition, Kayleigh starts off by saying she is a team player and values loyalty and won’t stab them in the back. Alicia asks if they are tired of the same people consistently, to which Bananas promptly replies no. Kam asks if anyone would like to own up to who they voted for, to which Natalie replies that she did because she would like to know her better, ending the episode before the Inquisition closes.
Eliminated
Cory: MTV seems intent on making Cory the new face of the franchise, but that also puts a huge target on his back causing him to be thrown in early and often. I think he could use a season off to rethink his game and hopefully take some of the heat off his back.
Power Rankings
24) Melissa (-4): Although I would pick her over Alicia or Kayleigh in anything physical, the fact she is automatically in puts her at the bottom.
23) Alicia (+1): She’s the most likely to go in and has no allies right now.
22) Kayleigh (-1): Didn’t do much and is eligible for elimination.
21) Victor (+1): I’ve been impressed by Victor so far, but I can’t help feeling like he’ll be an easy target with Cory gone now.
20) Marie (+3): Has a lot of allies, but seems to be the weakest competitor in her alliance.
19) Jemmye (-1): Was pretty much invisible this episode.
18) Tony (-2): Didn’t do much here, but Nelson sticking around isn’t great for his game.
17) Veronica: Showed political savvy by being receptive to Natalie’s deal.
16) Sylvia (+2): Did well in the mission, and her name didn’t seem to come up for elimination.
15) Kyle (-2): Being terrified of heights is not a good trait to have on The Challenge, and so blatantly backstabbing Cory could cause him some trouble.
14) Kam (-2): I can’t see her getting thrown in and also can’t see her going home.
13) Britni (-2): Drops by virtue of others moving up.
12) Kailah (-2): Hasn’t had a great start and her reaction to Natalie talking to her showed political inexperience.
11) Joss (-3): The fact he was the one who got stolen from shows having the most money might not be the best for your game.
10) Nelson (+5): Had one of the worst winning performances in an elimination of all-time, but looks to be hopping on board with Devin and Brad’s alliance which would be a good move for him.
9) Natalie (+4): Natalie did well to win and being Bananas’ girl should help, but I don’t think her politics talks went as planned.
8) Shane (-3): Being scared of heights isn’t good, and I could see Nelson not wanting to work with him again.
7) Nicole Z (-1): Pushing Alicia down like she did just made her look like a bully and she seems to be playing the game with her emotions instead of intelligence.
6) Leroy (+1): Hasn’t done much so far, which is usually good for long term viability.
5) Devin (+4): Big jump for Devin, he seems to be somewhat the head of a strong alliance and has been good in the competitions so far.
4) Cara Maria (-1): Hasn’t done much so far and was oddly left out of Natalie’s political endeavours.
3) Zach (-1): Has he been on this season?
2) Brad (-1): Didn’t do much this episode but seems to be in a good position.
1) Bananas (+3): Two trips to the troika and having women behind him put him at the top for now.
