The Challenge Vendettas Episode 9 Recap and Power Rankings
The episode starts with the competitors returning from the Car Crash mission, Marie having just been voted into elimination. She and Kailah discuss Kam’s betrayal of her and then go confront Kam about it. Kam says she feels bad for turning on Marie but had to do it to protect herself. Sensing she is at risk of going into elimination, Kailah runs upstairs to the Purple Room where Bananas and Kyle are sitting. She tells Bananas he should avoid throwing her in because her top three guy allies are Leroy, Tony, and Zach; three guys he is aligned with. However, Bananas flips this on its head by saying that means he is at best fourth on the list of her allies, and if it came down to him and those three he would be going in. Kailah then mentions via confessional that Bananas’ top female allies are Cara Maria and Natalie, so it would make complete sense him to throw her in. We also see the Purple Room Natalie, who is affirming an alliance with Jemmye and Cara Maria. Natalie’s been hopping around alliances for a while now, but she seems to be much more secure with Jemmye, Cara Maria, and Britni. We also get a clip of Marie asking Bananas to put in Kayleigh and if he does she will use the grenade for whatever he wants.
After this, we head to the Troika with Bananas, Natalie, and Nelson. At the onset, Bananas and Natalie are set on turning their crosshairs towards the Orange Room of Kam, Marie, and Kailah. However, Nelson really doesn’t like this Inquisition and refuses to put Kam in. He says he wants to put Cara Maria in, since she seems to have almost all the guys’ backs except for this. Bananas and Natalie are initially resistant, since they have an alliance with Cara and Cara was also on their team initially and they promised her safety when she was not included in the Troika. However, they eventually relented, and Kailah, Nicole, and Cara Maria were thrown into the Inquisition.
We now head to the actual Inquisition. They start off by interrogating Kailah, with Nelson asking about how her top three guys are Tony, Zach, and Leroy. She says that she didn’t use the word “alliance” which I guess is technically true considering she used the word “allies” but nonetheless Nelson and Bananas aren’t in it. They then talk to Nicole, who immediately says they know she has their backs, but they dispute that saying Kyle and Tony said she wouldn’t put anyone on the board. Nicole gives some loose defense and then move to Cara. Nelson is up front and says he has no personal issues with Cara, but their games don’t line up, so he used a burn vote on her. I initially really didn’t agree with Nelson pushing so hard for Cara to be thrown in, but he did play it off really well.
I really think people are much too passive on the Inquisition. Especially with a situation like Nicole, who says she has your back but seems to have everyone’s, I would upfront ask her who the three people she would put in the Inquisition are. Not only would this tell you where you stand on her list, with four people as witnesses you could also use it as equity to make moves later in the game.
After this, we head to the Ring where it appears to be a puzzle. The Troika votes for who to go in to elimination, and Nelson goes with Cara Maria but Bananas and Natalie vote in Kailah. TJ announces this elimination is called Basket Case, and entails the competitors having to escape a basket and then finish a puzzle. The elimination begins, and Marie has had some real struggles getting out of her basket. She seems to be just tipping it over and rolling around a little bit while Kailah is actually making a dent in the basket. Kailah eventually pries the top open enough to sneak out of and starts the puzzle. The puzzle literally just looks like the producers went out to a children’s toy store and bought the first Spain themed one they saw. Kailah starts working on it, and Marie gets out of the basket just before Kailah finishes.
TJ dismisses Marie and accuses her of quitting. Marie really did seem out of it headed into elimination, so I don’t think she put her best foot forward. TJ then presents Kailah with her grenades, which are: Cash Up-Steal someone’s entire bank account. Team Up-Getting to select the teams for the next mission. Put Up or Shut Up-Pick a player that has to either win a spot in the Troika, or they are immediately sent to the Inquisition. I really don’t see the point of Put Up or Shut Up because if the Troika wants someone to go in they’ll just put them in the Inquisition in the first place and I think the Cash Up grenade is heavily neutered by seemingly having to make the final in order to keep your money, so I would definitely use the Team Up grenade.
After this we get a brief scene at the house where Natalie and Kailah are talking and both say they are not on the others’ radar which neither of them buy before we head to the mission for the episode. This mission is entitled Kicking Ass, and entails the competitors splitting into two teams and then competing in a soccer match while wearing a bubble and stilts. Two players from each team will be the lifters and traverse on foot and will pick up any teammates who fall. First team to score two goals wins. TJ then asks Kailah which grenade she wishes to use, and she says Team Up. Kailah announces the teams as:
Team Green- Bananas Devin Nelson Leroy Jemmye Kayleigh Britni Cara Maria
Team Blue- Brad Zach Tony Kyle Kailah Kam Nicole Natalie
I think something people haven’t really caught on to is that what’s important this season is setting up the teams so the votes go your way, not necessarily so your team wins. This is especially relevant because while there are relatively clear lines dividing alliances by gender, there are a lot of cross-alliances with the women of the season. For example, Cara Maria and Britni seem to be in a clear-cut alliance but Cara’s main male allies are the Purple Room of Kyle, Bananas, Zach, Tony, and Leroy while Britni’s primary male allies are Brad, Devin, and Nelson. This split between male and female alliances allows people to easily shape the votes so they go the direction they want and that is what is important as the votes decide who goes in and who makes the Troika, not necessarily who won.
Bananas and Britni are elected as lifters for the Green Team while Natalie and Kyle are lifters for the Blue Team. The mission starts, and it is immediately chaos. There seems to be someone falling down every four seconds and the ball is just bouncing back and forth. The ball gets stuck on the wall for a little bit before Bananas kicks it down towards the Blue Goal. I’m not sure if this is legal, but they let it go and now Devin has the ball right by the goal. Devin, Zach, and Kam all ram into each other right by the goal and all fall down, but Devin is able to scoot the ball into the goal, getting a point for the Green Team. The ball resets in the middle, and the Blue Team starts to take control. The Blue Team takes the ball and seemingly doesn’t relinquish it for the round. Nicole gets it Brad who gives it to Tony who then scores for Blue. The ball resets again for a sudden death round. Zach and Devin charge towards the ball and end up falling into each other while the ball squirts toward the Blue goal. People keeping falling on the ball instead of kicking it and it just bobbles around for a while. The ball shoots out to Brad, who is able to center it to Zach who pushes it into the goal for the point and the win. There was some really odd editing in this mission, especially on Tony’s goal. It makes me think there may have been more going on than we saw.
With Blue Team victorious, TJ addresses the team and tells them they must select three people to form the Troika. Kailah says she wants to be in and feels she deserves to be considering she made the teams and gave up a sizable amount of money to do so. Everyone agrees and then Brad says he wants to be in because he assisted on both goals. However, Zach and Tony both say they want to be in considering they scored both goals. Eventually, they go with Zach, Tony, and Kailah; but they do say that everyone on their team will be safe.
After announcing the Troika to TJ, we go to the Green Team who has to vote one male into elimination. Bananas starts off the vote by selecting Devin, and Devin responds by voting Bananas. Devin says (via confessional) that Bananas would go in most likely against Leroy but considering who the Troika is I don’t see that happening regardless of who is in the Ring. Nelson goes next and puts in Bananas and then Leroy puts in Devin. Cara votes in Devin while Britni votes in Bananas, leaving the vote tied 3–3 and up to Jemmye and Kayleigh. They both vote Devin as well, sending him into the Ring.
After this we head to the house, Devin is upset with Nelson for his showmance Kayleigh voting him into elimination. Kayleigh is seen talking to some girls and says she is voting based on who has helped her out not who Nelson wants. Kayleigh’s really floated so far, it seemed like her only true ally was Marie but then Marie was campaigning for her to go into elimination. However, she also isn’t really on anyone’s radar either.
We then go to the porch where Jemmye and Nelson are talking. Nelson asks Jemmye how Bananas has helped her, and she says he’s been in the Troika a lot and hasn’t said her name. Jemmye also says she would have assumed Kayleigh would have voted with Nelson. Devin then arrives and interrogates Jemmye about her decision before Bananas pulls up a chair and asks Devin why he’s picking on women. The two chirp each other for a little bit before the credits roll and the episode ends.
Eliminated
Marie: You know the phrase “So dumb they couldn’t find their way out of a paper bag”? Well Marie couldn’t find her way out of a basket.
Power Rankings
16) Devin (-2): I like his chances against Bananas, but hard to put him anywhere else considering he’s in the elimination for sure.
15) Bananas (-12): MTV literally put out an article asking what Devin’s chances are if he goes into elimination against Bananas. If he doesn’t go in, all TV edgic laws will be broken. The edit also seems to suggest he loses or wins that and goes on to win the season, so this could be the end for the Banana man.
14) Kayleigh (+2): There hasn’t been an individual mission yet where the loser goes straight to the ring. When that occurs, Kayleigh’s time may be up.
13) Jemmye (+2): Her social game is one of the best in the house, but her athletic game is not.
12) Britni (+1): She’s at an odd middle ground now where she’s clearly not in the top tier of female athletes but also not the bottom either.
11) Nelson (+4): If somehow Bananas doesn’t go in, it’s probably him.
10) Natalie (+1): She seems to have made herself a target without being anyone’s top ally on the girls’ side.
9) Kam (+3): She and Kailah should be on fine terms but she’s also not as big of a target as either of them.
8) Kailah (3): Has a bigger target on her than Kam but more of a track record as well.
7) Nicole Z (+3): I feel like she should be on a lot more people’s radars than she is right now, but she is the only female who can compete athletically with Cara.
6) Brad (+4): He should be safe for this episode and being quiet is probably best for him.
5) Leroy (+1): He should be safe with this Troika and is in a good position going forward.
4) Kyle (+1): Being a rookie and never even being brought up for elimination is a feat few (if any) have accomplished.
3) Tony (+1): Hunky Tony continues his awesome performance this season.
2) Cara Maria: The Lebron Cavaliers of The Challenge continues to be quiet, but I still have faith in her over any women on this season.
1) Zach: He continues his monster physical performance while also being squeaky clean politically.
