The Challenge War Of The Worlds 2 Episode 16 Recap And Power Rankings
The episode picks up right where the last one left off, with Paulie dead on the floor. He’s able to get back up and have Cara help him through. Team US is barking at Paulie a little bit, and he regains his senses and continues.
Team UK gets to a pyramid style puzzle, and they fail miserably at it and time out. It does seem quite difficult, but Team UK has to pick up and keep going. Paulie gets working on the puzzle for Team US and is able to complete it and keep moving. He hops on the gurney as well and is somewhat able to make up for his earlier issues.
Team UK completes the first leg and makes it to a boat, where they have snacks and diving gear waiting. The US finishes soon after, with their gurney in complete tatters and items all over the place. TJ assesses them a ten-minute penalty for their trouble. It seems pretty crazy to only get ten minutes for breaking just about every rule laid out, but at the same time their gurney was broken so I’m not quite sure what else they are supposed to do.
Both teams are on their boats when TJ comes by on a jet ski. He tells Team UK they need to swim to their bed for the night. Team US is behind at their boat, and Paulie is looking dead as he lays on the boat while Leroy massages him. Team UK arrives at their bed, which is surrounded by snakes. Only one team member can be in the bed at a time, while the rest wait on the side.
Team US gets a move on and swims to the pit as well, and the teams prepare for the night. This is the first time the teams have seen each other since CT pushed over the US gurney, and UK is stunned at how the decrepit US looks. Paulie and Cara are talking, and Paulie starts throwing up.
Before the next day starts, TJ tells Paulie he is on thin ice and liable to be removed at any further signs of weakness. He also announces a Purge portion of the Final. Each team member has to complete a puzzle and swim to a boat. Only the first four members of each team will make it, meaning three US members and one UK will be purged.
The puzzle starts, and everyone gets working. It’s a pretty complex puzzle, and Ninja is the first done and starts the swim. CT is soon behind, having dropped a piece before starting. Dee is the next one done, being the second on Team UK to get moving. Rogan also wraps up, leaving only the couple of Jordan and Tori behind. Cara finishes as well, making her the second US to go. Paulie also finishes, leaving only one spot on each team. Zach is the next US to be done, and Jordan finishes soon after; purging Tori, Smashley, Leroy, and Kam. Sucks for everyone, but especially Leroy who has been on eleven seasons now without a win and played this season harder than ever.
Each team in the final ends up with three members of the power alliance and two of the minor alliance. TJ says each team has to be chained together, run around an island, and kayak to a yacht. Team UK is given a five-minute advantage due to the first day, which is pretty wild considering how the first day went and further evidence of blatant producer manipulation. UK gets moving, with Jordan in front followed by Dee, Rogan, and CT. Everyone else on Team UK is trying to get Jordan to slow down, but they seem to be in a decent rhythm.
Zach is in front of the US, followed by Ninja, Cara Maria, and then Paulie in the back. To his credit, Zach seems to really be moving on this leg despite being on the opposite side of the alliance. The UK gets to the puzzle first, but it really isn’t falling together for them. The US is able to catch up and start working on the puzzle. Cara is close but apparently, Ninja messes it up and they fall behind. UK times out, and they get moving. The US eventually times out as well, and they also start going to the kayak.
The UK is able to reach the kayak first and ends up winning the final and the season. Champagne starts popping, and the team celebrates their victory. Jordan has now won three finals in a row, while CT has three wins all in Thailand. Rogan also becomes the first Brit to win a final and is ironically enough the only Brit on Team UK. Dee becomes the first new female winner since Smashley on Invasion of the Champions.
Finale Summary
Overall, entertaining but poorly conceived final. While better than Vendettas or Final Reckoning considering it was at least difficult, the whole first day seemed like the producers attempting to get the UK ahead while the whole second day was getting the US to catch up. I’ve never placed significant weight on overall final wins in evaluating competitors, but many certainly do, and final performance is a massive indicator of the best competitors. This becomes incredibly difficult to judge when there seems to be constant producer manipulation going on. I’d love to see the Challenge more closely resemble a straight up sport, but until everything surrounding these competitions ceases to be so sketchy it will be difficult to do that. (And screw the producers who did Leroy dirty like that.
Fantasy Scoring
