The Challenge War of The Worlds 2 Episode 2 Recap And Power Rankings
This episode starts with Idris electing to stay with Team UK, much to the surprise of nobody. I could see there not being a team switch for a while, but eventually, one person switches and it starts a streak of players flip-flopping. We head back to the house, where Jordan initiates a team meeting for Team US. Jordan tells the rest of the team that Wes has an alliance with Rogan; which he discovered based on Rogan pleading for mercy from Jordan. Wes counters by revealing that Jordan tried to make an agreement with Rogan as well, leading to more chaos than anything for Team US.
Outside at the pool, Rogan and Dee and Laurel and Bear are flirting. Ninja and Nany both express concern over Dee and Laurel getting their head out of the game, and Nany, in particular, seems concerned over who Laurel is going after. Seems like these two relationships will be a significant storyline for as long as the competitors are around, especially considering the people involved.
We head to the mission for the episode, entitled “Cryptic Crossbow.” Prior to the mission, it is announced that Zahida went home due to a death in the family. The mission has each team elect one player to sit in a massive crossbow, while the rest of the team swims out to collect letters. The letters need to be placed on the board in order to fire the crossbow. The player fired from the crossbow then must swim back a large combination lock contraption and use the word made by the letters to solve it. The first team to solve the large lock wins.
The US elects to place Jordan in their crossbow while Team UK puts in Joss. Wes is clearly not feeling well on Team USA, but he is able to beat everyone else by a significant margin in the swim and retrieve the two farthest pieces. Team USA as a whole seems to be much more adept swimmers than Team UK, with many of the Brits falling behind. Cara Maria and Kam are in first for Team US while Georgia and Nicole are first back for Team UK. The second group for Team UK in particular struggles, with CT having to help Idris back. Johnny convinces the rest of his team to just put all the pieces up and launch Jordan. Jordan gets back way before Joss does, and Team US is able to get the win again.
After the win, Wes receives attention from the medical staff. He seems ok but is driven away to receive further care. TJ asks Team US who their speaker is, and although Zach wants to vote Kam speaks up saying she will be the speaker. She elects Paulie and Smashley to go to the Tribunal with her.
Back at the house, Ninja and Jordan are talking and say the strongest girls are on Team UK are Georgia and Jenny. Cara Maria also says she trusts Kam, although in another room Tori and Zach express concern over Kam’s lust for power. Kam talks with Paulie, and the two begin to form an alliance moving forward.
Georgia makes an effort to tell Big T that she and a significant number of people were planning to vote her in. Georgia also tells her that Esther was the other name being considered and Nicole is not because she is Georgia’s best friend. Big T obviously is not pleased with this and tells Esther that the two of them were being considered for elimination. Esther talks about this with Kayleigh and Dee, and Kayleigh clearly does not like Georgia being at the center of power for Team UK.
Kam and Georgia are talking, and Kam asks Georgia if she thinks she is untouchable. Georgia asks why Kam would be under the impression Georgia thinks of herself as untouchable, to which Kam says she doesn’t know. Georgia is clearly overwhelmed by the situation and starts to cry prior to the Tribunal. At the Tribunal, Kyle says it is between Big T and Esther, although Kayleigh seems to disagree. She asks why Jenny and Nicole aren’t being considered and forces the group to put the two of them up as well. Barely anybody votes for Jenny or Nicole, and Kayleigh votes for Esther while everybody else votes for Big T. Big T says CT, Georgia, and Kyle seem to be running for the team, and she is fine going against anybody outside of Jenny.
That night, Faith is unable to sleep as Bear and Theo are screaming back and forth. Faith smashes some pots and pans together in retribution, and Bear and Theo are not pleased. The next day, Wes returns from the hospital and says he is healthy. Jordan starts grilling his asking what he was sick from, and Wes is hesitant to tell him. It’s hard to sort out what is going on as Jordan and Wes are both being clandestine, but it’s clear the two are not seeing eye to eye.
Team US has another meeting, and they all agree that Georgia and Jenny are the top two women on the British side and should be targets. Dee’s name is brought up as well, which Wes is not pleased about. Josh is anxious about getting Georgia voted in, and the team seems to think Jenny should be the preferred target and not Georgia.
The house heads to elimination, where TJ announces unceremoniously that Faith went home. TJ plows right pass this like he is ordering Burger King drive-thru. TJ introduces the elimination as Firestarter and reveals the competitors will have to guide a large cart full of rocks towards their opponent’s fuse. The cart contains a torch. The first competitor to light their opponent’s fuse wins.
The elimination starts, and it’s clear it is going to take a while. Big T seems to have a bit of size on Georgia, but Georgia has a significantly more extensive track record on the show. It’s a long struggle, where each competitor is constantly jockeying for position and nobody really seems to have the upper hand. Eventually, Georgia is able to tire out Big T and get the win. TJ asks Georgia if she wants to stay with the UK, to which she gives a lengthy diatribe and elects to stay with the British. The Brits celebrate as camouflage uniforms swarm Georgia, and that ends the episode.
Quit
Zahida: Disappointing to see her leave in this manner, but with how she was presented on this season you could tell something strange was going on.
Faith: Faith recently announced she was pregnant, and many cast members have said the men were significantly worse to her than what was shown.
Eliminated
Big T: Impressive showing from Big T in the elimination, but not enough to topple Georgia.
Power Rankings
28) Esther: Clearly on the bottom with Big T gone, it will be interesting to see if she can rally other members of her team to her defense.
27) Idris: An awful performance in the mission doesn’t help his standing at all.
26) Nicole Bass: Friendship with Georgia will keep her around but even that can only do so much.
25) Jenny: At this point, I’m just defaulting to putting the UK rookies on the bottom and moving forward from there.
24) Bear: This could be too low, but he hasn’t really shown many allies outside of Theo and Laurel and he’s enemies with basically everyone else that stuck around last season.
23) Josh: Josh at this point is easily the least proven competitor on Team US and if they decide to start trimming the fat, he should be first on the block.
22) Wes: Life comes at you fast this season, and while I have full faith in everybody’s favorite ginger entrepreneur as a competitor all his clear allies are on the UK side and it’s looking like Jordan and Johnny could rally the rest of the Americans against him.
21) Leroy: Leroy is always one of the harder competitors to rank as he seems to be somewhat the Frank Gore of the Challenge where he’ll finish around the middle and not make much noise on his way there.
20) Nany: Nany is someone you expect to have a strong social standing, but outside of Laurel, Johnny, and Wes she hasn’t had many apparent allies thus far.
19) Johnny: This could be much too low, but Johnny sticks out no matter how hard he tries and if Paulie and Cara are in control I have a difficult time envisioning him staying around long.
18) Kyle: Kyle was identified as a leader by Big T, but without being able to communicate with his usual cronies I could see him on the outside looking in on alliances.
17) Kayleigh: I’m not sure what to do with Kayleigh, as she is well-connected and getting Georgia thrown in the way she did was impressive, but she also has been an inconsistent competitor.
16) Rogan: Rogan’s only scene so far has been a political blunder, but he is tight with Joss who seems to hold somewhat of a position of power on Team UK.
15) Theo: Theo is an excellent competitor, but he seems stuck on the Bear side of Team UK which I don’t think is the side you want to be on.
14) Georgia: It’s possible she has to go in a few more times, but as long as it is against other British women, she should be the favorite in most matchups. She does really need someone to help her out with the politics, as she really misses Wes (through Hunter) guiding her in the first half of last season.
13) Dee: It is possible Team US goes at her just to agitate Wes, but she seems to be very solid on top of UK.
12) Laurel: At this point in the rankings everyone is pretty solid, Laurel just has clear enemies who seem to be near the top of Team US and if the UK ever wins, she’s a logical candidate to put in.
11) Joss: He hasn’t had his name mentioned much but he does seem to be the best competitor in the UK and his team recognizes that.
10) CT: He’s clearly on top of Team UK, which means he’ll be around for a while but won’t be winning much.
9) Jordan: Decent sized drop for Jordan, but he has seemed to rub some competitors the wrong way which could spell trouble for him.
8) Smashley: Smashley has flown well under the radar so far, and now seems to have some solid allies.
7) Turbo: This game has been heavily political, and while he is an outstanding competitor his willingness to politick is up for question.
6) Ninja: Ninja is in a decent position, and as long as she stays allies with Paulie she should be good to go moving forward.
5) Zach: Zach has done a great job staying in the background, and as long as he is on good terms with Cara, he should be solid moving forward.
4) Tori Deal: We’ll see if she plays nice or decides to go at Kam, but as long as stays levelheaded I like her chances.
3) Kam: It feels like we could have just seen the start of the dominant alliance of the season, and Kam seems to have solid connections on Team UK as well.
2) Paulie: Paulie has a propensity to explode, but for now he is as solid as anyone on the American side.
1) Cara Maria: Her political game has been massively underrated the past few seasons and she seems built to succeed in this format.
Extra Notes
· Theo Campbell sustained a severe injury to his eye. No word on if it happened during or after filming (indications lean towards after) but prayers his way that all goes well.
· Faith announced she is pregnant, and while it is unclear how that factored into her exit it was revealed that Bear was much more abrasive than what was shown on TV and her exit was justified by some fellow cast members.
Fantasy Scoring
