The Challenge War Of The Worlds 2 Episode 3 Recap And Power Rankings
The episode opens with the house returning from Georgia’s victory over Big T. Georgia is pumped for the win, but Team UK realizes it needs to start getting some victories in missions to succeed. Team US has a meeting when they return to decide who will be the speaker next, and Josh pipes up saying he is willing. Smashley says she is concerned that some members of her team (namely Josh) were rooting for Georgia to win; when they should be all about the team. Wes says once they start putting menial restrictions up about rooting for people in eliminations things become overly complicated and that’s when people will start to turn on each other. I’m with Wes here, this season is already set up where alliances within the team are going to be fragile and putting in all these bylaws is just going to make things unnecessarily complex. Josh says he will throw in Team UK’s best male player, and the team agrees to let him be the speaker.
We get a quick snippet of Bear and Laurel flirting as Josh watches on before moving to Team UK hosting a similar meeting where they try to nominate a speaker in the bizarre scenario where they win. Bear pipes up and says he would like to be the speaker and will throw in Wes if he is keeping the heat off of everybody else. Team UK laughs at the notion of Bear being speaker, and Idris nominates himself and is selected instead. Bear storms off and pouts, prompting some Brits including Rogan, Theo, and Georgia to go reason with him. Wes asks Bear and Georgia if they need any help to which they say they can handle it, and the conversation seems to go nowhere.
We get to the mission for the episode, entitled Paddlewheel Puzzle. The mission has the teams each memorize a variety of codes and use them to unlock a series of poles inside a paddlewheel. Each pole has a name on it, and the team must put the poles in alphabetical order, making a flag of their country. Whichever team unlocks all the poles and puts them in alphabetical order first wins.
Team US goes first, and while memorization seems to go ok inside the paddlewheel is much more chaotic. Zach vomits, Wes doesn’t look good either and it takes them forever to get the correct combinations. Eventually, they are able to figure it out and get their pieces together, but the team does not seem pleased with their performance. Team UK is up next, and they race through the first part of the mission. However, Theo pulls off two of the locks without unlocking them. They are able to get to the end and finish the puzzle in an efficient fashion and celebrate like crazy after their performance.
TJ announces that Team UK was the fastest team, and they immediately erupt in celebration. However, he also raises his hands to show two unsolved locks and says UK is disqualified and gives the US the win. Team US announces Josh as the speaker, and he selects Zach and Laurel to go into the Tribunal with him.
Kam, Smashley, and Ninja are talking and insist that the Tribunal better throws in a top competitor on the UK. They seem ready to pounce if something other than that happens. The Brits head to the nomination ceremony to decide who to throw in. Zach, Laurel, and Josh show up in full Hawaiian shirt getup as the UK arrives. Bear opens up by saying he is voting for Idris. Idris says he can’t base on performance, saying they all have performed equally. I find this to be absurd logic, as performance in a team setting should clearly be the number one reason for voting someone in at this point. Dee and Bear then start going at it over Rogan, and eventually, Team UK settles on Bear.
Back at the house; Tori, Wes, and Josh are talking, and Tori asks Wes who he thinks the Tribunal will throw in. Wes says he had assumed they would put in Theo. Josh says he wasn’t set on Theo and fells there are options, and Wes asks Smashley and Kam who they thought Josh was going to throw in and they all thought he would put in Theo. Wes and Josh start going at it, which ends in Josh leaving the room. After Josh leaves, Wes proclaims Josh expendable and “fired.” However, Wes did not realize Laurel wasn’t sleeping and actually heard everything he said, and she runs and tells Josh about this. Laurel and Josh then both agree to put in Wes against Bear.
Back outside, Rogan and Theo are talking and end up erupting into a fight. The argument stems over who can handle their liquor better, and by the looks of it, neither of them can. Not much comes out of it, and the next morning The US calls another meeting (seems like we get two from each team an episode), and at the meeting, they vote on the best competitor for the other team. It seems to be about 65% Theo, 35% Joss. Johnny declares the meeting pointless, but then Josh asks Wes directly if he called him expendable. Wes doesn’t dispute the claim. After the meeting, Laurel tells Johnny of their plan to throw in Wes. Paulie tries to keep Josh on page with putting in Theo, but he doesn’t seem to buy it.
We head to the elimination, where a cannon and a wall await the competitors. After TJ calls Bear down, he calls out Wes saying he wants to see him in elimination. Wes says he has already proven himself and shouldn’t have to go in. Laurel and Josh seem to disagree though, as while Zach votes Theo they both vote in Wes putting him in elimination. This elimination is called Firing Squad, and has TJ shoot a cannon launching a ball at 70 MPH at a wall behind the competitors. The competitors fight for the ball and attempt to put it in their opponent’s barrel. First to two points wins.
TJ shoots the first ball, and it ricochets off the wall right to Bear. Bear is able to dodge around Wes and get to the barrel, getting a point for him. The next round, Wes is able to get the ball and is tackled to the ground by Bear. Bear starts elbowing Wes and puts him in a headlock. Eventually, the ball squirts out and Bear is able to get it, scoring the final point and winning the elimination. TJ dismisses Wes, and Bear decides to stay with UK, ending the episode.
Eliminated
Wes: If everyone that was a part of that conversation was in one alliance it was probably a bit too large to sustain long term and Wes happened to be the first casualty. Hoping to see him back soon, my dream scenario would be on a Rivals season with Jordan, Tori, or Georgia as his partner. Jordan would just be entertaining while I think Tori and Georgia would balance out his political game very well.
Power Rankings
27) Esther: It’ll be interesting to see if she can hang around in similar fashion to Idris, but odds are not in her favor.
26) Idris: Dodging this one was impressive but he’s the only really easy throw in left which makes me think his time will be short.
25) Nicole Bass: She still seems likely to be thrown in by UK if the opportunity arises.
24) Jenny: She’s got a step up on Nicole or Esther but also could easily be thrown in by Team US.
23) Bear: Winning the elimination should buy him some credit but getting thrown in at all did not speak well to his standing on the team.
22) Josh: While I do think the move against Wes was probably the right play considering Josh is the easy pick if US ever loses if going by performance, it could lead to retaliation from the US females and put him in trouble.
21) Leroy: Showing some activity politically is definitely a good thing for Leroy, but let’s see if he delivers on these alliances before crowning him just yet.
20) Nany: She hasn’t been featured much in alliance discussion and one could easily make the argument she’s the worst female on US at this point.
19) Johnny: The more I see of Team US, the more it seems like people with an adverse relationship to Johnny (Cara Maria, Paulie, Kam, Smashley) hold a significant amount of power which puts him in trouble.
18) Kayleigh: She still seems to hold some standing on Team UK, and with three unproven females below her she has a decent cushion.
17) Theo: He’s in a very precarious position right now as he doesn’t seem to hold much power on UK but is seen by the US as a massive threat. However, he also is a great competitor which prevents him from falling too low.
16) Laurel: While I understand the move from Josh’s perspective, I really didn’t from Laurel’s. As long as Team US stayed united and kept chipping away at UK, she should be fine as one of the best competitors on the American side. However, if this game goes upside-down and becomes all about politics, she hasn’t been around for a while and could be swept out by a Cara Maria led contingent.
15) Kyle: Kyle seems to be trying to play the middle between Joss/Rogan and Theo/Bear. He’s a strong competitor, but if Paulie and Cara get power he also could be in trouble.
14) Rogan: He still hasn’t shown much competitively, but he seems to hold significant political capital and has friends on the US side.
13) Georgia: She’s very difficult to rank as I believe in her considerably as a competitor, but her political game has been abysmal in her Challenge career.
12) Dee: Losing Wes hurts, but she is in great standing on UK.
11) Joss: It seems like everyone on UK needs to be priced down a tad, but Joss seems like the de facto leader and is an exceptional competitor.
10) CT: CT seems invulnerable to being thrown in, but his team is terrible.
9) Jordan: I’m not sure losing Wes is really the best thing for him as he sticks out as the team loudmouth, and he hasn’t been featured in much alliance discussion.
8) Tori Deal: Once you get to this level everyone is really the same, but seeing Tori get some more screen time would be nice.
7) Zach: Zach’s hanging around the background which is probably for the best with him. Also, many on UK only know him from last season and probably don’t see him as a threat.
6) Turbo: He’s been quiet so far, which is probably for the best for him.
5) Smashley: This format really plays to Smashley’s strength’s as she has become the modern-day Susie. An expert social player who performs well enough to never seem like a weak link.
4) Ninja: She doesn’t really have many strong adversaries and Dee should be able to put the heat somewhere else for her from the UK side.
3) Kam: Similar to Smashley, she’s always shown great understanding of the house and has been in great position so far.
2) Paulie: He’s been a factor in most political discussions and only Johnny and Kyle stick out as enemies for him.
1) Cara Maria: She’s been outstanding politically the last few seasons, so I have her at number one until further notice.
Extra Notes
· Make sure to vote in our Top Male Competitors poll. Voting functions the same way as the Top Female Competitors poll.
Fantasy Scoring
