The Challenge War Of The Worlds 2 Episode 4 Recap And Power Rankings
Hellraiser from War Of The Worlds. The People vs. Johnny Bananas on Final Reckoning. Rumor Has It on Vendettas. Every season has one episode in the middle of it that is filled with chaos, and I think this episode, appropriately entitled Benedict Laurel, is probably the peak of what will we see from War Of The Worlds 2.
The episode opens with the cast returning from Wes’ stunning elimination from last week. Team USA is clearly fractured by the exit, and Laurel immediately pulls Kyle aside to discuss who is the remains of Wes’ alliance. Kyle says Smashley, Cara Maria, Kam, Ninja, and Paulie were all in the alliance, putting them in Laurel’s crosshairs. We also get a side story of Josh mentioning his trepidation about Georgia to Dee, and then we cut to the mission.
This mission is called Relic Runner and entails the teams taking a set of relics up to the top of the hill as the opposing team shoots a variety of objects at them including a water hose, rubber balls, large orbs, and other items. Each player is responsible for carrying two relics each, and only one relic can be carried at a time. If they drop a relic, they must restart at the bottom of the hill. Whichever team has the fastest time wins?
Team UK is up first, and it seems apparent shenanigans are occurring. Johnny fires his ball well before anyone is close. Nicole ends up being the only one to drop a relic, and they get the mission done in relatively prompt fashion. Team US is up next, and Laurel and Johnny seem to have it out for Team US. Laurel is blocking Cara from traversing up the mountain, while Johnny pushes at Smashley causing her to drop her relic. Ninja drops hers as well, and Smashley ends up going into a rage at Johnny and quits the mission. Nany also gets into a spat with Paulie, and the two almost start to get physical before being separated. This gives the win to Team UK, while the US explodes into chaos.
This isn’t the only drama though, as Team UK breaks into a fury when TJ asks for their speaker. Eventually, they have to call for a vote to determine the speaker. I was surprised this hadn’t happened earlier honestly, and don’t see why it isn’t just the default. The team is split between Kyle and Dee, and it ends up being down to CT. CT tries to just abstain from voting but after prodding from TJ (and Cara Maria), he votes for Dee to be speaker. Dee takes Idris and Georgia into the tribunal with her on the principle they each won eliminations.
Back at the house, Laurel and Johnny immediately get to trying to pull enough votes. One of my big reservations while watching is I just did not think they had the numbers, and Laurel seemed to not realize that until after the mission and get to work. She first recruits Zach, who had seemed to be on the fence before, but Laurel is scary enough that Zach agrees to do what she says. She also goes to Smashley and tries to swing her over as well. She seems successful in pushing her over to voting Ninja. I think these scenes were shot out of order based on what was in Laurel’s notebook, but regardless politicking has been done.
We get to the nomination ceremony where Team US has to decide whom to vote for. Smashley apologizes for quitting to which Johnny forgives her (shocker.) Cara starts off by saying she was planning on putting any personal history behind her, but clearly other people did not have that attention. Laurel says she had her reasons because Wes said everyone on the team was expendable and that Kam, Cara Maria, Paulie, and Ninja all came in working with Wes. I’m not sure if Laurel was expecting to complete a season of The Challenge without alliances forming, but she seems repulsed that this would occur. Paulie makes the point that everyone is doing what Wes was accused of doing, and to pretend otherwise is hypocritical. They eventually open the vote, and it ends up with the majority voting for Ninja to go in.
The Tribunal then gets to speak with Ninja, but not before Tori gives Ninja a pat on the back. Ninja tells the Tribunal she wants Laurel in elimination, and Idris and Dee seem to comply. Back at the house, Kam and Laurel get into an argument with Laurel claiming Kam had pregame deals, which at this point in the show if you don’t, I think you are well behind the wave. Cara is in another room crying as she is saying it all would have been so easy to just keep voting in the good competitors on UK and let them pick each other off and have US ride to the end. I can sympathize with what she is saying as US was looking like it could be in a Champions on the Ruins situation and if they had continued at that level none of them would be at risk of going home. Also, if Laurel had enough votes to get Ninja in elimination, they didn’t have to throw the mission, they could have just had the Tribunal put her in and go against someone from UK so nobody from her alliance is at risk.
The house heads out to the club, where there is a clear divide between the Theo/Johnny/Georgia/Laurel side and the Paulie/Joss/Cara Maria/Dee side. Josh and Georgia seem to be in a complex situation, but Georgia still has her eyes on Bear. After coming back from the club, Georgia and Bear end up making out and sleeping together, seemingly putting things with Josh on hold.
We get to the elimination, and it is a set of poles all in clearly a climbing mission. Ninja prances around excited to do the task, rubbing some people the wrong way. TJ asks the Tribunal for their votes, and Georgia votes Cara Maria while Idris and Dee vote Laurel, getting Laurel sent in. TJ introduces the elimination as Branched Out. Each competitor has to put up 21 branches in a series of holes up a tree and use them to climb up and ring a bell. First to do so wins. Seems simple right?
The elimination starts, and Laurel and Ninja seem to be keeping pretty close to each other. It’s mostly uneventful at the start, with Ninja keeping slightly ahead of Laurel. Eventually, Ninja gets to the top about a round and a half ahead of Laurel. However, she can’t find where to put the last branch in. Laurel is able to eventually catch up and puts her last branch in the lip of the tree and rings the bell, prompting TJ to sound the horn.
Laurel disembarks with two middle fingers showing and channel her inner D-Generation-X in crotch thrusts. However, things still seem a little eerie. Ninja points out that Laurel missed a hole and finds her missing hole and races back up the tree and places hers in. Everyone is in complete chaos until TJ quiets things down and awards Ninja the win. Laurel says she doesn’t agree with the decision and will be back soon, ending the episode and changing the tide of power entirely.
Eliminated
Laurel: Explosive but short season for Laurel. I thought her political game was grossly miscalculated, but wildly entertaining.
Power Rankings
26) Nicole Bass: Outside of being Georgia’s fiend we have yet to see her put anything on screen so far.
25) Esther: Her name recently came up, but she at least was on the right side of the vote.
24) Jenny: She seems to be setting up perfectly for a Cuthroat Ty type season.
23) Idris: He’s on the right side of things for now but also is just a rookie.
22) Bear: He’s a stronger competitor than he is given credit for but seems really undervalued by his team.
21) Nany: She just lost her top female ally and is seen as the weakest woman on US.
20) Johnny: Even if he can regain some political capital, he is just such a target you have to think he gets thrown in at some point.
19) Leroy: Johnny’s eternal patsy seems perfectly set up for his usual quiet midseason exit.
18) Kayleigh: She actually seems to be in pretty strong position here despite her past competitive failures.
17) Josh: Josh is just less physically capable Zach at this point.
16) Kyle: Kyle is in sort of the Zach/Smashley role on the US side where I am not convinced, he is on either side which means if he chooses right he should be pretty clean from here on out but if he chooses wrong he’s in trouble.
15) Georgia: She’s a dynamite competitor, but her political game has been abhorrent.
14) Rogan: I’d listen to an argument for Theo over Rogan, but he should be able to last for a while still.
13) Theo: Theo was difficult to rank as competitively he has an argument to be higher but with how this season is set up that doesn’t seem to matter that much.
12) Dee: She seems to have taken Georgia’s position as the female face of Team UK and should be safe for a while here.
11) Tori Deal: We really haven’t seen much of Tori and I have been surprised she has seemed so solid with Johnny over Cara. There are some heads above her on the chopping block, but her name could come sooner than expected.
10) Jordan: Similar to Zach, Jordan has seemed to revert to his younger self this season, but he does have an avenue if he is willing to make a move now and not wait.
9) Zach: Zach is sort of a lesser Smashley as I’m not sure he is as likely to join Paulie and Cara but if he does the lack of guys on that side should give him a clear path to the final.
8) Joss: I’d honestly rank him a tad ahead of Theo in terms of being a competitor and seems to be in excellent political position.
7) Smashley: She’s the real wild card here. If she sides with Johnny, that side can probably move ahead of Paulie and Cara Maria. If she moves back towards Cara Maria and Paulie, as Johnny suspected, they can probably run the table pretty cleanly.
6) CT: He seems as solid as solid can be on the UK side and it’s hard to see the top end of US targeting him.
5) Turbo: He seems to be trying to straddle the middle at the moment, but one would have to think he’ll not be a fan of Johnny throwing a mission and swing towards Paulie’s side.
4) Kam: Somehow her name never came up for elimination despite being a focal point in her alliance.
3) Ninja: Usually coming out of an elimination this early just means you are likely to go back into one soon, but Ninja looks to be the #3 in her alliance and it would seem Johnny would rather target somebody else.
2) Paulie: As the one solid male in a primarily female alliance, he’s automatically towards the top of the totem pole.
1) Cara Maria: With Ninja returning and Smashley looking to flip flop back to her side, she seems to be in pristine position at the moment.
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
