The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30 Episode 11 Recap and Power Rankings
This episode starts with the cast members on the phone. Dario’s talking to his girlfriend the incredibly attractive Ashley Kelsey and Derrick talks to his son before we get to Hunter talking to his girlfriend. They begin talking, and she just seems off when she’s talking to him. He asks her what’s wrong, and she breaks up with him over the phone while seemingly every girl in the house looks on. I’m not going to lie, this looked and sounded very staged, but since I don’t know so I’m not going to make any assumptions. Anyways, Hunter starts crying and seems very unhappy. Kailah, who will learn later on is not a big Hunter fan, says his girlfriend is the last thing he should be worrying about, which sounds odd considering Kailah has a boyfriend that one would presume she cares about as well. Nelson comes by and comforts him and we’re on to the challenge.
This challenge is called Saved by the Bell (funny that 90’s house came after this.) there will be four teams of four competitors each, with each team having to traverse across five bell-shaped pylons suspended above the water. Two teams will go at once with each team having to cross each other to get to the other side. Hunter and Veronica are the first two captains since they just returned from Redemption, and are allowed to elect the next two captains for the final two teams. Since there are eighteen competitors currently, this means one guy and one girl will sit out and immediately go to the Presidio. Hunter selects Nelson, and Aneesa selects Britni as the other two captains. If I were them, I would’ve selected Dario or Tony and Veronica or Jemmye. First of all, this puts two weak competitors as the captains of the opposing teams and makes them ineligible to be out of the game entirely. Secondly, I really don’t see why Hunter picked Nelson. If Hunter and Nelson are on the same team, it actually gives them enough votes where they can pick a guy of their choice, plus then they are both safe. If they are split up and only one of them wins, odds are the other is going in anyways because the winner won’t be able to shift votes away from that person or he will be thrown in at the double cross. Anyways, the teams break down as follows:
Pink Team: Aneesa Bananas Jenna Derrick
Dark Blue Team: Hunter Camila CT Kailah
Green Team: Britni Jordan Tori Tony
Light Blue Team: Nelson Cara Maria LeRoy Jemmye
Presidio: Dario Veronica
Hunter mentions that “Kailah hates the sound of his voice” when he picks her (which is something we’ll hear a lot about this episode) and Kailah mentions how Hunter liked her but she hooked up with Cory. Aneesa says she feels bad about inadvertently causing Veronica to go right to the Presidio. In the Challenge, everyone who does not win goes to the Presidio. In the first matchup, it’s Dark Blue vs. Green. Tori, Britni, and Tony all fall before the second pylon and it’s clear this challenge is going to be exceptionally difficult for the girls and people who are bad at the challenge. This leaves Jordan by himself for the Green Team, but he’s having no problems and quickly gets to the third pylon. For the Blue Team, Camila gets to the second pylon and is about to jump onto the third where Jordan is saying he’ll help her get across. Camila jumps, Jordan feigns helping her, and she falls. CT and Hunter get to the third pylon with Jordan, but they let him get across and Jordan reaches the fourth pylon and fifth pylon before getting to the platform. After Jordan passes, Kailah tries to jump from the second pylon to the third but takes a bad angle and falls. After Kailah falls CT gets to the fourth and fifth pylons before reaching the platform, and Hunter follows behind him reaching the platform as well. That puts the scores at one point for Green and two points for Dark Blue with Pink and Light Blue still to go. Pink and Light Blue begin, and Nelson and Bananas come out first. Bananas mentions that their main goal is to get him and Derrick across as fast as possible to hopefully beat CT and Hunter’s time. Nelson is a bit too aggressive and takes a bad angle on his second jump and falls. Bananas is way out ahead of the rest of his team, and is a bit short jumping to the fourth pylon and falls. LeRoy is way ahead of his team as well, and Jordan mentions how LeRoy’s horrible fear of heights causes him to do well in heights challenges. While Derrick is waiting for Jenna and Aneesa to get across, LeRoy powers past them and reaches the platform. Derrick gets to third pylon, and extends his hand to help Aneesa. However, Aneesa jumps with one foot and slips causing her to fall. Jenna is next, and she uses her long legs and Derrick’s hand to get across. Derrick reaches the fourth pylon next, and Jenna jumps to meet him there. Jenna is short on her jump though, but Derrick catches her and pulls her up enough to where she can put her knees on the pylon and bring herself up. They then get to the fifth pylon and the platform; giving Light Blue one person to Pink’s two; meaning it just comes down to who was faster between CT/Hunter and Derrick/Jenna. Dark Blue was a bit faster so they get the win and everyone else is headed for the double cross.
Back at the house, Jordan knows Hunter is coming for him but CT thinks Veronica and Dario are going in. CT then goes out to the deck and talks to Hunter about it. CT asks Hunter why he didn’t want to pick Kailah and how you have play based on what’s best for the game not how you feel emotionally. CT mentions that people who don’t win as much tend to abuse their power and it bites them in the back. The house then ventures out to the club, where Hunter really gets into it with Kailah. Hunter tell Kailah “you’re welcome” for getting her in the winners’ circle and Kailah asks why he didn’t tell Camila the same thing. Hunter says Camila has performed while Kailah hasn’t, Kailah says she’s won two challenges and two eliminations while Hunter lost his. Hunter responds saying he beat “her man,” (referring to Cory), and she was crying when Cory picked Camila over her. Hunter really comes off as a middle schooler looking for attention and CT and Bananas start trying to talk to him. CT mentions how Kailah did as well as basically every girl besides Jenna (and even then Derrick did a lot of the heavy lifting) and says how it would have been a perfect opportunity for Hunter bury the hatchet. Hunter says he doesn’t like her, but CT and Bananas say how that doesn’t matter and he needs her and her vote in order to help persevere in this game. It has seemed like CT and to a lesser extent Bananas have been trying to teach the young bucks finer points of the game. They probably know their time as competitors on The Challenge won’t last forever and its cool to see them try to impart wisdom onto the younger players. Once back from the house, Nelson is talking to Hunter about how he’s tired of the old guard skating by while Derrick and Camila sit relaxed on the balcony outside. Derrick asks what he means by that, Nelson steps to him while saying it could be him next. Nelson then pushes Derrick and Camila gets in between the two of them. Nelson pushes Camila out of the way before pushing Derrick again and then aggressively face washing him. Jemmye and Challenge Security step in as well, all while Hunter stands shell shocked on the side. Nelson keeps saying Derrick came up on him (which is clearly not the case) and asking them to check the cameras. Hunter goes to talk to Derrick to try to play damage control, and Nelson is sent to a hotel for the night.
During the winners’ pre-deliberation deliberation, CT mentions how he was leaning towards voting in the two players who were not picked (Veronica and Dario) and mentions how Jemmye was awful in the challenge and should be under consideration as well. However, Camila and Kailah want to vote in Britni or Aneesa, because they feel they are snakes and want them out of the house. Considering Jemmye threw in Jenna (Kailah’s best friend) after Jenna saved Jemmye against Kailah nonetheless it seems strange to not consider her a snake, but what do I know? Hunter mentions he won’t vote for Britni and seems to be leaning toward Veronica as well. For guys, CT says he was originally going to say Dario but because of his actions now is leaning towards voting in Nelson. Hunter says he will do whatever necessary to save Nelson, but then says he is for sure voting for Jordan. Now if he is really trying to save Nelson, why doesn’t he vote for Dario? CT already said he was originally leaning that way and the girls seem like they have a much better chance of voting for him than Jordan or anyone else. More poorly thought out strategy from Hunter, and it shows that he still has lots of room to improve his game before he’s a top tier threat to win. At the deliberation, TJ announces Nelson is being sent home so he is off the table. This shakes up everyone’s game and we end with confusion in the air.
Removed:
Nelson: I honestly really like Nelson, but he can’t let himself get out of control like this constantly. He acts legitimately delusional way too often and until he fixes this behavior he’s not making it far in this game.
In Game:
17) Dario (-4): I don’t really see how he’s not thrown in and the only person you could argue he’s favored against is Tony, and even then, that’s a close call.
16) Veronica (-2): Seems very likely to be thrown in and is very likely to lose.
15) Tony (-6): Has a really good chance to be thrown in and hasn’t shown to be particularly competent thus far.
14) Jemmye (+1): Is a horrific athlete and has absolutely no chance to win the final.
13) Aneesa (+5): Her politics are next level bad and while she’s good at eliminations her final performance in Duel 2 was almost Big Easy level bad.
12) Britni: She’s proven to be a very competent competitor but she still doesn’t seem to be in favor politically yet.
11) Hunter (+6): Is safe for now, but once he gets the chance to be voted in again (or gets to a puzzle) he’s in trouble.
10) Jordan (-1): If one of Dario or Tony doesn’t go in he’s the next most likely but he’s also an exceptionally better competitor than both of them.
9) Camila (-1): Very good to chance to go in but an even better chance to come back.
8) Kailah (+3): The other girls really seem not to like her but she’s on good terms with the dominant forces in the house.
7) Jenna (+3): I’m still not sold on her competitive abilities but she has Kailah to take all the heat off of her and her height is a huge advantage in a lot of competitions.
6) Bananas (-1): While his experience and physique makes him either the favorite or co-favorite for the final, it also makes him a favorite to go in once the power alliance turns their guns on each other.
5) Cara Maria (-1): While she’s a strong #1 athlete for the girls, that also puts a huge target on her back once alliances start to break down.
4) CT (-3): While I still think he makes the final, in his current shape I just don’t see him winning it.
3) Tori (+4): This might seem way high, but all the girls minus Aneesa really seem to like her so I just don’t see her not making the final.
2) LeRoy (0): I don’t see him winning the final but he’s very well-liked by the rest of the cast.
1) Derrick (+2): Great performance in the challenge, stood his ground without getting physical with Nelson, has excellent political standing, and is a major threat to win the final if he gets there.
