Could be. Or he may have just stepped in quicksand

In The Challenge house, friendship is just another cleverly disguised weapon — allow Shane and Victor’s latest spat to serve as proof.

On tonight’s Vendettas episode, the Road Rules and Big Brother castoffs saw a friendship blossom, and Victor said he was surprised by how quickly he and Shane had formed a bond. That all quickly came crumbling down, though, when both guys found themselves eligible for spots in The Ring against Brad, the loser of “Gasping for Air.”

After the mission, which challenged players to swim great lengths underwater in the pitch black, Bananas once again found himself in The Troika alongside Tony and Kyle. And instantly, Bananas saw his position of power as a means to get rid of Victor, who he saw as an active threat.

“I think Victor poses a bigger threat to me than most of the rest of the guys in this game,” he said. “People who scare me aren’t the ones with the biggest muscles, it’s the ones with the biggest brains.”

And at The Inquisition, Victor was forced to put his intellect to the test, as Shane immediately sold him out as soon as he got the chance. Shane told Bananas that Victor was out to get him, effectively ending the connection Victor thought he’d cultivated with Shane.

“Anytime the spotlight’s on me, I put a mirror up and try to reflect it on someone else,” Shane said. “Hopefully, [Bananas] will see that it’s not me that’s out to get him.”

But unfortunately for Shane, it might soon be Victor who’s out to get him, as being hung out to dry didn’t sit well with Victor.

“Shane is creating a conflict with me to maybe divert some attention off of him and put it on me, and it makes me disappointed in Shane, because I thought we were really good friends,” Victor said. “You f---ed up…When you flipped on me, it showed his true colors, and so our relationship there is now over.”

But at what cost, and was it smart for Shane to cast the spotlight on someone else, or did it actually sink him more damningly into quicksand? Tell us what do you think, and see who winds up in The Ring when The Challenge returns Tuesday at 9/8c!