Last night we were given episode two of The Challenge Vendettas, and with it a whole lot of information to breakdown. The episode starts off with Leroy practicing his swimming (something he really needs to do) while Jemmye explains to Kayleigh about Leroy’s Vendetta against Britni. Leroy still seems to harbor a grudge over the situation, which seems petty but sometimes you just need a reason to vote someone in. Britni then decides to strip naked and hop into the pool, and this is not the first time she’s done that on an MTV program. We then move to Bananas as he is flirting with Natalie on the side of the pool. Victor worries about their budding alliance, as it could turn Bananas against him which would not be good for his game. Cara Maria is seen flirting with Kyle, who laments the fact that he went with Marie at the beginning instead of Cara. Inside the house, Joss is fed up with all the dirty dishes that have been piling up in the sink and starts cleaning while shirtless. This prompts about four of the girls to come over and watch, with Sylvia in particular pining after him. Cara Maria is talking with Marie inside the house, and mentions how she is the only one who can get in the way of her game. Marie recommends that she, Cara Maria, and Kailah all align to take out the newcomer girls. Cara Maria scoffs at the idea, but does say she would agree to a deal to share Kyle if Marie wanted to. Kayleigh and Marie are talking later, and Kayleigh says Kyle told her that he finds Cara Maria attractive. Marie says she doesn’t want to lose him to her, and would rather be the one to break it off.

Nothing Britni loves more than being nude in the pool.

We get to the daily mission for this episode, which is called Who’s Got Balls? and entails the competitors competing in two heats (one male heat, one female heat) to attempt to drop into a soapy pit with a ton of soccer balls in the center of it and use the ropes to pull oneself up the sides of the pit and put three soccer balls into a tin with their name on it. The winner of each heat will split $25,000 for their bank accounts while last place is sent directly to elimination. TJ also announces that the eliminations are going to be split with the males having an elimination one week and the females the other week. I personally am not a fan of this twist at all, it removes a lot of the incentive for the gender not competing in the mission and causes the episodes to be very focused on one gender over the other. We also find out that the top three finishers regardless of gender will become the Troika, and get to decide who is up for elimination against the loser. This also seems very dumb, as it would seem like the top three guys would normally end up with the best times meaning we could end up with three guys deciding the fate of three girls, which is not a good look for a franchise that has had a lot of problems with misogyny in the past (e.g. The Gauntlet 3, The Island, The Ruins). I don’t see why each gender is guaranteed a spot in the Troika or why the eliminations have to be split, but I’m not a producer so what do I know.

The Who’s Got Balls? Daily Mission.

The mission starts, and the girls are up first. Nicole Z is the first one to grab a ball, and she seems on her way dominating for the girls again. Kam, Britni, Cara Maria, and Natalie are right behind her though, and Kam is the first one to get the second ball in her tin. Kam, Cara Maria, Britni, and Nicole all end up getting their second ball as well; before Britni eventually pulls out the surprise win with Cara Maria right behind her and Kam gets third. Britni gets to split $25,000 with the winner of the male heat, who are up next. The guys start, and Shane’s the first one to his tin, with Joss, Brad and Zach coming up behind them. Bananas ends up winning for the guys, with Kyle getting second and Brad getting third. Zach, Cory, Joss, Tony, and Devin (in that order) all finish next, leaving only Leroy, Nelson, and Victor left. Victor and Leroy end up finishing next, leaving Nelson in the bottom. TJ announces the top three finishers were Bananas, Kyle, and Brad; meaning even though Britni won for the girls she will not participate in the nominations. TJ also announces the Troika will pick three players to be up for elimination, and will then meet with them to decide who to throw in during the Inquisition (Isn’t it a bit much to name it the Inquisition when the season is in Spain?) before voting on who will participate directly before the elimination round. Multiple people, including Sylvia and Nicole Z.; pointed out how the people on the sunny side of the pit has their side dry a bit more and that is the side where all the winners came from; so perhaps that factored into Nelson and Leroy’s struggles.

Britni with the shocking news that Bananas is a manipulator.

We get back to the house, where Shane and Devin are talking. Shane says he thinks Kyle will just go with the safe pick, while Bananas will go with Joss or Cory, but he thinks Joss is the smartest pick. Devin says he is worried his name will come up for elimination, but that he hopes Brad will be able to keep his name from being the one who goes in. Zach goes over to Cory and starts talking to him, and tells him he should not worry about being thrown in. Britni is talking to Brad, and she tells him Johnny is a manipulator to which Brad tells her he is very much aware of that. He also says he is going to wait for Bananas to say the first name, so he knows where his head is that.

The First Troika.

We then get to the Troika; where Bananas, Brad, and Kyle decide which three guys to put for the Inquisition. Bananas says he wants Cory up there because he knows Cory would say his name if he was there and he has a better chance of lasting in the game than Devin does on account of Cory making three finals (which is incorrect, Cory has made two finals). Brad wants to put Tony up, to which Bananas vehemently denies. Brad says Bananas has to respect it’s a three-person decision not a one-person decision and he wants Tony to be put up. Bananas eventually relents and allows Tony to be put up alongside Cory, leaving only one spot sill open. Bananas wants Devin up there, but Brad says no and that he’s as close to Devin as Bananas is to Tony. They toil round with the third guy for a little bit before eventually deciding on Victor.

The First Inquisition.

This takes us to the Inquisition, where Brad, Bananas, and Kyle are waiting to talk to Tony, Victor, and Cory. Brad says they have agreed to not discuss who voted for whom, but there was nothing personal in the decisions made. Tony says he thinks he is the wrong man for the elimination, and motions to Cory to go into elimination. Cory then throws out there that he feels Brad will be working with Victor, Devin, and Shane to attempt to take out Bananas. This really shakes up the table, and Victor and Brad both deny this. Cory actually seems to be right about this; Shane, Brad, Devin, and Victor do seem to be in an alliance and if Bananas isn’t in an alliance he’s going to be a target of it. However, when Brad asks who told him that, Cory refuses to tell him who. If I was Cory, I would have gone after Kyle and Brad and tried to convince him to throw in Victor since he’s a rookie, but he also comes from a show that has a similar format, so he could be a threat; or that Tony is loyal to Bananas and they need to start chipping away at his alliance if they have the chance. However, Cory’s move seems to fall flat, and the Inquisition ends.

Kyle creating one of the shortest alliances of all time with Cory and Nelson.

The house then heads out to the bar, where Tony and Victor talk about how they had to defend themselves and if they waited it out eventually someone would put their foot in their mouths. We then get a clip of Nelson, Cory, and Kyle talking; and Kyle shakes hands with Cory saying he won’t say his name. Kyle now seems like he is going to say Tony, and talks to Cara Maria about it who agrees that is a good idea. Kyle then asks Cara Maria when they are going to have sexual intercourse, to which she insinuates will be very soon. They then do just that when they get back to the house, and Marie does not seem happy about it. The next day, Kyle and Brad are talking, and Kyle says he has a budding friendship with Bananas, Leroy, and Tony; but he has a deal with Nelson and Cory.

The first Ring, fully loaded for a game of Fire Soccer.

We then get to the Ring, which is the name of the elimination this season. TJ starts off by asking Bananas who he wants in the elimination, and he says Cory. Kyle then says Cory as well, turning his back on the deal they had earlier. This means Cory is in the elimination against best friend Nelson in some sort of fire soccer elimination. TJ then teases the Grenade twist, and then the episode ends.

Gone

Eddie: So apparently Eddie has pulled a Chuck Cunningham and has disappeared without any explanation from the show. More into that once details emerge.

Power Rankings

25) Cory (-8): I really don’t see Cory beating Nelson, he seemed pretty down in his interviews and Nelson was all over the trailers for this season. I honestly feel bad for Cory, I feel like he somewhat got pushed into being public enemy #1 and didn’t really intend to.

24) Alicia (-1): With how easy of a target Cory was, you have to think his significant other would be one too.

23) Marie (+1): It was a good idea to try to get Cara Maria to her side, but it doesn’t seem like Cara Maria is buying it and she is getting a lot of screen time which might not be the best for her long-term viability.

22) Victor (-2): The fact he was the burn vote in the middle shows how low on the food chain he is.

21) Kayleigh (+4): She moves up mostly based on people ahead of her falling down.

20) Melissa (+2): She at least showed a lot of effort getting up the side of that pit, and I’ve been impressed by her fight so far.

19) Sylvia (+2): She also moves up based on people above her moving down.

18) Jemmye (+1): Not much from Jemmye this episode, but that might be for the best.

17) Veronica (+1): Ditto as with Jemmye.

16) Tony (-2): Not good Brad is after him, but his mind really seems to be in the right place this season.

15) Nelson (-11): I’m very confident he comes back, but he’s in elimination against his strongest ally which is not good

14) Kyle (+1): Good on him for getting second place, but backstabbing Cory and Nelson in such an obvious way like that could really come back to bite them.

13) Natalie: She seems to be in a very good position in the game and could move up the list soon.

12) Kam: Along with Natalie looks for a strong pair of rookie girls for this season.

11) Britni (+4): She gets a jump based on winning the mission and having stable allies in some of the stronger players in the game (Brad, Cara Maria).

10) Kailah (-1): She was pretty much invisible this episode and if she doesn’t pick up her performance soon she could be tumbling down the rankings.

9) Devin (+1): Maybe I just have irrational confidence in Devin, but having Brad and Shane on your side has to help.

8) Joss (+2): The fact he wasn’t even nominated even though it makes a ton of sense to put him in (most money in the game, strong athlete already in elimination) shows that he might have more allies than one would think already.

7) Leroy: he was bad in the mission, but none of the power players in the game have it out for him which in this format could be the key to success.

6) Nicole Z (-1): Drops based on other people moving up, but reaffirmed her terrible mathematics skills.

5) Shane (+2): He did well in the mission and seems to be flying under the radar for now.

4) Bananas (+2): Improved after the last mission and while Brad pushed him around a bit he eventually got his way.

3) Cara Maria: Kailah’s poor performance and the fact she has seemed to make friends with the better rookie girls should help her game.

2) Zach (-1): Looks to be in the best Challenge shape he has ever been in, but the fact he was trying to assuage Cory’s worry about going in was concerning.

1) Brad (+1): Has plenty of allies, been impressive in the competitions, and isn’t afraid to take on the Banana man.