The episode opens with TJ explaining the relic to the rest of the cast. Apparently, the relic gives the pair immunity from the next elimination. Pretty big game changer, as being thrown in one elimination would often lead to being thrown into another.

Georgia and Bear flirting back and forth as Johnny looks on.

Back at the house, Bear and Georgia are discussing “the necklace situation.” They are flirting and seem to be something of an item. Inside the house, more sparks fly as Kam and Zahida see Mattie kissing Kyle. Cara warns Mattie of Kyle’s torrid past, but she seems unaffected.

An overview of the mission for the episode.

We head to the mission for the episode, entitled Search and Destroy. The mission has the competitors run out through a stone graveyard to try to find a ball. Once they find it, they pass it to their partner. The partner has to run the ball across a mud pit to safety. There will be three fewer balls than teams each round, knocking out three teams each round until only three teams are left, who will make the tribunal.

Georgia fighting off Shaleen and Amanda.

The first round starts and Turbo and Gus are the first to find their balls. Jenna and Nany are the first to get across and do so without much problem. Josh gets Amanda a ball, but Georgia is able to wrestle her down. Johnny gets Morgan a ball, but she is piled on immediately by Kam and Ninja. As the other girls wrestle around, Da’Vonne is able to hop to safety without an issue. Wes is having a hard time finding a ball and eventually tells Dee to just take Shaleen’s ball. Dee strips it from her pretty easily. Dee and Georgia make it across, followed by Kam dragging two other people. Amanda has the last ball but gets stripped by Ninja at the last moment and gets across the line. Amanda/Josh, Johnny/Morgan, and Leroy/Shaleen are eliminated

Zach passing the ball to Wes.

The next round starts and Kam and Ninja are the first back with Cain and Paulie getting across easily. Cara, Georgia, and Julie soon make it back, allowing Theo, Hunter, and CT to get across as well. Kyle gets a ball but gets stripped by Turbo who pushes it across.

Turbo breaking away from Kyle.

Soon, it is down to the last ball for the round; which Zahida gets for Zach. Zach is trapped by Bear and Kyle and is struggling to get by. Wes breaks off and starts waving for the ball. Zach sees this and tosses it to Wes allowing him to get the safety zone. Kyle/Mattie, Zach/Zahida, and Da’Vonne/Bear are eliminated.

The girls all trying to fight each other off.

Round three starts with nine teams remaining. CT grabs two balls and hands one off to Wes. JP and Gus get balls early too and hand them off to Negrotti and Jenna. Theo gets a ball, who breaks free along with Jenna to get across. Dee makes it across as well. Julia starts running but gets taken down by Ninja who gets it across. Nany and Georgia are fighting to get across, and Georgia strips the ball and gets it across the line. Nany/Turbo, CT, Julia, and Negrotti/JP are eliminated.

Paulie breaking away from Theo.

It is the final round, and Jenna is the first to get a ball. Gus starts running but Cain smashes him immediately. The ball leaks out and Paulie grabs it and is able to get it across. Georgia is next with a ball, who gives it to Hunter, who throws it to Wes.

Hunter throwing the ball to Wes.

Cara gives Theo the last ball, but he is pushed out of bounds. Cain ends up with the ball and ends up pushing the ball across the line for the win. Hunter/Georgia, Cara Maria/Theo, and Jenna/Gus are eliminated.; leaving Paulie/Ninja, Wes/Dee, and Kam/Cain as the tribunal.

Johnny and Morgan meeting the tribunal.

It comes to nominations, and immediately Wes/Dee throw in Johnny/Morgan and Paulie/Ninja throw in Kyle/Mattie. Kam/Cain put in Amanda/Josh, setting up an interesting tribunal. The tribunal opens, and Johnny and Morgan are first up. Johnny and Wes start talking back and forth, and Johnny tells him he shouldn’t start the war this early. Johnny did give Wes a minor break by going after Hunter instead of him the last episode, but Johnny also could have just flatly seen Hunter as a bigger threat than Wes, and Wes doesn’t really have any other enemies in the game besides Johnny.

Kyle talking to Paulie at the Tribunal.

Amanda/Josh are next, and Kam tells them they are a burn vote. Amanda/Josh say they have bigger enemies to deal with at the moment, so they won’t hold it against them. Kyle/Mattie are next, and he and Paulie start talking. Kyle tells Paulie that keeping him around will let Paulie call someone out without having to anger anyone else. They head out, ending the tribunal.

Hunter talking to Mattie.

Zach and Jenna are talking outside. Zach says he feels terrible about throwing the ball to Wes, and he does seem genuine. If you remember back to Battle of the Exes II, Zach started the season aligned with Johnny. However, after growing frustrated with how Johnny conducted things, flipped to the Wes side of the house. Wes ending up kind of throwing Zach under the bus later in the season; however, going into the season I had suspected Zach to align with Wes over Johnny anyway, so this wasn’t a major shock to me. Hunter and Mattie have a quick word about prospects having to fight their partners’ battles before we move elsewhere.

Josh and Amanda arguing.

Back inside, Amanda and Josh start arguing. Amanda tells Josh she is having conversations to help them, but Josh seems more concerned that the rest of the house seems to hate them. Amanda tells Josh that the best way to make it politically in this game is by being aggressive and using reverse psychology. Amanda starts telling Josh he is an idiot and a moron before walking away. Apparently, we missed something here which Amanda called out on Twitter. Not sure exactly what it was but considering the length of the mission they probably just didn’t have time to show it.

Johnny, Wes, and Zach talking over the situation.

Before the elimination; Johnny, Wes, Zach, Kyle, Josh, Gus, and Leroy meet to hash things out. Johnny comes off pretty aggressive here, telling Wes he’s drunk with power and he knows he isn’t used to this position. Wes says he wants to clear up that Zach and he didn’t plan to toss the ball, it was more just a spur of the moment decision. My read on the situation is Zach had agreements with Johnny and Wes going into the season. He saw Wes waving for the ball and figured giving it to him was better than Bear winning. Since it was a spur of the moment decision, he threw it to an ally; not realizing it would put another ally in trouble.

Zach and Zahida getting called down for the elimination.

We get to the elimination, where TJ asks the tribunal for their votes. Paulie and Ninja vote for Kyle/Mattie, Wes and Dee vote for Johnny/Morgan, and Kam/Cain vote for Amanda/Josh. TJ asks if anyone wants to flip their vote, and Cain eventually relents and votes for Johnny/Morgan. Johnny/Morgan call out Zach/Zahida for elimination.

Johnny beginning to climb up the map.

The elimination is called Map It Out and has the competitors attempt to climb up a map and place flags on their respective countries. There are twenty flags, and one partner will hand the flags to the other who will place them on the map.

Zach making his way up the wall.

The elimination starts, and Zach is having a much easier time climbing the map. Johnny slides down the map as he climbs up it, while Zach is able to get up much easier. Zahida is able to get a few based on where she was born and where things are. Turbo also at one point helps Zach and Zahida out by showing them where Turkey is. As time is running out, Johnny is able to throw Japan on its point on the map without even climbing at all.

Zahida telling Zach where to go.

TJ gathers the pairs together and tells them Zach and Zahida got eighteen correct to Johnny and Morgan’s fifteen; eliminating Johnny and Morgan. Quite the fall from grace, as Johnny hasn’t been eliminated this early since his rookie season on The Duel. Zach and Zahida get the relic, giving them immunity for the next elimination. That wraps up the episode, setting up a series of questions for next week.

Eliminated

Johnny/Morgan: The Banana Man goes down early! Hard fall for Johnny but considering the state of the house lasting much longer in the game was going to be difficult. Shame he leaves so soon if only for the lack of banter between him and his ginger nemesis.

Power Rankings

14) Leroy/Shaleen: People like Leroy, but without Bananas, he is pretty barren from an alliance perspective and this team has not impressed.

13) Amanda/Josh: No idea who their allies are and Kam calling them out and sticking with them as a vote puts them in serious trouble.

12) Negrotti/JP: Has been completely invisible so far, they seem to be allied with Wes but so does almost everybody.

11) Da’Vonne/Bear: Da’Vonne was team Johnny yet this team has UK and Big Brother ties so it will be interesting to see how they move going forward.

10) Jenna/Gus: Feels like there is a tier jump before this team, Jenna doesn’t seem to have many enemies, but she and Zach don’t seem to have their heads in the right place.

9) Zach/Zahida: One would think Zach sort of pledges loyalty to Wes from here, but he looked completely out of it the entire episode and could go out with a whimper soon.

8) Kyle/Mattie: Kyle was on the Banana Boat but could easily pivot to a UK alliance, so they have allies. Mattie also has impressed so far, and I would have her as the second best female prospect thus far.

7) CT/Julie: CT has looked really good so far this season, but Julie has not.

6) Nany/Turbo: Not a huge episode from them but seem to be secure in their alliance and I don’t think anyone wants Turbo in elimination.

5) Paulie/Ninja: They look like the best team on paper but I’m not sure how they’ll play politically outside of attacking Kyle.

4) Kam/Cain: Seems odd to drop them after a win but that is due to a loaded top three than anything they did.

3) Cara Maria/Theo: On paper, one could argue they are still the strongest team. However, Cara has been pretty loyal to the Banana man and considering her ties to Paulie and opposition to Kyle pledging loyalty to the UK group seems doubtful.

2) Hunter/Georgia: Both have been outstanding physically so far and with Johnny gone, I don’t think anyone is really coming for them.

1) Wes/Dee: Wes had seemingly half the house trying to get them the win and Dee has been impressive. Maybe someone emerges to combat them politically, but for now, Dee and Wes stay at the top.

Extra Notes

· Amanda said that what she said the last episode was not “the bomb”; but rather a smaller item not actually what she had been talking about. Apparently, it is still yet to come.

· Wes did a podcast with Weekly Reboot recently. He talks about a lot of things, but it is still very enjoyable.

Fantasy Scoring