As much as I was disappointed that this episode only involved a single elimination at the end of the episode that carried over from the previous episode, this was a semi historic night for the Challenge. For the Underdogs, so much was at stake for the alliance strongholds in the game, the Tony/Jenna/Kailah alliance was going against the Lavender Lady/Nelson alliance.

Kailah was facing off against Sylvia, the “dead-weight” of the remaining female Underdogs. Tony who views himself as the strongest guy went up against Shane, and Shane honestly really got in his brain with a statement along the lines of “so you say you’re the strongest, but you want to prove it by beating the person you think is the weakest”. Shane then smiled the whole time and his confidence really rattled Tony a bit.

However, time passes and Tony/Kailah are incredibly confident that they will “smash” their opponents in elimination.

We get to the elimination and the game is pushing a big tricycle type cart by hitting a big plastic wall until your cart hits the finish line. It’s essentially a game of strength, physics, and skill. In the female round between Kailah and Sylvia, Kailah takes the quick lead as she hits the wall up top with her upper body to push. This works and she takes the lead early, but it’s evident that this puts a strain on the upper body, the shoulders, and the calves. Kailah was not putting her hips and butt into it. Sylvia who does not have a lot of core muscles or upper body played a smart game and used her hips to push into the cart. After a while, Sylvia pushed away from Kailah and from there Kailah gassed out and gave up. Kailah going home leaves Tony’s female alliances left with Nicole and Jenna, and although they are strong competitors, they are losing in votes to Ashley, Amanda, and Sylvia. Sylvia starting out 2–0 in eliminations is one of the more shocking things in Challenge history.

Shane obviously watched the girls elimination, he got low and used his hips to keep pushing the cart. My friend and I knew from the beginning that the key to the game was getting low and use your hips, almost sexually. We really wondered whether Shane or Tony would have more of an advantage. Tony tried to use brute strength, like every guy usually tries too. He kept trying to get running starts in order to push it as far as he could, not realizing that going backwards was inching the wheels on the cart a few inches back each time. Shane understood that he had to stay low and stay as close to the wall in order for it to create a rolling motion. He blew Tony out of the water, and it was the first elimination win for a man who started his career of MTV 15 years ago!

After the elimination, Cory and Shane got into argument about who the actual team players are, and Cory has lost his numbers. He keeps acting terrified, trying to put the blame on other saying they are weak and that they need him to win. Cory thinks he’s the next big name of the Challenge, but right now he needs to prove himself. He got carried by his cousin’s puzzle ability on Bloodlines, he lost to Nate in an elimination in Rivals 3, and is a terrible strategic player. I fully expect that for the next Underdog elimination for Cory to be going in, and I guess that he will be joined by either Nelson or Hunter? The lavender ladies should protect Shane, and I feel Dario has been under the radar, if Nelson keeps blowing up like he has, then it will be interesting to see who faces off with Cory.

Tonight was a historic night as two people who went in as heads on physical underdogs pulled off upsets and changed the entire balance of the house. I enjoy when friends who are not the strongest are able to play their game and get themselves far in the game. It will be fun to see how the rest of the season plays out, and next week we get a champions elimination. For next week’s elimination, I figure that we will see Ashley K and Camila as they are the two weakest girls on their team. And for the guys, I expect Zach to be going up against someone, Bananas is a creep, but he might be able to weasel his way out, per-usual.