Not going to lie, Tori and Jordan have to be disappointed they lost a puzzle to Rogan. Never in a million years would I have expected him to beat both of them. Tori had the best season out of any female this season, so to watch her go out on the puzzle was rough. Likewise, Leroy and Kam carried their team on Day 1 of the final, but they were the ones who came up short in the puzzle. It sucks to watch them go down, especially Leroy, as this was probably his last realistic shot of ever winning.

Ashley losing on a puzzle purge is ironic because Ashley cashing in at the last minute and grabbing the win out of nowhere is usually her brand. Luck was not on her side this time.

8 Ninja is something

The highlight of the episode for me was when Ninja solved her puzzle first. After sucking the entire season, the moment the game became individual for one portion, she came out on top. I’m surprised Zach didn’t flip over his entire puzzle when it happened.

Zach’s utter distaste for Ninja has been one of my favorite subplots all season.

7 Zach is a victim of himself

Zach continues to be mad that Cara and Paulie took a bunch of layups to the final, but if he didn’t want to be on this team, he could have volunteered himself for elimination and TurnCoated. It’ is generally not smart to put yourself in elimination. However, if you know your team is going to lose the final and you are going to be a curmudgeon the entire time, then you should have actively tried to flip to the other team.

It is wild that Zach volunteered himself and Amanda for elimination on Final Reckoning to “teach her lesson,” yet now he won’t do it in a game to put himself on the winning team. Zach is someone who would rather have an excuse for why they lost, rather than look at himself in the mirror. He’s hilarious sometimes and is so talented; it’s just irritating to watch him always find a way to be negative over the years.

6 Paulie and Cara are entertaining losers

When someone like Darrell or Leroy loses, I feel bad. Darrell has kids at home, and Leroy works hard, and his window of opportunity is closing fast. Paulie and Cara are two adults in their early thirties, acting as if they were freshmen in college while on this show. Everything they do gets magnified, whether it be good or bad. Watching them succeed is cool as they are great players, but watching them crumble gives me way too much satisfaction.

When Cara attempted to make the argument in her confessional that Paulie was the hardest worker in the final because he refused to quit was fucking hilarious. MTV cropped in on Zach’s face during this moment.

Cara and Paulie are so much in their bubble that they’re acting as if they are the only two people on the team running the final when, in actuality, they were holding their team back quite a bite.

Paulie suddenly getting a second win and becoming a puzzle expert gave some validity to the fans who said he was faking his “heat stroke.” Regardless, he did well in enough in the second part to not be in the Big Easy/Jay level of bad final performances.

5 CT is a 3x Challenge Champion

When CT talks about winning ice cream money for his son, there is a genuine smile on his face that we haven’t seen on all season. CT does these shows for the money as no other day job will pay as well in such a small amount of time for him. Considering CT won 62.5k and 112.5k in his other two final wins, he will gladly pocket this 250k. He and Jordan became the 8th and 9th players to accomplish 3 wins.

Also, did anyone else feel like CT lost ten pounds during the final?

4 Rogan is everything Paulie wanted to be