We open with some discussion of house alliances. Cara has a meeting with her alliance and outlines its core members as Kam, Smashley, Ninja, Paulie, and herself. She also has Joss, Rogan, Dee, Esther, and Kayleigh on the UK team. In another room, Tori declares her alliance to be Zach, Nany, Jordan, Josh, sometimes Leroy, and herself. They also have Theo, Georgia, and Jenny on Team UK. Interesting to see who wasn’t named here (CT, Turbo, Kyle, and Idris) as they are still hanging around the middle. We get two of those middle floaters in a discussion as CT and Kyle are talking. Kyle says he is wary of Joss and Rogan getting too much power and wants to chop off one of their numbers. However, they apparently had some agreement where they wouldn’t say each other’s names. CT’s not too pleased someone is copying his floater game and calls out Kyle for it. Outside, Dee tells Ninja she is concerned because the obvious vote right now is Esther, however, she also is one of their numbers.

Carrying the crates for the mission.

We head to the mission, entitled Crate Expectations. Each team has to use 125 crates to stack together and reach three relics. The first team to get three relics and 125 crates across the finish line will win. TJ announces this will be double elimination, and the losing team will vote in a man and a woman.

Team US picking up the crates.

The mission starts and begins to run across the field. The US is first to a relic, and Zach is able to grab one for Team US. The US team is able to get two relics prior to Team UK getting one. US is able to stay a few steps ahead of the US, as it starts to rain. Team US is able to get all 12 relics and move the crates to the end, getting the win for Team US.

Zach reaching for the relic.

TJ talks with the teams and asks Team US for their speaker. They declare Smashley as the speaker, and she takes Paulie and Cara in with her. Esther also says she will be throwing herself in.

Dee and Rogan talking.

Back at the house, Kam and Smashley are concerned because they heard Esther was wavering and would be willing to throw herself in. They do not want this, as Esther is not only a disaster competitively but also a number for their side. They convince Ninja to go to Dee and explain to her they need to keep Esther around. Ninja tells Dee this, and Dee says there isn’t much she can do, and Esther is already volunteering herself for elimination. However, she does agree to work with Rogan to try to save Idris. Dee tells Rogan this, who asks CT how he feels about putting in Kyle. Rogan tells CT five men probably aren’t making the final and keeping Idris around is an easier elimination win for them if necessary.

Cara and Smashley annoyed at Dee for throwing herself in.

We head to nominations for Team UK, where CT starts things off. Esther puts herself in, which Cara and Smashley are not happy about. Joss starts the voting off by voting for Kyle. Rogan also votes for Kyle, who is clearly surprised by this. Smashley all of the sudden takes over and asks for votes for Idris; and only Kyle, Jenny, Theo, and Georgia raise their hands. They then ask for votes for Kyle, and everybody else votes for Kyle. This puts Kyle and Esther in elimination. Smashley asks Esther who she thinks she can beat, and she says Georgia or Jenny. Smashley asks if she can beat Dee, and she says she thinks she can beat anybody. Kyle says he would most want to go against Rogan, then Idris, then Joss, and preferably not CT or Theo. He does mention that if he or Theo wins, they would likely switch to Team US, which doesn’t seem to make Cara very happy. They agree to choose between Rogan and Dee or Georgia and Theo.

Kyle angry after the nominations.

After the nomination, Kyle immediately goes to Joss and shouts at him for throwing him in. I never understood why Kyle didn’t align directly with Joss and Rogan, and in hindsight, that seems like it would have been the much better maneuver. Kyle starts chirping Rogan and says he asked for him in elimination. Rogan doesn’t respond really, and mostly keeps to himself as Kyle barks.

Tori looks like she is trying to squeeze out a fart before leaving and letting the other alliance do their plotting.

We head to the club, and Cara is talking to Dee. Cara tells Dee they wanted to keep Esther around in case the tables got turned she would be an easy layup for an ally to go against. The girls ask Dee who she wants them to throw in, and Dee is reluctant to say any names. She even offers herself for elimination. Kyle starts blubbering at Dee as well, although Dee is mostly able to brush it off. After that conversation, Dee and Ninja get into it. Dee tells Ninja she wanted Ninja to have her back as her teammates attacked her.

Dee and Ninja resolving their differences.

The next morning, Kyle, Georgia, Nany, and CT are talking. Georgia isn’t happy with Cara, mostly because she is in power right now and can use it any way she chooses. Dee talks to Esther and Ninja, and Dee isn’t happy with how Ninja handled the conversation yesterday. They resolve their differences though and seem ready to move forward.

Georgia and Esther moving relics.

We head to the Proving Ground, and TJ asks the Tribunal for their female votes first. The Tribunal all votes for Georgia to go into theelimination for girls, and Theo to go in for the guys. TJ says they are playing Running Riot. Each player has a set of relics of different weights each. They have to put the relics in the order displayed on the board. Whoever puts their relics in first will win.

Georgia moving her relic.

Georgia and Esther are first, and Esther is first to the relics. However, Esther really seems to start to wear down while Georgia is barking like a maniac while carrying the relics. Smashley points out that while Georgia is ahead, her relics are different than Esther’s. TJ says Georgia’s relics are not correct. However, she is able to correct it in time and gets the win.

Theo passing by Kyle.

Kyle and Theo are next, a rematch from last season. Theo starts by carrying the heaviest items back first. He’s moving them pretty efficiently, while Kyle seems to just move the pieces back in order. Zach is cheering pretty hard for Kyle while Georgia cheers for Theo, although most other people are pretty quiet. Kyle tries to move one of the heavier items, and he starts to fumble it as he is moving. Kyle seems to give up, and Theo puts the last relic in getting the win. Before leaving, Kyle tells Theo and Georgia they should switch.

Theo moving his rock.

TJ dismisses Kyle and Esther and asks Georgia for her decision. She tells Team UK they need to get away from Cara and Paulie, but she does rejoin the land of Great Britain. Theo also decides to go back to Team US, foregoing the smart political decision in favor of peer pressure.

Eliminated

Esther: Felt like we never saw as much from Esther as maybe we should, but with her gone perhaps the UK will actually be competitive now.

Kyle: Kyle seems to have fallen a bit recently. One would think after his first season he would hold the type of power Paulie does now, but his alliances have never been able to carry him that much. Hopefully, MTV keeps him around as he is still a great TV whenever he is on.

Power Rankings

21) Idris: One would think he has to be next up on the chopping block here, especially with not pledging loyalty to Joss and Rogan.

20) Nany: Hard to see how she doesn’t go in if the US loses.

19) Josh: Perhaps his friendship with Paulie will still hold some weight and he’ll hang around for a bit here.

18) Jenny: She’s a monster but also is really lacking allies at the moment.

17) Theo: He really should have flopped over, but he’s not going down easy to anybody in elimination.

16) Georgia: Perhaps Team US will throw Jenny in at some point instead of her giving her a slight edge on the rest of the bottom rung. Not switching shows how horribly choreographed her political game is.

15) Kayleigh: I think her ineptitude has gone overlooked thus far and the UK still needs to ditch her to really be competitive.

14) Rogan: You wonder if eventually things will turn and he has to go in, but for right now he’s flying clean.

13) Jordan: Bad politics so far but still such a dominant competitor.

12) Tori Deal: I’m not sure if I have her too high or too low but she’s too strong of a competitor and social player to have that low.

11) Zach: Jordan seems to be attracting a lot more negative attention than him so I think he should slide by for now.

10) Joss: I know he recently went in, but he still has all the numbers at his fingertips.

9) Dee: I’m not buying she was in much trouble at all this time around and she still seems set for the long haul.

8) Turbo: His blowup with Jordan still looms but he seems to be in the solid ground everywhere else.

7) Leroy: He’s really played an outstanding game so far, and I think more people (especially on Team US) should try to position themselves in the team-first the way he has.

6) CT: The UK side is getting to the point where the power alliance is going to have to start chopping themselves off, but for now that is not the case.

5) Ninja: She seems to be the one consistently drawing the most ire out of anybody on her side, moving her towards the bottom of the totem pole.

4) Smashley: Smashley has the best social game since Susie on The Challenge.

3) Kam: Since the Georgia vote, she has done a good job flying under the radar.

2) Cara Maria: It may have been said out of spite, but Cara’s Cult still holds the power on Team US.

1) Paulie: He seems pretty untouchable at the moment, and with seemingly nobody from Team UK willing to defect it looks like it will stay that way.

Extra Notes

· Make sure to vote in our Top Male Competitors poll. Voting functions the same way as the Top Female Competitors poll.

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