We’re halfway through the season. Here, I will discuss the old-school moments that will influenced this episode. If you want to know everything that happened, just stream the show on Paramount+.
1. Outside of The Royal Family
Laterrian and Nehemiah join Melinda and Teck as they celebrate victories in The Arena. As they have a toast, Brad comes to an epiphany that he is no longer working with his friend Nehemiah. Is this a surprise? It shouldn’t be. They’ve done three seasons together. On The Duel, Nehemiah’s underdog alliance was targeting Brad’s old-schooler alliance. On The Gauntlet 3, they were on opposite teams, but Brad had no allegiance to the Austin alliance. On Duel 2, Brad kept Nehemiah low in the pecking order. Now, tables have turned.
2. Mr. Popular
Tyler reveals is strategy is to keep people laughing and be popular. This strategy is akin to his strategy on The Duel where he said the girls would keep him safe because they’d want to keep singing the same Madonna song together. It didn’t work then, and might not work this time.
3. Partner Debate
Casey rejects an invitation to work with Tyler in the Deep Dive mission. Then, Cohutta swoops her up as a partner. How is this happening? This is Casey, the bane of Cohutta’s existence on the Challenger team on The Ruins. Now, people are fighting to be her partner?
4. Highs and Lows
The mission requires competitors to jump from 30-feet or spend time climbing down to a 15-foot jump. Then, they dive 15-feet underwater, collect puzzle pieces, and solve a puzzle. This mission is another unique one, but it has some elements from other missions. Most notably, Casey makes the jump, though she opts for the 15-foot one. It takes a moment longer, but it’s better than quitting like she did on Jump Down Under on Fresh Meat. Of course, someone gets hurt in the competition. This time it’s Kendal, but she pushes through to the end.
5. Slim Pickings
Now that the partners have been established, Jodi & Brad win. But they only have a few names they can send into elimination. Too many Lifeshields are in play, so they dwindle the nominations down to Kendal & Laterrian and MJ & Jonna. The only person to keep Kendal & LT safe is Darrell, his Road Rules castmate.
6. Saved By Circumstance
Jasmine & Tyler were sent to The Arena, but Jasmine is safe because Kendal is removed from the game due to her injury. This is reminiscent of the time she avoided elimination on Rivals 2 because Trishelle quit and Sarah had to leave too. But, her partner isn’t safe. Tyler and Laterrian need to duke it out in Pole Wrestle.
7. LT’s Wrath
Laterrian beats Tyler 2-0. Tyler puts up a great fight, but LT gets on his feet and pulls the pole away from Tyler in a similar fashion to his elimination with Ace on All Stars 1.
Stop Being Polite 