Was Jonna Wrong for Sending KellyAnne Into Elimination?

On the most recent episode of The Challenge: World Championship, Jonna surprised KellyAnne by sending her into The Arena to face Nelson. KellyAnne and Tristan won, but they were surprised that Jonna could turn on them so quickly, and for what benefit?

Based on the edit, it appears that KellyAnne wants to target the stronger teams because she doesn’t want to face them in the final. We see Jonna talking to Tori and Kaycee, and they seem to feel that KellyAnne’s strategy is a direct attack on their three teams. We also see Jonna talking to Nelson, and he signals to Jonna that he’d rather face KellyAnne and Tristan than Jodi and Benja.

But here’s the thing: Jonna doesn’t really have a relationship with Tori, Kaycee, or Nelson. She does have a friendship with KellyAnne that started on their All Stars seasons — though it’s clear that Jonna wasn’t KellyAnne’s biggest ally in those games.

At one point in time, Jonna tells KellyAnne that she’ll be safe, but we also see KellyAnne playing a paranoid game and causing a few concerns with other competitors. So, even though Jonna voluntarily offered KellyAnne safety, she went back on her word.

Likely, this was to avoid causing a bigger divide in the house. If she helped Tori, Kaycee, Jodi, and Nelson (if he had won), she’d gain trust with some really strong people. This would earn her numbers, but it’s doubtful any of these relationships would be as strong as her friendship with KellyAnne.

Now, KellyAnne is back, and she’s not happy. Though, she’s only one side of the equation — Tristan also plays a role here.

One of the reasons Nelson wanted to face Tristan was to keep Benja safe and avoid losing another number on team Argentina. It would have been an obvious move to make Jujuy and Benja face each other, and one that makes sense. Instead, Jonna jeopardized a member of team UK.

So, Jonna could anger other players with her move: namely, Kaz and Zara. It was clear since the beginning of the competition that the Argentinian teams were the early targets in the game, but Jonna and Grant decided to flip the narrative. Now that KellyAnne and Tristan are back, the repercussions of this move could last for a long time.

Often on The Challenge, we see early challenge winners making boring, predictable moves. There’s a reason for this: They have the lowest risk of backlash. Jonna made a risky move, and it didn’t pay off. Perhaps the two remaining Argentinian teams will appreciate the olive branch, but she lost a definite ally and likely ruffled feathers with two other teams.

We’ll see if this move really impacts her long-term game, but at this point, I don’t see any positives coming from it. Now we know KellyAnne and Tristan can win, and no one will question their motives if they take shots at Jonna and Grant.