The season is half over, but some drama is just getting started.
A Dark Surprise
We pick up where we left off last week, heading straight to a night Challenge. The cast heads home for a quick dinner and to change, then they arrive for Banquets of Champions and it’s played in four teams of four. Each table has four locked boxes, and each box has a plate underneath. To unlock the boxes, the teams need to answer champion-related trivia questions. Answer correctly: You need to carry back a light box with a code on it; Answer incorrectly: You need to carry back a heavy box with the same code on it. Immediately, the team with Jay, Asaf, Olivia, and Ravyn gets their question wrong and have to carry the heavy box while the other three teams start off by carrying a light box. That team continues to get questions wrong, meaning they’re far behind the other three teams who mostly answer questions correctly.
The Foul Feast
Eventually, all of the teams get to the table to eat, and the dishes are brain soup, “spicy surprise,” skin and colon stew , and a pig snout and ear. Most of the cast is vomiting, with the exception of a few people like Ed, who’s acting like he’s at a picnic, and James, who swallows all the brain soup without chewing. James’ strategy seems to work, because his team wins, consisting of himself, Corey, Moriah, and Colleen.
Ride or Divide
The winning team needs to send in one girl, and Moriah immediately says Berna’s name, but Corey puts a stop to that. He feels that Berna would never say his name, but Ravyn would easily vote him into The Arena. James doesn’t really care, as long as Zara is safe, so the final vote seems to fall on Colleen. Ultimately, Ravyn gets sent into the draw, and she’s pissed. She calls Corey a flippy-floppy player and she promises that the girl the winners are protecting (Zara) will be heading down to The Arena with her.
Two Become One
The cast has an ABC party (anything but clothes), and Ravyn and Horacio have their first kiss. But, per usual, the rumor mill is swirling, and it seems like the cast is torn between Berna and Zara for the second Arena nominee. Zara asks for a heads up, if votes are heading her way, but Berna is upset and Emanuel tells her not to be too aggressive. Then, Ravyn and Zara have a talk — but Zara isn’t upset. Instead, she empathizes with Ravyn because she’s been on the outskirts of the main alliance, too, and they agree to work together to become a strong duo.
Berning Hearts
After the party, Horacio and Nurys start talking about plans after The Challenge. He reveals that competing is his life, and he’ll have opportunities to play soccer after filming has wrapped. But, this could mean eight months before things settle down. Nurys cries, because she feels she’s falling in love, but she eventually feels that she wants to give the relationship a shot. She cuddles with Horacio, but then Berna kicks her out of the room because the two are making too much noise. Berna also cockblocks Emanual and Ravyn, and she’s starting to anger multiple people in the house.
A Deliberationless Deliberation
At the nomination ceremony, Zara self-nominates. She feels that if you want to be a champion, you need to do things other people wouldn’t do, and that includes going into elimination. Asaf, claims that Zara was going to go in anyway, but at the nomination ceremony she’s showered with praise for her confidence.
Revenge Keeps Waiting
At The Arena, both girls display confidence, until Laurel comes out. It’s Michele’s worst nightmare, because she feels responsible for getting Laurel sent home on Ride or Dies. The whole cast is hoping for Laurel to pull chaos, but Ravyn’s name comes out of the sand. This means Michele is safe, and the two competitors will be playing Chain Reaction.
Passing the Peg
In the game, the competitors must pull their chains through a pyramid and retrieve a code. Then, they will use the code to unlock a box of pegs that are used to recreate a color pattern on the chain. Immediately, it becomes clear that pulling the chain isn’t just a race, it requires competitors to keep it organized so they can see the colors. Laurel gets to her pegs faster, and she’s moving quicker than her opponent. However, Ravyn is taking more time to ensure she’s correct each time she runs to her peg board. Laurel gets to the end of her peg board first, feels she’s missing a piece, but eventually finds the final peg. She calls for a check, but she’s wrong and Ravyn is still making progress. The audience is helping Ravyn memorize the pattern, and she eventually calls for a check. Ravyn wins, and Laurel gives her applause. She’s rooting for Ravyn, so she’s not bitter that she lost this time.
Stop Being Polite 