For the fifth straight week, 16 people remain. Will we finally lose one?
Big Stakes, Mini Final
This week’s challenge is the mini-final, and it’s called Off in the Distance. Players compete in four randomly assigned groups of four. Players must grab a pole at their base and run to three checkpoints… in the distance.
At checkpoint 1, competitors must grab their own weighted bag that’s attached to a rope, use a saw to cut their rope and release their bags. Then, the bags will be attached to their poles and the teams will have to carry the bags back to their base. The blue team, with Asaf, Horacio, Olivia, and Zara, is the first team done, but Colleen finds herself struggling here, causing her team (the yellow team with Jay, Ed, and Nurys) to fall behind. The turquoise team leaves in second (Emanuel, Corey, Berna, and ) the orange team (Kyland, James, Moriah, and Michele) leaves in third.
Squarely in Last
The second checkpoint requires each player to grab a bag and navigate it through a rope maze. This proves to be quite simple because every team leaves in the same order that they arrived.
The third checkpoint is trickier, and competitors see a puzzle of shapes. They must count the total number of squares in the puzzle, multiply it by 39, and use it to unlock a lock. That will release four more bags for the teams to carry back to their base. The blue team maintained their lead, getting there first, followed by the turquoise team, then the orange team. However, this is where placements change. The yellow team arrives last, but they barely pay attention to the puzzle. They keep adding 39 and testing their lock, and eventually it opens. So, the yellow team is now in first, followed by orange, then turquoise. The blue team — the first to arrive — is now last.
Towers for Power
Back at the base, the players open all 12 of their bags and reveal many cylindrical pieces. The goal is to stack them and make it so all of the towers are flush. Michele has seen this puzzle before on Survivor, but by the time her team arrives, the yellow team has already called for a check. They’re wrong, but the other two teams eventually arrive. However, Michele’s strategy from Survivor seems to work, because the orange team calls for a check and they’re correct.
An Easy Choice Made Hard
After winning, the orange team needs to send in one male. Michele wants to vote for Horacio because she isn’t working with him, and Moriah is on board. So, James also votes that way, meaning Kyland needs to announce that his friend Horacio has been nominated for The Arena. Nurys gets mad because people keep voting for her BF and giving BS excuses, but Kyland and Horacio think this could be a good thing. Now, the rest of the house will need to vote in one male, and it’s not going to be an easy vote and alliances will need to turn on each other with James and Kyland off the table.
Cutting Off Your Ed
Players are scrambling, and it seems that most people assume Ed and Emanuel will be on the chopping block. For some reason, Corey and Asaf aren’t being discussed — nor is Jay, but his status is the game is pretty clear. Kyland, Horacio, and Nurys talk about sending in Emanuel because he’s close to Jay, and this will weaken that alliance moving forward. But, most of Jay’s allies have determined that it’s Ed’s time because he’s not as close with the rest of the rest of men in the majority alliance.
Stale Minds
When the cast gets to deliberation, Jay’s alliance seems confident that Ed will be going in, but Kyland (who won and can’t vote) claims that the vote doesn’t seem too obvious from his perspective. Jay gives this statement a funny look until votes start pouring in for Emanuel — first, Ravyn says his name, then Zara and (obviously) Ed. But, to the surprise of Jay’s alliance, Olivia and Nurys also say Ed’s name, displaying loyalty to Kyland and Horacio. Finally, Horacio votes for Emanuel, while every other voter has given Ed their vote. This results in a 6-6 tie, the first split vote of the season, so the cast revotes. Corey switches his vote and votes for himself, fearing the impacts of a stalemate. This should give Emanuel the majority of the votes, but Ed decides to vote for Jay, forcing another stalemate when Ed has the power to save himself.
It’s CT Time
At The Arena, only one person stands with TJ in the sand, until CT comes out. And, chaos is guaranteed at this stalemate, and CT and pick any man. He decides to give Horacio the night off, because he relate’s to Horacio’s journey — a strong competitor who gets targeted at the eleventh hour. So, he calls down Asaf, the only person he doesn’t really know who’s eligible for elimination.
Subtracted From the Game
The game is called Mind Grind. The competitors will have to move a 250-pound wheel in a circle and then stick it in the ground. Once it’s there, there will be a math equation that must be solved. There are many tiles, but only the prime numbers will be used. CT moves the wheel easily, but Asaf isn’t far behind; it becomes clear that the puzzle will be the deciding factor. CT is working through the equation, but Asaf doesn’t know what a prime number is, so he struggles. Eventually, CT figures out the puzzle and sends Asaf home. Many people cry, revealing just how connected Asaf was in the game.
Stop Being Polite 