Chaos is over, it’s time for the conquest stage.
Back With Bad Blood
The cast returns from The Arena, and Jay is furious. His good ally, Asaf, is gone. While Asaf was crying about his family and child, Kyland and his allies were laughing. But, Kyland isn’t too upset because he’s now finally working with Nurys and Olivia (in addition to Horacio and Zara). Jay and Michele’s alliance still has the majority, and Michele feels the pressure. She knows she could easily lose numbers during the conquest stage, especially with Jay confronting people like Olivia and Nurys.
Welcome to Conquest
TJ explains that conquest is the push toward the final, and during this stage, there are no more teammates. The first conquest challenge is called Dark Tide and it’s played in three rounds of five. A speedboat will sail the contenders into the middle of the water at night. Then, they will need to swim to a paddle board and paddle back to shore. During this trip, each competitor will collect three rings, and once they’re on shore, they must toss a ring onto a pole. But, here’s the thing about the conquest stage: If you get last, you’re purged.
During the first heat, Horacio is the first person to get his ring on a pole, but Ravyn is struggling because she’s never paddle boarded before, so she comes in last. Then, the second heat goes, and it immediately becomes clear that Moriah will struggle because her paddle board is moving in the wrong direction. She’s the last person to finish in this heat, but Kyland wins the second heat. The final heat appears to be a closer race. Ed is the first person to complete it and Berna comes in last, narrowly losing to Olivia.
The Purged and the Popular
After the challenge, TJ reveals Ravyn and Moriah have the slowest times, but Ravyn has the slowest time, meaning she will be the first person going home during conquest. Ed wins the challenge, which makes him safe. At the nomination ceremony, he will get to save a person, then that person will save another person, and the process will continue until there are only three people left. The last three people have to compete in a private conquest elimination, so it really helps to be popular here.
Getting the Chopping Block in Order
With the new system, Nurys and Zara fear that their alliance is in trouble, but they try to appeal to Ed. Last week, they didn’t vote for him, but Jay and Michele did. While Ed recognizes this fact, he feels that Nurys and Zara didn’t want to keep him safe, they just wanted to send Emanuel into The Arena. Meanwhile, Jay’s alliance is feeling safe. They’re trying to stack the votes so Horacio, Kyland, and Zara are the last people picked because they are the biggest threats from the opposing alliance.
From the Ed Down
TJ gathers the cast and Ed starts in the safe seat. He gets to start the domino effect of saving people, and this is the order:
Ed, Emanuel, Berna, Colleen, Corey, Michele, Jay, Moriah, James, Nurys, Olivia
This whole move was a plot to make Nurys choose between her boyfriend, Horacio, and her close friend Olivia. Meanwhile, Zara is hurt by the fact that James didn’t save her, essentially guaranteeing she’s going into the conquest elimination. Horacio tells Nurys to save one of the girls, so she picks Olivia, meaning Kyland, Zara, and Horacio will be competing in elimination.
Three Pieces to the Puzzle
The conquest elimination is a race and there are three obstacle courses with puzzles at the end. The goal is to solve all three puzzles, and the first two people to correctly do it win. The obstacles quickly become a trivial component to this game, though Kyland opts to save the mud for last to keep his hands clean.
The three puzzles are:
1. A sudoku
2. A letter dial that can be arranged to spell six 3-letter body parts
3. A disc puzzle where competitors must move the discs so each column contains one puzzle
Zara gets to the dial first, and she manages to complete it before Kyland or Horacio, who are doing the sudoku. Then, Zara goes to the disc puzzle while Kyland and Horacio continue the race together. They get to the word dial and help each other because apparently, you can do that.
One Number Down
Zara heads to her final stage, the sudoku, but she struggles to get over a climbing wall obstacle. Meanwhile, Horacio and Kyland are heading to the discs. Zara takes off her shoes and eventually gets over the wall, but she has another issue: She’s dyslexic and sudokus are especially hard for her. Meanwhile, Horacio completes his disc puzzle and secures his spot in the game. Eventually, Kyland finishes the discs too, and Zara is still working on her sudoku, meaning she will be going home.
Stop Being Polite 