The final is here, but are the players ready?
The Pregame Party
TJ meets the cast at the club, and he lets them know that they’ve made it to the final. They’re all happy — though Nurys is slightly bitter that she’s the only person who saw an elimination before the final. Later, the cast is given a nice dinner, and each cast member finds a letter from a family member under their plates. Most people are overjoyed, except for two. Emanuel gets a note from his sweet, loving girlfriend whom he cheated on this season. Then, Berna gets a message from her brother, but she’s upset that her mother didn’t write to her.
Welcome to the End
The cast arrives at the final, and they learn that third place will receive $36,000, second place gets $70,000, and first place gets $250.000. Throughout the final, they will be navigating a 21-mile terrain, and it starts with a “control” challenge. All seven contenders are tethered together and they need to run down the field to get to a fortress. There, they’ll find 17 chests with ropes and they need to bring the ropes back and use them to assemble a puzzle. Once they’re carrying three ropes of the same color, they can detach from the rest of the group, but there’s a catch — there is one golden chest. Find that, and you won’t need to find three same-colored ropes, but you’ll need to carry nine small ropes. If the contenders can do this in an hour, they lose $16,000.
Dine & Dash
Before the cast can run, they need to drink down tuna, beet, and mayo smoothies. They all do it, and they start off at a good pace, though Nurys feels Berna isn’t giving it her all. Then, they get to the fortress. The chests are spread out, but Cory finds the golden chest. He opts to start his run early and carry back the nine short ropes. The rest of the cast finds their three ropes and heads back, but during the trek, they see one orange rope on the ground. They call for Corey, and he needs to backtrack and retrieve the rope he dropped. This eats away at a lot of time, and the other contenders can’t start assembling the puzzle. When Corey finally gets to the base, there are only two minutes left, so the players don’t assemble the puzzle. They lose the $16,000, so now third place will receive $30,000 and second place will get $60,000.
First and Final Elimination
TJ reveals there will now be an elimination, and just like the control stage, people need to vote. Five people vote for Corey, but Colleen and Emanuel vote for Nurys. Regardless, Corey is going in, and he gets to pick his opponent. He feels Nurys has earned her spot in the final, and if he doesn’t win, he wants to see a woman win. So, he chooses Jay as his opponent, the only person he deems “sketchy.”
Finalist No More
In the control elimination, the players must run and retrieve bags of puzzle pieces. Then, they must build a tower on a platform that’s only being balanced by their legs. Corey knows Jay is a good competitor, but also knows he’s faster and can jump higher. Corey starts assembling his puzzle sooner, but Jay has the strategy of building his tower on a stable platform and moving it. Unfortunately, he drops his tower while transferring it and needs to start over. Corey’s slow-and-steady pace allows him to get the victory, and Jay is out of the final.
Feeling the Bern
After Jay’s departure, the cast arrives at the chaos stage of the final where they’ll be rotating partners at each checkpoint, but each player’s time will be clocked individually. During the first stage, we see these pairings:
Colleen & Emanuel
Corey & Nurys
Berna & Moriah
The goal is to run to a large ball with a rope, untangle the rope, and then transport the ball and rope across a field. Emanuel & Colleen get this done first, but Corey & Nurys aren’t far behind. However, Berna & Moriah are struggling, especially Berna. Her leg hurt during the run, the rope was too heavy, and she got exhausted while running across the field. While Berna does complete this stage, she collapses afterward and fears she can’t complete the final.
Paddling Onward
Berna is crying and fears she can’t continue, but she continues despite her fears. At the second checkpoint, the teams are shuffled.
Colleen & Corey
Moriah & Nurys
Berna & Emanuel
The cast has to kayak into the middle of the ocean, find TJ, and return to shore. Once they do that, they need to assemble a puzzle. Berna’s team is the first one to finish because Berna’s arms are fine and Emanuel solves the puzzle. Emanuel dabs like it’s 2017, and then Colleen’s team finishes, but Moriah & Nurys time out.
An Unquestionable Struggle
For checkpoint three we see:
Berna & Corey
Colleen & Nurys
Emanuel & Moriah
To start, the cast needs to answer a trivia question that corresponds to a chest and rope, cut the rope using a saw mechanism (the same one from the mini-final), and carry the chest down a path. Then, they do it again with a second chest. The first chest is fairly simple for Corey and Emanuel’s teams, but Colleen and Nurys can’t cut the rope or carry the chest. It’s taking them a long time, but Nurys refuses to quit. For the second chest, the two teams with men can complete the task, but Colleen & Nurys time out even though they refused to quit.
Dinner Dilemma
For checkpoint four we see:
Berna & Colleen
Corey & Moriah
Emanuel & Nurys
This is the eating portion, and they need to eat jalapeno shots, a TJ’s “stomach surprise,” and a lamb’s brain and eyeball. Some cast members find this easy, like Colleen who was the first one done, but she has to wait for Berna. Eventually, Corey & Moriah finish and Emanuel & Nurys clear their plates, but Berna just can’t eat. She times out, dragging down Colleen’s time even though she finished first.
Rolling Through Chaos
In the final stage, cast members are paired with the one person they haven’t worked with yet:
Berna & Nurys
Corey & Emanuel
Colleen & Moriah
The cast has to chug another tuna smoothie. Then, the duos must unwind two nets filled with balls from a beam. This doesn’t seem too hard, until the final stage, where they need to maneuver a ball down a ramp while holding the two ends simultaneously. It has jagged, unbalanced edges, making this a strategic task. Berna & Nurys manage to do it first while the front-runners, Corey & Emanuel, finish with about a minute to spare. Colleen & Moriah time out.
TJ reveals Emanuel won the chaos stage, so he’s safe. He will need to send one person into elimination… next week.
Stop Being Polite 