The final is here, and all good things must come to an end. All mediocre things must end too.
A Box of Chaos
After winning the chaos stage, Emanuel has to send one person into an elimination. He pretends to be sad, but it’s obvious: He’s picking Nurys. As for the second player, everyone other than Emanuel is on the chopping block, but like other chaos eliminations, it comes down to a pole draw. Nurys pulls Moriah’s name, and it comes down to a puzzle. All they have to do is fit six blocks into a box through a small opening. This proves to be harder than expected, but it’s never an interesting elimination to watch. Nurys eventually finds a way to get all of her blocks in the box, and she takes the win, sending Moriah home.
A Late Night Finger Blast
TJ tells the cast that it’s the overnight portion, and no one will be sleeping. Each cast member has a station with tiles behind a chain-link fence. They will need to maneuver their fingers through the fence and free all of the tiles out of the top. The first three people to do this will receive a luxury item (a pillow, blanket, or chair), and the first two people to complete the task will get to sabotage another contender. Nurys manages to finish first, and she gives tiles to Emanuel and Colleen. Then, Emanuel finishes in second and gives tiles to Corey and Colleen. Nurys gets the blanket, Emanuel gets the pillow, and Berna gets the chair. None of this really matters, because everyone completes the task and they stay up all night and seem to enjoy each other’s company.
Begin Conquest
The cast begins their final stage, the one where the winner will be determined. It starts with a 2,000-meter swim to an island and a run to their next tasks. Emanuel completes this portion first, but to stop his time, he needs to chug another one of TJ’s tuna, beet, and mayo smoothies. He does it, then Colleen shows up, then Corey, then Nurys. Berna is the last one there, and she contemplates quitting because she doesn’t like the smoothies. She drinks it anyway — despite tears.
A Literal Cliffhanger
The next stage requires contenders to repel down the side of a cliff, and they begin this task in the order they finished their smoothies. Corey is terrified of the heights, and he threatens to quit, but TJ talks him into staying. So, Emanuel goes first, and the cliff is an easy task for him. Then Colleen, Corey, and Nurys go. They all struggle, Corey cries, but they get down the cliff. Finally, Berna (whose groin was injured yesterday), trots down the cliff with a smile on her face. This stage takes players to a tangram puzzle with a 15-minute time cap. Many people view this as an equalizer, but Emanuel finishes first with Colleen close behind.
A Puzzling Shuffle
The next checkpoint starts with another one of TJ’s tuna smoothies, then it’s a game of memory. Cast members need to dive under an answer key and memorize colored tiles with other Challenger champions’ names on them. Then, they need to recreate them on a board on the surface. Colleen is a scuba diver, so she’s confident with this task, but then Corey and Nury arrive after the time-out at the tangram. Then, Emanuel completes his memory board, but Colleen is still struggling. She calls for a check, but she’s wrong. Meanwhile, Berna shows up and Corey and Nurys decide to work together. This allows Nurys and Corey to advance, while Colleen and Berna are the last people at the memory board.
Five Flags to Victory
The third checkpoint is akin to the conquest eliminations we’ve seen before: multiple stations with obstacles before and after them. However, there are five stations to complete. They are:
– A sudoku
– Smashing a barrel so it’s flat and fits in a box
– A peg board where competitors need to stack all of the same colors in one column (similar to a – task from conquest elimination 2)
– A circle-based logic puzzle
– A stacking game on a platform that must be balanced (similar to a task from conquest elimination 2)
Emanuel gets there first, but he can’t complete the sudoku. He loses his lead, and Corey gets the first flag by completing the barrel smash. Emanuel leaves his sudoku, and Corey, Nurys, and Emanuel collect their first three flags fairly quickly by completing the barrel smash, peg board, and circle puzzle. This is about the time when Berna and Colleen arrive, who advanced past the memory game by working together.
The Last Conquest
Corey and Emanuel find themselves at the stacking station, and they immediately realize it’s going to require a lot of patience. They take their time and eventually get it done. It’s the sudoku that proves to be the problem for everyone. When Corey and Emanuel get there, they meet Colleen. She has zero flags, but she finally solves the sudoku, making her the first one. Meanwhile, Nurys struggles, so she moves to the stacking competition. While she’s there, Berna completes the sudoku (she probably copied Colleen), and then Nurys realizes the stacking game is too daunting.
Nurys goes back to the sudoku, solves it, and heads to the stacking station. Then, Emanuel completes the sudoku. It’s his final flag, and he’s sprinting to the finish line. Shortly after, Nurys finishes the stacking contest. Now, it’s a foot race to first place.
Crowning of a New Champion
Emanuel is the first person to reach TJ, making him the winner of $250,000. Nurys crosses the finish line in second, earning $60,000.
Corey finally completes his sudoku and Colleen manages to complete all of her stations after struggling with the stacking game. Though Corey finished before Colleen, he loses time at the balance beam. Colleen is ahead of him, but Corey is never able to make up enough time. Colleen comes in third, earning $30,000. Corey comes in fourth and Berna comes in fifth, earning nothing.
Stop Being Polite 