The game is really starting now, with four teams of eight players. How will the remaining competitors fare post-Eras Invitational?
Cross-Era Alliances
The Era Invitational winners return to the house, and they joke that they should start a “misfit alliance,” but it seems many people are already forming connections with players on other teams. Cara Maria has friendships with Rachel and her War of the Worlds partner Theo, Brad is starting a romance with Emily, and there’s a budding relationship between Josh and Nia.
The Teams Era
The cast arrives for their second challenge, and TJ confirms the remaining players will need to work as teams. Before the daily challenge, they need to select one male and one female to serve as captains, and they pick Darrell & Jodi, Derek & Aviv, Tony & Averey, and Kyland & Kaycee. The cast is playing Gladieater, and the teams need to row a dragon boat around an island. Then, they need to eat plates with Vietnamese delicacies like a snake and rat medley, boiled cow eye, durian, and duck egg embryo. Finally, they need to complete a puzzle that organizes Challenge season logo shields in chronological order. Immediately, Era 3 manages to row their boat with speed, but the Era 1 team is seriously lagging. The teams progressively reach the eating stage, led by Era 3, but no one is really struggling with their Vietnamese delicacies yet.
A Puzzling End
Era 3 is the first team to get to their puzzle, and allegedly Tori had been studying the order of the seasons because they’re listed on the wall at the house. So, they’re feeling pretty confident. However, Era 2 isn’t too far behind — unlike Era 1 which reaches the shore after Era 3 begins its puzzle. This allows Era 3 to win the challenge, but it’s still a race not to come in last. The Era 2 team comes in second, followed by Era 4 in third. Despite speeding through the eating stage, the Era 1 team is not able to catch up with the other teams and they come in last. This means Darrell & Jodi are automatically going into the Arena and Derek & Aviv and Kyland & Kaycee will need to plead their cases in the Chamber to remain safe.
An Era Divided
At the Chamber Kyland & Kaycee come with a similar strategy. They offer to keep the Era 3 team safe in the future if they’re saved this week. Meanwhile, Derek has a very different strategy: He relies on his pre-existing relationships with Averey and Tony, and he tells them it’s more logical to make the Era 4 players, the stronger duo, compete. However, Darrell chimes in and says he’d rather compete against Derek & Aviv, and this hurts his former Fresh Meat partner. Aviv feels that he’s one of the few people she knows, and she helped him win Fresh Meat. It makes no sense to call her out. Following this, Tony and Averey have opposite views. Tony states that he’ll go into elimination rather than budge, but Averey says she feels the same way.
Written By the Challenge God
The cast has a Challenge gods/ toga party, and everyone (other than Cara Maria) comes out dressed in all white. But, a lot of the conversation centers around Tony’s stubbornness. People understand why Averey would want to protect her longtime friend, but they don’t understand why Tony would jeopardize his game for two people he met a week ago. Bananas tells him this, but Tony claims he doesn’t see Bananas as a close ally after he was cheering for Leroy during the Eras Invitational.
Unfriended
Nia catches Kyland’s eye, and the two start kissing… then they hook up. The problem is: The house is very open and everyone can see this. Some people start making jokes about Josh (who had been pursuing Nia), and Tori is involved in this mix. Josh hears this and confronts Tori. He expected Tori to be nicer to him because she’s his friend, but their relationship has been fractured since Tori voted for him on USA 2. During the confrontation, Josh claims he doesn’t want to be friends with Tori anymore, and Tori cries because she claims she’d never say that to someone she cares about.
The Expected Stalemate
At The Arena, Tony announces that the Era 3 captains reached a stalemate. So, TJ announces that Tony and Averey are going into elimination, even though no one can explain Tony’s rationale. Fortunately for Averey, TJ reveals they’re playing individually. The game is One Step at a Time, and it’s a puzzle to build a sidewalk. The competitors must follow strict rules, putting two colored blocks in cells to win. If there’s one mistake, they need to start over and remove their blocks one by one.
Darrell vs. Tony
Knowing it’s a puzzle, Darrell has a very clear strategy: Listen to the audience. Both competitors are very lost going into this game, but fortunately for Darrell, he has a lot of support. The Era 3 team tries to give Tony some help, but Tony makes a mistake. This is a death sentence for Tony because he has to reset and Darrell is about to finish his pattern. So, Tony is headed home, but some of the cast speculates that he wanted to lose the elimination anyway.
Jodi vs. Averey
Just like the men’s heat, the audience is helping out, and the puzzle is very similar. Jodi is upset because she wanted to compete with Darrell and she didn’t want a puzzle. However, she is following the riddle without making mistakes — until she realizes she doesn’t have enough tiles to complete her current pattern. So, she has to reset… but Averey also has to reset. With the audience’s puzzle-solving skills, it becomes a footrace. Jodi is exhausted, and Averey seems to have more gas in the tank. She wins and sends Jodi home.
Captain’s Pick
TJ surprises the winners: They’re not just returning to the game, they have power. They get to pick the team captains for next week — winners have safety, and the losers are in jeopardy of seeing the Arena. And, they have to make their decisions right there. Darrell picks the female captains and chooses Aneesa, Laurel, Nia, and Jenny. Averey picks the men, and she picks Derrick, Bananas, Jordan, and Horacio.
Stop Being Polite 