Jonna Says Era 3 Is Throwing Challenges — Does It Make Sense?

After leaving Battle of the Eras, Jonna revealed that her team wasn’t playing a very clear-cut game. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she said her team was very connected, so most of the people weren’t playing to win each day.

According to Jonna, Devin stated this season was like Ride or Dies. It’s best to neither win nor lose. Instead, floating in the middle means you can avoid elimination, but you also don’t have to make a difficult choice that disrupts your alliances.

Jonna also confirmed that Jordan did throw the Cradled Cranium challenge. Once Era 1 was out of the competition, Jordan did not want to win because he didn’t want to send Aneesa into elimination — but Laurel had no problem putting Aneesa in The Arena. So, Jordan let Laurel have the win, she saved Jordan & Nia, and she made Aneesa & Derrick go into The Arena where Aneesa inevitably went home.

Of course, Jonna wasn’t trying to throw challenges, but really, why would she? It seems like this challenge-throwing arrangement primarily benefited the Vacation Alliance. This made Jonna feel like an outsider on her team, even though she was the last girl to get nominated to be a team representative.

If we take a step back from Jonna’s perspective, we have to wonder if this is even a good strategy. Sadly, it seems like it is working out well for the Vacation Alliance in a way that’s very typical of the group. It’s a weird agreement based on handshakes and off-screen conversations. This makes it hard for viewers to piece together what’s really happening, but it’s allowing the same people to advance in the game.

The concept of volunteering to be a team captain has also become an integral part of the strategy. Some people will raise their hand to assume the position, knowing they can do it the same week as their allies. Meanwhile, people like Jonna are viewed as more disposable, and she was made a target on a week that wasn’t part of the safety cycle.

While I’m still glad that this season gave us a new, four-team format, it seems it’s still plagued with the same problem — power is a punishment. So, the meta game becomes more important, and the real goal is not to come in first place or last place. The prized position is being the middle-placing team that doesn’t get sent to the Arena. And of course, the Vacation Alliance figured out how to make this format work in their favor.