Era 1 is down to two players. Will there even be an Era 1 by the end of the episode?
A Fractured Era
Era 1 only has two players left, but there’s a huge alliance running the game, so players are starting to look for allies on other teams. Particularly, Cory knows he’s an outsider in his era and he’s a team representative with Averey. So, he’s striking a deal with Era 2 to keep both teams safe. Derrick approaches Theo with a similar deal, but it’s mostly a last-ditch attempt to avoid the Arena — especially because he hurt his leg during the Cloud Catcher challenge and it still hasn’t healed.
A Gladiator’s Game
The challenge is called Battle for Honor, and it’s a promo for the new Gladiator sequel. Competitors will use a shield and try to knock their opponents off a platform and into muddy water, and the goal is to be the last era standing. Basically, it’s Riot Act from Cutthroat. There are two heats, one for men and one for women, and each one lasts 20 minutes. The men go first, and the game starts as a big cluster in the middle of the platform with Derrick on the outside. Eras 2 & 3 are clearly working together, as are Era 1 & 4. The heat starts off slow with a few heavy hits, including one that cuts Jordan’s face, but in the second half, players start to hit the water. Bananas falls first, then other Era 1, 2 & 3 players get knocked off. Toward the end, all the Era 4 males remain, but the remaining Era 3 players gang up on Theo. They knock him over, he can’t get up, and he gets DQed. At the end of the 20 minutes, Nehemiah, Cory, Devin, Josh, and Kyland are left on the platform.
A Galdiator’s Game
The girl’s heat starts a little faster with Nia and Averey falling fairly quickly. Tori remains on the platform, and she fends off a group of girls. Laurel even helps Cara Maria target Tori, but they can’t knock her off. After 20 minutes, only two girls fell into the water. But in the end, Era 1 lost again because they had the fewest players remaining after the two heats. Meanwhile, Era 4 wins, but Theo & Jenny can’t protect Era 1 because they’re automatically in last place.
A Targeted Discussion
At the Chamber, Averey offers future safety and views this as an opportunity to rebuild trust between Eras 3 & 4, especially because Jenny previously threw Cory into the Arena. Derek and Cara Maria don’t offer much, though Cara reassures Jenny that she has her back, and Averey is upset that Derek isn’t viewing this as an opportunity to repay her for protecting him on episode 3. Then, Cory speaks. He says he’s a strong player, and if Jenny sends him into the Arena again, he will need to view this as a personal target. Derrick antagonizes Cory, implying it should be easy to beat him with his hurt leg, but Rachel never asks for a specific opponent.
A Decision for the Team
At the end of the Chamber, Theo & Jenny made up their mind — they want to send in Averey & Cory. But, they organize a team meeting, lay out their perspective, and hold a team vote. Of the seven members on Era 4, five vote to send Averey & Cory to the Arena while Michele & Kyland vote to send in Derek & Cara Maria. Even though this whole meeting was smoke in mirrors, an effort for Theo & Jenny to deflect the blame, it exposes that Josh & Kaycee weren’t defending Era 3.
Fake Ally Feud
When Josh asks Cory if he’s OK, Cory gets angry and says he’s tired of Josh’s fake bullshit because Josh didn’t defend Era 3. However, Josh insists he wasn’t going to sway Theo after Cory targeted Theo during the entire daily challenge. Josh then tries to call out Kyland, even though Kyland didn’t vote to send Cory into The Arena, but Kyland insists that Josh and Kaycee could have shifted the majority vote away from Cory if they voted differently. And now, other members of Era 3 (like Tori and Devin) are suspicious of Josh and Kaycee.
Averey vs. Rachel
The Arena game is called Fate of the Gladiator. One player is the striker equipped with boxing gloves and a blindfold. The other player is the evader, wearing a suit of armor with 16 targets, bells, and squeaky shoes with rubber chickens on them. The goal is to win by hitting the most targets the fastest. The girls go first, and Rachel has experience in boxing. It shows, and as soon as she tracks Averey down, she pummels her with punches. She hits many targets, and Averey takes most of the punches. After five minutes, Rachel hits most of the targets. Then, Averey becomes the striker. Rachel runs, meaning Averey is missing a lot of punches. Averey does hit a lot of targets as well, but she took longer to warm up.
Cory vs. Derrick
The men’s heat starts with Derrick as the evader and Cory as the striker. Derrick is hobbling on his hurt leg, and he’s able to misdirect Cory for a few seconds. Then, Cory finds Derrick and pummels him. Derrick tries to escape, but eventually Cory gets all of his targets. When Derrick becomes the striker, he impresses everyone by finding a way to hit the targets on one leg. He gets a few great sweeps on Cory, and he breaks many targets at a time. Eventually, Derrick also hits them all, meaning the men’s heat will come down to time. TJ announces Rachel actually hit all her targets, while Averey only got 10, meaning Rachel won. Then, he says Cory found all targets faster. This means Derrick and Averey will leave the game.
A Team of One
It’s time to pick the targets, but we start in reverse this time. Kaycee and Kyland volunteer for Era 4, then Devin and Tori volunteer on Era 3. On Era 2, no girl volunteers, so Laurel gets nominated, but Ryan finally volunteers. Then, TJ sends Rachel back and calls it a “solo mission,” so it’s unclear what her status is moving forward.
Stop Being Polite 