New teams, new week, and Olivia’s the Hangnail.
Veteran Down
We quickly head to the daily challenge, and we see a Challenge classic: heights over water. The game is called Runes My Life. Competitors need to swim to a structure in the water and climb rope ladders and pegged walls while collecting runes. These runes are used as puzzle pieces and once the puzzle is completed, the teams will jump off the structure and swim back to a raft and stop their time. In the first heat, Aneesa & Gabe seem to be moving at an OK pace, and Gabe is helping Aneesa, but CT & Leka are taking it slow. CT is scared after he hurt his back on Battle of the Eras, and he doesn’t want to climb the ladder. The rookies believe CT is throwing the challenge, while the veterans are shocked that he’s not the same beast we’ve come to know. Specifically, Turbo is upset because he’s watching Leka do all the work while CT splashes in the water. Somehow, Leka finishes the puzzle before Aneesa & Gabe, but CT never made any progress.
The Rune Runs
The remaining teams compete, and they seem to move at a much better pace. Aviv & Cedric crush the course, while some people are scared of heights — like America — but overcome their fears. Then, we see teams like Leroy & Izzy who repeatedly drop pieces and don’t even complete the course. Finally, we watch the two rookie/rookie teams compete (Dee & Justin and Leo & Sydney), and they get through the course quite quickly. Dee struggles at one point, dropping a piece, but she still completes the course — it just allows Sydney & Leo to finish faster. These two rookies end up winning the challenge, becoming the first rookie/rookie team to win, but Leka & CT come in last place because they made the least progress… thanks entirely to CT.
Rookie Redirect
With two rookies in power, Leo & Sydney come up with a plan to make the veterans sweat. They’re not going to tell anyone who they plan to nominate. Instead, they’re going to misdirect the target on Izzy, knowing they’re not really going to send Izzy into the elimination. Izzy agrees to go along with this plan, even though she’s not close with many of the rookie girls, including Sydney, and she has a UK alliance that includes Olivia.
A Turbo Lashing
After CT’s poor performance, the rookies and Turbo are speculating that he only gave up because it was a girls’ elimination. CT walks into the conversation, and said he didn’t do well because he’s 45, had bad knees, and he’s out of shape, but he’s mad that Turbo didn’t talk to him directly. Turbo tells CT he’s a legend, but today, his performance was a shame. The two banter back and forth, with Turbo accusing CT of throwing the challenge. CT denies this, so Turbo calls him a fat ass and tells him not to show up if he’s not in shape to compete. CT tries to talk to Turbo one-on-one, but Nany pulls the two apart because she knows how Turbo is, and there’s no reasoning with him.
Truth and Confusion
At the club, Izzy lets it slip to Olivia that her name is just a decoy, and this worries Olivia. The next morning, Olivia asks Leo not to put Aneesa up for elimination (who seems to be the potential second nominee), and proposes to send in Ashley instead. Leo doesn’t agree to the plan, but he quickly realizes that his strategy has leaked to the veterans, and he knows Izzy is likely the culprit.
Vet vs. Vet
At the nomination ceremony, Leo delivers a long speech, but he nominates Aneesa because her alliances confuse him. This means a veteran girl will definitely go into the Arena. There are four votes for Aneesa and five votes for Olivia, and it comes down to Leroy & Izzy. They’re divided, but Leroy makes it clear that he’s close with Aneesa and has known her way longer, so there’s no way he’d ever change his mind. Eventually Izzy complies, and Olivia is going into elimination.
Rolled Out
At The Arena Leka and Olivia will be facing each other in Out of Time. There are two ramps made of rollers and the competitors have five minutes to climb their ramp, jump over it, and hit a buzzer. Then, they need to climb up the ladder on the back of the ramp, run down it, and hit another buzzer. Whoever rings the buzzer the most times will win. At the beginning, Leka has a quick lead. Olivia seems to stumble a couple of times, but Leka starts to slow a little bit. According to Derek, Olivia has crazy endurance, and this starts showing about halfway through the game. Leka stalls while climbing the ramp, and this is where Olivia passes her. In the final minute, Leka is so gassed that she’s crawling, but Olivia is keeping a decent pace, which allows her to take the win.
Selected Again
Once again, The Selection is our final agenda item. Here are the episode 7 teams:
Sydney & Derrick K.
Leo & Nany
Adrienne & Leroy
Derek & America
Aviv & Gabe
Cedric & Jonna
Michaela & Justin
Yeremi & Tay
Turbo & Dee
Ashley & Theo
Will & Izzy
Jake & Olivia
CT & Aneesa
Stop Being Polite 