The season is moving in a new direction. Will someone stake a claim?
Making the Bands
This week’s challenge is called Band Together, and it’s a balancing act. Each team has a wobbly pole suspended over water. The goal is to stabilize that pole, walk down it, and grab a flag at the end. To do this, teams will need to run down a field and obtain resistance bands, which are wrapped on heavy items. Bringing back the heavy items will accumulate more bands which will create more stability. In the first lap, all of the men carry back barrels (which have the most resistance bands) while the girls sit on their poles and make jokes. Then, the girls go and some of them manage to bring back barrels while other girls bring back lighter items with lighter bands. Aviv makes the mistake of carrying a heavy barrel, which slows her down significantly. Eventually, some of the lighter girls try to get across their poles like Nany and Dee. Nany falls into the water, but Dee goes very slowly. Eventually, she reaches the end of her beam and reels in the flag. She gets it, shimmies back, and Derrick & Dee win the challenge.
Resisting Last Place
More people try to get their flags, with Ashley coming in second, Sydney coming in third, and Olivia earning fourth place. Eventually, it comes down to four teams who are contenders for last place: America & Leroy, Gabe & Jonna, Aviv & Yeremi, and Adrienne & Theo. After some time, it becomes a race between Yeremi and Gabe, because their female partners can’t get low enough to pick up their flag. Yeremi falls off his pole, allowing Gabe (who may be the heaviest person remaining) to get down, get his flag, and avoid elimination. This means Yeremi & Aviv will be heading to elimination.
Staking a Plan to Stake a Claim
The house throws a costume party, which is filled with some uncomfortable party games. During this, the cast senses tension between Gabe & Jonna, as they haven’t been working well together so far. So, some of the veterans (like Theo and Derrick) concoct a plan to have Gabe stake a claim. To do this, Theo tells Jonna a number of potential names that could be on the chopping block, including Ashley. Jonna & Gabe talk, and she mentions voting for Ashley & Leo. This spreads, and causes worry that people are targeting Leo, but Gabe refuses to do this. Gabe & Jonna are further divided, and the social chaos causes people like Theo, Olivia, and Jake to encourage Gabe to stake a claim.
The Claim Game
At the nomination ceremony, Gabe takes the bait and tries to stake a claim on Justin to earn Nany as a partner. Nany is shocked, and Michaela is pissed because she knows Theo planted this seed. The one-on-one game is to race up a mountain, complete a puzzle, and run back down. The remaining competitors don’t get to watch this, so they all argue with Theo and accuse him of spreading lies to Gabe. Theo gets mad, because he feels he should be allowed to talk about potential game moves, and calls the whole house “pussies.” Turbo will not stand for this, so he yells at Theo who inadvertently jeopardized Nany’s game (and Nany is still his #1 ally). Regardless, the damage is done, and the cast can only sit around and wait for the outcome.
Partner Reunion
Justin performs surprisingly well in the one-on-one battle. He was slightly faster than Gabe running up the hill, and he gets to the puzzle first. The two men need to use pieces to make a perfect cube, and Gabe is stumped. Justin finishes this task first, crosses the finish line, and returns to Nany as a partner. Now, Gabe & Jonna are headed to the elimination and no one can stake a claim on Justin & Nany for the remainder of the season.
The Final Decent
The cast arrives at The Arena and they see a cargo net and climbing wall to play Pull It Together. In this game, one partner will climb the cargo net to retrieve pegs and release them so their teammate can use them. The other competitor will use all of the pegs to build a climbing wall, then they’ll climb it and hit a buzzer. When TJ sounds the horn, the girls head to the cargo net and are about neck-and-neck releasing the pegs. As Michaela points out, this means Gabe’s fate is ultimately in his own hands, because Jonna performed just as well as Aviv. Once the men start putting in the pegs, Yeremi is having a field day. He loves climbing, but Gabe feels uncomfortable. His feet are too big to stand on the pegs, and he can’t get too close to the wall. This causes him to fall a few times before he can place pegs. As Jonna watches Gabe, she starts realizing she’s doomed. Yeremi is moving faster, and eventually, he places his final peg, securing the win for himself and Aviv.
Stop Being Polite 