The Challenge Cutthroat: Top Moments from Episode 5

Time to pick captains… and maybe stir up some more shit.

Who Should Lead?

The teams are talking about captains, and Cory says he’d like to lead the Grey Team. He receives a lot of support, unlike Nelson, who gets a mixed bag of support from the Blue Team. Josh also wants to be captain, and that results in a rookie-veteran divide. Lastly, the Orange Team is greeted with skepticism from Bananas, who doesn’t want to be responsible if his team loses, but he doesn’t want CT to have more power than him. Fortunately for him, the team rallies behind Tori.

When we get to the daily Challenge, Tori and Cory are quickly named captains. Then, the Blue team gives the title to Josh because the three rookies don’t want the two veterans to dominate their team.

Time to Get Dirty

The daily challenge is called Jungle Brawl, and we’ve got balls and mud. TJ fires balls into a mud pit, and the teams have to retrieve the balls and place them in their opponent’s goals. The team with the fewest balls in their goal at the end of the game wins. According to Bananas, the game quickly turns into chaos, with people pouncing on each other to get balls, but the Blue Team is sneaky. They agree to work with both the Grey and Orange teams, and they fly under the radar at the start of the game. As the Orange and Grey goals fill with balls, the Blue Team’s goal remains empty. Then, Cara Maria fires a ball into the Orange goal, and Will realizes they need to fill the Blue Goal. So the tide turns, and the Blue Team’s goal starts to get filled up. 

A Win and Two Losses

The game turns into “total anarchy,” with people employing every possible trick to protect their goal. Competitors push, kick, and jump on each other. At one point, Sydney has a ball, and Deb jumps on her to knock it out of her hands. Sydney’s knee buckles, and it’s a feeling she’s had before — she thinks her ACL is torn. She bows out for medical attention, but balls don’t stop firing. It comes down to the last ball, which goes into the Blue goal, but that doesn’t matter. TJ reveals there are only winners and losers now, and the Orange team has won, meaning they’re safe and all of the men on the other teams are eligible for The Arena. Not only that, the winning captain doesn’t have to get their hands dirty, but the other teams have to send one man into The Arena. Team captains are safe for the rest of the season, but they have the ultimate power because captains have the final say in who goes into the sand each week.

Grey Team Blues

After the challenge, there’s drama on the Grey Team. Nelson is mad that Cory didn’t help the Blue Team win, but Cory didn’t know that he’d have safety. However, Cory makes it clear he’s working with Nelson, which concerns his teammates. Keanu wants to know whether he’ll be sent into The Arena, and Cory doesn’t have a solid answer; he plans to make a decision Nelson feels comfortable with. This concerns Keanu because he feels Cory should prioritize his own team, not his friend on the Blue Team.

A Semi-Hidden Romance

Once again, Leo and Anna Leigh are caught canoodling. Leo goes to the bathroom and allegedly has something in his eye, and Anna Leigh is there giggling with him. As this happens, Will hides in his bedroom to hear the entire exchange. His advice to Anna Leigh: Be careful. 

A Challenge First?

While Leo and Anna Leigh are trying to fight their sexual tension, Bananas is teaching Lete how to handle sexual tension. Lete admits she’s a virgin, a concept that Bananas simply cannot comprehend. She’s open about this, which doesn’t stop Bananas’ pursuit, and the two end up in the same bed together… as do Will and Deb.

A Rude Awakening

Sydney is mad that her knee is injured, and Bananas asks if Deb has apologized. Sydney says she has not, which is the best thing she can do because she’s a waste of space. Then, Sydney hurls some insults at Deb, calling her a waste of space with a weird body that nobody but Will would want. While Sydney admits this is displaced anger, Deb catches wind of these insults. She confronts Sydney and kinda apologizes for the injury, but tells Sydney not to talk about her body because it’s rude. Sydney replies, “Then I’m rude,” and walks away, starting a new rivalry with Deb.

Love On the Line

Throughout the episode, Cory continues flirting with Izzy, but he doesn’t do anything beyond staring at her longingly. Eventually, he calls Cheyenne (Ryder’s mother and his former Challenge fling) to discuss the situation. He claims he doesn’t know if he’s single because his relationship with Taylor is in limbo. He hasn’t crossed any lines yet, but he needs to have a line — though Cheyenne believes there’s probably already damage. Izzy also voices her frustration with Adrienne, because she doesn’t know how to define her relationship with Cory.

Before the cast heads down to The Arena, Nelson speaks with Izzy — just in case he goes home. He asks her to shut things down with Cory, which she doesn’t appreciate because it puts all the blame on her.

The Have Knots

We get to The Arena, and TJ starts by medically disqualifying Sydney from the game. Then, Nelson defaults to the Blue Team’s Arena competitor, and Cory sends down Keanu. The two men will be playing Knot So Fast with two large spheres. The veterans know this is a game of endurance, and CT and Bananas are feeding Nelson advice — keep in mind, CT essentially broke this game on Invasion. They tell Nelson to make the knot high and messy; meanwhile, Keanu is off doing his own thing. When they switch ropes, it’s clear Keanu wasn’t slacking off. Both men start making progress, and regardless of how messy Nelson made his knot, Keanu chips away at it. But Nelson still has endurance, and he pulls off some tricks to secure the win. Nelson celebrates his victory after years away from the game, but Keanu bows out gracefully, showing his respect to Nelson and the veterans.