The end is near, but not everyone will run the final.
Obstacle Hour
We kick off the episode with the cast arriving at the daily challenge, Swing Into Action. The competitors are greeted by the biggest rig the show has ever seen, and they must use obstacles to traverse the course as quickly as possible, within a 1-hour time limit. If any competitor falls, they must start from the beginning, and the team cannot advance until that player catches up. If any player cannot complete the course for any reason, their team will be assessed a 1-hour penalty. The Grey Team kicks it off with a slow-and-steady strategy. They don’t make mistakes on the first obstacle, but Adrienne can’t complete the second obstacle, a rope swing. She tries five times, with Lete jumping off the course to help her each time, but eventually Adrienne jumps off the course, and the team eats the 1-hour penalty. After this error, the challenge becomes the Lete Tour. She takes the lead on the climbing stations, solves the puzzle, and uses her body as a human ladder on the slide. The three remaining girls complete all 11 obstacles and finish in just under an hour (with Adrienne’s penalty on top.
CT Down
The Orange Team goes second, and they have a very clear strategy: Go faster than the Grey Team. All six players breeze through the rope swing, which scares the Grey Team, because they hoped CT or Michelle would fall. Then, they get to the punching bag transfer, and this is where CT falls. The team decides to just eat the 1-hour penalty, essentially nullifying the penalty that Adrienne gave her team. After CT’s disqualification, the team starts moving in unison. They breeze through obstacles until they reach the puzzle. It takes them a long time to complete it, and victory begins to look possible for the Grey girls. By the time the Orange squad gets to the slide climb, TJ sounds the horn, and the Grey Team wins… but no one knows if it’s a male or female elimination, until TJ reveals it can be either a man or woman.
The Puzzle Strategy
The Orange Team seems to be scrambling because they need to nominate two people. Justin says he’ll lose his shit if he gets nominated again, but most of the team knows CT is a major concern. Bananas feels CT should self-nominate, but the Orange Team didn’t just lose the daily challenge because of CT’s DQ; they lost because of a puzzle. CT is a “puzzle guy,” and that may be an asset his team needs in the final, and he could try to use that detail for safety.
The Sabotage Strategy
Justin vents to his friend Adrienne, and he expresses his fears of going into another elimination. He feels he’s already helped his team by eliminating the last male on the Grey team, and he begs Adrienne not to pick him if “she” (Tori) says his name again. Adrienne listens to Justin, tactfully not making any promises, but Justin promises to sabotage his team if they nominate him for this Arena and Adrienne doesn’t send him in.
The Grey Strategy
On the Grey Team, the players are more civil, but some people are pleading. While Lete is confident she’s proven her worth, we only see Cassidy talk directly to Adrienne. She says she’s well-rounded, but she voices concerns for Cara Maria, who has some weaknesses (like heights). But this is also a co-ed elimination. Cassidy feels Lete has the best shot at taking out a man, and Adrienne doesn’t overlook that she’s a rookie who hasn’t seen an elimination.
The People Vs. CT
When the Orange Team heads to deliberation, Tori names her nominee, and it’s Justin. Then, CT kicks off the vote and says Will’s name because he doesn’t want to jeopardize Bananas or Michele this late in the game. Will returns with a vote for CT, but Michele also votes for CT. Then, Bananas solidifies CT’s nomination, claiming it’s a “team decision,” making Justin and Will the two Orange nominees.
Captain’s Betrayal
Adrienne sends down Lete, and she’s pissed. She cusses out Adrienne and claims that she led her team through the last challenge (referring to Swing into Action). And Lete does have a point, but her team encourages her to get into a better headspace because they need her, and it looks like the Arena is a puzzle. This plays to CT’s advantage, because Adrienne knows he’s a puzzle whiz, and she makes Justin the second player.
Final Elimination Pressure
The Arena is called Pressure Puzzles, and each player has three puzzle chambers. If they finish a puzzle first, they will cause a significant distraction on their opponent’s corresponding puzzle. Lete finishes puzzle #1 first, causing a balloon to inflate in Justin’s puzzle. Then, Lete finishes the second puzzle while the balloon in Justin’s first chamber has popped and filled it with powder. Lete gets to the third puzzle and starts making progress. Justin is frantic, then seemingly apathetic. Lete finishes the last puzzle, and Justin gets sent home right before the final, for the second season in a row.
Lete returns to her team, and TJ reveals that everyone has made the final.
Coward in Charge
After the elimination, Lete is still pissed. She wants Adrienne to admit she’s a coward, but Adrienne refuses. Adrienne feels she made the best choice possible because Lete won in The Arena. She insists that if she wanted to send Lete home, she would have made CT her opponent. Lete isn’t buying this excuse because she has helped her team in everything, while her teammates just want a participation trophy. She’s glad to be back in the game, but she anticipates carrying her teammates through the whole final.
