Episode 12 of Cutthroat ended with an explosive fight between Lete and Adrienne. The Grey Team should have been celebrating a victory, but instead, Lete had a bone to pick with her captain. She was frustrated to land in the season’s final elimination after taking the lead during the Swing Into Action challenge.
At this point in the game, Lete has established herself as a standout rookie. She’s strong and has leadership ability, endurance, and puzzle skills. She proved this by coaching Adrienne through the rope swing during the Swing Into Action challenge, jumping off the platform each time to motivate her teammate. Then, once Adrienne bowed out, Lete led the team to victory.
So, she felt confident with her place on her team. Then Adrienne surprised her by sending her into The Arena, using the rookie excuse and claiming everyone else on her team had already been into The Arena. Lete didn’t buy these excuses, and she called out Adrienne for blindsiding her.
After the Arena, Adrienne felt Lete was her best shot at keeping her team intact — and she was right. Lete returned, and she sent home the first Orange Team male this season. Despite this, Lete felt her game was jeopardized for bogus reasons, and Adrienne shouldn’t have blindsided her. She feels you blindside people you want to lose in eliminations, not people you want to return to the team.
Even though things worked out in the end, Lete made some solid points. And likely, she shouldn’t have gone into The Arena. So who should have gone into The Arena instead?
Clearly, Adrienne is not pulling a Tori. This leave Cassidy or Cara Maria.
Cassidy is probably the path of least resistance. She’s still fairly new to The Challenge, but statistically, she has a strong elimination record. Puzzles aren’t an obvious weakness for her (nor a strength), and given Justin’s performance, she probably would have won.
But Cassidy has never been an anchor. She keeps up with her teammates, embraces tough obstacles, and pushes through the grueling tasks that The Challenge is known for. Likely, she won’t be a weak link in the final.
Then, there’s Cara Maria. Cutthroat hasn’t been a strong showing for the two-time champion. She argues that she has a lot of experience with the franchise. If these experiences are her biggest asset, this is when they should have been used.
Cara Maria became the first solo champion in Challenge history after winning Vendettas. She earned that victory on a puzzle, beating two men to claim the title. The Pressure Puzzles elimination was the right time for her Challenge experience to come into play, especially if Adrienne’s intentions to keep her team intact were sincere.
Fortunately, Lete won the elimination, and she’ll bring her skills into the final. It’s just hard to imagine that the team dynamic won’t be fractured.
