Living In Reality: 8/8/13

Rivals II:

Leroy and Theresa pick up where they left off on the last previous episode by doing the deed. Lurking in the background is Wes, who is annoyed that their sexcapades are taking place in the bed right above his. Wes did have a history with Theresa dating back to Fresh Meat II, which made this current situation even more personal.

He comes out with the major headshot in his talking head, saying that LeRoy is the garbage man (which he actually was in real life) and is used to picking up other mens’ trash. Wes decides to take his stuff and move elsewhere in the house.

Afterwards, Johnny (who else?) comes up with the idea to create a makeshift Wes doll to place in his now unoccupied bed. The roommates even write some complimentary messages about Wes on the doll, referencing his low self-esteem, his lack of ability as a player, and even his need for sunscreen.

Elsewhere, Zach gets emotional during a phone call with his mom, as he is missing the birth of his nephew. Zach starts to feel ill, and that emotion starts to become more intense. He doesn’t appreciate the cameras being on him while he’s dealing with physical and emotional pain, so he proceeds to go Kanye West on the production crew and lash out at them. Making things worse is that Zach’s new “friend” Knight riles him up even more, leading Zach to rage further and destroy part of the house. Jordan describes Zach as a big toddler while Trey expresses concern about his partner possibly making them a target.

The challenge for this episode is Frog Smash, where each player goes across a beam while everyone else swings around in a container of sorts to knock them off. The alliances come into play here, as some players opted to let certain others pass through unimpeded. Theresa and Jasmine did such a great job of aligning with the other girls that not a single one tried to swing on them as they went across. Jemmye and Camila actually had a faster time, but they broke a rule by not staying close enough on the beam, giving Theresa and Jasmine the win.

For the guys, Trey barely made it onto the beam before falling off. Trey and Zach are staring the Jungle right in the face, but there’s still the outside hope that Preston and Knight crash and burn like they usually do. Frank and Johnny agree to try and take out Preston and Knight, but Johnny pulls an audible and lets them go, drawing Zach’s ire. As for everyone else, Jordan and Marlon breeze through, but the veterans do not want to see a rookie team win. Wes and CT end up as the beneficiaries as the vets let them pass easily for the win.

Johnny’s actions likely didn’t make a difference, but Zach wants to go after him in the Jungle anyway, even at the expense of his friend Frank. Zach knows he can’t trust Johnny, so he wants to get him out of there. Deliberation time comes, and that’s when the WTF moments start to come down the pike.

Things were set up for either Johnny and Frank to go in per Zach’s request or Preston and Knight as the easy choice. Theresa starts the vote and pulls a shocker by nominating LeRoy and Ty of all people. Her thinking was she didn’t want to piss off anyone so she went with what she thought to be a throwaway vote. But that just got the ball rolling as Nany voted for LeRoy and Ty too. Diem took advantage of the error and followed suit, giving LeRoy and Ty enough votes to go into the Jungle. Theresa argued with Diem after that, but Diem correctly opined that it wasn’t on her to correct others’ mistakes.

The Jungle this time was Breaking on Through. Each team is on their own three-story tower. Each floor has a trap door the team has to break through by various means until they get outside and ring the bell. The partners are instructed to alternate for each door.

The race is fairly even at first, but Ty and LeRoy get caught up on the second floor. Trey and Zach hold onto their lead and ring the bell first, winning the Jungle.

Zach goes postal after the big win, cursing and taunting everyone in sight. Ray Lewis on his best day couldn’t match the hooting and hollering Zach brought at that moment. It culminates in Zach whipping his helmet into the crowd, almost hitting Jordan. Some of the girls, especially Theresa are devastated, as they were the ones who inadvertently got Ty and LeRoy into this predicament in the first place.

So that’s a wrap, T.J. comes down to give his respects and send LeRoy and Ty on their way home. But…..there’s just one other small little thing he needed to inform everyone about. The one thing that every competitor dreads…..the technicality.

As it turns out, Zach broke the first two doors, when it was clearly stated that the teams are supposed to alternate for each floor. Therefore, it is Zach and Trey that have to pack their bags and head home. Trey has a general look of disdain while Zach has the biggest “you’ve got to be kidding me” expression on his face. LeRoy can’t believe it, Theresa is beyond relieved, and the rest of the house is shocked. One of the strongest teams is unexpectedly eliminated.

Aftershow:

The aftershow starts out with Zach, Frank and LeRoy. Zach apologizes and explains his actions on the show. Frank starts nagging Zach once again, and the two get into another argument and rehash their history some more. LeRoy is more diplomatic about Zach’s meltdown, saying he didn’t really care as long as it wasn’t his stuff being broken.

Theresa comes to the stage later and is taken aback by apparently being LeRoy’s number two choice after Jemmye. Wes comes out not long after and downplays his past hookup with Theresa. Theresa theorizes that Wes throws tantrums when he doesn’t get enough attention. Wes also tries to downplay his negativity towards LeRoy, but LeRoy isn’t having any of it.

The castmates address the voting situation. Wes points out that Nany was even dumber for continuing the Ty/LeRoy vote. LeRoy calls out Wes for trying to get him out of the game.

The Zach/Trey Jungle DQ is highlighted. Zach was still not amused. LeRoy was skeptical that his team could win. Zach actually understood why Frank was pulling for LeRoy and Ty. Zach acknowledged that T.J. made the right call and copped his mistake.  Unfortunately, Frank wouldn’t let things go and still berated Zach for making excuses and acting like he was a god.

Theresa reiterated her horrible feelings at the time, but is glad that everything worked out. She did admit she wasn’t completely off the hook however. Frank and Zach had one last spat, mostly regarding Zach not being able to trust Frank. Wes suggested that they hug and become friends again. But those two agreed to leave things be for now. The aftershow ends with a preview of more of the madness still to come for the remainder of the season.