T. Green
Rivals II:
We left off with an unknown guys’ kayak capsizing during the first portion of the final. It turned out to be Marlon and Jordan’s. They stood no chance of catching up, leaving Johnny and Frank to take the last spot on the yacht and make it to the next stage of the final.
(T.D.’s Take: On the Real World Portland reunion, Jordan and Marlon hinted that they did well in Rivals II. I figured they at least made the final, which they did. They didn’t make it all the way, but third place and $15,000 is still very good for a rookie team.)
T.J. informs the remaining teams about the rest of the final. They started out on Dream Island; you’ll never guess where they have to go next. Sure enough, Nightmare Island. The ultimate goal is to get the golden elephant by retrieving five idols at different checkpoints.
To the dread of Cara Maria, they start off with another swim. Fortunately for her, the swim doesn’t play a huge factor for the rest of the race. After making their way through some bamboo, the challengers arrive at their first checkpoint.
It’s a puzzle reminiscent of a game you find at Cracker Barrel or a similar restaurant. There are 14 spikes set up. The spikes are supposed to be jumped over each other until there’s only one left. CT/Wes and Cara Maria/Cooke finish first for their respective genders. The first girls and guys team must drop a smoke grenade to signal to the second place teams that they’ve finished a particular checkpoint.
The teams in front cut through a chain link fence to get to the next part. So, the competitors are in the middle of a challenge final when all of a sudden, a math lesson breaks out! At the next checkpoint, teams must solve a Pythagorean theorem question to determine the correct rope to cut. If the wrong one is picked, all five ropes have to be cut.
CT and Wes fiddle around for a bit before making a random guess and getting it right. Cara Maria and Cooke, in a nice bit of game theory, figure out that they have the same equation as CT and Wes and easily cut the corresponding rope.
After breaking through a glass door, it’s time for the Fear Factor portion of the final: the food test. Teams must consume all the food and liquid in order before moving on. It goes: chili peppers, pickled fish soup, worms/crickets/maggots (all in one dish), durian and dried squid. Cue the obligatory puking montage!
CT and Wes maintain their lead, but Paula and Emily jump to first place for the girls by somehow cruising through the food challenge. The heat combined with the nasty stuff just consumed is taking its toll on some of the challengers.
(T.D’s take: Over the years, the Challenge finals have often been decided by puzzles. Here, however, it appears that food is the turning point of the final.)
After cutting through another chained door, CT and Wes make it to the fourth checkpoint. Teams must carry twenty “body bags” in total to a designated area. Paula has a hard time with the heavy bags, but finds motivation after seeing Cara Maria and Cooke gaining on her team.
Wes and CT are still out in front after delivering the body bags. They dig up the fourth idol and start running to the fifth and final checkpoint. Cooke and Cara Maria are visibly frustrated as Emily and Paula extend their lead.
There’s signs of Wes slowing down, but him and CT make it to the last part. They use a crank to lower a gate. From there, they dig a hole to a tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, they emerge from a pile of bamboo and retrieve the fifth idol, which gives them the right to the golden elephant. Emily and Paula do the same.
CT/Wes and Emily/Paula board canoes and make it to the yacht, winning the first prize of $125,000. Cooke/Cara Maria and Frank/Johnny have to settle for second place and $35,000.
T.J. says it’s a long time coming for CT and congratulates all the winners on board the yacht. All the teams at the end acknowledge that they’re closer now despite arriving to the game as rivals.
(T.D.’s Take: CT’s been snakebitten in this game for a variety of reasons, but he finally gets his LeBron James moment as a champion. It’s a big win for Wes as well, as it’s been six years since he last won a Challenge. Emily is kind of the female CT; best competitor but hasn’t won the big one. Well, now she has. And, finally, Paula proves her win on the first Rivals was not a fluke as she gets it done here).
Live Reunion:
Johnny Moseley is back one more time to break down the entire season of Rivals II (note: Cooke was conspicuously absent for this). We start off with congrats for all the winners, but especially for CT who’s been in this game a long time. CT and Wes go over the ups and downs of their relationship. Paula gives a wink and a nod to the notion that she picks great female competitors to fight against knowing that they’ll become her partners later on.
CT/Wes and Jemmye/Camila are first up on the “hot seat”. CT and Wes continue to discuss the game, while Jemmye and Camila go over their wild relationship. Frank, Knight, Emily and Cara Maria are next on the hot seat: They address Frank’s antics on social media. Knight says he doesn’t like Frank and is heated about comments that Frank made about Jemmye on the show. Knight calls Frank a little bitch and actually strikes him in the face. Security comes and whisks Knight away.
Diem, Paula, Aneesa and Jemmye take the hot seat and talk about the Diem controversy. Diem gets emotional when talking about her situation. Because of the chemo, she was on steroids and also had early menopause, which explained her behavior on the show. Johnny, CT and Aneesa defended Diem.There was a disconnect between Diem and the newer girls, which contributed to them calling her fake. Diem and Jemmye settled their differences somewhat.
The first viewer Instagram question inquired about girl-on-girl hookups, but no one was willing to go into specifics. Johnny, Cara Maria and Frank are up as a group on the hot seat. They talk about why Frank is always fighting with someone. Frank and Jemmye squash their beef at the end. They also go into why people hate Johnny and Cara Maria. Most of it is chalked up to the house environment, as most of the people are much better in real life.
CT and Diem discuss their relationship. Not much in the way of new ground, as declined to go into detail when Moseley put him on spot. Diem reiterated that CT’s hookups didn’t bother her, as she knew he was just playing the game.
Marlon, Jordan, Preston Aneesa conversed about the WTF moments of the season, including Marlon’s hookups, the Knight/Marlon fight, Jordan possibly having eyes for Emily even before Sarah/Jonna, the Aneesa/Trishelle fight, and the Camila meltdown.
The second Instagramer wanted to know what Frank said about Jemmye that made Knight slap him? Frank declined to answer since he moved on and wasn’t that person anymore. And with that, the reunion ended.
(T.D.’s Take: The reunion actually illustrated one problem with covering reality TV. A lot of details come out later on that greatly change the perspective of what people write and opine about. Other than that, we didn’t learn much more than what was already shown on previous aftershows and the S*** We Should’ve Shown episode. Also, the Instagram stuff was a complete waste of time. But there you have it, another season of The Challenge wrapped up. Up next is a new season of The Real World set to take place in San Francisco in 2014.)
