The Challenge: Vets & New Threats Episode 15 Review — The Best Birthday Present

We’re so close to the Final, which of course means it’s time for Aneesa to go. This was a solid episode that unfortunately just didn’t have any unpredictability to it after the Challenge. But it did have Turbo sleeping in the club, I hope he had sweet dreams.

For this review, I’ll simply go through each section of the episode and comment on everything that stood out to me: the highlights, lowlights, comedic moments, stupid moments, and fantastic quotes.

Sydney and Turbo

Sydney starts the episode by saying, “I still feel fantastic about my partnership with Turbo. He cares so deeply about my physical and mental well-being in this game.” Considering how Sydney has said very much the opposite online, it’s very interesting that they decided to put this quote in the edit that was very likely said much earlier in the season. With this inclusion and the Psychology Doctor Turbo scene last week, the editors definitely want us to think that Sydney and Turbo are the best of friends.

Battle for Mid

The Challenge for this week splits up the partnerships into different tasks, just like what has been happening in recent Eliminations, and I am not a fan. I also do not particularly care for Challenges that are turn based, so this was not my favorite. One member of a pair will untie a chain that is wrapped around a car, and once they have done this, their partner will be dragged through a driving course in that car where they must steer it around box towers to get time taken off of their overall score. The entire Challenge is basically decided by whoever is untying the chains, as there is only so much time the driver can actually take off. Before this Challenge we see both alliances talk about how they don’t want to come first, or obviously last, and so everyone is fighting for the positions in the middle of the pack to ensure they have the numbers at Nomination.

Justin and Nany go first with Justin untying the chains, and Nany says how even though they wanted to place in the voting positions, once the Challenge starts all the want to do is win. Idiots. IDIOTS! This is why Nany has not won this show. There’s a certain level of game IQ that you need to be successful on The Challenge, and being adaptive, strategic, efficient, and forward-thinking is soooo important. She does not possess these traits.

Now we get the three Closet Alliance teams all in a row, and they start poorly, and then somehow continue getting worse. First is Olivia and Will, and for some reason Will is the one to untie the chains. They just watched Justin do it and will have a pretty good sense of how long it took him, so why is Will doing it now, and doing it faster? I thought you didn’t want to win either?? This makes no sense and they had the perfect opportunity to force a Justin and Nany win. Will does very well with the chains and pretty clearly gets his part done much faster than Justin did, so even though Olivia crashes her car and doesn’t take any time off their score, they still have a good enough time to win, thwarting their plans. Hopefully Olivia crashing the car adds to Will’s desire to Stake a Claim as I am dying for someone else to do it. RIP Gabe, you are forever a legend.

As Will is throwing around the chains, Aneesa says, “Throw me around like that later Will!” To which Nany responds, “He will!” which is some hilarious accidental foreshadowing to the fact that Aneesa and Will actually hooked up after this season.

Aneesa and Jake go next, and Jake says that Aneesa will be untying the chains because last time there was a Challenge with a car, Aneesa didn’t know how to start it. Considering that in this Challenge a massive truck is pulling the car and therefore there is not any need to know how to start it, this is a terribly irrelevant reason. They don’t want to win so they have Aneesa untying the chain. But out of all the women she is clearly the worst and will come in last, so this is an awful decision. Jake should’ve just done this part and done it slowly. Aneesa talks about how it’s empowering to do the difficult part of the Challenge, and then gets roasted for how slowly she was doing it which was absolutely hilarious. When it comes time for Jake to drive, instead of going around the obstacles, as is the entire point, he drives in a perfectly straight line, completely failing. The best part is he doesn’t even realize he did anything wrong, and this pair puts up a complete stinker of a performance on every level.

Theo and Adrienne now go and everyone’s thinking, okay just don’t be so completely abysmal that you somehow manage to lose to Jake and Aneesa. Adrienne is the one untying the chains, which I think Theo forgets, as he starts untying the chains from the inside of the car as well. TJ and a producer start yelling at Theo to stop touching the chains, and after several warnings, he keeps touching it, which leads to the decision of DQing them from the Challenge. Are you kidding me. The idea of DQing from this Challenge never even crossed my mind, and yet somehow he managed to accomplish this.

We finish out the Challenge with a montage of Sydney and Turbo, Michaela and Cedric, and Aviv and Yeremi completing it, with the women untying the chains for every team. These three teams are the only ones to successfully enforce the strategy of not winning and not losing.

At the end of the Challenge, TJ scolds the competitors for not trying to win, saying, “it is not very wise, because I know you feel like you’re gaming the system, but it’s very risky, anything can happen, and it’s not a good look.” Okay Dad. If you want them to try to win the Challenges then design a format in which they are encouraged to. They are in fact gaming the system, and you’re just mad they’re smarter than you. Even though there’s only two Challenges left until the Final, they should just change the format starting next week so that whoever wins the Challenge still gets to vote at Nomination. It’s okay to admit you made a mistake, and it’s better to correct it late than never make that change and continue with a faulty format.

Desperate Aneesa

Aneesa talks with Olivia, Jake, and Will about her chances of getting voted in, and says how Nany probably won’t vote for her, and she also says that Aviv is playing both sides of the house. Both of these statements are absolutely ridiculous because Aneesa is clearly with the Closet Alliance but has the delusion that she won’t be voted in because she is in fact trying to play both sides of the house.

Sydney asks Justin, “Tbh, like what even is a Jake?” And I actually don’t have an answer. I know that he has a birthday and a dog, and that’s about it.

As Cedric and Michaela isolate themselves from the rest of the house when they’re out at the bar, they talk about how Aviv and Yeremi are socializing with the other alliance and how that makes them shady and untrustworthy. So just to make sure I have this correct, Michaela, who is plotting against members of her own alliance, is targeting Aviv for suspicions of plotting against her alliance. Meanwhile there has literally been zero evidence of this being the case. At the end of the day, Michaela and Cedric don’t want to run a Final against Yeremi and Aviv because they think they might lose, and that’s why they want to get them out, not because Aviv is “shady”.

Aneesa has a conversation with Nany in which she is shocked when Nany tells her that yes, she will be voting for her. After Aneesa went to the bedroom of the opposing alliance, and votes with them and against Nany’s alliance for the last several weeks, she can’t believe that there are consequences to these decisions.

Nomination

I truly do not understand what Jake is thinking. He knows with 100% certainty that he and Aneesa are going into Elimination, and he has the chance to avoid that outcome! Why would he not Stake a Claim??? Not only is he going into Elimination, but he’s partners with Aneesa, and he’s going against a team that’s already won three Eliminations this season. He has the opportunity to switch partners to Michaela or Aviv and set himself up fantastically for the rest of the season, and we don’t get even a single mention of this being a possibility. Like I said before, some people just don’t give themselves the best chance of winning because they just aren’t wired for competition, and Jake is clearly one of these people. Aneesa and Jake are voted in unanimously by the house, and will be facing Theo and Adrienne in Elimination.

Michaela and Cedric are upset that they’re throwing in Jake and Aneesa instead of a strong team to get one out before the Final, and I do understand that logic. But, they are not so safe to where regardless of who in the house gets eliminated they will be guaranteed safety going forward, so they still need to play the political game. And not only that, but once you’re in the Final, you have a chance to win. Yes, some people will obviously be better, but with these Finals you never know what you’re going to get with the amount of randomness that occurs in them, so just ensuring that you make it is the most important thing.

After Nomination, Aviv is tearful as she is so upset that she had to vote in Aneesa, which makes Nany and Michaela speak about how they don’t trust her and that she’s trying to play both sides. But if anything, the fact that she was so upset about voting in Aneesa and yet still did should actually prove her loyalty to you! Again, they’re just trying to find any excuse to target her and it is very transparent.

More Untying of Something Long…But in Elimination

Very strange how last week both the Challenge and Elimination were puzzles, and then this week both the Challenge and Elimination are untying and dragging a chain or rope. That seems very silly. In this Elimination there’s a giant spool with massive cables wrapped around them, and the first team to fully unravel their three cables wins.

Theo and Adrienne, Theo especially, start going crazy just throwing off as much of the cable as possible as quick as possible, without much regard for keeping each of them untangled. Whereas Aneesa and Jake seem much more focused on keeping them untangled, but moving at a slower pace. Because of Theo and Adrienne’s strategy, they get off to an initial lead, but Theo starts to gas out and it looks uncertain if he’ll be able to finish. This combined with him not communicating well with Adrienne leads to her almost walking off on him mid-Elimination, made me very concerned. Adrienne gets frustrated and says, “You do you, Theo!” which was followed up by Olivia yelling down, “No Adrienne! Adrienne! No! You don’t let him do him!” Absolutely hilarious.

Based on what everyone was saying, Aneesa and Jake’s slow and steady method seemed to be the winning strategy, and I like to stay somewhat objective in these reviews, but I was really not wanting for them to win. And just as it seemed like Theo and Adrienne were collapsing, Adrienne takes control and leads the way for her and Theo to finish the Elimination and take home their fourth win of the season. Upon seeing how much cable Aneesa and Jake still had left to unravel, they weren’t even close. I really liked this Elimination and think it was a great test of strength, endurance, and communication.

Theo and Adrienne become the 10th pair/individual to win 4 Eliminations in a single season, and are one more away from tying the all-time record. This is the type of season I am glad to be getting from Theo after not seeing him like this in so long, and for Adrienne, it’s the best possible rookie season you can ask for.

Jake didn’t have any storylines this season outside of being friends with Leo, and that’s unfortunately not enough to cut it. Aneesa on the other hand had many storylines, most of which I was not particularly interested in because they were the same ones as every other season she is on. I would’ve seen enough of Aneesa on this show if she retired in 2015, but I have no doubts she’ll be here for every season to come.

Moving Forward

Theo and Adrienne have a good chance at equalling the single season Elimination record because I think it’s very likely they’ll be going back in. Next week there’ll be six teams left and so if Theo and Olivia both neither win or lose the Challenge, they can force another coin flip tiebreaker to avoid Elimination. I can also see Michaela and Cedric flipping on Yeremi and Aviv and Sydney and Turbo to send them into Elimination and get rid of a bigger threat for the Final. No matter which of those outcomes occur, the political game next week will surely be very dramatic and interesting.

If I had to predict who will make the Final, I would say Michaela and Cedric, Aviv and Yeremi, Turbo and Sydney, and Olivia and Will. I just think Theo and Adrienne’s run will have to come to an end, and if Nany and Justin go into Elimination, every other team is the favorite against them. But I wouldn’t be surprised with any combination of results, especially in the Final, which no matter what will be stacked. For my winner pick I’m torn between Michaela and Cedric and Aviv and Yeremi but I’m leaning towards Aviv and Yeremi because I’m not as confident in Michaela’s endurance.

Winner of the Episode: Turbo for scaring the editors so much they’re making him look like the world’s best, most gentle, partner

Loser of the Episode: Me having to hear Aneesa call Jake “her little muffin”

-Beckett Hennessey