Previously on “The Challenge: Total Madness”: CT tried to get the red skull brand necessary for finale qualification by putting himself in Purgatory. In a surprising turn of events, Jay – who already survived one Elimination Round – defeated the legend to earn another brand.
While the guys are stunned over Jay overcoming CT, Ashley & Mattie have the chance to potentially build an alliance heading into this week’s girl’s elimination round. Bear, on the other hand, decides he wants to show off in front of Kailah – spraying a fire extinguisher in a room full people including his love interest. Ashley spits in Bear’s face for the stupid action. Kailah, on the other hand, isn’t actually that upset. Mattie doesn’t take kindly to Ashley’s actions, starting an argument between the two when Ashley brings up that Mattie recently spent time in jail. Somehow, Nany gets involved in the argument; siding with Ashley.
The next morning arrives for this week’s Challenge inside an old warehouse: “Cold War”. In this team-based Challenge, sets of five will have to put a few of their members into the cold water; releasing puzzle pieces to solve all the while opposing players are breaking ice to send into the water for a little extra chill. The winning team courtesy of the fastest time will make up the first ever five-person Tribunal. Rogan, Josh & Fessy (divers) are assigned with future ice breakers Nany & Ashley will have to watch. The ice breakers of Shaggy C & Jordan will get to work overhead with their partners Dee, Kailah & Nelson diving when it’s their turn. The divers do incredibly well unlocking the pieces; though Jordan & Shaggy are no slouches as their ice deposits drop the water temperature two degrees in no time.
The next heat brings Nelson, Kailah & Dee into the water while Melissa & Mattie break the ice overhead. Melissa & Mattie decide to not do their job to ensure the water isn’t too cold for Jay, Wes & Tori when they enter to retrieve the pieces. This may be for the best as the water has reached fifty-eight degrees Fahrenheit – four degrees lower than when the game started. Nelson carries the load in unlocking, but Dee pretty much shuts down. Kailah can’t do anything to keep her warm and eventually they stagnate to the point host TJ Lavin calls it a day for them. Nelson is actually carried to the medics; eventually having to go to the hospital.
Round three has Jay, Tori & Wes diving while Kaycee & Big T break ice prior to the latter’s teammates Aneesa, Bear & Johnny Bananas diving afterward. Tori reveals that Wes is peeing during their retrieval, apparently motivating his team as they smoked the unlocking portion of this challenge. Eventually they solve the puzzle and it seems like they have the best time thus far. The fourth set starts as Jenna & Jenny (who are teaming with Cory, Kyle & Bayleigh) break ice to chill Aneesa, Bananas & Bear. Bananas comes up with a great idea of unhooking all the pieces before depositing them out of the pool. Aneesa solves the puzzle for her team and it seems they have just overcome everyone.
Last, but not least are Bayleigh, Cory & Kyle diving while Nany & Ashley break the ice. Realizing they have no way of beating the previous times, the divers quit to save their bodies. TJ reveals that the team with the fastest time was none other than Aneesa, Bananas, Bear, Big T & Kaycee – making them this week’s Tribunal. When Nelson makes it back to the bunker, the Elimination Round nominations begin with Ashley being singled out including out-of-the-game friend Dee. Ashley storms off, fired up to overcome whomever joins her inside Purgatory. Bananas starts politicking when everyone gets a chance to go out, with Big T convincing Nany that they need to protect each other. The Tribunal comes together with Dee being the main focus for them. Tori & Mattie are the other two names thrown onto the board; making everyone believe Ashley doesn’t stand a chance. Dee, shockingly, is the only one of the three nominees to tell everyone she’s ready to go into an Elimination Round.
The alarm goes off to signal Elimination Round time and it appears to be some type of intricate puzzle. Tori told the Tribunal she wants nothing to do with puzzles, while Dee was fine with facing Ashley in any environment. The vote is unanimous for Dee to take on fellow former champ Ashley in “Code Breaker”: a game where spinning a giant, game show-like wheel to determine what object they need to find hanging from a jar overhead. The only way to get to the jars is by standing on a large, twelve-sided die. Once the player has all five necessary tiles, they have line them up in chronological order of whatever “Challenge” season is on the tiles’ label. The game begins and no one is finding the right pieces.
Eventually, Ashley is able to find her first tile. Dee suddenly does the same and starts to gain a wave of momentum; finding piece after piece until she’s up by three. Dee gets all of her pieces, but the season order puzzle has her confused because she audibly notes that the show doesn’t air in her native Australia. Thankfully for Dee, Wes is their to help his old protege. Bananas is stunned that his ally would help Johnny’s recent enemy. Unfortunately for Dee is the fact Wes isn’t the most astute in regards to the order as well. With people shouting over Wes, Dee goes for broke and eventually gets the order correct to win.
Ashley snaps at Wes; warning Bananas about his treachery. Dee, on the other hand, is given her red skull.
Episode High(s): It All Comes Crashing Down. With this season being structured so differently compared to every other due to how important it is to enter & win an Elimination Round, Ashley’s game also changed dramatically. Ashley, obviously at her wits end with how to survive, was all over the place during this episode until this ultimately found herself in a losing situation. It was wild to see everything playing out as expected with Ashley after her failed salvo against Bananas last week.
Episode Low(s): Bear Hug. It’s also wild to see the persistence of Bear in his quest to capture the heart of Kailah. While the trailers & previews have spoiled certain interactions between them, the fact remains Bear’s attempt to convince Kailah he’s the one for her comes across as creepy. It’s one thing to shoot your shot a few times; it’s another to come across as a stalker.
Weekly Challenge Winners: Aneesa, Bananas, Bear, Big T & Kaycee
Eliminations: Asaf (Episode 1); Jenn (Episode 2); CT (Episode 3); Ashley (Episode 4)
Most Embarrassing Athletic Display: Cory. Really, Bear could be lumped in here with him as they made the call to just forget about suffering through the cold waters in an attempt to do the seemingly impossible and beat Team Anessa’s time. But since TJ said it was embarrassing for him to quit, I’ll take the words of a tough guy like Lavin to heart.
Competitor of the Week: Dee. This is a hard one to choose this week considering Aneesa led her team to victory while Dee simply shivered in the cold waters. But Dee stepped up knowing her back was against the wall and won in the Elimination Round with so many stats against her. Dee may be obvious in her conniving ways, but she’s a great competitors overall that proved her worth yet again.
Episode Summary in Five Words or Less: I’m a little bit bonkers.
