Previously on “The Challenge: Total Madness”: Rogan got his chance to not only earn a red skull brand by competing in an Elimination Round, but also avenge CT’s loss to Jay in a cliffhanger in Purgatory.
Picking up right where we left off, Jay is on the floor moaning like a shot bear after being taken down by Rogan. Medics come to ask if Jay can continue. Jay takes a few moments, but is up and ready for another attempt at dunking the fireball. Jay fails in his first three attempts at getting the ball in the basket and immediately doesn’t know what he needs to do when put on the defensive. The doctors immediately note that Jay has a possible concussion and can’t medically continue. With this victory comes a red skull for Rogan – making him the only guy left to have a finale-qualifying red skull. After returning to the Bunker, Jenna discovers that Zack has been looking through her DMs from two years and believes she could be cheating on him. Jenna has a breakdown and actually threatens to leave. And then there’s Kailah furious with herself for kissing Bear. Bear is actually trying to create a love nest for himself & Kailah thanks to some help from Bananas & Wes. They even give it a test run.
When Kailah sees the fruits of their labor she is sickened as Wes taped pictures of her & her fiance on the ceiling. Kailah tells Bear off while Zack finally picks up the phone for Jenna and accuses her of cheating on him two years ago even though Jenna says they were separated when these conversations happened. Jenna decides that she’ll leave if they can salvage the relationship. Nany tries to convince Jenna to stay heading into this week’s Challenge and a girl’s elimination day. Another person looking to get that red skull is Bayleigh as she, her man Swaggy C & Wes are too in an alliance.
Host TJ Lavin confronts Jenna about quitting before this week’s Challenge. Jenna opts not to go home before “Fast & the Furious”: a challenge where teams of two will have retrieve puzzle pieces off the side of a moving semi to solve said puzzle atop the trailer. With less men than women, Jordan has to work twice with the best chance of getting into the Tribunal. Nany & Jordan take one side of a rig while Swaggy C & Dee work the other side. Jordan figures early how to move across the his platform; smoking the pieces collection while Dee is scared to death. Jordan & Nany finish the puzzle with time on the clock following seven minutes, but Dee & Swaggy can’t.
Tori is teamed with Josh while Big T & Kyle take part in the second heat and Josh immediately drops a puzzle piece. With Kyle looking to do most of the lifting for his team, it prevents them for working efficiently and results in them running out of time. Tori can’t believe it when she realizes Josh dropped the first piece he attained; costing them a completion as well. Mattie & Cory join Jenna & Fessy on the semi next and due to the players being tethered together both Cory & Fessy can’t reach their respective final puzzle pieces in time. Nelson & Aneesa and Jenny & Rogan go up next. Aneesa drops one of the first pieces she grabs and Rogan & Jenny just can’t reach their remaining pieces. Nelson accuses Aneesa of throwing the Challenge. When Aneesa tries to defend herself, Nelson continues ranting to the point he even angers other players.
Kaycee & Bear end up competing alongside Bananas & Melissa with the prior actually finishing the collection portion first. Melissa isn’t far behind, helping Bananas solve the puzzle incredibly fast. Bear & Kaycee also finish their puzzle. Last up are Kailah & Wes and Jordan & Bayleigh. Jordan gives his partner the heads up and they smoke the collecting portion. The puzzle solving, however, stumps both teams. Like Nelson, Bayleigh blames her partner for the loss as a way to get Nany a red skull. Host TJ Lavin reveals that Jordan & Nany actually got the best time; making them two-thirds of the Tribunal. Somewhat surprisingly, Jenna is chosen as the third member of the Tribunal instead of Jordan’s fiance Tori. The episode ends with Jordan revealing Tori will enter Purgatory by the end of this week to get her red skull.
Episode High(s): Ending on a Mid-note. After the anti-climatic conclusion of Rogan-Jay in Purgatory (for all the right reasons, mind you), we got a meandering episode topped off by a very fun weekly Challenge. The episode concluded with a tease of strategies & potential fallout that definitely hooks someone for the next episode even if this one wasn’t the most rewarding.
Episode Low(s): Trouble in Paradise. A good chunk of this episode was about lover’s quarrels. Now this isn’t out of the ordinary with seasons of “The Challenge”, but a majority of the time those problems happen because the participants are all on the show. Zack is at home, Kailah’s boyfriend isn’t involved, and we have people threatening to quit because of everything going down. After five weeks of the same presentation formula that worked, this week’s format wasn’t for the best. Also, thumbs down to Nelson for lashing out at Aneesa. Yeah, he believed she threw the Challenge, but in the end it would hurt her more than him considering this is a female Elimination week.
Weekly Challenge Winners: Jordan & Nany
Eliminations: Asaf (Episode 1); Jenn (Episode 2); CT (Episode 3); Ashley (Episode 4); Jay (Episode 6)
Most Embarrassing Athletic Display: Josh. While Josh wasn’t the only person to drop a puzzle piece during the mission, he was the first and just gave the likes of Wes & Bananas even more ammunition in regards to him being one of the worst players in the game due to his clumsiness and overall ineptitude.
Competitor of the Week: Jordan. Jordan had to complete two runs of a taxing Challenge this week and performed marvelously when it came to the physical portion. Even in regards to the puzzle solving he did well during the first run, but saw things play out a little differently with a partner not-so-puzzle-centric.
Episode Summary in Five Words or Less: Quitters and sabotages.
