Yahoo Movies The Challenge: Double Agents recap: Theresa's collateral damage
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Theresa's play to get Ashley out of the game worked last week on The Challenge: Double Agents, but her actions cost her partner Jay everything in this week's episode. Was it worth it in the end? Let's see, shall we?
At the top of "Die Another Jay" — a title that should tell you things are, once again, not going well for Jay! — Kyle, Cory, and Leroy immediately confront Jay for blindsiding them all. Theresa then comes running into the room and takes full responsibility for everything that Team Cheekbones did, but she's not actually sorry because, in her eyes, she helped Kam get a gold skull. She actually expects a thank you (lol) and wants to fly under the radar now, but Kam and Leroy are gunning for Team Cheekbones no matter what.
CT and Theresa have a vet meeting the next morning and talk out an idea to target Darrell as the next house vote (assuming it's a men's elimination). CT doesn't want to face Darrell in the final because this dude has won every final he's ever been in. It's a smart move, but is there anyone who can really take out Darrell in an elimination besides CT? Definitely not.
Meanwhile, Fessy tries to mend fences with Cory, but — cue up JoJo — it's just too little too late. His apology isn't even an apology at all; he just says his "actions and demeanor get misinterpreted" and that he's actually just self-conscious and not arrogant at all. But that's not why Cory's upset. Does Fessy not realize just how badly he betrayed all his friends/allies? Either way, Cory's not buying what Fessy's selling. He's shown his true colors to Cory and everyone.
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The Challenge: Aerial Takedown
Chalk this daily challenge up to another one that sounds cool but ends up being anticlimactic! Players face off in five-person heats, attempting to hold onto a swinging cargo net dangling from a helicopter, all while trying to knock the other opponents off into the freezing glacial water below. Whoever stays on the longest, wins. Sounds dope, right? It ends up being kind of disappointing, all thanks to the men.
In heat 1 — Kaycee, Big T, Kam, Aneesa, and Nany — Aneesa is the first to fall, and Kacyee and Kam team up to knock Big T off. Kaycee knocks Kam off next, and then Kaycee and Nany battle it out, with Kaycee eventually winning the heat. In heat 2 — Kyle, Fessy, Darrell, Nam, and Devin — no one makes any moves. At all. They just hang there for the entire time, meaning they all DQ. That… is so boring! I wanted to see some carnage, considering who was facing off! Ugh.
Before heat 3 — Theresa, Amber M., Amber B., Gabby, and Lolo — begins, Theresa tries to politic with her opponents to orchestrate her win in advance, but it falls on deaf ears when it comes to Amber B. So Amber M., Lolo, and Gabby all fall when Theresa tells them to, but then Theresa and Amber B. battle it out, with Theresa eventually winning the heat. In heat 4 — Jay, Leroy, Mechie, CT, and Josh — Mechie almost misses his ride but jumps on the net at the last possible second. Jay immediately jumps on Leroy and looks like he's having the time of his life trying to knock him off. Mechie falls first, and even though the rest are still battling it out, since all four remain at the end of the ride, they're also DQed.
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Winner: Beating Theresa and Jay by just one second, it's Leroy and Kaycee.
TJ makes it a point to call out how all the women did great in the challenge. "But the boys — you guys f---ing suck. You guys didn't even try." He's not wrong! I expected so much more from the guys in this one, but they were all terrified. And this is hardly one of the scariest challenges they've ever done, so what gives?
Back at the house, Theresa's angry at Amber B. for not losing on purpose, knowing that that's what cost her and Jay the win. And Amber B. is mad at Theresa for trying to get her to throw the challenge since she's trying to save her partner Darrell from elimination. You can't fault either of them for feeling that way, but Theresa does not handle this well, especially considering that she's supposed to be flying under the radar. At Club COVID, Theresa tries to pretend like she wasn't thinking of targeting Darrell, but Darrell's a smart enough player to figure out the truth. Theresa then starts yelling at Amber B. who, major respect to her, keeps calm. Theresa's made some big power moves this season, but it's been messy and exposed the whole time. Now it's all blowing up in her face, and instead of lessening the target on her back, she's just making it bigger. That means nothing good for Jay, who's just backing her plays even though he doesn't agree with them.
But then Devin and Fessy become the main event of the drunken night. Devin knows that Fessy is feeling kind of down on himself after not performing in the challenge, so he does what he does best and just starts poking the bear. Kyle and Cory join in on talking about how no one wants Fessy to win. And it works — they successfully rile Fessy up to the point where Josh — yes, Josh! — has to be the one to calm him down. After they leave Club COVID, the argument resumes and Fessy starts yelling about how none of the guys will face him in elimination. Out of nowhere, he starts shoving Kyle, and Josh and security step in to take him outside while Devin moons him with a grin.
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After it seems like everything has calmed down, Josh comes back into the kitchen and out of nowhere throws a drink at Devin and Kyle. Security has to come in again and take Josh away, and Devin keeps trying to talk to Josh while Josh threatens Devin with a countdown. Of course, Devin just runs the clock, so Josh pushes Devin down like an actual child. That's got to be a disqualification, right? People have gotten sent home for much less in the past. Get this guy out of here!
The next morning, Kaycee's worried about how much work she has to do to keep her Big Brother alliance in check because Fessy and Josh just won't chill out. Meanwhile, Devin apologizes to his partner Gabby for how he acts in the house, and Amber B. sits down with Jay and Theresa to try and smooth things over. But Theresa owns up to name-dropping Darrell with CT which Jay had no idea about, and Theresa tries to play it off as CT's plan. Jay's hole is getting deeper and deeper to climb out of, all thanks to his partner.
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Deliberation
This week's deliberation is a mess! Between Devin apologizing for bringing all the negative energy in last night's disaster and Jay trying to act like he wasn't trying to manipulate anything and Theresa calling out CT for targeting Darrell, no one is really all that convincing. And by the look on CT's face, he was not expecting Theresa to expose him like that. He tries to deny it and discredit Theresa but people know that CT is just as sneaky as Theresa and really good at flying under the radar these days. But Kam isn't letting Theresa off the hook, and while Jay is happy to have a partner working so hard to save him, he just wants her to stop. Because it's clearly not working.
Jay and Theresa's actions indeed have consequences as the majority of the house votes for them, with Devin and Gabby getting some votes too. Leroy and Kaycee discover Jay and Theresa are the compromised agents, voted in by Kyle, Kam, Mechie, Amber M., Big T, CT, Aneesa, Amber B., Darrell, Devin, Gabby, and Cory. So now it's up to Leroy's whether he wants to go in against Jay himself. It's probably his best chance at a skull, but it all depends on what the elimination is. He's feeling nervous, so if he decides not to go in, he's sending in Nam instead. Leroy admits to Kam that he's afraid to go in, and Kam is also worried because Leroy's elimination record isn't as impressive as hers — he's good, but not great. This could go either way.
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Elimination
Walking into The Crater, it's immediately clear that this is the same elimination that Ashley lost to Natalie in the first episode. And this is also an elimination that Leroy absolutely dominated in the past, so he's definitely taking it.
First things first, TJ says that what happened at the house with Fessy and Josh was unacceptable, and gives them their "one and only warning." Hmm. It's frustrating how The Challenge plays fast and loose when it comes to physical altercations and what delineates expulsion versus just getting a warning.
But onto the elimination! TJ has another twist up his sleeve and announces that all the guys who did not try in the daily challenge do not get their votes counted for this week's compromised agents. But it turns out that the twist doesn't actually change anything (another anticlimactic reveal); Theresa and Jay are still the compromised agents. So Leroy says that there are two people responsible for his girlfriend getting a gold skull, and it's only right that they're responsible for him getting his skull as well. With a kiss from Kam, he heads down into The Crater with Kaycee as TJ confirms this is a men's elimination.
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Elimination challenge: Fire Escape. This is indeed the same elimination as the premiere, but now it's twice as long and with more obstacles along the way, making it more difficult for the men.
When TJ blows the horn, they're pretty much neck-and-neck the whole way down in the first leg with Leroy pulling just ahead of Jay. They both have the strategy and are clearing the beams and obstacles easily. But then Leroy laps Jay on the second leg and shoots ahead incredibly fast. It's a blink-and-miss-it launch that secures his win. And his gold skull. And it all happened in under a minute! This might be Leroy's most impressive elimination yet.
So where does this leave us? Jay gets choked up in his exit interview and walks out of The Crater, already hoping to come back next season, but it's officially the end of Team Cheekbones (pour one out for their amazing bone structures!). Leroy sticks with Kaycee as his partner. And Theresa is now Cory's partner — "Toxic T" and the Black Widow who can't keep a partner to save his life teamed up together? That's either going to be an amazing pair... or a literal disaster.
Challenger of the week: Rookie Amber B. for not getting intimated by Theresa's aggressive confrontation and choosing to compete rather than hand Theresa the win.
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