Yahoo Movies The Challenge: Spies, Lies and Allies recap: A veteran and rookie learn lessons the hard way
Some things never change on The Challenge. One is that this is always an individual game, even when there are teams, so helping someone out to your own detriment isn't the way to win. And if you break TJ's rules, then you suffer the consequences. But both a veteran and a rookie learned those lessons the hard way this week on The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies. Let's recap how it all went down!
While some players are busy thinking about how these new team rules will change up the game, Cory is getting angrier and angrier about his team's attitude — especially with Kyle. So he sets up a bootcamp for the Ruby cell and it goes about as well as you'd expect. Big T is already complaining about how she can't work out in the midday sun, Kyle is twerking while wearing snorkel goggles, and Logan is sitting out in the hopes that his knee will recover in time for the next daily. Ruby isn't exactly the team to beat here, and Cory's not happy about it.
Then we get a mini-montage of some players calling family back home, and Kyle is really affected by his girlfriend showing him a scan of their unborn baby. He starts to realize that he needs to take this game seriously if he wants to make money to give his child a good life. But the beautiful moment is immediately ruined by Amanda telling Kyle all about the joys of childbirth and he learns what a mucus plug is. Even when Kyle gets serious, he's still Kyle.
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The Challenge: Satellite Sabotage
It's been a while since we got a sponsored challenge, and TJ has to say something promotional about a protein company with a straight face which is always hilarious. But onto the actual daily! Teams have to jump onto different platforms hanging off a giant satellite suspended over the water. On the last jump, players must grab a plug while midair in a leap of faith to successfully deactivate the satellite. And to make things even more fun, the other cells will get to blast the jumping team with fire hoses the entire time. The team who gets the most players the farthest in the shortest amount of time will win, and will also get a nice cash prize as a bonus.
Sapphire cell goes first, and CT decides to show everyone how it's done by jumping from arm to arm like he does this all day. He almost slips at one point due to the fire hoses starting up but he recovers easily and gets his plug like it was nothing. Nelson goes next, and instead of just leaping from arm to arm he lands face first and lays down on each one — which you'd think would help him stay on easily but he still slips and falls. Ed goes for the same strategy next and falls too. And then Ashley just gives up and jumps off! Bettina follows Ashley and DQs herself. Thankfully Amanda at least tries but falls about halfway through. This was not a good showing for Sapphire, and to say CT is disappointed would be an understatement.
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Ruby goes next, and Cory decides to go first like CT did to be a good leader and successfully pulls a plug. Kyle goes next but doesn't follow the rules and lands on the last arm, reaches down and pulls out the plug and then falls off, which absolutely was not a "leap of faith." So even though Ruby is leading right now, there's definitely a question of whether or not Kyle's point will count. Despite freaking out about the height, Emy actually does really well but ends up slipping near the end. Big T also slips on a jump and falls head-over-heels into the water. Logan goes last and even with his injury, he easily clears the course and gets the third plug for Ruby.
Emerald goes last, and Nany and Tori both immediately fall on their very first jumps so it's already not a great start despite everyone thinking this cell is the biggest threat. Then Josh falls on his first jump and Ruby starts to think they might actually win this. But Kaycee goes and smashes the course, getting the first plug, and then Devin easily gets the second. It's all up to Emanuel now but he falls about halfway through so Ruby starts celebrating.
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But did Kyle's plug count? Nope: TJ gathers all the cells to break the news that Kyle didn't make the leap of faith so he disqualified. That means Ruby and Emerald tied with two plugs each, but the cell who got two the fastest is… Emerald, again. Which means Kyle just cheated his entire team out of $3,000 each plus enough protein snack packs to fill a large safe, and Emerald's winning streak continues.
Back at the house, the Sapphire guys commune over grapes in the kitchen and Ed reveals he thinks his name is on the chopping block. Logan thinks he might be in trouble because of his injury. And Kyle is regretting his decision to break the rules, knowing it cost his team the win. During the Emerald team meeting before nominations, Devin points out how their best option would be vote in Logan because of his injury, knowing he probably won't survive the elimination and therefore they'd have no new vendettas coming after them. But what they don't count on is someone making a noble sacrifice to save Logan...
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Nominations
Kyle immediately apologizes to his team for costing them the win but Cory keeps on acting as team leader and forgives Kyle. He also gives a nice speech to his team about how proud he was of them today. It's all sweet but this is not what we came for!
Things get interesting when Ed speaks up to ask everyone not to put in Logan because he deserves more time to recover and compete with his full physical abilities. That's very honorable but this game isn't about honor — Ed is signing his own death warrant here! His own team members aren't happy that he's willing to sacrifice himself, and Tori points out that if Ed is throwing himself into the elimination for his friend that means he probably won't call out that same friend as his opponent. That means Ed will likely pick one of the vets to go against, and that should factor in to how they all vote.
But after the vote, Ed is revealed as the compromised agent. And all the vet guys start sweating, knowing he's about to call one of them out. Logan gives Ed good advice on how Cory is faster but Kyle is stronger, and Nelson is perhaps the weakest out of all the guys available to pick. So what will Ed do?
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Elimination
Walking into The Lair, it's immediately obvious that this elimination is Pole Wrestle, one of the ultimate headbangers. And considering all these guys are big physical threats, this is going to be a true fight. For his opponent, Ed reveals he's not picking anyone from Sapphire so his choice is between Cory and Kyle, and eventually he decides to go against Kyle. That is... a very surprising choice. And I don't think it was the smart one to make.
Elimination challenge: Pole Wrestle. We all know how this one goes! Ed looks strong but he's inexperienced and a lot smaller than Kyle, whereas Kyle has beaten everyone he's gone against in Pole Wrestle — including CT in a three-way fight! So Kyle definitely has the upper hand here. Again, Ed made a very honorable move here but honor gets you nothing in this game. This was a true rookie mistake and I think we're about to see him pay the ultimate price for it.
MTV 'The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies'
As soon as the air horn blows, Kyle looks like he's dominating this round. Ed doesn't have the techniques down because he's never done this before. But after a long struggle, Ed manages to flip Kyle over and does some damage. He starts slamming Kyle's head on the ground over and over, but Kyle still manages to hold on. And eventually Kyle yanks the pole away from Ed, getting the first point.
In the second round, Ed goes into beast mode and flips Kyle around. But after another long struggle, Kyle gets Ed on the ground and rips the pole out of his hands again, keeping his Pole Wrestle legacy intact and winning yet again. It's not a surprising outcome at all and further demonstrates how experience goes a long way here.
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I'm sad to see Ed go — he's had one of the best attitudes I've ever seen on this show, not just for a rookie. He was always a joy to watch both in challenges and confessionals, and he proved himself to be a strong competitor who needed to learn a bit more. But at least this means we can see Kyle cause absolute chaos with his decision about what team to be on, because while everyone thinks he's going to infiltrate Emerald, he actually steals Nelson's spot on Sapphire to be with CT. Everyone on Emerald is overjoyed to stay together and keep their winning streak alive, and CT is not happy that Kyle just joined his team. Cory and Nelson are at least happy to be together on a team, but Nelson is not going to forget this for a long time. Kyle, you're in trouble, man.
Challenger of the week: I'm going to have to give this week's award to Cory! Despite being on the worst team, he hasn't given up on them and is doing everything in his power to motivate them. The bootcamp idea was creative and he's being so patient with everyone. Plus, if Kyle had followed the rules, Ruby would have actually won this daily which no one saw coming. That's not bad at all!
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