Taking on 'The Challenge: Battle of the Eras' | "An Era of One"

The big season 40 for the MTV staple The Challenge. Each Thursday afternoon, The Alabama Take sinks their teeth into the coverage of The Challenge: Battle of the Eras in the form of recaps, analysis, thoughts, questions, and answers. Find it on the site every Thursday. 

“An Era of One” finds Devin in bed with sunglasses as if he knows his fate. This week’s daily challenge requires the teams and, well, Rachel, to solve twenty-seven equations which flash in front of them for a few seconds. The number that they get correct will be the number of footholds the entire team gets in a shipping container hovering a couple of stories above water. The team who hangs in the container the longest wins. While Rachel gets less equations and therefore less places to use to stay above water, she needs less. Era I is only her. It works to her advantage, too: she wins the challenge, gets complete control with no partner to help, and hears deliberations between Era IV’s Kyland and Kaycee and Era II’s Ryan and Laurel on who should go against Era III’s Devin and Tori in elimination this week. It’s a tough call for Rachel as Josh, who’s close to her IRL, tries to sway her to leave Era IV out. He is not persuasive. Rachel also has a friendship with Ryan. Kaycee gets in on the action during a night out, saying that she and Rachel have an “unspoken alliance.” In the end, Rachel chooses Era IV where Kyland easily defeats a slow-moving Devin in a game of untangling cords to fit into the correct plug. It’s an odd game that has the players running back to a button to check to see how many of the 40 seasons’ show images will light up. Between the ladies, it’s much closer. So much so that it comes down to who gets to the red button first. T.J. says it’s Tori, and Kaycee ends up leaving, but not before T.J. lets everyone know that teams are done, it’s everyone playing individually, the pride of the era still remains, and Devin and Kaycee cast karma points. 

We finally got our format shift. After elimination, T.J. announces the game will be an individual competition going forward. Who does this benefit the most? Conversely, who is screwed now?

Blaine: Bananas, Rachel, Tori, Jordan, and Kyland jump forward in my opinion. Others who could do well in this scenario are Laurel, Cara Maria, Jenny, and Cory. As for the losers with the switch, if Ryan, Derek, Aviv, and Michele go home sooner rather than later, it makes a lot of sense. I’m impressed with how Kyland has fared against these legends: he’s only done two seasons of The Challenge, and one of those was with the famed non-champion set of players in Season 39. He’s young, he’s smart, and he’s a student of the game. Should he win, look out for the future of The Challenge. He could be dominant in his seasons to come. Bananas may be showing some age here and there: he hasn’t come through with a win on his own merits yet. With Jordan still on the show, though, that’s where your safest bet is. He’s damn good. When it comes to Ryan, Derek, Aviv, and Michele, they are toast. They have no true alliances beyond one person, their physical games aren’t as strong as the remainders, and someone has to go to elimination so the rest can hang on until the final. Why not them? 

TD: The big winners are people who are strong competitors, like Rachel, Jordan, Laurel, Cara Maria, and Cory. The other big winners are those that can perform better outside of the constraints of the team format, and one big name pops to mind: Bananas. This is big for him. Granted, he’ll become a big target, for sure, but he very much fits the “a cornered animal is the most dangerous animal” mold. With him now being able to maneuver throughout the cast, his stock just rose significantly. 

On the flip side, the people who’ve been hiding in their teams are now exposed. Michele immediately had a confessional where she talked about how worried she is now, and with good reason. Aviv might be in the crowd, too, she’s been awfully quiet this season. I also think Olivia could be in trouble, she seems to get herself in bad situations without proper guidance. Ultimately, the people who are unable to forge alliances will find themselves in elimination rather quickly.

What do you think about targets staying in the game, even though they’ve shifted to an individual competition?

Blaine: These should’ve been gone a long time ago. But if you’re going to keep using them, perhaps this is the time that it makes sense to have targets. It wasn’t working in the eras portion. I’d dare say it was a huge flub by production on implementing it and not going away from it as soon as the results were in. I’ll give it a week to see how it works when it’s every competitor playing for himself/herself. It makes that person really want to win now, though, right? The target will give power over every person, not just two eras. So it could be much more fascinating, and maybe the show should’ve waited until now to introduce targets. 

TD: At first I was hesitant, admittedly. I haven’t been the biggest fan of this season’s format, so I was hoping for a total reset. But, the more I’ve thought about it, the more I like it. It gives a lot of power to the winners of the daily challenges, so it places a real emphasis on doing your best to win. I’m always in favor of stipulations like that, because I really hate when people plot to throw a challenge. This is a competition, after all.

How satisfying is it to see Devin and Kaycee go home? 

Blaine: I’m a pretty big fan of Devin’s antics. His snark has the right amount of wit to be hilarious and spot on even when it is against a fan favorite like Bananas. His laying in bed with sunglasses and claiming to be asleep for fifteen hours is big relatable. I was shocked as hell at his performance in the elimination, though. It was almost like he didn’t want to do the show any more. Know how the cast gives interviews which come out the next day after an episode airs? I would not be surprised to find out he was done and wanted to head out. When it comes to Kaycee, sometimes she can be low key and I don’t mind her – her appearance as a mercenary in Season 39 was cool. But sometimes she’s so low key that she doesn’t deserve the status that she thinks she has. She floats by on whom she knows [cough, cough, Vacation Alliance]. Yeah, she won a championship, but how much of that was due to partnerships? (In fact, her last partner that season was C.T. Take that for what you will.) Her attempt to ingratiate herself with Rachel was infuriating. She has complained all season that Jenny has never talked game and has deserved being targeted so much, yet here Kaycee is. She claims that she and Rachel have had “an unspoken alliance.” What the hell’s that!? Nothing. That’s what it is. I’m glad Rachel saw through it, too.  

TD: I’ll never cry over Devin being eliminated, I’ve just never liked him. He’s smarmy and cocky, and doesn’t really have the credentials to back it up. He is a former champ, so he’s due his props there, but he’s always come off as someone who thinks they’re a lot smarter than they really are. I’d want to punch him in the face if I were on the show with him. Kaycee is whatever. She’s a great physical competitor, but doesn’t offer much else. She needs Nany to make her interesting.

How much responsibility is Josh supposed to have for Kaycee and Cory and Devin and Nelly T and anyone else who’s been on the show or off of the show or watched the show or not watched the show? 

Blaine: They make Josh the scapegoat because they can. It’s time that he step away from the Vacation Alliance for good. They use him as a punching bag. He needs to fill Nelson’s shoes and recommit to Cory, who may actually be loyal to him. Fans gripe about Josh constantly being on the show, but look: who else you gonna get to cry!? You think T.J.’s shedding tears!? Jordan’s not weeping for a player calling him a turncoat! That shit makes Bananas chuckle on screen! Nope, like it or not, we need Josh. (By the way, Josh, you and Cory could be a helluva goofy force. Time to make amends.)

TD: Speaking of people I care nothing about, it’s The Goof himself, Josh. Good lord, his crying confessional…barf. He’s a punching bag because he deserves to be, everything that happens to him is his own fault, directly or indirectly. Can’t wait until he’s eliminated.

Confessionals:

• I said it briefly last week, but if Rachel even makes it to the final, that’s worth discussion. She’s excellent and as fit as any of the young ‘uns remaining. - Blaine 

• As a fan, I don’t like that Bananas gets stuck with a target again, but with Derek and Ryan also targets, I’ll bet you a lot of money that Johnny finds a way to get them into elimination next week. You know, assuming he doesn’t immediately lose. - Blaine

• Aviv has been nonexistent, which can mean – thanks to editing’s way of working – that she is bound for a final. - Blaine

• We usually don’t talk trailers or future clips here, but lord. That tease for the coming weeks made me want to binge this season now. - Blaine 

• With the competition going individual, I really miss the likes of CT, Darrell, Tony, Horacio, Emily, Tina, Derrick K, etc. - TD

• I need the degree of difficulty on both dailies and eliminations to step up a notch. Some of these games have been a little easy, at least they appear so, and haven’t made for compelling television. - TD