Taking on 'The Challenge: Battle of the Eras' | "Location Change Era"

The Challenge: Battle of the Eras

Season 40 of the MTV staple The Challenge begins its ending and each Thursday evening, The Alabama Take continues coverage of Battle of the Eras in the form of recaps, analysis, thoughts, questions, and answers. Find it on the site every Thursday evening. 

In “Location Change Era,” the seventeenth episode of season 40, the players get into the house and begin some wishing: Jenny wants Michele to lose so that Cara Maria will be in elimination and Bananas wishes for a prime opportunity to wear his MC Hammer costume. The crew whisk away the remaining players to the Philippines, where they settle into a new abode for some pool time, drinks, and plenty of talk about not wanting Bananas in the final. Their dinner has them reflecting on their favorite moments from the season, which allows for a few highlights, including Johnny taking pride in Devin going home and both Jordan and Cara explaining that Bananas plays the victim versus Tori here. Then it’s time for a daily in a fortress, no less. The players must race into the fortress, bring two concrete bricks back at a time, collect a plank after bringing four bricks, and use the planks to solve a puzzle. Michele struggles with the concrete, Jenny’s asthma factors in her abilities again, Kyland sets a great pace but struggles with the puzzle, and Jordan overtakes him to win. Jenny hangs on to get the victory for the ladies. Derek loses for the men and will get the penalty during the final, and although Cara Maria comes in with a three-minute addition this week, it comes down to Tori and Michele. Michele trails the whole game, yet she pieces together the puzzle before Tori, which means that Tori is automatically in elimination. When it comes down to Rachel and Cara, Jordan, as the week’s winner, goes with sending Cara to face Tori as he’s a man of his word with Rachel. T.J. needs Jordan’s answer quickly, though, as the final elimination is soon to begin, but this time, they aren’t taken to an arena, but a spot in the middle of the ocean. Tori and Cara Maria have a simple game: tread water longer than the other and get the win. It isn’t without drama, as plankton bite the ladies and a snake circles them as well. To make it more difficult, T.J. adds two phases where they must keep afloat with their hands above the water and then with their elbows out of the water. It’s the final phase after two-and-a-half hours that gets Cara, and before she sinks to the bottom, she dips her elbows into the sea and loses. Before she heads home, she gives her karma points by showing Rachel respect with five points and giving Johnny a measly one. The episode ends with the players in the final – Jordan, Kyland, Bananas, Derek, Rachel, Jenny, Michele, and Tori – searching for rest aboard the S.S. Sinister where they’ll maintain a home during the course of the final. 

The episode offered up not only a change of location but a good change of pacing. What were your thoughts on the daily and the elimination? 

Blaine: Maybe it was the focus on so few players, the constant movement, or the clear goal of the challenge, but the daily was a good one. A mix of physicality and mental strength pairs well on any episode of The Challenge, even if the puzzle was incredibly simple – which, by the way, is why I think Kyland did poorly. It wasn’t hard enough! He may have overthought it, though no confessional indicates such. Toss in a player coming from behind in a surprising fashion as Michele did, and the daily was worth the time spent. As for the elimination, the fresh environment may have played a big role, but I found it fascinating, too. The stakes of (almost) drowning don’t hurt. Having an elimination where the clock is shown and bits can be skipped ahead help for entertainment. Oh, and snakes. I was not expecting a snake! 

TD: That elimination was one of the best they’ve ever done. It was simple, sure, but damn if treading water for that long isn’t just an absolute beast of a feat. Props to Tori for making it look so easy, and double props for keeping her composure during the event. Lord knows I can’t float for shit unless I’m on a boat.

Now that we know the finalists, who’s played the best game of those remaining this season? 

Blaine: Jordan has been flawless, Kyland crushes dailies left and right, Derek has surprised us all with how well rounded he’s been, Bananas has kept himself afloat all season while stirring the shit, but my vote goes to Rachel. First, she’s the only Era I player left, which still baffles me. Then she had the amazing run where she was all alone and an automatic target. Lastly, she keeps away from most politics until the back half of the season when she aligns with Johnny and makes a deal with Jordan. She played this season very well against some very strong ladies in Cara Maria, Tori, Laurel, Aviv, and Jenny. I’m not saying she deserves a win, but it would be cool since she’s the last of the really old-school  players remaining. 

TD: I mean, they all have, right? If you make it to a final, it is rarely out of dumb luck. Derek has definitely been the biggest surprise, so all credit to him. Rachel deserves her flowers for coming back in such great shape and being the lone Era I survivor, and Bananas and Michele deserve credit for surviving their war against each other. It’s not the final eight I would’ve predicted or even hoped for, but it makes for an intriguing field, for sure.

Let’s keep it simple: who wins the final?

Blaine: I'm going Kyland as an oddball pick, and here's why: Bananas and Jordan feast on one another and Kyland somehow slips by and Derek's penalty will cost him an early elimination. I like Jenny for another championship for the ladies. If she can keep her asthma in check, there's no way she does not win, but I'm hoping for Rachel.

TD: On the female side, I’m gonna go with Rachel. It’s a coin-flip between her and Tori for me, so I may be picking with my heart here. Jenny is certainly capable, but we’ve seen her endurance come into question this year. Michele has no shot in my book. I think Rachel gets a win to vault her into all-timer status. For the guys, I’m picking Jordan. He’s the most well-rounded competitor, we know what he’s capable of, and he’s in better shape than Bananas, which gives him the edge in my book. That said, all four men are more than capable of winning it all, even season-surprise Derek. 

Confessionals:

• It’s not hard to see why the cast members dislike Johnny Bananas, but his joke about Cara Maria dating Paulie for as long as she has is why he makes for great TV. That’s a funny comment. - Blaine 

• Not to harp too much on him, but I love that Bananas does not let Tori get by with the “big group of people running the game” comment – that’s exactly what she’s done for many years now on The Challenge. - Blaine

• Michele makes a final and I am never a fan of someone leaning heavily on one or two components of the game to get to the end. In her case, it’s politics and puzzles. That third pillar, physicality, she does not have like Derek does, who can compete in endurance with some of the best. - Blaine

• Not to be negative, again, but this season was a little bit of a let down in terms of grand spectacle. I think production just made a misstep or two in format that robbed the game of being truly worthy of their aspirations. - TD

• The karma points…I’m not sure I’m gonna like how they’re used. I think they should’ve been revealed before now, but I’ll reserve judgement until we see exactly what happens. But, if someone like Bananas wins the final, but then is relegated to second or whatever because of a popular vote, well, that’ll be just dumb. - TD