Taking on 'The Challenge: Battle of the Eras' | "Must Win Era"

Season 40 of the MTV staple The Challenge is past the midpoint and each Thursday afternoon, 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. 

Episode Sixteen, the “Must Win Era,” begins with the competitors returning to the house sans Aviv. Bananas notes that Cory’s social game is off, and long-time viewers know this is his first season in many without his best friend Nelson. Bananas then regroups with the remaining alliance he’s built where he and the angels discuss tactics. Jordan gives a mater-of-fact declaration that players “must accept your fate,” something season 39’s cast should have taken into account. From there, it’s the daily, which T.J. tells has been on the books for a long time, but it’s never been a possibility due to locations. The daily, a challenge used in advertising for this season even before it aired, is for each of them to get inside a “flame grilled” car, solve a puzzle of cables on the dashboard where they’ll insert the correct ones into plugs, watch for the four colors to notify of the correct order, and brace as the car careens off a cliff. The players are jerked out of the falling car by a harness, and they must release themselves high over the water in order to swim to the other side of the bluff. The fastest time wins, which is a bother for Bananas as he’s coming into the daily with the thirty-second penalty. The targets, though, are Cory, Derek, and Jordan. It’s no issue for Jordan, as he goes first, kills the challenge, and gets the victory. Kyland and Cara Maria struggle with the swim, and though Rachel feels she puts on a dominant performance, she still loses to Tori, a fact that appears to annoy Rachel. The losers of the daily are Derek, who will go straight into elimination, and Cara Maria, who will be assessed the penalty next time. Due to Derek losing and Jordan winning there’s no deliberation in the chamber. It leaves only Cory to face Derek to see who goes home. In between the action, the crew gets fine dining from sponsor Burger King, the fast food chain who won’t snitch on you. Over burgers, Cory and Derek have a sincere conversation about competing against one another; the conversation between the ladies points to a motif: the female competitors are strong. It leaves all of them in doubt as to if they could even win a final against one another. There is some build up of Cory versus Derek. Cory calls his daughters and Derek reflects on the loss of his sister a few years prior to suicide, which is doubly hard for him as the next day’s elimination falls on her birthday. For Cory’s fourth elimination of the season and Derek’s first, they are to begin by turning a wheel. The wheel raises a door. They run through it, grab as many of the forty-eight cinder blocks as possible from the other side, return to the platform where they begin, and stack the blocks so that they spell “The Challenge 40.” The rule requires them to have all of the blocks on that side before they can lay them on the ground in order to visualize the writing. Derek’s strategy is to solve it as he goes, only grabbing the blocks that will work on the section that he works, as well as hide it from Cory. Cory relies on his muscles to get the blocks before Derek. Due to his planning, Derek gets a solid win, picks the targets to be Jenny, Rachel, Cara Maria (because she volunteered in private with Derek). Once again, poor Cory will not win The Challenge. The episode ends with T.J. promising a location change, which makes Jordan confidently proclaim that the change of scenery alone will separate competitors from champions.  

Let’s begin with what’s on all of our minds: what are the logistics of that Burger King meal? Do they have Burger King in Vietnam? Did Burger King fly them out some burgers and fries? Did they send top Burger King chefs? We need answers!

Blaine: Oh, I suspect these fast food places are everywhere now. My questions have always been if they sincerely like the food. Almost all of these players are health conscious, so how much of this is an act that the directors produce? Are they excited not to have to prepare their own in that tiny kitchen space for an evening? Have they missed the US and its array of choices since they are confined to eating “at home,” so to  speak? I have no idea. 

TD: I can’t stop thinking about this, honestly. Was it hot and fresh? Were they shipped and then reheated? Did they pop up a BK kitchen at the Challenge house? What about custom orders? Where did the fountain drinks come from?!?!? 

What the hell was this puzzle in the daily challenge and why would anyone have trouble with it? 

Blaine: This daily was half decent and half horrible. So part of it was that players had to plug cables into slots? That was it? Why are the cables plugged into slots above the open ones? What use were they other than get in the way? As far as I could tell, this was merely a trial-and-error issue, which is not a great mental feat to solve. So yeah, Cory did badly. Plug one in, if it lights up the screen, go to the next one. Either production did a bad time writing the script to explain it, or it was a dumb bit of busy work before the action can begin. God bless Tori for giving her best explanation, though it still lacked the notion of why there was any difficulty involved. The image of the car going off the cliff was good enough and I always appreciate seeing who can compete in various physical activities. Swimming can be the great eliminator. Like Cara says, not everyone was born in a pool! 

TD: Yeah, this was another one of those challenges where there’s more polish than substance. It was cool enough to watch, but it didn’t quite hit home. It needed one more obstacle or just a tougher puzzle. I guess the swim was the real challenge, and I must say that not enough is said about how much shit the competitors have to wear while swimming in some of these games. That really adds a degree of difficulty that isn’t discussed on the show.

What did you think about the female Challenge Mount Rushmore MTV popped up? It contained Tori, Emily, Laurel, Evelyn, and Cara Maria.

Blaine: I’m glad it was noted, and I cannot make a good decision on all four I’d put on the mountain. Cara Maria has the most championships across the series with three and she was the first solo winner ever, so her spot feels secure, but Evelyn and Veronica have three championships on the flagship show itself (Cara has the Champs versus Pros win to buff up her resume). That could be three players, but Veronica’s championships often come with the help of large groups. I’m taking her out. I say put Rachel, a two-time champ, in consideration. For me, that would be Cara Maria, Rachel, and Evelyn. The fourth? I vote Tori. If she gets a championship this season, which is feasible, there’s no question about it.    

TD: I’m not quite sure Tori belongs up there just yet, but a win this season would probably do it for me. Emily is great, but she just didn’t appear enough to be considered in the discussion in my opinion. Laurel is a yes, despite her horrible showing this season. Evelyn is absolutely a yes, and my answer for the female Challenge GOAT. Cara Maria deserves her place as well. As problematic as she is, Camila probably deserves a spot on that list. Ashley Mitchell is also a two-time champ that warrants a mention, but is also one of the most inconsistent challengers ever.

The escalation to elimination can be hit or miss and with no deliberation involved, this week’s episode could only show conversations with the players. What were your thoughts? 

Blaine: Despite no deliberation or heated argument, the genuine respect that Cory and Derek had for one another before going into elimination had my attention. Cory is a staple of the show, so there’s the question on if he can make through his fourth elimination. Derek is a blatant underdog and the sadness of his loss helped to make him a sympathetic player. Plus, he’s a likable cast member. And yes, Cory and his daughters is a trope at this point, but I was forgiving of the reminder this week since everything else felt like it set the stage for viewers not knowing who would win. It all was an infinitely more intriguing set of ideas than the whole “she’s my bestie” from last week.

TD: As we’ve mentioned before, the existence of the targets really hamstrings the drama element of some of these episodes. This is where the seasons of yesteryear would have some massive party or personal drama to fill the time. The conversations between players were nice, but I don’t watch this show for heartwarming moments. I want fierce competition and trainwrecks. 

Confessionals:

• Going back to the Burger King thing, when I saw the fountain drinks I thought to myself, “oh man, that’s probably what I’d miss the most if I were on these shows.” - TD

• So… did they have a bunch of cars they just dumped into that water? Were they fishing them out each time? I have so many production questions. - TD

• It’s been overstated, probably, but it is impressive that Derek looks like a shoe in for the final now. His strategy was flawless. - Blaine

• While everyone sees how great Derek has maneuvered the season, Bananas’ annoying traits has kept others from acknowledging how perfect he’s done: he saw the season as huge on ladies deciding his fate, established an alliance with several on the females’ side, and seems to have made it to another final. - Blaine