Taking on 'The Challenge: Battle of the Eras' | "My Trivia Era"

The Challenge is in its fortieth season! Coverage of The Challenge: Battle of the Eras continues each Thursday evening on The Alabama Take.  

“A Trivia Era” is only the fourth episode of The Challenge: Battle of the Eras, but the players are dropping quickly. There is no question as to what T.J. loves the most as he relished telling the eras that this week is trivia: hang from a horizontal pole thirty feet above the water, pick the point value and topic of your question, answer the question correctly, score the points, and the targets on your team are safe. However, the first team with all players in the water will be the losers. With two players falling after a wrong answer, it’s not long before Era IV and its players are out of the daily. It puts Horacio and Jenny automatically in elimination. The winners of Era II have Bananas and Laurel at the helm of deliberations to hear arguments and to decide between Era I (Derrick and Aneesa) or Era III (Jordan and Nia) to duke it out in elimination. Bananas insists on not wanting a stalemate “like Tony” or even a bump of the heads, so Laurel chooses Era I’s Derrick and Aneesa, despite Derrick’s involved presentation. The elimination itself has Aneesa going home first and Horacio leaving at the end of the episode. The targets next week, picked by winners Derrick and Jenny, are now C.T. and Tina from Era I, Nehemiah and Emily from Era II, Devin and Tori from Era III, and Kyland and Olivia from Era IV. Some competitors said they’d take the target title yet were nowhere to be found after elimination.  

Is it time to stop eliminating both male and females each week? Now deeper in the season, it seems like a lot each week; players are exponentially leaving the show. When’s the switch to one per elimination? What would the next twist be: to join another era? To blend two eras together? Start flying solo?   

Blaine: It’s an important and huge season, so stretch it out! Let’s get to single eliminations! Unless next week’s elimination gets rid of Laurel, who needs to go, like, yesterday. She’s a sore loser and an awful winner. But I hope they don’t blend eras, though something like that would have to be coming. I’d much rather have them competing by themselves than grouping up eras even if so many have been eliminated. It’s always interesting to me to see relationships develop and falter during a competition where it’s every competitor against the rest. 

TD: I’m always in favor of stretching out the competition and having only one elimination per round, but maybe they do need to dwindle the number down a little more? We started with 40 contestants, and are down to 28 after four episodes. Maybe get to 24 and start single eliminations? I don’t know. The next format change (assuming there is one, which is a pretty safe assumption) is an interesting question. If the teams get lopsided, then letting people switch eras or combining them could be a good wrinkle. I’m always down for an individual game, which is the route I think they go in the end.

The loss of Horacio on  The Challenge could be detrimental for Era IV. He’s not in the same company of course, but with a mind shift, it’s not hard to see him as a Jordan-type figure; here, he gets his second-ever elimination loss against Derrick, another player you never bet against. How questionable was Derrick’s win? Why no replay? Was Horacio too nonchalant with placing his last jack?  

Blaine: That was an odd and unclear ending. I’m especially disappointed there wasn’t a replay. We deserve a replay if it’s that close!. The thing is, the cameras had these beautiful shots from a drone above when it was Aneesa versus Jenny. I would’ve liked to have seen the same in order to glimpse how close Horacio was to winning. His lack of hurry for the final jack cost him. Play through the whistle, Horacio! But Derrick deserves the win. He’s been stout this season! While that’s not unusual, he’s taking on much larger and much younger guys and sending them packing. All said, I thought the elimination was a good one; it had the right blend of tension and clarity on who was where in the game. 

TD: Horacio was definitely too nonchalant. You go hard through the finish line, you don’t slow up before the race is over. Horacio is definitely championship material, but those are the kinds of mistakes you can’t make, particularly against a bulldog like Derrick. 

The conversations between players are extensive, yet we only see a few from the massive cast. There has to be more plotting. What do you make of what the show is feeding viewers outside of the action versus what is on display in the competitions of the day or eliminations? 

Blaine: I suppose this is customary. The big names – Bananas and Tori come to mind – get plenty of screen time for ratings. Still, I’d like to know other factions that go beyond eras. Josh and Tori made amends. Is he going to play the game to help her more? He certainly wasn’t going to take a risk that would put him against C.T.! Even after some weight and years, C.T. still commands attention. His fall was scary, so we’re all glad he’s back in the game with nothing more than “dignity” that’s hurt, per the man himself. 

TD: I think production probably has their favorites, but also we might just see different people feature for an episode or two before moving on. Or maybe we’re just seeing what they’ve deemed the most interesting viewing, who knows. 

Josh is not known for his wits, but he and Tori do place an important frame on this season of The Challenge: many of these players have ties beyond their eras. When will those ties to friends get stronger than the ties to the team, causing an Era to break completely? And who will it be? Is this why Jordan was suspected by Devin and Cory to have lost Sudden Death in trivia on purpose? What do you think? 

Blaine: I would not be surprised if Era I and Era II start working together more than they are: Era II do not see them as a threat due to age or athleticism, so I could see Bananas, Laurel, Emily, and Aviv trying to strengthen their numbers without feeling like they’re having to give up ground. I suspect everyone sees Era III as danger: they’re still young enough yet they’ve played the game many seasons. Era III has Jordan, Devin, Tori, Cory, Jonna, and Nia. None of them are weak! I’d be scared of that team!

TD: We’ve already seen some friendships trump team strategy when Tony and Averey had a stalemate and were sent down into elimination (dumb, dumb, Tony). I think as teams shrink, this will intensify as people are desperate to stay in the game. We’ll also have to see what format changes are coming, and how that affects gameplay. Jordan should always be suspected, and he pretty much confirmed he threw the game in his confessional. It was also terrible acting on his part. Like Cory said, Jordan went to Cheyenne’s gender reveal for her and Cory’s baby, Jordan absolutely knows her name. If you’re gonna pull the “my mind blanked” move, don’t tease it out – blurt out the wrong name right away, then immediately yell something like “Wait! NO! Cheyenne! Cheyenne! Dammit!” That’s how you pull that maneuver. 

Confessionals 

• T.J. breaking the fourth wall to say “We love it” is good T.J. Yes, T.J., we love it. Give me the goofy trivia and T.J.’s boisterous laugh every week. - Blaine

• Really happy C.T. came back from his injury and that it wasn’t serious, but what a classic line from him when he admitted, “You know I shit myself yesterday? We are not the problem!” - Blaine

• Darrell arguing with Laurel is gold, and that reminds me: whenever Darrell argues with anyone, it’s the best of TV. I could listen to Darrell insult people all day. - Blaine 

• Josh was more entertaining (purposefully) than he’s ever been in that confessional when he flat out said he wanted no part of elimination against C.T. and then just sat silently while Jenny was picking targets. - TD

• I know it’s only one episode per season, but if I’m on the cast I am studying Challenge history every night for months before I fly out to compete. Rewatching old seasons between competing seems like a must, and then hitting up Reddit or Challenge wiki sites to brush up on tidbits is a great way to get ahead of the field. - TD