With The Challenge Season 36, Episode 18, viewers were finally treated to something they’d been waiting to see for many episodes now as TJ Lavin’s final officially got underway.
A few big revelations came once competitors arrived on the scene, though. In particular, viewers learned about how the prize money would be distributed.
TJ also told competitors that not everyone would make it past the first day of his final, which seemed especially true based on what happened in Episode 18.
To top it all off, there was a bit of a weather issue, with some fierce hurricane winds for the competitors to fight against.
The Challenge competitors enjoy club night before TJ’s final
Early in the episode, the remaining competitors returned to The Challenge house in celebration mode after learning they qualified for TJ’s final. The final four teams are Cory Wharton with Kam Williams, Fessy Shafaat with Kaycee Clark, Leroy Garrett with Nany Gonzalez, and Chris “CT” Tamburello with Amber Borzotra.
They all enjoyed their last night out at the club to celebrate the season and look ahead to the final. Amber had the motivation to win to prove her capabilities to the Big Brother alliance. Three-time champion CT was happy to have someone who could handle endurance running as his partner and told her he’d handle the eating and puzzles.
Cory and Fessy also had their motivations to win. Cory wanted some revenge after what Fessy did earlier in the season with Nelson Thomas at elimination. Fessy still wanted to show he’s best out of everyone.
Meanwhile, Leroy was happy to be headed into the final as this is his last season of The Challenge. He was also happy to have his longtime friend and former Real World castmate, Nany, as his teammate for it.
To make things sweeter, his girlfriend Kam also made the final, so the power couple had an increased chance of winning some prize money.
Double Agents final starts with repeat mission
The next morning, teams were taken to the starting point for the final, with host TJ Lavin there to greet them. He told them not everyone was going to make it past this first day. In fact, there would be a purge, as the team that did the first day’s missions slowest wouldn’t move on.
TJ also revealed a breakdown of the prize money distributions. The third-place team got nothing. Second place would split $100,000, and first place would split a whopping $900,000.
There was also some bad weather going on, as TJ told them there were hurricane winds happening, and he wasn’t kidding.
The agents started with a three-mile run to their first checkpoint. That first checkpoint is a repeat of the season’s first mission, where competitors raced up a hill to retrieve a capsule with a color code. They had to memorize the code and then connect colored wires in the correct order in a briefcase to detonate their station. The first competitor in each heat to complete it would win.
The men’s heat had some grappling as CT and Fessy battled over the capsule quite a bit. Ultimately, the savvy CT detonated his station first ahead of Leroy, Fessy, and Cory.
There was also some fighting amongst the four ladies in the women’s heat, but it was rookie Amber B. who won the mission. TJ revealed to the competitors that Amber had the quickest time for the mission and had an option. She could choose to stay with CT or steal any other male partner.
After careful thought, she chose to stay with CT, which may have surprised Fessy a bit.
Double Agents team finds themselves in trouble
The teams departed for Checkpoint 2 based on their time differences for their arrival at Checkpoint 1. So CT and Amber went first, followed shortly after by Fessy and Kaycee. Next were Cory and Kam, followed by Leroy and Nany.
Cory mentioned in a confessional that Fessy was really pushing Kaycee to her max for the running. That ended up hurting their team, literally. Kaycee fell after suffering a knee injury when the competitors were running alongside a mountain on a rocky bit of terrain.
She was shown down on the ground clutching her leg and crying in pain. Fessy went back to check on her and called for medics. They were stuck there while the other teams got to Checkpoint 2. Fessy was clearly disappointed.
The next checkpoint involved eating and drinking disgusting stuff. It included some sheep face, ram testicles, and a mug full of blood. That worked to the veteran CT’s advantage, and he encouraged Amber to keep going with him. Meanwhile, the other teams tried to keep pace, with plenty of puking along the way.
Soon, Fessy and Kaycee were shown arriving at the checkpoint with Kaycee’s knee wrapped up. Fessy helped her hobble to the checkpoint. Kaycee started eating and drinking, but Fessy wasn’t sure they’d get to continue beyond this, so he didn’t really eat.
CT and Amber finished the checkpoint first and won an advantage. TJ informed them they could give a “dessert plate” to a team of their choice. The episode concluded with Amber and CT discussing which team they wanted to give that extra plate of disgusting food. The other teams were yelling not to give it to them.
After the episode, a sneak peek showed the conclusion for Double Agents final would arrive on Wednesday, April 21.
The Challenge: Double Agents airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
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