The World Championship episode opened with a recap of the previous installment, highlighting the daily challenge Flying Around, where Wes Bergmann and Zara Zoffany opted not to drink a smoothie before competing.
That came back to bite them with a points deduction penalty, and they finished last. Darrell Taylor and Kiki Morris were the winners with the most rings scored in the event.
Later, a stalemate vote arrived as cast members couldn’t break the tie for two teams for the elimination voting.
That caused host TJ Lavin to invoke the stalemate rule at The Arena, which allowed daily challenge winners Darrell Taylor and Kiki Morris to choose any team they wanted to face Wes and Zara.
They chose Ben Driebergen and Kaycee Clark as the other team for elimination, surprising others. Kiki said in confessional it was due to Ben’s shady moves with Team Australia.
In their confessional, Kaycee said she was fired up. Ben brought up how Sarah Lacina and Danny McCray used a classic Survivor move trying to get him out without getting their hands dirty.
Competitors battle in Herculean Strength elimination
In Herculean Strength, one teammate had to stand on a platform between two giant bars with weight plates and hold them up using straps. Their teammate had to solve math equations at a puzzle station.
There were red and blue equations that had different difficulties and weights. If a competitor got an equation right, they could grab a weight of the corresponding color and put it on their opponent’s bars to hold.
The first team to drop their weight first is out of the game. Whichever team held their weights up longer won the event.
In confessional, Ben and Kaycee said there are some scared people in the house they made an impression on. Zara was crying a bit in confessional with Wes due to struggling with numbers because of her dyslexia. She also brought up how she wasn’t the strongest competitor.
The two women were on the platforms with a starting weight of 132 lbs. each. Wes solved an equation first and added more weight to Kaycee’s stack. Both guys solved more equations and added extra weights, but Zara was struggling.
Kaycee got up to 198 lbs, while Zara folded under pressure and had to drop her weight. Wes and Zara were officially eliminated.
Wes gave a classy departing speech to the MVPs, telling them they all belong there and don’t let the Legends say otherwise. He said they were bringing the game to a level he “couldn’t have imagined 20 years ago.”
Tori Deal said she had a strong friendship and alliance with Kaycee, but Danny didn’t see eye to eye because he disliked Ben. In his confessional, Danny said he needed to find a way to get him out of the game, possibly using Team Australia to “do the dirty work.”
TJ told the cast not to let the stalemate rule come into play again.
The Challenge competitors launch into the stratosphere for daily event
Back at the house, Sarah, Danny, Grant Crapp, and Emily Seebohn discussed how Ben is rattled and would spiral. They said they’d target him again.
Kaycee and Ben spoke to Darrell and Kiki about why they chose them for the elimination. Darrell didn’t offer his reason, saying he didn’t know who to say, and that’s what he came up with.
Amber Borzotra and partner Troy Cullen chatted to Tori and Kaycee about how the other Australians might not have their backs in the game.
For Rocket Man, there was a giant inflatable on the water with a platform above it. One teammate jumped off the platform to land on the inflatable below, launching their partner high up into the air toward three bars. The objective was to clear as many bars as possible to take time off their overall score.
Next, both teammates had to swim over to grab puzzle pieces in the water, bring them to shore and solve a puzzle. The team with the quickest time for the event won.
Grant missed his jump, and Jonna Mannion barely went into the air. Grant said in confessional he had a burning pain in his leg but kept swimming to help Jonna finish. Grant got checked out for his knee by medics, who took him to the hospital.
Emily was the only woman from her team to jump onto the inflatable because she was an Olympic swimmer and wanted Yes to have a headstart. She easily outswam Yes to bring her puzzle piece to shore, then swam back out to help Yes. Castmates marveled at how she glided across the water while swimming.
Ultimately, TJ revealed that Jonna and Grant finished last and were headed into elimination. The event winners were KellyAnne Judd and Tristan Phipps, who won by a one-second difference over Kaz Crossley and Jordan Wiseley.
Heated deliberation and elimination discussions arrive for MVPs and Legends
Bananas and Tori tried to chat with Danny and Sarah about the upcoming vote. They didn’t like Bananas trying to talk to them like they were stupid, and Sarah called it out.
“You are not gonna talk to me this way, period,” Sarah said to Bananas before he walked off.
At the deliberation, Amber said she would vote first. She went for the other Aussie team, Emily and Yes, because otherwise, it would be them. Footage showed how Ben and Kaycee told Amber and Troy they were being targeted earlier. Amber and Troy also chose Theo Campbell and Sarah.
Theo got irritated when Tori and Danny tried to get extra time to decide on their vote. That caused a bit of an argument as Theo told Danny they were not special, and Danny said he shouldn’t tell him what to do. Finally, Tori said they chose Jordan with Kaz as a burn vote and Jodi Weatherton with Benja Alfonso for the other team.
It ended up being Benja with Jodi and Yes with Emily as the two popular votes. Jonna was unsure what would happen because Grant hadn’t returned from the hospital.
Grant came out on crutches alongside Jonna for the elimination at The Arena. TJ addressed Grant’s injury situation, revealing doctors said he was medically unable to compete. TJ praised Grant’s toughness in still competing after hurting his knee on the jump.
KellyAnne said in confessional it was “bittersweet” seeing Jonna leave without a fight because “everyone deserves a fight, even the ones who lie to you.”
Grant said he was gutted that they had to leave over his injury. Jonna said she was glad to help Grant learn the game. TJ revealed that Jodi, Benja, Yes, and Emily were all “off the hook” for elimination.
The Challenge: World Championship episodes arrive Wednesdays on Paramount Plus.
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Loved the episode and the series this far. I was very curious as to where I might find the shirt that Danny McCray was wearing…the blue one with the heartbeat blips on it. Any help would be awesome!!!! Thanks!!!