‘The Challenge: USA’ season 2 episode 4 recap: Which two players were eliminated in ‘Double Crossed and Sideswiped’? [Live Blog]

Denton Davidson
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Tonight on “The Challenge: USA,” host T.J. Lavin reveals a shocking double elimination leaving the challengers scrambling to win a high-stakes, adrenaline filled semi-truck challenge to ensure their survival in the game. Episode 4 of “The Challenge: USA” titled “Double Crossed and Sideswiped” airs Sunday, August 20 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on CBS (also streaming on Paramount+).

SEE Paulie Calafiore (‘The Challenge: USA’) on being eliminated by Johnny ‘Bananas’: ‘Might as well go down against one of the greats’ 

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Among the cast members are three people who previously won their seasons: Michelle Fitzgerald (“Survivor: Kaôh Rōng”), Josh Martinez (“Big Brother 19”) and Chris Underwood (“Survivor: Edge of Extinction”). “MTV Challenge” vets are Wes Bergmann, Tori Deal, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, Amanda Garcia, Jonna Mannion and Cory Wharton. How will these six all-stars now fare when competing with CBS reality favorites? In the end, only one man and one woman will emerge victorious, taking home $250,000 each. Follow our live blog and see the current team breakdowns below.

Red Team: Josh Martinez, Michelle Fitzgerald, Dusty Harris, Chanelle Howell, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, Tiffany Mitchell

Blue Team: Cassidy Clark, Cory Wharton, Tori Deal, Faysal Shafaat, Alyssa Lopez, Sebastian Noel, Alyssa Snider, Chris Underwood

Green Team: Desi Williams, Wes Bergmann, Michaela Bradshaw, Monte Taylor, Tyler Crispen, Amanda Garcia, Luis Colon

9:00 p.m. — Previously on “The Challenge: USA”! The challengers competed in a difficult swimming challenge, and the CBS reality titans officially declared war against the veterans, prompting Cory to turn on Bananas in an act of self-preservation. Bananas and Amanda were nominated by the winning Blue Team for elimination. Down in the arena Paulie Calafiore’s name popped out of the hopper, pitting him against Bananas in a game of “Fire & Ice.” Banana reigned supreme and Paulie became the third Challenger eliminated this season.

9:05 p.m. — We pick up with Bananas deciding if he would like to defect from the Red Team or remain loyal. Always a strategist, Bananas dumps his team and decides to trade spots with Cory on the Blue Team. He says the Blue Team has already proven they would send him into elimination, so this could be a way to save himself because “Red ain’t gonna win shit.” Dusty, who just can’t stop fanning out over Bananas, is gutted and pledges to remain loyal to his hero. When the Challengers return home, Josh can’t stop thinking about the two votes he received for the arena. He believes they came from Luis and Desi and his blood is boiling.

9:07 p.m. — Morning comes and Josh decides coffee goes well with chaos. He’s rambling and screaming while everyone just looks on and smirks. He’s totally lost it. He says he’s coming after Luis and Desi, which Luis doesn’t care about at all. Josh has never shown loyalty to him. Meanwhile, Desi starts to break down and admits she doesn’t have the faith in herself that everyone else seems to have. She admits this is the most stressful game she’s ever played.

9:15 p.m. — Another day passes and it’s time for another challenge. Red Team is feeling vulnerable because they just haven’t been able to get a win. T.J. reveals today’s challenge is called “Sideswiped.” Two players will start on double-stacker trucks. Each team will have eight tags with their team’s colors. Their goal is to swing from their truck, past their opponent and stick their tags on the opposite truck. All the while, trucks are going to be flying down the runway. There will be six rounds with two players from each team in each heat. He warns winning has never been more important, because two players will be eliminated in tonight’s arena. Heat 1 is Amanda and Wes from the Green Team vs. Michele and Josh from the Red Team. Michele and Josh take this victory 11-9. Wes got all of his discs, but Amanda dropped half of hers. Next up is Chanelle and Cory for the Red Team vs. Alyssa S. and Chris from the Blue Team. Chris tries to play defense against Cory, which is a total fail. Cory slams him against the truck and gets his discs to stick anyways. Chanelle and Cory win this heat 13-10.

9:20 p.m. — Heat 3 is Cassidy and Sebastian for the Blue Team vs. Michaela and Luis for the Green Team. Sebastian is crushing this, but Michaela and Luis look good as well. Cassidy is definitely the weak link here. The Green Team wins 15-11. Heat 4 is Tiffany and Dusty for the Red Team vs. Desi and Tyler for the Green Team. Green takes this one 14-10. Heat 5 is Chanelle and Cory for the Red Team vs. Alyssa L. and Faysal for Blue. At this point, Blue basically has no chance at winning. Bananas may have chosen the wrong time to defect. Chanelle and Cory stay undefeated, winning this round 14-12. Going into the the sixth and final heat, the scores look like this: Red (48), Green (38) and Blue (33). Realizing they’ve lost, Chris tells his Blue Team to just play defense and help Red Team win. Green has proven to be gunning for Tori and Bananas already. With that strategy in mind, Heat 6 is Bananas and Tori on the. Blue Team vs. Michaela and Monte for Green. When the blow horn fires, Bananas drops his discs and goes all in to just prevent Monte from scoring. When the heat concludes, Green has won but only scored 3 points. That means Red has finally won their first challenge right after Bananas left it: Red (48), Green (41), Blue (33).

9:30 p.m. — The Green Team was just fed their first dose of politics. Welcome to “The Challenge”! The Red Team will go back to the house and choose one man and one woman to go into the arena. They will BOTH be playing no matter what, because this is a double elimination. The girls on the Red Team gather to discuss their game plan. They know members of their team will be gunning for Desi and Luis, but they plan to hold strong and vote for Amanda and Wes. But do they have the numbers? Meanwhile, Josh tells Wes his name is being thrown around hard. He pledges to go to a stalemate if necessary to go to bat for Wes, even if it jeopardizes his own game.

9:35 p.m. — The Red Team sits down at the deliberation table. They come to one consensus — they’ll keep the Blue Team safe. Josh asks the women, “Do you want to run a final against Desi?” Chanelle pushes back, “Do you want to run a final WITH Amanda?” They can’t come to a decision on the the girls. Chanelle says Wes, but she’s willing to compromise on him if the guys are willing to compromise on Desi. Josh tells the girls they are stupid if they want to vote in Amanda because she’s weak. Tiffany responds, saying there is no way Luis is the strongest man on the Green Team so Josh makes no sense. This is getting heated. This hot mess of a Red Team can’t make a decision and might waste their win by going to a stalemate. Cory can’t believe what he’s watching. Josh is standing up and screaming at this point — unhinged! Chanelle won’t budge and says she’s willing to go into elimination. When it comes time to vote, Tiffany refuses to go into a stalemate and throws her vote away on Cassidy, so Desi will go into elimination. When it comes time to vote for men, Michele backs down and votes for Luis, giving Josh his way. Wow! Chanelle looks furious.

9:40 p.m. — Chanelle is deflated after watching Michele and Tiffany both fold once the pressure was on. She says she feels completely alone in this game. They return to the house and let everyone know that Desi and Luis will be heading into the arena. Desi is disappointed, but knows she now needs to control the next step. She asks her team to vote for Cassidy. They agree. They also plan to vote for Chris, who organized the Blue Team’s strategy to block Green from the win. It’s now time for the Green and Blue Teams to throw in their anonymous votes.

9:45 p.m. — The Challengers arrive at the arena and T.J. introduces Desi and Luis as competitors. Then he reveals who received anonymous votes in the hopper: Men are Tyler (3), Sebastian (1), Wes (2), Monte (2), Bananas (1) and Chris (6).  Women are Michaela (4), Cassidy (2), Amanda (9). T.J. heads over to the hopper to find out who is playing. It will be Desi vs. Amanda and Luis vs. Chris. They will play “Evil Eye.” Opponents will begin in the center of the arena, holding on to either side of the “evil eye.” When T.J. says “GO!” they will try to get it out of the ring in their sole possession, by any means necessary. If they hold the evil eye outside of the rope, they win.

9:52 p.m. — Men are up first. Luis and Chris grab the evil eye and go to battle in a physical tug-of-war. This is a battle! Ultimately Chris wrestles the evil eye away from Luis and remains in the game. Luis is the fourth player eliminated.

10:00 p.m. — The women are up next. Desi appears to have a huge advantage over Amanda, but you never know what can happen in these games! Amanda refuses to give in and actually makes some smart moves in positioning herself. She hopes Desi will just wear herself out. Even though Amanda puts up a good fight, Desi eventually pulls out the victory and sends another vet home. As Amanda leaves she says she hopes Josh wins and she hates everybody else. When ask if they’d like to stay on their teams or deflect, Chris stays with his Blue Team. Desi makes a big move, swapping spots with Alyssa S. on the Blue Team. The Blue Team is looking stacked now. Desi follows the Bananas playbook and joins the team that appears to want her out of the game the most.

Launch Gallery: 'The Challenge: USA' season 2 cast photos: 18 CBS reality titans compete with 6 MTV vets

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