‘The Challenge: USA’ season 2 episode 2 recap: A new alliance forms and romance blossoms in ‘Blurred Battle Lines’ [LIVE BLOG]

Denton Davidson
·9 min read
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Tonight on “The Challenge: USA,” the Challengers battle it out in a difficult water contest, and a new alliance is formed to target a “Challenge” veteran. Meanwhile, romance blossoms between two teammates on part two of the season premiere of “The Challenge: USA,” titled “Blurred Battle Lines” on Sunday, August 13 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on CBS (also streaming on Paramount+). T.J. Lavin hosts.

SEE: ‘The Challenge: USA’ season 2 cast photos

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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, Jonna Mannion, Paulie Calafiore, 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, Ameerah Jones, Tyler Crispen, Amanda Garcia, Luis Colon

9:00 p.m. — Previously on “The Challenge: USA”! Eighteen CBS reality titans from “Big Brother,” “Survivor” and “The Amazing Race” were shocked to learn that they would be competing amongst six legendary veterans from MTV’s “The Challenge.” Players were divided into three teams. After finishing in last place, the Green Team’s Luis and Ameerah were nominated by the winning Blue Team to go into the arena. Next, players voted anonymously to put two more players at risk of going home. The episode ended on a cliffhanger with Bananas, Monte, Michelle, Dusty, Wes and Desi, who each received votes, waiting to find out if they’d have to compete in the arena. Let’s find out who was chosen in the random draw!

9:05 p.m. — T.J. heads over to the hopper to see whose ball pops out. The person heading into the arena is Michelle. That means she will face off against Ameerah and Luis is safe. Before heading down, Michelle gives a “F*** you” to Amanda, stating she knows her rival organized this vote. Michelle looks furious. Bananas, always the instigator, tells Faysal, “handle your women.” T.J. tells Michelle and Ameerah the will be playing “Slam Dunked.” There are two large water tanks containing 1,500 balls each. The contestants will be suspended above the tanks. When they are dunked in, their goal is to get all the balls as fast as they can. They will periodically be pulled from the tank, hovering it over it and causing havoc to their strategy. Whoever has the most balls after 15 dunks will win.

9:10 p.m. — The water looks freezing and Ameerah looks like she’s struggling with it more than Michelle. Still, it’s relatively close. After the final dunk the balls are counted. Michelle got 1,319 balls out to Ameerah’s 1,301. Wow! That was close. I’m sad for Ameerah, who went home before her time on “Big Brother” and now again on “The Challenge.” T.J. offers Michelle the chance to defect from her team and swap with another player. Michelle declines and decides to return to her Red Team.

9:12 p.m. — When the players return to the house, Michelle and Amanda engage in some drama while everyone else looks on. Dusty is getting his LIFE after years of being a “Challenge” fan. Bananas is screaming, “Fessy, you’re being summoned by your women!” Michelle isn’t stupid, and knows someone on her own team voted for a Red player. It was Jonna, but she doesn’t know that yet. Heading into the game, Jonna’s closest ally, Wes, told her not to trust Michelle, so that was the catalyst there. The Red Team gathers to discuss the possibilities, but Jonna isn’t there. As they put their heads together, they begin to realize the defective player must be Jonna.

9:16 p.m. — Chanelle, Desi and Tiffany are chatting in the bedroom. They don’t trust anyone and vow to “play dumb,” but vow to get the better of players who targeted Ameerah. Tiffany reveals in her confessional that she has connections to Chanelle, Desi, Michaela, Michelle, Alyssa L. and Alyssa S. This could be a core group of women bonding together to form a powerful alliance. Cory and Wes are well aware the “Challenge” vets are “grossly” outnumbered. It’s “win or go into the arena,” according to Wes.

9:28 p.m. — The next morning T.J. welcomes everyone to their next challenge, “Working the Poles.” There is a giant structure suspended 35 feet above the water. Teams will start on one platform and work their way across on these polls. When everyone is crossing in the middle, it could get tricky. The team to get the most players across the fastest will win today’s challenge and be safe from elimination. There will be two heats, with half of each team competing in each heat. Heat 1 is underway and Cassidy goes down in about 10 seconds. Alyssa L. quickly follows. Next down are Michelle and Dusty. The first to get across are Sebastian and Chris for the Blue Team. Luis drops, followed by Tiffany and Paulie. The Red Team is completely out. With the Green Team in the clear, Amanda makes it across followed by Desi and Tyler. The Green Team wins Heat 1 with 3 points, followed by the Blue Team with 2 and Red Team with 0.

9:32 p.m. — Heat 2 is underway. Bananas flies across this course, scoring Red’s first point. Monte drops, followed by Tori, Jonna and Alyssa S. Next, Chanelle makes it across for the Red Team. Josh drops, and Bananas describes him as “watching a candle melt.” Wes completes the mission for the Green Team while Cory and Faysal drop for the Blue Team. Next, Michaela crosses. The Green Team dominates this challenge with 5 points, while both the Red and Blue Teams finish with 2. This gives Green some much needed power after losing the last challenge and seeing Ameerah go home earlier tonight.

9:38 p.m. — While Michelle may be unwilling to bury the hatchet with Amanda, Tori is not above groveling to get whatever numbers she can to survive. She’s not a fan of Amanda, but that doesn’t mean she can’t work with her. Later that night the contestants begin guzzling down the drinks. Sebastian reveals his crush on Tori, which could be horrible for his game. Still, he just can’t help being infatuated with her. Tori is “on guard” but still hops in Sebastian’s bed for a snuggle. Meanwhile, it’s pure business happening across the house, where Michelle, Tiffany, Desi, Chanelle, Michaela and Alyssa L. plot their next target. They’re on to Jonna’s shady ways (she’s a two-time champ for a reason!) and want to target her. They certainly want to target vets. With Amanda safe, Michelle tries to figure out if there’s any way possible to get Tori vs. Jonna in the arena. Her plan is for the Green Team to nominate Tori while they all pitch Jonna as the secret vote. It’s a great master plan, but will it work?

9:42 p.m. — The Green Team gathers to discuss nominations. They’re aware they were targets last week and their main objective is to keep Green strong moving forward. Desi leads the discussion, and she knows she wants to vote for Bananas and Tori. Luis is leaning towards Cory and Tori. Even though Amanda is a vet, she has no problem throwing Tori under the bus as well. Wes is smart and tries to deflect the conversation in a different direction — knowing he needs Tori, Bananas and Cory in this game. Michaela quickly interrupts him, saying his “math doesn’t add.” She’s no fool. Wes once again asks his team to “hide” for one more cycle, but Luis shuts him down again. Wes asks one final time, “Can we compromise?” to which Desi responds, “It’s Tori and Bananas for me.” This is hilarious to watch, even as the huge Wes fan I am. The meeting wraps and the Green Team’s nominees are Bananas and Tori. It’s now up to the anonymous voters to do their jobs if they want this to be a vet vs. vet arena.

9:45 p.m. — The nominations are revealed to the house. Wes pulls Bananas aside and said it felt like his hands were tied behind his back. He reveals the scariest thing was that it wasn’t “Big Brother” united or “Survivor” united. It was ALL of them united against the vets. I think what makes the Green Team unique and so different from the Blue Team on Thursday, is that their “Big Brother” and “Survivor” alums aren’t attached to “The Challenge.” In the last episode we saw the Blue Team follow Tori and Cory, but you have to also remember Josh and Faysal are very much in the “Challenge” world and basically Challenge vets themselves. With that said, it’s time for the anonymous vote and each Red and Blue Team member goes and throws a ball in the hopper.

9:50 p.m. — The players arrive at the arena. T.J. introduces Tori and Bananas as tonight’s potential competitors. Next he reveals who got votes in the hopper. Receiving votes are Paulie (2), Alyssa L. (1), Dusty (3), Alyssa S. (2), Sebastian (1), Cory (2) and Jonna (5). T.J. heads over to the hopper and pulls out the next arena competitor. The battle tonight will be Jonna vs. Tori.

10:00 p.m. — Jonna and Tori will be playing “Drop the Ball.” There’s a giant machine containing 60 balls. They’ll come out one at a time. They have to catch the ball and score it in their goal. Whoever has the most points in the end will win safety. The battle of two champions is on! Tori goes complete beast mode, slamming Jonna into the wall and throwing her to the ground. Knowing this is now a real fight, this gets aggressive. At the end of this game, the final score is 29-15 in Tori’s favor. Jonna has been eliminated and Tori has just put the fear of God in anyone who has to go against her in the future. When asked if she would like to return to the Blue Team or defect, she opts to stay on the Blue Team. She pledges to go back in the house “and wreak havoc on these bitches.”

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