‘The Challenge: USA’ season 2 episode 6 recap: Who was eliminated in ‘A Really Good-Looking Underdog’? [LIVE BLOG]
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Tonight on “The Challenge: USA,” things get heated between two rookie players, and the competitors brace themselves for host TJ Lavin’s favorite challenge of the season: trivia. This episode titled “A Really Good-Looking Underdog” airs Sunday, August 27 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS (streaming on Paramount+).
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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, Tiffany Mitchell, Cory Wharton
Blue Team: Cassidy Clark, Tori Deal, Faysal Shafaat, Sebastian Noel, Chris Underwood, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, Desi Williams
Green Team: Wes Bergmann, Michaela Bradshaw, Monte Taylor, Tyler Crispen, Alyssa Snider
9:00 p.m. — Previously on “The Challenge: USA”! The vets came up with a plan to take advantage of a growing rift among the rookies, resulting in one of the most shocking hopper results of the season. After the Green Team won and voted Chris and Cassidy into the arena, the vets drew random names out of a hat to decide which player they would vote into the hopper. With just one ball in play, Alyssa Lopez was drawn, forcing her to face off against Cassidy in a game of “Block Heads.” In the end, Cassidy prevailed, sending the “Big Brother 23” alum home. When asked if she’d like to defect or stay on the Blue Team, Cassidy chose to stay.
9:05 p.m. — Back from the arena, Cassidy celebrates her win and pledges to get vengeance on Wes. She isn’t falling for his charms and Wes refers to her as a “little ankle biter.” He says winning the next challenge is his only chance to break up the “Survivor” contingency. Meanwhile, Dusty is fuming over the fact that he received four votes in the hopper. He blames Alyssa L., Alyssa S. and Tiffany, none of whom actually voted for him. Hilarious. He lashes out at Tiffany, who truthfully tells him she voted for Sebastian. He says he doesn’t trust her “for shit” and now he’s really on Tiffany’s bad side. The players that actually voted for Dusty were Michele, Chanelle, Cassidy and Desi. Michele couldn’t be more thrilled to fly under this radar as Dusty pledges Tiffany is his number one objective to get rid of.
9:10 p.m. — Wes calls his pregnant wife at home. He gets emotional thinking about the fact that he left her, but she’s doing fine. He is beginning to come to terms with the fact that this may be his last challenge after competing in them for nearly 20 years. Later that day the challengers arrive at their next competition. It’s TJ’s favorite — a good old fashioned trivia contest. In “High Q” players will be on a platform 35 feet above the water. One by one, TJ will ask them trivia questions. If a team answers correctly, everything is fine. If they answer incorrectly, the entire team’s platform will be tilted down towards the sea. Whoever hangs onto the platform the longest will win this challenge for their team. Let’s go!
9:25 p.m. — TJ is rattling off questions. After Round 1, the Blue Team is the only one with an incorrect answer. In Round 2 Blue is wrong again. Yikes! Questions continue and eventually more and more incorrect answers are given. The first player to drop is Dusty (Red). He’s followed by Monte (Green), Tyler (Green), Wes (Green), Michaela (Green), Faysal (Blue), Josh (Red), Cory (Red), Alyssa (Green), Michele (Red), Chanelle (Red) and Tiffany (Red). With six players remaining, the Blue Team has won this challenge! TJ dumps them just for fun.
9:30 p.m. — Knowing they’re safe but powerless, Bananas and Tori have a meeting in the minds. They’re trying to come up with a plan to keep Wes safe. After thinking it over, they realize there’s basically nothing they can do. There are too many “Survivor” players on their team and Wes has dug his own grave. He has to live with the consequences. At the deliberation, Bananas and Tori back down. They don’t need bigger targets on their backs. It’s clear Wes is going in, but the girls want to throw in either Tiffany or Alyssa as the other nominee. They ultimately decide Wes and Tiffany will head into the arena.
9:40 p.m. — Wes goes to Bananas and Tori to ask what happened. They tell him the Blue Team had already made up their minds. There was nothing they could do to save him. Wes starts brainstorming ways to get out of this and says he’s not afraid to be the underdog — “a really good-looking underdog.” Wes begins working the house. He doesn’t have to work on Dusty much, who has pledged loyalty to the vets since day one. Dusty plans to vote for a girl. After that, Wes basically goes around the house asking every single person to vote for a girl so he doesn’t have to compete. After nearly everyone pledges they’ll vote for a woman, Cory pulls together his alliance and asks, “So, are we voting for Dusty?” LOL. Michele says the girls also plan on voting for a man. Wes gets emotional talking with Bananas, saying he doesn’t need a break. He’s got a kid coming and just wants to succeed in this game. Desi is unbothered, calling Wes’ tactic a “sob story” to rally attention around himself “in true Wes form.”
9:50 p.m. — The challengers are called to place their anonymous votes. Each one will be revealed later in the arena. Once everyone gets to the arena, TJ introduces Wes and Tiffany. The players who received votes are: Alyssa (2), Michaela (1), Chanelle (1) and Dusty (7). TJ fires up the hopper and just one ball is released: Dusty. That means Tiffany is safe and Wes will take on Dusty in a game called “Crank Shafted.” In this game, one player will be standing on a wheel. The other person will be at the crank shaft. The person on the ground will have to untie steering wheels that move the large wheel their opponent is standing on. They’ll have to spin this thing until that person falls off. Whoever lasts the longest wins.
10:00 p.m. — Dusty is starting on top of the wheel and Wes will try to shake him down as quickly as possible. This could be a dangerous spot for Wes because it might allow Dusty to learn from his strategy. Wes looks smooth and methodical, but is it too slow? Wes quickly tries one steering wheel, realizing it’s not enough. He goes on to the next steering wheel. That does the trick and he sends Dusty to the ground. It’s now time to swap places. Dusty seems to struggle untying the steering wheel. After getting it undone he doesn’t even try spinning it. He moves onto the second wheel. Wes quickly goes down, but only TJ knows how the times compared. Wes looks defeated, but what if Dusty took significantly longer untying the wheels? TJ says just 37 seconds separated the two. In the end, Wes’ strategy won! The challengers are shocked to learn Wes is safe and Dusty has been sent packing. When asked if he’d like to stay on the Green Team, Wes says he wants nothing to do with any of the teams, but he’ll join Blue — sending Chris to the Green Team.
Launch Gallery: 'The Challenge: USA' season 2 cast photos: 18 CBS reality titans compete with 6 MTV vets
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