‘The Challenge: USA’ season 2 episode 8 recap: Who was eliminated after teams dissolve in ‘Independence Day’? [LIVE BLOG]
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Tonight on “The Challenge: USA,” the challengers’ strategies shift after host TJ Lavin announces that the team competition has concluded and they enter the individual phase of the game. This episode titled “Independence Day” airs Thursday, September 7 (10:01-11:00 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.
The 16 challengers still fighting for the top prize are Wes Bergmann, Michaela Bradshaw, Cassidy Clark, Tyler Crispen, Tori Deal, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, Michelle Fitzgerald, Chanelle Howell, Josh Martinez, Sebastian Noel, Faysal Shafaat, Alyssa Snider, Monte Taylor, Chris Underwood, Cory Wharton and Desi Williams
10:00 p.m. — Previously on “The Challenge: USA”! A pair of “Challenge” vets played cupid as romance blossomed between Tyler and Alyssa. After the Blue Team won the challenge they nominated Tyler and Michaela for elimination. When Tiffany Mitchell’s name came out of the hopper, she took on Michaela in the game “Top Heavy” and Tyler was declared safe. Michaela dominated the arena and sent the “Big Brother” alum home. Rather than asking Michaela if she would like to stay on the Green Team or defect, TJ told everyone this is now an individual game. Let’s see how things are shaken up tonight!
10:05 p.m. — The challengers return to the house with the news there are no more teams. It’s an exciting shift that will allow players more options to build alliances more strategically. With “Big Brother” numbers dwindling, Tyler and Monte pledge their allegiance to each other (at least in terms of a top male alliance). The next morning Bananas sits down with Michaela, hoping to build a bridge with a player he sees as loyal and competitive. Michaela takes it with a grain of salt knowing he just tried to send her home, but also knowing Bananas on her side can only help her. She felt good about working with Wes, but also didn’t feel Wes was willing to stick his neck out for her. She’s open to flipping from Wes to Bananas.
10:08 p.m. — Alyssa has a meltdown and starts crying, telling Tyler she feels like a “sitting duck” as the last “Big Brother” girl standing. Next, the players gear up and head to their first individual challenge. TJ explains the game is called “Spell-Lunkers.” It will be played in four heats of four players. They will not be able to watch the other heats. To begin, each person will be assigned a pair of lock boxes. When TJ says, “Go!,” they’ll jump off a cliff and swim to some buoys, where they’ll find a word puzzle under the water. The words are themed. They come up with the theme, swim back to their lock box and unlock the code. If they’re right, they’ll get a flashlight to use when they swim back into a deeper, darker cave with a bigger word puzzle. The words can be forwards, backwards or diagonal. Once they swim back and put that code into their lock box they’ll release their smoke flare and stop their clock. The fastest man and woman will win today’s challenge and be the only two safe from elimination. They will also be selecting one man and one woman to put at risk of elimination. Let’s go!
10:15 p.m. — Up first are Faysal, Tyler, Alyssa and Cassidy. They soon realize the water is much colder and murkier than they thought. Tyler can’t see, so he just heads back and Alyssa follows him. They’re just going to take a wild guess. Faysal follows next, but Cassidy decides to take one more dive. She sees the word “Panther” and realizes the code must be “Cats.” Cassidy is the last to return to her lock box, but the only one to open it. She grabs her flashlight and takes off. After trying to guess random four-letter words for 20 minutes, Faysal jumps back in the water to try again. Tyler follows. They’re totally bombing. Before Tyler and Faysal return, Alyssa is able to guess “Cats” and takes off. Cassidy can’t figure out the second set of clues, guessing they have something to do with a phone. When the others finally get there, they realize all the words line up with “dance.” They’re heading back, hot on Cassidy’s trail. Everyone is now at the lock box and the winners of Heat 1 are Faysal and Alyssa. Will their times hold up?
10:20 p.m. — Heat 2 is Bananas, Chanelle, Michaela and Monte. Bananas is certified and scuba diving and Monte barely swims. This is going to be a blowout. Bananas quickly sees the word “paws” beneath the water and tells the others. He quickly returns and correctly guesses “cats.” Michaela arrives next, with her clue of “paws,” and says, “It’s not STOP,” lol. Finally, it becomes clear that Monte, Chanelle and Michaela thought he meant “pause,” not “paws.” Meanwhile, Bananas cruises through the next puzzle board and is swims back. The other three have finally guessed “cats,” but it’s too late. Bananas destroys this challenge. Chanelle heads back next and wins over Michaela.
10:25 p.m. — Heat 3 is Wes, Michelle, Tori and Sebastian. They decide to all work together because they want to target “Big Brother.” Four minds are better than one, right? Going against the plan, Wes immediately recognizes “cats” and swims back without saying a word to the others. He decides power is more important than teamwork. As much as Wes would like to help Tori, he can’t risk Sebastian hearing the answer. Eventually the other three realize the answer and catch up to Wes in the cave. He can’t figure out this second puzzle. Tori does and swims back to the lock box as quickly as possible. She wins Heat 3 for the women followed by Wes for the men.
10:30 p.m. — Heat 4 is Chris, Desi, Cory and Josh. They truly do work together. Chris is the only one who can really dive at all, but Desi just heads to the lock box and tries four-letter words. She comes up with “cats” before anyone else can figure it out and shares the info with the others. Down in the cave they all put their heads together and decide to let Josh go back and try the word “dance.” Of course that’s the correct answer, so Josh wins this heat. Everyone else races back and since Desi is the only woman in this heat, she wins by default. But how will all the times from each heat stack up? TJ announces the two winners of this challenge are Tori (who smoked everyone by almost six minutes) and Bananas (who beat Josh by just under two minutes). The vets are in control!
10:35 p.m. — As a strong woman, Tori decides she can either attack the other strong women or throw them a bone, hoping they’ll do the same for her in the future. She meets with Desi, Chanelle and Michaela. Nobody is more on board with keeping strong players to the end than Desi, who got screwed by Enzo Palumbo quitting on her in the final last year. She has no interest in being paired up with a weak player when it matters most. Next, Tori and Bananas head to deliberation and decide to throw in the showmance: Tyler and Alyssa. Neither Bananas or Tori want “Survivor” players targeting them.
10:40 p.m. — Tyler is willing to put himself into elimination in order to save Alyssa. What a hero. He tries to convince as many people as possible to vote for other guys. Later, while everyone else heads to the bar, Sebastian and Tori stay back for a little love-fest of their own. While Alyssa chats up Wes at the bar, he tells her the men plan on throwing in a “Survivor” player or Monte. On the diary cam, Alyssa reveals she’s happy to return the favor to Tori and vote for Sebastian in tonight’s hopper.
10:45 p.m. — Michaela asks Bananas for some advice about tonight’s vote. He asks if it benefits them to keep Alyssa in the house. She’s a “layup.” They’re not threatened by her and decide to vote for a man tonight. The “Big Brother” players decide to throw all three of their votes on Sebastian. Other players want to target Monte. Players toss their balls in the hopper and TJ will reveal the results at the arena.
10:53 p.m. — TJ introduces Tyler and Alyssa to the arena. Next he reveals which other players received votes in the hopper: Sebastian (6), Cassidy (1) and Monte (7). He revs up the hopper and it spits out Monte’s name. It’s a “Big Brother” battle for safety tonight and Alyssa is safe. Tyler and Monte will compete in a game called “Too Cool for Spool.” There are two giant spools in the middle of the arena. To begin, the players will be strapped to one of the spools and then race to a stack of balls shaped in a pyramid. Their goal is to recreate that pyramid on top of their spool The first player to complete this task will win elimination and remain safe. The loser will go home.
11:00 p.m. — This challenge is more difficult than it looks. The spinning of the spool makes it almost impossible for them to balance. Over 30 minutes has elapsed and both players are still struggling. An hour passes. Then 90 minutes approaches. Finally, with one ball left, Tyler is about to put everyone out of their misery. And just like that, his entire pyramid collapses. It’s total devastation. Two hours goes by. Monte finishes the pyramid and nudges his way towards the buzzer. The pyramid collapses. Wow! This is just brutal. Another 30 minutes goes by and Monte and Tyler both have more collapses. TJ is laughing maniacally at this point. At nearly the three-hour mark, Tyler finally hits the buzzer and puts this game away. Monte has been eliminated after a valiant effort. TJ ends the episode with a warning for everyone: “Get some rest, because it’s about to get serious. I’ll see you soon.”
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