The Challenge: World Championship recap: A legend proves her worth while another crashes and burns

Sydney Bucksbaum
·7 min read
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While the series premiere of The Challenge: World Championship focused mainly on the global MVPs, thankfully episode 2 brought the Challenge legends back into the spotlight as teams were chosen and the drama kicked into high gear. Let's recap!

Without further ado, it's time to find out who the global MVPs pick as their partners — because it's all their choice, and the legends have to just accept what they get. The MVPs choose in the order in which they finished the qualifier. Grant goes for Jonna as the first draft pick, meaning she joins Team Australia. Zara picks Wes, so he joins Team UK. Johnny Bananas' disappointment at not being the first male draft pick is palpable — he can't hide his facial expression at all and Sarah gets a lot of joy on the sidelines watching his ego take a massive hit. The rest of the teams are: Ben and Kaycee; Kaz and Jordan; Danny and Tori; Justine and Bananas; Benja and Jodi; Kiki and Darrell; Rodrigo and Nia; Emily and Yes; Troy and Amber; and Sarah and Theo. The last two to be picked are KellyAnne, who's paired with Tristan, and Nelson, who's paired with Jujuy.

Notable shocking moments in the draft include Wes beating Bananas for the first round draft pick, and non-champ Nia getting picked before Amber, who won in her first season. KellyAnne isn't too upset about getting picked last since she ends up with The Challenge: UK winner Tristan (even though he messed up the puzzle portion in the qualifier), and non-champ Nelson's self-aware enough to know why he was picked last. At least they both have a good attitude about it — they should be grateful they're even on the cast as non-winners.

Back at the house, the teams all scurry off into different rooms to get to know each other better. Nelson and Jujuy laugh about how the language barrier might be an issue for them, but they're confident they'll have good communication regardless. Justine tells Bananas he won't have to carry her because she's actually a great physical competitor. Meanwhile, Jonna tells Kaycee she's worried that KellyAnne might be holding a grudge after losing to her in All Stars 3, and KellyAnne admits she has no alliances despite having close friends in this game. Sounds like KellyAnne!

In another corner, Wes gives Zara a lesson on how to do well, and she literally takes notes. He says not to get distracted by "the other idiots' training regimens" since they do things that don't actually matter like weights and yoga, whereas the only thing that matters for training during the season is long distance running. Zara's loving every second that Wes is schooling her, and he's eating it up having such a "star pupil" eager to learn from him. Watch out for this team — not only are they both proven competitors, they're also forming a really solid dynamic already. They could end up dominating.

THE CHALLENGE: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
THE CHALLENGE: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Jonne Roriz/Paramount+ 'The Challenge: World Championship'

The Challenge: Chain Game

The first official challenge starts with the pairs racing up a sand dune, choosing a chain that corresponds to a specific puzzle, and pulling the 700 lb. chain over to the puzzle area, where they must then use that chain to solve the puzzle. The closer puzzle areas are more difficult, whereas the easier puzzles are much further away, so there's a strategy in choosing which one to do. The last team to solve their puzzle gets sent straight into elimination.

After the horn blows, Grant and Jonna are the last to arrive at the chains and are forced to do the hardest puzzle. But that means they're the first to arrive at their puzzle area, and Grant is blown away by how quickly Jonna gets their puzzle figured out. There's no doubt anymore that Jonna is an absolute Challenge legend after her two back-to-back All Stars wins — and her incredible performance in the first All Stars season only months after giving birth — but she's proving once more that she's not the same Jonna she was on the flagship seasons.

THE CHALLENGE: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
THE CHALLENGE: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Jonne Roriz/Paramount+ Tristan and KellyAnne

Grant and Jonna finish first, with Jordan and Kaz coming in second. Ben and Kaycee come in third, Yes and Emily in fourth, Jodi and Benja in fifth, Darrell and Kiki in sixth, Danny and Tori in seventh, Zara and Wes in eighth, Theo and Sarah in ninth, Amber and Troy in 10th, Bananas and Justine in 11th, and Nia and Rodrigo in 12th.

Now it's a race to see who isn't in last place between KellyAnne and Tristan and Nelson and Jujuy. It's not surprising to see how this is shaking out based on how the MVPs placed in the qualifier and how the legends were the last two chosen in the draft. All four of them are getting frustrated with their partners. KellyAnne and Tristan figure it out and finish, sending Nelson and Jujuy directly into elimination.

Back at the house, several players plan to nominate the other two Team Argentina pairs, because it's easier to keep targeting the same team that's already down in numbers rather than make new enemies. Wes and Jodi recognize that being on Team UK and Argentina puts them both at risk. KellyAnne tries to make a case for targeting someone on Team US... but she says that to Tori, who is on Team US. Then she tries to have a ton of conversations without actually having a game plan and stars to panic, immediately putting a target on her back. How is KellyAnne already making a political mess this early in the game?! This is maybe the fastest she's ever unraveled.

THE CHALLENGE: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
THE CHALLENGE: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Jonne Roriz/Paramount+ Zara and Theo race to ring the bell

Nominations

Yes kicks off the conversation by voting for KellyAnne/Tristan and Jodi/Benja, and all the other teams follow suit. Nia/Rodrigo burn a vote on Theo/Sarah, and Jordan/Kaz burn one on Wes/Zara, but the majority is already set as KellyAnne/Tristan and Jodi/Benja are put up for nominations. A lot of people are shocked to see Wes vote for his ex KellyAnne, but he's determined to make as few waves as possible this early on. He's okay with getting some heat for that, but some of the guys, like Bananas and Theo, are having a field day giving him s--- for being a "scumbag."

Jonna, who will eventually have to pick who goes into elimination, talks with KellyAnne, who's hoping that their friendship outside of the game will save her from the elimination. But when Jonna admits she's stressed about making the decision, KellyAnne gets cold and says that Jonna shouldn't be stressed: She just won the first challenge, she's got a great partner, and she beat KellyAnne in their last two seasons together and tied in the season before that. KellyAnne then says that if their roles were reversed, she wouldn't vote Jonna into elimination... and then things get really quiet and awkward as Jonna just smiles uncomfortably and doesn't know what to say. She admits in her confessional she doesn't want KellyAnne in this game, so looks like their friendship got left behind when they were packing for this season.

But we'll have to wait until next week to see what Jonna decides. It seems like she's leaning towards sending in KellyAnne, which would pit the bottom two teams against each other in the elimination. There's an easy argument for Jonna to make if she needs to do damage control afterwards. But will Jonna follow through with the betrayal?

The Challenge: World Championship debuts new episodes Wednesdays on Paramount+.

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