Nelson finally breaks his losing streak and tries to politic on The Challenge: Ride or Dies

Sydney Bucksbaum
·6 min read
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There is no Challenge competitor like Nelson Thomas. You can always count on Scuba Nelly T to give great soundbites — either intentionally or by making up an entirely new word on accident. The ordacity, people! And despite Nelson's deep desire to win, he's actually the record holder for the exact opposite: as producers have loved to remind him each week on The Challenge: Ride or Dies, he has the longest losing streak in the history of the franchise with 54 straight daily challenge losses. But that streak is finally broken in this week's episode, and it's all thanks to his ex/partner Nurys Mateo.

During the heights challenge 300 feet in the air, Nelson and Nurys go in one of the later heats, and while watching all the other teams fail to grab the flag, Nurys realizes that everyone was making the same mistake. All the teams chose the male partner to hang and the female partner had to run and jump on them, but since the males were all heavier, they could create a greater momentum to swing high enough to grab the flag if the men jumped instead. Nurys' hypothesis is proven correct when Jordan Wiseley and Aneesa Ferreira swap places and are the first and only team so far to successfully complete the challenge and grab the flag since Jordan jumps onto Aneesa instead of the other way around.

The Challenge: Ride or Dies
The Challenge: Ride or Dies

MTV

After literally every other team DQs for not being able to get the flag, Nelson and Nurys go and successfully complete the challenge, getting the flag and beating Jordan and Aneesa's time. Nelson's losing streak is finally over, and he can't contain his excitement. But it doesn't last as he realizes what the win means: earlier in the episode, he had mentioned that he didn't really want to win since that meant having power in this game, which makes new enemies. And his worst fear comes true, since he now has to put four teams up for elimination. He has to officially pick a side in the vet vs. rookie battle, and despite Nurys trying to convince him to side with some of her rookie friends, Nelson knows that would be a death sentence for their team. He has to side with the vets, but he tries to politic to still keep some rookies on his side — mainly his new "love" Olivia Kaiser.

During the night out at the bar, Olivia and her partner Horacio Gutierrez tell Nelson and Nurys that they'll have no hard feelings if they're put into deliberation... but only if they choose three other teams who won't pick them as elimination opponents. Olivia comes up with this plan to have Nelson and Nurys choose Tommy Bracco and Analyse Talavera for elimination, using the excuse of punishing them for their shady double deal last week, and then make deals with newcomers Darrell Taylor/Veronica Portillo and rookies Kim Tränka/Colleen Schneider to protect Olivia and Horacio during the Draw. But wait... isn't that the exact same kind of plan that Tommy and Analyse did last week for which everyone is now punishing them?! Hmmmm.

At first their plan works: everyone thinks Nelson is a ruthless savage for putting his new hookup buddy into deliberation, and the vets approve of Nelson's move. Olivia plays up her shock and they all laugh during their interrogation, while Nelson and Nurys convince Darrell/Veronica and Colleen/Kim to protect Olivia/Horacio during the Draw. But then we get an exact repeat of what happened last week as Olivia and Horacio pick the Safe dagger and are forced to choose only one team to save. They end up saving Darrell and Veronica, sending Colleen and Kim into elimination against Tommy and Analyse. And yet no one is yelling at Olivia and Horacio for making a double deal. I really don't understand how they're getting away with this!

So, ultimately, Nelson's big move to save his girlfriend while still siding with the vets works? It's not exactly an impressive showing of politicking, but he doesn't mess up his game at all so... sure. I'll give him that. Good job, Nelson.

As for who got eliminated, and other notable moments in this episode:

  • Watching Veronica and Darrell walk into the arena is like seeing Michael Jordan return to the NBA, but today. These two are undebatable legends in this game: Veronica has the most daily wins out of anyone who has ever played, and was the first person to win three times (and still holds the record with Evelyn Smith as the women with the most championships), while no one has ever broken Darrell's record of most wins in a row with four consecutive championships. But it's been many years since either of them have won, and despite Darrell coming in second place on All Stars, we haven't seen either of them perform like they used to. Darrell's fear of heights has become debilitating (of course his first challenge back is a major heights one!) and Veronica's not where she was physically back when she was winning. It's hard to imagine they'll have any kind of major impact on this season aside from adding numbers to the vet alliance. But hey, I'll always take Queen V and King D on the flagship!

  • Laurel Stucky and Horacio apparently have top bunks next to each other that are less than two feet apart, and Horacio sleeps shirtless, and Laurel says that's why they've started getting close. Many Challenge showmances have started from less!

  • Speaking of sleeping shirtless, does Nelson have a shirtless Cory Wharton pillow on his bed?! I definitely spotted something that looks suspiciously like it on display underneath Laurel's top bunk ...

  • The Challenge turned into Love Island this week. Not only did Nelson and Olivia take their flirting to the next level, but Faysal Shafaat and Colleen also hooked up (her partner Kim was not thrilled), and Jordan climbed into his ex-fiancée Tori Deal's bed. Spicy!

  • In the elimination, Tommy can't even lift Analyse off the ground so she can't touch the puzzle, giving Colleen and Kim an easy win. You know it's bad when Kim tries to give Tommy pointers on how to do better at lifting while they're literally competing against each other. After Colleen and Kim win, Tommy breaks down in tears but gets a round of applause from everyone on the sidelines and a pep talk of praise from TJ Lavin for not quitting, so at least it's an honorable exit.

  • This is the first episode this season where a new team doesn't come into the game late. As much as I love all the vets who have joined this season after the premiere, the shock factor was never there for viewers since every late entry was spoiled in the trailer. Now we can really get into the game.

  • Scuba Nelly T's Weekly Losing Streak Watch: After 54 straight losses, we can finally retire this running bit. Congrats, Nelson!

The Challenge: Ride or Dies airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.

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