‘The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras’ episode 15 recap: Who was eliminated in ‘Thinking Thin Era’? [LIVE BLOG]
Tonight on “The Challenge: Battle of the Eras,” a win or go in mentality infiltrates one alliance as the Challengers must traverse tight quarters, filled with bats and puzzles, in an attempt to keep themselves safe.
Here are the contestants still in contention for the Season 40 championship:
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Era 1: Rachel Robinson
Era 2: Aviv Melmed, Cara Maria Sorbello, Derek Chavez, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio
Era 3: Cory Wharton, Jordan Wiseley, Tori Deal
Era 4: Jenny West, Kyland Young, Michele Fitzgerald
Below, read our full recap of tonight’s episode, titled “Thinking Thin Era” airing Wednesday, Dec. 4 (8:00 – 9:30 PM ET/PT) on MTV.
After winning last week’s arena, Cory called out Michele, Jenny, and Aviv as targets. Cory’s been desperate to cling on to someone as a ride or die, and he’s hoping with Josh out of the picture, he can move up Tori’s list, right behind Jordan. He also hopes he can schmooze his way into Cara Maria’s top spot, which seems to have worked. Bananas begins to feel Cara Maria’s power shift, so he naturally complains about her to his angels.
Rachel has been playing a near-flawless game since her entire era was wiped out. Bananas is her top guy, but she’s also working on getting protection from Jordan and Kyland, who have won most of the daily challenges.
This week’s Daily Challenge is called “Tight Quarters.” Players descend into a massive network of tunnels in the forest, crawling through tight, dark spaces while encountering bats, rats, spiders, and fire ants. After a long trek through the tunnel, they’ll have to solve a slider puzzle, grab a bag of blocks and race to a second tunnel, which is a few football fields long. Once they get out, they’ll race over to the finish line where they’ll complete another puzzle with their bag of blocks. Whoever finishes first is safe from elimination. The losing female competitor will head straight into the elimination arena. As the loser of last week’s challenge, Aviv is assessed a two-minute penalty. Tori and Kyland sail through this for the win, with TJ calling them both “absolute killers.”
Bananas, Rachel and Aviv all timed out of this contest. Aviv got completely lost in the tunnel, came out the wrong side, and ran about a mile in the wrong direction. Bananas and Rachel didn’t understand the final puzzle and simply couldn’t solve it. Because Aviv broke through a barrier in the tunnel (unbeknownst to her), she was technically disqualified, making her this week’s loser. She’ll head straight into elimination, while Bananas will face a penalty in next week’s challenge.
Jenny and Michele have to plea for their safety to Kyland. It’s his decision which of them will face off against Aviv in the arena. Kyland has been gunning for Jenny all season, and he’s pretty close with Michele, so this isn’t much of a debate.
Tonight’s elimination is called “Iron Triangle.” Jenny and Aviv will be locked in a cage and try to throw a 10-pound ball over a cage, landing it within a circle. The first person to score two points wins. Jenny clearly has a physical advantage over Aviv, but Aviv is scrappy! She put up one heck of a fight, but Jenny was just too much for her and won this matchup 2-0. Let’s give Aviv some credit though, she’s 40 years old and hasn’t competed since Season 12 — which she won. What a beast!
As the winner, Jenny names Cory, Derek, and Jordan as targets.
Launch Gallery: 'The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras' cast: Meet the 40 legendary challengers competing
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