‘The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras’ episode 11 recap: Who was eliminated in ‘Payback Era’? [LIVE BLOG]
Tonight on “The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras,” the targets are painted on three friends as they must scrape through an intense obstacle course in order to keep themselves safe. One player decides to blow up anyone’s game who stands in their way.
Here are the contestants still in contention for the Season 40 championship:
Era 1: Rachel Robinson
Era 2: Aviv Melmed, Cara Maria Sorbello, Derek Chavez, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, Laurel Stucky, Nehemiah Clark
Era 3: Cory Wharton, Jordan Wiseley, Nia Moore, Tori Deal
Era 4: Jenny West, Josh Martinez, Kyland Young, Michele Fitzgerald, Olivia Kaiser, Theo Campbell
Below, read our full recap of tonight’s episode, titled “Payback Era” airing Wednesday, October 30 (8:00 – 9:30 PM ET/PT) on MTV.
Heading into tonight’s episode, Bananas had made Michele, Nia, and Olivia targets since he was unable to go after Tori, who won last week’s Daily Challenge. With Devin Walker out of the game, his presence lives on with the division and chaos he created in the house.
As the Challengers return to the house, Bananas has officially declared war and a line has been drawn in the sand. Kyland is upset that Nia is a target and questions why Bananas didn’t go after Cara Maria instead. Bananas has also upset Tori and Michele, so he’s got a lot of enemies right now. Despite Nia’s new showmance with Kyland, she’s worried he will prioritize Michele and Olivia over her.
Today’s Daily Challenge is called “Building Bridges.” Because Michele lost the last challenge, she has a 30-second time penalty. In this game, players will climb a tower, jump onto a poll, and slide halfway down. Next, they’ll step onto a platform and collect three coins to deposit in their bank. Then, they’ll solve a puzzle, race across a bridge, collect more coins, and deposit them in their bank as well. After one final Tarzan swing into a tower of blocks, they’ll stop their time. If they fall off the course at any time their score will be based on distance traveled. The man and woman with the fastest time will be the winners and safe from elimination. They’ll also be at the head of the table in tonight’s chamber, selecting one woman to face off in the elimination against today’s loser. The man with the slowest time will have a disadvantage in next week’s challenge.
Bananas is drawn to go first and he immediately makes a huge mistake by passing by his first coin. He has to backtrack to retrieve it. After recovering, he flies through the rest of the course pretty quickly. There’s a reason he’s a seven-time champ! One-by-one, the other Challengers take on the course. Much to Bananas’ chagrin, Kyland ends up winning this competition. The women’s winner is Jenny, who defeated Tori by just six one-hundredths of a second. The last-place man was Theo, who will be assessed a penalty at the next challenge. The losing woman was Nia, who will head straight into elimination. She’ll face off against one of her closest allies, Michele or Olivia. So, not such a great outcome for Kyland after all. Rachel calls this “poetic justice.”
Michele tells Kyland she’s not going to politic against Olivia. Meanwhile, Olivia confronts Bananas and asks why he called her “Devin’s pet snake.” They have a heated conversation at the bar, much to everyone else’s entertainment. Then, Bananas turns his attention towards Nia, asking where she thinks she stands on Jordan’s list. Suddenly, Jordan’s name is in the limelight as a floater. Then he name-drops Tori, telling the entire cast she’s promised something to every guy in the house. Cara Maria laughs, “Welcome to the Johnny show!” He’s sewing seeds of chaos all over. Now everyone in the house is paranoid about where they stand. Job well done, Bananas!
After being a target for the whole first half of this season, Rachel is now positioning herself well. She’s building as many alliances as possible with the men, most recently choosing to buddy up with Cory and Nehemiah. She’s hoping they can help take each other to the end. Later, Nia asks Bananas if what he said about Jordan is true. Of course he says yes, and tells Nia she’s not in Jordan’s top five. “That’s news to me,” she confesses. Bananas is actually telling the truth here.
Following the chamber, Kyland decides to throw Michele into the arena against Nia. Jenny is thrilled to watch them both cry after they’ve refused to have her back all season. Later, Nia confronts Jordan and he gives her the runaround on whether or not she’s at the top of his roster. In the confessional, she confirms that, “As crazy as it sounds, when I come back tonight, he’s gonna be a target.”
Tonight’s elimination arena is called “Forty-Fication.” Players will have to solve equations to unlock chains. Once the chains are unlocked, they’ll have to haul large crates into a square. The first one to get it done will win safety and name next week’s targets. The loser goes home. Michele is better at math and builds an early lead. Nia tries doing all the math at once before she moves any boxes, which hurt her in the end. Michele’s strategy paid off and she wins this elimination in a decisive fashion. Nia goes home and Michele names Bananas, Jordan, and Nehemiah as targets.