Original subtitles

TJ: Previously on The Challenge: USA...

the veteran players took hold of the majority

on the dominating Blue team...

TORI: Bananas, Wes, Faysal and myself,

we have the numbers right now

to do whatever we want in this game.

TJ: ...outnumbering the Survivor alliance.

-My vote's for Michaela. -My vote's for Tyler.

-Michaela. -That was pretty quick.

TJ: And they regained power over the rookies.

I don't trust anyone.

I'm not going to make the mistake

that I've made in every other game,

which is assuming that a friend today

is a friend tomorrow.

TJ: Meanwhile, Tyler and Alyssa

took their romance to the next level.

ALYSSA S.: We came here to win $250,000,

but I love absolutely everything about him.

TJ: At the elimination, the Hopper chose

Tiffany to battle Michaela.

Oh, my God.

TJ: After Michaela's win...

(cheering)

...her plans to defect were upended

with a shocking announcement.

There are no more teams.

It's every man and woman for themselves.

(whooping)

TJ: Now that they are competing as individuals,

and with no more teams,

players are scrambling to form new alliances.

MONTE: It's time to shake this game up.

TJ: Six votes to prove that they have

what it takes to be a Challenge champion.

This is where it gets really sketchy.

Another worst nightmare for Tyler.

* *

TYLER: Michaela.

-Let's go. -Vamos verde.

MICHAELA: I'm super excited to be out of teams.

The game being individual just gives me more options

to build my alliances a little more strategically.

This is exactly what I wanted.

While the Red team is great,

I have a good, solid group within the vets,

but also Big Brother,

so I feel pretty safe moving forward.

If you can survive the Green team,

you can survive anything.

CASSIDY: The game is completely going to change.

Everybody's going to scramble around every single day

and try and figure out who's going to vote for who.

-CASSIDY: Ugh. -I can't handle the chaos.

CASSIDY: Me either, dude.

I feel like I'm in a really good position

heading into individual competitions.

It opens up my game, finally,

and I'm going to leverage all the relationships

that I've built over the last few weeks

to make it to the end.

-No more Blue team. Sorry, guys. -CASSIDY: No...

I miss the Blue team already.

Hey. All individual now.

My allegiance really does lie with the vets

of this game and the Challengers.

But, like, as an individual player in this game,

I'm strong, I have experience.

I feel like I'm going to do great and hopefully

create new alliances based off performance alone.

Somebody new is going to be in power every single week.

Like, you just got to roll with it.

CASSIDY: Yes, ma'am.

-MONTE: We caught an L today. -We caught an L, bro.

We caught an L, with all the Big Brother on the board.

Think about it. Alyssa, me, you, Tiffany, all of us, bro.

TYLER: Every single one of them.

Big Brother is down another number.

Alyssa S., myself and Monte are the last remaining

new Big Brother players in this game.

Fes, Josh, we have that Big Brother connection,

but they are definitely more, like,

Challenge vets loyal than Big Brother loyal.

Big Brother numbers took an L,

but Tiffany, I'm okay with her being gone.

My male number one in this game is definitely Tyler.

Watching him on Big Brother, where he won second place,

I studied his game to prepare

for my season of Big Brother,

so we already have that established connection,

and it only makes sense for us to protect each other

so that we can keep Big Brother as strong as possible.

From now on, we stick to whatever the hell we're doing

and what we're doing only.

* *

Listen, I've been playing the game long enough.

It's like I've peeped enough gameplay,

and, like, even though I don't say much about game,

it's, like, I can tell who's doing what.

And you, I feel like have been true to, like, your game,

who you are and your people.

Hope Michaela isn't too pissed at me

for being one of the members on Blue to send her in,

but teams are, you know, yesterday's news,

and I tend to use, uh, my knowledge

of prior seasons, my experience that I've had,

like currency to get people on my side.

Um, to me,

Michaela is a very dangerous person

to have working against you.

MICHAELA: At this point in the game,

I see value in connecting

with strong women and strong men.

Exactly. And Tiffany was, like, you know,

cool since we got here, but she's gone now.

So that to me, almost, like, kind of opens up

-a spot on my roster. -Yeah.

Well, you can put me in a spot.

I always take it with a grain of salt

when people come after

a potential attack and apologize.

But the reality is,

having Bananas on my side is an amazing thing

for me in this game.

When I look at all the vets,

I was attracted to playing with Wes,

but I also don't think Wes

is going to stick his neck out

to try to save me.

So, Bananas sharing that he wants to work with me,

I'm open to it.

Sounds good to me, Mr. Banana.

I-I might have a reputation for being an asshole,

but it's like I-I stab people in the chest,

-not in the back. -(laughs)

* *

I'm sorry that I'm putting this on you, but I just, like...

-No, no. -Everyone's lying and it just, like, really becomes a lot.

It's extremely hard to navigate a game

where the whole base of it

is lying, cheating, just manipulating people.

It's not my character. It's not who I am.

So I'm struggling a lot. I just really need someone

that I confide in and can trust in this house.

And Tyler, he's such a great support system for me.

And I'm the last Big Brother girl,

so I just feel like I'm a sitting duck.

-So I just was, like, feeling a little... -You're not a sitting duck.

...overwhelmed.

Honestly, don't be afraid

to be like, "Just give me a second,"

you know what I mean?

TYLER: It's difficult for me to see

Alyssa getting emotional about this

because we're each other's, like, comfort zone,

you know what I mean?

We're losing numbers like crazy.

Now it's up to the Big Brother players

to start looking out for each other.

And I'm doing my best to kind of keep her, uh,

head in the game.

-So, don't sweat. -(sighs)

-So we're good. -Yeah, thank you.

Life is good.

It's good. It's good.

-It is stupid. -We'll be all right.

It's, like, ugh, overwhelming.

(Tyler laughs)

* *

TORI: There's no way we're swimming that far.

This is treacherous.

FAYSAL: Now we're breaking off into individuals

and I couldn't be more happy.

Blue squad, we had the team game on lock,

but now it's time for me to spread my wings and fly, baby.

I rely on my physical performance

and my connections.

I mean, I'm rocking with Josh and Cory,

and Josh is one of the most

political players in this game,

so it's not the worst place to be right now.

Welcome, everybody, to your first individual challenge.

-(whoops) -Yeah, baby!

Today's challenge is called Spell-Lunkers.

It's going to be played in four heats of four players.

You will not be able to watch the other heats.

To begin, each of you

will be assigned a pair of lockboxes.

When I say go, you will jump off a giant cliff

and swim to some buoys where you'll find

a word puzzle under the water.

This word puzzle has a bunch of words in it

and they are themed.

You have to come up with the theme

and swim back to your lockbox

and write out your code.

If you're right, you get a flashlight

and you need that flashlight,

because back in the deep, dark cave

is an even bigger word puzzle.

The words can be forward, backwards, or diagonal.

You're going to come back,

punch that theme into your lock,

enter the correct answer, release your smoke flare

and stop your clock.

The man and woman to get this done the fastest

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.

-Got it? -Got it.

Good luck, everyone.

TJ: Faysal, Alyssa, Cassidy, Tyler, are you ready?

-Yeah. -Go. -(air horn blows)

CASSIDY: Oh, shit.

This is much harder than I thought it was going to be.

The water's actually freezing,

I'm running out of breath really quickly.

I'm like, oh, my God. Is this even possible?

Yeah.

TYLER: This water is very murky.

And that puzzle board is very deep.

Fuck that, bro.

I'm not down. I can't see that.

I need to make an executive business decision here

and I'm just going to go over to that lock and guess.

-Fuck that, dude. -It's so hard to see.

Tyler heads back, so I'm like, all right, I'll head back, too.

Two brains are better than one, so, I'm gonna go guess.

Alyssa, do you have a word?

-Huh? -Let's try "city."

-CASSIDY: You get something? -No.

What, you're leaving? Fessy.

CASSIDY: Oh, my God. I'm here alone now.

And I take one last dive down.

And I see the word "panther" and I'm like,

oh, my God, it's got to be "cats."

(panting)

And I'm just, like, trying to calm myself down enough

to enter "cats" into this lock.

Got you.

Everyone's trying to look at my code,

so I scramble it.

The individual portion of Survivor was where I shined,

so I do feel really confident

in my chances of winning this challenge.

ALYSSA S.: What are four-letter words with "road," "drive"?

I absolutely need to win this challenge

because I've been getting targeted

left and right in this game.

But, yeah, my guessing is not going too hot.

Another worst nightmare for Tyler.

If you got to go back out there, go back out there.

FAYSAL: I just have to jump back in the water

because we've been out here 20 minutes

and we still have not unlocked our first lockbox.

I'm coming, Fes.

ALYSSA S.: It is just so emotionally overwhelming

when Big Brother numbers are slowly getting

lower and lower, and I know

that I'm the only Big Brother girl

left in this house,

so I really have to win this one.

I need to get my head in the game.

If you got to go back out there, go back out there.

ALYSSA S.: Screw this challenge. Literally screw this challenge.

We had to jump off a cliff,

swim to some buoys, dive down, read a word search,

come up, unlock a giant chest,

get a flashlight,

go into a cave, do another word search.

Cassidy got her first lock

right away and just flies out.

So, I'm just going to keep guessing

until I can get something right.

Okay, so, square, tapping...

CASSIDY: These seconds are ticking by

and I'm like, what could this be?

No fucking way.

Guessing the word "cats,"

I'm a little bit surprised, but I am so relieved.

Want me to tell you guys?

-FAYSAL: Yeah. -Cats.

-Like meow. -Come on.

TYLER: Faysal was on

my original season of Big Brother.

Like, yo, we're solid, right?

He's had my back whenever he has had the chance,

and I've had his back, but I know he has allegiances

with the vets that are much tighter

than my allegiance with him.

Oh, fuck, what is it?

"Locking." "Tapping."

It's hard, I don't know what it is.

TJ: Cassidy coming correct.

-Okay. -"Tapping."

"Contemporary"? "Vogue"?

TJ: Let's go. It's not over. Hurry up.

-Do you know what it is? -I don't even know.

Cassidy's looking at me, like, with these puppy dog eyes,

like, tell me, tell me.

If she would have told me "cats,"

I would help her out.

TJ: Fessy with the win!

It's also, like, the Big Brother numbers are dwindling,

so for my game, it's better to have Alyssa S. win.

-TJ: Oh! -Fuck yeah!

-(air horn blows) -That's it.

Alyssa, at the last second, gets it done.

TYLER: Shit sucked.

CASSIDY: Yeah, that was hard.

* *

Bananas, Chanelle, Michaela and Monte, you ready?

-(air horn blows) -Go.

For me, I've never done any sort of deep diving.

I don't know what sort of breathing technique

you have to use.

Immediately, I feel like I'm out of breath

and I just have to let go

and come up for air as quickly as possible.

-Fuck. Don't go down, y'all. -It's so cold.

I've got an advanced open water scuba certification,

so for me, challenges like today

are right in my wheelhouse.

I see the word "paws," so I'm thinking

that the word either has to be "lion" or "cats."

What do you think it is?

Let me give you guys a hint. "Paws."

-"Pause"? -"Paws."

You go, put it in. I'll keep looking.

MONTE: If you get it, Michaela, just let us know.

It's not "stop."

Bananas tells us to think about the word "paws."

Holy shit.

Me, Chanelle and Michaela are thinking "pause,"

like pausing a movie or, you know, pause and play.

(gagging)

I'm trying as many things as I can,

but nothing seems to relate to that.

BANANAS: When I see "contemporary," I think of dance

and then I think, well, is "tapping" a form of dance?

Yes.

And I am off to the races.

The masses have been targeting the Challenge vets.

I have to protect myself.

D-E-A-D. It's kind of dark, though.

So, "dead."

It's "cats."

Bananas w-was trying to tell us

P-A-W-S, not P-A-U-S-E.

It was a great hint, but it was, like,

the perfect hint to throw us off as well.

You bastard.

Seeing Bananas so far ahead,

I do not feel great about that.

With me being on the Big Brother side

and then coming after the vets early,

we're on two opposite sides of the house.

(whoops)

-"Contemporary." -MONTE: "Tapping."

"Square." "Vogue."

I-I'm going to go back, I'm going to try.

CHANELLE: I just had four balls in the Hopper,

so it is more important than ever to win.

We weren't able to watch

the other heat, so we have no idea

how everyone else did.

-(cheers) -(air horn blows)

-There she is. -Aw, good job.

CHANELLE: Winning my heat, I feel good about that,

but I don't know if it's a competitive enough time

to win for the day.

-You just swim with me. I got you. -Yeah.

SEBASTIAN: The game plan going into this

is that once one of us figures out the theme,

we're going to all share and we want one of us

to eventually win. I think we're all on the same page here

as far as voting goes.

Get these Big Brother players out of the way.

Wes, Michelle, Tori, Sebastian, ready?

-Go. -(air horn blows)

TORI: To kick off this next part of the season

with a win would be amazing

because you need people to know that as an individual

in this game, you can win

and therefore you will have power.

-Do you see anything? -Huh?

WES: I see the word "Cheshire"

and then I see the word "panther."

It's just one feline-oriented word after another.

Was it really that easy?

For me, it was.

TORI: What did you see, Wes?

SEBASTIAN: What the hell, man?

Like, what did you just say to us five minutes ago?

I thought we were working together here.

-Wes, what is it? -What is it?

WES: I can't.

Fuck.

WES: This is an individual game.

Let's say that I come up with an answer

and I tell Tori.

Well, Sebastian will immediately have it

and I want to win because I love power.

Shit.

SEBASTIAN: That is impossible.

TORI: I didn't see anything either.

TORI: I see a little bit of a word.

It looks like "Broadway."

In my mind, I'm like, you know what?

It's either "cats" or "cars."

So I'm just going to go over,

I'm going to take a guess

and see what I can do.

MICHELLE: Tor, what is it?

Ha-ha, suckers!

I'm looking at Tori like, why didn't you tell me?

Like, you could have just said something.

But then again, there's a reason she's a champion, right?

She just gets shit done.

And that's so attractive to me. To be honest with you,

it's really hot. So I'm not mad she didn't tell me.

(laughing): How did she guess it?

Come on. Come on, come on, come on.

I think I've only found "vogue"

and "novoas."

(panting)

-That was bullshit, huh? "Cats"? -Sorry.

I thought the idea was that everybody was going to help

each other here.

And I'm looking at Tori like,

"We all want to win,

"but don't think I'm not peeping that

because I surely would have helped you."

-"Contemporary." -I saw that. Yeah.

"Contemporary" and "tapping."

Sebastian and I are getting really, really close

really, really fast.

But I'm trying to protect myself

and even though I realize the answer,

this is not a dating show, this is The Challenge.

So, I'm still competing alone.

TJ: Attagirl.

I crushed my heat. I got to beat Wes. (laughs)

You think you're better than me?

We should go.

Tori just smoked this.

So, it's come down

to me and Sebastian.

Now, all I've got to go do is finish the drill.

TJ: Hurry up, fellas.

Time to push the goal!

(air horn blows)

TJ: Wes and Tori, getting it done.

All right, Chris, Desi, Cory and Josh, you ready?

-Go. -(air horn blows)

(whooping)

-Get it? -No.

-Stay calm. -Stay calm, yeah.

Breathe. And we're going to have to work together.

-So we can break the code? -Yeah.

CHRIS: It's an individual game but I'm going with my gut.

I feel like four minds, we have the best opportunity

at getting the fastest time.

We're working to protect this group.

This really is a trust-building exercise.

I saw "scratching. I saw "paws."

It's "cats." We got it.

-We got it! -"Cats"!

JOSH: Chris, let's go!

All right. Let's go.

JOSH: I feel really confident within this group.

It is an individual game

so I think that moving forward,

we have to put all of our bad blood aside

and no matter who takes it,

we'll have each other's back.

This is fucking hard.

-I see face "skate." -"Tapping."

-"Locking." -"Locking."

-I like that, "locking." -"Locking."

"Safe." What do you think, Cory?

"Dance."

Josh, are we going to go try?

-You want me to go? -Yeah, go for it.

Go for it.

-Go. -CHRIS: I say "dance."

I'm just going to try to help Josh win.

Being a Big Brother player,

he's definitely at risk on this one.

This is an IOU times a million here, bro.

I got it!

-He got it. -JOSH: I got it!

All right, let's go, let's go, let's go!

* *

-(air horn blows) -All right, good job.

Good job.

Great challenge today, everyone.

That was amazing.

One player smoked everyone

by almost six minutes.

JOSH: Wow.

-Her name is Tori. -(cheering)

It was awesome. Congratulations.

Tori is one of the people

that I am the most unsure about.

She's a vet. She probably doesn't want

other strong women in this game.

And so I'm just nervous that my worst-case scenario

of being put up against Desi or Michaela

is going to come true.

Now, there were two men

that were real tight.

Josh.

-And Bananas. -(exclaiming_

JOSH: Oh, shit.

Goddamn it, TJ.

Josh, your time...

was 22:29.

Bananas, your time...

was twenty...

Josh, your time

was 22:29.

Bananas, your time

was 20...

35.

(cheering)

Good job, Bananas.

-Great job. -Good job, guys.

Good job, guys.

WES: We're establishing the precedent

that the Challengers are going to dominate

these individual games.

No more hiding behind teams,

Mr. and Mrs. Survivor players.

Congratulations, Bananas and Tori.

Now you two are safe from elimination,

and you have to go back to the house

and nominate two players, one man and one woman.

The rest of you, go in and vote

for whoever you want to go against one of the nominees.

All right? It's a shame, but someone's got to go.

Get out of here.

(squeals) I'm so excited to win today.

To come out and show up

on the first individual challenge, it's like, okay,

I'm going to set the tone for the rest of the season.

BANANAS: If there was ever a doubt

that I was in fact the guy to beat,

this just removed all doubt.

(cheering)

-Yeah! -Giddyup! Giddyup!

MONTE: Bananas and Tori, their options are limited

if they want to make a safe move,

and I'm worried that

they would bring up my name

for a nomination, but you just never know.

-You want to talk? -Sure.

I also want to talk to Chanelle and-and Michaela.

TORI: As an individual player,

I can make a decision to either attack the strong women

or I can be smart,

throw them a bone,

and that way, when one of them

occupies the deliberation seat in the future,

they could throw me the bone right back.

In the likelihood of people, like, winning,

I mean, I just-- I would put our money on us.

-Mm-hmm. -So, to keep ourselves safe would be good.

Who knows what's going to happen in this final?

-And if we're paired up... -Yeah.

...I want the strongest females next to me.

Yeah. And I don't want to get screwed in the final.

The last time I played this game, I had a partner

who gives up.

-(gasping) -DESI: Enzo, please.

-I quit. -Enzo, it's not too late.

Please, Enzo.

We are likely the women who have the most potential

of winning individual challenges.

So, my fingers are crossed that we can put

all the bad blood behind us

and make it to the end. That is my goal.

I'm thinking, like, we're going to

take our vote away from you guys

and then hopefully in the future,

if you guys win, you do the same for us.

-Absolutely. -100% -All right, cool.

I've been to five finals, and I've only won one,

and I think it's pretty clear to say

that if you go with people who are better than you,

they're going to beat you.

At the same time, if you target people

who are better than you too early,

they could have the opportunity

to win a challenge and nominate you.

-Shake on it. -Shake on it.

* *

(sighs)

Please stop beating me at stuff.

TORI: (laughs) No.

Tired of this second place bullshit.

Part of my legacy now.

So, my only thought

is that we need to split the vote.

Big Brother and Survivor.

If you put two Big Brother people in there,

then it's gonna look like we're straight targeting Big Brother.

I don't feel that way.

But let's just look at it objectively.

There's three of them.

If I want to make sure

that I'm working with the strong women in this game,

such as like Michaela and Desi and Chanelle,

then I'm not trying to piss off Survivor right now.

So just say we send in Tyler and Alyssa.

TORI: Oh, God.

Putting Tyler and Alyssa up,

it's like yeah, they're talking.

You know? And that's kind of shitty.

But then we could always be like... put in Monte.

Is that an option?

I'm kind of sold, kind of set on just going back

to the well, throwing Tyler back in.

-I feel bad. -Yeah.

-The guy's super nice. -Mm-hmm.

-Okay, I'm down. -But, you know, nice guys finish last

on The Challenge every single time.

All right. So we're sending

-the lovebirds on a date. -God...

The Survivor numbers are still very strong,

so it was just much easier to just burn a vote on Alyssa

because I don't want to get a target on my back.

Crazy.

I hate everything about that.

My only objective

is to keep Alyssa safe in this game

and I'm going to do absolutely everything I can

to make that happen.

Congratulations to Survivor on a win.

You did it once again.

It sucks because the Big Brother numbers are dwindling

and Survivors over there are sitting pretty.

Josh and I, we need these Big Brother numbers in the game.

We can look out for each other when it comes to voting.

Maybe with these two we should do something more like this.

WES: What's your interpretation of what happened?

TYLER: They just said my name last time

and it's not going to be Survivor.

I knew it was going to be the easiest

decision for them to nominate me

instead of Monte because they've already said my name before.

I really want to make this a guys' elimination

and keep Alyssa safe in this game.

And if that means putting myself into that Arena,

then I'm going to do that

and I'm not afraid to do that.

Give you another hug.

-Yeah, but we did, like... -Should've known. It's just...

-It's time to get a guy out, you know? -Mm-hmm.

So, if anybody wants a guy out of this house, send him to me.

Tyler, he is like, the most kind, compassionate,

understanding person and I just admire him so much.

Fighting so hard to be like, all right,

let's make sure Alyssa's safe this time.

He's so cute.

And I'll try to do my best to get him out.

-Anybody that's not you. -MONTE: Yeah.

Well, that's what I was going to say.

Let's get on the same page about that.

(laughter)

Because that would be worst-case scenario.

SEBASTIAN: Everyone's going out to the bar,

but Tori and I both want to stay.

I didn't come here to fall in love,

but Tori is strong, powerful, beautiful.

She's got it all.

Why not follow your heart?

We're having a date on a webcam.

Oh, my God. I've never been on a webcam date.

-Um... -I have.

-What's your middle name? -Patricia.

-Patricia. -(laughs)

So, I heard the talk of the town is that Tyler's been like,

"Let's go. I'll go, I'll take it up

and I'll make it a guys' day,"

which is like, oh, my God,

I've never had that happen.

-It's just so sweet. -That's romantic.

Yeah, it really, truly is.

I think that, unfortunately,

this is where it gets really sketchy.

I think a lot of people wanted it to be mine.

The other way of looking at it

is to vote in, like, a Survivor guy.

That's what I want.

Tori's gonna throw me and my man up for nominations?

Absolutely not.

I will happily return the favor, Tori.

I can't put you in this time,

but I can put your mans in.

So, I'm curious, Mr. Banana.

If you were in my position,

what would you be considering with this vote coming up?

You guys got to look at it like, does it benefit you

to keep Alyssa here or get rid of her?

-CHANELLE: Yeah. -BANANAS: She's what we'd call a layup,

-keeping a very beatable female in the house. -Mm-hmm.

-CHANELLE: So a guys' day. -MICHAELA: Yeah.

What's up, fam? What's going on? What up?

MONTE: The perfect man for us to run into at the moment.

TYLER: How we feeling?

MONTE: Good, man.

I mean, if we put three balls in the same direction,

it'll be a pretty decent probability

that that person could go in.

ALYSSA S.: I feel like Sebas is a good option.

All he ever talks to me about is how happy he is here

and how in such a great spot he is, I'm like--

MONTE: We need to ruin that.

He'd be blindsided, so it would-- it'd throw him off,

to go against Tyler.

He hasn't done fantastic in any challenge.

Three, he's Tori's boo-thang.

And I'm like, if you're going to throw me and mine...

-Yeah, they set it up like that, you know? -ALYSSA S.: Yeah.

It definitely sucks that Big Brother has dwindled down

to three core members: Tyler, myself, Alyssa.

We got Faysal, we got Josh.

But those guys are attached to the Challenge vets

in another way that we aren't.

So, we're just trying to pull together

as many numbers as possible to vote in Sebastian.

I think if you and I get on the same page,

we can get a lot of votes on one person.

Push for Monte. Unless you have another suggestion.

I want to make sure that I'm not in that Hopper.

I feel like I have more trust built with the vets,

like Cory, Fessy, Josh, than with Tyler and Monte.

So, this should be a Big Brother day

where we put Monte and Tyler against each other.

There's 14 votes in the house,

and if eight of them are on Monte

and three or four of them are on Sebastian,

that's a really good spread.

(alarm ringing)

Oh, it's time!

* *

Individuals, it's time to shake this game up.

Sorry, Monte.

Mr. Monte.

Survivor numbers are just too strong right now.

Sorry, Sebastian. I hope you don't see it coming.

Sorry, not sorry.

CASSIDY: Easiest choice to vote tonight is going to be Wes,

but I think most people are going to be voting Monte.

(clicks tongue)

Hmm.

* *

I'm not really sure what

the votes are going to look like.

I might see some balls in the Hopper,

which would really suck because I don't

want to have to go up against my boy Tyler.

TJ: All right, everyone.

We had our first challenge as individuals.

Bananas and Tori came out on top.

How you feeling?

-Good. -Feel great.

-Yeah. -TJ: Well, you look great.

Everybody else is sweating.

Well, they're all dressed the same, TJ,

so me and Tori figured we'd do the same thing.

(laughter)

FAYSAL: Tori and Bananas, they got on their best outfits

after voting in the two lovebirds of the house.

That's just some sideways hating-ass shit.

As the winners of the last challenge,

you both had to nominate two players

to send into the Arena and put at risk.

You chose Tyler and Alyssa.

Come on out.

(cheering and applause)

The rest of you had to come back to the house

and, in secret, place a name in the Hopper.

Let's see what you came up with.

Sebastian's on the board.

Six votes.

Oh, my God.

Why would you vote for me? Why? Out of all people?

Now I got a mystery on my hands. I got to figure out

who did what and who was in charge of it all.

TJ: Cassidy's on the board.

One vote.

WES: I voted for Cassidy.

It is fun to watch.

(laughs)

He's turning red. You did it.

CASSIDY: One ball, and I'm like, "I wonder who that could be."

Wes has one of the biggest egos,

and the way I've played the game,

making an enemy out of one of the biggest Challengers

could have been the dumbest move I ever made.

TJ: Monte.

Monte, seven votes.

MONTE: To me, this is a line in the sand.

I think it should be pretty obvious to the house now

that if Survivor wants somebody out,

they're going to put seven balls on your name

in that damn Hopper.

Well, let's see what the Hopper has to say about this.

(whirring)

I mean, you can't count on anything with the Hopper

because there's always that chance

with even one ball that you're screwed.

So I'm panicking at this point.

Well, I told you:

you only need one vote.

Well, I told you:

you only have to have one.

But this guy had a lot. So, Monte, you're up.

Alyssa, you're off the hook. Tyler, you're playing tonight.

ALYSSA S.: Obviously, I'm rooting for Tyler.

I want to see him come back, but it's so hard

because I love Tyler so much

and I'm absolutely heartbroken

to have to watch him fight this out.

-Love you, bro. -Love you, bro.

All right, gentlemen,

tonight you're playing Too Cool for Spool.

As you can see, there are two giant spools

right here in the middle of the Arena.

To begin, you and your opponent are going to be strapped

to one of those spools.

Then when I say go, you will race down to that stack of balls

that's shaped in a pyramid.

Your goal is to recreate that pyramid

exactly as you see it on top of your spool.

That's going to be very difficult

because as you go, that spool spins.

If you move too fast, your pyramid will fall apart,

forcing you to start over.

First player to complete their pyramid

and hit the buzzer wins tonight's elimination.

Loser goes home.

All right. Good luck, gentlemen.

-Best of luck, boys. -Good luck, boys.

TYLER: I wanted to get sent down into the Arena tonight,

so I'm happy Alyssa isn't

having to go down there. She means a lot to me,

so I need to get back in that house with her,

but the only way to do that is by winning,

so I'm going to make sure that that happens.

MONTE: With Tyler being one of my closest friends in the house,

this is the worst-case scenario for me.

But I got my degree in mechanical engineering,

so I feel as confident as I can possibly feel.

You know, I'm here to prove myself,

and I got to come out on top.

TJ: All right, fellas, you ready?

-Go. -(air horn blows)

Let's go, guys, let's go.

WES: Oh, it is a lot harder.

ALYSSA S.: Good job. Good job.

(gasps)

My God.

MONTE: This elimination is not about

being hasty and hustling

and all that sort of stuff.

This is about being as strategic as possible

with my movement so that I'm not

herking and jerking the spool

and spilling the balls all over the place.

-ALYSSA S.: Oh, my God. -SEBASTIAN: Wow.

(grunting)

CHANELLE: Slow back. It spins. It spins.

BANANAS: Slow, guys. I mean, I know.

I guess that goes without saying.

MICHAELA: Talk about resistance training.

In your opinion, Wes, who has the better,

more advantageous strategy?

Honestly, it looks like Monte's a little bit better,

but it appears as if Tyler is in the lead,

but only by a few balls.

It's actually one of the most riveting slow-motion displays

of athleticism, and this entire game

could be lost with one bad jerk.

(spool creaking)

MONTE: Fuck. Oh, my God.

ALYSSA S.: I feel like I'm going to throw up.

This is the worst thing ever. I would rather have been

down in that elimination pit than watching this right now.

TJ: All right, fellas, it's been 30 minutes.

(contestants groaning)

JOSH: Oh, my God.

CHRIS: Each of these challengers' pyramids

keep falling apart over and over and over.

It really requires some resilience,

and I want Tyler to win

because I do feel like we might be able to work together

to get some of these vets out of the game.

Just get to that freaking buzzer.

TYLER: This elimination is taking every bit

out of me that I possibly have.

I want to be able to come back,

and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get this thing done.

TJ: There it is, Tyler.

BANANAS: You'd better move slower than you've ever moved

in your entire life, dude.

BANANAS: You better move slower than you've ever moved

in your entire life, dude.

(groaning)

-(Tyler laughing) -It is a motherfucker.

BANANAS: This elimination would drive anybody insane.

Perfectly stacking a pyramid of round balls,

all while wrapped around a spool

that is just continuing to move and spin.

This thing is just going to continue on for all of eternity.

Really calm.

Slow.

MONTE: This elimination is one of the most grueling things

I've ever done in my life

because it requires so much patience,

but then it's such a psychological battle.

I'm just going to continue to work my way through it

and hopefully come out on top.

(spool creaking)

Ooh. It's anybody's game.

Get in there! Oh!

(contestants moaning)

-Oh! -Oh, my God.

TJ: Don't give up. Don't give up.

It's anybody's game. Get up.

This is a true test and a true challenge.

The fact that Monte's not giving up,

I'm not giving up...

That's how you know it's a true battle,

because we are both pushing each other to the brink.

CHRIS: Stay focused, buddy.

TJ: Oh!

Oh.

Monte looks to be down to his last--

Oh, no!

Don't quit, bro, keep fucking going.

* *

ALYSSA S.: There's literally not a single word that I can let

leave my body for the entire elimination.

I'm feeling all the emotions

right now, and I'm really struggling.

* *

CHRIS: Don't look away.

-(horn blows) -(cheering)

(cheering and whooping)

TJ: Wow!

ALYSSA S.: I am just so relieved.

I was so scared. I had my fingers crossed,

my toes crossed, everything crossed

that it wasn't going to be Tyler tonight.

Thank you, Challenge gods.

You really just delivered on this one.

Oh, I mean, this is tough. You know, it was the last thing

that I wanted to happen was to go out against

my best friend in the house.

But, man, it was a hell of a fight.

I think we were out there for like three hours.

I'm happy that he can go back

and hopefully wreck some shit and make it to a final.

Great elimination, fellas. Loved it.

-Hell yeah. -(cheering)

-Good job. -Hell of a fight.

TJ: Monte, unfortunately, you lost tonight's elimination round,

so this ends your time here on The Challenge: USA.

But I really hope we see you in the future

'cause you are awesome, my friend. Take care of yourself.

-Have a good one, man. -Appreciate it.

Love y'all. Love y'all.

Kill it this season. Kill it this season.

Tyler, well done. Welcome to The Challenge, Tyler.

Definitely proved yourself tonight.

-Go ahead and join the group. -(cheering)

Welcome back, sunshine!

That was, like, one of the craziest battles

I've ever been in in my entire life,

and I brought it home.

I'm going back in the house with Alyssa. Life is good.

Aww.

Okay, listen up.

Get rest, because it is about to get serious.

I'll see you soon.

SEBASTIAN: Getting all those votes was brutal.

The lines are in the sand,

and I'm a little nervous right now

as the game starts to dwindle.

I need that money.

I want to prove to everybody out there that doubts me

even in the slightest that I have what it takes.

I'm ready to compete, man.

Captioning sponsored by CBS

TJ: Next on The Challenge: USA...

This is where the fun begins.

(groaning)

-Oh... -She just got hit hard, dude.

TJ: Competing as individuals

has alliances turning on each other.

JOSH: You've dug yourself in a hole.

You have lied on a lot of people.

TJ: And Sebastian launches an attack on the vets.

SEBASTIAN: What do you guys think about

trying to get a big boy out of here?

You cannot be running your mouth like this.

* *

Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org

* MTV. *