Original subtitles

TJ: Previously on The Challenge: USA...

-Go! -The physical competition

has been fierce.

While some competitors have protected themselves

week after week using strategy and their social game...

I would put our money on us to keep ourselves safe.

I might have a reputation of being an asshole, but it's like,

I stab people in the chest, not in the back.

...others had to fight tooth and nail

to remain in the game...

-(all shouting) -(air horn blows)

Alyssa, Wes, this ends your time here on The Challenge: USA.

...whittling down the competition to 11 players

vying for their share of $500,000.

In the Slippery Business challenge,

battle lines were drawn...

MICHAELA: Why are they ganging up on Chris?

...when the men and women joined forces

to get out the physical threats Chris and Tori...

-MICHELE: Good job, Chris! -JOSH: Good job, Tor.

...allowing Cory and Michaela to secure much-needed victories

and nominate Tyler and Cassidy to be at risk for elimination.

I've been down there before. Well, I'll prove it again.

TJ: And with the final drawing near,

some players attempted to make a big move...

CHANELLE: Listen, as long as we're all on the same page...

-I'm solid. -...but not everyone followed through.

DESI: Where is the fourth vote for Tori?

I am deeply hurt

by Michele's betrayal in this moment.

TJ: And it was Chris

who was sent into the Arena

for his fourth elimination,

ultimately sending Tyler home in record time.

Chris, you are the winner of tonight's elimination round.

You are still in the game.

And now, who will find their way

out of the most daunting and tricky challenge yet?

DESI: Breathe, breathe!

TJ: Will Chris and Cassidy get their revenge

on the players who sent them into the elimination?

JOSH: One of us has to send Chris home, and then we're in.

TJ: And will Michele have to face

the consequences of her betrayal?

There's just so many lies.

* *

BANANAS: Hey! He's back!

Little cockroach.

CHRIS: This is my fourth elimination

and my third one in a row.

Every move I make from here on out--

it's a $250,000 move.

I either win or I put myself at risk of losing,

and I'm not a loser.

CASSIDY: Good job, Chris.

MICHELE: I came into this game playing

half with the vets, half with Survivor,

and not really knowing where the fuck...

I don't know, I made a decision based on my own interests

and voted for Chris.

CHANELLE: Michele, I want to trust you in this game.

There's just so many lies.

You were, like, corralling the narrative of, like,

-it has to be a girl. -That's such...

-That is such baloney. -Can I finish, can I finish my thought, please?

-MICHELE: Yeah. -And then I-- and I checked in with Michele

three different times, I said, "Are we still doing this?

Are we solid?" And you go, "Yes, we're solid.

We're good, we're still doing this."

Bro, that is the sketchiest,

shadiest move I've ever seen.

Michele reveals that she actually did not follow the plan

and didn't vote for Tori

because she's trying to somehow advance herself in this game.

Now I'm no longer a trustworthy ally of Tori's.

Whatever relationship we had, I've sort of ruined.

And now I've crossed

one of the most influential women left in this game.

CHANELLE: I made a call on who I was gonna put a ball in

against my own best interests because of my loyalty to you,

and you threw that out the window.

MICHELE: Dude, I've not thrown anything out the window, bro.

Michele has been playing both sides,

Survivor and the vets.

Michele has no backbone in this game,

and I want nothing more than for Michele to get

all of the karma that's coming her way.

(knocking on door)

TORI: Shall we chat?

DESI: Yes.

TORI: In the last Hopper vote, I had three votes on there.

Chris already admitted to voting for me.

I think it's pretty clear that the other two votes

probably came from Desi and Michele or Chanelle,

but instead of just thinking,

I'm gonna go in there and ask them,

"What's up?"

So, you're all just gonna

keep it amongst yourselves who did it?

CHANELLE: I'll be honest. I did,

because I thought that everyone was making it a girls' day,

and I don't want you to think that I'm gunning for you.

That was truly, like, me struggling

with the emotional aspect of the game, and I'm sorry.

DESI: Tori, I obviously owe you an apology.

It was a shitty move.

I just want to say that I'm-I'm sorry for lying to you.

In the game, do what you have to do.

I get it. I dug this grave.

If I have to sleep in it, fine.

But I just want you to know that, like,

it is not my character to lie to people's faces.

MICHELE: I have fault in it as well.

They definitely were led to believe

that I was also going that direction.

I basically put them in a really fragile position.

TORI: Everybody makes their own decision.

Like, I definitely feel like

I put myself out there for you guys in the beginning,

and I was hoping that it was gonna mean something, and, like,

it did for a week and then it didn't.

What has been, like, shown is shown,

and, like, now I can play the way I need to play,

and it's just gonna be best man wins.

I'm kind of blown away by this entire situation.

Michele was definitely playing double agent,

but at the end of the day

she didn't actually vote for me.

But with Desi and Chanelle,

I now have the opportunity

to go forward playing with revenge

or playing with logic.

So, if I'm in power before they are,

then you best believe I'm putting my vote on them.

JOSH: Guys,

I don't mean to interrupt,

but it just hit me that we are the fucking

top five guys, bro.

This is the furthest this man has ever been.

It just hit you? What, you can't count?

Yeah... (sucks teeth) Fuck you.

Let him have his moment.

JOSH: Dude, the fact that we're all still here

is insane.

It feels so important for me to make that final

and give it everything I got to win, because I have

so many people back home rooting for me.

Being Cuban and my parents coming from the island--

my dad didn't even have TV growing up--

to where now he gets to see his youngest son

competing and having the chance to win life-changing money?

The stakes are high, but they're even more life-changing

and more important for me because I have

a mob of Cubans back home rooting for me

and w-- expecting for me to win.

Sorry, Chris, we got to do it again.

And one of us has to send him home and then we're in.

Or we could just make it a girls' day.

-BANANAS: And we are. Duh. -JOSH: All right. There we go.

Send him in? And then what?

One of us is fucking going?

(laughs): Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

-That's what Josh just said. -BANANAS: Are you high?

CORY: We are so close to the end,

we've made it this far in the game,

we don't want to go in.

So right now, the overall feel is,

we want this to be a girls' day.

Man's 4 and 0, he's got a bed down there in the Arena.

-(laughter) -FAYSAL: Dear Lord.

DESI: Hi. Can I come in?

-CHRIS: Yeah. -You want another hug?

-Yeah. -Aw.

DESI: I am the type of person

who never wants somebody to feel alone.

Like, I know how it feels to be on the outs.

In Survivor, I certainly wasn't with the numbers.

That's how I got blindsided and voted out of the game.

I'm open to working with Chris.

I am worried, in this moment,

'cause of how I went against Tori.

I know this: it's hard to not feel alone in this moment.

Yeah, no, it's just hard.

Honestly? We win tomorrow.

-That's really our only option. -Yeah. We have to, Des.

DESI: At this point in the game,

it's an individual game,

and I need to stop overthinking everything.

I'm not someone who lies to people,

and if I reflect back on things I've done in my life,

this sort of competitive period in my life started in college,

when I began competing in pageants,

which was not, like, a childhood thing of mine.

I never in a million years thought I'd do a pageant.

Didn't own a curling iron, didn't know how to do my makeup.

Somehow came in second place,

and the second time around, I won.

So I'm really, this time, here to prove

that not only can I make it to a final,

but I can win a final.

Yeah. I think that's a good mindset to have.

* *

MICHELE: I made a really big decision

in elimination last time,

and literally 50% of the house is mad at me.

Chris, Desi, Chanelle, Michaela.

So, if I don't win this daily,

my neck is definitely gonna be on the chopping block.

-This looks fun. -TJ: All right, everyone,

welcome to Punta Christo Fort here in beautiful Croatia.

Whoo!

Today's challenge is called Brain Squeeze.

When I say go, you will race into that fort.

Inside are heavy bags of puzzle pieces.

You've all been assigned a color, and that's the only one

you can pick up.

Some might be in plain sight and some might be hidden.

And I'm not gonna tell you how many you have, so make sure

you do a thorough sweep of the fort.

Every time you find one of your bags,

you'll race it out of the fort,

across a bridge to your puzzle station.

You can only carry one bag at a time,

so drop the puzzle pieces off, go back in there

and continue this process.

Your goal is to build your puzzle tower

as fast as you can,

'cause the first man and first woman to get it done will win

today's challenge, be safe from elimination,

and also be selecting one man and one woman

to send into the Arena

to put at risk of elimination.

Do whatever you got to do.

Final is very, very close.

-All right. -Yeah!

Let's make it happen.

BANANAS: I think that this is going to be

a lot more confusing than a lot of people are, uh,

expecting it to be.

Obviously the pressure's on, obviously you want to win.

There's probably never been a more important time

in this game to pull out a dub and be safe.

Literally every single person has thrown a vote on me

or nominated me, so I need this win so that these other people

can't keep coming after me and targeting me.

I want to have a little payback today.

-All right, everyone ready? Go! -(air horn blows)

FAYSAL: Damn, Johnny.

(grunting)

Yeah.

BANANAS: Upon entering these ruins,

I mean, there are so many different nooks,

crannies, twists, turns, tunnels,

that it's anyone's guess how many puzzle pieces are in here.

So this is going to be a, uh, tough day at the office.

DESI: Chris has kind of been this outcast

that nobody wants to be associated with.

But after I was able to approach him

and say, "Hey, I still have your back,"

I feel super confident that if he wins,

there's not a chance he's putting my name in the Hopper.

So I want Chris to win this one.

-There is? Yeah? You sure? -Yeah, yep.

(panting)

Crazy.

You already know what time it is, TJ.

TJ: Well done.

TJ: Well done, Josh.

Yeah, Bananas. Keep going, keep going.

Good job, Chanelle. Good job.

Well done, Chris.

Keep going, keep going.

Left, right.

Let's see.

(mutters)

This place is creepy.

It's not really great for a girl who has claustrophobia,

but if Desi, Michaela, or Chanelle take this,

I am totally screwed.

TJ: Yeah, that's a good technique. Hurry up!

DESI: I've run a marathon before,

but this is light-years tougher.

We have these huge puzzle pieces

that feel like they weigh like 50 pounds,

crawling through crawl spaces,

breathing in dust.

BANANAS: At this point, I feel like I've kind of gotten a good idea,

uh, about the layout and where the puzzle pieces are situated.

There's basically two main areas.

One of them looks like a cave with four different rooms...

...that have a puzzle piece in each one of the rooms.

Adjacent to that,

there is a staircase that goes down,

with a fifth piece.

And then there's also a separate area

that I've seen people come in and out of...

...that looks like there might be another two pieces

hidden inside there.

So, based on the experience that I have doing these things,

I'm thinking there are probably seven pieces

to complete my puzzle.

JOSH: It is insanity in here,

and it's hard to keep track of not only what room

you've entered but, also, to not miss a piece.

TJ: Go, go, go, Cory, go.

Yes, Chanelle. Yes, Tori.

Yes.

TORI: I'm keeping up with Chanelle.

She's right in front of me, but, like,

I was a tracker in soccer.

Like, that's what I do.

I'm not setting the pace. I'm following yours,

and then when you burn out, I'm gonna continue this pace.

So when the time comes, I'm gonna be gone.

TJ: Yeah, Josh. Yeah, Bananas.

Attaboy, Chris.

Faysal, nice work.

FAYSAL: I've won puzzle challenges before,

and I have pretty good endurance.

(retches, coughs)

TJ: Go, go, go, Cory, go.

CORY: I'm gassed from this run,

so I just want to make sure I do a mental checklist

on all the rooms I've been to.

(Michele groans)

I'm gassed.

TJ: Yes, Chris.

That's what I'm talking about.

CHRIS: I have five pieces.

I feel like now is a really good time

to start figuring out

how to build my puzzle.

Nope.

-How many you got, Josh? -JOSH: Six.

Everybody got six?

BANANAS: Sure that's it?

Seven. All right.

* *

MICHAELA: The main objective on this challenge

is to ensure that people who are willing to nominate Michele win.

That's myself, Desi, Chanelle and Chris.

So, my strategy is,

I want to know where everything is before everyone else does,

and I chose to explore the other parts of the castle.

I find a long tunnel

with three sets of pieces in there.

So many people think there's only seven puzzle pieces.

I know there's eight.

And when Johnny sees me going in...

...I don't want to risk Bananas helping Tori win.

Johnny is the victim of my scam.

He asks, "Is there anything else down there?"

"Nope, I don't see anything."

MICHAELA: He goes back to his mat missing one piece of the puzzle.

That's exactly what I want.

CHRIS: My pieces aren't matching up.

I have to go back into the ruins,

and I still have more pieces

to find, but I have no idea

how many pieces are left.

But when I'm running back into the ruins...

DESI: There are three down there.

...Desi lets me know,

"Chris, there are three more puzzle pieces down an incline."

The guys only have seven.

They've been working together

this entire game as well,

just like me and the Survivor women have.

But they missed a piece.

* *

That, to me, is a major advantage.

So, if I can solve this puzzle faster,

I think I have this win.

And if I win, Michele, Fessy, and Tori

need to feel the pain that I've felt.

TJ: Well done.

CASSIDY: I'm looking at these pieces, and they're all

very similar-looking, it's just a matter of, like,

literal centimeters between these grooves.

And a lot of it is trial and error.

DESI: As a Survivor group,

we figure out that there are eight pieces...

-TJ: Keep going, Chris. -...and it becomes clear that a lot of people

-haven't figured that out. -(grunts)

-Check. -TJ: Fessy, that is incorrect.

FAYSAL: Obviously, I'm nervous, because if Chris wins,

I'm definitely gonna be put up for elimination.

Said his name twice already.

However, I kind of like my odds here

because me, Josh, Cory, Bananas,

we all have half a brain in this one,

so as long as we could find our pieces,

we should be able to beat Chris.

TJ: Well done, Chris.

Well done.

-MICHAELA: You got 'em all, Chris? -CHRIS: Yeah.

-High five. -How many do you have?

I have eight.

-JOSH: There's eight? -There's eight?

-You have eight? -MICHAELA: Yeah.

TJ: You better go. You better go!

Still anybody's game!

BANANAS: Fucking idiots.

Well, at the end of the day, it worked.

This is our chance to overtake the vets.

And I've been waiting for this pretty much all season.

TORI: Oh, my God.

There's eight pieces.

This is the worst-case scenario.

-BANANAS: Wow. -CORY: Damn.

It's not looking good for us.

It's just gonna come down to an old-fashioned footrace,

and he's got a hell of a head start on us.

TJ: Still anybody's game!

MICHAELA: Check! Check!

TJ: That is incorrect.

-Check. -Check.

(air horn blows)

All right, good job.

-Yay! -TJ: Well done, Desi.

-Well done, Chris. -CHRIS: Yeah, Desi!

Let's go! Yeah, girl!

(laughs)

I'm the victor in this,

and it feels so good.

Chris said, "Not me today."

Y'all done jumped him in the last challenge.

CHRIS: It's my time now,

and payback's a bitch.

MICHAELA: Are those tears of joy?

Are those tears of joy?

I was just in such a defeated position

last night, and to now walk away with a win really just proves

to me that I am supposed to be here.

And knowing that Tori can't put me down into the ring,

maybe I can pay back

what she has done for me in this game.

FAYSAL: Way to go, Chris.

Way to pay attention to detail, man.

For the past three eliminations,

I've been taking shots at Chris.

Who is he probably gonna say? Probably me.

MICHELE: I am...

99.9999999% sure that I'm gonna be the main nomination.

I literally voted Chris last time

and I basically threw Desi under the bus, so...

(groans) Cue the waterworks.

Watch it be the missing piece. Motherfucker.

BANANAS: Should've just kept going further down.

-TJ: All right, everyone. -(cheering)

Great challenge today.

-Wish I could count to eight. -Desi,

Chris, solid effort by both of you.

-Wow. -(cheering, applause)

As the winners,

you two are the only safe players in the game,

and you need to go back to the house and select

one man and one woman to send into the Arena

and put at risk of elimination.

All right, I'll see you in the Arena. Get out of here.

Let's go.

Yay!

(chanting): Desi, Chris.

DESI: My sights are pretty set on Michele. I am not

the type of person who likes to be lied to.

MICHAELA: Do you think this is gonna be the last elimination?

-BANANAS: Honestly, I don't know. -Are y'all okay?

MICHAELA: Please make it a girls' day.

From my vantage point, it's gonna be a girls' day,

and it ain't gonna be you.

Michaela basically starts

putting it in our ear that she wants it to be a girls' day.

Well, this is convenient,

because that was already the plan, Michaela.

JOSH: What are you thinking they're going to do?

MICHAELA: Mm, I think they're very upset at Michele.

Apparently, she pulled something slick last night.

-JOSH: Really? -She's the one

that went around, like, trying to convince people

to vote for Tori, then she didn't.

Michaela doesn't like the way that I maneuver this game.

And her stoking the fire that's now against me

is, like, rude, uncalled for.

-What's the word? -Oh, I was just explaining

what you did yesterday.

And what exactly did you do?

-MICHAELA: Nothing. -You were involved in pitching a girls' day.

MICHAELA: No, no, I wasn't. What I said is, I wanted

a girls' vote before the nomination.

-MICHELE: What girl? -I intentionally didn't say a name.

-MICHELE: Don't lie! -So, anyhoo...

You act like you're this high-and-mighty fucking

perfect person? You're not.

You are, literally,

such a fucking liar, Michaela.

-This is called unraveling, Michele. -I'm not unraveling.

Your cheeks are quite pink.

MICHELE: I always turn red, Michaela.

It's, like, a part of the meltdown.

So you're melting down.

CORY: It's another movie night.

We have free entertainment,

free information being thrown around.

Michaela's just airing out Michele's game.

Let it be known,

this girl will tell you anything

to stay out of the Arena.

It's not looking good for Michele.

MICHELE: You want to paint me the villain?

-I'm not painting you anything. -Fine, paint me the villain.

I'm a fucking mess, that's a fact, but I'm not a villain.

MICHAELA: The first thing we agree on in this conversation.

-You are a mess. -I'm a mess, but I'm not a villain.

Who said anything about "villain"?

(laughs)

The Micheltdown is in full effect.

All signs are pointing towards Michele's game has blown up.

Why she's mad about that? I don't know.

Play a different game if you want a different result.

At least I'm like a stable fucking presence,

and I'm called Micheltdown,

and I feel like I'm more stable than you.

-You are all over the map. -You don't look stable right now.

You don't look stable right now. Close your eyes a little bit.

You know, I've won Survivor,

and I know what it feels like to win.

I got a lot of backlash.

Like, "You are the least deserving Survivor winner.

You're a strategic mess."

I want to leave this and look at myself and be like,

"I won because I did all of these things"

and feel like I deserve it.

MICHAELA: Accountability

is the name of the game. Own your shit.

I admitted to the things that I needed to admit to.

-Good. -And I have no problem doing that.

The fact that you're not owning up

to your part is-is my problem.

-Your problem, dude. -MICHAELA: Be blessed.

(imitates dog barking)

* *

DESI: So, going into nominations,

it's clear that Chris has been

waiting for this moment all season.

His moment of power.

It's been a while since I've been

-at this table. (laughs) -I know, right?

You won when you needed it the most.

I won when I needed to.

And I guess maybe I needed to, too. Huh?

-You needed to, too. -(laughs)

Um, do you want to start with the men or the women?

Let's start with the women.

It's safe to say that

Chanelle is off the table.

Michaela,

she threw me in,

but since then, I feel like she's looked out for me.

Glad we're in agreeance with those two.

-Yup. -Those are good for me.

CHRIS: Cassidy is

a little bit tricky.

She's gone in twice and she's come out twice.

-Yeah. -So I don't necessarily

-think I want to nominate her. -Okay, all right.

So that just leaves Michele and Tori.

My preference for the women is Michele.

I felt incredibly betrayed by her.

So, I mean, yes,

Tori's a strong woman.

Like, yeah, people ask me all day long, "Do you think

you can beat her in a final?" Like, I don't know,

but I'm willing to give it a shot.

Tori, I know I wronged her last vote

by putting her name in the Hopper,

and it is still beating me up inside

that I've allowed this game

to change my sense of integrity.

So it's important for me to, like,

rectify things with myself

and kind of right my wrong with Tori.

I think Michele deserves it.

I don't think she was ever planning on being loyal

to you or me at any point in this game.

-We need to go with Michele. -(sighs)

I'm glad we can agree on that.

All right,

-let's go with the boys. -Now the boys.

All of the guys, in one way or another,

has gone against their word to me.

So now it's a decision

of where I put my vote

to make as many people

feel the pain that I've felt.

This is revenge at its finest.

Cory's off the table.

He has been

the most, like,

loyal with an asterisk.

Okay, I'm good with that.

CHRIS: Bananas is a target, and he's dangerous,

but also he's, like,

he's getting old.

I mean, I guess.

And Faysal is

a really good liar.

-He's played me a few times. -Mm-hmm.

You know, played me like a fiddle.

I think Faysal is definitely, for me,

-a good option. -Okay.

But Josh has not

been nominated.

-He's not had votes, really. -Yeah.

He's not won an individual challenge,

while also throwing me under the bus

time and time again.

One thing I know about Josh

is that he lies.

Even if he's not

gunning for me, he's certainly not working with me.

I am comfortable with Josh and Michele.

One of 'em's gonna figure out

a way to get out of this

by doing exactly what they've been doing,

and the other one's gonna have to earn it in the sand.

Yeah. Let's go put the balls up.

-CHRIS: Let's put the balls up. -(Desi laughs)

* *

JOSH: Don't all get up at once.

Mm-hmm.

Seeing that I'm nominated by Chris and Desi,

while I want to be mad about it,

I respect the game.

It's me. Me and Michele.

But I also know that the house is kind of

trying to make it a girls' day.

We've had guys' days

kind of back to back in a double elim.

So, at this point, we're up one girl.

So I think all I got to do is stay calm, not lose control,

and I think I'll be pretty safe this week.

-Huh, didn't see that one coming. -Yeah.

FAYSAL: The fact that Chris said Josh's name

over my name is shocking

because for the past three eliminations,

I've been taking shots at Chris,

and he had every right to say my name.

What a blindside.

CHANELLE: Michele could have

rode with me, Desi, and Michaela

to the end of this game, but she made unnecessary lies,

and that's what comes with it.

-It's me and you, kid. -TORI: What?

-Yeah, me and Michele. -TORI: It's already up?

-Yeah. -Oh, shit, dude.

-Me and you. -Okay, baby. I'm sorry it's you.

I betrayed Chanelle and Desi,

which was a mistake.

I've done such a great job of building

the foundation of this game under me,

and in one decision it's in ruins.

JOSH: It's not over,

and look at how far we've made it.

The Survivor alliance was, like, untouchable,

so for Desi to have my back over Michele's,

I mean, that speaks a lot.

This is my karma for my last vote.

CASSIDY: There's so much karmic energy in this game

that is continuously battling itself,

so every move you make has a potential for blowback,

and that's just something we have to accept

-when we, when we... -TORI: Yeah.

'Cause we're all taking risks in the game.

And so it is something that's just, like,

-a part of it. -MICHELE: Yeah.

CASSIDY: Michele is nominated,

and I'm worried that she thinks I'm her best option

of getting out of this alive.

I have all of these players who are doubting me constantly,

who are throwing me in because they think I'm weak,

forming strong girl alliances without me.

In my season of Survivor,

I was considered a challenge beast

because I won three immunities,

the most that any woman won in our season.

I am not weak in this game.

I am undefeated in the Arena.

I'm under no impression that I'm going to be fully safe,

but it really only takes one ball in the Hopper,

so I have to throw people under the bus

that have thrown me under the bus.

Chanelle is one of those people.

I'm hoping that will keep me safe

for a little bit longer in this game.

MICHELE: I'm telling you, it's gonna

end up being a girls' day,

and I obviously have to throw my vote

on a guy, and I'm so sorry.

And I'm not gonna campaign against you.

JOSH: Me neither.

Just tell me who you want me to put down and I will.

JOSH: I can't do that either.

Just do whatever you want to do.

-I'm sorry. -It's okay.

MICHELE: I will do anything in my power

to stay in this game.

I'm here to run the final to win.

FAYSAL: Bro, how the hell did I skate out of that one?

Dude, I nominated this dude twice as main vote.

Voted his ass in last time.

It's only right he says my name, dude.

You win dailies and he knows that.

He knows this isn't the last one.

He wants to try to gain you as an ally.

Josh hasn't won shit.

If we win the next one,

do we not say

Chris's name?

Chris and Desi end up nominating

Josh and Michele, and it sucks

because Josh is my number one guy in this game.

Michele's my number one girl in this game.

Survivor has remained strong

'cause the Big Brother numbers are gone.

There was not a lot of choices.

Listen, we already know

it's gonna be a girls' day, right?

And I know you're upset. Whatever.

But use this as an opportunity

to stay calm.

You don't need to blow up on 'em. Be cool.

You're nominated. Who cares?

-I can't even be mad at them. -Just be chill.

JOSH: I need to earn my spot, dude.

You guys all have won shit.

Come here, dawg. Give me a hug.

FAYSAL: What's wrong, bruh? You got it, bruh.

-You know we got you. -You good.

You're making the final because a girls' day...

I know, but I do need to earn it, dude.

-FAYSAL: You've earned it, bruh. -JOSH: No.

Being so close

to the final, the pressure

is starting to get to me.

I don't think I've ever

wanted anything so bad.

In the Big Brother game and in my Challenge career,

I was best known for being chaotic.

(laughter)

-You're going to go home. -Josh...

You're going to go home. You're not going to see a final.

Josh... you're horrible. You're horrible.

JOSH: I want to prove to myself

that I can finally run a final,

that I have what it takes to win.

FAYSAL: You are good at your game, bruh.

You work your ass off. You know how this game goes.

And I'm telling you guys right now, if I survive this,

I want to go up against him.

Let's win the last one and throw me in,

and I'm going to tell the whole house that,

and I'm going to knock the head off of him, literally.

-CORY (chuckles): Oh, I like this energy. -I swear to God.

FAYSAL: This is not your last night in this house.

Thank you, dude.

(alarm blaring)

Micheltdown? You ready?

CHANELLE: Johnny Bananas

eating a banana-- I mean, how, like, ironic.

-It's cannibalism. -(Chanelle laughing)

They're gonna have to put a blur over this.

Everyone else is voting for Cassidy.

I'm just gonna go ahead and jump on that sinking ship.

(Chanelle laughs)

(whistle sound effect)

Not voting a guy. We're protecting Josh.

We also want to protect Michele. (groans)

Michele is a close friend of mine,

so I want to give her the best chance.

Y'all need to pick this up.

That's nasty.

Best of luck.

I just feel like it's time for

Chanelle to step up.

This is, like, worst case scenario.

That's just the way the cookie crumbles.

I'm sorry I put you up there.

* *

MICHELE: It's hard to come to terms with being nominated,

and I've had a tough day

mentally, emotionally,

but I'm feeling prepared.

* *

TJ: All right, everyone, welcome to your next elimination

on this season of The Challenge: USA.

So good to see all of you,

but especially Desi

and Chris. Congratulations

on your first individual wins.

And you had to choose one man and one woman

to put at risk of elimination.

You chose Josh and Michele.

Come on out.

(cheering and applause)

* *

(Michele chuckles, mutters)

All right, so let's check out the votes.

Cory.

One vote.

Chanelle.

One vote.

Aw, man. Cassidy. Crowd favorite.

Seven votes, Cassidy.

CASSIDY: I'm pissed because

so many people in the game

are playing it safe right now.

I've tried so hard with these people,

and I've just become the scapegoat.

Throw somebody in

who hasn't earned their place,

someone like Chanelle,

and prove they deserve to be here,

'cause I've already done this twice.

You only need one ball

to come down here and play.

We've all seen it before.

Let's check out what the Hopper has to say.

DESI: I'm really nervous.

You never know

what the Hopper is gonna spit out.

I hate that Chanelle

has a ball on her. One ball

can put you in, but unfortunately

it's in our best interests

for it to be a girls' day.

The buck has to stop.

Michele has exposed

where her true alliance lies.

We want Michele

out of this game.

TJ: Josh?

* *

Josh?

You're not playing tonight.

JOSH: Honestly, the Hopper was just

on my side, man. I feel like

I have strong relationships,

and I got to thank

every single person in there

that had my back and didn't vote a guy.

I promise you I'm making

that final, and nothing's gonna stop me.

Cassidy, come on down.

Big shocker.

MICHELE: Sorry, babe.

Cassidy, I thought we went over this.

Listen, I...

The writing's been on the wall for a couple of votes

that I'm just the easy target at this point,

but, um, I've come out of here twice before,

I'm confident I can do it again.

TJ: All right. I like it.

Tonight you are playing Hot Wheel.

To begin, you and your opponent

are going to start on opposite ends

of this 20-foot-long bar,

which is attached to a steering wheel.

One side is pink.

The other side is yellow.

In the middle of that 20-foot bar

is a single torch.

Just like an arm wrestling match,

you're gonna use the steering wheel

to guide that one torch to light your colored targets.

(fireworks pop)

The first player to explode

all of their colored targets

will win tonight's

elimination round and stay in the game.

Loser goes home empty-handed.

All right? Good luck.

JOSH: Good luck, ladies.

* *

CASSIDY: I'm really not surprised.

I knew that it was gonna be an uphill battle

for me for the rest of the season,

but I do feel like I have a good shot of winning,

and I've done this before and I've come out twice,

so I think I can pull out a third win.

MICHELE: I started my game in the Arena,

and it set the tone

for the rest of how I played this season.

I'm motivated, I'm mad,

and I think those two things combined

are hopefully deadly today.

TJ: Cassidy, you are pink,

so you need to light

the pink targets. And, Michele,

you are yellow, so you need

to light the yellow targets.

All right, you ready?

-Go. -(air horn blows)

-Good luck, ladies! -Go, ladies.

JOSH: Use your legs! Use your legs!

-TORI: Use your body! Use your body! -JOSH: Twist it.

TORI: Good job! Good fight!

-BANANAS: Good job, ladies! -It's gonna be loud.

CASSIDY: This is way more difficult than I was expecting.

Even just getting this first target lit

feels impossible.

-TORI: Way to fight! -BANANAS: Dig in.

CHRIS: Your body, you have to get low!

TORI: Way to fight!

-TJ: Close. -CHRIS: You couldn't

draw up a better matchup in the house

when it comes to this elimination.

They're both super scrappy.

They both kind of are the same

weight class, so to speak.

And they're going at it.

JOSH: Push the middle, push the middle, push the middle.

CORY: You're almost there.

TORI: For $250,000, fight!

There you go, dig deep.

JOSH: Try to push it up! Turn it!

-Turn it! -Dig deep.

Hold it, Cassidy. Hold it!

Go back, go back! Turn it again!

JOSH: Hard!

MICHAELA: Go up, up, Cassidy!

JOSH: Got to dig deep!

Turn now, turn now, turn now! H-Hold, hold!

My goal here is to give Cassidy

as many tips as possible...

Hold your body weight, Cassidy. Hold your body weight.

...to help get Michele out of this game

'cause I don't want her to have any chance

of coming back, playing the victim,

and convincing people with her tears

to do something different.

TORI: Twist it up!

FAYSAL: Nice.

TORI: Good fight, good fight!

JOSH: Good fight, ladies!

TORI: Good fight! Yeah!

BANANAS: Good job, ladies.

(Michaela shouting indistinctly)

BANANAS: Got to get the fuse.

TORI: Use your body, use your body!

-(cheering) -TJ: Got one!

Cassidy, you got one already!

CORY: Damn!

BANANAS: Damn, that was loud.

TORI: Way to fight, way to fight!

JOSH: Good fight, ladies!

* *

JOSH: Try to push it up!

Turn it, turn it!

Use your body! Use your body!

(cheering)

(indistinct shouting)

The score is one to one!

MICHELE: Listen, I did not

come this far to just come this far.

I want to see a final.

I have worked my butt off

building relationships in this game.

I've done my Survivor experience.

I've done my challenges,

and this is a culmination of all of them.

Heroes are made

in this Arena.

-Way to dig, way to dig! -Good luck, ladies!

TJ: The score is one to one!

TORI: Keep going! Keep playing!

-Twist it. -Good job, ladies. -Yo, dig in!

It's anybody's game!

(straining)

CASSIDY: Part of my strategy is holding her off,

So I'm gripping the wheel

and I'm putting my leg up against it

to hold the wheel in place

to allow her to gas out more.

And I do feel like

she is losing a little bit of momentum

and energy, and I'm starting

to feel like I can win this one.

* *

-TJ: Oh, there's two. -(cheering)

Cassidy's got two.

-Wow! -TJ: Cassidy's got three.

CHRIS (laughing): I'm taking cover.

MICHELE: I am gassed out.

I'm realizing

that I don't really have

control of this steering wheel.

Not only am I struggling

to push or pull it, but I'm also struggling

not getting my own flares lit.

I can't seem to figure out the strategy.

TJ: Good job, ladies!

CHRIS: Keep fighting!

JOSH: Turn it!

TJ: Cassidy with three down, Michele with one.

CHANELLE: Right there! Right there!

TJ: Oh, it's so close!

There it is! Cassidy's got four!

CHRIS: They're going at it.

But Cassidy, she clicks on

and it's savage mode.

And I can relate to savage mode.

It's going to take her

breaking an arm

or passing out to lose this one.

Go, go, go!

JOSH: Push it! Turn it!

JOSH: Deep focus!

TORI: Go, go!

TJ: We got five for Cassidy!

One more and you're done!

Michele, you got to get this one.

CHRIS: Don't give up, Michele!

* *

And go in a little bit.

(grunting)

(overlapping shouting)

Turn it!

Deep focus!

Whoo!

(cheering)

(air horn blows)

TORI: Nice job, ladies, good fight!

TJ: We have a winner!

(indistinct chatter)

CASSIDY: That was a tough elimination.

It took every ounce

of my strength and my motivation

to get that done.

It could have been anyone's game tonight.

It's about proving to myself

what I'm made of,

and the Survivor girls,

who've been throwing me in there

over and over again, I want them

to be scared to go into

elimination with me from now on.

TJ: Wow.

Very well done, both of you.

Michele, unfortunately

you lost tonight's elimination round, but you are

one hell of a competitor.

-I really hope we see you in the future. -Thank you.

-This ends your time here on The Challenge: USA for now. -All right, thanks, Teej.

-Take care of yourself. Have a good one. -Thank you.

-(cheering) -Hug before you go!

-Hell of a game. -Thank you.

MICHELE: I'm sitting here today

a big, fat loser.

I don't want to. (chuckles)

I don't want to cry.

I honestly just, like, wanted this win

so bad...

because I wanted to, like, prove to myself

that I could do it.

Love you guys.

Love you, love you.

BANANAS: Great season, Michele!

Cassidy, very solid performance.

CASSIDY: Thank you.

Picture perfect.

I mean, she only scored one.

You win tonight's elimination.

You are still in the game,

going for the $500,000 prize

to be split between two players.

One man, one woman, quarter million dollars.

Go ahead and rejoin the group. Great job.

DESI: This could not have played out better.

We've got the most protected female in the game out,

and Cassidy is on the outs

with basically everyone, so it was a perfect show,

a perfect matchup,

and the most incredible outcome.

Captioning sponsored by CBS

TJ: Next on The Challenge: USA, there's only one episode left

before the final. Ten competitors remain,

but only four men and four women

will be racing for the $500,000 prize...

Today is a double elimination.

...and it won't be easy.

The competitors will have to face their fears

or betray their allies...

...resulting in the most shocking

blindside of the season.

I hate this game.

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

* MTV. *