Last week’s episode of The Challenge, Paula and Dunbar were sent home after an intense elimination round in the Dome versus Ty and Emily. In the “Blown Away” challenge, CT and Diem prevailed once again, taking Power Couple, while Johnny and Camila came in last, automatically getting sent to the Dome. After a hard deliberation, CT and Diem chose Mark and Robin to go against Johnny and Camila to see who would be the third couple in the Final Challenge.
At the beginning of this week’s episode, the house went out to party. CT, Diem, Ty and Emily really enjoyed themselves, knowing that they had a spot in the Finals. However, Mark and Johnny mentally prepared themselves to go against each other in the Dome.
Back at the house, Robin was obviously afraid to go into the Dome, because she has a bad record in eliminations. Of course, the other two teams wanted to see Robin and Mark come back, because they are the weakest team left. Ty and others tried to encourage her, but Robin really had no fight left in her.
At the final Dome, the teams prepared to play X Battle. As always, there are two heats–girls and guys. A X made of steel is set in the middle, and you have to try to wrestle it away from your opponent two out of three times. In the girls’ heat, Camila beat Robin, putting the pressure on Mark to beat Johnny. It was a tough battle, but Johnny beat him. As Mark and Robin walked off, MTV played a recap of Mark’s history with MTV, as Mark is done with Challenges for good. I mean, he is 40. Time to hang up that Road Rules bandana sir!
T.J. encouraes the remaining three teams to really get some rest. Later, he gave them a clue to the Final: “You’ll be 66 degrees north. Pack you bags and I will see you in Iceland.” Iceland was actually freezing around the time of filming, and the amount gear that the house had to wear was ridiculous. In spite of the freezing cold, the house went out for one final night out on the town, and had a really good time. At the end of the night, all of the teams said what they love about their partners, and how much they appreciated having each other by their sides.
That night, T.J. texted them saying: “I hope you got some rest. The final challenge is tomorrow. Be ready at 8 am.” The next morning, the crew got wrapped up in their snow gear, and prepared to hit the mountains.
T.J. warned them that the final challenge “Viking Quest” will be no joke. The winning team will split $150,000, second place $100,000, and third place $40,000. All in all, not too bad. Only thing is, each team has to finish to get paid. The challenge is a race and has a series of checkpoints. At each checkpoint, after completing the given challenge, you have to collect an artifact (seven total). All of the artifacts together will unlock the key at the end to win the final prize.
The first checkpoint was a race with dog sleds for one mile to get to the next checkpoint. Because Iceland only gets a couple of hours of daylight each day, T.J. warned the teams that they will have to race in the dark.
After the race, CT & Diem came in first, Johnny and Camila second, and Ty and Emily third. The second checkpoint strip down to your underwear and plunge into a river to touch a buoy as cold as it is. In fact, it’s so cold that T.J. said that 30 seconds in the water would cause hypothermia! Yikes! The team with the fastest time combined from the race and the plunge will get the best sleeping arrangements. As each team went, it looked really painful! Each team made it out okay, but CT and Diem ended up winning this part of the Final.
The campsite itself was set up on the ground in the snow. However, CT and Diem got the best tent with air mattresses, heating lamps, deer skin blankets, etc to keep warm. Johnny and Camila, coming in second, got a small heater and an air mattress. Ty and Emily’s arrangements were worst of all with some yoga mats, getting to sleep right on the ice. Oh, and it’s -23 degrees outside. Crazy!
This challenge looks like it will be the toughest in Challenge history. Johnny even tells Camila, “If today is a sign of what is to come, it’s gonna be a monster.”
Watch The Challenge: Battle of the Exes every Wednesday at 10 p.m. EST only on MTV! And make sure you stay on the lookout for my recaps after the show!
Photo via MTV
