The Oct. 30 episode of The Challenge: Final Reckoning begins ahead of the secret vote for the next elimination. Since they won the last challenge, Paulie and Natalie are the only team safe. Meanwhile, despite being targeted all season long, Johnny Bananas and Tony are confident that the other teams will be too scared to vote them in. So, their closest allies, Cara Maria and Marie, seem to be on the chopping block with the “Lavender Ladies”/”TYB” alliance (Hunter and Ashley, Joss and Sylvia and Shane and Nelson). Since Marie has a bit of a connection to those in the main alliance, though, she works hard to politic and pull some strings during a night out.
It turns out Cara and Marie don’t have much to worry about, though — the Lavender Ladies alliance informs Marie that they are voting for Bananas and Tony, since they want to take any chance they can to get them out before a final. All three teams in the alliance throw their vote Bananas and Tony’s way, while Cara and Marie and Bananas and Tony go for Shane and Nelson. Since Natalie and Paulie vote for Joss and Sylvia, Bananas and Tony have the most votes, and they’re headed into the Armageddon. As always, they get to pick one of the teams who voted for them to go against, and they opt for Joss and Sylvia.
The elimination challenge requires the players to build a house of cards-like structure to a certain height, but it has to be done on a platform bobbling in the water. The challenge is brutal, as it proves to be harder than it looks, and the players are submerged in water the whole time, despite freezing cold temperatures. Finally, Sylvia and Joss pull out the win, sending Bananas and Tony to the Redemption House.
As if the numbers weren't against him already, Bananas gets rightfully worried when he sees Natalie and Nelson getting close… #TheChallenge32 is all new, Tuesday at 9/8c! pic.twitter.com/dkKxttM4mB
— challengemtv (@ChallengeMTV) October 28, 2018
Naturally, Johnny wastes no time stirring up some drama when he gets to Redemption. He decides to exaggerate the extent of Natalie and Nelson’s friendship in front of Nelson’s girlfriend, Kayleigh, and she’s left freaking out about what’s going on back at the Main House without her.
The next challenge is a purge challenge, which means that whichever team comes in last place is automatically headed to the Redemption House. The players have to deliver as many flags as they can from one side of a spinning platform to another, and Paulie and Natalie pull out the win once again. Unfortunately, Nelson barely makes it halfway across the rotating contraption, so he and Shane are off to Redemption.
Of course, this gives Kayleigh an opportunity to finally confront Nelson about the Natalie rumors, which she does the second he arrives. Nelson denies that anything went on with Natalie, but Johnny stands by his story, and vows to make his time in the Redemption House with Shane and Nelson a “nightmare” for them. We’ll see how it plays out next week!