The United States team on The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 is split into two alliances after Laurel’s elimination. Johnny Bananas’ alliance consists of Nany, Tori, Leroy and Jordan, while Cara Maria’s alliance has her boyfriend, Paulie, along with Kam, Ashley and “Ninja” Natalie. Left in the middle, are Turbo, Zach and Josh. This episode centers around Bananas and Cara’s relationship, which started out volatile, only for them to eventually become friends and allies — until she started dating Paulie last season. Now, Cara and Bananas are on the outs and playing against each other, despite being on the same team.
Before the challenge, Johnny and Paulie are at odds over who should be the next speaker for the team if U.S. wins. Josh, who’s friends with Paulie outside of the game, is the swing vote. Paulie assures Josh that, if he votes for him, he’ll keep team U.S. strong and not vote a member of their own team into elimination. The challenge requires the players to jump off a platform and attach a hook to a rope, then zipline as far as they can before landing in the water. Once they’re in the water, they must swim around a buoy as fast as possible, and all their times will be added up to determine a winner.
It’s a super close race, but team U.S. comes out on top. They decide on Paulie as the speaker — per the talk earlier — and Paulie picks Cara, his closest ally, and Jordan, the person who performed best in the challenge, to join him in the tribunal. At the U.K. deliberation, enemies Rogan and Theo go head-to-head, attempting to throw one another in. The majority of the team decides to vote in Theo. This causes major tension, as Theo is arguably one of the strongest players in the game.
Now, the tribunal needs to choose Theo’s opponent. Cara is not on-board with Paulie’s agreement not to vote someone in from team U.S. She’s 100%, all-in on voting for Johnny to get him back for throwing last week’s challenge. At the elimination, Jordan grants Theo’s wish by picking Rogan, but Cara sticks to her guns and chooses Johnny. So, it comes down to Paulie, who goes back on his word and gives Johnny a second vote, sending him in.
The guys are trapped in a cage for the challenge, and have to roll the cage around throughout an obstacle course. Along the way, they have to place roman numeral pieces in their correct place on the course before rolling to the finish line. Johnny pulls ahead of Theo, but mixes up two of the pieces, and loses some time correcting the mistake. He makes a comeback, but it’s not fast enough, and Theo is declared the winner. He opts to stick with team U.K. after sending Johnny home.