‘The Challenge’ Recap: 1 Vet & 1 Newcomer Conquer The Grueling Final To Win ‘Total Madness’
One male and one female competitor were named the winners of ‘The Challenge: Total Madness’ after a freezing cold, grueling final challenge on the show’s July 15 episode.
The July 15 episode of The Challenge: Total Madness began with nine players: Rogan, Johnny Bananas, Cory, Kyle, Fessy, Bayleigh, Melissa, Jenny and Kaycee. They traveled to a snowy mountain for the final challenge, and host TJ Lavin revealed that there will be one male and one female winner. For the first portion of the challenge, they had to travel back and forth across a long, snowy field on skis to collect logs.
Once the players had all of their logs, they had to use them, along with a few other tools, to start a fire. Cory won that leg for the guys, while Jenny dominated for the girls. This put them in a position of power, as they made up the final tribunal of the season. Before getting to what that means, though, the contestants had to travel together on a long hike to the compound where they would be spending the night.
By this point, Melissa was absolutely winded and had trouble keeping up with the group. Meanwhile, Bayleigh had injured her leg on the skis during leg one, and was in noticeable pain. Finally, the nine contestants arrived at the compound, where TJ revealed that there would be one more guys’ elimination and one more girls’ elimination
As always, the losers had to vote one guy and one girl in. Luckily, there was no fight. Rogan, who knew he would get the vote anyway and still felt like he had to prove himself, voted himself in. Melissa also volunteered, as she felt winning an elimination would make her feel that she had a purpose to being out in the cold, treacherous conditions while she was struggling so badly. Then, Cory and Jenny had to pick the opponents. Jenny went with Kaycee, who she felt was her toughest competition, while Cory, who was close with Fessy, chose Bananas
When it came time for the elimination, Melissa opted to quit due to her deteriorating condition, so Kaycee was the automatic winner. Meanwhile, Bayleigh also opted to leave the game to deal with her knee injury. Johnny and Rogan put up a fight in the elimination, though. The guys had to start on opposite sides of the snowy field and race to jump up and ring a bell in the middle. It was a tough battle, but Bananas secured the win to continue on in the competition.
After that, it was finally time to get some rest, but TJ explained that only winners would be getting to go inside the warm compound. That meant Jenny and Cory, who won the first leg, as well as Bananas and Kaycee, who won the elimination, could go inside. Kyle and Fessy had to stay out in the freezing cold. After six hours, they were allowed inside for some minimal rest and warmth.
The next day, the players were tasked with another long hike through the snow. Along the way, they had to figure out a complicated math problem to open a lock. Some of the players struggled with the math, like Kaycee, while others began to gas out on the cardio portion, like Fessy and Cory. By the end, Jenny was the first to finish, followed by Johnny, which meant that they were the winners of Total Madness!
Although no prizes were given to the remaining competitors, Kyle finished in second for the guys, followed by Cory and then Fessy. Kaycee was the only other girl left in the competition, so she was in second place for the girls. What a season!