'Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Gauntlet III' recap: Foul play?

Okay, let’s get the boring stuff out of the way first: the players who were sent home last night on G3 after losing their gauntlet challenges were Angel and Tyler (pictured). I’m not too sad about either, especially because Angel was up against Jillian, and I’d much rather Jillian stick around longer so we can attempt to figure out who the heck she is once and for all. Plus, I think her love affair with Frank is sort of cute (oh, come on, you do, too).

One love affair that has the opposite effect is Beth and Nehemiah. Though I’m not so sure how much longer Beth can carry on her schoolgirl crush, seeing as Nehemiah let her have it for leading the world on to believe they had hooked up during The Duel. (“Sometimes it not what you say it’s how you say it. ‘Oh, um we didn’t hook up. Hee hee hee.’ It’s that little witch laugh that you do.” God knows, we can all sympathize with Nehemiah — if I never heard that witch laugh again, it would be too soon.) I loved that during this conversation, Evan, Kenny, and Adam were just standing there forming a little audience by clapping and laughing at the appropriate times.

Besides the usual drunken hookups, there was a lot of talk last night about alliances and throwing challenges on purpose. Tori seemed like she was on some kind of witch hunt in an attempt to uncover who was aligning themselves with players on the Veterans team. She’s probably right that there is “foul play” going on (we did hear Frank tell the cameras that he wants to align himself with the guy who makes the decisions on the Veterans team, by whom I’m assuming he meant CT), but it’s a little odd that of all the finger pointing, not one has been pointed at Rookie Melinda, who is engaged to Veteran Danny. That’s an alliance if I’ve ever heard of one!

On to a few things last night’s G3 made me wonder about:

• How awkwardly staged was the poolside gathering when Zach — with Sidekick in hand — shouted in his most cheesy voice, “Hey guys! Guess what? We got a clue!” and the rest of the cast in unison all replied “A clue? Oh my God!”

• Speaking of awkward: Tyler. How much were you cringing when he confessed to Ryan, “When I look at you, I just want to rub you sometimes, I don’t know I feel so comfortable around you, but I get so nervous”? (And did you notice Alex was in the pool when Tyler was talking to Casey about his crush? Way to edit the footage in order, MTV.)

• What was up with Zach’s hairdo at the “Screw You” challenge?

• Does Brooke actually think Evelyn was rooting for her to be protected from the gauntlet? I’m kind of hoping not.

• Are the challenge names supposed to have some sort of sexual innuendo? There’s been “Screw You” and “Roped In,” what’s next “Handcuff Me To a Bed Post and Throw Away The Key”?

• When choosing to send Tyler into the gauntlet, Johnny explained his decision to the camera, “Me getting sent home from The Duel was one of the worst experiences of my life, and I owe it a 100 percent to Tyler,” but what I want to know is: is he serious? That’s one of the worst experiences of his life? And he’s actually complaining about it? Life as a reality star is a lot harder than we though, folks.

Finally, I just want to give a shout out to Janelle for yelling at Tyler for being such a sore loser when he was voted into the gauntlet. She had a point that I think should be written on a poster somewhere in the G3 house so all of these cast members can be reminded when necessary: IT’S JUST A GAME.

Ok, PopWatchers, it’s your turn. Tell us below what you thought of last night’s episode.