The Challenge: Spies, Lies and Allies recap: Fessy finally faces a consequence
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And we're back! After last week's The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies ended on a cliffhanger, robbing us of an entire elimination after the Big Brother alliance blew up, we finally got to see what's basically the second half of last week's episode. Was it worth the wait? Not really! We should have just gotten our regular double episode last week, but at least Fessy finally had to face some consequences — or more accurately, a single consequence — for his actions.
After Fessy pushed Josh's face (it's not even a full physical fight but we still had to wait a full week to see how the cliffhanger turned out), Josh throws his drink at him while security separates them. Josh is jumping around and singing about how Fessy isn't going to see a final again, and Amber continues to fight (verbally) with Esther and Berna until Esther finally apologizes for throwing the drink in her face. Eventually Esther and Amber hug it out. But I still don't understand what Berna's issue with Amber is, and she's not feeling apologetic at all, even though this fight had nothing to do with her. Berna even says at one point that "Amber started the drama" and again I would like to ask: How? And why is Berna even involved at all?!
Then Josh tries to rally everyone into making Fessy and Esther the house vote, and he asks Kaycee to pick him or Fessy, but she just gets pissed at him for putting her in the middle. She also very clearly does not pick a side, which I don't think Josh noticed but I certainly did. Kaycee may not verbalize her priorities but she always sides with Fessy over Josh (or anyone else). And after the way he treated her in last season's final, I will never understand why!
Then Amanda tries to get Josh to end the night but he gets upset all over again for how Tori and Cory brought him into this fight and instigated everything because these are his "real life friends." So he throws another drink (lots of drinks flying tonight!) and everything explodes all over again. After a while, Amanda tries to expose Tori and Cory for egging Josh on but they're not taking any responsibility for this.
Later on in the night, Fessy comes to Josh while he's sitting in bed and hugs him while Josh cries. Fessy tries to apologize but Josh is like, "You put hands on me. It's done." Kaycee and Nany listen and cry while Fessy apologizes for always making negative comments and putting Josh down but notice how he doesn't actually apologize for going against their alliance by throwing Amber in. He still doesn't regret it! And I hate how Josh isn't holding him accountable for it.
The next morning, a group of players talk with Emy about who she'd pick as her new partner if she goes into elimination and wins, and she reveals she'd choose "Uncle" CT. He just winks at everyone, not confirming or denying if he likes that plan, and then Emy says that Berna even told her not to steal CT earlier that morning, but she lied and said she wouldn't. They even hugged it out, and Emy just smiles as she admits her own deception to all the vets sitting in the room.
And the vets are loving this; they even make her sign her name in hot sauce on a cutting board to join their alliance. "If you put it in hot sauce, it's set in stone," "Uncle" CT says. This is pure chaos but I'm starting to come around on Emy — as long as she doesn't throw another tantrum before the elimination because that's getting old.
On the other side of the house, Fessy talks with Josh again and starts off on the right foot by apologizing for not having this conversation sooner. But then things take a frustrating turn when Josh says he puts too much pressure on Fessy and Kaycee to have his back in the game the same way he has theirs, and Fessy just takes that easy road out and agrees with him. Ugh. Can someone please just hold this guy accountable, ever? Eventually they hug it out and this fight is over. It shouldn't be, though — Josh let Fessy get out of this way too easily. Hopefully there are some more consequences for Fessy coming down the line.
But I don't have to wait too long to see them arrive. Later on, everyone starts feeling anxious about what's going to happen next and lo and behold, TJ walks into the house. "It's never good when I come to the house," TJ announces, before raking both Josh and Fessy over the coals for "expecting to win with those egos." He also lets Esther have it for her "unacceptable" behavior too. But since Esther is a rookie, TJ gives her a warning since she doesn't know the game yet. She's safe to stay, and so is Josh — although TJ gives him quite the lecture about how he needs to "chill out" because he's embarrassing himself.
As for Fessy, he put hands on someone so he's "deactivated." Fessy is officially gone, y'all! TJ lays down the law and gives him only 15 minutes to pack, say his goodbyes, and get the f--- out. And everyone else has to be in the nominations chamber in 15 minutes or else TJ threatens to choose the elimination pairs himself! Fessy hugs everyone while Josh cries, and in his final interview, he says something about how this one is on him and he takes responsibility for his actions but … is he? Does he? Will he ever? I doubt it!
It's also tough watching Esther cry about losing Fessy as a partner, saying how he always supported her and was such a positive force that boosted her confidence, and always made her feel better … but we all saw how he treated every single one of his partners last season. And then Kaycee makes some comment about "how it all comes down to f---ing pizza," which we all know it doesn't, and I'm mad again because that's just minimizing the whole issue. But good riddance; let's get back to the game please.
The vets are all talking out by the pool about nominations and Nelson doesn't want to "let Josh slide" because this is somehow all his fault, but Ashley points out how it's probably just a female elimination now and that would only be punishing her for being Josh's partner. So what are they going to do?
Nominations
Tori starts out by apologizing for making the joke about Fessy eating Amber's pizza, knowing that was the catalyst for everything. Then Cory also apologizes for the part he played in instigating things, and Josh starts talking about how sorry he is for letting his anger get the best of him, blah blah blah. I'm over this now, and thankfully so are Nany and Devin who steer the conversation to the task at hand. "Fessy's gone — he's not dead," Devin says. "He got deactivated from a game. The game goes on."
Esther says she knows if she wants to choose her new partner, she has to go in to elimination, and while she throws some shade at Amber, she does it without actually naming her. Then Amber rightly points out she's already gone in and doesn't want to do it again. But no one else steps up and the 20 minute time limit ends, so everyone has to vote. To no one's surprise (except maybe Esther), the compromised agents end up being Fessy and Esther instead of Hughie and Emy.
After the vote, Emanuel has a private conversation with Emy about how Kaycee and him could vote her in against Esther this time so she could get a different (a.k.a. veteran) partner when she wins, because he doesn't want to eventually be put against her if she's still stuck with a rookie partner. They both know Emy has a better chance of winning against Esther alone, but only if it's something physical.
And Berna just can't leave Amber alone. She goes to Kaycee and pitches sending Amber into the elimination against Esther because in Berna's mind, Amber started everything and has been getting off "easy." Berna thinks putting Amber in (again!) is what's "fair." And then Kaycee says some BS about how Berna is "not wrong" to say that. Huh?!
Thankfully CT agrees that he needs to ditch his partner because she's "doing too much," is "reckless," and he can't trust her anymore. He wants to get as far away from her as possible and it's the best news I've heard since Fessy got "deactivated." Get CT a better partner! Out of nowhere Berna just decided to hate Amber and it's so bizarre. I had high hopes for Berna as a rookie but now... she's getting really shady.
In the gym, Kaycee talks with Emanual about how Emy might "chicken out" of going into the elimination when they get to The Lair, and so she pitches Amber as an alternate idea to throw in because she "can't trust" her. Kaycee says it's better for her "alliance's game" for Amber to be gone... but hello, there's no more Big Brother alliance! Fessy saw to that. I am so over this redundant delusional BS about Amber needing to go but people keep harping on it. It's beyond annoying at this point. Kaycee, Amber beat you last season. Get over it. Move on!
Elimination
Walking into The Lair, everyone gets psyched to see a Hall Brawl setup, and thankfully Emanuel and Kaycee stay true to their word and send Emy in against Esther. She's ready to risk her game to get a better partner, and Berna is already feeling nervous about potentially losing CT — as she should.
Elimination challenge: Rage Cage. It's the good old-fashioned head-banger Hall Brawl with some slight updates. Players now must run on top of a mess of ropes on the bottom of the hall which seems pretty dangerous? That's just asking for a twisted ankle. They also need to climb the wall to ring the bell, which gives Emy another advantage since she's taller. The odds are clearly stacked for Emy to win this one, but you never know what a rookie can do until you see them perform.
And from their first collision, it's clear that Esther isn't giving up without a fight. She and Emy wrestle and struggle for a long time in the middle of the hall. At one point, Emy throws Esther to the ground but Esther doesn't let go of Emy's legs. Emy eventually muscles her way up the chain link fence and rings the bell, winning the first round. The second round goes a lot faster, since both women only struggle for a few seconds in the middle before letting go of each other and racing towards their own bells. And while Esther actually climbs up the fence first, she misses her bell by less than an inch while Emy rings her bell, winning the entire thing.
In the heat of the moment, Emy collapses on the sand and screams, "This is for Romania!" as she cries and hugs it out with Esther. Amber says "well done" from the sidelines which sets Esther off, telling Amber that if she ever comes back, she's coming for her. What did Amber do to any of these people to get such a bad rap?! This is wild.
But now Esther's gone, not long after her partner Fessy. And Emy finally gets to pick her dream partner, "Uncle" CT, who pretends to be shocked at this "twist" even though he's happy about it while Berna feels betrayed. Now Berna and Hughie are the new rookie-rookie pair, and she paints an even bigger target on her back by making a big speech about how Emy is "sweet and naïve" and got "brainwashed" into betraying her. Berna even says she's now coming for Emy, losing what may be her last ally in this game. And then Emy points out that Berna was cheering for Esther during this elimination, so "you're not my friend, bro." Facts!
Challenger of the week: Whoever came up with the idea to make Emy sign a contract in hot sauce because that was one of the only fun moments in this episode.
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