The whole cast has some downtime and gets a boat ride that’s probably a lot more relaxing than the last one, since Tonya is no longer around and nobody has to make sure she isn’t climbing anything. Everyone plays volleyball and dance on some idyllic Thai beach. Dunbar reminds us that The Challengers' team loses a lot and is down to just seven people. The game is at its halfway point and Kim says that things are going to start getting ugly. Because up until this point, everything has been downright peaceful with the near-physical violence and the actual physical violence.
Former flames Cohutta and KellyAnne talk fairly civilly. KellyAnne’s current boyfriend Wes and his teammate Johanna had a longer, more serious relationship — a more tumultuous break-up, too, from the sound of it — and their conversation isn’t going nearly as smoothly. Johanna feels that Wes oscillates between wanting to have discussions about where they stand and all that crap, and being antagonistic. She basically tells Wes to leave her alone, while he interviews, “It’s almost like she doesn’t care as much about our friendship as I do.” It’s almost like Wes gets it. Later, Wes tells KellyAnne that he wants to face Cohutta in a future Ruins, calling himself a bounty hunter.
The Plan
Regarding the next mission, the cast receives a clue, which says something about a party. “I hope it really does involve a party because we’re really good at that,” says Susie. Yeah, but the team’s Partying MVP just got sent back to Walla Walla for assaulting Veronica, so it might not be such an easy victory.
Susie and Johanna have a conversation with an incredibly beautiful Puerto Rican girl you may not have ever seen before. Her name is Ibis and yes, she is on this show, too. They discuss voting Veronica into the The Ruins. Veronica overhears the whole thing and runs off to talk to Evan, while Susie listens in from a different balcony. Susie is eavesdropping on Veronica, who is talking about things she learned by eavesdropping on Susie, so… Susie is essentially eavesdropping on herself. Regardless, she’s pretty pleased that Veronica has been backed into a corner.
The mission is called Block Party and trust that it’s too stupid to recap. The Champions win by an embarrassingly large margin.
Before the winning team’s nominees — Evan, Kenny, Wes, Ibis, Johanna and Veronica — have their meeting to decide who goes into The Ruins, there’s a lot of double-checking the status of the plan, which is mentioned enough that it deserves to be capitalized. The Plan is still to send in Veronica against KellyAnne and it’s confirmed enough times that anyone who’s ever watched television knows that something is going to go awry.
In the meeting, Wes volunteers to go into The Ruins since he knows he’d get voted in anyway and chooses Cohutta as his opponent. Veronica knows what’s up and argues that while both girls put their all into the missions, her 150 percent is higher than Ibis’ 150 percent. Though Wes has stopped sabotaging the team, he is most definitely on the social outskirts and takes Veronica’s side. Kenny, Ibis and Johanna are sticking by The Plan, but Evan wavers and forces a tie. This is the first time that’s happened so host TJ Lavin informs the six of them that the rest of the team is coming in to vote. The other five Champions aren’t allowed to talk amongst themselves so there’s no scrambling or strategic discussion. Veronica looks like the cat that ate the canary as it turns out, the female round will pit Ibis against Kim.
The Spool
Ibis is pretty pissed at her teammates. There are some four-letter words, but she’s not brandishing a plunger like a crazy person or wrestling anyone to the ground so it’s pretty tame after what happened last week. Derrick tells us that while Ibis is his friend from their original Road Rules season before Road Rules was cancelled in 1902, Veronica is a better competitor.
Meanwhile, things with the former and current couples are unbelievably awkward. Wes is mad at Johanna, but a part of him still loves her. Johanna wants nothing to do with Wes and hates KellyAnne for no reason. Wes thinks Cohutta is still pining after KellyAnne, which doesn’t seem to actually be the case. And KellyAnne is just like, “Why did I agree to come on this show again?”
The elimination round is called The Spool and it involves navigating through a bamboo obstacle course while untangling the rope that’s tied around your waist and weaves through all the bamboo. Always humble, Wes tells us, “This is not conducive to my strengths, but it doesn’t mean I’m not going to be good at it.” It’s Cohutta’s lucky day since he is quick, agile and half Wes’ size. It’s fairly close, but he wins and his victory makes him “feel 10-feet-tall and bulletproof right now.” The female heat is much less close. Kim wins by a lot and while everyone likes Ibis as a person, she was considered Team Champion’s weakest link.
In the last two episodes, we’ve said goodbye to Tonya, Katie and Wes. Now who's going to cause all the conflict?
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