The Challenge: Double Agents Season 36 Episode 2 Recap
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To me, episode 2 is not quite as hard hitting as episode 1, but HEY, it’s hard to top potentially 3 of 4 Challenge champs being in the first elimination right out of the GATE. And you have to have bad days to recognize the good 🙂 (Not that it was bad, but you get the point).
We pick up right where we left off – Will Natalie choose to take CT as her partner/double agent and ditch Wes (I prayed all week to the challenge gods for this to happen)? Or will she “infiltrate” and steal any other guy partner in the game???
Before she confirms she’s staying with Wes, Natalie says in an ITM (in-the-moment interview) she knows there are other guys “just as physical as Wes” and “probably easier to get along with”, and I’m like NATALIE, THIS IS CORRECT. No if’s, and’s, or but’s about it! Listen to those facts and realize your ass needs to LEAVE THIS MAN.
Despite the editing in the past episode making it look like Natalie was torn on her decision, it appears she decides pretty straight-away she’ll stay with Wes, which I think is a BAD MOVE for the exact reasons Lolo said; she’s IN there beCAUSE of Wes.
I thought it was an impressive move at first for her to pair up with Wes, and while I still think it was, Wes is in a much worse position politically with everyone in the house than I thought he would be, especially with the whole “hire me as your janitor, or idk, your CEO, like either one I can do” LIKE WTF, WES YOU’RE SO GODDAMN ARROGANT. YOU COME INTO AN ALLIANCE AND ASK TO RUN IT, WTF ARE YOU THINKING???… He says in an ITM he’s the “most well-rounded player here” so he’ll be the best finalist, and it’s like LITERALLY, NO YOU ARE NOT. YOU ARE NO PHYSICAL MATCH FOR 90% OF THE GUYS IN THIS HOUSE. And the comment later in the deliberation confirming he is rich???? Darrell was right: REAL BALLERS DON’T SAY THAT SHIT. Right now, I see this as a sinking ship, and I’m SCARED for Natalie.
So then everyone’s like, uhhhh… so what happens to CT? TJ tells them CT is now a “rogue agent” (lmao, LOVE it), which means he will not be able to compete in the challenge this week and his partner will be determined by the next elimination. Hmmmmm… Very interesting, indeed. I can’t decide if I think this is good or bad… Stay tuned.
After the elimination, everyone heads back to the house for the night. CT passes Kam’s room when he gets back, and he’s like, heyyyyy Kam, you need anything? Glass of water? Foot rub??? Me to grovel on my hands and knees for you to please be my partner??? CT is kinda joking here, but… he really does need a partner and he DEFF fucked up by not taking Killa. She and Leroy already seem to be in a power position within the house and are aligned with a lot of the right people, including the Big Brother alliance. Like I said, this might be her and Leroy’s season… Brad & Tori couple-winning Cutthroat (season 20) vibes!
Next, we get our daily dose of the challengers working out montage to upbeat serotonin EDM pop music! Lifting weights! Running on treadmills! Grunting! Sweating! When skkkkkkkkkkkkkkkert – the music winds to a stop and we see Joseph doing a Weber Classic – Workout for Weenies! I watched this episode with my mom and we both immediately yelled, “WORKOUT FOR WEENIES”.
“Workout for Weenies” is the title of the exercise Joseph is doing – fake tiny crunchers but doing a million of them. My mother used to do this exact same thing my entire childhood and she always called it a “Workout for Weenies”. So this is a REAL THING folks, or at least real to me LOL, but it is also so LOLOLOL. Joseph doesn’t last long in our game, but he does have a few hard-hitting moments I don’t think I’ll forget (sleeping in the clerb, workouts for weenies, mustard-licking pre-elimination).
Nicole and Killa pull Nany into a room to discuss their partner pairings… Nicole says she has no intentions of changing her partner the entire game and I am devastated to hear this, however, I will say this conversation did enlighten me and perhaps made me start to consider giving Devin a chance… Nicole is BAD at puzzles, I mean BADDDDDDDDDDDD. And Devin… as ANNOYING as he is… is… very good at them. So it is a perfect balance – Nicole can do everything physical (but both have to be able to compete in the final ie. usually a shit ton of endurance which concerns me with Devin), and Devin can do all the puzzles.
Kam says she thinks Josh is a good pair for her and that he has good endurance… DOES HE? GIVE ME ONE EXAMPLE Okay, no sorry that is often used as a manipulation tactic but for real I can not think of one time Josh displayed endurance so, LMK.
Nany says she’s questioning her decision with Kyle because she doesn’t know if he’s the physical competitor she needs… She thinks he doesn’t take the game seriously enough and solely relies on his social skills to float to the end… She’s not off-base, but I don’t think this is a bad strategy and she’s not recognizing that. Although Kyle has never won the game, he’s made it to 2 finals (Vendettas & Total Madness), and his other three seasons he got out in episodes 11/12, 12/13, and then 8 for Final Reckoning, and the War of the Worlds I & II respectively.
This is a beautiful little literary device we like to call FORESHADOWING – Nany saying Josh is GREAT, and she doesn’t want to be partners with Kyle anymore… Hmmm, it just might be your lucky day, Nany!
Moving outside to the workout area, we get a classic comedy bit – all the girls fawning over the hot guy: Nam! He’s working out to the tune of “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure, which is hilarious and Lolo is digging it (same as all the other girls, and probably guys too if they’re into that!!!!). This could be the start OF SOMETHING NEW.
Nam is slowly becoming my favorite character… I love every time we get an ITM from him. In the first episode when he said TJ “seems like danger” – fucking love that, and now I love his line about winning the challenge and gaining love; “Two million in a row, wouldn’t be bad!” insinuating finding love is just as valuable as a million dollars!!! OMG NAM, I LOVE YOU. NAM FOR NEXT BACHELOR @ABC, I’M SERIOUS.
DAILY DOSE OF SCIENCE!
Everyone is sitting around chilling when the challenge alarm goes off, and it’s GAME TIME. The challengers meet TJ outside in gorgeous Iceland, and I just want to say my worst nightmare (I’m sure theirs too) came true – Another mother-fucking COLD SEASON. EVERYONE IS WET AND COLD ALL THE TIME AND THE SKY IS NASTY GRAY. PLEASE GOD ALL I WANT IS THE SUN. CAN I GET VITAMIN D FROM SEEING THE SUN ON MY TV ? CUZ I GET THE SEASONAL DEPRESSION FROM MY TV SEEING IT GRAY. Iceland is beautiful though, I just feel sad for the COLD.
OKAY… I had written that Nelson & Amber are going to hook up BASED ON their couple of brief interactions on screen as follows…
SPOILER ALERT (If you don’t want to know two people that hook up based on a clip from the trailer, skip ahead!): AND we know amber kisses SOME mans in this promo, and again I thought it was Nelson, but after a second look, I am 95% positive this is MECHIE.
BUT THEN WAIT. ANEESA IS KISSING A GIRL IN THE TRAILER. I REPEAT GIRL ON GIRL, GIRL ON GIRL, SOUND THE ALARMS TO GAYS EVERYWHERE!!!! AND I’M SORRY MAYBE RECENCY EFFECT, BUT I REALLY THINK THIS IS AMBER TOO!!!! WHO TF ELSE COULD IT BE???
Okay, apologies, BACK TO BUSINESS. I didn’t mean to stumble upon that Aneesa clip it just HAPPENED.
For the “Ice Spy” daily challenge, the challengers have to swim out in FREEZING COLD WATER to this ICEBERG, LITERAL TITANIC VIBES, then after grabbing an ice chunk with a “kill” in it (red cylinder thing), they have to swim back the stations on the shore. Once your back, you have to break the ice chunk with a pick until you get the “kill” out of the middle. From there, everyone’s partner pair has 3 spots to put the kills in their station. Whoever is the last pair standing to not get all three kills in their station wins the challenge.
Before the challenge starts, Nicole asks Wes and Natalie if they’re coming on a boat back or if they’re supposed to carry back the 70 pound ice chunks when they swim back, not realizing that… ice… floats, LMAOOOOOOOO. Nicole, you proved my earlier point precisely (ILYSM tho).
Natalie and Wes are IMMEDIATELY the first ones out. Gabby and Lio got the first kills in their station, but as SOON as ANYONE ELSE had a kill, all of them went straight to Wes and Natalie… makes me feel even worse about Natalie’s sinking ship situation. Literally how ironic to have a challenge with an iceberg!
One by one, pairs get eliminated, but ANEESA AND FESSY HAVE NO KILLS AND END UP WINNING. Are people letting them win??? Are they aligned with everyone??? WTF IS HAPPENING.
After Aneesa wins her SECOND daily challenge, she’s like aight dear GOD let this be a good sign for my future game cuz I’m trying to reTIRE.
Later that night at the house Cory, Fessy, CT & Nelson are all scheming by the weights, when Wes walks up and tries to butt into the conversation. He asks the guys for a “job” either the janitor at the bottom or, HELL! He can just be in charge if you guys want. REALLY CHILL SMOOTH MOVE, WES. If this is some sort of psychology tactic you executed it TERRIBLY.
No one, not for ONE SECOND believeS Wes’s bullshit.
Finalllly it’s parttyyyy time and LOLOLOL AT THIS CLIP OF FESSY FEELING HIMSELF SOOOOOO HARD. Theresa says, “you can tell when Fessy is, like, catching a vibe, because his shirt slowly unbuttons and that’s the only time he has a personality.” LMAOOOOOOOOOO.
Gabby says Fessy is “super hot” so he’s nice to look at, but “time will tell if we have something to talk about!” and I liked that line a lot. They’re setting this up as a thing, and SPOILER AGAIN based on promos for next week… They deff do at some point. So we can look forward to that!
After the pregame, the challengers head to the blow-up club, when Lolo calls Jay over to repeat to Wes something Nam said… Something about Nam not understanding what he is saying?? About wanting Lolo’s cookie? I’m, like… feels racist, I think he knows what he is saying, lol, and he did.
HOWEVER, this is a great Jay moment. JUST LIKE I PREDICTED Jay has been smooooooth sailing this season (so far, Ik it’s only been two episodes, lol) but based on his interactions (talking with Lolo and Wes), who he’s in rooms seen talking with (Leroy, Nelson), AND who he is admittedly trying to align himself within the game, Nam, ie strong competitors, I think he’s setting up his game very nicely and casting his net wide. Y’all don’t count Jay out… He could low-key win this thing.
Nam and Lolo have a whole vibe going and everyone is picking up on it… After the blow-up clerb, there’s a whole drunk crowd standing in Nam’s room observing him like a zoo animal and they’re just truly FASCINATED by him. They’re like, he has an bag just for BELTS! He has ABS FOR DAYS!
With a little coaxing and taunting, Lolo tells Nam to give her the European kiss which I’m like… okay they do not kiss here? And then I was like wait, what is that?… It’s the kiss on each cheek thing, but it still doesn’t look like that happened either??? Just looks like a hug to me, but either way, it’s cute.
AND THEN NAM SAYS THE SWEEEEEETEST LINE OF ALL TIME: “IT WAS AN HONOR TO GET KISSED BY LOLO.” I WANT SOMEONE TO SAY THAT ABOUT KISSING MEEEE. I’m not kidding, how can we make this man the next Bachelor? I’m going to call up Chris Harrison right now.
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAH, okay wow, Devin, I will give it to you, this bit about not being able to understand Nicole is so fucking FUNNNNNNYYYYYYY.
The next morning, everyone is sitting around discussing who are possibilities to go in for the house vote when we find Big T and Joseph getting into a heated discussion.
First off, Joseph decides he wants to go up against Wes which… isn’t a horrible move in the sense of making a name for himself, and logically, he probably could physically beat Wes… But putting such a huge target on your head for NO REASON is DUMB. Big T is trying to explain this and help him through the game, but he is just noooooot working with her. She describes her partnership with Joseph in an ITM as a bad marriage; lot’s of arguing, and no sex. LOL, great line!!
Finally, it’s time for the “public group deliberation for the private vote…” as Jay puts it… which… is just simply DUMB. If anyone had a good strategy… they would keep their goddamn mouths closed at this event!!! Everything you say can and will be held against you!!! Usually, the deliberation ends with an around the circle voting out-loud process, so it makes sense to have the discussion before, but on this season with the private votes this discussion is purely for TV PURPOSES. I still like to watch it, I’m just saying strategically, you shouldn’t be saying a got dang thang.
Annnnnnd who does exactly the opposite of keeping his lips zipped? JOSEPH. He says how bout I make a little drama??? Big T is like I’M GONNA FKN KILL YOU JOSEPH. He says if Wes is voted by the house, he’ll be the person to go against him to take out the ye ole rich Wes… Wes responds by first confirming that he is “indeed rich” and I’m just like STFU, WES. Killa & Darrell said it best:
Wes does… something I thought was… unfortunately brilliant here. He’s like, oh sure, yeah if the house votes me in, of COURSE, I will be SO HUMBLE AND TAKE IT ON THE CHIN (STFU Wes LOL), but it would be more beneficial for you guys to have Fessy and Aneesa vote me in because then they’re the only ones with blood on their hands, not y’all… So basically he just convinced everyone NOT to be the house vote. Being the house vote is a more surefire way to go into elimination, whereas with the Double Agents pick, they could go a lot of different ways (why isn’t everyone scrambling to get their skull???? I remember last season Tori was like get me in there ASAP. I feel like it’s people trying to get more screen time legit… IDK, but y’all need to act FAST) By doing that… Wes saved his ass because he knew there was a chance Aneesa and Fessy would be like… they’re not pinning that shit on us (shit of Wes’s self-proclaimed wrath)!
My beautiful, gorgeous, brilliant wife, Natalie, then steps in to defend her partner after Joseph punches back that actually NO Wes SHOULD be the house vote. She’s like no, no, no, no little Joseph! NOT TODAY. She says he barked when he didn’t have the bite to back it up… He should have kept his mouth SHUT and she puts him in his PLACE. From one rookie to the nextttttt. Hot DAMMM, hunni, POP OFF!
Big T is like, JOSEPH, WHAT IN THE GODDAMN FUCKERY HELL IS GOING ON IN UR BRAIN????
After the house votes, Aneesa & Fessy go to the Double Agents secret chamber to see who the compromised agents are. Big T & Joseph flash on the screen and Fessy & Aneesa are collectively like, “F********CK”. It’s then revealed that almost all of the house voted in Big T and Joseph… including their allies Devin, Kyle, Josh.. (names they said out loud at least)…
Fessy impresses me here because he’s like, listen, if the house didn’t vote Wes in, I’m not doing their dirty work, which I’m like YES, FESSY, NOW UR GETTING IT (he didn’t seem the most strategically inclined on his Big Brother season, but he has most certainly LEARNED).
Not only THAT, he’s like, we can use it as ammunition; we’ll tell Wes we’ll save him if he does us a solid later. AND I’M LIKE, YES, FESSY, YES, FESSY, YES, FESSY. But if you were REALLY smart, you would put your ass in that elimination arena before it’s too late!!!!
ELIMINATION TIME!!!! Once at the crater, TJ reveals to the rest of the challengers that Big T and Joseph are the compromised agents. TJ asks Fessy & Aneesa if they want to come down and get their gold skull, and Fessy’s like uhhhh, TJ, you didn’t explain the rules, so I’m passing. I’m like, Fessy… how many eliminations have you done? TJ… never? Explains? The rules? Until both challengers are chosen?
I was so FORTUNATE to be a part of the Challenge Mania Zoom Holiday Party this last Saturday which was an event they held for people who have patreons to their podcast, and they had on DARRELL as a guest, which was amazing!!!!!!! He’s SO FUNNY and I loved him even MORE THAN I ALREADY DID. Someone asked him if he thought Fessy was a p****y (Have you ever heard the Trevor Noah bit about how it makes no sense to call someone a “pussy” as a way of calling them weak? He’s like… you guys know… pussies are one of the strongest things… on this planet… They GIVE BIRTH. THEY ARE THE VESSEL FOR ONE HUMAN TO LEAVE THE WOMB AND ENTER THE WORLD. Pussies are as strong as HELL. So anyway, I don’t subscribe to that word for that purpose but I’m trying to explain a story, lol.)
Darrell was like mmmm, I don’t think so. He said Joseph was mean-mugging the whole house for the few hours before elimination, and some of the workouts he was doing (legit workouts, non-workout-for-weenies workouts) made him look agile as hell so the other challengers didn’t perceive him as much of “easy competition” as the show made him out to look (he gets “the fool” edit, as Game of Roses would call it – Sleeping in the club, workout for weenies, mustard-licking… FOOL).
So ultimately, no, Darrell said he understood why Fessy passed on the elimination, but I’m like, ehhhhhh, sure I believe you, but I also just think Fessy wants more screen time. He ain’t risking it for the biscuit quite yet!
Something that I was thinking about when TJ eggs Fessy on, like, are you SUUUUUUUUURE, you don’t want to come down here? Because let me remind you, IDIOTS, there are only 10 GOLD SKULLS. ONE IS IN SOMEONE’S POSSESSION ALREADY.
This made me think… will there only be ten episodes before the finals? Because I think in the last few seasons it’s been 11-14ish for the pre-finals episodes and then 15-18ish for the finals episodes? That would also imply that everyone who gets their gold skull never has to go into another elimination, which we know there is no such a safety, or at least not right now. Then THAT makes me think okay… if you go against someone who has their gold skull and you beat them… does that gold skull go back into the game like an idol in Survivor after you use it? Or is that gold skull just gone forever from the game? I would think the gold skull would flow back into the game same as Survivor… So essentially… there’s gotta be some drama in our future where someone who already has a skull has to go in again.
After a quick little fake-out like he was going to vote Wes, Fessy says last season everyone played scared – throwing in Jay into elimination three times in a row, followed by himself in the fourth elimination (both of them rookies) and he’s not playing that way. He votes for Kyle who is absolutely flabbergasted. Aneesa backs up Fessy voting for Kyle and Nany too, and they both head down to the crater.
TJ is like… surprise, it’s a guy’s elimination and I’m like… was that… a surprise, LOL. Everyone seemed to be very aware and conscious of that the whole week that’s why they only ever discussed a guy going into elimination… lol, WUT. But WHATEVER. I think it’s just a litttlleeee funky with the format of sometimes people will go episodes without partners, IDK. I’m still interested to see how it plays out.
For the “ring of spies” elimination challenge, Kyle and Joseph have to wrestle each other for these large hula-hoop rings, and the first to put two rings on two separate poles wins… Fessy whimpers, “Can I change my vote?” Which I’m like, shhhhh, Fessy, that makes you look like an even bigger wuss, just HUSH.
Joseph’s in an ITM pre-elimination talking about how he rode motocross growing up and he would get cramps from holding on to the bike for so long… So to remedy cramps, you can lick mustard! Everyone is like…. Is this cat for REAL???
HAHAHHAHAHAHAH this line from Joseph makes me LOL.
Kyle wins the elimination, but Joseph certainly put up a dang good fight (maybe just the first round). Joseph ultimately plays just about one of the worst Challenge games I’ve seen since Chase McNary scolded Nany after the first night meeting her & after they had ONE kiss because she was sitting on Bananas lap “sexually” and like… she was… but the mother-fucking AUDACITY OF THIS MANS. ARE Y’ALL MARRIED? NO, YOU LITERALLY MET THAT DAY, WTF. (Can I bring up Chase McNary in every blog I write…? Challenge accepted! JK… Kinda…) But anyway, Joseph, I wish you luck on your journey!
Post elimination Kyle walks off to the side and starts yakety yaking (don’t talk backin’ 😉 )! Everyone’s like, OMG, KYLE, HE’S THROWING UP BLOOD, and Nany’s like… LMFAO, no, he’s throwing up his dinner. Josh yells, “That man has a fucking hangover”, and I’m like, okay, fuckkkkkkkkk that’s a great line, hahahahahhaah.
Kyle’s no novice; he knows the proper hangover cure is hair of the dog!
After Kyle’s win, he’s given the option to take Big T as his partner or infiltrate someone else’s partner and he chooses to infiltrate, stealing Kam from Josh. Both of their jaws hit the FLOOR, LMAO.
I think this was a brilliant move on Kyle’s part. He saw how he was on the outs and not in the major alliance in the house, and by stealing Kam he automatically put himself in it because now Kam will be looking out for his best interest intrinsically because it’s her best interest too.
This now leaves Josh, Big T, and Nany partnerless, but I guess since Josh got stolen from he gets to choose his next partner? So Josh chooses Nany, and they both seem to be happy about this, even though Josh is pissed at Kyle for taking Kam.
That leaves Daddi CT & Big T to partner up, and CT is SO SWEET, celebrating a ton when he finds out Big T is his partner instead of being shitty or disappointed towards her. I geniunely do think this is a good pair. Big T helps make CT a lot lower profile, (obviously, than being with Ashley), but she is well-liked in the house and seems to understand the importance of politics in this game. Together I think they can do some WERK.
Before we part ways, I want to talk about the format of the game. After watching the first two episodes, I kind of believe being the Double Agents isn’t THAT powerful. The best power honestly comes from having the choice to put yourself in elimination since there are so limited skulls available. The power to see the compromised agents and who voted for them… I don’t necessarily think that’s that great. I guess Aneesa & Fessy now know Kyle lied to them? So that’s of slight value?
Also… I’m trying to understand the disadvantage (or if it even is one) of being a rogue agent… The only disadvantage is that you can’t compete in the daily challenge, and thus, you can’t become the double agents. You still want to be in the power position vs. NOT being in one, but I just knowing who voted for the compromised agents & the Double Agents discussion that goes along with it is less suspenseful than having the tribunal interview nominations. The dynamic of the tribunal is better for me because I like that on one side there are the people in power and on the other side are the nominees having to “sell” themselves on why the tribunal should or shouldn’t put them in (depending on which one you want at what time!)
That’s just ME. I am excited to see a pair season just because I think those are the ones that usually stand out in my mind… They have such great conflicts inherently built into them (rivals, exes, vendettas, etc.) and thus make for some great seasons. And again, I wanna see another steallllllllll. Not that I want someone to get something stolen from them. 😦 But for entertainment purposes, I do. 😦
Thanks for reading my episode 2 recap! If you want more of these, you can hit the follow button at the bottom right-hand corner of the page to receive a notification in your email inbox every time I make a new post. You can also find me on Twitter @literallyerin and Instagram @itsmeerinweber where I post every time I have a new blog and the link is in both bios. THANK YOU AGAIN. YOU MEAN SO MUCH TO ME. This ends your time here on “The Reality Web” blog, but you’re a great reader, so I’m sure we’ll see you again! 🙂
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