The Challenge: Spies Lies & Allies Season 37 Episode 2 Recap 🙂
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Spies, Lies, & Allies episode 2 continues to fall into unprecedented territory – Two women fight over Nelson, Fessy manages to not fuck something up for once in his Challenge career ie. keeping the vet alliance strong, and Devin is stolen as a partner… not just once… but now TWICE.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. This episode did not disappoint!! I missed the premiere so I’ll fill you in on what we missed – This season of The Challenge “Spies, Lies, & Allies”, the 34 contestants are split into guy/girl pairings, each with a US player & an international player. This also means the majority of the teams are in rookie/vet pairings except for Kyle & Amanda, and now Josh & Amber who joins the game this episode after Josh’s partner Lauren mysteriously leaves… I was wondering why she was legit in no promos and had not even one ITM, LMAO.
The only type of teams are double rookie teams which were Michaela & Renan (eliminated in the first episode), Kelz & Tracey (eliminated in this episode), and now only 2 remaining R/R teams remain in the game – Corey L. & Michele and Tacha & Jeremiah… Can someone say the next two targets much?
To my absolute DELIGHT, there is no “skull” twist in this season’s game, ie. you don’t have to win elimination to qualify for the finals… you just survive the game long enough like the good ole days!!! I love this because it brings back the element of backstabbing & targeting instead of challengers campaigning to go in, or strategizing around getting gold skulls.
The house votes in a semi-public deliberation for the first pair to go into elimination – Everyone, including the agency (the winning pair from the daily challenge), deliberates around a huge conference room table & then submits their vote on an iPad in front of them… But I feel like you could see other people’s votes, especially if you were in the back row??? IDK, but I do like this better than the secret votes, those were a bit of a miss for drama & made the deliberation pointless because no one wanted to reveal their cards. Whereas now it feels more traditional where the group deliberation ends up pretty immediately having a clear target that most everyone group-thinks to put in. Love it!
“The agency” decides the other pair going into elimination right before the event in the arena. TJ revealed a twist where the agency can vote one guy and one girl from any team to go into elimination, it doesn’t have to be the pair together. As last week’s agency, Aneesa & Logan, first voted to put in Corey L as they were planning to put in him & his then partner, Emy, into elimination after Emy caused some drama around “the list” in the house. But after TJ revealed you could vote any girl, Logan voted for Michele, leaving Corey to essentially clean up a mess he didn’t make. Which he did! Because as Aneesa so expertly said in an ITM post-elimination in the first episode, “We’ve all seen the Bananas backpack, but Corey L just wore a backpack, a fanny pack, and a knapsack.” LMAOOOO, so freaking true, Aneesa.
After the eliminated challengers leave, the victors get to decide if they want to remain together as a pair or infiltrate & steal any other partner outside of the protected agency. Corey L votes to take Tori and Michele shockingly picks Devin because he showed interest in being her partner once TJ revealed they could choose.
The challengers return to the house post-Michele & Corey L.s’s elimination win. Gabo goes to talk to Ed, mostly for TV time, lol, but that’s the name of the game baby!! Then we get a little intro from Ed, where he tells us he’s from Philadelphia, and he says in an ITM people will likely view him as just a fun silly guy, but he comes from an Ivy league engineering background, so he’s actually a “genius in disguise”. OooOOoooooOOoooooooo. Kinda high key living for Ed already!!
I’ll provide my own Ed intro since we didn’t get one in the cast breakdown blog – Ed’s from the first American season of “The Circle” (On Netflix, which I do highly recommend!!) and he joins the game about 5 episodes in? And he plays with his MOM. The premise of the show is that all the contestants are engaging in this parasocial game. They all have separate apartments, and never meet face to face. They message each other through “the circle” on their screens, and each week players rank each other by who they like the most. It’s a really fun look at the power of social media and portraying a certain presence that might not be you at all (a lot of “catfishes”). He was similar on the show, goofy kind of guy, and the whole dynamic with his mom was insane, lol.
ALSO a little reality web tidbit for you – His brother, Mitchell, was on the second season of The Circle!!! It runs in the family!
Next we get an absolutely iconic moment – Big T is dancing silly in front of a bunch of rookies and they all chant and cheer her on, “Go Big T, Do your dance, do your dance!” :,) I live for the Big T camaraderie content.
Gabo tells a group of people talking in a bedroom that it was his dream ever since he saw “Jersey Shore” to be on American television, and now he’s accomplished it. They all cheers to that, but I’m, like, that is simultaneously really cute and absolutely insane. I support it though, manifest those dreams, babyyyyy.
And now it’s time for the party baby, and now THIS IS A CHALLENGE PARTY. Not even ratchet enough in my opinion, but at least a little bit, and that’s ALL I ASKED FOR.
People are dancingggg, grinding, laughing and I’m, like, okay, YES, not this sitting around talking game bullshit from Double Agents in the backyard blow-up clerb, the “dome”.
Michele says in an ITM her attraction to Emmanuel is confusing (and we know Emmanuel also likes Michele too as we saw him confess it in an interview in ep 1), but she likes how he’s so mysterious and open. Hmmmmm I smell a HOOKUP SET UP, HUNNIIIESSSS.
Tori does some sort of…. Roll her ass into Kelz’s face move??? Lmaooooooo, it is quiiiiite funny.
Esther, Priscilla, & Tacha get a shot of their synchronized dancing and I’m simply obsesssssed. Esther seems like a DELIGHT.
Nelson’s dancing with Berna, Tori obviously with Kelz, we see Nany pulling Kaycee away by the hand. :,)
After the party, Kelz and Tori are giggling and cuddling in bed and it is cute. ;,) Tori says in an ITM that she’s trying to balance enjoying herself but still focus on playing the game.
LMAOOOOO, NELSONNNNNNNNN. Berna & Nelson appear to have fallen asleep on the couch holding hand. Berna wakes up and leaves & we see a drunken, asleep Nelson fumble his way into Ashley’s bed, LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. He says in an ITM he thinks Ashley is a great person and they’re having fun, but they don’t have feelings for each other. He says “But if I need somewhere to cuddle at night, I know where I’m going.” The SAVAGERY.
It cuts to 30 minutes later, we see movement in Ashley’s bed ie. implying they’re doing it. Ashley says in an ITM, “I think I like Nelson. I need Jesus.” And we see the beginning opposition of Nelson saying it’s a FWB type situation, but Ashley starting to catch the feels…
Nany, Amanda, and Ashley have a funny conversation the next morning where Nany clarifies, “Wait so Nelson came in here… fucking laid it down, while I was sleeping next to you and Amanda was above you…???” Amanda’s like you “bottom bunk whores” which sends Nany into a laughing fit, lmaoooooo. It is a bit savage but, listen… I don’t think I’d be above it.
Tracey says in an ITM she’s sad Devin’s not her partner anymore, and that hopefully one day she’ll have the chance to steal him back. Michele apologizes to Tracey pretty awkwardly for taking her partner, but sweet little Tracey says she completely understands. ;,( I feel bad for the hand Tracey got dealt.
OMFG, LOOK HOW FKN BIG KELZ IS WTFFFFFFFF. I’M SO SAD, FESSY YOU COULD HAVE MET YOUR MATCH, FML.
Tori says, “Nelson, you ain’t shit” lmaoooooo cuz when Nelson sees Kelz’s he’s, like, WTFFFFF.
Nany leads the charge of vets in a room in a low whisper, imploring them to stick together or risk yet another rookie winning the season. There’s always been a great sense of pride/tradition? Kinda??? within The Challenge. And now in the recent seasons since there have been so many rookies, I think the vets feel a sense of ownership or wanting to have ownership over the game and the storylines, and ultimately the winners, because they feel like it’s THEIR schtick.
Josh throws out Kelz’s name as the first target because they won’t be able to manipulate him, and he’s banding the rookies together. Everyone listens & nods in agreement and I’m like… is Josh… about to… execute… a PLAN????
Later that day, Esther & Fessy are chatting on the couch about the upcoming daily challenge. Esther eventually says she has to go eat breakfast & asks if Fessy wants any. Fessy reveals he can’t because he’s fasting for Ramadan and explains in an ITM that it’s hard seeing everyone else eat, but he just has to remember why he’s doing it and it’ll be okay.
Esther leaves to eat her breakfast and in an ITM she says she might not be the strongest girl, but she knows she’s one of the smartest… HmmMmmm some foreshadowing of her future success???
The players are all seen getting ready for the daily challenge. They arrive at the big “Challenge” sign when they see a slick black car speeding towards them, with a helicopter flying above. TJ steps out like a BADASS and all the challengers go crazy, CLASSIC. Ain’t nobody do it like, TJ.
TJ tells the challengers they’ll be competing in “Heli Heist” – Essentially one partner will be up in the helicopter throwing down bags of “jewels” to the other partner who will be standing out of the sunroof of the car, trying to catch as many in their bag as possible. At the end of the runway, the challenger in the car has to get out of the car & sprint towards the finish line with their bag. The pair with the most “jewels” and the fastest time wins. 🙂
Corey accidentally says “Corey & Tori L” instead of “Corey L & Tori” in the interview before the challenge & Tori laughs soooo hard, it’s pretty cute.
Tacha & Jeremiah have a cute little pump-up dance before the challenge, and again I’m just like YES, this is why The Challenge is the best show on TV because I feel like every second of the show gives us something GOOD.
Corey & Bettina and Kaycee & Emmanuel are up next and Bettina is the only girl partner in the whole challenge that assumes the car position. And it appears to be a mistake because Emmanuel essentially gets to the finish before Bettina even gets out of the car, LMAOOOOOO.
Corey & Bettina also have this insane moment before the challenge starts in an ITM where Cory’s like, yeah, I’ll just listen for her laugh and then throw it there. This makes Bettina laugh to which she doesn’t stop for like the next THIRTY SECONDS. Cory is laughing with her and then once it goes on for entirely too long he looks at her in shock, which only makes her laugh harder. Once again, LOL. Loving some of these partner dynamics!
Next up are Ed & Emy and Big T & Tommy… Emy says in an ITM she’s “terrified” of heights but also she’ll “kill all her phobias & become a powerful woman” I’m like well okay damn go off queeeeeen.
Both pairs go but at the end, both guys have a similar finish and compare bags saying they “couldn’t see shit” because of the sun.
Emy comes back to the group guns a BLAZINGGGGGG. She’s like I fucked up, I SUCK, but actually, she says she’s scared she’s the “weakest”. Ed is such a SWEEEEETIE partner here and says, “Emy, Emy, Emy, you did perfect” and tries to assure her she’s fine. ;,( Ed for literal rookie of the year ie. most entertaining, best competitor (time will tell), and now AMAZING PARTNER, UNLIKE MF FESSY. ISN’T IT SO MUCH NICER TO ROOT FOR ED???
LMAOOOOOO, AND YOU KNOW I PEEPED AMANDA WATCHING EMY HAVE A MELTDOWN AND JUST BEING, LIKE… JESUS… AND WALKING AWAY, HAHAHHAHAH.
Next to go are Nany & Gabo and Nelson & Priscillia and someone please tell me WHY NELSON IS RUNNING LIKE THAT???? LMAOOOOOO, NELSON, WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?
In the middle of the challenge, TJ gathers the group to tell them that Josh’s partner, Lauren, had to be deactivated from the game so they’ve brought in a replacement. I was WONDERING why the FFFFFF this woman was literally not given one second of screen time, no ITMs, maybe I saw her like TWICE in a group shot, but WTF.
AND THE ALTERNATE IS MF AMBER B, ARE YOU KIDDINGGGGGGG?? YOU JUST HAD YOUR MOST RECENT WOMAN WINNER CHILLIN ON THE SIDELINES. Lmfao, that just shows you how NOT entertaining this woman is, lmfao, I just have to laugh.
So Amber arrives & everyone cheers and Josh seems very happy to see her until he says he realizes that Amber & Fessy have beef… Kinda fair mostly on Amber’s end because Fessy was a TERRIBLE partner and chose to go with Kaycee instead for the finals but then Amber ends up winning the whole game, lmfaooooooooo. Sucks about your LUCK, Fessy.
TJ tells the challengers the top two pairs were Kaycee & Emmanuel and Fessy & Esther… but that ultimately Fessy & Esther won… Now, Fessy picks this woman up and SWINGS her so high into the air I thought she was about to go out of the earth’s orbit!!!!! Like, he damn near flung this woman where no gravity could bring her down!!!
Okay, wait STOP…. Does Fessy… have a … CUTE MOMENT IN THE INTERVIEWS, WTFFFFFF???? After their win, Esther’s in an ITM saying she’s so happy she made Nigeria proud, and Fessy says that he didn’t know how this season would go with him participating in Ramadan but that it feels good to have won, regardless, all the while with tears in his eyes. WTF, ACTUALLY SWEET. STOP HUMANIZING THESE PPL SO I CAN SHIT ON THEM MORE, LMFAO. JK, That’s really cool and important asf they’re talking about him doing Ramadan.
After the challenge, Amber & Josh are talking outside on a couch when Amber starts to get upset recalling how Fessy & Kaycee treated her last season. She recalls a specific conversation on Double Agents where they show them agreeing that Amber’s at the bottom of the list. She even gets teary-eyed!!! And Josh is a really sweet nice friend here because he’s, like, you don’t have to feel bad for the game you played. After all, you’re a CHAMP NOW and no one can take that away from you.
Emy’s upset in a room with Nelson, Devin, & Ashley telling them she’s scared because she thinks she and her partner Ed will be voted into elimination. Ashley is sweet here telling her that she also gets paranoid in the game, but not to worry, because someone is sure to lose their mind at the bar and make themselves a target. From the bed, Devin calls out, “And flash forward to Ashley losing her mind at the bar”, LMAOOOOOOO. Okay, Devin, I see you.
Also cue the MUSIC indicating we’re about to get a PARTY SCENE, PEOPLE, AND BOY OH BOY HAVE THEY DONE IT AGAIN!!!! Even though they are not at a random club with other pedestrians, they at least give us the APPEARANCE that they are taking an outing and not just to the blow-up clerb in the back yard!!! And if I walked into this room???????????????? Pshtttttt, I’d be HYPEDDDDDDD.
Everyone is dancing, having a jolly good time, Ed does another backflip which we will also see displayed at the end of the episode 😉 And to think we almost didn’t get Ed at all on this show… I was listening to The Challenge Mania podcast episode where they interview Ed and he talks about how he got on The Circle (his original show) and then The Challenge and he says he feels like The Challenge is where he BELONGS, LIKE HE WAS MEANT TO BE ON THIS SHOW THE WHOLE TIME. I am like EDWARDDDDDDDDDDDD (presumably) YOU ARE SENDING MEEEEEEE. Rookie of the year, baby!
Fessy & Amanda are talking at the bar when Fessy coaxes an “I’m proud of you” sealed with a kiss on the cheek from Amanda. Fessy says “This is polidicking 101” and, IDK if it’s just me, but I’m getting the sense that Fessy is hyper-aware when he’s on-camera… More than ever before… I’m, like, FESSY, this is your THIRD TIME, can you stop acting like an AMMATEUR.
Ashley drunk tells Nelson she has feelings for him to which Nelson is immediately like WHOA WHOA WHOA, HOLD UP, I thought we were just fucking???
Next, we see Fessy passionately talking game to Kelz who is just stonefaced not giving him ANYTHING BACK, LMAOOOO. YES DUA, GIVE US NOTHINGGGGGG.
But also spoilers but why else would you be reading this blog if you hadn’t seen the episode or weren’t on the active pursuit to find out what happened in the episode via this blog???? But Kelz is the perfect match for Fessy. They stand at a similar height, they look a similar stature. And for all the arrogance Fessy posses, Kelz has seemingly none… Kelz is the perfect antiChrist except Fessy’s the antiChrist and Kelz is the christ… Does this make sense? LMFAO.
Fessy tries to present a deal where if Kelz doesn’t go for him, Fessy won’t go for Kelz… And Kelz ain’t having NONE OF IT, THIS MAN IS CLEARLY PHYSICAL CAPABLE, BUT ALSO POLITICALLY SMART.
Nelson is sitting with Berna & tells her he likes her because she “told him about himself” HUH? Directly after we see a shot of Ashley presumably ALSO seeing Nelson & Berna, and immediately the smoke starts coming out of her ears & you already know it’s about to be another SMASHLEY NIGHT.
Once back home after the clerb, we start to hear arguing with a group of challengers standing outside. Ashley is basically telling Berna to leave, and Berna peacefully surrenders and says she’ll go. Ashley then continues to go ape shit and Nelson tries to calm her down, telling her she’s embarrassing herself.
This is where Ashley calls Berna “Bertha” which is the title of this episode which… I take a problem with it. Calling a non-American person by the wrong name is implicit discrimination. It implies the person is less than you, that their name, their qualifier that makes them different than someone else, is not worth the time or energy or care to correctly say. So Ashley calling her “Bertha” first of all was wrong, but MTV playing into it being a joke and not an actual hurtful, xenophobic thing to do… That ain’t the tea sis, that just ain’t the tea.
After the confrontation, Berna asks Nelson why everyone is against them. Nelson tries to assure her it’s not like that, and that he does like her very much, but Berna is clearly hurt and scared from the incident.
The next day, Josh & Devin play a fake game of chess that you can NOT CONVINCE ME FOR ONE SECOND was real because it was this whole scene where they’re discussing game plans and then at the end you see a close up of Devin’s hand moving a chess piece, LMAOOOO. These are company men right here, the type of players that consider themselves part producers.
They align that Kelz is the first rookie that needs to go because he seems like the head of the rookie brigade gunning against vets. Devin says, “cut the head off the snake” to which Josh concurs.
Devin & Aneesa go to Tori right before the deliberation to let her know Kelz might be an option for the house vote. Tori says she feels torn, but she understands Kelz is a threat.
It’s time for the deliberation where the challengers will all vote via iPad on one pairing to go into the elimination for the week.
Fessy starts the deliberation as the agency & says it’s unfortunate but someone has to say a name… Cue his henchman, ie JOSH, to seal his own dumb fate (except not really cuz it’s not like he got voted in and technically they’re objective still worked!) Josh says, “I don’t mean to single you out, Kelz”, LMAO, SIR, I’M PRETTY SURE YOU DO THAT’S WHY YOU’RE TALKING RIGHT NOW. He goes on to say Kelz has made too many promises he can’t keep & that’s why they have to vote him in.
Kelz shuts that shit down QUICK, insisting he hasn’t made any promises to anyone because he knows it’s too early in the game for that, and that “no offense, Josh, but you’re not known to be the most tactical person in this game.” LMFAOOOO, STOPPPPP I AM DEADDDDDD. Tori is laughing so hard because she knows this is mf TRUE. Kelz does damn near the best job at defending himself as anyone could in this instance. Yet his fate remains the same. 😦
And after about 8 minutes on Josh, Fessy pipes in, “Tracey, is there anything you want to say? If Kelz goes down, you go down too”, LOL. Tracey seems like the SWEETEST woman she says something about how if he goes in, so does she and she’d love if they let her stay longer to play the game. ;,((( It sounded like her voice cracked too and I’m just, like, Tracey;,(
And as it went in the first episode with Michaela & Renan… If you become the target in deliberation without really a whole lot of other options said aloud to the group… The groups gonna go with that one target. And that’s exactly what they did! We see almost everyone locking in for Kelz & Tracey, finally seeing their faces appear on the wall (every time I see faces on the wall I think HUNGER GAMES when they die and then get their faces in the sky, LOL. Similar vibes)
Kelz says in an ITM him being the target wasn’t Josh’s idea, it was Fessy’s… Actually… Kinda not true as Josh is the first person to suggest taking out Kelz as a target… But the way the plan went down with Josh saying his name in deliberation & Fessy being like, welp! There’s nothing we can do! Sorry, Kelz!!!… He’s mostly correct. They both played a part in this plan.
Everyone leaves the room & we see the aftermath of Kelz & Tracey getting voted in. Cory & Bettina comfort Tracey, meanwhile Kelz is sitting in the living room with Priscilla staring intently in front of him. He whisper-talks without moving his head, “They’re trying to see me unravel, that’s what they want.” Priscilla follows suit staring ahead of them & promptly responds, “Don’t let them.”
And as a white girl… I want to tread lightly, but to me, this felt like a moment shared between two Black people insinuating the underlying stereotypes that Black people face every day. In general, there’s a stereotype that they’re “loud” or “aggressive”, so when Kelz says they want to see him freak out, it’s not just as if another challenger were to have a meltdown. They both know there would be an added element of people in the house, and even more so viewers at home, watching if Kelz were to “freak out” (which.. Let’s be honest.. Would be valid, this is some bullshit!!!) & using it as an excuse to confirm their prejudices.
Josh & Fessy are chatting outside about who to throw into elimination against Kelz & Tracey. They toss out some girl names when Fessy pauses and gives Josh a knowing look. Josh replies naively, “Who???” And then 30 seconds later it clicks that Fessy means Amber B and he starts sternly saying no, hahahahhaha. Okay, Josh, I love the TV you give us.
He goes on to tell Fessy no & how that would mess up his whole game, and that he has a chance of winning now with Amber… I mean he ain’t wrong, but hunni, you’re gonna mess up your own game just fine by yourself. Xoxoxo ❤
It’s finally time for elimination and the producers set the scene with rain & intense music and we see all the challengers walk into the arena in their raincoats. Big T says in an ITM they can see the elimination has a gate with handcuffs on the ends… She says, “That looks familiar” and then promptly clarifies, “No I’m joking I’ve never done that”, LOL. Cute Lil Big T moment, you love to see it!
TJ welcomes them back to the arena & asks Kelz & Tracey, the compromised agents, to come down to the floor. It’s then time for the agency, Fessy & Esther, to choose their opponents. Esther goes first & names Emy, & Fessy backs her up. You know even just from two episodes with this woman she is about to FREAK the fuck OUT, whiiiich she does.
They send in her partner, Ed, to go into elimination with her, and we officially have another all rookies vs. all rookies elimination.
TJ explains that one partner will be strapped to the black gate and the other will have to push them over to where they are hanging almost parallel to the ground. From there the partner on the gate has to take this string with a magnet at the end and pull up each of the magnetic pieces to a puzzle. After they collect them all, they have to put together the puzzle and whoever finishes first, wins!
In my head going into this, I’m like ain’t no WAYYYYY Kelz is about to lose this, but underdogs (Ed & Emy) gotta underdog!!!
Emy & Ed have a lot more team chemistry during the challenge and go at a steady pace. Kelz & Tracey get increasingly behind them because Tracey continues to struggle with dropping the magnets, to Kelz’s visible frustration.
And then riiiiiight at the end when you think Ed & Emy are going to sweep, they have one puzzle piece left that rolled over & Emy can’t get the magnet to stick. She struggles for what seems like a while & Kelz and Tracey appear to almost come back!! This is what eliminations are made of!!! I like when they’re spicy and you don’t know who will win.
Once Ed & Emy get their last piece, Ed zips to put the puzzle together, Emy cheering him on calling him “The best engineer in the world”. LMAOOO, she is so ridiculous and definitely leans into that, but HEY, she’s great TV and she’s gotten a TON of air time, probably one of the most of the rookies, if not the most.
They win!! Kelz & Tracey leave, and I ESPECIALLY feel bad for Tracey because she just seems so small and quiet and I just hope she’s okay. I do feel like we’ll see Kelz again because he also got quite a bit of screen time in this episode, but also the last, and once again, it’s not every day you meet a fair match for Fessy!
Another great ‘sode, and yet again only makes me that much more excited for the season! Thanks for reading, come back soon now you hear?
The Reality Web 