Real World/ Road Rules Challenge: The Ruins - Episode 2

For anyone who doesn’t know what happened in the previous episode, please go back to my recap for last week’s show. You can find it under the News tab in my profile.

It’s been a long seven days since the drama-filled first episode. Could this be the week Wes and Johnny Bananas get into a fight?? Could this be the week Shauvon’s implants burst?? Could this be the episode we find out why Brad’s unconscious with his face smashed in?? Let’s get going..

This week, we open with Johanna talking to Wes. She’s trying to explain to him why he’s alienated from the rest of team. (How does he not understand this?) He’s framing his point of view as he’s trying to do what’s most fair for the team. This is a big upgrade from his argument last week, “They’re going to do what I say or I’m going to throw every mission until they do.” Johanna’s gives up and during her interview says that she’s done trying to protect Wes and she’s done with him. (Why can’t I shake the feeling that she’s like a couple shots away from jumping his bones?)

Now we have Kelly Anne and Evelyn talking about how they’re BFF’s, like for real. Don’t mess with them and their friendship. Kelly Anne says that Evelyn is “55% of the reason” she’s in this RW/RR challenge. Umm, what about your boyfriend, Wes? Couldn’t you and Evelyn go hang out on a vacation or something, if you wanted to spend time together? You know, so you didn’t have to deal with the stress of living with 20 other people who you don’t like? I’m just saying..

Johnny, Evan, Casey, and a couple other girls from the Challengers team are talking and they’re not up to any good. The girls want to send Kelly Anne home for reasons unknown, other than the fact that they don’t like her. Johnny and Evan are okay with this idea because they figure Kelly Anne is the strongest female on the Challengers side. Evan adds that he likes the added bonus of irking Wes. So who can the Champions send into the Ruins to make sure Kelly Anne goes home? The strongest woman in the challenge, Evelyn. (No, I don’t think they thought the plan through all the way. Nice editing and plot setup, MTV!)

Evan declares, “The fix is in”, and goes off to set it up with his team. Before each team leaves for the challenge, they deliberate and choose who is eligible to be sent into the elimination challenge. The Champions select Wes, Derrick, Johnny, Evelyn, Susie, and Katie. The Challengers select Danny, Nick, Cohutta, Kelly Anne, Shauvon, and Casey. To his credit, Brad notices something strange is going on during his team’s deliberation, when Shauvon and Casey volunteer to be eligible for the Ruins.

This week’s challenge is called Swing On By. Each contestant starts on a platform and needs to use a rope to swing around a fence protruding from the edge of the platform and land on a platform about a foot and a half wide. The platform is connected to a padded wall, so each person will slam into it. If a player doesn’t make it onto the platform and falls into the water or misses the platform, they have one more chance to try it again. The team with the most players on the platform wins.

Before the challenge starts, Wes is talking to his team again about the way they choose for elimination. He wants them to have a rotation of people eligible for elimination, so that no one is always sent into the Ruins, then have a random draw between the three people. The team quickly agrees, which even surprised me, and I knew what was going on! Evan then reminds us everyone agreed knowing that they’d never do it his way.

Challengers are up first. They’re going along pretty smoothly, until they get to Casey, who swings by the landing platform and crashes into part of the MTV crew’s setup equipment. Naturally, she’s crying. I’m not really sure why. (Embarrassment? Maybe her fear of heights? They don’t seem that high up.) Danny yells at her to try again and she does, only to BARELY miss crashing into the crew’s setup again. Luckily, Danny’s doing more than yelling at the females and was in the area to catch her and bring her onto the platform.

They keep going smoothly again, until we get to Shauvon. During her interview, she admits that she’s the least athletic person in the challenge, but decided to show up anyway because that’s the kind of person she is and the kind of person we should all aspire to be. Shauvon grabs hold of the rope, gets a running start to swing off the platform, and immediately slips from the rope to belly flop into the water. Shauvon describes her water landing as such, “I hit the water wrong.” Of course, Danny is yelling at her to do it again. Shauvon is crying and telling him, “I think I popped my f---ing implant!” Danny yells at her to do it again anyway and she goes back onto the starting platform to try again. The Champions are cracking up with laughter and start chanting “Yes, you can”. Shauvon feebly retorts, “No, I can’t”, then runs off the platform with the rope in her hand, only to lose her grip and fall into the water again. She’s in pain now and keeps repeating that she thinks she popped her implant. There’s a burning sensation in her chest and they send her to the hospital in an ambulance as she sobs on the gurney.

But the show must go on! The Challengers team got 11 of 12 players on the platform and it’s the Champions turn. Without much drama, all 12 players on their team make it onto the platform. Ibis was the only one who missed when she ran into the fence, but she owned up to it, said she was embarrassed, and then swung onto the other platform successfully. Champions win again.

Everyone returns to the house and is unwinding, when Shauvon returns from the hospital. She’s going home now because the doctors have ordered her to be on bed rest for the next week. As soon as Kenny sees her, he tells her to let them see her boobs and hilariously stares at her boobs the entire time she’s talking. Graciously, Shauvon declines because she says her breasts are all black and blue. I’m a little suspicious because Shauvon is walking around the house in a weird muumuu-looking thing that still prominently features her cleavage. I could see at least half of each breast and they look normal (for Shauvon). She then sashays through the house to tell everyone what happened to her and about the “structural damage” done to the muscles in her chest. (I’m not saying she should keep competing, but if it was that bad, wouldn’t your chest be bandaged up? Or at the very least, shouldn’t you be wearing something that offered you a LOT more support, other than her muumuu? Not that I’m a doctor.) Finally, Shauvon packs her things and promises to do future challenges, but she’s going to be more athletic next time. Good luck with that.

So the Champions won another challenge and their six team members chosen for elimination get together to decide who was going into the elimination. Wes volunteers to go in again, per the team’s agreement earlier, and he chooses to go against Nick. Evelyn volunteers to go into the elimination and wants to face Casey. This is where the wheels fall off the bus and everything hits the fan. Johnny disagrees that Evelyn should go against Casey and thinks that Evelyn should go against Kelly Anne. And Mt. Evelyn erupts.

Evelyn tells him that she’s not going to do it and doesn’t take it well, when Johnny tells her she’s not going against Casey. She gets an intensely cold look in her eyes and her top lip starts quivering. It’s a completely primal look, like if Balto were mad and wanted to kill something. Wes and Evelyn start yelling at Johnny and getting in his face. Johnny pushes Evelyn away from his face with his forearm and Wes gets chivalrous, by standing between them to yell at Johnny for pushing a girl. The yelling continues until TJ shows up to get the team’s decision. Since they can’t come to an agreement, he takes a vote on the spot. Evelyn tells her team that if she needs to go up against Kelly Anne, she’ll throw every challenge and they’ll lose the final. The decision is made when Derrick casts the deciding vote for Evelyn to face Kelly Anne.

Wes and Evelyn go on a rampage through the house to the Champions bedroom. He starts screaming at everyone in the room and calling them b----es. Evelyn basically storms around kicking stuff and punching random objects. I really think she might have forgotten how to form words. Come to think of it, Wes actually may have snapped, too. He starts yelling at Johnny again, when he gets back to the room, then does that move where he makes a sudden movement toward Johnny like he’s going to hit him, but doesn’t. Johnny flinches and Wes laughs like he’s Biff from Back to the Future.

Wes continues to yell at Johnny, until he gets hungry or something, then we cut to Wes, Evelyn, and Kelly Anne sitting in a stairwell pondering their fate and deliberating their next move. Evelyn doesn’t want to send Kelly Anne home and threatens to lose on purpose. Kelly Anne doesn’t want to go home either, but Evelyn’s saying that she doesn’t think she’s capable of quitting. She’s thinking back to a previous RW/RR challenge, The Island, when she set aside her morals to team up with Johnny and Kenny to win and she doesn’t want to do that again.

Johnny is now talking to Nick about what happened and trying to prepare him for his elimination challenge tomorrow. Nick looks really nervous and I don’t think Johnny’s only making him more tense, but during his interview Nick says that he’s “ready to make history and send Wes home”.

The elimination challenge is called Shadow Fighter. Basically, each player is standing on platforms about 10 feet across. Each player is tied to each other by strings bound to their hands and ankles. The goal is to pull your opponent off their platform. The first person to do this 3 times wins.

First up are Wes and Nick. Nick looks like he’s going to throw up. Although, it takes a little while for them to figure out how to pull each other off the way they’re tied up, Wes pretty much destroys Nick. Nick was exhausted and spent after the second time he was pulled off. Wes wins 3-0 and Nick’s chance at making history slips from his grasp.

It’s time for our Main Event! Kelly Anne vs. Evelyn. Wes says in the interview with a straight face that this should be a close match, but I don’t think anyone actually believes Kelly Anne can beat Evelyn in anything involving hand-eye coordination. In the first round, there’s a bit of a struggle and it looks like Kelly Anne actually pulls Evelyn off the platform to take a 1-0 lead. Evelyn figures out how to balance with the strings tied to your opponent in the second round and waits until Kelly Anne falls off from her own momentum. During round three, Evelyn seems to be conserving her energy by standing still and timing her pulls. Kelly Anne looks exhausted and gets pulled off again to fall behind 2-1. Evelyn seems to be toying with her. The next round goes the same way as Kelly Anne is futilely pulling and using up a lot of energy as Evelyn, stands firmly on her platform without pulling. However, Evelyn falls off the platform again to tie the score. Everyone seems to be confused by what Evelyn’s doing, even Kelly Anne says, “If she’s going to quit, then quit. It’s like she’s trying to make up her mind on the platform.”

I have to agree with her. Evelyn’s actually making it worse on Kelly Anne, by embarrassing her and making it look like she’s in complete control of the elimination challenge (which she is). But if you’re going to quit, then just do it. What’s the point in acting like you’re really trying, when it’s obvious to everyone you’re just toying with her. She’s just making it worse for her friend.

The final round starts and I feel bad for Kelly Anne. She’s spent. You can tell from the way she’s pulling with the weight of her entire body and her arms and legs are just dragging. Evelyn has this weird grin on her face as she just leans back against Kelly Anne’s pulls. Finally, as it looks like Kelly Anne’s about to collapse, Evelyn hops off the platform to lose 3-2.

Everyone’s kind of upset with the charade. Even TJ rips into Evelyn. He talks about her like she’s not even there. In his speech sending her home, TJ says, “Well, Ev. Everyone knows what happened here and I didn’t think Evelyn was quitter, but she was. That’s not what this show’s about.”

Evelyn trots away with the same weird grin on her face. I seriously think she might have forgotten how to form words!

Back at the house, Wes and Johanna are sitting on Wes’s bed talking and laughing (What the f---? Why are they always talking and laughing on his bed? I thought they were done??). Everything seems great. Johanna’s even joking with Wes that he better not throw the final mission or she’ll sell the house he lives in because it’s in her name.. wait, WHAT??

Apparently, when Johanna and Wes were engaged, they bought a $300k house, but her name is the only one on the deed, although Wes still lives in the house.

Johanna repeats her threat with the most charming smile she can muster by saying that if Wes screws her out of the $30k she’d get for winning this challenge, she’ll screw him out of the $300k she’d get by selling the home. Wow.

Johanna smiles and casually walks away as Kelly Anne comes back with a bottle wine. Wes looks stunned and explains to Kelly Anne what just happened. Her response: “Haha!”

Wes looks as sick as Nick did earlier and is trying to figure out his next move as we roll to the credits.

Memorable Quotes:

“We’re champions because we’re willing to lie, cheat, and steal for money.” – Evan, during his interview, explaining why everyone on his team has won a RW/RR Challenge and no one on the other team has.

For Evan’s sake, I hope a prospective employer doesn’t watch the show. I don’t know how anyone on the shows can get real jobs after all the things they say and do.

“Shut up, Susie! I’m tired of hearing you talk with your condescending, little voice!” – Eveyln, yelling at Susie during the deliberation, as she was trying to convince her that this was better for the team.

I don’t know how a team with this many shady, conniving people, didn’t figure that Evelyn would have an issue going up against her “BFF” in the elimination challenge.

Previews for next week:

Looks like Veronica is hooking up with Evan and Cohutta is getting really tired of losing challenges. Hopefully the show will be more exciting than what they’re showing on the previews.

Feel free to leave comments for me or anyone else reading. Until next week!