The Challenge: Battle of the Exes 2 Premiere Recap

MTV’s The Challenge new season premiered last night. This season’s theme is the second installment of Battle of the Exes taking place in Panama.  TJ Lavin is the host again…. he’s looking a little rough.  Did he have another accident I didn’t hear about?  He’s got one eye that’s not opening all the way.  Hmm… if anyone has an answer to this, please comment below!

The veteran cast members come out.  These are all faces we have seen many times before… Johnny Bananas, Leroy, Sarah, Wes, etc.  But then TJ announces that they will be bringing out some rookies…. NINE of them.  Johnny said, “it’s as if the Scooby Doo van pulled up and each one of them is goofier looking than the last.”  Ha!!

TJ then announces that they will be paired with a former boyfriend/girlfriend, flame, secret hook up for the entire season… welcome to Battle of the Exes 2.  Everyone rolls their eyes and do NOT look happy.  The camera keeps panning to CT and Diem and my heart just breaks.  I still can’t believe Diem passed away just two months ago.  It’s still heartbreaking to me.  Knight is also there who passed away just weeks after Diem.  It’s hard seeing people on the show that are no longer with us.  They’re just too young to die, it’s very tragic.

Jemmye says “the thing is, half these girls don’t even know who their partner is going to be because they’ve hooked up with half the cast!”  Truer words were never spoken!  So here are the teams:

 

Jonna and Zach

Sarah and Jordan

Nany and secret fling with Johnny Bananas (off the show)

Theresa and Wes

Averey and Johnny

Nia and Leroy (“alleged” fling)

Brittany and Adam (from the show “Are you the one?”   Never heard of it)

Jessica and Dustin

Jenna and Jay (from the last Real World, I think??)

Jemmye and Knight (R.I.P.)

Hailey and Thomas (old high school sweethearts… both seem very annoying)

Simone and John “J.J.” (from “Are You the One?”)

C.T. and Diem (R.I.P) …. so sweet… so tragic. Sigh…

The cast goes into the mansion and begins to figure out where everyone is going to sleep, who’s in whose room… you know the drill.  Dustin’s strategy to room with the guys.  The partying begins and the conversations and drama starts.  Diem warns Averey she needs to get on the same page as Johnny and work through their problems or they won’t be lasting long.  Problems that happened in their relationship will come out in the game and get in the way, she warns from experience from doing Battle of the Exes 1.

Wes heard rumors that Jay and Jessica have hooked up and starts questioning him about it.  He kind of dances around it and doesn’t give a straight answer.  Meanwhile Dustin starts bugging Jessica about it and teasing her about it and irritating her.

The cast gets a text from TJ that the next challenge will begin at 5:30am and has something to dealing with heights.  Diem talks to CT about what that might entail.  In her interview, she says that she knows people are tired of hearing her talk about cancer, she’s tired of having cancer, but if she won the money she would use it to get a surrogate and start having babies.  She’s ready to live her life.  I’m doing everything I can not to cry watching this.  So unfair.  😦  CT really wants to win the challenge for her.

5:30 am the cast flies to Panama City and they’ve guessed it…. they will be going from one tall building to the next on a tight rope that is 500 feet in the air.  The girls will be walking across the tightrope as the guys are in a superman position overhead holding on to a rope that the women hold on to  as they go across.

Dustin and Jessica, Johnny and Averey are the first couples to go across.  Jessica really struggles as Averey does really well and goes quite quickly.  Jessica loses her footing and falls…. they are disqualified.  Averey makes it to the end and with what seems pretty good time.  Next up Zach and Jonna, Theresa and Wes…. Theresa keeps falling off but Wes isn’t letting go and it actually works to their advantage, she’s falling in the right direction.  Jonna is just a mess wobbling all over the place and panicking and eventually falls off.  Zach is flustered.  Theresa makes it to the finish line, and then falls, but she made it to the end first.  Leroy and Nia, Jay and Jenna…. Leroy and Nia are stuck at the beginning… Jenna and Jay make it pretty far, but she ends up falling and Jay is very encouraging telling her she did great.  Leroy and Nia got to start again because they had technical difficulties.  Nia makes it part of the way, but ends up falling.  Next is Adam and Brittany, Nany and Johnny Bananas… Brittany falls pretty quickly and blames it on her trust issues with Adam.  Nany gets almost to the finish mark and then falls.  Next is Jemmye and Knight and John and Simone…. Knight looks like he’s on drugs, I would not trust him with my rope.  Jemmye and Knight ended up screaming at each other.  Jemmye falls and Knight yells at her to stop bitching.  John and Simone got far and worked well together, but she ended up falling as well.  Diem and CT, Sarah and Jordan… Sarah’s shoe ended up falling off.   Sarah gets almost all to the end but then fell, but Diem made it to the end!!  She and CT were so cute!  Next Hailey and Thomas are the last couple to go and not going with anyone else.  They did great and made it to the end.

Last place couple is Adam and Brittany who are going into the dome.  The power couple with the best time was Wes and Theresa they get to decide what team goes into the dome to face Adam and Brittany.  Wes tells Theresa he’d like to vote in Johnny Bananas, Theresa says she’ll go with what he decides but thinks maybe Dustin and Jessica are a better option.  Wes tells Jay and Adam he’s not going to throw them in and he wants to be a “silent partner” with the rookies.  He wants to throw a veteran in.  Wes tells Dustin and Jessica he’s thinking about the Bananas route but it depends on how his conversation goes with him.  He warns Dustin that they are a possibility and Dustin is not happy… he thinks it should be rookie against rookie.  Dustin tells Jessica that because of his gay porn website past, he doesn’t feel he will ever fit in with “The Challenge” family.  He says his past is always going to haunt him.

So Wes sits down with Bananas and Bananas tries to tell him that it’s too early in the game to make that kind of move.  Bananas gets mad and ends up kind of storming out.  Wes said he loves to make Bananas squirm.

Decision time…. TJ comes out and calls Adam and Brittany up and asks Wes and Theresa who they’re putting up.  Wes says no matter who they put up it’s going to ruffle some feathers.  He then says he has decided on Dustin and Jessica.  Dustin and Jessica then go to talk and they show their support for each other and grow closer as a team.  Adam tries to rile up Brittany and tells her to take out her anger she has for him on Jessica.

The Dome: TJ explains the challenge: The teams will be facing each other with their hands and legs strapped to poles that they have to try to climb a ladder with (sorry not explaining this well).  First couple to the top and rings the bell wins and stays another week.  Dustin and Jessica immediately fall as soon as the challenge begins.  The teams are neck and neck once they get going.  Then Jessica and Dustin completely fall all the way to the ground.  They have to begin all over again.  Adam and Brittany just have to go slow and steady and they can win.  Adam tells Brittany he loves her as they’re going up.  They ring the bell and win…. Dustin and Jessica go home.  Dustin’s devastated he went home on the first challenge.

The next morning Dustin and Jessica receive a message from TJ saying they’re not really out yet… they have been ex-iled.  They will compete against the other ex-iled contestants for a chance to get back in the game.  Even though this has been done before on Survivor, I am excited for this twist.  It adds a whole different element and interesting factor to the game.

This season is dedicated to Diem and Knight.  ❤