This weeks episode of the challenge focused on fears. It is always interesting to watch the show and separate the social part of it from the actual game. This week focused more on the social part than usual, and thats where different players' fears came out and some featured feel good moments, and others were just flat-out weird.
The episode started off with a couple of romance stories. Jordan was at it again after losing his first hook-up buddy (Sarah) to elimination, he moved on to Jonna and they were hitting it off. Then there was also some flirting going on between C.T. and Nany which supposedly made Diem a little jealous. Jemmye said it made her so jealous that she made a rap up about Nany. That led to a little bit of talking between Nany and Diem but nothing materialized from that.
From these hook-ups we were sent to this weeks challenge called "Stumped". The challenge seemed pretty straight forward: get from one side of the maze to the other, until T.J. said that the teammates would be tied to a 25 foot bamboo pole which they would have to also carry through the maze. Teams like Wes and C.T., and Jemmye and Camilla struggled to communicate and didn't perform very well. Jasmine and Theresa and Preston and Knight were the only two teams to not complete the maze. Being that it was a girls week, Jasmine and Theresa were headed straight to the jungle.
The rookies Jordan and Marlon performed extremely well in this challenge, and won for the guys, earning the right to pick the order for the next challenge. This team has been so impressive that C.T. said "it's time for everybody to stop sleeping on them, and try to find a way to get rid of them." C.T. is fearing a rookie team, that's not something you would ever expect to hear out of his mouth.
As for the girls, Emily and Paula won yet again, a result that is becoming routine as they have won all four challenges so far. This meant they were safe from the jungle once again.
Back at the house all of the guys seemed to need absolutely no time to think about who they wanted to vote into the jungle. Cooke and Cara Maria seem to be the odd team out, and everyone feels like voting them in won't cause a stir. Cooke didn't like this and tried to recruit people to vote for Diem and Aneesa. She was able to change the vote of Leroy and Ty but everyone else voted for Cooke and Cara Maria, and they were headed to the jungle. Diem took exception to the fact that her name was even mentioned by Cooke saying "girl you don't even know me yet, I know how to politic like nobodies business" in a confessional.
After the deliberation there was some down time which left Knight time to cause trouble, which he is so good at doing. Knight dated Jemmye previously after their season of the Real World New Orleans, they had a bad breakup, and aren't on the best of terms. Jemmye and Leroy seemed to have a thing going on, and a hook-up seemed inevitable. Jemmye and Knight got into a little argument over nothing, and Knight brought it to another level, like he always does, by squirting ketchup on Jemmye. This is where everything gets weird. Jemmye has a massive fear of ketchup (yes you read that right) and she said "ketchup is literally my biggest fear." After having ketchup poured on her she freaked out on Knight and they had an argument.
Seemingly due to all of this drama Leroy was then shown with Theresa painting his toe nails, and he said that he wishes he could have both Theresa and Jemmye but he can't. The fact that Jemmye's ex is living in the house might make that decision a bit easier. Jemmye was convinced that Knight did all of this because he is jealous of her talking to Leroy, which seems very likely.
Next it was off to the jungle, where T.J. was there with a bunch of electricity, and pronounced this jungle to be the scariest elimination round ever. T.J. explained that the girls would have to hold on to an electrical gertie as long as they can while being electrocuted. The person to hold on the longest wins, and its the best two out of three. While the girls were psyching themselves out and fearing for their lives, T.J. revealed yet another twist. There would be no jungle and both girl teams were safe, all of the electricity was just for show, and he freaked out everyone in the house for no reason, other than everyone elses amusement. The reason for no elimination this week is most likely due to the fact that Trishelle and Sarah left. Cooke and Cara were coming back to the house much to the dismay of Paula, who said several times throughout the episode that she wanted Cara Maria gone.
This week ended on an uplifting note when Diem decided to go out without wearing a wig. She proclaimed that it was time to face her fear of not having long hair, and go out and embrace it. Diem has struggled with self-esteem issues since her second bout with ovarian cancer, and the episode ended with Diem dancing with no wig, and a big smile on her face.
Even without a jungle this week the anticipation in this episode was very high. At one point there were thoughts of someone possibly dying or getting seriously injured in the jungle. Nobody went home this week, but a lot still happened. Fear was a central theme in this episode, whether it be Diem overcoming her fear of not having long hair, or Jemmye being afraid of ketchup, or Jasmine, Theresa, Cooke, and Cara Maria fearing for their lives. The Challenge continues to keep the anticipation and action up, while also teaching us more about different people in the house every week, making the viewers gain a deeper connection with the people in the house.