The Challenge Double Agents Episode 3 Recap: Winners & Losers
Merry Christmas! Now that our shoulder’s are back in their sockets, let’s get ready to fall off a truck without a harness into another edition of Winners & Losers. This week Fessy gets impatient, childlike wonderment warms our hearts, simple arithmetic returns, and Tom Hanks coaches a baseball team.
Loser: Fessy’s Fussyness
Soooooo, why did he give up the goods? This week Fessy got roped into a strange round table situation with a bunch of people much smarter and less concussed than him. Through peer pressure Kyle, Wes, and Devin tried squeezing the juice out of the biggest orange in the house. And he was more than happy to deliver the pulp.
Fessy and Aneesa are the only ones who know the votes aren’t secret. It’s valuable information to have. A Challenge contestant’s loyalties sway as the wind blows, so to have the group under the assumption they’re voting in secret for even one extra week gives you a massive advantage.
To give that up is a surprising move coming from somebody who claims he and his Big Brother alumni are playing chess with Beth Harmon. More on Big Brother in a minute.
Winner: The Cast’s Inner Child
There are few groups of humans in the world who have seen more gratuitous explosions in their lifetimes than competitors on The Challenge. And yet this week, when a towering death truck with nets hanging off the side was joined by two unnecessary explosions, our cast members reacted like they just found out they were getting Burger King.
With the most stilted, strange Christmas of all time rapidly approaching in real life, it’s great to see some childlike wonder still left in the world.
Winner: Icelandic Medics
If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that job security is important.
Loser: Kaycee
I’ve lived in a house with nine other guys. Yes, it was as disgusting as ten guys living together sounds. But what’s important here is that frustration with kitchen time is a real thing. I empathize with CT here, as burner availability is a valuable commodity in a large group living situation. Especially after a night out at Klub K0ViD.
Heat up your pizza, and move on. CT’s got egg quesadilla’s (those aren’t real) to consume.
Loser: Big Brother Loyalty
We’ve all been there.
Think back to your 20’s. How many times did you find yourself with 26 of your closest pals in Iceland when some guy disses your original reality show?
That’s what I thought. Get off your high horse.
BTW, look over Devin’s shoulder at who seemed to be enjoying the anti-Big Brother material.
Winner: Arithmetic Under Duress
I’ve never been in a bar fight. But once this pandemic has cooled off and I can go out to bars again, you better believe I’m going to antagonize people with simple math problems every chance I get.
Loser: Are You The One? Historians
One thing that The Challenge has going for it is the ability to tell stories over long periods of time. Some of the the deepest emotional gut punches over the history of this show have been due to years of build up. Smaller moments like Cara and Laurel finally having it out during deliberation on War of the Worlds 2 can be meaningful for those of us that watched their complex relationship take it’s twists and turns.
So was I supposed to know about the history between Devin and Tori? Full disclosure, I’ve never seen an episode of Are You The One?. I have however seen every episode of The Challenge and I didn’t even know they knew each other. That moment fell flat and felt completely contrived.
The devil’s in the details.
Loser: Confessional Tough Talk
I’m not mad at Leroy, I’m just disappointed. Leroy’s place in the game is as solid as it’s ever been. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
But considering there wasn’t a giant Light Bright board in the middle of the sand, what in the world could Devin have beaten Leroy at? Getting Wes out of the house was not that important. He’s been scrambling since the jump. I don’t understand the laying out thing at all.
Editors note: Author wrote these opinions on whether or not men stronger than him are cowardly or not while wearing sweatpants behind a keyboard under absolutely no pressure at all.
Winner: Friendship
In the movie A League Of Their Own, sisters Dottie and Kit are playing high level baseball games while the men of America are off fighting in World War II. Dottie is the older, more accomplished, unwaveringly confident sister. Kit is the spunky younger sister with the big mouth that is just a cover for her crippling insecurities. And she looks up to her sister in every way. They’re competitive in every aspect of life and Dottie is always just slightly more competent.
In the climactic scene, Kit, who’s now playing for the opposite team, is running towards home plate to score the championship winning run. Dottie, who is standing at the plate paying catcher, receives a throw from the outfield moments before Kit arrives at the plate. They violently collide; a metaphorical collision between two sisters destined to destroy each other, and the ball falls out of Dottie’s glove allowing Kit to finally triumph over her and win the championship.
Did Dottie drop the ball on purpose, because she knew the win meant much more to her younger sister than it could ever mean to her? It’s left ambiguous and as a viewer it’s hard to say.
I wonder what Wes was thinking as he descended the stairs to go up against his real life good friend Devin?
I guess it’s hard to say.
Thanks for reading! Happy Holidays to all! As always, stay safe, and check back next week for more Challenge content!
