MTV is back with a new season of The Challenge, and, this time, it's family business! The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines brings together past cast members of The Real World, The Challenge, and Are You The One, along with their family members in Turkey. Definitely great idea to shake things up a little bit for the show. I could tell from this season's trailer, there is going to be A LOT of drama and emotions, and I'll be watching and recapping it all season!
The show's esteemed host, T.J. Lavin, is back as well, and, at the beginning of the episode, he gathers the cast together to discuss the game. The cast match-ups, by the way, are as follows: Nicole and Nany (cousins), Raphy and Dario (twin brothers), Jenna and Brianna (cousins), Cory and Mitch (cousins), Camila and Larissa (sisters), Cara Maria and Jamie (cousins), Johnny Bananas and Vince (cousins), Leroy and Candice (cousins), KellyAnne and Anthony (cousins), Cohutta and Jill (cousins), Aneesa and Rianna (cousins), Christina and Emily (sisters), Thomas and Stephen (twin brothers), and Tony and Shane (brothers).
T.J. announces that they are standing in The Pit, which is where the eliminations will be held. The losing team from each challenge will automatically be sent in to face elimination. He also announces that there will be a huge prize of $350,000 for those who make it to the end. Sounds good, but here's yet another twist: they're not announcing how the money will be broken down until before the final challenge! WHAT?! What if you make it to the end, and the first place team gets all the money, or they decide to split it up evenly, or some craziness?! I could see them giving everything to the first place team, which would definitely piss me off if I made it to the end. However, I guess that would be more motivation for the final teams to fight harder to win. Another issue: gender. There are same-sex teams (both girls and boys), and boy/girl teams, which could work in the favor of, in my opinion, some of the stronger guy teams in more physical challenges.
Back at the house, everyone drinks, gets to know each other a little more, and talk about the game. These relatives, of course, have watched their brothers, sisters, or cousins go through these challenges, but I can tell already many of them really have no idea what they're in store for. Of course, hook ups and relationships are a part of the drama with these challenges. We find that Cohutta and Nany, who made things official after their stint on The Challenge: Free Agents, didn't make it. Cohutta broke up with her, which broke Nany's heart. Aww! I liked them together, but they also have two polar opposite personalities, so maybe that's why it didn't work. Tony, who has a girlfriend, may or may not have hooked up with fellow rookie Christina during the first full day, even after declaring that he was serious about his girlfriend. Christina says they did hook up, but Tony says they didn't. Her sister Emily gets upset, knowing that there is already a target on their backs since they're rookies. They need to be focused on the game, especially in the beginning.
Later, Larissa mentions to her sister Camila that Tony told her that she will be the first one to leave because she's so tiny. Larissa claps back at Tony, proving to have the same hothead personality as Camila, and Camila gets emotional because he was talking about her sister. I understand it. Tony, of course, denies it, which pisses off not only the sisters, but Nicole, who heard him say it too. When Tony starts arguing with Nicole, her sister Nany hops into it, in defense of her blood. You see how this game is going to be really emotional?! It's one thing to speak up for a teammate you got paired up with by chance, but when it's your blood?! It's a whole other story.
Tony's own brother, Shane, eventually pulls Tony to the side, calling him out for the way he approached the women. He goes OFF, telling Tony to own what he did. Tony is a rookie, and he's not making a great first impression. Everyone knows that the rookies get tossed in for elimination first anyway by the vets, so why would you want to put an even bigger target on your back. Shane and Tony, who keep arguing, get close to fighting, as Tony shows his violent side. All of this is going on, and the actual challenges haven't even started! My question is, can you get sent home for fighting your own relative? I mean, I know MTV doesn't condone violence, but family should get to have some love taps every now and then. The guys quickly calm down and make up, but is Tony going to be able to make amends with everyone else?The next day at the first challenge, T.J. calls Tony and Shane. Violence isn't condoned, even if they are family, but he gives them a warning, letting it be a fair warning to everyone really. Even if you're related, you can't fight. Aww boo! T,J. presents the first challenge of the season, "Water Battle." There are two giant piles of dirt, with a hose at the very top. The objective is to climb up the hill, and fill up buckets with water for 10 minutes, to deposit in their team barrels. The team with the least amount of water will go straight to The Pit. The team with the most water will be the champions, and get to choose the other team to face elimination. The guys will compete together, and the girls witll compete together, regardless of teams.
The guys' heat is even more intense, with all of the guys trying to throw their body weight around. While the guys compete, Cara and Jill come up with the idea to have some of the guys pour their water into Cohutta's container so that he and Jill can win. It was a smart move, potentially setting up an alliance and saving Cara Maria and her cousin Jamie.
T.J announces that Nany & Nicole and Jenna & Brianna were the bottom two teams. Jenna and Brianna had a little less water, though, so they are heading to the Pit. Of course, Cohutta and Jill win, and now they have to send another team to face elimination. T.J. states that, since the team chosen will be facing a girl team, the team picked must have at least one female, So the all-boy teams are automatically safe! Back at the house, Cohutta and Jill debate who Jenna can beat, and come back, since she's not that strong of a competitor anyway. Though they bring up Candice, the two vote Christina and Emily in, since they're rookies.
At the club that night, Vince tells people that Cory slept with Nany, after they spend a few moments cuddled in bed earlier. Of course, Cory gets mad, and the two have an argument at the club. Nany gets pissed off too, because she's always in the center of drama when it comes to guys, and didn't even do anything...most of the time, anyway. Of course, partying and drinking is conducive to hooking up, and Rianna kisses and cuddles up with Mitch.
At elimination in The Pit, T.J. announces that each nominated team has to choose one player to go in. If that person loses, she and her teammate both go home. Jenna and Christina go in, playing "End of My Rope." There are two ropes wrapped around rows of poles, and there is a clip at the end of each rope. The object is to unravel the ropes from around the posts, and clip the rope to a ring at the end of The Pit. The ropes will not stretch to that ring unless you unravel it from around all of the posts, so it will be long enough to clip on their ring. Christina kills it until towards the end, where she struggles to get her rope over the last two poles. Jenna eventually passes her, winning the elimination, and sending Christina and Emily home. It wasn't for lack of effort though. I was very impressed. Always sucks to be the first team to go home, but Christina fought hard.I can already tell that this challenge is going to be super duper emotional and dramatic! Like I said, these are blood relatives fighting for this money! People are going to get into fights, and their family members will, of course, jump in and defend them. To me, this is kind of a dangerous challenge, because these challenges are known to bring out the worst in people and start beefs. Are these family ties strong enough to survive The Challenge? I guess we'll have to wait and see!
Check out all new episodes of The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET only on MTV!
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