Now that the final is looming ahead, the “All Stars” players who have a star are working hard to defend theirs while the ones who don’t are strategizing on how to get one. Steve Meinke, who has gone into elimination twice, says he would rather go in again and defend his star than have someone steal his.
Adam Larson considers Steve his number one in the game, as they go way back from “Road Rules.” He says, “He’s my brother from another mother. He works hard, he’s a good husband. Like, over 22 years, we’ve kept in touch.”
It’s time for the next daily challenge, which is called “Roll With It,” and TJ Lavin tells them that it’s a men’s elimination day. The players have to sit in a shopping cart with a lasso inside it. They can throw the lasso over poles scattered throughout to pull themselves to the finish line. The first male and female are the winners.
Right off the bat, everyone sucks because who the heck lassos? Well, it turns out Ace Amerson does! He’s a country boy and is the first one to take the lead.
Jay Mitchell realizes that you don’t have to use the lasso to propel yourself forward and uses his body to get momentum. He uses the poles to shove himself to the next one until he reaches the end. The dude wins while everyone is still throwing ropes around and rolling this way and that.
Laurel Stucky is the female winner and the others race to get into the middle group. The ones who make it are Adam, Ace, Derek Chavez, Nicole Zanatta, and Cara Maria Sorbello. The losing group is Steve, Leroy Garrett, Ryan Kehoe, Flora Alekseyeva, Averey Tressler, and Veronica Portillo.
Adam Larson betrays Steve Meinke
Steve Meinke thought he was safe from the elimination, being that Jay as the winner was ready to go in and it seemed decided that Ryan would be thrown in. He takes a shower, during which Ryan tells Ace he doesn’t want to go in against Jay.
Ace has some pact with Ryan so he promises to do everything he can to protect him. When the rest of the house hears that Ryan is backing out of the arena, they’re like WTF.
“I think Ryan need to go down there. You can’t keep running from it,” Leroy says. He tells the cameras that if he gets voted into elimination, Jay promised to save him but he doesn’t trust him completely, given how Laurel backed out at the last moment.
Steve is pissed off as well because he knows that if Ryan doesn’t go in, he’s going to. During deliberations, Nicole votes for Ryan and Steve because that’s what Jay wants. Then, comes the surprise attack.
Adam, who was Steve’s ride-or-die, votes him and Leroy in. “My strategy has always been, the only way to protect your star when you are a voter, is to put the two stars against each other. I put Steve in a bad place but Steve’s put himself in a bad place. At this point in the game, it’s business.”
Ace is torn between voting for Ryan or Steve because he has alliances with both. He rambles for about 45 minutes and in the end, it’s Leroy vs. Steve.
Steve Meinke gets his revenge
The elimination of this episode is called “Shish Kestack.” TJ explains that there are two big tanks of water with puzzle pieces. The players have to race to the tank and dive under to get one piece at a time, which is color-coordinated with poles connected to the tank. They then have to stack the puzzle pieces from the darkest on the bottom to the lighter pieces going upward.
This is not Jay’s ideal challenge because he’s partially color-blind and will have a hard time differentiating the colors. He has the choice not to go in but he promised Leroy that he would save him so he does the honorable thing.
“I’m a man of my word. I told everybody I was going to go down. I will not pull a Laurel,” Jay tells the cameras.
Jay takes Leroy’s place so it’s him against Steve, who is ready AF. However, he’s nervous because Jay’s a firefighter and literally goes up and down ladders every day.
The horn beeps and the two are off. They’re both super fast but Steve doesn’t even bother with the ladder and just jumps off the tank, knees be damned.
Poor Jay is a lot slower and can’t differentiate between red and orange. Steve has started to build his puzzles but Jay is still trucking on. It’s a close game but Steve gets the win.
Steve already has a star so he has the choice of stealing another person’s star and giving it to someone else. “I think sometimes the best defense is the best offense,” he says. Given how Adam betrayed him, he takes his star and gives it to Ace.
“I feel betrayed,” Adam says in a confessional, curiously. “You are just so dead to me, man.” Didn’t you just betray your friend? All of a sudden, Adam has turned his back on his longtime pal and is butthurt when the tables have turned. “The Challenge” karma has come to bite him in his golden pants.
