Previously on the Challenge: Stephen elbowed Becky in the face during a competition. ADDam, of all people, had to tell Stephen to take it down a notch. Stephen said that he is a staunch competitor. Kelley called Lindsey "a little ball of energy" as we saw Lindsey pick up a tiki torch and pretend to poke someone with it and then do a monkey dance of her own. Wait, we never saw that footage before. Oh well. The RW side sent London Mike and Sharon home, to the surprise of no one. The RR side sent Chadwick and Piggy home, and Hollywick pouted about it, and then vowed to get her revenge. Whatever, Hollywick. What is your revenge going to be? Pouting all over them?
The contestants eat breakfast. Mark and Eric come in and make an announcement. Mark says that they will be moving back into their villas (which were vacated during the hurricane), and that the competition will be at 5:00 PM. Lindsey asks what they should wear, and Mark says that they need to wear sneakers instead of sandals or bare feet. Lindsey guesses that they are going to be running, and then suggests that maybe they will be rock-climbing. Kelley says that she thinks they are "going down." What does that even mean?
Elka notices that the cell phones have service again, and everyone is very excited about that. In an interview, Stephen says that, more than anyone, he needs to reconnect with his world back home. I picture Stephen, like Greg on Survivor, walking around talking into a phone even though there is no one on the other end, but trying to make the others think that he has a lot of friends. Norm is pissed with Stephen for some reason; I think Stephen is using Norm's phone. Lindsey the Battered Partner makes excuses and tries to calm Norm down. Emily, on a call of her own, tells someone that they all have cabin fever and they are all getting on each other's nerves. Hollywick calls Chadwick and uses the most syrupy, baby-like voice to say, "Hi, babeeeeeee! How are yeeeeeeeeewwwww?" I hate her. In an interview, Hollywick explains that people wanted to split up the Wicks because they thought the remaining person would be "weakened," as if she is Superman and they're going to use Kryptonite on her. Anyway, Hollywick claims that she is even more determined to stay now.
The two teams walk onto the beach, where they are welcomed by Eric and Mark. Eric announces that the name of the competition is "Vertical Limit." Hey, I just watched that movie on HBO the other night. It was pretty bad. But it had some cool action shots. In an interview, Norm explains that they have to climb up a rope, which is strung with plastic buoys, much like beads on a string. They get points depending on how many buoys they climb past. Eric tells them that the points are awarded based on the highest buoy that each of them touches with his or her hand. The winner of this competition gets a shopping spree on some website that sounds really dumb. I tried to go to the site, which is supposed to be a "virtual mall," but I think it's gone out of business. Or I spelled it wrong.
Theo and Stephen are up first. In an interview, Theo says that he and Hollywick are in first place, and that he doesn't want to let Hollywick down. In an interview, Stephen says that he's confident that he and Lindsey can stay in first place, but since it's not a strong event for Lindsey, he needs to "make it happen." I'm guessing because the event relies largely on upper-body strength, they all assume that the men will do better than the women. Theo scampers right up the rope. Stephen has a little more trouble, and starts grunting and screaming. Lindsay cheers him on. Then he yells out, "Ow! My nuuuuuuts!" I'm not sure how that happened. Time is up, and Theo has eighteen points to Stephen's seven. When Stephen gets back to the bottom, he says that he feels like crap and his hands are killing him. No word on his nuts, thank God. Lindsay comforts him like the battered partner that she is.
Now, Lindsay and Hollywick have to go. In an interview, Lindsay says that she's "a little mouse" and she hopes to scurry up the rope. ADDam advises Hollywick to take advantage of her long arms. Hollywick says she knows that the Lord gave her "these lanky things" for a reason. I still hate her. The climbing begins. The women get to add to their partners' existing scores. Hollywick and Theo end up with thirty-one, and Lindsey and Stephen end up with fifteen. So Lindsey actually got more points than Stephen. Heh. In an interview, Hollywick says that she's feeling really good about their team right now, and that she and Theo are there for each other.
Timmy and Sean are up . Sean's lumberjack training apparently doesn't see him through, since he only gets fourteen points to Timmy's seventeen. In an interview, Elka says that she wants her team to take over the top spot from Lindsey and Stephen, and it seems attainable. Elka and Emily start climbing. Elka and Sean end up with twenty-three to Timmy and Emily's twenty-five. In an interview, Emily says that you are telling your muscles to work, but you "feel like a big boneless ham. You feel like a big plate of Jell-O."
Mark announces that the grand prize winners of the shopping spree are Danny and Kelley. They hug. Aw. In an interview, Danny says that Kelley just won them $20,000 for a shopping spree, and he doesn't even know how to spend it. Kelley says that she just talked to Peter, and he just went and bought them a gallon of milk and twenty cans of tuna with the last of their money. Does that website really sell food? Probably not. Danny is dying laughing.
I'm going to post the individual point totals here, mostly because I'm curious to see who got the most individual points, so I figure some of you are as well. I broke it down into men and women because it makes it easier to read. Here's the list:
Dan: 19
Theo: 18
Timmy: 17
ADDam: 17
Norm: 15
Sean: 14
NY Mike: 13
Danny: 12
Josh: 11
Miami Mike: 10
Stephen: 7
Chris: 7
Kelley: 21
Coral: 13
Elka: 13
Hollywick: 13
Holly: 10
Belou: 10
Becky: 10
Lindsey: 8
Emily: 8
Flora: 7
Tara: 4
Jisela: 3
The teams file in to find out their standings and which teams made the Inner Circle. I paused the tape and read the standings off the board, but last week (for those of you who don't read the forums), there were different point totals listed on mtv.com, so who knows if these are actually accurate or not. I mean, they are accurate in terms of what was posted on the boards, but apparently there can be changes made. Or mtv.com sucks. Anyway, here they are:
On the RW side:
Sean & Elka: 44
Danny & Kelley: 43
NY Mike & Coral: 43
Stephen & Lindsey: 41
Norm & Becky: 36
Miami Mike & Flora: 34
On the RR side:
Theo & Hollywick: 53
Emily & Tim: 50
Dan & Tara: 46
Josh & Holly: 38
ADDam & Jisela: 32
Chris & Belounatic: 29
Ooh, Stephen and Lindsey are bumped out of the Inner Circle! In an interview, Theo says that it's hard not to feel attached to everyone, because they all play around together, but it's a competition, and Theo "didn't come here to make sandcastles." Ah, Theo. He always has such a lovely way of putting things. Lindsey starts to say something to Stephen about what they should do the day if they are still there. Stephen reminds her of the agreement. Lindsay says that you never know. In an interview, Stephen says that Norm has a piece of paper with all of their signatures on it that says that they will always vote off the last place team and split the money in a certain way. In an interview, Lindsey says that she thinks that she and Stephen will be the team to go, even though they aren't in last place.
The contestants hang out in the bar. Jisela tells Belounatic that they would have done so much better if they had been united since the beginning, and she hopes it's not too late. Belounatic agrees. In an interview, Belounatic says that she and Chris got low scores, so if she goes home today, she's going home with a smile. Ooh, Holly Not Wick is sitting on ADDam's lap. Interesting. In an interview, Holly says that she and Josh are in fourth, which is the worst position, since her side has a history of voting out the fourth-place team.
The RR Inner Circle meets. Theo discusses the standings, and says that since there are two missions left, no one team is assured of not being eliminated, even those currently in the Inner Circle. In an interview, Dan says that Josh and Holly are close enough to his team in scoring that he's "still a little bit worried."
Sean heads up the RW Inner Circle. He announces that Miami Mike and Flora have the lowest score, and are probably the weakest team. However, a lot of people have problems with Stephen. However again, Lindsey is "one of the more peppy, upbeat people that [they] have." Kelley thinks that Lindsey's energy has kept them all happy and laughing. Kelley thinks that Lindsey's energy overpowers the fact that Stephen is "a crappy person," so she wants to vote off the lowest-scoring team. Coral says, "Stephen's negative energy is affecting me, and it's not that I just don't like him." In an interview, Lindsey says that the Inner Circle is deciding who will stay and who will go, and it makes her nervous. I'm surprised that no one on the RW team mentions that they might be setting a dangerous precedent by veering from their agreed-upon voting pattern. That would be my biggest worry. I guess they feel that Stephen's crappiness overrides the other concerns.
In the RR Inner Circle, Theo says that he wants to get rid of Josh and Holly, because he came there to make the final six. Hollywick tells Dan and Tara that it should be their vote, because they are the closest to being out of the Inner Circle. Tara votes for Belounatic and Chris. Timmy, Emily, and Dan all agree. So it's Belounatic and Chris, and they toast their decision. In an interview, Tara says that she couldn't get rid of Josh and Holly, because it wouldn't have been fair, and she may have been bad strategy, but she had to do what she thought was right.
The RW Inner Circle is still meeting. Coral says that Stephen didn't do well in that day's competition, and "is such a dark cloud." Coral adds that if she is the only one who feels this way, then everyone else can override her, but Stephen is seriously affecting her performance. NY Mike asks if Stephen and Lindsey make the top three, how their team will perform. Kelley says that she can't vote Lindsey off. Outside, Norm, Stephen, and Becky hang out. In an interview, Norm says that they are waiting for the Inner Circle to deliberate. The last two times, the decision came quickly because it was easy, and this time it is taking a while, so something must not be easy about it. Back inside, Kelley says again that she can't vote Lindsey off. Coral says that she doesn't like being around Stephen, and she doesn't like how he goes back and forth between the two sides, talking shit about people. Coral thinks that the RW team's strongest point is their unity, and Stephen is outside of that. Kelley says that she doesn't want to be a part of "this vote," which makes me think that they all decided to get rid of Lindsey and Stephen. But we'll have to wait a week to find out, since the show ends there. No preview for week or anything! Bitches.