‘The Challenge’ Mini-Final: T.J. Lavin Punishes Cheaters & Permanent Teams Form

[Warning: The following post contains spoilers for The Challenge Season 41 Episode 9, “Does Anyone Want to Confess?”]

T.J. Lavin hates when The Challenge contestants quit, and apparently, he hates when they cheat even more. Wednesday’s (September 24) episode of Vets and New Threats saw the longtime host take the unprecedented step of scrapping all of the results of the day’s mini-final, which was supposed to be quite consequential to the lock-in selection process. Why? Well, some of the players apparently cheated by throwing away their vegetables instead of eating them. (We have to only imagine the eyeroll of every OG Challenge alum who had to scarf down cold cow testicles and live bugs.) After that, the permanent selection went through, and some pairs walked away happy, while others absolutely did not.

The performance points for the individual players were:

Women
Michaela Bradshaw: 38
Olivia Kaiser: 33
Sydney Segal: 32
Aneesa Ferreira: 30
Adrienne Naylor: 28
America Lopez: 22
Aviv Melmed: 22
Nany Gonzales: 16
Dee Valladares: 14
Tay Wilcoxson: 14
Ashley Mitchell: 13
Jonna Mannion: 2

Men
Will Gagnon: 33
Yeremi Hykel: 33
Cedric Hodges: 30
Turabi “Turbo” Çamkıran: 25
Justin Hinsley: 25
Leo Dionicio: 24
Chris “CT” Tamburello: 23
Jake Cornish: 15
Derrick Kosinski: 13
Gabe Wai: 13
Leroy Garrett: 9
Theo Campbell: 6

The episode began with CT getting a lukewarm welcome back into the house after his elimination win, as the rookie women strategized about who they’d want to choose as their partners — and why it was Turbo for absolutely all of them.

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The vet women, on the other hand, decided to start tearing each other down, beginning with Ashley body-shaming Aneesa. Citing “athletics,” she poked fun at Aneesa for daring to think she could actually win the season, and when Aneesa came in to make her say it to her face, Ashley’s liquid courage kicked in. Ashley called Aneesa “delusional” and said even she didn’t think she could beat this year’s crop of rookies, and soon, it all erupted into a screaming match in which Ashley threatened, “I don’t care how big you are, I’ll knock you out, b***h.” In return, Aneesa defended her right to believe in herself, called Ashley trash, and walked away.

The mini-final, called “Broken Dreams,” saw the players running up a 6-mile switchback trail that included a massive climb and five checkpoints, including a math equation, an eating portion, a puzzle tower, a brainteaser with chains, and a game of hangman — all in addition to the foot race, of course. The winner of this was supposed to get the absolute first pick of the lock-in selection, but that all changed when other players noticed a bunch of peppers and onions scattered on the ground.

After T.J. called people out for cheating and announced the decision to toss the daily results, most of the players were ready to brush it off and enjoy the formal dining experience they came home to — fit with white linens, red roses, and champagne, no less. CT invited the rookies to speak about their first Challenge experience; Derrick offered a cheerful toast to the new “crop” that’ll take over; and everyone was content to eat, drink, and be merry … except Will, who stood to pick first if the results were counted and decided to dampen the mood with some untimely nay-saying.

Others at the table predicted this would rub his showmance partner, Nany, the wrong way, and lo, suddenly she didn’t want to be teammates with him anymore. Instead, she went to Justin to suggest they work together, while CT pitched himself to Tay, Leroy made a deal with America, and everyone else with any power seemed to settle in with their desired partners — except Gabe, who felt more he’d be stuck with Jonna, and Derrick, who didn’t understand why Dee pretended to be jazzed about pairing with him when it’s “a marriage made in hell.”

Now, the permanent teams are: Michaela and Cedric; Yeremi and Aviv; Olivia and Will; Sydney and Turbo; Aneesa and Jake; Adrienne and Theo; Justin and Nany; Leo and Ashley; CT and Tay; America and Leroy; Dee and Derrick; and Gabe and Jonna.

After the final selection, T.J. announced that future eliminations will be paired. However, in the look-ahead footage, he asked if anyone wanted to stake a claim on someone else’s partner, so maybe these pairings aren’t so permanent after all?

The Challenge, Wednesdays, 8/7c, MTV