Former Big Brother alum and The Challenge: Final Reckoning cast member Paul Calafiore will be blogging exclusive with Us Weekly each week, sharing his opinion and what really went down.
Normally I have a witty intro to my recaps but this was too much of a HO-LY F—K, WHAT AN EPISODE type of episode! Warning, this recap is a bit longer than usual for good reason; this episode was juicy!
First it came down to two elimination queens battling it out in a purge challenge. Go figure, if you can’t get them out in Armageddon … leave it to a Purge Challenge to do the job! Kam and Kayleigh lost which means they got a one-way ticket to the redemption house with the hopes of potentially entering back into the main game. I happen to love both Kam and Kayleigh so for me this was great news in the event of a double cross scenario because we’d be a good option for them to pick right? Wrong. In the beginning of the game, I had pleaded with Natalie to make amends with all of her vendettas from last season: Kayleigh being one of them. Had she done this then, it would have been one less vote for us in the first private voting scenario. Hindsight is 20/20 but in the redemption house there was absolutely no way I was letting her hide from this conflict – but we’ll get to that.
In the main house, a night out with a little bit of alcohol lead too – surprise, surprise – HAVOC. It all began with a conversation between Cara and Ashley. Ashley has the right to hook up with whomever she wants to especially if she was told there’s no feelings involved in the matter. Whether she truly knew or not, I have no clue, I don’t know what Cara and Ashley’s relationship was up until that point. However, we as humans have all been in this situation at some point or another where we try to put on a front to convince ourselves one thing while trying to overcome another.
In this case it was Cara, logically knowing that Kyle had been treating her like s—t, verbally trying to convince herself and others it didn’t affect her, while still being emotionally attached to the situation for reasons we can never explain until we are out of the situation. Guess what? We are all human even, if we think we’re machines. We all have moments where we are vulnerable. That is what makes us human.
Now for what happened once everyone got back: I don’t care what the situation is, this type of behavior is never acceptable. If you’re going to come at someone in a game, make it about the game and keep it about the game. I’m not sure where all of this hatred comes from and maybe I never will. I never think it’s OK to gang up on someone and attempt to make them feel isolated. The things that were being said are what kids throw around in schools now that cause other kids to commit suicide.
Thankfully Cara is a grown woman and is able to stick up for herself. I was actually shocked because none of these girls struck me as the types to do this but holy f—k, did they go off the deep end here. I would sincerely and truly hope that an apology comes from this because there’s game, and then there’s taking it over the top. I feel as though this scenario was very over the top. I have to shout out Marie for shutting s—t down the way she did. Dare I say that she is the hero of the episode?! Yes, I dare to say that. Although I may not agree with her Twitter rants at times, it takes A LOT of courage to do what she did. She went against her friends, which not only put her game at jeopardy, but also put her relationships at jeopardy because she stood up against something that was wrong. As we saw, it even turned the heat onto her. Major, MAJOR props to Marie. She has my respect again … for now.
Meanwhile, the drama was also going down inside the redemption house. Allow me to cue up exactly why I thought Natalie and Kayleigh could work out their differences.
In Big Brother, I didn’t like Natalie because her methods of evicting me in a game were by lying (which is perfectly ok to do in Big Brother) and saying that I made her feel “uncomfortable” – a phrase that should never be thrown around lightly because it could ruin someone’s character outside of the game. To be fair, I couldn’t be too mad because my method of trying to eliminate her was to say she was a gold digger who manipulates men for her own personal gain with no intention of ever being with them. I also said she was as fake as those things on her chest. These are also things that shouldn’t be said because it can ruin someone’s character outside of the game.
I applaud her for her method because it actually worked and she convinced my own alliance members to backstab and eliminate me. Our vendetta then thickened when she said in the press, once again using words that shouldn’t be thrown around lightly if you don’t know the meanings. Only this time, we were outside of the game so there was no excuse. I’m happy we put all these things on the table and talked about them in Redemption, because we truly found a new respect for one another and consider each other family now.
So I figured Natalie and Kayleigh could of had the same outcome. Natalie used the term “uncomfortable” to try to eliminate Kayleigh on Vendettas, (although I don’t think she thought the situation would escalate into what it did, none the less, she was there) which resulted in Kayleigh quitting. Inside of the house, Natalie was saying that Kayleigh outted her on social media when that episode of Vendettas aired. So, one would think both would be able to state their points, admit their wrongs and move on. Well folks, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Kam and I sat through what seemed to be a progressive conversation that quickly escalated and we were both left looking at each other like “What the f—k did we just witness?” I love both Natalie and Kayleigh, so I can say that they both have their reasons for not liking one another and I hope to one day see them be able to call each other friends. If Natalie and I could do it , if Da’vonne and I could do it, anyone could do it. There’s no excuse not to.
Let’s finish on this awesome challenge that, once again, I wish I was there to do! Johnny and Tony have their backs against the wall at this point in the game. They need this win badly otherwise they’re getting voted into elimination hands down because the numbers are against them. Even though I have my reasons for not liking Johnny due to personal matters outside of the show, I do love seeing someone pull through when everyone is against them. I would call him an underdog but let’s be real: he’s one of the best, if not the best challenger of all time and I’ll give him that respect from a game standpoint, so underdog is not the term I’d use. However he’s definitely in a tough situation and it’s got a great build up to next episode. I’m f—king pumped!
The Challenge airs on MTV Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
