The Challenge Cutthroat Episodes 1 & 2 Recap: 15 Biggest Takeaways

The first two episodes The Challenge: Cutthroat are in the books. You probably have some thoughts, so let’s compare. Instead of giving a simple summary, I decided to focus on the 15 Biggest moments/takeaways from these two episodes.

If you prefer audio/video, my podcast recap can be found above/below:

15 Would You Even Want To Be Captain?

Getting to see the Top 8 players in the initial run was very interesting. Sydney & Izzy came in 1st & 2nd, which was very impressive, as they blew out all the men as well. Rookie Josh and the second-season stars Chris, Will, Leo, and Justin followed up, before another rookie lady in AnnaLeigh popped up.

Seeing all the 1st & 2nd season competitors lead the pack shows that the new generation of The Challenge is the future. Now, I wish we could’ve gotten the placements of everyone. That Top 8 probably had to wait a long time because Bananas kept trying to convince Thai locals that he’s famous, CT got sidetracked buying street food, and newly semi-single Cory probably stopped somewhere to get a “massage”.

Regardless, it was fascinating watching the competition to become Captain. AnnaLeigh winning that spot as a rookie among a pretty stacked cast was super impressive. That said, I don’t think I’d want to be a Captain on Cutthroat unless I was already an established power player. For that exact reason, rookie AnnaLeigh got pushed around by Chris & Justin as they stacked each other’s teams while sabotaging hers.

14 Nelly T is Back

Straight up, I thought the way Nelson cut his opening confessional talking about his DWI, the dangers of drunk driving, and stating he’ll never drink & drive again was perfect. It felt serious & sincere. If you at home don’t forgive Nelson or want to see him on this show again — that’s completely fine. The fact of the matter is that Nelson is back and the incident had to be acknowledged.

Now, should he be on the show from a competitive standpoint? Well, Nelson was not a good competitor before the injury, and so I think he’ll be a liability to whatever team he is on. I wish him luck, though.

13 Our Three Teams

The Blue Team is a disaster on all fronts. Half of their players are rookies, and they have the worst vets. Brad & Nelson were not good in their last couple showings, they panic & get loud under pressure, and bring no puzzle skills to the table. Cara is not a vocal leader & has weaknesses that make her a liability in heights & water challenges. Lete & AnnaLeigh are an exciting duo of rookie girls, though.

Orange Team is a juggernaut. Tori is a beast, Michele brings puzzle, water & communication skills, Izzy is a cardio beast, and then CT/Bananas bring experience & leadership while Will & Justin give them two young horses to carry them athletically & physically.

The Grey Team has the most dynamic personalities and competitors, as they have Sydney, Nurys, Adrienne, Cassidy, Chris, Cory, and Leo. They’re all players who bring a lot of personality and skills to the table. The only person I don’t know is Keanu, and from what I hear, he was a beast on Big Brother. My biggest question mark about this team is whether or not they have too many strong personalities. The Orange Team at least has an established hierarchy with their Vets.

12 Nurys is a True Challenger

We got Nurys back on the show, and my favorite thing is that she vocally talked shit about Johnny Bananas online, got her chance to be back in the house after a “1-season ban”, and came back ten-toes down, letting us know she still hates Johnny Bananas.

As Challenge fans, we want authentic beefs & rivalries, and it was annoying watching Nelson align with Fessy again after Double Agents or Devin aligning with Josh & Kaycee after yelling Big Brother sucks the previous season. Nurys is a messy & authentic character who is welcome on any season in my book.

11 Shaky Start (First Daily)

The first daily challenge was awesome in theory and terrible in execution because the degree of difficulty was far too high. Technically, 8/24 players made it across the bridge. Only 2/18 got across once the bridge was unstable, and those two were Adrienne and Leo! Adrienne was the only player able to get through doing a bear-crawl method, which required a ton of core & leg. Meanwhile, Leo got it done by sprinting across as his college baseball skills & coordination were on display.

I just know the producer who designed this daily challenge was kicking dirt when they saw basically nobody getting across the bridge after they probably spent hours setting up the stage.

10 Close Combat

After the first daily, we found out that the 2nd Place team has to nominate two players of the same gender for elimination — one via the Team Captain nominating and the other through a house vote. Given that there’s only a maximum of 4 men & 4 women on a team, the 2nd Place team has to nominate half their players. Which inherently leads to tough conversations and people having to pick sides in ways we don’t typically get this early in the game. On SLA, the vets didn’t even have to take shots at each other for the first nine episodes, and now in Episode 1, we had two legends barking at each other over who is going to be the house vote.

I’m a huge advocate for smaller Challenge casts because it makes every vote matter more, there’s more screen time to go around, and people can’t hide as much. People have to make tough choices politically, which leads to natural drama. Which transitions into my next point….

9 The Unction Dysfunction

The fact that we got a fight/argument between Bananas & CT on Episode 1 that we’d usually have to wait for the end of the season to get is a testament as to why smaller casts are better. The Orange Team tried to tie the vote in hopes TJ would flip a coin to decide which of the two old men would get nominated for elimination. Only once the plan went into play, CT went into panic mode and said it was unfair because more people would save him than Bananas. To which, I’m not fully sure which of the two I would’ve kept, as CT brings more puzzle & eating skills, but his cardio is a liability, and Bananas is a jack-of-all-trades.

Getting to see Bananas & CT go at it was amazing TV and a great reminder that these two DO NOT LIKE EACH OTHER. CT does not fuck with Bananas. If you don’t remember, CT had a televised MTV wedding where Bananas was specifically not invited/allowed to come. These two hold deep resentments for each other and the way each other has gotten to play the game. CT was annoyed by Bananas’ “Love, War & Challenge’s” cliches that he uses to get away with slick moves and all the moments of chance where Bananas has lucked out over the years. Likewise, Bananas hates how CT can easily coast through a game based on intimidation factor & mystique, whereas Bananas constantly has had people at his heels for the last decade. For as much shit as Bananas gets — he has had to fight a ton ever since his Rivals 3 win. To which, CT called out that Bananas hasn’t won in a while.

Then it all came down to Michele. Michele genuinely did not want to continue her beef with Bananas from Season 40 because she HATES conflict and yet got put in this situation where that history came into play with the vote. To which anyone who bet on under 1.5 episodes for the first Michele Fitzgerald tears, congrats, you can cash your bet.

8 Bananas Beatdown

Okay. I need you all to imagine that I’m looking you dead in the eyes as I say this: Johnny Bananas is a fucking legend, and him destroying Cedric in that elimination might be one of the Top 10 most impressive feats of his Challenge career.

Cedric is half Bananas’ age, is fresh out of the Marines, and based on what we saw on Season 41, he’s faster & has more endurance. Yet, when the spotlight was on them, Bananas outpaced, outplayed, and outworked Cedric. It wasn’t just that Bananas won; he beat Cedric by Little League mercy rules, where he took down every single light and sent the kid home in tears.

Before any conspiracy theorist says it was rigged — I went back and watched the beginning of the elimination, and Cedric was hitting his buzzers cleanly at first. It was once Bananas took a lead where Cedric began panicking and then became a total mess. Bananas’ experience came into play, and also, don’t sleep on the old man’s fitness. There’s a reason the guy has won 7 Finals — he’s got great cardio, footspeed, and knows how to pace himself. As a fan of the show — I don’t mind seeing Cedric exit here because he’s just not that entertaining and seems a bit one-dimensional. That said, the Blue Team losing Cedric is MASSIVE as they don’t have any guys left who can solve a puzzle now.

An additional factoid is Bananas now has 16–15 in eliminations, which is 2 more wins than any other competitor ever, and he’s won 6 out of his last 7 dating back to Total Madness. Sidenote: Bananas competed & won with a partially lost voice and sore throat likely caused by self-felatio.

7 Terrible Trivia

The second daily challenge was worse than the first one. Trivia is at its best when basic free-response trivia where we get to find out how dumb the people on our TV are. If you’re going to do teammate trivia, though, it should be based on a survey where players get asked questions like “who is the shadiest person in the house” or “who is the hottest person in the house”. And if you’re going to do it that way, wait until Episode 6–8 of the season. What we got was boring teammate trivia regarding random & sometimes subjective facts in a daily challenge that came way too early into the season.

The Grey Team won, and I won’t be giving them credit, as this daily challenge was dumb, poorly designed, and the win came via double DQ’ds. I’m not even mad at the Orange Team for “cheating” during the daily challenge because production gave them enough time to come up with a strategy (that worked) and the questions were at times subjective. We’ll talk about the Blue Team in a different portion.

6 Keanu is Too Big Brother Coded

It doesn’t happen as often these days, but it’s always been funny to me when players who come from Big Brother think they can operate the same way they did on that show on The Challenge. Keanu, like others in the past, thought they could immediately make 1-on-1 handshake deals that could carry them through the game. That’s not how The Challenge works. Most alliances in this game are built off years of playing it where these vet pre-existing relationships take priority. The only way a rookie can ever truly break through is by winning out and quickly establishing themselves as a force that the Vets would be willing to work with.

On paper, the idea of forcing an Izzy & Lete elimination is great. It’s just a tough move to make when there’s another Captain & teammates involved with their own game & relationships in mind.

5 Adrienne is a Baller

Adrienne was one of the standout competitors & personalities from last season. She won 4 eliminations, went to the Final, and proved to be one of the most entertaining confessionalists we’ve gotten in a long. Adrienne came back for this season in way better shape and even more confident in herself. When she heard Keanu was going to throw in her #1 Izzy, she was quick to interrogate him, shut him down, and stood firm in him letting him know she’ll throw the next daily to get his ass sent into elimination.

She checks every box you want in a Challenge competitor and has now even dipped her into the showmance water with Love Island rookie Josh.

4 Blundering Blue Team

Chernobyl in 1986 was much more stable than whatever this team Blue is. They were already facing a massive talent disparity and then they got a trivia daily challenge where no physicality or actually trivia knowledge was involved. It was a crapshoot that gave them an actual chance to win. They didn’t get a question asked because their 2x Champ and legendary vet Cara couldn’t stop crying and squeaking at the top of the tower. Whenever people bring up Cara as the GOAT female competitor, I kind of pull my hair because these are the moments that some of that level does not have. You’re supposed to lead your team and not be a liability.

AnnaLeigh’s cough was a tough look too especially as she didn’t cop to in the moment. I will note her saying “she didn’t say a word’ was technically true. The DQ’s got made way worse with Brad & Nelson cursing each other out in frustration and in hopes of getting some camera time. They are two 10+ season vets who should be calming influences and instead they’re acting like jackasses. There is a ton of passion to compete on this team and no leadership to guide them.

They had a messy team meeting where AnnaLeigh & Lete got into it, Nelson accused Cara of throwing the daily, Josh chastised Cara, and Reilly was there sad because she was the easy nomination.

3 The Crowd Participation Elimination

Can we just stop doing these “puzzle” eliminations where it comes down to the crowd? The way this elimination played out, it was just a battle of cardio — to which Deb edged out Reilly physically and then was also helped by Reilly’s team misguiding her at one point. I had no major stake in this elimination, but I would’ve walked away way more with whoever won if they competed on their own. Instead, all I know is Deb is a slightly better runner than Reilly. It means nothing. Also, imagine if Nurys eliminations on Battle For a New Champion had crowd involvement like Michele & Rayn’s wins? We would think so much less of her.

Deb staying in the game is probably for the better, as she has a showmance going with Will and tries to be entertaining. Respectfully, I don’t need Reilly on this show. I did not watch Reilly’s Big Brother season, but I had always assumed she’d do well from The Challenge based on photos I’d seen of her & her social media activity. Then I watched her confessional on this show and went woof. Reilly seems like a nice girl, but she has ZERO aura and screen presence. There are people who are Reality TV stars and people who get cast on Reality TV — Reilly is the latter.

2 Cory is Cooked

Challenge fans forget that Cory was off The Challenge for a couple of years after his Pasta Gate DQ on Final Reckoning. When Cory returned for Total Madness, we got a much more mature “Dad” version of Cory that also proved to be an improved competitor. In the 2020’s, Cory’s racked up three Final appearances, two 2nd Place Finishes, and won 6 eliminations. You know what else happened in that time? Cory became fucking boring. The guy who hooked up with 3 girls in one season and declared hit-lists became a sit-back-and-try-to-coast-to-the-Final guy.

He & Taylor Selfridge have hit an impasse in their relationship, though. Who would’ve thought the girl who spat on your other Ex in the Ex on the Beach house wasn’t your lifelong soulmate? Likewise, for Taylor, how many babies do you have to give a man before he makes you a wife? These are questions I don’t know the answer to.

A question I do know the answer to is “Am I excited to get messy hookup King Cory back on the Challenge? To which, my answer is YES. However, it was embarrassing watching Cory try to get after Izzy. To which, I get it completely because Izzy is hot as fuck and I do think she’s attracted to Cory. What I found particularly cringe was how heavy-handed Cory was in how he was talking to Izzy, where he was very much playing up his dad character while clearly flirting. Cory is one of the most attractive men in Challenge history — if you want to hook up with Izzy, just forget about the outside world and be hot & fun. Don’t try to make Izzy a stepmom because she’s young, hot, and here to play the game; maybe have some fun.

1 I Get Older They Stay The Same Age

When a Challenge season premieres, you can guarantee two things: he’s gonna want to do a toast, and he’s going to find a rookie girl to be in a showmance with. Dating back to 2018, Bananas has had rookie showmances with Natalie (Vendettas), Angela (Final Reckoning), Morgan (WOTW 1 and dated for 2–3 years), Moriah (Ride or Dies), Dee (Vets & New Threats), and now Lete. On the one hand, I don’t blame him because they are all incredibly attractive women. And for these women, I don’t blame them either because they’re going to get camera time, an alliance with a Vet, and Bananas is actually one of the funniest guys in the world…if you haven’t heard him tell his same 5 jokes a million times. Which is why you’ll rarely see a competitor with multiple seasons under their belt getting together with a win.

Lete is a fascinating character. Her blowup on Bananas after the elimination with Cedric was so delusional. Saying the 7x Champ needs to prove himself and the elimination was rigged when Bananas just dominated Cedric didn’t make a lick of sense. Then her exfoliating her legs in the house pool based on his insight and getting in the tub with him later in her bikini & pajamas were both really gross. And yet, everyone is looking at her as a physical force, and she’s definitely an “alpha” personality. To which, it’s all still theoretical as she’s not gotten a moment to stand out competitively. She is a former college athlete & WWE talent, so she is athletic — it’s more so that we don’t know how she’ll do with puzzles & the problem-solving aspects of this show.

Her showmance with Bananas does make perfect sense to me. They are both cringy and goofy, and their humor is 2009 coded.