The Challenge: Ride or Dies isn’t just about friendships, strong bonds, and good vibes, as there’s also a game being played for a share of $1 million in prize money.
Episode 6 of the 38th season saw issues for friendships and showmances, as well as one team trying to maneuver in the hot seat after some previous moves they made in the game.
Among the episode’s featured cast members were Jay Starrett, Michele Fitzgerald, Jakk Maddox, and Laurel Stucky, among others.
The latest storylines and situations seemed to get more viewers watching, as MTV’s competition show saw an improvement in its rating and viewership numbers.
The show also landed among the top five programs for the evening’s cable telecasts, a significant win for a series that many see as struggling in recent seasons.
This report will contain spoilers through Episode 6 of MTV’s The Challenge: Ride or Dies.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies ratings improve with Episode 6
Based on a Showbuzz Daily report, Episode 6 of Ride or Dies finished with a 0.26 rating this past Wednesday, November 16. That was a 0.03 increase over Ride or Dies Episode 5’s rating.
Viewership also increased, with 496,000 viewers watching this week’s episode compared to 471,000 for the previous week.
The Challenge finished at No. 5 in terms of Wednesday’s cable telecasts, with TNT’s All Elite Wrestling program and an ESPN NBA doubleheader finishing ahead of it.
The previous episode aired on Wednesday, November 9, with major competition from election coverage and the 2022 CMA Awards airing on ABC.
Ride or Dies is still achieving lower viewership numbers when compared to Season 37. The Spies, Lies & Allies season’s episodes generally had 600-700,000 viewers, although a few early episodes had just over 500,000 viewers.
Ride or Dies Episode 6 featured heated elimination decisions
A showmance involving Laurel and rookie Horacio Gutierrez seemingly fizzled after Laurel learned of Horacio pursuing another woman back home. With that, Laurel found comfort in her castmate Faysal “Fessy” Shafaat, as she didn’t want to get hurt by Horacio.
The duo of Jay and Michele were also in the hot seat for Ride or Dies Episode 6 after fumbling when it came to making their elimination decisions in Episode 5. Jakk was already irked at Jay, whom he’d been building a friendship with during filming.
Jay and Michele won a second-straight daily challenge in Episode 6, leading to them having to make tough decisions about which teams to choose for their four selections.
It ended up with two teams from the previous week going in, as they chose Jakk and Laurel, as well as Aneesa Ferreira with Jordan Wiseley. For their final two teams, they chose Johnny Bananas with Nany Gonzalez and Kaycee Clark with her brother Kenny.
Ultimately, Nany drew the “Safe” dagger for her and Johnny at The Draw. That made them safe, and Nany decided to save her girlfriend Kaycee and her brother.
Ahead of that, Jay and Michele had heated discussions during interrogation, and particularly Jordan got into it with Jay. That led to Jay and Michele choosing Jordan and Aneesa for the elimination.
They faced Laurel and Jakk in an elimination game called In Your Face, with Jordan and Aneesa performing brilliantly to send the former champ and her rookie teammate home.
That means, once again, some competitors irritated with Jay and Michele’s moves are returning to the house seeking revenge. Before the episode closed, Jordan said Jay and Michele lit a fire under him with their bold game move. Episode 7 arrives on Wednesday, November 23, on MTV.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.