At the end of the premiere episode, TJ revealed that Johnny Bananas and Nany Gonzalez were joining the game. In Ride or Dies Episode 2, they caught up with castmates about who got eliminated. Someone told Nany that her girlfriend Kaycee Clark had to go home.
As the cast returned to The Challenge house, Johnny became roommates with his former rival, Devin Walker. Devin said in confessional he was willing to put his differences aside to work with Bananas. He told Bananas he was happy to see him.
Nany spoke with Laurel Stucky and Tori Deal about who has alliances already and who was working with who. Tori told her that the rookies started strong as Johnny Middlebrooks and his teammate Ravyn Rochelle won the first daily.
In a confessional, Nany got choked up talking about how her mother had passed away and that she returned to The Challenge to play for her. She revealed a pendant featuring part of her mom’s name, “Guerra,” which means “war.”
Bananas tried to ensure he and Turabi “Turbo” Camkiran were cool. Turbo said he respects Bananas as a seven-time champ but will beat him on the field. In confessional, Bananas said Turbo was difficult to deal with. Laurel filled Bananas in on the Turbo champagne incident.
Tori had a moment where she spoke with Devin about how there was never any closure between her and former fiancé Jordan Wiseley. She said being on antidepressants helped her, and she’s an entirely different person than she was a year ago.
Who won Ride or Dies Episode 2 daily challenge?
Host TJ Lavin welcomed The Challengers to their next daily event. Before that, he mentioned that rookie Emmy Russ couldn’t take The Challenge anymore and wanted out, meaning she and Nam Vo had to go home. In Nam’s confessional, he spoke about being super disappointed in his partner.
The competitors participated in a daily called Balancing Act. It involved a swim through water to get to a rope ladder, climbing up to a container, and using a rope swing to get to a platform. Each team member had to swing to the opposite side of the tilting platform to balance it. The team to do it the quickest would win.
Rookies Horacio Gutierrez and Olivia Kaiser set the bar high early. Horacio showed some excellent skills as he moved across the course quickly and got to the tilting platform, and TJ was super impressed. Olivia also faced one of her fears: Heights. She was able to swing to the other side of the platform.
When Turbo went, he made it onto the platform, but his partner, Tamara Alfonso, struggled with the rope swing and fell into the water. Most other teams had at least one player who wiped out, so they got disqualified. Tori and Devin completed the event, as did Bananas and Nany.
After Nany and Bananas finished, TJ said he was waiting for the last team. After seeming to exit in the previous episode, Kaycee returned with her brother Kenny Clark to replace Nam and Emmy. TJ said they got cleared to play. Kaycee and Kenny completed the daily challenge.
TJ revealed only four teams completed it, but one team was quicker than the rest: Nany and Bananas.
Nany and Bananas have difficult deliberation
At the house, Nany tried to converse with Turbo, telling him she heard he wanted to go into elimination. However, Turbo wouldn’t say if he wanted to go into elimination. He told her she’d do whatever she wanted.
Nany got frustrated Turbo wouldn’t communicate with her and questioned their friendship. His teammate told Nany she appreciated her coming to him like that. Turbo walked past them and told Tamara to be ready for the elimination.
For deliberation, Nany and Bananas chose the following teams: Turbo with Tamara, Johnny with Ravyn, Horacio with Olivia, and Jay Starrett with Michele Fitzgerald. Bananas told Johnny and Ravyn they wanted to send a message to anyone connected with them and their power move.
Bananas called out Jay as being close to Johnny M. and possibly orchestrating an early move in the game. Michele broke down in tears about her friend Nany doing this to her. Nany said it wasn’t personal whatsoever.
The last team they tried to talk to was Turbo and Tamara. Nany confronted Turbo about how he acted earlier. He said he didn’t want to talk to her but would talk to the champion. Bananas never spoke. Turbo got up and walked out, so Tamara followed.
At the club later, Laurel chatted up rookie Horacio, and there seemed to be some interest. Nany and Michele had an emotional conversation about Nany deciding to do the season due to her mother’s passing. They hugged it out.
Later, Johnny M. talked to his Love Island friend Olivia, telling her not to question his loyalty. Michele noticed it and told Jay they needed to throw him in at The Zone.
Who went home from The Zone elimination?
TJ greeted the cast at The Zone for their second elimination. He called the four chosen teams out to join him. Bananas and Nany said the team they were sending into elimination was Turbo and Tamara. The other three teams participated in The Draw, pulling daggers from the rock.
Jay and Michele got the safe dagger, so they were safe from elimination. They chose to save Johnny and Ravyn because Jay didn’t want people to think he’d backstab his friend Johnny.
Olivia and Horacio battled Turbo and Tamara in Memory Lane. The game involved two giant memory boards in the middle of The Zone. The teammates started in a box and raced over to the board to flip two tiles. If the tiles matched, they stayed overturned. If not, the player had to flip them back and tag in their teammate.
They had to keep doing this until one team had matched every card on the board. That team would win, and the losers would be eliminated.
During the event, multiple cast members started yelling from the stands to help Olivia and Horacio find matches on their board. Nobody was helping out Turbo and Tamara, though.
Ultimately, the rookie duo got it done first, sending former champion Turbo out of the game in the second episode. The rookies and many others were ecstatic with their victory.
In his confessional interview, Turbo said, “I have a message for them. Two words. One finger,” adding in a later segment that he still hoped Nany would win.
Following the elimination, TJ told everyone he’d see them next time but then stopped them. In another surprise, he brought out Jordan without a teammate, calling him one of the “most iconic” Challenge players of all time. Tori was especially shocked to see her ex back on the show.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.