The Challenge: Ride or Dies opened with a tease of Johnny Bananas and Moriah Jadea having a potential showmance. She said he’s not her usual type, but his personality makes him “cute” to her. Moriah also said her mother warned her to be careful of him.
Horacio Gutierrez talked about how being around Laurel Stucky has helped him be more comfortable and relaxed versus talking game all the time with his teammate, Olivia Kaiser.
Darrell Taylor and Veronica Portillo talked game, realizing they were probably low on the list of teams to keep safe due to their late arrival. They knew they had to win to make some power moves.
A friendship between Jakk Maddox and Jay Starrett was highlighted. During the episode, they wrote a song together, which prompted the cast to have a fun “emo party” at night where everyone dressed up in emo makeup and costumes.
In the morning, Michele Fitzgerald chatted privately with Amber Borzotra about Laurel possibly being behind getting them thrown in. Michele was worried about her friendship with Laurel.
Amber said in confessional that Michele gets “so paranoid” over things, and while it was “cute,” she felt bad for her.
The Challenge’s Royal Relay winners get extra prize
Host TJ Lavin introduced the competitors to their next daily challenge, which Burger King sponsored. It was called Royal Relay, a relay race involving swimming and paddling in a boat through the water to retrieve four pieces for a crown.
The team to retrieve their pieces and get their crown assembled fastest would win the daily, gaining safety from elimination and $5,000 each from Burger King.
As the teams competed, Michele was worried about seeing Laurel get ahead of her early in the race. However, Michele and Jay grabbed the lead. Jordan Wiseley and Aneesa Ferreira got into second place as Jakk and Laurel fell into fourth.
TJ told Amber and Chauncey Palmer they got disqualified because they somehow sunk their boat. Later, Veronica was swimming in the wrong direction. Darrell tried to yell to her from the raft platform, but she wasn’t hearing him.
Jay and Michele won the first heat, while Devin and Tori took the second heat. However, the fastest team was Jay and Michele, making them the winners. With that, they claimed $5,000 each, safety from elimination, and power to decide four teams going into The Zone.
TJ also revealed that Burger King was giving the entire cast a feast. Back at The Challenge house, they found BK food arranged on a large table for them to eat.
Deliberation decisions arrive for winners
Jay and Michele talked about which teams to select. Jakk and Laurel came up, along with Aneesa and Jordan. They chose the rookie team, Colleen and Kim, again.
Jay wanted to choose Bananas and Nany Gonzalez for their final team because he didn’t trust them. Michele decided their last pick was Darrell and Veronica.
When Veronica and Darrell met with them during interrogation, Veronica said she was surprised they didn’t pick Bananas and Nany after they previously chose them for elimination. Aneesa had similar sentiments and felt she and Michele were on good terms.
When Laurel and Jakk were in the interrogation, they didn’t say anything at first. Michele said she didn’t know if Laurel wouldn’t put her in if she were in her shoes. Laurel said she would’ve preferred Michele to come to her first and talk about it before selecting them.
After the interrogations were over, Michele began regretting the choices they made for the teams.
Laurel and Michele’s chat goes awry
A day later, Jakk talked to Jay about what had happened. Jakk suggested he’d get over it fast, and their best scapegoat move was to put the rookie team into elimination. Jakk then talked to Laurel, saying he doesn’t get over things when people hurt him.
Michele talked to Aneesa about not making her and Jordan the main team. Veronica told Darrell that even though they were friends with Jordan and Aneesa, it might be wiser not to save them at The Draw.
Darrell agreed it could be wiser to work with the rookies who keep getting sent in so they can save each other when they get sent in again.
Michele tried to have another chat with Laurel, but it didn’t go well because Laurel got irritated. Michele wondered if maybe she’d conjured up ideas in her head that Laurel was gunning for her in the game.
Who got eliminated in Ride or Dies Episode 5?
At The Zone, TJ called out the four potential elimination teams. Jay and Michele revealed that their choice to go into elimination was Jakk and Laurel due to having trouble communicating during the interrogation.
It was time for The Draw to decide which teams were safe and who was going into elimination. Darrell and Veronica pulled the “Safe” dagger. Veronica said she was expecting Aneesa might have given them some assurance before The Zone that they’d save each other, but she never did.
Still, Veronica and Darrell played it safe, saving Aneesa and Jordan. That put rookies Colleen and Kim back into the elimination for a second-straight week.
The elimination event was Give Me Some Slack, featuring a giant climbing wall in the middle of The Zone. The teammates were strapped up to opposite sides of the giant puzzle wall.
One side of the wall had pieces with colored symbols. The other side had a colorful puzzle featuring symbols in various patterns. One teammate was on that side of the wall communicating the pattern to their teammate.
The other teammate had to grab the pieces off their side of the wall and recreate the puzzle on a smaller board.
Early on, Kim had a good strategy for retrieving puzzle pieces. Laurel and Jakk were having some communication issues. Kim called for what seemed to be an early check on their puzzle, but TJ said it wasn’t right.
Laurel seemed about to finish, but some pieces fell off her board, so she had Jakk recheck pieces on the wall for their puzzle.
Ultimately, Laurel and Jakk got it done, ending the rookies’ season. Colleen and Kim said farewell to the cast, with TJ telling them everyone loves them. Faysal “Fessy” Shafaat was upset he lost his “cuddle buddy.”
Michele and Jay now get to worry about Laurel and Jakk coming back to the house looking for revenge.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.