Global agents raced to choose their partners in an exciting rescue mission to open The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies premiere episode.
The American competitors were chained to piles of cinder blocks awaiting competitors to come and extract them.
Once partners were selected, there was also a winning team and a losing team, and the strategizing got going as the vets were eyeing a possible Survivor alliance.
The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies rescue mission sets up teammates
MTV’s The Challenge unveiled the first three minutes of the premiere episode featuring the opening mission. Following the footage in the video below, it was a scramble as international stars rushed to unlock teammates.
Emanuel Neagu went for Kaycee Clark, while Kyle Christie chose between what he referred to as “chaos or chaos.” He opted for Amanda Garcia instead of Nany Gonzalez.
Ashley “Millionaire” Mitchell was hilariously yelling out “two-time champ” as people passed her. They may have seen her decide to keep all the prize money instead of splitting with her partner on Final Reckoning.
Tacha Akida teamed up with Jeremiah White, while Tracy Candela chose Devin Walker. Hughie Maughan chose Ashley, and Logan Sampedro chose Aneesa Ferreira. Esther Agunbiade partnered with Fessy Shafaat, and Bettina Buchana went for Cory Wharton.
Emy Alupei was Corey Lay’s partner and Renan Helleman chose Survivor’s Michaela Bradshaw. Kelz Dyke teamed up with Tori Deal.
A shot quickly revealed that Love Island’s Lauren Coogan was partners with Josh Martinez. Also, Berna Canbeldek asked CT Tamburello if he was OK with her, and he said, “sure.” Nelson Thomas and Priscilla Anyabu were also partners, as were Nany Gonzalez and Gabo Szabo.
The agents had to break their partners out with a key attached to a sledgehammer. They used that sledgehammer to smash through cinder blocks and grab a safe to carry to a checkpoint. There were also colored numbers and letters on those cinder blocks they needed to know to unlock the safe at the checkpoint.
Inside the safe was a gemstone that they had to race with to the finish line. Thanks to strong teamwork, Aneesa and Logan got it done first. That made it a back-to-back first win in a final for Aneesa and Logan’s first win in a daily challenge.
Ashley was already getting upset with her partner Hughie talking so much as they tried to solve the puzzle. Nany and Gabo solved theirs and raced to the checkpoint. Finally, Hughie and Ashley finished theirs.
Logan and Aneesa become The Agency, strategizing begins
Due to winning the challenge, Logan and Aneesa were named The Agency and got power. They got to decide one team for elimination. The rest of the cast members would vote secretly for the opposing team to send in.
After the daily mission, TJ Lavin addressed the cast, letting them know there’s $1 million up for grabs in the prize purse this season. He also revealed that Ashley and Hughie came in last, meaning they’re done “getting last place.” It was a wake-up call for them.
Renan and Michaela talked about forming a rookie alliance to get rid of the vets. That may have been their rookie mistake.
Meanwhile, others got to know their partners. Gabo said he is happy with his teammate Nany having experience. He confessed to her that he picked her because she’s “hot.”
Aneesa was happy with Logan as her partner because he encouraged her to do well in a positive way. CT praised the fact his partner Berna has been in the circus. Tori praised Kelz, and they spoke about forming alliances with rookies and vets but keeping it “on the d low.”
Ashley, Josh, Amanda, and Devin talked about how many Survivor players were there. Devin mentioned making it “Survivor vs. Survivor” for the first elimination. Amanda said all vets need to be on the same page. They formed a veteran pact where the goal was to keep sending in rookies until none were left.
Later, rookies Kelz, Corey Lay, and Jeremiah White talked about their competitive skills and wanting to send a vet home.
Cast celebrates birthdays, hookups begin,and Emy’s a spy
It was Logan and Michelle’s birthdays. While they didn’t really want to celebrate it, Aneesa said she made sure they would. Devin hilariously danced in a pair of print underwear and presented a cake to the birthday duo before he yelled “Let’s Go!” and jumped in the pool.
Some cast members started showing interest in one another. That included Emanuel having his eye on Michele. Nelson and Ashley also got together. Kyle asked Nany about being Kaycee’s girlfriend. Nany admitted she would “be with her,” and moments later a scene showed the two kissing.
Amanda and Fessy also shared some intimate moments as they locked lips. Cory witnessed it from a nearby balcony. Soon after, a scene arrived with Fessy trying to talk things out with Nelson about their infamous Double Agents elimination.
Nelson was still heated over it and started yelling at Fessy, which brought other cast members out to see what was going on. Rookie Kelz was happy to see the vets going at one another.
Later, Emy shared with Tori and Aneesa that she happened to notice some of the rookies, including Michaela, Michele, Tommy, and Renan, had created a list of who to trust and who not to trust. Emy swore the list was real on “her music career.”
Aneesa and Hughie went searching for the list but couldn’t find it. Word got out about it, and Michaela brought a list to show Aneesa and others. She said it was just a list of everyone’s teammates.
First deliberation features Survivor blowup
Agents gathered in a meeting room for deliberation before voting. Things blew up at the meeting as the point of it was for agents to plead their cases about elimination. Michaela spoke first and tried to defend herself over “the list” and even tried to put some blame on Michele.
Unfortunately for Michaela, Emy also spoke up and said she saw exactly what the list was.
Tommy also spoke up and confirmed what Emy said and revealed Michaela was looking for the numbers to take out Tori. TJ Lavin popped up on a flat screen and said it was time to lock in votes.
The most votes went towards Michaela and Renan for the first elimination. Later, Aneesa spoke privately with Logan about their decision for an opposing team. She told him she felt Emy would be angry enough to win the elimination. Logan said he liked Emy, though.
First elimination is Back Up with twists, and new teammates
The competitors arrived at the Spies, Lies & Allies elimination site where TJ Lavin introduced The Lair. He called Renan and Michaela down as the compromised agents.
TJ also revealed the big twist. Logan and Aneesa could choose any man and any woman to go into the elimination, so it didn’t have to be a team.
For some reason, Aneesa and Logan chose Corey Lay as the man to send in, based on his association with Emy. They sent in Michele as the woman. Corey was wondering why he got sent in and so was TJ.
The rookies competed in Back Me Up. All four competitors were strapped together at the center of a platform with ramps on each side. They had to try to push their opponents off the opposite side ramp to win it.
It was a struggle for a while involving who had the most strength out of the pairs. In the end, it was Cory who used his strength to pull everyone off the ramp and win it.
After the event, Renan had a sling on his right arm. He and Michaela are officially out. Emy said in confessional she “got rid of a fake person.” TJ congratulated Cory and Michele for winning.
Another twist popped up. The two winning teammates got to choose partners. They could stick together, go back to their original partners, or infiltrate and steal any other agent except those in The Agency.
TJ revealed that Nam Vo, who was Michele’s original partner had to leave, so he was deactivated. So he brought in a replacement. It was Ed Eason from The Circle.
Michele opted to steal Devin from Tracy as her partner due to his brains and connections. Corey Lay stole Tori from Kelz, which seemed to irritate Kelz. However, Kelz and Tracy became partners by default, as did Emy and Ed. The episode closed with a sneak peek of the upcoming season.
The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.