MTV aired its seventh episode of The Challenge: Ride or Dies on Thanksgiving eve, and it featured drama as castmates pointed fingers at one another over potential lies and manipulation.
The Challenge Season 38 ratings and viewership numbers have arrived a bit later than usual due to the holiday week. They reveal that the show dropped a bit while remaining steady with its figures for the latest season.
Episode 7, called Deep Web, featured a team winning its second daily challenge of the season, leading to a veteran competitor having to make difficult decisions.
Some of that castmate’s friends in the game were upset over those decisions, and there were accusations of another vet as a potential mastermind in the game.
All of that culminated with a thrilling elimination that pitted former Challenge champions against one another at The Zone and set up one individual’s potential to get some payback.
This report contains spoilers for The Challenge: Ride or Dies Episode 7.
Ratings for The Challenge 38, Episode 7 arrive online
With Ride or Dies Episode 6, ratings and viewership were higher than usual, with 496,000 viewers watching the latest installment. However, things slid back down with Episode 7, which aired on MTV on Wednesday, November 23.
According to Showbuzz Daily, the seventh episode scored a 0.22 rating and had 470,000 viewers watching. It finished at No. 13 among the top 50 cable telecasts on a night that featured multiple college basketball and NBA games, as well as FIFA World Cup soccer.
The 470,000 viewers are tied for the third-most for a Ride or Dies episode so far this season. Episode 6 had the most, followed by Episode 3.
However, the numbers remain low compared to those for the previous season. The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies never had an episode below 500,000 viewers, and many of the season’s episodes had 660,000 or more.
Ride or Dies episode featured elimination blindside
The latest installment of MTV’s Ride or Dies was called Deep Web and focused on several storylines. One theme was Nelson Thomas and his many connections in the game, which made it difficult for him to choose elimination teams when he and Nurys Mateo won their second daily challenge.
Devin Walker was also under the spotlight as several castmates suspected he was calling shots behind the scenes for a master plan he’d devised. Amber Borzotra and others believed Devin was getting Nelson to do what he wanted in the game.
Nelson and Nurys chose four solid teams for the elimination: Johnny Bananas with Nany Gonzalez, Aneesa Ferreira with Jordan Wiseley, Veronica Portillo with Darrell Taylor, and Amber Borzotra with Chauncey Palmer.
Amber felt hurt by the fact Nelson put her in as she’d thought they had each other’s backs, but then Nelson revealed she wasn’t among his top teams to protect. At The Zone, Nelson and Nurys opted to send Amber and her boyfriend into the elimination.
They ended up facing Veronica and Darrell due to The Draw results, with Nany choosing the “Safe” dagger and saving Aneesa and Jordan. In elimination, Amber was conflicted about facing her mentor, Darrell, who helped her grow as a player during Double Agents, eventually winning her Challenge championship.
However, Amber and Chauncey ultimately won the Deep Web elimination. It involved bringing puzzle pieces from ground level up through webbed sections to the top of a tower and then solving a puzzle with a specific shape pattern first.
Amber and Chauncey now head back to The Challenge house, which means there could be potential payback in Episode 8.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.