As The Challenge: Battle For a New Champion moved closer to the final, another purge and elimination were needed to reduce the number of competitors.
In Episode 17, Nurys Mateo returned to the house, indicating she trusted no one after she’d just been sent into elimination against her showmance Horacio Gutierrez and her friend Kyland Young.
Nurys eliminated the two guys many felt were the biggest threats to the men’s side of the field, making Jay Starrett, Michele Fitzgerald, and others happy.
However, Nurys told her castmates, “F*** y’all,” and that she wouldn’t share any details about what the Conquest elimination event included.
Karma became a prominent theme with Nurys’ return as she and Olivia Kaiser talked, as well as Jay and Nurys, following what happened.
This report contains spoilers from The Challenge Season 39, Episode 17, including the names of the purge and eliminated competitors.
A surprising competitor gets purged in Episode 17
The latest episode of The Challenge Season 39 aired on Wednesday, February 7, and featured Nurys’ return to the game, which many castmates acted thrilled about.
As the episode unfolded, Nurys got her head back in the game. She seemed on the same page with Olivia as she talked with her and Michele about having an all-girls final.
That meant one of them would need to win to ensure several guys went into the elimination. However, not all the women were on board with that idea.
The daily challenge was Drumroll, in which competitors held onto ropes and had to stay on a spinning cylinder. They could do this by hanging onto their rope or running, but the object was to stay on longer than everyone else.
Host TJ Lavin revealed that the first five competitors to drop into the water would compete in a loser’s heat while the others would compete in a winner’s heat. The first two to drop were Olivia and Michele. Moriah Jadea, Colleen Schneider, and Emanuel also dropped, setting up the loser’s heat.
The winner’s heat featured Nurys, James Lock, Jay, Corey Lay, and Berna Canbeldek. It came down to James versus Berna, with the former Spies, Lies & Allies competitor picking up the win over The Challenge: UK competitor.
In the loser’s heat, cast members tried to yell encouragement to their allies. Jay indicated in a confessional interview that this event wasn’t his ride-or-die Michele’s biggest strength. He was right, as Michele couldn’t hold onto her rope any longer and dropped into the water.
That meant an extremely disappointed Michele was purged and heading home, with TJ and castmates bidding her farewell from the game.
The Conquest elimination may have added to a newcomer’s legend
Since Berna won the daily challenge, so she had the power and chose to save Corey first. Corey saved Colleen. The saves continued with Jay stating at the deliberation that Nurys hadn’t worked with him all game, so he wasn’t saving her.
Moriah called him out for not being loyal, trustworthy, or playing with integrity. TJ also confronted Jay for crying over Nurys having to go into elimination last time and being unable to save her.
Ultimately, the last three competitors who weren’t saved were Nurys, Olivia, and James. They would meet TJ at the private Conquest event, with Nurys feeling extra good about her chances, having won the previous one.
It was once again an obstacle course with three unique puzzles the competitors had to complete. Each completed puzzle gained them a flag. The first competitor to solve their puzzles and plant all three flags would win.
James took the early lead with the first flag, but Nurys quickly solved a complex puzzle involving moving shapes on a board. Then, she solved another puzzle that involved looking through an eye hole to determine a pattern for the “ON” and “OFF” switches they had to arrange on their puzzle board.
With two flags planted, Nurys got the final station first. It involved getting in a barrel of ice-cold water, retrieving number cards, and arranging them correctly on a board to reflect the order of eliminated competitors from the season.
Nurys mentioned in a confessional interview that she’d written the eliminations down in her journal, and that came in handy. She eventually called for an answer check, and TJ told her to grab the flag and go. With that, she took off with her final flag, planted it at the finish spot, and won her second straight elimination.
James and Olivia were gracious in defeat, with TJ saying he hoped they’d return for another go at The Challenge. Nurys returned to The Challenge house, where she hugged a few castmates, and others seemed sour over her return.
The episode ended with the remaining cast enjoying some time at the club. However, the camera showed a rare scene, with a shot from behind as TJ was walking into the club, and he probably wasn’t there to party with the cast.
The Challenge: Battle For a New Champion airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.