The show opened up with host TJ Lavin and the Algorithm revealing the new teams for The Challenge: USA, Episode 5.
Teams included Angela Rummans with Danny McCray, Derek Xiao and Cayla Platt, Alyssa Lopez with David Alexander, Tyson Apostol with Cashay Proudfoot.
Other teams included Enzo Palumbo with Kyra Green, Kyland Young with Shannon St. Clair, Domenick Abbate with Desi Williams, Cinco Holland with Azah Awasum, Ben Driebergen with Justine Ndiba, and Leo Temory with Sarah Lacina.
Cashay and Cinco had a conversation about co-existing while they were in the house. Cash said it was tough seeing him flirt with other women there.
She said she tried not talking to him for a few days, which was tough on her. However, ultimately, he’s single and can do what he wants.
Cinco admitted in confessional that his main focus was competing.
Tyson spoke with Sarah about their Survivor allies. He wanted to ensure he had some of the other Survivor stars on the same page with him, including Ben.
Barreled Treasure daily challenge features swimming struggles
TJ introduced the competitors to the latest daily challenge. They had to swim 150 yards to a buoy to memorize a code. Then they swim back to a cargo ship with barrels and find the ones with their codes to pop the tops and get puzzle pieces.
They had to do two laps in the water and then solve their puzzle. They’d get penalized if they popped the top off of the wrong barrel.
Azah admitted her issues with swimming. Leo wasn’t a good swimmer. Cashay also wasn’t the best swimmer and needed Tyson to help pull her back as she swam with the backstroke. At one point, she screwed up and took the wrong top off a barrel, which upset Tyson because they got penalized and had to swim back out.
Surprisingly, Tyson and Cashay still managed to win the daily challenge, surpassing Derek and Cayla, who had a strong lead most of the event. The losing team was Cinco and Azah.
Decisions over elimination matchup arrive
Things were awkward when Tyson and Cashay talked with Cinco and Azah about who they wanted to face in elimination. When asked, Cinco and Azah didn’t offer any suggestions for who they would or wouldn’t go against.
Sarah was upset over the daily challenge and how her teammate Leo couldn’t swim. Cayla chatted to Tyson about one of his Survivor allies being a potential threat to him or at least seeming frustrated that Tyson kept winning.
Tyson asked if their name “starts with B,” referring to Ben, and Cayla confirmed it was him. That made Tyson consider Ben as someone to send into elimination.
Who went home from The Challenge: USA, Episode 5 elimination?
At The Arena, TJ asked Tyson and Cashay to reveal their pick for elimination to face Cinco and Azah. In a major surprise, Tyson said they chose Leo and Sarah.
Sarah said she was surprised by Tyson’s move in the confessional. However, she said she was calm and ready to compete.
Some footage revealed that Cashay told Tyson during an earlier chat she wanted to throw in Sarah and Leo based on how Leo has been weak as a teammate. She also didn’t want to go after Ben since he was teamed with Justine from Love Island.
The teams competed in A Dark Turn with teammates tied together. They had to race into a container on one end of the playing field. It was dark inside the container.
They had to search around in the dark for a stack of film reels and memorize the stack. They had to rush out and recreate that stack of film reels outside the container.
Sarah and Leo used a unique strategy to figure out sizing for the puzzle pieces outside the container first before they went in. Cinco and Azah went right inside their container first, though.
Eventually, Sarah and Leo went inside the dark container. Cinco and Azah came out once and started on their puzzle but had to go back into the container.
Even though Leo and Sarah had to go back inside the container, their strategy worked out, winning them the elimination event.
After the win, they trash-talked and taunted Tyson a bit on the top level. Tyson said in his confessional that he knew things would be difficult back in the house.
In his post-elimination confessional, Cinco Holland said he wished the best for Cashay in the game. Cashay said she’s grateful for Cinco in her life and their story, even though the story has come to a close.
The Challenge: USA airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on CBS.