The Challenge: Total Madness Episode 4 arrived on April 21 – meaning it was time for more drama, a new competition, and a Purgatory elimination.
On last week’s show, Jay Starrett won his second elimination, that time ousting veteran competitor CT from the show. So far, he’s the only guy with a red skull. Host TJ Lavin told the competitors they’ll need to have earned a red skull to qualify for the final and a shot at the big money.
This week would mean a battle between females, where one would earn a red skull for their helmet, and the other would get eliminated. Only Jenny has won a female elimination so far. So who went home on The Challenge: Total Madness tonight?
Bear drama creates early targets
Early on in the episode, Bear tried to show he’s a crazy “bad boy” type for Kailah. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed it around the room where a bunch of the girls were hanging out. That didn’t sit well.
The incident caused a blowup. Ashley spit in Bear’s face, Mattie went off on her, and Nany got involved. Ashley and Mattie put targets on their backs for all that drama ahead of a girls’ elimination.
Weigh-in here: Bad boy or fireman? #TheChallenge35 pic.twitter.com/JTitaeqNiy
— challengemtv (@ChallengeMTV) April 23, 2020
The new competition is a Cold War
It’s a bitter cold challenge. Random teams of five compete. Three of the team members go into a freezing pool of water to retrieve puzzle blocks and then solve a giant puzzle.
Two “Breakers” from an opposing team will be breaking up ice and dropping it down a slide from higher up into the water to make things even colder. The team that finishes their puzzle quickest will win and become a five-person Tribunal.
The competition takes a scary turn when Nelson ends up in the water so long he has trouble walking after. An ambulance comes to take him away to be checked out. Luckily, he comes back later on and is doing better.
The winning team and new Tribunal consists of Johnny Bananas, Bear, Aneesa, Big T, and Kaycee.
Elimination nominations
All of the losing competitors vote for one person to go into elimination. It’s overwhelmingly in favor of Ashley.
With tears in her eyes, she stands on the table and puts other girls on notice. After the vote, Kyle goes in and gives her a hug saying he’s proud of how she handled things.
The Tribunal (Bananas, Bear, Aneesa, Kaycee, and Big T) has to choose their nominations next and then do interrogations. The group chooses Dee, Tori, and Mattie quickly.
During interrogations, Bear asked Dee if Ashley had an accomplice when she came up with the idea to nominate Bananas last week.
That tribunal has everybody SHOOK. #TheChallenge35 pic.twitter.com/g5ygSRJEf7
— challengemtv (@ChallengeMTV) April 23, 2020
Dee admitted she was Ashley’s accomplice in that plan and chuckled about it, but clearly, that stirs up Bananas a bit. Both her and Tori mention after their interrogations that they felt threatened in there.
Purgatory elimination: Who went home tonight?
The competitors arrive at Purgatory. TJ calls Ashley down since all of the losing players nominated her. Now it’s time for the Tribunal to send someone down to face her.
Everyone in the Tribunal votes to send in Dee.
The game is called Code Breaker. There are two giant wheels with five rings on them. Each competitor spins the first ring to get a symbol.
Whatever symbol it lands on, the competitor has to find a corresponding tile in a pot hanging above them. They use giant dice to roll on the ground and climb on them to get up and smash the pots.
CHAMP vs CHAMP LET'S GO! #TheChallenge35 pic.twitter.com/xgpo2h5kHC
— challengemtv (@ChallengeMTV) April 23, 2020
Once a competitor has all five tiles, they flip them over to reveal five previous Challenge seasons on boards. They include Exes, Rivals, and Inferno. The first competitor to put the five seasons in chronological order wins.
Dee gains the early lead with three tiles to one. Ashley is frustrated, trying to find her puzzle pieces. Dee gets them all, but she hasn’t watched many of the past seasons. Wes starts trying to yell down to help her out as Ashley catches up.
Despite other competitors trying to yell over Wes, Dee manages to get them all placed in order. TJ blows the horn. Ashley yells up that she still loves everyone but is happy to be out of that house. She also calls out Wes for helping Dee.
Dee now has the second red skull among the female competitors, so she’s qualified to run in the final if she makes it there.
The Challenge: Total Madness airs on Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.