They've Been Around The Block
Real World - Road Rules Challenge: The Duel
Episode 14 Recap by Jenny Lane
January 5, 2007
Previously on Real World/Road Rules - The Duel, Wes and Svetlana were the only team to complete the Sunken Treasure challenge. Wes was safe from the Duel, and Svetlana won a cool motorcycle. Evan was the first selected for the Duel, and picked CT as his opponent, much to Diem's dismay. At the Duel, CT was victorious (even though Evan drew the puzzle's solution on his arm) and Evan was sent home.
Tonight's episode begins with CT and Diem wrestling around on mattresses which they pulled outside. (Like I mentioned previously, WHY don't these people believe in sheets!) Diem is "practicing" for the challenge that involves wrestling a pole out of your opponent's hands, but it looks more like foreplay to me. CT gives Diem a pep talk and tries to boost her confidence. Personally, I think that Diem has had it way too easy up until now, but hopefully the girls are done feeling sorry for "poor Diem." CT says they should win the money and move there.
Inside, Aneesa and Wes talk about the fact that she and Svetlana have been in more Duels than any of the other girls. They speculate as to who Jodi will pick if she's the one heading to the Duel. Aneesa says she thinks people will start playing dirty, and "the $150,000 is a lot, but I want to win it the right way."
A clue arrives, and it says "We'll see you right around the block for tomorrow's challenge, we'll see you tomorrow at noon." Jodi says it's her and Diem against Svetlana and Aneesa, and winning safety is key to sticking around. Svetlana says she hopes Jodi doesn't win, because she wants Jodi out.
The next day, it's challenge time. Everyone walks up to a huge steel contraption. There is a huge rectangular frame made out of steel, suspended by a crane and wires and pulleys. The rectangle is huge (40 feet), and the frame is big enough to stand on and climb around.
T.J. welcomes the group to the "Around the Block" challenge. When T.J. starts the challenge, the two competitors will start in the center of the bottom, work their way out, and then up the rectangle, collecting small flags as they go. Two people will go at a time. There are 16 flags of each color (red and green), and there is one special flag at the very top and in the center, so it's the hardest to reach. The regular flags are worth one point, and the top flag is worth 3.5 points. The girls will have two heats and a final, and the guys will have one heat and a final. Because CT won the last Duel, he gets to decide which of the guys has a bye for the first round. He also gets to decide which girl goes against who, and in what order. The winning girl gets safety from the Duel, and the winning guy gets a digital projector.
CT takes the bye for himself, so he automatically advances to the finals. For the girls, Svetlana and Jodi will go first, followed by Aneesa and Diem. Two interesting notes - he called Svetlana "Coconuts" which I thought was funny, and he also must feel that Aneesa is the weakest, since that's who he paired Diem with.
Svetlana and Jodi are up first, and get harnessed and ready to go. Both of the girls are doing ok, and make their way up the side of the rectangle without much of a problem. They both head to the final flag in the center of the top. To get to that flag, they have to use the frame as monkey bars, and it's a pretty long distance to the center. After a few rungs, Jodi loses her grip and falls off the bars. Svetlana drops four flags, so this means she has to get the remaining flags to win. She doesn't get that chance, because she falls off before she can get any more. Jodi wins the heat, 16 flags to 12, and advances to the finals.
Brad and Wes are next. Brad is working his way up the side much more quickly than Wes, and gets to the center flag first. Brad wins easily, 19 ˝ flags to 15. Aneesa and Diem are next. The girls are pretty even in the beginning, but then Diem pulls ahead and reaches the top first. She heads to the center before Aneesa even gets to the top corner. Aneesa stops and waits, watching to see if Diem makes it. This is smart, because if Diem falls off, Aneesa will be a little rested up before she tries for the center flag. Diem gets to the center flag without any trouble, and wins 19 ˝ to 15.
As Aneesa and Diem come down, Aneesa tells Diem that she won't vote for her, hoping that maybe Diem will say the same. Aneesa wants to take Jodi into the Duel, which seems crazy to me. Diem says she thinks that what Aneesa said was kind of strange, and says "well, I'm not going in…"
The guys' final is first, and it's Brad vs. CT. Both guys head up the sides quickly, but CT is faster than Brad. I had wondered if maybe Brad would do better than CT since he had some practice in the first heat, but I guess not. CT wins, 16 ˝ to 15 (CT apparently missed a few flags along the way up).
It's time for the girls' final, and it's Jodi vs. Diem. Diem says she is very confident, because Jodi didn't do very well in her heat. Jodi actually gets going faster than Diem, and reaches the top way before Diem. CT tries to tell Diem to skip the last few flags and just go for the middle flag, like he did, but I can't really tell if she did that. Jodi heads across using her arms and legs (since she fell in the first heat using just her arms). Diem decides to try to be faster by using only her arms and doing it "monkey bar style." Jodi is at the center flag and is trying to get it with her foot, which doesn't seem like a good approach - even if she'd get it, she'd just kick it off. She must have realized this and managed to wriggle the extra few inches to reach the flag with her hands. Jodi wins, 18 ˝ to 15.
Jodi starts picking for the Duel......
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