The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30 Episode 2 Recap and Power Rankings

Robert McIntyre
Jul 30, 2017 · 8 min read

The Challenge carried the momentum from a promising first episode into an exhilarating, drama-packed second outing. The episode kicks off in the Redemption House, or as Darrell described it, “Willy Wonka Land.” As the six players sit down for dinner, approaches them and tells them they are not out of the game yet, but refuses to give any future details. Back in the actual house, CT and Briana arrive. CT looks horribly exhausted as he goes off on Bananas (this also gives us the two highlights of the episode, CT mumbling his words so much he needs subtitles during his first confessional, and his “Oh there’s a chance” dance in his next one) and Briana comes in next to him in much less authoritative fashion to introduce herself to the rest of the cast.

This brings us our weekly dose of Cory drama. So first off, we see Cory and Kailah flirting while Jenna looks on. Kailah then begins to talk about how she believes she was “different” from his other exes. This of course leads us to our next scene where after some initial flirting Cory and Aneesa start making out in the kitchen while Jenna walks by. We get a short break from this edition of Cory nonsense to show us Derrick H. and Tori agreeing to have a baby if they place first for their respective genders (considering Tori doesn’t appear to be pregnant, I’m guessing that doesn’t happen) while Tony provides some expert commentary. Not wanting to cede the spotlight for too long, Cory takes advantage of the time away from him to run to the beach with Camila. Nelson, Leroy, and Jemmye all follow them to see what’s going on, but both of them deny hooking up. Considering their conflicting stories and what happens later in the episode, I’m not buying it. The next morning Camila rambles on about how if anyone starts rumors she’ll take it personally (shocker, Camila taking things personally.) Back in the Redemption House, Darrell is hitting the weights and Devin is composing a rap. Simone dresses up in some voodoo costume and prophesizes Devin will be impregnated and Darrell may be the first to leave the Redemption House before giving the Foreshadowing of the Week when she tells Shane he’ll be punched in the face.

We then cut to the actual challenge, where the competition is to see who can sit on an elevated bench the longest while tomatoes are hurled at them by fellow competitors. There will be two heats, with the top two of each gender winning each heat. The bottom two of each gender of each heat will be the losers and up for elimination. During the first heat, Derrick H loses almost immediately. Cara Maria “accidentally” gets hit by both Aneesa and CT. Nelson seems to be targeted the most during this heat, but he holds on to win the heat along with Derrick K, Nicole, and Cara Maria. The bottom four for the first are Jemmye, Derrick H, Cory, and Veronica. In the second heat, Jenna falls off even quicker than Derrick H did. Tori and Tony appear to take the brunt of the tomatoes on this heat (Tori complains about getting hit in her womanly area repeatedly.) Tony falls off and TJ announces CT and Bananas have won for the guys, which confuses Aneesa into grabbing a rope which was explicitly against the rules. This hands Camila the win for the second heat; with Tori, CT, and Bananas joining her. For the second heat, the bottom four are Jenna, Leroy, Dario, and Britni.

This cuts to the Redemption House, and where we really get into the drama of the week. Simone wants someone to grease her head, and Latoya and Shane both decline. Simone then complains about this to Devin and Amanda on the roof of the house. We then get a one hour later notification, and Shane and Simone are arguing heavily while Devin, Latoya, and Amanda look on. I don’t want to get to much into the fight because we didn’t actually see it and from the narration it sounded horrific, but basically while there were no cameras around Shane and Simone got into a huge fight. Although MTV edited the commentary to make it sound like the fight was over the hair greasing incident. However, through social media it was revealed it was actually about race and specifically African-American inclusion on the show and whether or not Jonna Mannion, a cast member who last appeared on Battle of the Exes 2, counted as black. Shane smacked Simone twice, Simone clawed Shane’s face, Devin tried to diffuse the incident by grabbing Shane, Shane bit him, and Simone broke a champagne bottle. Devin actually had to go the hospital because of Shane’s bite, and Shane and Simone were both sent home for the incident.

While I didn’t harp on Cory for saving Tony a week ago, eliminating Darrell seems to have put a target on his back. During the always fun pre-deliberation deliberation, everyone is unanimous about sending Briana in. The male vote is where it gets interesting. Cory and Nelson are apparently back on good terms, because Nelson advocates strongly for one of the rookies (Derrick H and Ammo) to be sent in. Derrick K, on the other hand, would prefer to send in Cory. The other vets are in agreement with Derrick K, saying if eliminating people who could beat himself in a final was Cory’s priority, they would be the next ones he would be after. However, Camila was not a fan of this proposition. Her reasoning basically came down to she’s hooked up with him before and doesn’t seem to understand how alliances work. Briana ends up going in unanimously for the girls; Nelson votes Ammo, Camila votes Hunter, and everyone else votes Cory for the guys. We end another episode without yet seeing an official elimination round, but with so much staffed packed into the episode, one can’t complain.

Removed

Shane: Shane seemed more to blame for the incident, and has been rumored to have a massive drinking problem. Hopefully he gets better and gets himself together before going on the show.

Simone: Simone didn’t seem to be as much to blame, as Devin said, but you can’t break a champagne bottle and expect to stay on the show.

In Redemption: (Until it is revealed how Redemption works, I will be doing a separate power ranking for those in redemption from those in the actual house. Also keeping same descriptions from before.)

4) Latoya: Latoya hasn’t done much at all on the show, but it looks like she will be paired with Darrell for at least a portion of the Redemption competition which would be a huge boon to her chances.

3) Devin: Devin’s got a great brain on him and is great for the show, but I don’t like his chances in an athletic competition against Darrell.

2) Amanda: Amanda is one of the smarter competitors on this season, and despite her lack of athleticism her mind would make her the favorite for the girls.

1) Darrell: If it’s anything athletic picking Darrell is like picking the Patriots to win the AFC East for the past few years. If it’s anything else, it’s more like picking the Patriots to make the AFC Championship.

In Game:

24) Briana: Already in elimination, and even if she wins she’ll probably be back in again.

23) Britni (-1): If Briana didn’t show up, 99% chance she’d be in elimination and still might be.

22) Derrick H (-1): With the way his storyline with Tori has been given a spotlight, I’m betting he’s in and gone during the next elimination.

21) Ammo (+2): The gap between 22 and 21 is large, but he’s still probably going in soon and often.

20) Marie: Marie didn’t do anything this episode, and she doesn’t move anywhere after the episode.

19) Cory (-2): Being targeted by almost every proven player in the game is not a good spot to be in.

18) Dario (-2): Could go in elimination still, and hasn’t shown any allies thus far.

17) Jemmye (-2): Has been absolutely awful so far, could be in elimination, but nobody seems to be after her either.

16) Veronica (-2): A risk for elimination and we’ll see how much CT and Derrick can (and will) do to protect her.

15) Tony (+3): Performed well and while being tied to Cory doesn’t seem like a good thing, Bananas has always seemed to like him.

14) Nicole (+5): Won today and going along with the vets shows she may be able to work into their good side.

13) Jenna (-4): Her performance in the challenge was awful, she could be in elimination, and we have yet to see where she falls in the power alliance totem pole.

12) Hunter (-1): Didn’t do so much in this episode besides getting Camila’s vote in deliberation but I’m not putting in any stock in that at all.

11) Kailah (-3): Had some Cory drama but didn’t do very well in the challenge.

10) Nelson (+2): Was impressive in the challenge but was also targeted heavily during it and is a likely candidate for next target by the power alliance.

9) Leroy (-2): Up for elimination, but with his track record I would trust him to come back.

8) Aneesa (+5): Has been great so far and seems to be in favor with the power alliance.

7) Tori (+3): I’m all in on Tori, and losing Derrick H might actually help her out politically too.

6) Jordan: Has been pretty low key so far but that’s a good thing for him.

5) Camila (-1): Was tempted to drop her lower, but she’s still so much better of an athlete than all the other females.

4) Derrick K (+1): He is obviously a key part to the power alliance and has always been a likable figure.

3) CT (-1): Didn’t do anything wrong in this episode but Cara’s jump moves him down.

2) Cara Maria (+1): Seems to be a key part of the power alliance which is good news for her.

1) Bananas: He’s going to be the main target for the rookies but he’s a hard bird to take down.

Written by

Self described Fantasy Football and The Challenge Expert, mostly incompetent at everything else.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade