Fails

[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for The Challenge Season 41 Episode 6, “Is He Throwing a Fit?”]

Chris “C.T.” Tamburello is arguably the G.O.A.T. of The Challenge. Sure, Johnny Bananas has more season wins, while Jordan Wiseley has earned the most money (so far). However, CT has managed to win hearts, minds, and five regular-season finales over a decades-long career on the show. So it was a complete surprise when the entire house turned against him on the latest episode of Vets and New Threats — and we have to wonder how much more he still has in the tank, as he might word it.

On Wednesday’s (September 3) new segment, the daily challenge was “Runes My Life,” which was both a suspension and a water challenge. Last time CT saw one of those was on Battle of the Eras, and he went to the hospital over it, so he experienced a bit of post-traumatic stress at the sight of it. “I’ve always been nervous but never afraid. This time is different. Falling from this high, uncontrollably, is pretty scary for me now. This is the first time I’ve had to face my fear, face my trauma,” he admitted in a confessional.

Unfortunately for CT — and especially for his partner Ayoleka “Leka” Sodade — that fear, coupled with his apparent lack of physical conditioning, made him unable to climb a rope ladder at all. He tried to offer her some guidance from his spot in the water, but the scene was both horrifying and humorous to the others. The show even meme-d him floating around helplessly in the water like so…

CT instantly earned admonition from others, especially Turabi “Turbo” Çamkıran, who repeatedly called his performance shameful and even accused him of purposefully throwing the mission.

CT denied he bellyflopped, so to speak, on purpose. “There are better ways to throw a challenge, and humiliating myself wouldn’t be the first option. I know I need to get up. It’s like paralysis,” he said in a confessional. However, Turbo still accused him of doing just that in a fiery kitchen confrontation. After a bit of screaming — with the rest of the house gathering around to watch with popcorn in hand — CT told Turbo he should’ve talked to him about this in private and that he thought they were friends, but Turbo issued the ultimate takedown by calling him a p-word and saying he’s now subject to “jungle rules,” whatever that means.

After Nany Gonzales intervened to stop her friends from fighting, the business of the upcoming elimination could finally commence. With Leka automatically sent into the arena, it was up to the daily challenge’s winners, Leo Dionicio and Sydney Segal, to choose who to put up in the jury vote alongside “hangnail” Olivia Kaiser. Despite Olivia’s plea to Leo that Aneesa not be the winners’ pick, Leo, after some speechifying, threw her into the mix anyway.

The vote between Olivia and Aneesa was a close one, but it was Aneesa’s longtime friend Leroy Garrett who stood firm to save her; though his partner, Izzy Fairthorne, wanted to throw their vote to Olivia and thought she should have the choice since it was a women’s elimination day, he said there wasn’t anything she could do to change his mind, and that was that. While Aneesa faced some serious doubters from other vets, like Ashley Mitchell and Aviv Melmed, Leroy was in her camp 100%. (“I was a little conflicted at first, but I thought, ‘What would Johnny Bananas do in this situation?’” he later explained of his foot-down decision… and here comes another Johnny Bananas “rent free” tweet.)

In the arena, “Out of Time,” Leka and Olivia were challenged to go back and forth across giant ramps with rollers on them to press buttons on either side, and whoever could rack up the most button presses in five minutes would win. Leka, who’d literally carried her team on her back earlier in the day while Olivia sat out as the hangnail, ran out of steam halfway through and lost by two points. Thus, she paid the price for CT’s big mistake, but will he be next on the chopping block?

At the selection, CT was partnered up with Aneesa, who was also in the crosshairs this week, so the future looks grim for both. Meanwhile, the other pairings are as follows: Sydney and Derrick Kosinski, Leo and Nany, Adrienne Naylor and Leroy, Derek Chavez and America Lopez, Aviv and Gabe Wai, Cedric Hodges and Jonna Mannion, Michaela Bradshaw and Justin Hinsley, Yeremi Hykel and Tay Wilcoxson, Ashley and Theo Campbell, Will Gagnon and Izzy, and Jake Cornish and Olivia.

The Challenge, Wednesdays, 8/7c, MTV