Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Gauntlet, Episode 6: Great Coral Grief

Previously on The Gauntlet: In Mudbath, Coral got eliminated early. Theo G.: “Three loses in a row. Something’s got to change.” In the Gauntlet, Rachel B. outlasted Katie in Hangman and sent her packing. Mike stated that the morale on the RW side was high. Sadly, no shots of Matt doing his happy dance. Shot of Coral and Mike hugging. Coral reminds us that she’s friends with Mike, and they won Battle of the Seasons together.

Outdoors shots. The players fast-motion walk to the mission site. Mission site? Already? No drama leading up to this? Wow, I am stunned. Jonny is wearing a red shirt with a white collar and a hat with his cute moguls skier logo on it. He’s Gilligan 2K3. He welcomes everybody to Holey Canoe. Feel free to roll your eyes. The objective: paddle a sinking canoe while bailing out water leaking through the hull. “I know the water’s coming,” Coral interviews, “and I know I’m going to be getting out of it. Water is just not my thing.” Jonny reminds them that the winning team gets to bank $10,0000. Veronica expositions that there are holes in the canoes and they’re half-filled with water to start.

Adam takes charge of Road Rules, showing them how to row. He admits that he never paddled a sinking canoe. On the Real World side, Matt’s giving instructions, since he’s an Eagle Scout with a canoeing merit badge. Coral starts in about not sinking the boat, cursing up a storm. The giggling you hear is everybody who has her in the MTV.com Fantasy Challenge, where individual bleeps net three points. “I understand the fact that Coral can’t swim,” Trishelle interviews, “but I don’t think that she should make people in the boat panic.” The bruises on her face give her the Racoon Girl look Arissa patented on the Las Vegas season. Coral feels the need to ask for somebody to look out for her. Yeah, this is going to end well. Mike interviews that he told Coral he would never vote for her. “She’s going to be scared, and we’re going to have to pull her,” he adds. “When we have this team, we can’t have anyone that we need to pull. Everyone needs to pull their own weight.”

Everybody gets loaded into the canoes. Jonny has found his beloved airhorn he lost last week and he sets it off. Both teams row and bail water. Trishelle interviews that Matt is yelling commands, but he’s in the front, and nobody in the back can hear him. The RW canoe careens into the RR lane, but the RR canoe is far enough ahead. “They’re running against themselves!” Adam yells to his crew. He interviews that the team is in unison. Meanwhile, the RW canoe hits the bank and they row backwards.

RR canoe: still running. Adam: “Paddle your asses off!” They reach the halfway point. Adam interviews that “Real World is so far behind, it’s awesome.” The RW canoe is still slogging, tilting towards one side. By the time RW hits the halfway point, RR finishes up, as several of the guys jump in the water.

RW canoe? Chaos. Everybody yells at each other. Norman interviews that half of the team wanted to quit. Trishelle tells us that Matt still yells instructions, which Irulan tries to relay them to the others, Elka is pissed, and Coral is freaking out. Norman concurs, saying that Coral was in front of him and she couldn’t keep focused. I guess it would be informative to mention that Coral once drowned and actually died in an inner tube mishap. True story... it was covered in the 2001 Casting Special and Seasons. I’m guessing not even the lifejacket could keep her calm. By the time RW gets to the finish line, everybody from RR is sitting, two minutes away from starting a picnic. “We were just zigzagging,” Nathan interviews, “we can’t get from Point A to Point B to save our life. It was really an embarrassing time to be a part of the Real World team.”

Denouement. Jonny: “I really thought it was a great effort from both teams.” I admire how he can say this with a straight face. He awards the $10,000 check to RR, upping their total to $40,000. The team’s ladies run up and embrace him, since he’s so darn huggable. Jonny gives the usual spiel: thirty minutes to send somebody into the Gauntlet.

Still at the mission site. Coral insists the team lost because they can’t talk to each other. Matt figures it’s a lack of communication. Of course, Coral cuts him off, cursing up a storm to the others. Nathan is wearing Jonny’s brand of hat. Suck-up. He tells Coral that yelling and cussing aggravates everybody, which Coral denies. “She’s gotta know that about herself,” Nathan interviews, “that she can attack a little too hard sometimes.” I think she knows, Nathan. Coral is still raging about what happened. “She intimidates everyone,” Mike interviews. “She hasn’t been that strong these missions. She hasn’t been pulling her weight. How many times do you let a person off until you put them in the Gauntlet?” Tense music plays as the camera switches between Mike and Coral.

Mansion. Road Rules meeting. Everybody writes their votes. “This is the most dramatic part because there’s no safety,” Adam interviews. “You win and then you lose.” Steve reads off the votes: Tina with 21, Roni and Veronica with 18 apiece, and Sarah with 19. To her credit, Tina takes it better than Katie did, as she pumps herself up. She interviews that she doesn’t know how her name came up, but admits feeling that it was her time. Veronica interviews that if Tina loses, it would hit the team hard. Rachel R.: “Tina hasn’t got last place, Veronica hasn’t, and they had the most votes today. It’s ridiculous.” Roni who? Sarah what? Exactly.