Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat, Episode 9 - Swimming with Sharks

Last time on unRealWorld/nonRoadRules Challenge: Shane & Linette won their first challenge, and Wes & Casey won yet another Exile, sending Tonya & Johnnie home. Sorry, Johnnie, but if we had to give you up to get rid of Tonya, it was worth it!

We start tonight’s festivities at poolside, where Tina & Kenny are discussing the situation. Kenny really wants to avoid Exile, even though they’re one of the worst teams at challenges. Not only does he want to avoid getting sent home, he just doesn’t want to do any more than he has to. Tina laughs and agrees, then interviews that Kenny is good at keeping her calm, but they need to step it up and start “winning us some challenges.”

If I were one of the teams, I would definitely want to keep Tina & Kenny and any other weak team around. I would want to eliminate the strong competitors, thus getting rid of the competition, making it easier to win challenges and the final prize. Has this not occurred to anyone?

Coral & Evan are chatting while Evan lifts weights. She tells him that she would like to start winning challenges again, and interviews that they haven’t won the last two competitions and they’re starting to “blend in” with the other teams; she doesn’t like the situation.

Evan confides in us that, as far as he knows, nobody knows that he has been diagnosed with a “sports hernia,” which he then shows us, lifting his shirt and indicating a protruding section of his abdomen. “Every day the pain is worse and the bulge is bigger,” he tells us. Wow – that’s a pretty large hernia! He worries that he may have to drop out of the Challenge.

There’s no more time to consider Evan’s “bulge” because the dulcet tones of the T-Mobile phone ring, indicating that we have a new clue, which reads: “Want a PIECE of me? MEAT me in the Gold Coast for tomorrow’s challenge.” Casey awkwardly reads the clue to everyone and further explains, “And hey, meat is spelled m-e-a-t!” to laughter all around.

Next we see Wes and Evan wrestling through the house, egged on by Katie. (I’m wincing, thinking of Evan’s hernia – bad enough he’s doing the challenges, but this is just idiocy!) The boys finish their match, then turn on Katie, eventually throwing her into the pool, fully clothed. Eric interviews that he’s thrilled to have Katie as a partner, as we see him lift her out of the pool (and almost drop her back in by mistake). She interviews that she doesn’t want to go home, but her team is weak: “We suck. We suck so bad.” Very eloquently stated, Katie, thank you.

The next morning, all of the kiddies are gathered around a pool which is filled with sharks (hey, they should fit right in!). TJ welcomes us to Sea World Australia, on the Gold Coast. Today’s challenge is called “Swimming With Sharks.” TJ explains that they’re looking at the cleverly named “Shark Bay,” a tank filled with many types of sharks. The kiddies will be diving into the tank and retrieving puzzle pieces, which they will have to assemble on a frame which is floating in the water. The teams will have to work in a relay fashion, with only one team member searching at a time. The teams will not be able to watch each other until after they have done the challenge, so they won’t gain any advantage from going later in the order. The teams will have ten minutes to complete the puzzle and, naturally, the fastest team wins, keeping them safe from Exile and giving them the chance to choose the first team to go to Exile.

“Wait a minute,” Coral breaks in on TJ’s explanation, “what about the sharks?”

“You better swim fast!” is TJ’s informative response. “Do whatever you gotta do!”

Shane and Linette won the last challenge, so they get to choose the order. Shane tells us that since there’s no advantage to going last, they decide to let one team go and then they’ll go, “in case the sharks are hungry.” They decide to send Wes & Casey first. As they contemplate, Wes interviews that he won many swimming competitions in high school, but “this isn’t Nemo, Flipper, or Willy in there, this is some Jaws action and I really don’t like it!” I can’t say I disagree – I’m sure all of the challenges are safe, but some of these sharks look pretty large, and we’re now treated to a shot of one of them chomping down on a large chunk of meat. Oh, my…

TJ helpfully advises Wes & Casey not to step on the stingray which is swimming near the start line, then yells, “Go!” and Casey jumps into the water to get the first puzzle piece. (Casey goes first? What’s up with that? Not very chivalrous, Wes!). Casey, in a full wetsuit, goggles, and flippers, fumbles around the tank. She gets the first piece, we see them grab a few pieces, and as Wes brings the last piece to the frame, TJ counts down the time and tells them they’re eliminated, since they took over ten minutes. Wes doesn’t think that anyone will finish this challenge; it’s too hard.

Shane and Linette are next and they move very quickly; they manage to get all the pieces and finish the puzzle with the time allotted, but we don’t know how long they took. Tina & Kenny go, and Tina interviews that “Italian guys can’t swim.” [Assistant Editor’s note: Ahh, yes, the lesser-known sequel to White Men Can’t Jump.] Once again, TJ counts their time down and they’re eliminated. Derrick & Diem are next; they also fail to complete the puzzle. Darrell & Aviv get all the pieces with three minutes left and manage to finish before time runs out.