Heavy is the Challenge championship crown, but for the four winless female Spies, Lies and Allies finalists, wearing it for the first time appears to be worth a craned neck.
So if a woman does, indeed, ascend to the throne, who will it be?
On the latest episode of Spies, Lies and Allies, and after Emanuel and Amanda were bounced from the game in a decisive “Night of Eliminations,” the remaining eight players finally heard the words they’d been waiting for:
You made it to the Finals.
And while the final male pool included multi-time champion CT and finalists Devin, Kyle and Nelson, the women’s side was wide open for a first-time winner.
So among Tori, Emy, Kaycee and Nany, who’s likeliest to snatch her first victory?
If momentum proves to be the key to success, Tori might finally have the game unlocked. The veteran and Are You the One? alumna tore into the game’s last installment after winning the final elimination round, “Drone Drop,” which found her literally carrying Amanda to the finish line in a moment that made the Cutthroat Bananas Backpack look like child’s play.
“She just gets up like the f*cking Terminator and she’s carrying me,” Amanda said. “This is not real.”
And Tori’s tunnel vision helped her barrel through the first few legs of the final mission, in which she passed Kaycee to complete Checkpoint 3 in first place among the women, trailing only CT and Devin, who fortuitously became her new Purple Cellmates.
“Why would I not want to be on a team with two guys who are absolutely incredible?” she asked.
And the hits kept coming for Tori, as the fourth person to complete Checkpoint 3 to round out Purple Cell was the most dominant rookie player in years, Emy (even the typically skeptical Devin called her the “rookie of the century”). While Emy’s path to the Final was lined with tears, bitter battles and more than a few invocations of her dead grandmother, it also amounted to four elimination-round wins. And with Tori, CT and Devin by her side through the game’s next leg, she might just be able to pull off the upset as the only rookie remaining.
“This is my dream Cell,” Emy said. “It’s awesome. We will definitely crush. From heaven a team fell.”
Falling, unfortunately, was the name of the game for Kaycee, who started the Final at the front of the pack but fell further and further back as puzzles became more difficult. Still, there’s no denying Kaycee’s performance through the season was tops among women, and with an injury precluding her from picking up a very likely Double Agents win, she’s got more incentive than anyone beside her to fight back for first place.
“For me and Nany to get our first win together would be badass,” Kaycee said.
And Nany, like Kaycee, has some serious groundwork to make up. While she’s played perhaps her best game yet, avoiding every elimination thanks to a solid Emerald Cell, the return to an individual format at the top of the final mission left her a bit frazzled. But with newly confirmed girlfriend Kaycee by her side on Orange Cell, could Nany get her groove back and prove being the most enduring veteran will finally pay off?
“It’s my third Final in a row,” she said. “Getting first place is the only thing on my mind.”
So four very distinct paths will soon come to a head at a single destination, but who’ll get there first: Tori, Emy, Nany or Kaycee? Share your thoughts, and be sure to keep tuning in to Spies to see who comes out on top!
