If green is, indeed, the color of money, then The Challenge’s new powerhouse — Emerald Cell — is certainly doing its designated color justice and might be wise to prepare its bank account for a sizable deposit. Still, there’s a lot of game left to play, and anything can change, but is it possible Tori, Kaycee, Nany, Devin, Josh and Emanuel already rank among the best of the Challenge best?
On tonight’s episode, all eyes were on the sixsome ahead of “Sunken Intelligence,” a mission that challenged each of the game’s three teams to untangle a huge, heavy rope that had been expertly threaded through a sunken ship. With three victories to its name, Emerald Cell had left Emerald and Ruby Cells shut out from wins, and they were determined to remain undefeated.
And remain undefeated, they did.
While morale collapsed among the Red and Blue squads (Ashley called Sapphire Cell a “sh*t sandwich,” while Emanuel likened Ruby’s performance to a shipwreck) Green only saw their teamwork improve, and after all was said and done, Emerald Cell improved its record to 4-0, while Ruby and Sapphire Cells both fell to 0-4.
“Who wins four times in a row?” Devin asked. “This guy… Have we been stopped? No.”
And the subsequent elimination proved Emerald Cell might remain unstoppable. After Logan defeated his fellow Ruby Cell teammate Cory in “Rope Burn,” a game of tug-of-war played atop two halved spheres (poor guys are likely in for some ankle pain), he — like three Lair-winners before him — neglected to join Season 37’s most powerful team and, instead, defected to Sapphire Cell.
And Nany, who’d prayed Emerald Cell would proceed through the game unchanged, breathed a sigh of relief. Still, she saw Sapphire Cell, a team now made up of the game’s only two remaining champions and its two strongest rookies, as a newly threatening roadblock.
“Emerald is a strong team,” she said. “I love my team, but with every elimination, Sapphire Team gets stronger and stronger. We definitely have some competition.”
But can Emerald keep staving off its rivals? And if it can, would that make it the strongest Challenge team ever? Let’s not forget that Paula and Emily won five out of the first six Rivals II missions or that Coral did the same on Fresh Meat. And Battle of the Sexes 2’s men won 13 out of 16 missions, while The Inferno’s Road Rules outfit only allowed Real World four wins out of a possible 16. Where do you think Emerald Cell sits on the pantheon of most dominant Challenge teams? Tell us your thoughts, then catch Spies, Lies and Allies on Wednesday!
