Road Trip: Rookies vs. Redeemers

Road Trip: Rookies vs. Redeemers	Road Trip: Rookies vs. Redeemers
 	
Season 	10
Genre 	Reality competition
Winner 	Johanna Eylat
Runner-up 	Fleur Bareilles &Gabriella Castro
Episodes 	12
Countries Visited 	3
Cities Visited 	12
Starting Point 	Yanar Dagh, Azerbaijan
Finishing Point 	Alinja, Azerbaijan
Production 	Production
Season Aired 	May, 2022
Chronology 	Chronology
Previous Season 	Scandinavia
Next Season 	Down Under
Road Trip: Rookies vs. Redeemers is the tenth season of the travel reality competition show devised by SJ productions. The show follows a group of individuals travelling around in a select number of recreational vehicles (RVs) from a starting point to a finishing point across a predetermined route. At each city/town pit-stop, the group compete in either an individual or team-based immunity challenge to win the role of 'tour leader'. The worst performing individual in each challenge is put up for 'repatriation', along with another individual of the tour leader's choosing. Everyone other than the three stated cast a vote in the deliberation for who they wish to repatriate, with the individual receiving the most votes kicked-off the road trip. When only three road trippers remain, a jury consisting of the last eight eliminated players vote for who they wish to win the £100,000 prize. The series is hosted by Big Brother UK alumni Lincoln Mackenzie (Season 1 & All-Stars) and Sinead McGrath (Season 2 & All-Stars).
The season featured returning players (Redeemers), consisting of eight players who were all eliminated pre-jury on their first season, being given a second shot at proving themselves and winning the £100,000 prize. For the first time ever, the returning players were in a cast mixed with brand new players (Rookies). It was also the first season to feature sixteen contestants, making it the largest cast at the time of production. Additionally, Rookies vs. Redeemers was the first season to introduce the 'final three' to face the jury (which was extended to feature eight jurors rather than the usual seven).
This season began in Yanar Dagh, Azerbaijan and ended in Alinja, Azerbaijan. The tour featured 12 cities and 3 countries within the Transcaucasian region of Western Asia. The winner of the season was Redeemer Johanna Eylat (Central Africa), defeating fellow returnee Fleur Bareilles (Polynesia) and Rookie Gabriella Castro in a 4-2-2 vote to become Champion of the Road Trip.
==Road Trippers==
				
					
				
Name 	Age	Hometown 	Road Trip history	Road Trip history	RvR results
Name 	Age	Hometown 	Season 	Status 	RvR results
Johanna Eylat 	26 	Tel Aviv, Israel 	Central Africa 	13th place 	Winner
Fleur Bareilles 	24 	London, England 	Polynesia 	11th place 	Runner-up
Gabriella Castro 	28 	Salinas, USA 	none 	none 	Runner-up
Lori Cauler 	29 	Madison, USA 	none 	none 	4th place
Michael "Mike" Obasi 	27 	Ottawa, Canada 	none 	none 	5th place
Liam Moran 	27 	Portlaoise, Ireland 	none 	none 	6th place
Amanda Savage 	35 	Omagh, Northern Ireland	none 	none 	7th place
Hadia Hammami 	24 	Copenhagen, Denmark 	Scandinavia 	13th place 	8th place
Nicholas Grayling 	24 	Brighton, England 	Scandinavia 	11th place 	9th place
Charliese White 	23 	Braintree, England 	none 	none 	10th place
Leander Carter 	27 	Stirling, Scotland 	none 	none 	11th place
William "Billy" Williams	39 	Dallas, USA 	none 	none 	12th place
Jack "Jacky" Wilson 	22 	Milton Keynes, England 	Western Europe 	12th place 	13th place
Amber Feinstein 	25 	Spokane, USA 	Scandinavia 	12th place 	14th place
Charlie Rhodes 	24 	Denver, USA 	Southeast Asia 	12th place 	15th place
Dillon Joshua 	26 	Wellington, New Zealand	Southeast Asia 	13th place 	16th place
==Voting History==
Ep # 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	12 	12 	12 	12
Location 	Yanar Dagh	Baku 	Xırdalan	Shaki	Lagodekhi	Tblisi 	Gudauri 	Uplistsikhe	Batumi	Sevan 	Yerevan 	Alinja	Alinja	Alinja 	Alinja 	Alinja
Eliminated	Dillon 	Charlie	Amber 	Jacky	Billy 	Leander	Charliese	Nicholas 	Hadia 	Amanda	Liam 	Mike 	Lori 	Gabriella	Fleur 	Johanna
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Johanna 	SAFE 	Charlie	Amber 	Jacky	NOM 	Leander	Hadia 	SAFE 	Hadia 	Amanda	Gabriella	WIN 	WIN 	Winner 	Winner 	Winner
Fleur 	SAFE 	Charlie	Amber 	NOM 	Billy 	Leander	WIN 	NOM 	Hadia 	Amanda	WIN 	NOM 	Lori 	Runner-up	Runner-up	Runner-up
Gabriella 	SAFE 	Charlie	Nicholas	Jacky	Billy 	Leander	Hadia 	NOM 	WIN 	Mike 	NOM 	Mike 	NOM 	Runner-up	Runner-up	Runner-up
Lori 	SAFE 	Charlie	Amber 	Jacky	Billy 	NOM 	Charliese	Nicholas 	Hadia 	Mike 	Liam 	Mike 	ELIM 	— 	— 	Johanna
Mike 	SAFE 	Charlie	Amber 	Jacky	WIN 	Leander	Charliese	SAFE 	NOM 	NOM 	Liam 	ELIM 	 	— 	Fleur 	—
Liam 	WIN 	Charlie	Amber 	Jacky	Billy 	Leander	Charliese	SAFE 	Hadia 	Amanda	ELIM 	 	 	— 	— 	Johanna
Amanda 	SAFE 	Charlie	Nicholas	WIN 	Billy 	Lori 	Charliese	Nicholas 	Mike 	ELIM 	 	 	 	Gabriella	— 	—
Hadia 	SAFE 	Jacky 	Amber 	Fleur	Johanna 	Leander	NOM 	Fleur 	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	Gabriella	— 	—
Nicholas 	WIN 	Jacky 	NOM 	Jacky	Billy 	Leander	Charliese	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	 	— 	— 	Johanna
Charliese 	SAFE 	Jacky 	Nicholas	Jacky	Billy 	WIN 	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	 	 	— 	— 	Johanna
Leander 	NOM 	WIN 	Amber 	Fleur	Billy 	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	— 	Fleur 	—
Billy 	SAFE 	Charlie	WIN 	Jacky	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Jacky 	SAFE 	NOM 	Nicholas	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Amber 	SAFE 	Jacky 	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Charlie 	SAFE 	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Dillon 	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Key
: This person won the challenge and became the tour leader.
: This person was safe during the episode and cast a vote for who to eliminate.
: This person was safe during the episode but did not cast a vote for who to eliminate.
: This person originally nominated for repatriation, but was made immune with a lifesaver.
: This person finished last in the challenge and was therefore automatically nominated for repatriation and remained on the road trip.
: This person was nominated by the tour leader for repatriation and remained on the road trip.
: This person finished last in the daily challenge and ultimately eliminated in the repatriation vote.
: This person was nominated by the tour leader and ultimately eliminated in the repatriation vote.
==Game Summary==
# 	Episode title 	Destination 	Tour Leader 	Last Place 	Nominated	Eliminated	Vote
1 	"Like a Phoenix From the Ashes"	Yanar Dagh, Azerbaijan	Liam,Nicholas	Dillon,Leander	none 	Dillon 	none¹
2 	"Déjà Vu Part Two" 	Baku, Azerbaijan 	Leander 	Jacky 	Charlie 	Charlie 	8-4
3 	"Muddy Waters" 	Xırdalan, Azerbaijan 	Billy 	Amber 	Nicholas 	Amber 	7-4
4 	"Khan't Do a Thing" 	Shaki, Azerbaijan 	Amanda 	Jacky² 	Fleur 	Jacky 	8-2
5 	"Tackling the Issue" 	Lagodekhi, Georgia 	Mike 	Johanna 	Billy 	Billy 	8-1
6 	"Àlly-Carte" 	Tblisi, Georgia 	Charliese 	Lori 	Leander 	Leander 	7-1
7 	"Above Board" 	Gudauri, Georgia 	Fleur 	Charliese 	Hadia 	Charliese 	5-2
8 	"Tuned to the Same Frequency" 	Uplistsikhe, Georgia 	Team 2³ 	Team 3⁴ 	Team 3⁴ 	Nicholas 	2-1
9 	"Up to One's Neck" 	Batumi, Georgia 	Gabriella 	Mike⁵ 	Hadia 	Hadia 	4-1
10	"Lakeview Menace" 	Lake Sevan, Armenia 	Johanna 	Mike 	Amanda 	Amanda 	3-2
11	"I Don't Need a Magic Carpet" 	Yerevan, Armenia 	Fleur 	Gabriella 	Liam 	Liam 	2-1
12	"Complex Castle Complex" 	Alinja, Azerbaijan 	Johanna 	Fleur 	Mike 	Mike 	2-0
12	"Complex Castle Complex" 	Alinja, Azerbaijan 	Johanna 	Gabriella 	Lori 	Lori 	1-0
12	"Complex Castle Complex" 	Alinja, Azerbaijan 	Jury Vote 	Jury Vote 	Jury Vote	Gabriella 	4-2-2
12	"Complex Castle Complex" 	Alinja, Azerbaijan 	Jury Vote 	Jury Vote 	Jury Vote	Fleur 	4-2-2
12	"Complex Castle Complex" 	Alinja, Azerbaijan 	Jury Vote 	Jury Vote 	Jury Vote	Johanna 	4-2-2
^¹ The first episode saw two daily winners and two last place finishers; one from Rookies and Redeemers respectively. The two last place finishers (Dillon and Leander) faced-off in an elimination challenge, which Dillon lost and subsequently left the game.
^² Nicholas originally finished in last place and was nominated. However, he used his lifesaver, leaving next-lowest performer Jacky as the re-nomination.
^³ Group 2 was picked by team captain Hadia. She selected Amanda and Lori.
^⁴ Group 3 was picked by team captain Gabriella. She selected Fleur and Nicholas.
^ Group 1 (un-listed) was picked by team captain Mike. He selected Johanna and Liam.
^⁵ Liam originally finished in last place and was nominated. However, he used his lifesaver, leaving next-lowest performer Mike as the re-nomination.
==Episodes==
===Episode #1 - Like a Phoenix From the Ashes===
Eight brand new road trippers stand at the location of Yanar Dagh; a continuously burning natural hillside gas fire located in the sandstone desert of Azerbaijan – apply nicknamed ‘the land of fire’. Lincoln and Sinead stand before the new octad, illuminated by the orange flames in the dark of night. After welcoming the players to another season of Road Trip, Sinead begins to explain to the group the cultural symbolism and importance of fire and flames in Azerbaijani culture. She explains that the Zoroastrian religion had been of great importance in Azerbaijan, and are now celebrated for their historical relevance around sites such as Yanar Dagh. Lincoln goes on to inform the group that within Zoroastrianism - fire symbolises purity and cleansing amongst other things. In keeping with this belief of purity, Sinead tells the players that they’ll be joined by eight individuals looking for their own ‘fresh start’ in the game. The eight new players all gasp and laugh as they are quickly joined by eight familiar Road Trip faces; Jacky from Western Europe, Johanna from Central Africa, Dillon and Charlie from Southeast Asia, Fleur from Polynesia, and Hadia, Amber and Nicholas from Scandinavia. Lincoln confirms that these eight players represent the Redeemers, whilst Sinead dubs the eight newbies the Rookies, verifying that for the first time in Road Trip history that a mix of new players and returning ones will battle it out in order to claim the title of Champion of the Road Trip and the increased £100,000 prize. The amplified prize fund receives rapturous applause off the record group of sixteen; however, it is quickly silenced as Sinead announces that “it’ll come at a price”. The hosts go on to make clear that within the next twenty-four hours, one of the sixteen of them will be eliminated from the game without a single vote being cast. Unlike previous seasons, the first challenge will see two individuals crowned daily winners (receiving a lifesaver each respectively), as well as also having two last place finishers. In keeping with the theme of Rookies vs. Redeemers, each group of eight will produce one victor and one loser. The two ‘losers’ will then face-off in a final challenge, which Lincoln announces will not be taking place until the following evening. Despite the initial sighs of relief, the group appear once again concerned as Sinead and Lincoln declare that they’ll immediately be finding out who the two winners and losers will be.
The sixteen players are informed that they’ll be stripping into their bathing costumes due to the intense heat of the fires involved in the challenge. The two groups of eight will stand before individual replica fires of Yanar Dagh (whilst remaining near the real natural flames), holding an extended piece of wood with a flammable ball balancing on the end. The purpose of the challenge is to keep your ball both alight and balanced on their long sticks, being able to return to their fire and ensure their ball remains alight if it appears to be diminishing. If a ball drops or is extinguished, that played will be eliminated from the competition, with the first from either team out automatically entering the face-off elimination. Alternatively, the last standing for either group will be declared the winners and earn themselves the coveted ‘Golden Fob Lifesavers’. Lincoln warns each player that they cannot utilise a tactic of standing over the fire constantly in a successful manner, as it “will almost certainly burn your entire stick apart”. Seconds into the challenge, Leander stuns the entire group as he purposely throws his stick and ball down before him, declaring that he “is ready to go into the face-off and send (a redeemer) home”, pointing at the returnees and strangely trying to intimidate them. The Redeemers laugh at Leander’s ‘intimidation’, whilst Leander’s Rookies team are visibly irritated and annoyed by his behaviour, with Amanda audibly heard calling him a “feckin’ weirdo” for his actions. Gabriella is the next to be eliminated, losing the balance of her ball less than fifteen seconds after Leander purposely dropped out. Shocking everybody, Dillon is the first Redeemer eliminated after a momentary loss of attention, causing him to throw his stick in frustration at finding himself in the face-off elimination and in danger of leaving first again. Hadia, Amber, Charlie and Jacky quickly drop in succession within the next minute, having been struggling and simply trying their best not to be the first one out. Thirty minutes into the challenge, only one pair remains for either team; Johanna and Nicholas for the Redeemers, and Billy and Liam for the Rookies. Despite his best efforts, Billy ends up burning through his stick after repeated attempts at keeping his ball alight, leaving Liam as the sole Rookie and therefore earning himself the lifesaver. The group congratulate Liam, watching on as Johanna and Nicholas continue battling it out for a further ten minutes. In the end, Johanna is unable to be the first female winner of a lifesaver, losing her ball and cementing Nicholas’ win. As the group debrief post-challenge, the two luxury RVs which will be their homes and mode of transport for the duration of the road trip arrive on the scene, with Lincoln and Sinead confirming that they’ll be camping out by Yanar Dagh overnight and will remain there until the first repatriation.
Both teams of players begin mixing for the first time, eager to get to know one another during the excitement of their first evening. However, Dillon appears to be in an upset mood, being the only person nominated that hadn’t intended to end up in this position, and therefore feeling unable to enjoy the welcome conversations. Amber tries to get Dillon to get involved with the group, offering him a beer and the chance to sit around the campfire with the others as they eat and drink. Dillon requests that Amber give him some space for several minutes, wanting to come to terms with the fact that his journey could be cut short once again. Amber makes matters worse by voicing her opinions that “Leander is crazy… like super macho-gym crazy… he’ll be tough to beat, huh?”. Although Amber didn’t mean to cause offence with her remarks, they are clearly shown to have irritated Dillon, who snaps at Amber to “stop talking for five minutes”, causing a stunned and hurt Amber to take back the offered beer and leave Dillon alone in the RV. After Amber departs, Dillon audibly states to a nearby camera that he “can see why she didn’t last long the first time”. At the campfire, Redeemers Jacky and Fleur sit together and talk, agreeing that as this is their second chance they want to ensure that they make efforts to make friends and enjoy themselves, particularly as Jacky identifies his first experience ended immediately due to his “shyness”. Fleur tells Jacky that he has a friend in her, informing him of the ‘gays for Fleur’ hashtag that had circulated on her social media page during Polynesia. Opposite them, newbie Mike spends time talking to Johanna, explaining to her that he had formed ‘a major crush on her during her season’. Johanna laughs in flattery, telling Mike that she is ‘glad that she could make his dreams a reality’. The pair continue talking throughout the night, with Johanna willingly reciprocating Mike’s flirtatious approach. By the RVs, Hadia is hugged by Amanda, who tells her that she is “so glad to see (her) back on the show”, mentioning that she had been horrified after Hadia was forced to quit during Scandinavia over her injury. Hadia happily tells Amanda that she has made a full recovery, and that she is “hoping Allah’s bigger plan was for (her) to be here”, citing Azerbaijan as a “more exciting” location for her than local Scandinavia. Oldest road tripper Billy soon joins the conversation, admitting that he hasn’t watched the show prior, but is certain Hadia is “a trooper and an inspiration” for what she put up with. Hadia seems glad to be socialising with the new players, highlighting in her confessional that she hopes this time her social game will flourish as it had done before, reminding the audience that she has “technically survived one hundred percent of the votes” she was up for. After finishing her conversations with Amanda and Billy, Hadia begins to head to bed in her RV, soon joined by others as the group call it a night and prepare for the next day’s dreaded face-off elimination.
On the second morning of the road trip, the sixteen players awaken and sit together for their campfire breakfast. Gabriella notices a large fire puzzle has been left by the camp with a ‘do not touch’ sign, with the group realising that the puzzle is likely connected to Dillon and Leander’s face-off elimination challenge. Both Dillon and Leander spend time observing the puzzle, wanting to try and familiarise themselves with its design by the afternoon. The players break up into their teams, wanting to advise their nominated member how to best tackle such a challenge. Liam and Gabriella talk privately as the others sit with Leander, joking amongst themselves that neither would particularly care if Leander was the first to leave. However, Liam speaks on the importance of them “keeping muscle” in Leander, thinking that it will be useful to them as a team moving forward. Gabriella agrees, requesting that Liam be the one to coach Leander throughout the day on how to do the puzzle, being aware that Liam is “one of the smarter ones” on their team. As Nicholas stands around to analyse the puzzle, Billy decides to come over and ‘tactically distract’ Nicholas, not wanting him to use his intelligence to benefit Dillon. Billy uses his height and wide shoulders to block Nicholas’ view, continuously moving in his way to ‘tease’ him. Nicholas becomes irritated by this, asking “what the hell are you doing” repeatedly as Billy laughs and says “playing the game”. Nicholas states “this isn’t playing the game, this is being a weirdo”, eventually giving up and walking back to the other Redeemers to complain about Billy’s behaviour. In a confessional, Billy declares this tactic ‘a success’, laughing about how angsty Nicholas got in the moment and calling him “too delicate”. After hours of exhausting planning in the scorching Azerbaijani heat, the group are relieved as Lincoln and Sinead arrive at sunset, requesting that Dillon and Leander take their seats at two newly set-up puzzle stations. The men are both told that as expected, they’ll be building the thirty-piece fire puzzle that they have had all day to observe, and that whoever builds their puzzle the fastest will retain their existence in the game, whilst “the other will be extinguished”. The fourteen observers cheer on their teammates as the puzzle begins, watching on as they desperately hope theirs will not be the first ousted from the game. Both men get off to a slow start, trying to find the correct pieces to fit the base of their puzzles. Eventually, they are shown to be neck-and-neck headed into the latter half of their puzzles, with there being no indication who is closer to finishing. However, Dillon soon begins to struggle, unable to find pieces to fit his left side, allowing Leander to pull ahead and eventually finish, much to the happiness of his teammates. A distraught Dillon pushes his puzzle down, looking at the floor as he is gently comforted by the other Redeemers. Leander jumps into Liam’s arms, thanking him for supposedly coaching him throughout the day, with Liam calling Leander “a crazy bastard” for the stunt he pulled. Rather than go quietly, Dillon suddenly turns from his silent group, calling out Liam and Leander for “setting (him) up” and “being a pair of assholes” about his loss. Liam seems somewhat stunned by this, nervously laughing as he requests more information as to why Dillon thinks this way. Instead of acknowledging Liam further, Dillon tells his team to “take him out”, brandishing Liam as “their biggest threat… their leader”. The Redeemers stand awkwardly as Dillon makes his last minute warning to them, eventually saying his goodbyes and leaving the area after being the first person eliminated first twice in Road Trip. In a confessional, Liam laughs over the ‘fight’ with Dillon, saying that he “isn’t sad to see the back of him… again”, suggesting that “maybe he stick to games with participation awards”. The eight Rookies and seven Redeemers stand on and listen as Lincoln and Sinead declare the game officially on, telling them to get rest before they move to another destination in the morning, and find the game they thought they knew “has very much evolved”.
===Episode #2 - Déjà Vu Part Two===
On the third day of the road trip, Irish Rookies Amanda and Liam stand together outside the RVs before any of the others have awoken. The pair share a cigarette as they drink their morning coffees, discussing strategies headed forward into the next few rounds. Both agree that they need to concentrate on weakening the Redeemers as much as possible, believing that they have already done this by taking Dillon out of the game. They go on to agree that they want to ensure a new player wins the season, noting that the eight Redeemers “already had their shot and failed”. Fleur gets up soon after to use the outdoor shower facilities, claiming to enjoy the cold water against the warm Azerbaijani air. Mike stands nearby and admires Fleur’s physique, complimenting her “tight waist” amongst other things. Fleur laughs and enjoys the attention from Mike, flirting back as she tells him he’s “in need of a release” after just three days. Fleur is soon joined in the showers by Johanna, with both women being eyed up by the men on the tour, clearly glad to have been supplied with ‘eye candy’. After drying off, Liam approaches both women to hand them a tea and coffee respectively, leading on to ask them about how they plan to ‘play’ the team-based separation. The women admit to Liam that they have been considering the need to form ‘cross-team’ deals, wanting to ensure that whatever the ‘evolution’ the game entails, that it is something they can overcome with strategy. Liam is glad to hear this, having intended to propose such a deal himself to both of the women. The trio verbally agree that they’ll formulate something ‘proper’ later on, but seem pleased to already have made the first step to taking control of their games. Once everybody has eaten breakfast, the group pack up their things and drive a short distance from Yanar Dagh to Azerbaijan’s capital city; Baku.
Arriving in Baku, the group are stunned by the urban skyscrapers they now find themselves surrounded by; a world away from the barren lands they begun their adventure in. The players receive information from Lincoln and Sinead that they can enjoy free time for several hours before being requested to meet-up at a chosen location. Several players note those taking control as they make suggestions as to where people should go, leading everybody to separate as they head off to shop, get food and look around to see what Baku has to offer. In a small restaurant, a group of players sit around and talk during their free hours. Billy, Liam and Johanna sit together and continue the early conversation held between Liam, Johanna and Fleur. Liam openly invites Billy to join their ‘cross-team alliance’, believing that the more solidified members they have, then the stronger they will be. Billy quietly accepts the offer, telling Johanna that he gets a good vibe from her and would love to see the three of them at the end of the game. In a confessional, Johanna speaks positively about the alliance building, feeling as though she is putting herself in a position much quicker this season than in Central Africa, knowing the importance of never letting anybody be more socially needed than you in the game. At a nearby table, Rookies Amanda and Leander sit together and talk about the latter’s “insane” decision to place himself in the elimination face-off against Dillon. Leander claims that in hindsight it was the best move, as it has scared the Redeemers and sent one of them home first for the second time. Although amused by Leander’s erratic style of play, Amanda tells him to make sure he ‘plays with his brain rather than his testosterone’, claiming that “nobody needs that much of a wildcard in their squad”. Elsewhere, Redeemers Amber, Charlie and Jacky walk around Baku’s central shopping mall together, having felt somewhat irritated by the others trying to tell everybody to go for lunch at the same time. Charlie rants about how there is already a divide in the group, citing certain men in the Rookies as being far too cocky, and pointing out that a few of the Redeemers are “crawling up their asses because they’re scared”. Jacky and Amber agree with this observation, worrying that if they don’t do the same they’ll be targeted. Charlie proposes to the two that they form an ‘outcast alliance’, thinking that they are “clearly the weirdos of (their) team”, noting that Johanna and Fleur are ‘popular girls’ and that Hadia and Nicholas are already an established pair. Jacky and Amber are both excited by this suggestion, thinking as a trio they would be unsuspected and underestimated to do any damage in the game. The three eventually grab their lunch together in the mall, feeling glad with their new offbeat group of misfits-allies.
With the free hours over, the fifteen remaining players head to the famous three ‘Flame Towers’ of Baku, marvelling at the architectural design of the buildings. Lincoln and Sinead stand at the base of the towers, giving everybody a brief opportunity to walk around and take in the view. Rather than enter the towers (which are largely private accommodation flats), the players board their RVs with Lincoln and Sinead, and head to the ‘Fire Temple of Baku’ (otherwise known as the Ateshgah Temple), a short distance outside of Baku city. The players are given a tour upon arrival at the temple, being told that it had been a place of worship for those of Hindu, Sikh and mainly Zoroastrian faiths. After the tour, Lincoln and Sinead confirm that the four holy elements spoken of by their guide; fire, air, water and earth, will play a pivotal role in their next challenge. In three groups of five (randomly assorted), players must race around the outside of the temple complex to collect items pertaining to each of their elements. For fire, players must collect kindling and flint, bringing it back to their work station where they’ll be expected to get a fire going and maintain it throughout the challenge. If at any point the fire goes out, players must return and collect fresh kindling to start this portion again. For air, players must raise a Road Trip flag on their individual pole, ensuring to tie and connect the flag correctly and professionally. For water, players must race back and forth with a provided bucket to collect water from a nearby well, with it roughly taking four trips of full buckets to completely fill their containers back at their work stations. Finally, players must move three bags of sand that represent earth from the temple walls back to their stations. In the interest of fairness, all players uniquely have bags that are tailored to be representative of their individual body weight. Sinead informs the players that unlike other seasons, as this is Rookies vs. Redeemers there will be new rules to the challenge. Each team will produce a winner and a loser (as per the first challenge); however, the team who average out completing the challenge in the quickest time will be crowned the winners and thus will all be immune. The fastest individual on the winning team will be the ‘Tour Leader’, selecting who will be nominated from the losing team to face that teams worst performing player in the repatriation vote. Realising that there is a lot to play for, all fifteen attempt to give it their all throughout the three heats. For the Redeemers, Amber shows that she isn’t willing to go down easily, receiving massive applause off her team as she dominates the others on time. Alternatively, athletic men Mike and Leander both perform well for the Rookies, wanting to ensure they can claim power and send another Redeemer home. Unfortunately, previous first boots Hadia and Jacky have a tough time with the challenge, both stopping to catch their breath in exhaustion through the Azerbaijani heat and intensity of the competition. Similarly, Charliese is seen to be the slowest Rookie of the day, leaving her team convinced that she will be facing the vote if they’re slower on average than their rivals. Luckily for Charliese, Lincoln confirms that the Rookies have comfortably gotten the better average, and that Leander was able to beat Mike and claim the position of ‘Tour Leader’. Sinead announces that Jacky’s time was slower than Hadia’s, leaving him automatically nominated for repatriation. Leander is quick to announce that his nominee to face Jacky will be Charlie, claiming his reason to be “weakening their team by taking out anyone athletic”.
Charlie immediately calls Leander out for this decision, believing that it is “evident something bigger is going on” in the game. He begins shooting out wild theories as to a “clear alliance”, but is unwilling to say who it is between due to having little information on such an alliance existing. In his continued ranting anger, Charlie alienates and irritates the group, believing like Dillon he is not taking the nomination well. Lincoln tells nominees Charlie and Jacky that as it is almost sunset, that they will only have an hour to campaign for votes to remain in the game, whilst for the other “the Ateshgah Temple will be (their) last spot on the journey”. Allies Johanna and Fleur head off to one side to talk about Charlie’s meltdown, being joined by Gabriella who similarly found the episode “ugly to watch”. Gabriella criticises Charlie, pointing out that he behaved in a similar way the last time he played the game. Johanna and Fleur agree with Gabriella, but admit that it was perhaps easier for them in the past as neither ever faced being nominated by somebody else. Nevertheless, the three women ponder voting Charlie out, with Gabriella thinking that “his sort of negativity isn’t something (she) want(s) to travel with”. Charlie and Jacky wish one another luck prior to campaigning, upset to already be forced to cannibalize one of their own trio members. Third trio member Amber is seen off to the side talking to Nicholas and Fleur, suggesting that they vote for Jacky after his abysmal performance in the challenge. Nicholas happily agrees with Amber, thinking that if they want a chance of taking on the Rookies that they need the strongest team possible, and that they “cannot have a strong team with Jacky in it”. Fleur nods along to the pairs discussion, agreeing that as a team they can vote in unison against Jacky and hope to get some of the Rookies to do the same. However, several Rookies are shown to be discussing keeping Jacky, noting that he will likely continuously sink their team and prevent them from ever winning a daily challenge. Moreover, Fleur and Johanna are approached by Gabriella and Liam respectively, hoping to get closer in the game and convince them not to vote ‘for their team’ but rather ‘for a new alliance’, promising that neither girl will be in danger if they are to lose future challenges. At the repatriation, Charlie and Jacky gather after doing their best to campaign in the large group, hoping that they have done enough to remain in the game. Redeemers Amber, Hadia and Nicholas stick to their plan and cast their votes against weak link Jacky, also joined by quiet newbie Charliese. However, the four are easily outvoted as Charlie is ousted in a 8-4 result, with Fleur and Johanna flipping to vote alongside their new loyalties on the Rookies team. Charlie remains somewhat positive as he says his goodbyes, choosing to ignore the entire Rookies team and only wish his fellow veterans good luck ahead. The remaining fourteen players head into the RVs, driving off to their overnight campsite and leaving Charlie behind at the temple grounds, realising the irony in Dillon and Charlie being the first two eliminated in the same pattern as Southeast Asia.
===Episode #3 - Muddy Waters===
Following Charlie’s elimination, the two RVs drive thirty minutes to the nearby city of Xırdalan. Both teams respectively break off into separate RVs for a nightly debrief before headed to bed, wanting to come up with gameplans for the next daily challenge. Johanna tells Jacky that due to his survival, he will need to ensure to give his best in future challenges to prove his worth to the team. However, Jacky appears to be in a bad mood following the vote, having been aware that his survival was solely down to the support of the Rookies voting against Charlie. Johanna becomes angered by Jacky’s attitude, asking to speak to him alone outside, where she eventually tells him that both she and Fleur in fact voted to save him over Charlie, who she names as “a bad energy in the team”. Johanna goes on to tell Jacky that she “doesn’t want (him) to prove her wrong by bringing the bad energy” they thought they had just eliminated. Despite this, Jacky continues to be off in his attitude with Johanna, feeling as though she is being demeaning towards him and ultimately doing things for her own benefit rather than his. The two are later shown in confessionals to speak about a mutual mistrust between them, with Johanna thinking Jacky isn’t worth saving a second time, and Jacky believing that Johanna is no longer trustworthy. After the argument, Johanna remains awake outside the RVs, being joined by Charliese from the other team after she too cannot seem to sleep. The two women share a blanket and sit together in the cold outdoors, talking through the nights vote and confessing that they both voted oppositely to a majority of their teammates. Both girls laugh at the realisation, appreciating that they are willing to play individually rather than following group mentality. Charliese suggests to Johanna that they consider watching one another’s backs, a sentiment that Johanna agrees with, highlighting to Charliese that with two men already gone, that they can ensure a group of women work together cross-team to produce the shows next female winner (a feat that hasn’t been achieved since All-Stars, and has only occurred twice in nine seasons).
The next morning, the fourteen road trippers sit together and eat breakfast before heading to their next location; the mud volcanoes of Xırdalan. On the short journey to the mud volcanoes, Amanda sits with Jacky in order to establish whether or not he is okay. Jacky appreciates this ‘kindness’ from Amanda, also showing gratitude that she was one of the vocal Rookies seeking to save him in the last repatriation vote. Despite her kindness and coddling of Jacky, Amanda confesses in a private confessional that she “couldn’t give a toss about working with Jacky”, but that any attempt at keeping him on side and against the other Redeemers will certainly keep them weak and unable to win a challenge together. At the mud volcanoes, the fourteen contestants are instructed to change into their bathing costumes, soon joined by Lincoln and Sinead who explain that the pools of mud will play into their next daily challenge. All at once, the fourteen players are instructed to cover themselves in the warm thick mud from a nearby crater, transporting as much mud as possible over to their individual buckets. Lincoln confirms that after just two minutes of competing, each player's buckets will be weighed, and that the team who on average produce the most mud will be the winners, and thus all receive safety alongside their best performing individual being crowned ‘Tour Leader’. Alternatively, the worst performing member of the losing team will automatically face repatriation against the ‘Tour Leader’s’ nominee. Throughout the challenge, the contestants use an array of tactics to transport as much mud as possible, wanting to both ensure their teams victory and prevent their own falling into last place. Once the competition is over, it is revealed that Nicholas individually got heaviest load of mud, having smartly filled his trunks with as much as possible when transporting. However, the Rookies are yet again shown to have on average the better performance, leaving all the Redeemers vulnerable, and best performing Rookie Billy with the position of ‘Tour Leader’ over close competition Leander. Of the lowest performing Redeemers, Sinead names Amber, Jacky and Johanna as the bottom three. Ultimately, Amber is declared to have narrowly lost to Jacky, putting her automatically up for repatriation. Billy then names Nicholas as his nomination, having a less than civil relationship with him, and also believing that it will be a good opportunity to flush Nicholas’ lifesaver. However, in a shocking turn of events, Nicholas fails to use his lifesaver, not wanting to ‘comply’ with Billy’s attempts at flushing it, and instead being confident that he can survive the vote against Amber. Lincoln and Sinead tell the fourteen players that they will have free time to enjoy the waters of the Caspian Sea, before ousting another player at sundown.
After competing, the fourteen road trippers head to their outdoor shower system to wash off the drying mud from their bodies, knowing it wouldn’t be appropriate to leave the mud staining the inside of the RVs. Whilst washing, Jacky admires Leander’s muscular physique, commenting in a confessional that he ‘loves a man with a broad hairy chest’. Leander appears more than happy to engage with Jacky’s flirtatious behaviour, mentioning in his own confessional that he is “willing to flirt with men, women, non-binary, or whoever in order to win this game”. Leander also congratulates Jacky on avoiding facing repatriation, something that Jacky is certain his whole team is disappointed by, complaining that they “have no respect” for him. In the girls’ shower, Charliese and Amanda stand together and admit to being ‘gobsmacked’ that Nicholas failed to use his lifesaver, with Amanda labelling him “a cocky wee bastard” for the move. Charliese tells Amanda that they cannot afford to vote for Amber, believing that to keep Nicholas in the game along with his lifesaver would be “the worst move in Road Trip history”. Amanda agrees, believing that they can easily get the other Rookies on board. Once cleaned, the players head a short distance to a nearby beach, enjoying the Azerbaijani waters of the Caspian Sea as they deliberate under the scorching sun. At the beach, Nicholas immediately begins campaigning to the Rookies, confident that he’ll have the support of his own Redeemer team after they have spoken of the necessity of keeping the team as strong as possible. Rookie men Liam and Mike are approached by Nicholas, who pitches to them that he doesn’t believe voting him out sets a good precedent for the men in the game, pointing out that it would by default instruct the Redeemers to target the two of them, Leander and Billy if they are able to win. Both men agree with Liam, admitting that they were frustrated by Billy’s move, with Liam in particular saying it “pisses (him) off that Billy wants to publicly flush lifesavers”; of which he has the second. The men also go on to complain that Billy has a ‘king mentality’, not believing that he is the type of player to bare any responsibility for his mistakes. Playing dangerously, Nicholas then approaches Johanna and Lori who are sunbathing together on the beach. Lori opens up to both Nicholas and Johanna that she feels somewhat ignored by the rest of her team, calling it a ‘boys club’ with Liam and Billy making a large portion of their decisions. Nicholas tells Lori that he agrees with her assessment of Liam, persuading her that if he were to win he would seek to target Liam himself. Despite secretly being aligned with Liam, Johanna goes along with the bad mouthing, pleased to see that the game and players are very much divided, citing that “the big guys going after one another is good for (her) game long term”. Sitting in the water, Amber is shown to be campaigning for her safety alongside Amanda and Nicholas’ friend Hadia. Amber tells both women that she thinks it would be best to oust Nicholas rather than to leave him in the game with his lifesaver, something which is echoed by Amanda, who tells Hadia that ‘she needs to think for herself despite her friendship with Nicholas’, reminding her not to attach herself to a sinking ship. In spite of Amber’s efforts, Hadia confirms in her confessional that she won’t be turning her back on Nicholas, remembering that he was one of those to stick by her when she had been nominated in Scandinavia.
With the vote only thirty minutes away, both Amber and Nicholas continue to push hard in order to save themselves, not wanting to leave the game pre-jury yet again. A majority of the Redeemers appear to want to save Nicholas, believing that he is the stronger competitor for them moving forward, with only Jacky intending to stick by his ‘misfit ally’ Amber. Alternatively, the Rookies appear split on their decision, with some believing that the move to take out Nicholas is both necessary and the best thing for their team, whilst others maintain that to lose him would put their own individual games in danger. At sunset, the large group gather on the beach, now dressed as the temperature of Azerbaijan begins to drop. Lincoln and Sinead alternate in drawing fobs, with the vote being tied up 4-4 after the first eight are revealed. In the end, Amber’s nightmare comes true as she is eliminated in a 7-4 result, having been outplayed by Nicholas who managed to sway Leander, Liam, Lori and Mike into voting with the majority of the Redeemers against her. Amber appears shocked by the result, believing it to be “a poor decision” by those failing to flush a lifesaver from the game. In hugging Amber goodbye, Fleur and Johanna are seen apologising for their decisions, telling her that it “should have been Jacky” in her place. Once a tearful Amber has left the beach for the final time, the remaining thirteen players are escorted back to the RVs, with the group feeling somewhat more tense after the Rookies split apart and showed great division for the first time all season. In a confessional, Billy talks about being burned by the result, promising to “raise hell and find out who screwed up (his) plans”, vowing to take his whole team down just to ensure those involved don’t get ahead in the game.
===Episode #4 - Khan't Do a Thing===
Returning to the RVs after Amber’s unfortunate repatriation, Billy calls an entire group meeting, ranting on and on about “betrayals” and “liars” within their factions. Billy demands for those who voted against Amber (and ultimately went against his wishes of ousting Nicholas) to speak up and reveal themselves, with the entire group looking upon him in silence. Several individuals speak up against Billy for his approach, believing it to be brash and childish at the same time. Amanda tells Billy that it “isn’t the time to go over this”, pointing out that tensions are high, and that it would hardly be appropriate to stage an argument this late into the evening when everybody intends to go to sleep. Realising that he has irritated the entire group in his approach, Billy agrees to leave his frustrations for the morning, not wanting to further damage his standing in the group. The next morning, the thirteen remaining players make a four hour drive from Xırdalan’s mud volcanoes to the Azerbaijani city of Shaki, with the journey providing the group their longest opportunity to talk during travel yet. In one of the RVs, Gabriella and Fleur sit together and continue bonding well, glad to have another woman on the trip have similar interests. The two women continue talking about the prospect of working together cross-team, with Fleur revealing to Gabriella that she had established the start of an alliance between herself, Liam and Billy. Gabriella confesses to Fleur that she doesn’t completely trust either of the men named, and that she’d feel more comfortable working directly with the women in the game. Fleur appears excited at this suggestion, hoping that there will be word soon about ‘teams’ coming to an end, concerned they could easily be her undoing if the Redeemers continuously lose. In the other RV,  Rookies Liam, Lori and Mike talk about Billy’s behaviour the night before, unanimously agreeing that he cannot be allowed to get power again anytime soon. In a confessional, Liam asserts that he no longer wishes to work with Billy after the blow-up, believing that he needs to re-think the members of his cross-team alliance with Johanna and Fleur, now having more trust in Mike to take his place. Lori proposes that they consider throwing the next challenge, believing they could arrange to have Billy ousted easily. However, the trio agree to wait until deciding what to do next, also not wanting to lose their winning streak and momentum against the Redeemers.
Arriving in Shaki, the group once again are amazed by the rapidly changing environments as they travel, now finding themselves in the lush green mountainous region of northern Azerbaijan. Upon arrival, the players head to a local house where a family have graciously agreed to feed the group and allow them to park their RVs on their land for their stay in Shaki. As an array of local rice and meat based dishes are served to the players, everybody takes the opportunity to wind down and enjoy the afternoon. Over lunch, Charliese continuously refuses certain dishes, mentioning in a confessional that she “felt the house and people looked a bit dirty” and “didn’t feel safe eating there without getting sick”. Oppositely, Amanda calls it “one of the best meals” she’s ever eaten, self-proclaiming to have “stuffed (her) face”. However, the abundance of food acts as a shock to Amanda’s system in the heat, leading to immediate stomach cramps and a concern that she may need to urgently use the bathroom. Too embarrassed “to do that in someone else’s home”, Amanda prowls the streets of Shaki, desperately trying to find a public bathroom. Ultimately, Amanda is shown to coerce some street builders into allowing her to use their ‘portaloo’, returning to the group dishevelled and calling it “a low point for (her) integrity and self-respect”. Feeling guilty for the lack of socialising Billy is receiving, Hadia decides to sit by him and do her best to engage him in the group conversations. Billy seems happy to have Hadia be the only person to willingly speak to him after his blow-up, reaffirming in his mind that she is one of the few kind and trustworthy players in the game. The two continue talking for some time as they eat, with Hadia telling Billy about the cultural similarities between the Azerbaijani food and the food her family makes back home. Billy confesses that he has never been ‘adventurous’ with his pallet, claiming to instead live on a “rugged diet of meat, potatoes, vegetables and bread”. In a confessional, Hadia claims that talking to Billy is more about “being a good person than it is about gameplay”, not liking ever seeing anybody isolated by others regardless of their behaviour. She goes on to talk about the importance of the road trip for individuals like Billy, believing it will open his eyes to new cultures and social skills that he may have lacked in opportunity back in Texas, certain the experience will “change him for the better”.
After lunch, the group travel a short distance to the Palace of the Shaki Khans; a summer residence for the former ‘Shaki Khan’ rulers of this region of Caucasia. The players join Lincoln and Sinead, receiving a group tour of the palace where they’re able to enjoy the stunning architecture and famous stained glass windows that have enabled the location to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Throughout the tour, the players are taught of the history of the ‘Shaki Khanate’, the palace itself, and the Russo-Persian war of the early 1800s that brought an end to the Shaki’s rule. Later, Sinead and Lincoln confirm to the players that their next daily challenge will be a quiz based on the history taught throughout the tour, with the team that averages the highest score being declared the winners. After everybody has answered their twenty questions, Lincoln and Sinead tally the results, revealing that for the fourth consecutive round a Redeemer will be leaving as the Rookies have come out on top. Amanda is named as the Rookie to score the best, with an impressive eighteen out of twenty questions on her submission being correct, giving her control over one of the two nominees as the new ‘Tour Leader’. Nicholas is named as the individual to score the worst of the Redeemers much to everybody’s surprise, to which he admits that he hadn’t been paying much attention due to tiredness. However, Nicholas opts to immediately use his lifesaver, not wanting to risk surviving a second consecutive vote. Without further hesitation, Sinead declares that Jacky finished just above Nicholas, and will now take his place in automatically facing repatriation. Lincoln requests that Amanda name her nominee to face Jacky, choosing to target Fleur as a ‘solid and strong’ member of the opposing team. Fleur and Jacky are told that they’ll have several hours to campaign for their safety, with one of them being the fourth to leave the game by sundown and see their journey cut short for a second time.
Fleur and Jacky quickly begin their campaigning, not wanting this day to be the last they’ll experience in Road Trip. Fleur hopes to use Jacky’s continuous poor performances against him, believing that her fellow Redeemers have no reason to keep him in the game. Moreover, Fleur believes that her cross-team friendships with Liam, Gabriella, Mike and Billy will be enough to sway their votes, being quietly confident that she may have a good shot of surviving the repatriation. Elsewhere, Jacky focuses on speaking to the Rookies, using his position as a bad challenge performer to establish that he isn’t a threat, and that by saving him over Charlie two rounds prior “it kept (the Redeemers) from winning anything since”. In a confessional, Mike grills Jacky’s arguments to remain in the game, thinking it “is pathetic that his whole schtick is ‘save me, I suck’, and that he thinks this will make any of (them) send Fleur home instead”. Mike goes on to talk about his continued attraction to and enjoyment of Fleur’s company, citing that “Jacky can’t really complete with a tall, sexy, rich, blonde”. Jacky then is shown to spend time conversing with Hadia and Liam, hoping to convince both to spread the word that they can get numbers against Fleur. Hadia sympathises with Jacky, claiming to “see in his eyes how badly he wants to be here”, and also feeling guilty that “everyone is making fun of how bad he is at challenges”. Liam tells Jacky that he is confident he’ll stay, reiterating that the Rookies want to continue their strategy of voting out those better at challenges to ensure they keep winning. However, Liam is shown laughing in his confessional after saying this, suggesting that there is “only so far you can drag someone like Jacky through the game without it costing you allies you need more”, implying that he is leaning towards keeping Fleur due to their cross-team alliance. At the vote, it is revealed that Liam, Gabriella and Mike were able to sway almost the entire Rookies team to vote against Jacky on ‘principal’ of who deserves to stay more, eliminating him in an 8-2 result. Jacky; who only received a pity-vote off Hadia and a rogue vote from Leander, says his goodbyes with grace, having realised that perhaps Road Trip is not a game he will ever succeed in. As the first ever repatriated player leaves after failing to reach the jury again, the remaining twelve players return to their RVs, where the Redeemers are desperately hoping that Jacky’s leave will enable them to finally come together and win a daily challenge.
===Episode #5 - Tackling the Issue===
The morning after Jacky’s near-unanimous repatriation, the remaining twelve road trippers make a two hour journey from Shaki across the border into Georgia, with the next destination being Lagodekhi National Park. Throughout the drive, Nicholas tries to pry information out of others to determine how ‘safe’ he is now that he no longer has a lifesaver for protection. He mentions in a confessional that his major concerns are that he is “now exposed and vulnerable for anyone to take a shot without repercussions”. Most do their best to assure Nicholas that he is in no more danger now than he was prior to using the lifesaver, becoming more and more annoyed with his visible paranoia that some think could ironically send him out of the game. In the other RV, Mike continues his flirtatious tactics with Fleur, finding that she is still glad to play along. However, things turn sour after Fleur jokes that she is “bored of (Mike)” after thirty-minutes of laying by him, choosing to move to other girls to spend the remaining journey talking. Rather than accept this, Mike remarks that Fleur is “a typical tease”, lambasting her for ‘playing hard to get’ and declaring that he “now knows what is good”. Fleur asks Mike to expand on this, but he simply repeats “I know what you’re about now” over and over. Fleur rolls her eyes at Mike, muttering that he’s got a damaged ego and she “hopes (he) can get it mended soon”. In a confessional, Mike claims to be putting on his blinders to flirting now, not wanting to get further involved with Fleur after she revealed that she is just “trying to play the player”. Gabriella overhears the fight, speaking up for Fleur as she tells Mike “don’t f**king do that, Mike… it’s gross… you’re like thirty-years old… act like a man, not a little girl. This is Rookies vs. Redeemers… not Rookies vs. Redeemers vs. a bitch called Mike”. Gabriella’s somewhat jokey tone (despite being serious) enables her to get away with the remark, continuing her closeness with Fleur and also shutting down Mike from escalating the situation further.
Upon arrival in Lagodekhi National Park, the two RVs become stationary and allow the players to exit and join Lincoln and Sinead for a three hour hike into the park. On the hike, Leander relieves Nicholas by taking some off his load, noting that his slimmer frame has made it difficult for him to carry the groups camping gear. Nicholas thanks Leander for his kindness, leading the two men to engage in conversation as they hike. Leander tells Nicholas that with the Redeemers numbers so low, that it would be best for him to branch out more with those on the Rookies team. Nicholas confesses to Leander that he has been doing this, somewhat stirring the pot as he admits to get ‘half-deals’ from a few of his teammates. Although Nicholas refuses to name any particular names, he tells Leander that he is willing to stick by him moving forward if he too would be interested in teaming up, which Leander states that he is. Amanda interrupts the men’s conversation later on, wanting to find out what Nicholas and Leander have been speaking about for up to twenty minutes. Nicholas leaves the conversation, whist Leander tells Amanda that they were “just talking about Jacky and Amber”. Not buying Leander’s excuse, Amanda reminds him that they need to “stay Rookies strong”, not wanting to see anybody working with the Redeemers who they should be uniting to oust one after the other. Leander assures Amanda that nothing of the sort is occurring, leaving Amanda feeling positive and hopeful that the Rookies alliance (and more specifically, her partnership with Leander) remain intact. In a confessional, Leander claims that Amanda is his closest ally in the game, but that outside of her he isn’t completely trusting of the other Rookies, particularly as he is aware many of them are “making deals for when the teams come to an end”. Leander continues by announcing that he has begun planting his own relationship seeds to blossom, wanting to get the jump on the other Rookies before it’s too late. The players arrive by a lake and begin setting up their tents, with Lincoln and Sinead confirming that one lucky tent “will only have two people inside rather than three”, confirming that another one of them will leave before the end of the day. However, Sinead blindsides the group as the states that the game “will now be individual until the end”, declaring the team portion of the game to be over, and now anyone eligible to win a daily challenge individually and leaving everybody who doesn’t win vulnerable to be the winner’s nominee.
The entire group remain stunned as they come to terms with the news, having expected to continue as Rookies and Redeemers for the foreseeable future. Before anybody has a chance to stop and think through the change, Lincoln announces that they’ll all immediately be getting to their next daily challenge. The players will be split into two groups by gender, but will be playing amongst their own gender to earn points that will ultimately enter the same conjoined scoreboard to decide an overall winner. Given that Georgia’s national sport is Rugby, Lincoln explain that players will begin by all racing to collect one of three available balls, with the goal being to get the rugby ball across the starting line from where they’ll race. However, it is confirmed that players may use ‘legal tackles’ and ‘snatching’ to retrieve the available balls off one another, with the three from each gender able to get a ball across the line earning themselves a point. After three rounds, anybody failing to retrieve a point will be eliminated, whilst those with the most points will enter a new game. For the women’s showdown, Johanna, Lori and Charliese are the first to reach the balls, although Charliese and Lori strangely begin fighting over the same ball, ignoring the third free ball to their side. Johanna attempts to get her ball back, but is taken down by the heftier Amanda, causing Johanna to scream as the ball rolls to Fleur, who is able to score the first point along with Lori and Hadia (with Hadia getting the third ball and making it back unchallenged). Medical is called in to check Johanna, who is shown to be tearing up after being flattened by Amanda, showing that she may have a sprained wrist and fractured finger. As medical check Johanna, Lori calls Charliese out on “going for the same freaking ball as (her)”, asking Charliese if she is “dumb or doesn’t get the rules”. Charliese tells Lori that she went after her because “(she’s) the smallest and easiest to shove”, to which Lori tells her “still managed to outrun you though…”, muttering ‘bitch’ several seconds later. After ten minutes, the medical team make the regrettable decision to pull Johanna from the challenge, uncertain she would be able to participate without doing permanent further damage to herself. The six remaining women compete in the second round, in which Amanda again proves to be too slow to get to the balls, hoping instead to use her weight and strength as a means of getting the ball off the other girls. However, Amanda is dodged by Charliese (who throws Lori to the ground to get the ball off her) and Hadia, also unable to catch Fleur who snatches the ball from friend Gabriella’s grip. In the final round, Amanda and Gabriella again fail to score, leaving both with a total result of 0 as they are outrun by faster women Hadia and Charliese, whilst Lori manages to break free of Fleur’s grip, reaching the starting line to finish with a total of two points. Sinead announces that with a total of three out of three, Hadia will move onto the final round, whilst Amanda and Gabriella have both moved into the bottom play-offs. The ladies watch on in horror as the men play more aggressively, with smallest man Nicholas getting thrown to the ground easily by Billy in a somewhat unfair manner, leaving him gasping for air as Billy races back with his ball. Fast Mike and strong Leander also get back with their balls after fighting-off Liam’s chase, hoping to match Hadia’s score and get to the final round. Mike and Leander continue to dominate with speed and strength, whilst Nicholas miraculously gets the ball and outruns Liam after he is taken down by Billy at the end of the course. Billy manages to make-up ground by claiming the first point in the final round, but is quickly bested by Mike who races back with his third point, and joined by Leander who drags Nicholas and Liam across the finish line with him after he refuses to release his ball. Lincoln then announces that Leander and Mike have matched Hadia’s top score and will join her in the final game, whilst Liam scored 0 and has found himself in the bottom play-offs. For the new game, Sinead tells the three players that they’ll simply be served three balls from a high kick (given by a local professional player), with each player’s goal being to catch the ball without dropping it. The player serves each kick in a similar fashion to ensure fairness, but still offers Hadia no hope as she drops all three, taking her spot amongst the others as she laughs. Leander manages to catch two of his three balls, hoping to claim his second daily win. However, he is beaten by Mike, who is able to catch all three, later admitting that he had in fact played sports in college.
Amanda, Gabriella and Liam stand in order to take their positions in the bottom group, but are quickly told by Sinead and Lincoln that ‘it won’t be necessary’. Sinead tells the players that due to Johanna’s injury and the rules of Road Trip; Johanna has received a ‘did not finish’ and score of zero, leaving her automatically nominated for repatriation in last place. A teary Johanna nods and accepts her position, having realised it would likely be the outcome after her injury. Daily winner Mike is then asked to select his nominee to face Johanna, immediately remembering his earlier fight with ‘flirtmance’ Fleur, who Mike is also aware is working closely alongside Johanna. However, Mike takes a moment to make his decision, also wanting to make a move that will be beneficial to him and his allies long-term. Mike shockingly announces that he’ll be turning on his fellow Rookie Billy, nominating him due to “being a hell of a threat, and upsetting a few people with (his) remarks the other night”. Billy appears stunned by the result, asking if Mike would reconsider, to which he is told that “the decision ain’t changing, brother”. Billy begins to rage at Mike’s decision, feeling played and betrayed yet again by his own team, not accepting that he would be turned on so easily without any concern. As he rants on and on, Billy is heard almost saying what many presume is about to be a slur against Mike, causing immediate backlash from the group as several players vocally jump to Mike’s defence. Although Billy denies that any such slur was about to leave his mouth, Sinead is forced to intervene in the situation, requesting that he separate from the other players as tensions spiral out of control. Mike is heard yelling “let him say it, I want to see if he’ll say it”, being pulled towards the tents by ally Liam in order to calm him down. Gabriella is seen checking on Lincoln in this moment, also seeing that he may have been potentially upset by the ‘words’ that Billy may have been about to use. Several minutes later, it is announced that there will be no deliberation for the vote, with the entire group claiming that they would rather get to voting rather than mix and see anything occur that could jeopardise personal safety. Sinead organises a handing out of the key-fobs with ‘Billy’ and ‘Johanna’ written on, informally collecting them once players have made their quick fire decision. As expected, the group near unanimously come together to vote out Billy due to his repeated blow-ups and attitude towards Mike, with only Hadia secretly voting against Johanna due to still having sympathy towards someone that she believes “is a misunderstood and mistaken individual”. Sinead leaves to tell the isolated Billy of the news, choosing not to bring him back to say his goodbyes to the others, and instead having production escort him out of the premises for his and the group’s wellbeing. With Billy gone, the remaining eleven players are given a quick debrief from Sinead, who reminds everybody that personal safety and respect is paramount to being allowed to stay on the tour, and that slipping from these high-standards will see your chances of winning the £100,000 quickly diminish. That night, the players sit together and have a campfire meal, trying to return to the positive vibes that the trip had just hours earlier. However, Lori is heard moaning and complaining to those who’ll listen about Charliese, noting that she felt “bullied” by her in the challenge, branding Charliese a “mean girl with no intelligence”. After Charliese is shown to head to the outdoor bathroom, Lori purposely scrapes Charliese’s remaining food off her plate and into the communal bin, muttering that “payback is a bitch, bitch”.
===Episode #6 - Àlly-Carte===
After Lori’s strange actions of dumping Charliese’s food, the Essex blonde returns to question the group as to where the remains of her meal went. Everybody appears confused, having failed to notice Lori’s actions leading up to the moment. In a confessional, Charliese claims to believe that Lori may have been responsible for the act, claiming she “had a creepy smile on her face like the Anabelle doll all evening”, imitating Lori’s ‘creepy smile’ after making this assessment. Fleur and Leander are shown after their meal to be getting closer and laughing together, with Fleur playfully sitting on his lap and complimenting Leander’s “thick and strong thighs”. The pair continue being touchy-feely throughout the evening, eventually publicly kissing in front of the others, who all scream in excitement and horror. Mike scowls as he watches the kiss occur, not appreciating that ex-teammate Leander would do this in front of him. Later on, Mike pulls Leander for a chat about the matter, lecturing him why it was wrong for him to engage with Fleur in this way. Leander laughs in Mike’s face, calling him “weirdly possessive and jealous about a tiny kiss”, thinking that Mike’s ego is continuing to get in the way of ‘basic human functioning’. Mike flat-out asks Leander if the move was due to him “having an issue with (Mike)”, to which Leander openly and honestly calls the decision to turn on Billy “a bad move for the Rookies”, thinking that it has taken momentum off their side and now set a precedent that they as a team will cannibalise themselves “simply because (they) can”. Mike tells Leander that he is “being ignorant to the kind of person Billy was and what he said”, to which Leander coldly replies that ‘Billy didn’t go that step too far until after he was nominated’ and that “before that he was just a hot-head old man”. Not coming to any agreements, the men split away from one another, worried that Billy’s exit and this fight is signifying the indefinite downfall of Rookie unity.
The next morning, the eleven remaining players hike early to their RVs which have been brought to meet them at a closer distance, then driving from Lagodekhi to the city of Tbilisi. On the three hour journey, Mike requests to speak to Fleur alone at the back of one of the RVs, meaning to apologise to her for his behaviour the past twenty-four hours. Mike acknowledges that he “behaved like an ass”, and that he didn’t mean any negative remarks he made towards Fleur in his moment of anger. Fleur accepts his apology, claiming that she was just surprised he behaved so nastily when she wanted to spend time with the other girls. The pair ultimately hug it out, feeling that they are once again on good terms moving forward. Arriving in Tbilisi, the players head to a local restaurant where they’re met by Lincoln and Sinead, who have taken the initiative to order everybody an array of khachapuri for lunch; a traditional Georgian cheese-filled bread. Although some of the players pass due to an aversion to cheese, the group are glad to sit around in temporary harmony as they enjoy their meal. Lincoln tells the players after they eat that they’ll be selling khachapuri around Tbilisi from their own individual hand-pushed food carts. Each player is instructed that they must sell each khachapuri for 8 Georgian Lari (roughly £2.10), with the goal being to earn 100 Lari in order to ‘check-in’. The first individual to do so will be crowned the daily winner, whilst the last to finish will automatically face repatriation. Players are told that they cannot exceed or go under the price for the khachapuri, but that they are not bound to remain in any particular street or area throughout the task. They may also not pool money to one another, but are able to work together to locate footfall. The eleven players change into their ‘street vendor’ costumes, getting their fresh khachapuri in their food carts before setting off into the streets of Tbilisi.
The group initially find the task awkward, finding it difficult trying to communicate with the locals effectively in order to shift their khachapuri. Gabriella is shown to be communicating with a group of students that appear interested, only to be interrupted by Nicholas who asks the students if they have an accommodation nearby with other interested individuals. Feeling intruded on, Gabriella turns and snaps, exclaiming “f**k off Nicholas, this is my sale, don’t come here and try to steal it go somewhere else”. Nicholas blushes and tries to deny that he was doing anything of the sort, arguing back with Gabriella as he pushes his cart away rather than face her wrath any further. Gabriella turns to the fearful students and apologises for the scuffle, commenting that “he’s crazy, don’t trust him or his khachapuri… mouldy cheese!”. Despite being shut down, Nicholas is able to find another student who takes him to a local accommodation, making a large amount of money in quick time. Elsewhere, Charliese and Amanda work together in shifting their food, with Charliese’s ‘young attractive blonde’ approach and Amanda’s ‘wise talking Irish charm’ playing hand in hand to gather a good crowd for the ladies. Alternatively, Hadia struggles to get the attention of the Georgian people, joking that she thinks her headscarf isn’t doing her any favours in the formerly Islamic conquest city of Tbilisi. Hadia heads off to find a ‘Muslim quarter’, thinking she “may have more luck amongst (her) own people”. Small Lori is also shown to be struggling, having very little street presence to gather a crowd, and being ignored by those she awkwardly tries to engage with. Due to her injury, Johanna has a tough time pushing around her cart, opting to instead stay by the ‘check-in’ point out of fear that she’ll be unable to push her cart a further distance. In the end, Charliese is able to check-in first with her currency, followed by Amanda less than two minutes later after they raced one another back to the check-in point. Nicholas finishes in third place after his successful student-based market, irritating a fourth place Gabriella who had hoped to beat him. The remaining players check-in with the exception of Hadia, Johanna and Lori, with the three women still being out as the lunch-rush is firmly over. Hadia and Johanna are eventually able to arrive before Lori, who is sent for after she failed to get above 80 Lari in the entire task, and leaving her nominated. With Charliese’s preferred option now nominated, the daily winner takes a moment to consider who she’d like to place against her adversary. Eventually, Charliese names Leander as her nominee, feeling that he is too great of a threat and somebody that she has little to no trust in, believing that he also may have sway with other boys to send Lori home. Sinead tells Leander and Lori that they’ll be given just over an hour to campaign with sunset looming, before one of them becomes the sixth player to leave the road trip.
Immediately following the results, Lori joins Gabriella and Fleur in conversation, being invited by Gabriella to join their ‘alliance’. Gabriella declares that they need to solidify a group immediately, telling Fleur that she is confident Lori will be with them, and that they can be Road Trip’s second successful all-female alliance. Fleur seems excited by this suggestion, knowing that Johanna would also be interested in working alongside them. However, Lori claims to not want to work alongside Charliese, which Fleur and Gabriella note she may have to in order for their group to be a success. The three women agree that Amanda wouldn’t be a fit with their group due to age differences and the fact she is close to Leander, additionally mutually agreeing that none of them want to add Hadia to the group. The three women criticise Hadia for being a ‘sloppy’ player, thinking that she would be unable to join them in a cutthroat venture to reach the end, and would almost certainly rat them out to Nicholas if they told her of their plans. After Fleur leaves, Gabriella assures Lori that she will be safe, confident that they can get the votes against Leander due to his target being much bigger after his consecutive high-placements in challenges. However, Fleur is shown in a confessional to be doubting keeping Lori, admitting that she knows Leander has her back and would be a stronger shield for herself and Johanna moving forward over Lori. Fleur talks to Johanna about this, who raises concerns that Leander is getting in her head, thinking that she’d rather they become the challenge threats rather than relying on the boys to win for them. Elsewhere, Leander campaigns alongside ally Amanda for his safety, speaking with former Rookie Liam to help him survive in order to keep their stronger members active, rather than handing power over to the Redeemers who are now slowly evening the numbers out. Additionally, Leander talks to Nicholas after the two agreed to watch one another’s backs, pitching that they cannot let another man leave the game due to the threat of the women utilising their numbers to gang up on the remaining men as ‘threats’. Despite Liam’s assurance that he will support Leander, he is shown to heavily campaign to vote his former teammate out, declaring in a confessional that he doesn’t want to lose the opportunity to “get rid of a loose cannon and challenge threat who really isn’t that different to Billy”. At sunset, Liam’s campaigning in particular and the formation of an ‘all-girls’ group is enough to leave Amanda completely alone in voting Lori, with Leander being blindsided from the game in a 7-1 result. The pair hug one another as Amanda whispers into his ear that she “had no idea”, receiving his well-wishes and warning to “watch out for Liam”. In a final blindside, Lincoln confirms that Leander will in fact be the first member of the jury, going on to reveal that for the first time in Road Trip history – a jury of eight will determine the Champion of the Road Trip between the final three contestants rather than the typical final two. A pleased Leander claps his hands as he departs, glad to know that his blindside may come back to bite those who hadn’t suspected this rule change to take place. The remaining ten players return to the RV, with Amanda heavily beginning a push against Liam for his deceptive gameplay, noting that the entire group feel that he is overplaying and becoming far too untrustworthy in his handling of ex-teammates and allies.
===Episode #7 - Above Board===
The morning after Leander’s elimination, Amanda continues to feel uneasy after losing her closest ally in the game. In a confessional, Amanda talks about her certainty of the Rookies unity alliance “being completely dead”, firmly no longer having any trust in her former teammates for keeping her in the dark. Fearing that the last result has put her at the bottom of the group, Amanda concentrates on integrating herself further with each member of the game during the two hour drive from Tbilisi to the Georgian ski-resort of Gudauri. Amanda’s position within the group appears to improve as a result of her social manoeuvring, convincing players that she remains both trustworthy and less threatening due to ‘being curvier’ and older than the other players. Finishing her confessional, Amanda claims that her strategy will continue to play the role of the ‘older sister’ figure that others can confide in, and exaggerating that she is less of a threat in competitions than others, despite already having one win under her belt. In the other RV, Johanna speaks to Charliese privately as they sit together around the table, with Johanna quietly inviting Charliese to join the ‘all-female’ alliance with herself, Fleur, Gabriella and Lori. Charliese voices concerns about the omission of Amanda from this group and the inclusion of Lori, requesting that they be swapped in the alliance. However, Johanna explains that Charliese will need to overcome her disdain for Lori, believing that they have a bigger mission than targeting who they ‘dislike’. Charliese ultimately agrees to join the alliance, but tells Johanna that she will not personally target Amanda, nor will she promise to save Lori “when she flops and ends up in last place again”. In a confessional, Johanna laughs at the dysfunction of trying to get the women to work together, believing this to be the reason that such an alliance has only happened once before. Whilst she acknowledges that she hopes the new alliance will succeed, she also notes her intention to keep her positive working relationships with Liam and Nicholas to give her and Fleur multiple means of reaching the end together.
Arriving in Gudauri, the group drive up the mountainous region and eventually park up alongside the Tetri Aragvi white-water river. There, the players find a pre-arranged riverside picnic waiting for them, supplying an array of fresh Georgian foods and drinks. Over their food, Nicholas spends time continuing to talk with Irish charmer and strategic force Liam, having begun to trust him further after voting together the last few rounds. In a confessional, Nicholas confesses that he finds Liam “bizarrely attractive”, liking both his confidence and assertion of authority over other players strategically and socially. Liam continues to sweet talk Nicholas as they eat, aware and comfortable with the fact that Nicholas may have a crush on him. Several players begin stripping into their bathing suits, choosing to take their free period to swim in the cool waters of the river. Nicholas ushers both Liam and Mike to follow him as they swim around, settling in some shallow waters away from the rest of the group. Nicholas tells both men that as the only males left in the game that they cannot afford to let any of them be the next ousted from the game, concerned that the girls (who they are aware are getting closer) could formulate an alliance against them. Mike and Liam both vocally agree with this, believing that they would be a strong trio to work together throughout the next few rounds to ensure their survival. Liam tells both men that they can rely on working with Johanna and Fleur, whilst Nicholas believes he has Hadia on side due to their friendship that began in Scandinavia, therefore coming to a conclusion that they need to oust some of the Rookie women next. The men begin to feel confident about their position, with Nicholas declaring in his confessional that “this is where the game turns in (his) favour”.
With lunch finished, the players dry-off and head further up the Georgian mountains where they find Lincoln and Sinead waiting for them. The hosts inform the players that they’ll now be taking on their next daily challenge, which will involve each of them ‘practicing for winter sports’, with skiing and snow-boarding both popular in winter months throughout the Gudauri mountain resort. Each players will be standing atop a model snowboard that has been raised one metre off the ground, with each snowboard being held up by a stand that enables it to balance and tip either side of the stand in a seesaw fashion. Lincoln explains that the goal will simply be to balance on their snowboard as long as possible, with the last player standing being given the position of ‘Tour Leader’, and the first eliminated player automatically facing the next repatriation. All ten take their positions atop their snowboards, with the safety-holds being released simultaneously, causing everybody to wobble and panic as they quickly try to adjust to the task. Within seconds, Amanda, Charliese, Johanna and Liam all fall from their boards, being eliminated easily and having no shot take control for the day. Sinead has the tapes reviewed, confirming that Charliese fell and hit the ground first ahead of the other three, leaving her as the first of two nominees for the day. Before the one minute mark has been passed, Gabriella, Hadia and Mike also fall from their boards, leaving all surprised at the speed at which seven of the ten players have been eliminated. The three remaining players prove to have more stability in their positioning, with it being another six minutes until Lori’s shaking legs tire and she joins the others in watching the final showdown between Fleur and Nicholas. The pair begin negotiating, although neither is willing to step down and allow the other to win. After thirty minutes, Nicholas’ legs fail to stop wobbling, and he eventually is forced to accept defeat, choosing to graciously climb down rather than risk an unflattering fall. Fleur is congratulated by her fellow competitors, glad to claim her first daily win of her Road Trip experience. When the celebrations die down, Lincoln asks Fleur to name her nominee to face Charliese, with Fleur considering who to select to give Charliese the best chance of survival. Determining that Hadia lacks allies and isn’t much of a threat, Fleur selects her fellow Redeemer as her nominee, apologising to her for a move that “is just game”. Sinead tells the two women that they’ll have several hours until sundown, before one of them will be repatriated and become the second member of the jury.
After the results, Amanda is approached by daily winner Fleur, thanking her for not selecting her as the nominee. Fleur assures Amanda that she “isn’t even a possibility” of being her target, instead reiterating her desire that Hadia will leave due to “floating through the game”. Fleur tells Amanda that she perceives Hadia to be underserving of going much further, with Amanda agreeing that Hadia would be an easy player for them to vote off. However, Amanda later speaks in a confessional about seeking revenge on the Rookies who turned on her the previous round, claiming that “an immediate retaliation against Charliese” for nominating Leander “is oh so tempting”. Charliese and Hadia spend their remaining few hours each campaigning for their safety, with Charliese speaking to Johanna, Fleur and Gabriella about the ‘all-female’ alliance, also requesting that the girls get Lori to vote on side “for the greater good”; additionally hoping to get the Rookies votes against Hadia in order to keep their numbers advantage over them. Alternatively, Hadia struggles as she realises she has made very few useful connections in the game, speaking to friend and ally Nicholas in hope that he’ll be able to use his skills to her benefit. Wanting to save his friend, Nicholas speaks again with new allies Mike and Liam, reminding both men that she will be loyal to them if they save her, whereas Charliese is more likely to have a linkage to the other girls. Conversations continue to interwind throughout the afternoon, showing that Nicholas has been working to save Hadia by appealing to Amanda and Lori, and Johanna, Gabriella and Fleur trying to continue their links to Liam and Mike, falsely proposing that they target Hadia and Amanda next as a group. At the repatriation however, Liam and Mike are shown to not fall for the tactics as they remain on Nicholas’ side in voting against Charliese, whereas Gabriella and Johanna remain loyal to the ‘all-girls’ group by voting for Hadia. The girls are left disappointed as both Amanda and supposed ally Lori join the men in voting for Charliese, taking the chance to blindside a stronger competitor over ‘floater’ Hadia. A shocked Charliese accepts the result with a smile, wishing everybody luck and telling her fellow Rookies that they’re ‘blowing their chances’. Once Charliese leaves to head to be sequestered with Leander until the end of the game, leaving behind a nervous Fleur, Gabriella and Johanna, now realising that their easy ride to the final with their ‘all-girls alliance’ is not as straight forward as they had hoped.
===Episode #8 - Tuned to the Same Frequency===
Immediately as the final nine return to their RVs, previous daily winner Fleur pulls ally Johanna to one side privately in order to confront her about being blindsided by Charliese’s exit over Hadia. Fleur accuses Johanna of knowing about the plan, believing that her closest ally has certainly betrayed her and couldn’t possibly have been unaware of the plan. Despite Johanna’s protests that she too was in the dark on the move, Fleur continues to remain mistrustful and in a state of disbelief. This continues as equally blindsided Gabriella joins the conversations, telling Fleur to “stop being stupid and paranoid and realise (they) all got duped”. Gabriella and Fleur bicker for several more minutes as Johanna tries to mediate, wanting Fleur to realise that neither women knew and that they cannot divide at their moment of weakness. Eventually, the girls come to an understanding and realise that the men, Amanda and Lori must have come up with an alternative plan that may suggest they are forming an alliance against them. After a few minutes, Lori comes to join the women, pleading with them not to be angry, trying to explain that she had never wanted to work alongside Charliese, but that she is “still completely intending to go to the end” with the other three girls. The three women brand Lori’s move ‘selfish and potentially fatal’ for them, concerned that the other five players in the game now have a numbers advantage over them should they so choose to team up. Lori claims that such an outcome will not be likely, confident that they can split the others apart in the next repatriation vote. However, all three women are shown to be irritated in their confessionals still, clearly aware that Nicholas, Hadia, Mike and Liam could have a deal, with Amanda holding the balance of power after being excluded by the other women from their group. Returning to the RV, Mike jokingly asks Lori if she ‘had a good time grovelling to others’, alluding to the fact that he witnessed Lori explaining herself to the girls that had wanted Hadia to go. Mike begins to question the nature of the girls’ meeting, catching onto the notion that there may be a deal between them that has now gone awry. Feeling embarrassed and tired, Lori snaps back at Mike, telling him to stop trying to start an argument, promising him that she ‘is not the one he wants to mess with’. Mike rolls his eyes at Lori and fluffs his hand in her direction, requesting that she relax and “try not to look for someone else to hate on just because Charliese is gone”.
The next morning, the final nine players drive from Gudauri for three hours towards the small Georgian town of Gori, with their journey then taking them towards the ancient rock-formation town of Uplistsikhe that had been constructed around the Early Iron Age. Fearing for her position in the game after the last result, Johanna requests to speak with Liam as they lay together on the double bed at the back compartment of their RV. The pair begin by talking casually, eventually getting onto the topic of the last vote. Liam confesses that Nicholas had campaigned hard to save Hadia, believing that it “came down to the fact that people can beat Hadia, but Charliese was tougher competition”. Johanna claims to accept this argument, noting that she wishes somebody had told her so that she could vote “in their alliance”. Liam begins to lightly interrogate Johanna after this comment, stating that he had felt a bit of distance between her and Fleur in regards to their cross-team alliance that had formed in the early days of the road trip. Johanna denies there being any distance, asserting that their quietness in relation to the deal was “because (they) felt so comfortable”. The two eventually agree that their alliance is still very much alive, with Fleur and Mike as the two other main members, and a looser position available for Gabriella and Nicholas. Both Liam and Johanna agree that as a group their next target should be Amanda due to her social capabilities, thinking that she is also the least connected player in terms of a ‘closest ally’, and thus would be easily nominated without anybody taking offence on her behalf. In a confessional, Johanna talks about her confidence increasing after a positive discourse with Liam, but remains unsatisfied that this positivity can be attributed to everybody on the road trip. In light of this, Johanna spends time socialising with everybody throughout the remainder of the day, utilising a strategy of “trying not to be anyone’s least favourite person”, and thus making the possibility of her being nominated by another player “virtually zero”.  Arriving in Uplistsikhe, the final nine players find Lincoln and Sinead already waiting at the entrance to the rocky-town, excited and nervous as they are told that they’ll be facing a ‘team challenge’ for the day. Lincoln tells the players that they’ll be split into three teams of three, chosen by team captains after a short determining task. The trial is simply a three-question quiz based on a brief history of Uplistsikhe (that had been explained by Sinead), with the three players to score the highest being declared the winners. After the three questions and a tiered tiebreaker, Mike, Hadia and Gabriella are crowned captains for the day. First to pick Mike surprises everyone as he selects Johanna, believing that with her hand now on the mend that she is a “great all-round sportsperson”. Rather than select friend Nicholas as suspected, Hadia takes Amanda, noting in her confessional to be selecting somebody she both likes and thinks would leave should they lose the challenge. Gabriella then selects friend and ally Fleur, with Mike’s final selection being ally Liam. Hadia shocks the group again as she snubs Nicholas for a second time, bringing Lori onto her team and leaving her un-picked friend to join Gabriella’s team by default.
Sinead tells the players that for their daily challenge, each team will be connected by a ‘leash-belt’, meaning they must move as one for the duration of the challenge. The team will begin with a radio on a particular frequency, with the goal being to find the radio hidden around the large stone town on the same frequency. Each found radio will have another by its side, with this new radio leading to a third on its same frequency and so on. This process will continue for a total of five frequencies, with the goal being to find all the necessary radios in the fastest time possible. The team who does so will be given the sole power on who to repatriate from the losing team. Each team is given a moment to prepare as they’re connected to one another via their belts, told that they’ll be going in a random order so as to not all be on the course at the same time. During this, Nicholas questions friend Hadia on not selecting him, to which she claims that it is “better for both of (them)” if they’re on opposing teams, as it ‘reduces the chance’ of them being easy targets. Despite this excuse, Nicholas condemns Hadia as a friend and ally in his confessional, believing that it was a clear indication that she has no gratitude and willingness to work alongside him after he helped save her at the last repatriation. Team 3 is first to compete, finding that Nicholas is an exceptional leader at bringing them through the challenge, with Gabriella being the worst competitor of the day by far as she fails to help locate a single radio, additionally speaking loudly as both Nicholas and Fleur try to hear for the same frequency static/sound. Both Team 1 and 2 compete with similar effectiveness, working better as teams but without the strong leadership and success shown by Nicholas in the task; despite also lacking the abysmal performance of Gabriella. Sinead and Lincoln gather the exhausted trios for the results, informing them that every team finished within twenty seconds of one another in arguably the closest team challenge of Road Trip history. In the end, Team 1 is announced to have fallen into the middle, leaving Mike, Johanna and Liam safe but unable to cast a vote for the round. Team 2 is declared to have beaten out Team 3, leaving Gabriella, Fleur and Nicholas at the mercy of ‘Tour Leaders’ Hadia, Amanda and Lori. Liam somewhat stirs as the results are announced, holding his lifesaver in consideration of using it to save friend and ally Nicholas from his situation. However, a confessional reveals that Liam feels too nervous to go through with the act, certain that it would alienate Johanna and Fleur as it would leave the latter at risk against Gabriella (and suggest to them that Nicholas is a more valued member of the alliance than them).
The three losing members of Team 3 are told that they’ll have an hour to campaign for their lives in the game, with it nearing the time for the three winning ladies to decide which of them will become the eighth to leave the road trip. Amanda requests a meeting between herself, Hadia and Lori in order to discuss the vote before talking to any of the nominees, pitching to her team that she is “almost certain that (she’ll) be voting Nicholas”, citing him as a threat and somebody that she doesn’t particularly trust. Lori quickly sides with Amanda on this note, claiming that she wouldn’t feel right voting for Fleur or Gabriella in this moment. Hadia somewhat panics, realising that she has perhaps condemned her ‘friend’ to repatriation after failing to select him for their team. Hadia tells both girls that she understands their reasoning, but pleads that she would feel “disgusting” if Nicholas were to leave in this manner, instead suggesting that they go after Fleur due to her having a more solidified relationship with players such as Gabriella, Johanna and Mike. The two women continue to shut Hadia down, with Amanda and Lori reminding her that they won as a team but “still vote as individuals”, knowing that Hadia bears no authority over them in this moment. In spite of the women seemingly already reaching a decision, they willingly hear the arguments of those nominated as well as those ineligible to vote. Johanna, Fleur and Gabriella all reiterate to Lori that they need her to keep the vote on Nicholas, feeling pleased as Lori assures them Amanda is “on the same page” with that outcome. Liam and Mike both softly speak with Amanda and Lori, wanting to do their best to save Nicholas, but also not wanting to attack Fleur or Gabriella in the process, knowing that if both stay in that they’ll need to keep them as potential allies to retain some control. Nicholas realises quickly that there is no swaying Amanda (who tells him of her vote), leaving him no choice but to grovel to Lori for his safety. Nicholas and Hadia jointly approach Lori, hoping that she would consider a ‘final three’ deal alongside them, with Nicholas claiming Johanna, Fleur and Gabriella are likely a final three themselves, and that Lori would be in “a much more powerful position if (she) voted Fleur out tonight”. Lori is shown to be conflicted as they get to the vote, feeling less confident about what she wants to do than when the results had initially been announced. Ultimately, Hadia’s fateful mistake costs her old ‘friend’ the game as both Amanda and Lori stay true to their initial word, ousting Nicholas in a 2-1 result over Fleur. Nicholas willingly says goodbye to the entire group, keeping positive vibes after feeling that his second round was ‘nothing to be ashamed of’. Fleur and Gabriella are reassuringly hugged by Johanna and Lori, glad to have maintained their ‘four’ through the round. Nicholas wishes everybody luck, choosing to tell Hadia that he “wishes she cared as much about friendship as (he) did”, clearly holding her responsible for his exit. A tearful Hadia apologises to Nicholas as he departs in his taxi, feeling alone in the game after poor choices as a captain. The final eight return to their RVs, finding that only one remains for the latter portion of the trip, leaving everybody cramped together and without any place to hide in the post-repatriation fallout.
===Episode #9 - Up to One's Neck===
The morning after Nicholas’ repatriation, Hadia continues to feel guilt over failing to select her friend for her team, realising that if she had then both would still be in the game. Gabriella notes Hadia sitting alone at breakfast, choosing to join her and check-in to see how she is doing. Hadia complains to Gabriella that she felt ignored by both Amanda and Lori after winning the challenge, noting that Lori in particular lied and gave her false hope that she’d consider voting for Fleur; now realising that no such outcome other than Nicholas leaving was ever going to manifest. Gabriella tries to remind Hadia that everybody is entitled to their own votes, but accepts that Lori shouldn’t have senselessly lied when there was no reason to not be honest. The two girls continue analysing Lori’s repeated ‘fence sitting’ and changing loyalties, not certain that she is the most trustworthy of individuals left in the game. Hadia goes on to tell Gabriella that she will be targeting Lori next, hoping that others do the same to remove the ‘wildcard’ from the group. After talking to Hadia, Gabriella returns to the others in order to clean off her plate. There, Amanda asks Gabriella what Hadia had said to her, being aware that her mood has been low since she and Lori refused to vote with her at the last repatriation. Gabriella reveals that Hadia still feels irritated by the move, leading Amanda to mutter that Hadia “needs to get an effing grip”, having no sympathy for somebody behaving this way after losing an ally. Amanda points out that she had lost Leander just rounds before, and that everybody “needs to accept that your friends and you aren’t all going to walk hand in hand until the end”. Gabriella agrees with Amanda’s scathing assessment of Hadia’s attitude, believing that her self-isolation will all but confirm the large target on her back.
The final eight players enter the RV and begin driving for over five hours towards the Georgian coastal city of Batumi. Arriving just after midday, the players immediately head to Batumi boardwalk after being told to remain in the area to meet Lincoln and Sinead for their next daily challenge. The players are given just an hour to walk around, taking in the sun and welcoming beaches of Batumi in different groups. Gabriella and Fleur sit together on the beach, talking through their enjoyment of being in a more urban location for the first time in days. The girls reminisce about those who have left the game, confident that at this stage the two of them are locked into going to the endgame together. Additionally, both women mutually agree on Johanna being their third option to go to the end, but also consider keeping the position open for Lori should they lose Johanna by the end of the game. The women note that their closeness is no longer a secret amongst the group, and that they’ll have no choice but to try and keep challenge wins between the ‘all-girl’ alliance in order to prevent any of them being sent home. Elsewhere, the other contestants are seen as a group entering a beachside ice cream parlour, eager to enjoy something sweet on the coastline. In the ice cream parlour, Lori questions Hadia on “things (she) had to say earlier” after being informed by Amanda of the conversation that Hadia had with Gabriella that morning. Hadia fearlessly confesses her words again to Lori, plainly telling her that she “lied to (her) and has lied to everyone” throughout the game, asking Lori “who (she’s) even really loyal to”. Lori answers by telling Hadia that she is “loyal to no one but (herself)”, thinking Hadia foolish to believe that she or anyone else is any different. Hadia thanks Lori for the clarification, but is interrupted by Johanna before she can say any more. Johanna scolds Hadia for her attitude with Lori, reminding her that it was her who Nicholas was angry with as he left the game - not Lori. Johanna goes on to support Lori’s argument of everyone only being loyal to themselves, telling Hadia that she has to worry less about breaking loyalty because “no one has made (her) a proper alliance proposal”. Insulted by Johanna and Lori’s words, Hadia chooses to excuse herself with her ice cream, eating alone outside and declaring in her confessional that she ‘doesn’t like a single one of them’ other than Amanda, who she believes is “the only one who doesn’t make (her) want to leave”.
All the road trippers reconvene on the beach together, meeting Lincoln and Sinead who inform them that they’ll be taking on their next daily challenge. For the task, all the players will be buried up to their necks in the sand by the shoreline, with the incoming tide slowly making their breathing space more difficult. Lincoln explains that all the players will be enabled to have one hand out of the sand (to signal when they’d like to quit), with the person able to withstand the fear of drowning the longest being declared the winner. The players are all buried in an equal line, initially laughing as the challenge begins due to fear and apprehension. However, within twenty-minutes each player begins to feel the ocean water covering the bottom half of their heads, additionally finding it more difficult as the incoming waves collide with their heads. Liam begins to worry around the thirty-five minute mark, tapping out and requesting that production pull him free of the sand. Liam quickly admits that he has a fear of being buried alive/not being able to breathe, handing over his ‘Golden Fob Lifesaver’ to Sinead to assure his safety from placing last. Sinead confirms that with this, Liam has spared himself being automatically nominated, meaning that the next eliminated player will instead take his place. Gabriella and Fleur talk to one another as the challenge continues, laughing as they’re buried side-by-side. The girls quietly reassure each other, believing this challenge could be one which one of them or Johanna is able to win. The girls’ hopes are raised further as Mike is the next to shout for release, not wanting to withstand the fear of the water covering above his mouth any more. Mike kicks the sand after getting free, annoyed that he has put himself in this position. As the remaining six face the water nearing their nostrils, Lori and Hadia both simultaneously quit the challenge, taking their spots by the men as they’re freed. The remaining four women all now face being submerged under the water, leaving it a competition of holding their breath. Amanda and Johanna panic and request to be pulled, shocked as both Fleur and Gabriella fight-on for an additional forty seconds. Ultimately, Fleur requests to be freed ahead of Gabriella, leaving the Rookie to claim her first daily win. After catching her breath, Gabriella apologises and selects Hadia to be her nominee, saying “it feels like the best thing for the whole group” to see her leave. Hadia and Mike are told by Lincoln and Sinead that they’ll have several hours to speak to those eligible to vote, before one of them will join the jury at sundown.
Hadia quickly appears defeated after the results are known, being fully aware that nobody on the trip particularly cares for her at this stage. Mike speaks with ally Liam, glad to hear that he’ll be helping him in campaigning for his safety. The two men speak with Fleur and Johanna, reiterating the idea of their cross-team alliance (and technical final four), leading both girls to state their intention of voting Hadia out of the game and becoming the last Redeemers remaining in the process. Knowing that Hadia still sees her on a friendly-level, Amanda chooses to privately announce that she’ll be voting for Mike to leave, also thinking that this act could win her Hadia’s jury vote in the case she reaches the final three. Realising that there is no hope for her survival, Hadia sits alone on the beachfront and enjoys the sunset, believing it to be a liberating experience to never have to campaign for her own safety in Road Trip, and perhaps be the first individual to leave the game without needing to do so twice. The others come together and discuss Hadia’s lack of effort, deciding to join her and speak in a civilised manner as they conclude that she isn’t going to try and stir anything up. Lincoln and Sinead interrupt the group conversations at sundown, surprised to see everyone spending so much time as one prior to a repatriation vote. The eligible players then cast their key-fobs, predictably sending Hadia home in a 4-1 result, pleased that she was able to leave through conventional means during her second chance at the game. Once Hadia leaves, the final seven players head as one to get a group dinner, all now realising that with the group target gone that any one of them could be next on the majority hitlist.
===Episode #10 - Lakeview Menace===
Finishing their evening meal, the remaining seven players return to their RV to find that they have been provided with a driver who will take them overnight from Batumi to Gegharkunik Province across the border in Armenia. Some of the players choose to immediately try and sleep through the journey, whilst others remain seated at the table in order to continue their nightly conversations. Mike and Fleur sit opposite one another and joke about their seemingly dead ‘flirtmance’, pondering if there would be any chance for them to explore their bond outside of the game. Fleur assures Mike that she would “love to see how things go” between them outside, but claims that she wouldn’t do more than ‘a kiss’ whilst on the road trip. Mike questions as to how he could experience such a kiss, with Fleur telling him to ask her again if they’re both sat at the final four, making Mike laugh. Fleur soon goes to bed, leaving Mike alone to speak with Amanda and Gabriella around the table. Amanda confesses to the pair that she’d like to keep on the trend of voting out the Redeemers now that only two remain, beginning with Johanna and then going after Fleur next. Gabriella tells Amanda that it could prove a difficult task, particularly as she ‘doesn’t view the game under team lines anymore’ and would rather keep Fleur and Johanna than some others. Mike speaks on his own conflict over the matter, believing that if he were to win he’d struggle to nominate anybody with a clear conscience. As the three continue talking, they are listened to by Liam who is on the nearby bed, having woken during their chat and decided to eavesdrop as best he can. However, Liam fails to hear the entire conversation accurately, causing what he does hear to fester paranoia in his own mind as to whether he can trust any of his so-called ‘allies’.
The next morning, several players sit awake around different areas of the RV as the enter the final portion of their journey, with their driver informing them that they’re headed to the largest body of water within Armenia and the entire Caucasus region; Lake Sevan. Liam gestures for Mike to follow him towards the back of the RV, wanting to question him on the nature of his conversation with Amanda and Gabriella. Liam panics and accuses Mike of ‘making deals all over the place’ with the girls, causing Mike to immediately go on the defensive and brandish his friend ‘paranoid and crazy’ for believing this. The two men bicker for several minutes, slowly getting louder and gaining the attention of the girls up front. Mike tells Liam that they were “talking about voting for Johanna or Fleur”, a statement which Liam finds hard to believe due to Mike and him supposedly being in the ‘cross-team’ alliance with them, and also recognising that “Gabriella would never vote out Fleur”. Hearing her name, Gabriella joins the men at the back of the RV, trying to control the situation after Mike storms off and declares that he “can’t deal with (Liam) acting like a clown”. Liam confronts Gabriella, wrongly asking if ‘she had said she’d vote out Fleur’, which Gabriella quickly denies and says has been misconstrued. Liam threatens to call Fleur back to let her hear of the comment, causing Gabriella to scold Liam for “threatening” her with a lie. The two continue arguing, being loud enough to cause Johanna to come to the back to try and calm the pair down. Gabriella shouts that Liam “is a snake, liar, bitch”, causing Liam to laugh and assert that Gabriella is “aggressive trash”. Johanna yells at the pair to stop, seeing that both her ‘allies’ are ready to take one another down. Despite Johanna’s pleas, Gabriella continues yelling at Liam, forcing Johanna to take Liam’s side and turn on Gabriella, demanding that she move away and sit with Fleur. Gabriella complies, not appreciating that Johanna failed to have her back in the moment. Liam begins ranting to Johanna about the argument, exposing what he wrongly assumes he heard both last night and from Mike, equally concerning Johanna who no longer has the belief that she and Fleur are the only ‘two timing’ players in the game.
At Lake Sevan, the group are whisked out of the RV and brought to the lakeside where they’re able to sit and eat a particularly awkward picnic after the rowdiness that infected the last hour of the drive. Not wanting there to be any awkwardness or division between them, Johanna and Gabriella agree to go to one side to ‘hug it out’ and apologise to one another for the argument. Johanna claims that she wasn’t trying to take sides, instead believing that Gabriella needs to control her anger. Gabriella explains her frustrations, telling Johanna that whilst she can forgive and move on with her that she ‘doesn’t want to speak to or look at Liam’, begging that they can send him home next. In a confessional, Johanna mentions that it has “become impossible to ride the fence between both alliances”, particularly as the lines between them have blurred and it is no longer clear if either alliance exists with the members that it had before. The girls are horrified to arrive back at the picnic to find Lori and Liam now bickering after Liam chose to speak aloud about the ‘things he heard’ the night before. Lori credits Liam with causing four arguments in a short space of time, pondering if “this is (his) strategy” to survive until the final six. Liam refuses to accept responsibility for the arguments, believing that it should be open knowledge what others are planning to do in the game. Lori scoffs at this, saying Liam “has about as much evidence as a pastor” with his claims, choosing not to entertain him any further by turning to face the water. Interrupting the uncomfortable picnic, Lincoln and Sinead bring news that the players will now be taking part in their next daily challenge. The players are told for this challenge, they’ll each be water skiing along the lake, with the goal being to hold onto their handles and remain upright for the furthest distance. The individual to do so will be rewarded with the position of ‘Tour Leader’, whilst the person to have the least distance will automatically face repatriation. The players draw for spots, each taking turns water skiing without the others being allowed to watch. In the interest of fairness, each player is given two chances to water ski in order to alleviate any unprecedented factors making a particular run ‘unfair’ (the players are told their further distance will be taken in all instances). Both men once again seem to flop at the task, with Mike claiming that his hatred of deep water has ‘screwed with him again’. Amanda and Fleur additionally end the task feeling less than confidence after they both fell within just thirty-seconds of starting to ski. The other three girls all prove to be stronger, believing that based on what others are saying that they may have a shot to take control. Lincoln gathers the group with the results, confirming that Mike comfortably fell into last place and once again finds himself automatically nominated. Alternatively, Sinead reveals that Johanna has narrowly beaten Gabriella and Lori to claim her first individual daily win and the right to nominate somebody to face Mike. Johanna quickly celebrates, glad to be in the power position after fearing the direction the game was headed. In keeping her position between both groups, Johanna nominates Amanda for repatriation, noting that they have no deal or intention to work together in the final few days. Amanda and Mike hug one another, preparing to begin their campaigns to end the other’s time on the road trip.
The players utilise the next hour to deliberate amongst themselves, knowing that they must reach a verdict on who between Amanda and Mike will be next to leave the game. Johanna tells all the eligible voters and Mike that she intends for Amanda to leave, hoping that her ‘allies’ will respect this by unanimously sending her home. However, Gabriella claims in a confessional to dislike the idea of voting Amanda simply because others want her out, in actuality believing that she would benefit more from Mike leaving the game. Gabriella talks with Amanda and Lori about this belief, with Amanda pleading for both Rookie girls to vote for Mike and stop the others from controlling the last few days of the game. Gabriella tells both girls that she believes she can sway Fleur’s vote, considering a new proposal of a final four between the three of them plus Fleur, stating in a confessional that “Johanna’s closeness with Liam showed me that she isn’t for an all-girl end”. Fleur is pitched to by the other girls, with Lori and Gabriella privately telling her that they have less trust in Johanna now that she is targeting women over the men. They go through with promising Fleur a new final three (with Amanda in fourth place), telling her that they aren’t confident they would reach the end of the game with Johanna any longer. Moreover, Gabriella tells Fleur that they are closer to one another than with Johanna, but that there could be a perception that Fleur stuck too close to Johanna, suggesting this vote gives her an opportunity to distinguish their games. However, Fleur shows confusion in her confessional towards their arguments, pointing out that twenty-four hours prior “Gabriella nominated Hadia… and before that Lori voted for Charliese”. Elsewhere, close-allies Liam and Johanna tell Mike that they are noticing Amanda speaking frequently with Lori and Gabriella, worried that the three may be trying to sway Fleur to their side. The three begin concentrating their efforts onto Fleur, wanting to remind her to stick with their four, leading to further confusion as Fleur questions Johanna one on one about choosing between the ‘cross-team’ four and the ‘all-girl’ alliance, having personally preferred the latter due to feeling closest with Gabriella. As the time to deliberate draws to a close, it becomes clear that all power rests on Fleur’s shoulders, either sending the vote to a tie or condemning Mike to leave the game. In the end, Mike breathes a sigh of relief as he is spared being cut by his ‘flirtmance’ in a 2-2 tie, with Johanna confidently breaking the tie by ousting her nominee Amanda from the game. Amanda sighs and laughs as she hugs everybody goodbye, somewhat regretting her incessant fixation on staying Rookies strong, realising that in doing so she failed to make deals outside her team like her supposed teammates were able to do. The final six stand as one after Amanda departs in a private vehicle, walking together back to their RV to campout overnight at Lake Sevan. Gabriella and Lori remain nervous throughout the walk, viewing the ‘all-female’ group as having splintered apart, and realising that Liam and Mike are much more insulated with Johanna and Fleur than they had ever considered.
===Episode #11 - I Don't Need a Magic Carpet===
Minutes after Amanda’s repatriation, the final six competitors return to the RV in order to debrief over the nights events, particularly as both Gabriella and Lori found themselves voting in the minority against the ‘cross-team’ alliance of four that now appears to control the game. As Lori casually notes that she is ‘shocked and saddened’ at the result, Johanna quickly confronts the pair for their ‘deception’, having been told by Fleur that the two girls were attempting to create a new alliance alongside herself and Amanda to reach the final four. Lori happily admits that Johanna ‘is correct’, reminding Johanna of her earlier comments that “everyone is only loyal to themselves”. Johanna agrees with Lori’s response, believing this to be “game on” between the six of them. The two women have individual confessionals where they slate the other, believing them to be guilty of what they are themselves accused of, and seeking to win power to ensure the other is ‘sent packing’ at the next repatriation. As the women argue, Lori reveals that the women had formed an ‘all-girl’ final, confirming Liam and Mike’s fears. Choosing to ‘strike whilst the iron is hot’, Mike puts Johanna on the spot as he accuses her of being ‘two faced’ and ‘a hypocrite’ for playing the same game as Lori, leaving Johanna nervous as she now faces-off against Lori and Mike despite seemingly coming out on top with Amanda’s departure. Mike begins to become angrier in his tone, thumping his chest and stating “I’m not screwing with any of you anymore. Y’all are liars. I’m on my own!”. Fleur is heard exclaiming “oh gosh” and rolling her eyes as she feigns a gag as Mike yells, standing and linking her friend Johanna’s arm and escorting her outside the RV. Fleur hugs the shaken Johanna, telling her to ignore both Mike and Lori, brandishing them “tweedle dee and tweedle dum”. Johanna hugs Fleur in return, repeatedly thanking her for both sticking by her in the game and ultimately for her unwavering friendship, calling their duo “the highlight of this experience” for her. The two women continue to vocalise support of one another moving towards the final three, unsure who they can work with after somewhat being exposed by Lori as two-timers.
The next morning, the final six players move from Lake Sevan towards Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan. Upon arrival, the players are met by Lincoln and Sinead who take the group to the Armenia Genocide Museum; a memorial and museum dedicated to the unprecedented number of Armenian’s murdered by the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The players take an hour to look around the complex and pay their respects, having been told of the great sense of national pain and generational trauma that has fallen upon Armenian’s after years of violence perpetrated on their land. After the tour, the players head to a nearby open area to sit down and eat together, still reeling from the arguments that took place the night before. Johanna and Lori take the opportunity to head to one side together, apologising to one another for their arguments, and declaring that they don’t wish to end the game on bad terms after forming a solid working relationship the past few weeks. Johanna tells Lori that she is certain that their feuding would only benefit players like Mike, wanting to secretly keep options open to vote Mike out if he continues to act ‘irrationally’. Lori agrees with Johanna, believing that the girls can still recover and get back on track, believing that it would be useful to target Liam next. However, neither women is shown to fully trust the other, instead viewing the make-up as a way to become ‘civil’ rather than fully-fledged alliance members again.
After midday, the players head to the Megerian Carpet Museum, viewing hundreds of different designs upon traditional Armenian rugs. Lincoln and Sinead tell the players that for their next daily challenge they will each be given five different Armenian rugs, and must search through a pile of over a hundred rugs in order to find the same five rugs that match those they’ve been given. The first player to do this will be declared the winner, whilst the last will automatically face repatriation. The players all rush through the rugs, desperately trying to find their rugs amongst the pile ahead of their competition. Despite there being a large percentage of luck involved, several players confidently are shown to be collecting rugs, not realising that those that look the same may have minute differences. Gabriella, Fleur and Liam all check-in their rugs first, only to be told by Lincoln and Sinead that they are wrong and must keep going. Fleur is able to recognise which of her rugs are wrong, replacing them with the correct rugs as she is declared to have won her second individual daily challenge. It takes a further ten minutes for the next competitors to finish, with Fleur shown yawning and checking her nails as the others seem to lack her eye for detail. Johanna, Liam and Lori eventually finish ahead of Gabriella and Mike, leaving the pair as the last two still fighting for safety. Eventually, Mike is able to finish ahead of Gabriella and prevent himself from being automatically nominated for a third straight repatriation. Gabriella appears frustrated as she is announced to be the first of two nominees, concerned that ally Lori will be placed against her after the girls found themselves at the bottom of the group during the last vote. Sinead asks Fleur to name her nominee to face friend and ‘ally’ Gabriella, leaving the blonde socialite struggling as she must once again take a stand and hurt other players’ feelings. In a confessional, Fleur declares her friendship with Johanna and semi-good relationship with Mike quickly left both ‘non-negotiables’ in her own mind, leaving it between Lori and Liam to take the second position. However, Fleur notes that to nominate Lori would alienate Gabriella and put more power in Johanna and Liam’s hands, something that she fears would lower her own chances of winning. Moreover, Fleur recognises that whilst Liam is the least close individual to her in the game, that to nominate him would potentially permanently fracture her strong bond with Johanna that begun on the first night. In the end, Fleur takes a gamble to better her own game and try to protect friend Gabriella by nominating Liam to face her in repatriation. Every player appears shocked as Fleur makes her decision, having assumed that she would place Lori up in his place. Lincoln tells both nominees that they’ll be given just one hour to campaign for their safety before somebody becomes the sixth member of the jury.
Johanna, Mike and Liam quickly corner Fleur after the results, questioning her decision and ‘betrayal’ of their alliance. Fleur cites her reasons, openly claiming that she fears Johanna and Liam would protect one another above her, whilst also believing Lori to be ‘less of a threat’ facing a jury. An angry Johanna tells Fleur that the decision was unwise, pointing out that she and Mike “control the two necessary votes to save Liam and send (Fleur’s) friend Gabriella home”. Liam remains composed during the confrontation, calmly telling Fleur that she “might’ve blown (her) whole game up”, instead telling Johanna and Mike that they can take the credit for saving him “before (they) get to the end together”. Elsewhere, Gabriella and Lori stand together in complete shock over Fleur’s decision, unsure whether to celebrate or consider it a ‘temporary glitch’ in the ‘cross-team’ alliance’s endgame plans. Lori tells Gabriella that she will gladly vote to eliminate Liam, wondering if there’s any chance they could flip Johanna or Mike. However, Gabriella tells Lori that achieving this would be ‘impossible’ due to Johanna’s closeness to Liam and Mike “following Liam around like a lost puppy all game”. The girls eventually speak with Fleur to voice this concern, with Fleur claiming that they would have more of a chance to flip Mike due to his claims of wanting to play individually, and also perhaps convincing him that there would be no hope for him to win if he were to go to the final three with Liam. Fleur is shown in particular to pitch this to Mike, whilst the two girls try and individually speak with Johanna, although neither girl shows much confidence in the ‘cold’ response from Johanna in this moment. Alternatively, Fleur feels confident after Mike acknowledges that Liam is a threat, getting further annoyed with him after Fleur confirms that initially it had been Billy in his place in their ‘alliance’. In a confessional, Mike talks about his desire to get to the end of the game with Fleur due to their ‘story’ shared together, but casts doubt on whether he’d prefer Liam or Gabriella to occupy the third position, particularly as Liam has “been paranoid, controlling and more of a player” than Gabriella over the latter-half of the game. At the repatriation vote, Lincoln and Sinead reveal the vote stands at 1-1 after Johanna and Lori’s votes are revealed, with Mike’s ultimately being the decider. Shocking the group for the second time in a single day, Mike blindsides his former ally and friend Liam by ousting him from the game, deciding that in order to win he would be better off sticking with Fleur and Gabriella. Liam and Johanna stand bewildered at the result, laughing in disbelief as they hug goodbye, feeling irritated and betrayed by Fleur and Mike for their deception. Mike tries to explain himself to Liam, but is told to “save it for later”, knowing that an explanation will be needed to win his and Johanna’s respect back. Gabriella and Lori quietly celebrate their survival, thanking Fleur as they truly believe this move will be ‘instrumental’ in gaining her respect as a player. Lincoln and Sinead address the final five after Liam leaves, informing them that a single location remains on their adventure, with this location dwindling their numbers to three, of which one of them will go on to become the tenth Champion of the Road Trip.
===Episode #12 - Complex Castle Complex===
The final five players return to the RV after Liam’s blindside from the game, with Johanna feeling alone and at the bottom for the first time all season after both Fleur and Mike turned on her in a single round. Johanna notes in a confessional that she “can’t be that mad at Fleur for the move”, knowing that they are all doing what they can to get themselves further and remove individuals that don’t have their interest at heart. However, Johanna calls Mike’s decision to vote out Liam “completely braindead”, believing that “the lack of strategic foresight and reason sums up Mike to a tee”. Fleur takes the time to apologise to Johanna for the decision yet again, reiterating that she still wishes to go to the final three with Johanna by her side. Despite this, Johanna remains weary for Fleur, and Fleur recognises that she has now put herself in a position where everybody left in the game seemingly has her “in their own final three plans”, believing that she is the most insulated player and thus the person who is currently playing the best game. The next morning, the players begin a long journey from Yerevan to Alinja in the separated Azerbaijani autonomous region of Nakhichevan. Due to the hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the players are given a driver for the journey, taking them through Turkey in order to be able to successfully cross into the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic without issue. On the journey, each player takes time thinking through their journey so far, debating in their own mind how to best reach the first ever final three with two competitors that they’ll need to impress the jury over. There remains much internal debate amongst the women whether to oust Johanna next due to now being an ‘underdog’, or to stick to the ‘all-girl’ final four plans and remove Mike to not capitalise over an argument of infiltrating their alliance. In order to give herself a better shot, Johanna tries her best to speak with Fleur, Lori and Gabriella individually, realising that at this stage none of them cite her as their number one (a fault of her own due to prioritising Liam), but that she also believes none of the women have her as the woman they least trust, having been told by Gabriella that Lori is a “wildcard” and from Lori that Fleur has “the best resume” of anyone left in the game. Despite this occurring between the women, Mike remains confident that he can get Johanna out next due to her threat level and mistrust being high, and additionally viewing Lori as “weak socially, physically and strategically” and therefore an easy player to “throw to the wolves” if he has to. The five eventually arrive in Alinja just after midday, finding Lincoln and Sinead waiting for them outside the stunning and legendary Alinja Castle. Lincoln and Sinead tell the players that they’ll now be taking part in their final five daily challenge, in which one of them will automatically face repatriation, and the winner will select the second nominee and ultimately help determine which of them will leave the road trip on its penultimate day.
For the next challenge, Sinead tells the players that they will be performing a ‘treasure hunt’ around the difficult castle complex, solving riddles and clues to lead them to the next clue on the trail. The players will be timed throughout the challenge, with the individual to find their ten clues in the fastest time being declared the winner, and the slowest automatically facing repatriation and facing a fifty-percent chance of leaving in fifth place. Fleur is shown to get lost during her run, finding it difficult deciphering the riddles and puzzles, and realising that she may go from ‘first to worst’ as she hopelessly searches the castle grounds. Mike also appears to have a difficult time, noting that he has been abysmal in the latter half of the game in challenges, believing that he may yet again find himself in danger of going home. Alternatively, the other three ladies all finish in much quicker times, confidently and methodically working their way around Alinja Castle, determined to get the win in order to guarantee their spot at the final four. The players are gathered together by Lincoln and Sinead, who confirm that Fleur finished slower than Mike and will face her third repatriation of the season. Johanna’s athletic speed is enough to propel her to victory over Gabriella and Lori, leaving her eligible to nominate somebody to face friend and ally Fleur in the repatriation. Johanna tells the players that she has spent the morning considering her nomination, and that “ultimately this is a personal game and one in which hurt feelings can be enough to send you home”, reminding Mike that his “decision to take down Liam and get yourself in a new group is going to be what ends (his) game”, nominating him against ‘flirtmance’ Fleur and gladly enacting her vengeance for the last vote. Mike sighs and places his hands on his head, telling Johanna that “it’s a dumb move” when the other three are likely to take one another to the end. However, Johanna tells him that she’ll ‘accept whatever bed she’s made for herself, just as he should accept the one he made the night before’. A frustrated Mike grows further irritated as Sinead and Lincoln state there will only be ten minutes of deliberations before the vote is due, as sundown is already upon them. Gabriella and Lori both vocally tell Mike that they’ll be voting to send him home, having made an agreement with Fleur and Johanna during the journey from Armenia to return to their ‘all-female’ final four and fight it out amongst themselves. Mike tries his best to tell the girls that they are ‘killing their chances’, believing that Fleur and Johanna will be seen as the ones who have run the game and ultimately will gain more respect off a jury for being Redeemers. Nevertheless, the two girls remain stubborn in their conviction, casting their votes to eliminate Mike and give Road Trip its second ever all-female final four. Mike frustratedly says his goodbyes, heading off and declaring that “Fleur has (his) full support” to win the game. The four women come together in a group hug as they cheer and celebrate successfully completing their mission despite the bumpy journey, listening as Lincoln and Sinead confirm that in twenty-four hours three of them will go on to face the jury, where one of them will become £100,000 richer as the winner of the road trip.
On the final morning of the road trip, the four women awaken to a luxury breakfast spread out on the mountainside of Alinja Castle. The ladies sit and enjoy their feast as they talk through the experience, unable to fathom that they have achieved what so many others have failed at over the seasons. The girls agree that despite their differences and conflict, that they are glad to ultimately be able to come together and guarantee Road Trip will see its third female winner by the end of the night. Johanna and Fleur become emotional as they recant over their past experiences in Central Africa and Polynesia, seeing a complete antithesis to the games they’ve experienced during their second chance. The women each take a moment alone after eating to think through the evening’s events, knowing that ahead of them will be the final three and the chance to face the jury, but more importantly that first they will have to repatriate the jury’s final member. Johanna declares her full intention to see that Fleur joins her in the final three, believing that their partnership is one that she would like to see make it all the way. Gabriella and Fleur both talk about intending to bring the other, certain their friendship and alliance has been instrumental in getting them through the latter half of the game. Finally, Lori mentions the likelihood of sending Fleur or Johanna to the jury should she win power, thinking Johanna is the person she is closer to of the pair, but ultimately not wanting to sit at the final three with two Redeemers either side of her. The girls are suddenly interrupted in their pondering by Lincoln and Sinead, telling them that they’ll be taking part in their final daily challenge just after midday. As the ladies are gathered, Sinead tells them that they’ll be taking part in both a trivia and an endurance challenge. Each woman will  be placed on a narrow beam situated two metres above the ground (with a soft crash-mat placed below). The beam itself is made up of six equal sections, which can be removed individually. The girls will simultaneously be asked questions on the road trip as a whole, with questions ranging from locations, activities and other road trippers. If a contestant is wrong in any of their answers, they will have a section of their platform removed, making it more difficult to remain standing. Sinead explains that each question will be asked at ten minute intervals, which will prove tiring and difficult in the afternoon sun. If a players loses all six areas of their platform it will be ‘virtually impossible’ to remain atop their beams, with the last person standing being declared the winner and earning the right to nominate somebody for repatriation to face whoever finishes in last place. However, as this season features a final three, only the un-nominated player will cast a vote for who to repatriate out of the nominees, with the winner of the challenge also having the responsibility to trust whoever is making that sole decision as they themselves will get no vote. After three questions, Fleur appears in an already difficult position as she loses two of her six pieces of platform, whilst Lori loses one, and the other two girls remain fully intact. Six questions into the challenge, all four girls have lost at least one piece, with Johanna down to five, Fleur and Gabriella down to three, and Lori down to just two. After Gabriella loses her fourth piece, she struggles to keep her balance and falls from her platform, with Lori breathing a sigh of relief as she equally struggles, giving up moments later as she had simply been trying to avoid falling into last place. Gabriella and Lori hug as they take their spots on the side, watching the two Redeemer girls battle it out for the final win. Fleur eventually finds herself down to a single piece, whilst Johanna remains on three pieces, proving that her memory is stronger in this final moment. After the thirteenth question, Fleur’s incorrect answer leaves her forced to remove the final piece of her platform, sending her spiralling to the crash-mat and giving the win to Johanna for a second straight time. Johanna celebrates and jumps from her platform, ecstatic to solidify her spot in the final three and have the right to nominate somebody between Fleur and Lori. Given just a few moments to consider her choice, Johanna declares to be sticking to the girl who she “hasn’t wavered on all game”, wanting to finish as she started by saving Fleur and nominating Lori to face Gabriella in repatriation. In a confessional, Johanna claims that in doing this she believed she was ending Lori’s game due to Fleur’s friendship with Gabriella, but also tactically wanted to keep both Fleur and Gabriella off the jury to “prevent the other having a guaranteed vote to win”. Gabriella and a tearful Lori plead their cases to Fleur, who feels overwhelmed and guilty in the moment, having already established that she too would save a friend by ousting Lori from the game. Lori continues to cry, admitting a mix of happiness and sadness in the moment, believing that although she is the first to leave of the four that she is “infinitely proud of what (they) have achieved together”. The girls hug Lori, cheering her on as she departs the game in fourth place and as the final member of the jury. The final three girls are congratulated by Lincoln and Sinead on this historic ending, but are reminded that they have just over an hour until sundown, and that at this point their fate will be decided by their fallen comrades as the game finally comes to a close.
At sundown, Fleur, Gabriella and Johanna sit together by a campfire, finding eight seats opposite now occupied by the jury they had a hand in voting out of the game (Leander, Charliese, Nicholas, Hadia, Amanda, Liam, Mike and Lori). The jury as a collective body is allowed to question or make statements to the three ladies whilst they pitch their case as to why they should be crowned winner of the road trip. The jury begin by giving an overview of each of the girls’ games, calling Johanna “the master manipulator”, Fleur “the savvy socialiser” and Gabriella “the rigorous Rookie”. Generally, the jury appear positive towards all three women’s games, thinking it inappropriate to declare that any of them are somehow undeserving of reaching the end in Road Trip’s largest and perhaps most difficult season yet. Fleur is positively spoken of by Mike, who speaks of her dominance of the latter half of the game, thinking unlike Johanna and Gabriella “Fleur never found herself on the wrong side of a vote or result where she had to pick up the pieces after”. However, Hadia points out that this “isn’t strictly true”, noting that all three women had intended her to leave over Charliese, and that Lori had been the only member of the ‘all-girls’ alliance to successfully vote that round. Despite this, several jurors continue to credit Fleur with her social positioning within multiple alliances, also viewing her as being instrumental in ousting Amanda and Liam from the game and ensuring her spot at the final three. However, criticism for Fleur begins to arise from Liam and Lori, both of whom believe that Fleur often took a backseat in group discussions and let Johanna and Gabriella do the ‘heavy lifting’ and thinking. Lori goes on to claim that of all the women in the alliance that she would have leant more towards voting Fleur out had she been given the opportunity at the top four “simply because (she) made the least effort to win (Lori’s) trust”. Hadia joins in on the criticism of Fleur as an individual, feeling she was ‘cold and unapproachable’ and has “the least presence” out of the final three, going on to assert that although she “is no fan of Johanna” that she “would give her a vote to win” before she’d consider doing the same for Fleur. Gabriella is credited by both Rookies and Redeemers on the jury for being the last Rookie standing, with there being some mixed emotions as to the validity of this as a factor to gain support or lose it due to perceptions that she may have been ‘carried’ at times. Nicholas in particular gives a scathing review on Gabriella’s “argumentative personality” and “willingness to hand over control to Johanna and Fleur”, thinking that she would have faired much better had she gone to the final three alongside Lori and Mike rather than “two women with superior resumes”. Amanda, Hadia and Lori all however speak up for Gabriella, believing that she was unafraid to make moves and ‘get her hands dirty’, pointing out that she was instrumental in a counterattack against Johanna and Fleur’s ‘two-timing’ strategy of being apart of multiple alliances. Finally, the jury praise Johanna for her physical prowess in the latter half of the game, particularly in overcoming her injury and ensuring to win power after her plans went awry during Liam’s repatriation. Liam, Charliese and Lori all credit Johanna for being the key figure in establishing both the ‘cross-team’ alliance and the ‘all-girl’ alliance, viewing her as being the most in-tuned individual in knowing who was positioned where throughout the game. Charliese in particular mentions her own short-lived appearance in the all-girls group, noting that if it weren’t for Johanna that she never would have considered being apart of it due to Fleur and Gabriella failing to secure her as a number. Amanda goes against the group as the cites Johanna being difficult to interact with and believing that she made little effort with those outside her group, also pointing out that unlike Fleur and Gabriella that Johanna had little control over the last few rounds of the game; an argument that is supported by Mike, who says that if Johanna had failed to win challenges that “she would be on the jury in (his) place”. Johanna denies this, eventually coercing Fleur, Gabriella and jury member Lori to confirm what they had told her on the journey to Alinja; none had Johanna as their main target, and that both Fleur and Gabriella would have cut Lori over Johanna (a fact that surprises Lori, who had intended to cut Fleur after Mike). Johanna herself admits that whilst she would have preferred Gabriella to leave the game over Lori on the personal level, that she had viewed the positives of keeping both Fleur and Gabriella off the jury as “the last major strategic move (she) had in (her) arsenal”. The jury take a moment to consider everything they have heard, being completely divided on the positives and negatives applicable to each of the three games, knowing that they must select which one they deem to be deserving of the win. The eight jurors cast their votes for who they want to win, placing key-fobs with either ‘Fleur’, ‘Gabriella’ or ‘Johanna’ into the holder. Lincoln and Sinead alternate on drawing the first three votes, tying the result 1-1-1 as Fleur gains ‘flirtmance’ Mike’s support, Gabriella gets fellow Rookie and friend Amanda, and Johanna receives support off friend and ally Liam. Surprisingly, the vote is tied again at 2-2-2 after Leander gives his support to Fleur due to believing that socially she was superior to the others, Hadia selecting Gabriella after she perceived her to be the most genuine and respectable player, and Charliese coming through for Johanna due to viewing her inclusion and strategy as the strongest all season. Lincoln confirms a this stage that any tie between a top two will result in the third placing individual being forced to break the tie, leaving the girls holding one another’s hands as they eagerly await to see Nicholas and Lori’s decision. Nicholas’ vote is revealed to have gone to Johanna, respecting her dominant strategic game and being swayed by her final speech, and also viewing Gabriella and Fleur as taking more of a ‘backseat’ in comparison. Lori’s final vote is the last to leave the holder, preventing a tie and instead solidifying Johanna’s victory in a 4-2-2 result, earning the first boot of Central Africa the £100,000 and title of Champion of the Road Trip in a stunning redemption arc. Johanna breaks down as she is hugged by both Fleur and Gabriella, choosing to view the historic end as a positive despite their own losses. The jury move over to congratulate the final three, hugging one another after an exhausting three weeks of travel, betrayals and chaos. Lincoln and Sinead depart Alinja Castle as the group celebrate and debrief around the campfire, with Lincoln noting that he “is excited to say g’day to a whole new bunch”.