The First Challenge

**The First Challenge** is the season premiere of *The Challenge: The Duel*.

## Story

 TJ introduces the season and the camera pans out to a beautiful landscape in Iceland. He gives a tour of The Challenge mansion and in the background, some shuttles start approaching the manor. The first shuttle contains Katie, Zion, Lukas, Kaliegh, Lenny, Aura, Frasier, and Owen. On the shuttle, the eight try to introduce themselves to one another. Katie and Zion go at the same time and say they’re from Big Brother 17 and made up the Final 2 of the season. Kaliegh asked if the two were together and they confirmed her suspicions. Kaliegh and Owen both reveal their from Survivor franchizes. Lukas gagged and said he couldn’t believe people were poor enough to subject themselves to the harsh wild. Everyone side eyed him and Aura said that his comment was insensitive. Lukas replied by saying her harsh highlight was insensitive as well. Frasier and Owen get to know each other and talk about their respective workout routines. Frasier asks if Owen had prepared physically for The Challenge, which he said he had. Lenny joined in and said that he probably got prepared massively by being on Survivor alone. She said she respects Survivor players because of how grueling it is. The shuttle arrives to the mansion and they exit the vehicle. Kaliegh gasps in awe at the landscape surrounding them. Zion notes that it’s prettier than anything he’d ever seen. Katie then glares at him comically and he told her she’s a close second as a joke. Katie elbows him and then they all head into the mansion. Lenny and Frasier claim a bed together and Owen follows them. He asks if they mind him being their roomie to which they promise they don’t at all. The three agree to try and look out for one another. They “hope” they have more allies on the way in the next few shuttles. Aura and Kaliegh plop down on a bunkbed and get to know each other. Aura says she doesn’t expect to see anybody from her series since there’s only one season. Kaliegh notes that the international players have to stick together or else the Americans will dominate. Aura smirks and said she was glad someone was on the same wavelength as her.

 The next shuttle of players heads towards the manor. This shuttle includes Ava, Kit, Gloria, Nori, Brent, Cameron, Melvin, and Skanivan. Ava looks around at the group with her and notes that she thought this season was meant to have reality legends. She noted that she didn’t know who any of them were. Gloria rolls her eyes and said that was an unnecessary comment. Kit told her to shut up and Ava cackled. She looks to Kit and said that she doesn’t know her but that she can hang around. Brent flexes his muscles (or lack there of) and notes that he’s been working on his fitness since BB13 and was ready to kill it. Skanivan laughed at him and said he was shaped like a cheesestring. Cameron and Melvin smirk at each other after hearing the comment. Brent lashes out and said they’ll all pay for underestimating him. While the other seven fought with each other, Nori sat in a corner and observed. Her eyes moved back and forth between the different pieces of drama going on. Eventually Kit looked her up and down and asked if she was mute or something. Nori laughed it off and said this was just a lot and she didn’t expect so much fighting from the jump. The shuttle arrives and Katie peers out the window and sees the crew get out and enter the manor. She alerts all of the others and they run down to greet the newbies. Gloria runs into Owen’s arms and the two make out. Lenny and Frasier then greet Gloria and introduce themselves. From afar, Kit gags at Gloria and Owen. Ava looks to her and asks if she doesn’t like them. Kit said that was the understatement of the millennium. Ava smirks and explains that she doesn’t like Frasier and Lenny, Kit doesn’t like Gloria and Owen, and invites Kit for a shit-talk session while they pick beds. Kit nods in agreement and the two head off. Zion hugs and greets everyone and then he sees Cameron. Katie makes an awkward face to him and then heads over to greet Cameron. At first she goes for a hug and he goes for a handshake, then they switch and just settle on a “hi”. Zion and Cameron tensely look at each other and shake each other’s hands. Nori moved into a room and set her stuff down. She found a camera and said that she wasn’t involved in any pre-season drama and she wanted it to stay that way. Nori explained that she has some ins with the American players but is still international so she can try and play the middle.

 The next shuttle heads to the mansion, it contains Arianna, Noah, Shona, Zack, Crystal, Troy, Neisha, and Nick. Shona excitedly hugs everyone and said it was such a “pleasant surprise” to see all of her BB9 folks. She noted that it was so long since she talked to Nick. Troy side eyed the convo knowing there was a reason for that. Neisha looked at them and asked if they all knew each other. Crystal explained that her, Troy, Nick, Shona, and Zack all played together. Arianna notices everyone talking to each other and ignoring her and Noah. She nudges him and asks where he’s from. Noah is mesmorized by her accent and said he’s from Canada. Arianna said she was from Jamaica. Noah tilted his head and she laughed and said she was just kidding. Zack looked to Arianna and Noah and asked if they were dating. Noah chuckled and reassured that he had a girlfriend back home. Arianna looked disappointed and asked if any of the boys on the bus were single and her ask was met with crickets. The shuttle arrives while all of the others are still greeting each other. As the eight exit the vehicle, Lenny locks eyes with Crystal and runs over to hug her. She saw all of the others and exclaimed about how “shocked” she was to see all of them here. Once Shona gets out, Lenny and her share an awkward hug. Frasier and Zack nod to each other and then return to the big group. Nori exited the mansion to see the newcomers. She immediately saw Noah and turned back around. Kaliegh greeted Neisha and Arianna. She noted that they were all from Survivor UK and invited them to room with her and Aura. Once they dropped their bags off, Kaliegh and Aura pitched the idea of the internationals working together. Melvin hopped in and said he wanted to get away from the BB9 makeout sesh. Aura filled him in and Melvin said he was in.

 The last shuttle heads off to the mansion, this includes Boherty, Cleo, Ezra, Grace, Jake, Maria, Moses, and Tye. Boherty sings The Wheels on the Bus until Grace kindly but firmly asks her to stop because she has a headache. After Boherty finishes, Cleo nudges Grace and quietly thanks her. Grace then introduces herself to Cleo and said she had actually watched Cleo’s season and really liked her. Cleo gasped and said she was such a big fan of Grace and how she took out her showmance since he mistreated her. Ezra and Cleo catch up with each other and about how things have been. Cleo jokes that Ezra probably has this thing in the bag but Ezra stays humble. Moses and Jake join in and comment on how built Ezra is. Ezra laughs and says he’ll be sure to host some workout seshes. Moses looks at himself in a mirror and fixes his hair. Tye asks him what he’s doing, and Moses notes that he’s making sure he looks right since they’re gonna be on camera as soon as the shuttle gets to the manor. Maria smirks and says they’re on camera currently. Moses stops and looks around, suddenly spotting all of the hidden cameras. The last shuttle arrives as the sun starts to set. Zion calls for everyone to come out and greet them and everyone rushes out to the front porch. Aura heads out and Tye is the first to get off the bus. She heaves a great sigh, knowing he was the last person she wanted to see. Kaliegh catches this and asks if he’s her ex or something. Aura quietly mutters that he targeted her practically their entire season together. Ava and Kit reluctantly head out to meet everyone. Boherty runs over and says she’s obsessed with their outfits. She asks if they have room in their room. Kit and Ava step aside for a moment. Kit said she didn’t want to have to listen to that annoying voice all season. Ava sighed and said they need numbers or else there might be an “all season”. With hesitation, they welcome Boherty in and lead her to their room.

 For the rest of the night, everyone focused on getting settled in and getting to know one another. Cameron was stretched out on a sofa and Katie stopped by to sit next to him. She said it was nice to see him again. Katie said she didn’t want things to be awkward and that she wanted to play with him this season. Cameron nodded and said he understood they were just friends. He said he felt it would be better for them to stick together than be apart. Katie added that if he wanted to work with her, he’d also have to work with Zion. He sighed and said that he’d do it. Jake and Nori get the chance to catch up. They squash any beef they may have previously had and agree they need to work together, especially with Noah in the game. Tye and Moses join them and discuss how pretty the house is. Moses floats the idea of the internationals working together and they all feel good about it. Tye asks if they have any ideas about what the format might be and everyone draws a blank. Tye notes that he is worried about how well an international alliance would work because of Aura. He explained their checkered history and said he wasn’t sure she’d want to work with him. Nori told him that they needed to squash whatever they had and focus on the game. Cleo, Grace, and Katie unpacked their things and realized they were all the same size. Grace exclaimed that she was excited to share clothes with them all season. Katie asked Grace how she felt about playing with so many people from her original season. Grace shrugged and said they’d tried to pregame with her but she shut it down out of fairness. Grace warned them that they were going to be a big alliance all season. Cleo asked if she was on good terms with them. Grace said she still wasn’t a fan of Nick and that after All-Stars, a lot of them were mad at her for aligning with Antonio’s Angels instead of them. Brent then joins them and said he just had to do his nightly workout routine. They all laugh at him but Cleo rolls her eyes and lets him in. He shows off some moves and they all cringe but laugh with him.

 After nightfall and everyone was in bed, the BB9 players minus Grace gathered outside in the patio to talk game. Lenny and Frasier explained that they’d talked to Owen and Gloria and felt they might want to work with them potentially. Crystal steered everyone towards potentially targeting Maria, stating she was going to be a big competition threat and that it’d keep everyone from thinking the Americans were all aligning. Zack was on board for this and felt Maria was a solid target. Shona and Zack both advocated for Neisha and said they could try to pull her in. Troy, Frasier and Lenny felt slightly awkward about Nick being there and weren’t sure how loyal he’d be. They asked if he was still with Ava and he confirmed he was. Nick put their worries to rest momentarily and said that they weren’t necessarily going to align again though.

 In their bedroom, Ava, Boherty, and Kit were having a tea sesh. Ava explained how Frasier, Lenny and Troy targeted her in All-Stars and that they were mad that she stole Nick from them. Kit complained about how cocky Gloria is and how Owen just follows her around like a lost puppy. They turned to Boherty waiting for her to spill major tea and she merely says that she thinks Moses is a little bit too obsessed with his looks from time to time but not in a bad way. Ava and Kit stare at her blankly and Ava states they can work on that. Lukas knocks on the door and tries to join. They welcome him into the circle. He claims he was so sick of everyone around being so peppy and welcoming. Ava asks what his dynamic is with Ezra and Cleo. Lukas notes that Cleo is a horrible person and that he hates her. Kit smirks and says that it sounds like they have a lot of people to target. Melvin wakes up in his sleep and peers out his window to see the BB9 players all gathered in the backyard. He rolled his eyes and put on his coat. Melvin headed outside and joined them all and asked what was up. The conversation awkwardly stopped and they resorted to small talk. He smirked at them and noted that he knew when he wasn’t wanted and went back inside. They all shook their heads and said it was sketchy. Ezra and Cameron worked out together in the gym. Ezra told Cameron that he was nicer than he expected after watching his season. Cameron smirked and said he went into anger management after BB17 because it was a bit of wakeup call. Ezra commends him for being so open and says he’ll be sure to inspire others with similar struggles.

 The next day, Cleo, Grace, and Katie were eating breakfast and Cleo was opening up to them about the bullying she’d faced from Lukas on their season. Zion joined them and hugged Katie from behind. As Cleo continued to vent about him, Lukas entered the room and heard everything. He called her a coward who didn’t have the nerve to say this to his face. Cleo whipped around and said she’d say it to his face just as easily as she’ll say it behind his back. The two enter a screaming match where Lukas calls Cleo a loser who is upset nobody likes her after they get to know her. Cleo claps back and tells him that if he treats everyone the way he did in BBAUS, his days are numbered in the manor. Grace pulls Cleo away and separates the argument. Zion tells Lukas to back off of Cleo and Lukas rolls his eyes and heads off.

 TJ gathers all of the challengers outside for their first challenge of the season. He explains the format of the season to everyone. Each round there will be a male and female winner of the challenge. They will both earn immunity and start the safety chains for their gender. At the end of the safety chains, there will be one man and one woman up for elimination. They will both select someone as their opponent. In the elimination, the winner stays and the loser goes. This means every round, one man and one woman will be eliminated. Once only 20 players remain in the game, they will form teams of two. TJ then explains the rules of the first challenge. It would be called Encryption and how it would work is there would be a pole that features the combination of wires required to defuse everyone’s bombs. The first player to memorize the twelve-digit pattern and defuse their bomb wins the challenge. Two rounds would take place, one with the men and one with the women.

 The first group to compete is the men. On the count of three, they all go lunging towards the pole and try to be the first to capture it. Zack grabs it first and holds it down, trying to memorize the pattern. Frasier and Troy both peer over him to try and read it. Melvin runs up and starts trying to snatch it out of Zack’s hands. The two struggle in a tug-of-war until Ezra runs through both of them and the pole falls onto the ground. With all of the men piling on top of each other to read the combination, they all start to run to their stations while attempting to remember the combination. Brent asks for his to be checked twice but both times it was wrong. Zack also asked for a check and it was wrong. In the end, Frasier was the first to crack the code and won the challenge for the men. Next up, is the women. On the count of three, they all run towards the pole. Lenny, Neisha, Kit, and Maria take a lead right away while Ava and Grace both quickly fall behind. Neisha actually manages to get ahold of the pole first. Lenny runs to her and asks to see it and Neisha decides to share it. The two hold down the pole, covering it so nobody else can see. They both rehearse it. Maria tries to pry them apart to see it and they start to give in. Arianna and Aura run over to help her and eventually, Neisha falls over and the women all pile on to read the pattern. While this happens, Lenny runs over to her station hoping she did a good enough job memorizing it. On her first check, Lenny had it right and won the challenge. She cheered and thanked Neisha for the help, the two hugged.

 After the challenge, Neisha pulled Lenny aside and asked if she’d consider saving her first in the safety chain since she helped her in the challenge. Lenny agreed to do it as she wanted to build trust with Neisha but asked that she pick Crystal next as she didn’t want Crystal going into elimination. Neisha promised that she would. The two link pinkies and agree to align. Frasier, Zack, Troy, Nick and Owen got together and agreed to pick each other in the safety chain. They also agreed that Melvin was the biggest threat and that they should try to target him. Owen suggests they leave Skanivan for last to avoid Melvin being saved and they all agree. Crystal talked to Aura and Kaliegh and asked them if they could avoid picking Maria in the safety chain. They promise to and after she leaves, smirk at each other. They both felt the BB9 players were trying to control the safety chain to get what they wanted. Kaliegh pulled Neisha aside and asked if she’d heard anything from Lenny. Neisha revealed that Lenny was picking her first but said she’d promised to pick Crystal next. Kaliegh asked Neisha to reconsider and save her since they could have a real shot at striking against the BB9 players. Neisha said she’d think about it.

 As the safety chain fast approached, Ava and Kit hatched a plan to earn safety for the week. They agreed to get Boherty to befriend the group of Cleo, Grace and Katie so that once they got pick, they’d pick her next. Boherty was excited to be part of a plan and played along. She joined Cleo, Grace and Katie’s next girl chat and brought them cookies she’d smuggled in her luggage. Melvin pulled Skanivan aside and the two agreed to save each other if given the chance. Melvin said he felt the BB9 were all aligning and he wanted to put a stop to it. Brent joined and Melvin tried to give him the same spiel but Brent made it clear that he didn’t want to betray any of his American allies. He then tried to do some intimidating push-ups but couldn’t even get past three.

 That night, the challengers all gathered outside for the safety chain and selection for who would enter the duels for the night. By a random draw, TJ determines that the women will do their safety chain and elimination first. He asks Lenny to start off the safety chain. With her first pick, Lenny chooses to save Neisha. Neisha looks back and forth between Crystal and Kaliegh before sighing and deciding to save Crystal. Crystal nods and chooses to save Shona next. Shona looks around at the girls and smiles to Gloria, announcing she’d be saving her. Gloria beams and thanks Shona. She then thinks about her decision and decides to save Nori. Nori thanks Gloria and takes the stand to choose the next girl. After thinking about it, she chooses to save Katie. Katie thanks Nori and chooses Grace as the next to be safe. Grace then stands and chooses to save Cleo. Cleo then thinks a bit harder about who she’d choose before landing on Boherty. Ava and Kit smirk to each other. Boherty then immediately picks Ava, much to the surprise of everyone. Ava then stands and chooses Kit next. Kit ponders her decision, looking back and forth between the four women left. Eventually she decides on Arianna. Arianna then apologizes to the other two girls but saves Kaliegh due to Survivor UK solidarity. TJ then warns Kaliegh that whoever she doesn’t save will go into elimination. Kaliegh sighs and said it was merely based off who she talked to more and saves Aura, leaving Maria up for elimination. TJ asks Maria to reveal who she was going to challenge in the first elimination of the season. Maria stands at the front and said she was ready to work with the other BBUS players and stay true to them but since they didn’t back her, she was going to go for the head of the snake. Maria then calls Crystal out for the duel. Everyone goes “ooooooh” and looks to Crystal. Crystal takes it with grace and joins Maria at the front, wishing her good luck. TJ announces that the first elimination will be between Maria and Crystal. He then asks them to head back and prepare while the men do their safety chain.

 Unaware of how the women’s safety chain went, it was now the men’s turn. Frasier stood at the front and TJ asked him to reveal who he’d be saving first. Frasier looks around at the guys and selects to save Troy. Troy then nods to Owen and selects him as a way to extend the olive branch. Owen smiled to Troy, excited to be picked before the other BB9 guys. He looked to Zack and opted to pick him. Zack thanked him and selected Nick to be safe. With Ava’s best interest also at heart, Nick decided to save Lukas. This was a bit of a shock to everyone. Lukas smirked and thanked Nick. He made a joke about Australian solidarity and picked Ezra, much to Ezra’s surprise. Thinking back to his good convo with him earlier, Ezra decided to pick Cameron. Zion rolled his eyes, not expecting to be picked. Much to his surprise, Cameron reached out his arm and picked Zion. Zion shook his hand and thanked him reluctantly. He then scanned the rest of the players left and picked Brent. Brent flexed his “muscles” and said this was probably for everyone’s benefit so he didn’t have to crush anyone in the duel. He then chose to save Noah, picking someone random since he didn’t know anyone left. Noah circles back to what Lukas said about Australian solidarity and picks Jake. Jake thanked him but wasn’t amused by his attempts at pulling him in. Jake looked at the remaining four and tried to decide between Moses and Tye. He said he was stuck between two but had to go with his gut and chose to save Tye. Without much hesitation, Tye then chooses to save Moses next as he hadn’t talked much to Melvin or Skanivan at all. TJ warned Moses that whoever he didn’t pick would be sent into elimination. He didn’t have much to go off of since he didn’t know either overly well. In the end, he chose to save Skanivan as he was less threatened by Melvin if he decided to challenge him. TJ asks Melvin to stand at the front and announce who he’s going to challenge. Melvin noted that it was tempting to pick one of the BB9 boys since it’s obvious they’re working together but instead he was going to take the easy way out and pick Brent. Brent scoffed and said that he was writing his own death warrant. Melvin smirks and says they’ll see about that. Brent joins Melvin up front and TJ asks them to go prepare while the first elimination of the night takes place. He then invites the other men to go watch.

The safe men and women gathered on a set of bleachers and waited for the two challengers to enter the arena. Smoke set off from both entrances as Maria and Crystal entered the arena. Troy’s face dropped and he looked over to Lenny who gestured towards Maria. He told Zack that Maria better pray she loses because she won’t want to deal with him afterwards. TJ explained the rules of the elimination duel. It was called Take Shelter and the goal was to be the first to unlock their cage. The twist was the first fifteen minutes of the challenge would involve the two players putting as much in the way of the other player’s cage as possible to make it more difficult to get to. In the end, whoever opened their cage first won and the other became the first eliminated. TJ blew his horn and started the challenge. The players watched from overhead as the two women scrambled. Crystal started by tying rope around Maria’s cage in knots as well as some chains. Maria focused more on placing rocks in front of the cage and piling them up so that Crystal would tire herself out. Crystal started placing some boulders down after getting a fair amount of knots. After feeling confident with the structure she built, Maria sat down to catch her breath and get ready for the next portion of the challenge. After the fifteen minutes, TJ blows his horn and announces the next part of the duel. Crystal immediately starts ripping down the rock structure and lifting the heavy rocks. Troy, Shona, and Owen all cheer for her very loudly. Zack coaches her on what to do and tries to help her. Maria works on untying the knots and does some steady work. Hearing mostly support for Crystal, Kaliegh decides to cheer for Maria. Grace also cheers for Maria which garners her a nasty glare from Troy and Zack. Eventually, Crystal started to get worn out and she wasn’t even halfway done shoving her rocks off. On the other side, Maria was energized and filled with adrenaline. She was whipping through the knots and didn’t have much left to do. Troy could see her pulling ahead and started screaming at Crystal to keep pushing. Eventually, Maria unraveled her last chain and flew her cage open, winning the first elimination of the season. TJ blew his horn and declared Maria the winner. Maria turned around to the guys who were yelling against her and flipped them off. She yelled “OLD SCHOOL BABY”. Crystal kneeled down out of agony, she was exhausted from the challenge. TJ announced that she had been eliminated. Troy headed down to hug her before she left. Crystal asked him to win for her and bring home their second trophy. He promised he would. TJ asked Crystal to leave and congratulated her on a good effort.

Maria joined the others up top as they waited for the next duel. Zack called her real classy for flipping them off. Shona smirked and said it was real mature. Maria told them all that they were just mad she ruined the little free vacation their friend group wanted to have. Troy said that they were just friends and had no alliance. Grace called B.S. and called them out for trying to pregame with her. Zack called her a snake and said it wasn’t true. Ava, Kit and Lukas cackled at the drama that they weren’t involved in. Just then, TJ asked them to silence as the next elimination was about to begin. From the smoke, Melvin and Brent both walked into the arena. TJ reexplained the rules of the duel elimination to the boys and blew his horn to announce it beginning. Melvin started by tying knots on Brent’s cage and covering it in chains and rope. He then started throwing a pile of rocks in front of it to block the cage. In the meantime, Brent was slowly placing rocks in front and really struggling. He couldn’t even lift half of them so he just put some light ones in front. He then worked on tying the rope around the cage but didn’t know how to make a knot, so he tied the rope like he ties his shoelaces. Everyone cocked their eyebrow at him. After fifteen minutes, TJ blew the horn and began the next portion of the challenge. After not even ten seconds, Melvin was able to open his cage with ease and won the challenge. TJ blew his horn again declaring Melvin as the winner. Brent looked very defeated and started kicking the sand out of disappointment. Owen facepalmed watching Brent lose to Melvin. TJ announced that Brent had been eliminated. Brent promised everyone that he’d be back and prove himself as the best competitor of all time. TJ asked Brent to leave and congratulated him on a “good” effort, heavy on the effort. With that, TJ asked everyone to head back to the mansion and get a good night’s sleep to prepare for the next challenge.