USA 2

**Third Place**
**James**
 **Caitlin**

**Fourth Place**
**Bobby**
**Roach**

## Cast

***USA 2*** is the 9th season of *JSR The Challenge*. This season features a three team format. The season was filmed in Croatia from June to July 2023.

*Prequel: USA*

## Description

This season, twenty-six veterans and rookies will head to the mysterious country of Croatia to compete in a bold new Challenge: USA 2, where players will discover an exciting new game, filled with twists and surprises. There will be three teams, chosen by the players themselves. These three teams will battle each other in extreme challenges, leading up to a massive and grueling finale. The Challengers will need to stay true to the name of the game and get strategic to secure their share of the crown!

With a whopping twenty-six players competing, not everyone will make it to the end to vie for the riches. After each challenge, one man and one woman from each losing team will be nominated into the "Arena," a one-on-one battle arena that will test players' mental and physical capacities. Only the strong will survive and proudly return to the game to compete. The weak will leave with nothing.

Players will push themselves -- and each other -- past their breaking points. This is the most exciting group of players in seasons and anything is possible: friendships will be tested, romances will blossom, rivalries will emerge, and blood will be shed. These Challengers are in for the fight of their lives in order to win it all and be crowned champions of USA 2!

## Format

Each team will compete in numerous daily challenges followed by elimination rounds known as "The Arena". Staying out of the hellish "Arena" is one key aspect to making it far. After each challenge, the winning team will be safe from "The Arena". These lucky winners will have to choose one man and one woman to go into "The Arena". While the two losing teams will each be forced to vote one male and one female player between themselves to potentially go into "The Arena." And in one of the biggest shockers of the game, players aren't guaranteed to be going in if they have a majority of the votes. Once the dust clears and the votes have been cast, all of the votes are placed on a wheel where one person is chosen at random. The person chosen will immediately be sent into "The Arena" against their same gender nominee. The winners will come right back into the game but will have the opportunity to switch to the other losing team if they please. The losers will be sent straight home.

In the Final Challenge, the final eight contestants will pair up and compete against each other. The team who wins will receive the crown while the losing teams are left with nothing.

### Twists

* **Team Draft**: In the season opener, the contestants competed in the first daily challenge, where Charlie announced that the three first place finishers - Madison, Cody, and Jake - will be the team captains of the White, Red, and Blue teams, respectively. The players then participated in a schoolyard pick to form the teams.

* **Replacements:** Challenge Veteran Roman and Rookie Roach made a surprise appearance in Episode 2 as replacements. They replaced Vante and Kalani, respectively.

## Game Summary

### Final Challenge Scoreboard

The Final Challenge will be played in a series of 8 checkpoints. Our JSR final was scored by total time, and also by points.

The first pair to complete each checkpoint receives 20 points each; second receives 15 points; third receives 10 points; fourth receives 5 points. The Wheel determined the pairs for the third checkpoint, and whoever came in first got to pick their next partner. The player with the least amount of points after checkpoint 6 would have to go into elimination to face the person with the slowest overall time.

After the elimination, there were two final checkpoints to give one final push to the finish line.

## Episode Summaries

### Episode 1

The 24 contestants entered the villa in hopes to succeed in winning the grand prize.

They all competed in the first daily challenge titled "CROWNING RACE" which was a sprint to complete a hexablock puzzle, the Top 3 (Madison, Cody, Jake) became the team captains. As the overall winner of the daily, Madison gained safety for the White Team and was able to choose one man and one woman to go into "The Arena". They chose Ray and Paisley.

The two losing teams (Red and Blue) must each vote one person they would like to send to "The Wheel'. Heres the vote breakdown:

The wheel was then spun and landed on **Josie** to go into elimination against **Paisley**.

After a few days of waiting, they competed in an elimination titled "MIRROR ME" where they had to reverse the message sent by Charlie. The first person to five points would win.

The final scores were:

Paisley was eliminated and Josie returned to the game! Josie then got the opportunity to switch to the Blue Team if she pleased, but she decided on staying on Red.

Over the night, an argument insued and Kalani received a strike for inappropriate comments.

### Episode 2

After an unforseen turn of events, Vante decided to quit the game. This resulted in the surprise entry of veteran Roman!

Each team were tasked to create a team flag. Those team flags would then be critiqued by the audience, and the team with the most votes would receive an advantage in today's daily challenge. The White Team received the most votes and were given a 30 block head start.

The second daily then began and it was titled "STACKING HIGH" where each team had to take turns stacking as many blocks as they could. Any mistake would result in them needing to restart back at 0. If any teammate was missing, there would be a 10 block penalty each.

After 15 minutes, these were the final standings:

The Blue Team won and were tasked to vote one man and woman into "The Arena". They chose Cody and Madison.

The two losing teams (Red and White) must each vote one person they would like to send to "The Wheel'. Heres the vote breakdown:

The wheel was then spun and landed on **Roman** with only one vote to go into elimination against **Cody**.

They competed in an elimination titled "ARROWED ORDER" where they had to use the clues given by Charlie to figure out the correct letter. The first person to five points would win.

After a very close battle, The final scores were:

Cody was eliminated and Roman returned to the game! Roman then got the opportunity to switch to the White Team if he pleased, but he decided on staying on Red.

Also, as a result of her inactivity, Kalani received her second strike and is removed from the game. She is replaced by rookie Roach!

### Episode 3

The next daily began and it was titled "RELAY ME", where each team would split into pairs and each pair would receive a different puzzle to complete. After 15 minutes, only Red Team finished all four puzzles, resulting in them winning the daily challenge.

The Red Team was then tasked to vote one man and one woman directly into "The Arena". They chose Griffen and Ary.

The two losing teams (Blue and White) must each vote one person they would like to send to "The Wheel'. Heres the vote breakdown:

The wheel was then spun and landed on **Ray** with only one vote to go into elimination against **Griffen**.

They competed in an elimination titled "SPELLING HUNT" where each round they would have to send a word that fit the instructions sent by Charlie to gain one point. The first person to send a photo of that word would also receive a point. The first person to five points would then win the elimination.

The final scores were:

Griffen was eliminated and Ray returned to the game! Ray then got the opportunity to switch to the White Team if he pleased, and he decided on doing so! He chose to swap places with James, sending James to the Blue Team.

### Episode 4

The next daily began and it was titled "HUNGER GAMES", where Charlie will send 100 Food Emojis. Then when he says go the teams must start sending individual messages of the food emoji names alternating between teammates. They must be sent in order from left to right.

The Blue Team was the first to finish, winning the daily challenge!

Before continuing, Ary receives her second strike for inactivity and is removed from the game, resulting in the cycle being a male only elimination. The Blue Team is given the opportunity to give Ary a second chance and return to the game, and they choose to continue with her eliminated.

The Blue Team was then tasked to vote one man directly into "The Arena". They chose Nick K.

The two losing teams (Red and White) must each vote one person they would like to send to "The Wheel'. Heres the vote breakdown:

The wheel was then spun and landed on Oscar to go into elimination against Nick K.

They competed in an elimination titled "REVERSE EMOJIS" where each round Charlie would send a phrase of emojis and they would have to send send them in opposite order to gain one point. The first person to five points would then win the elimination.

Oscar was eliminated and Nick K. returned to the game! Nick K. then got the opportunity to switch to the White Team if he pleased, and he decided on staying on the Red Team.