The Forbidden Kiss

**The Forbidden Kiss** is the third episode of *The Challenge: The Duel*.

## Story

 The cast returned to the mansion after the elimination and Kit was fuming. Once everyone was back on mansion grounds, Kit went up to Zack and called him a pussy. He whipped around and asked “excuse me?” Kit stood by what she said and told Shona that it’s a shame her man doesn’t believe in her and resorted to cheap tactics in order to secure her the win. Zack fired back by saying Shona was in the lead the whole time. Kit rolled her eyes and stormed off, absolutely furious. Nori was resting on the couch when Kit plopped next to her and started complaining. She said Zack and Shona were losers and she hated being around them so badly. Nori sighed and agreed that Zack’s display at the elimination was annoying and hard to watch. She tries to cheer Kit up by saying that after that, there’s probably going to be a lot of eyes on Zack going into this elimination. Kit said that if she got sent into elimination, Shona was coming with her and she’d be whipping her ass.

 Skanivan and Melvin sat by the stairwell and both felt bad for Moses but respected his move of dragging Frasier. Skanivan proclaimed that if he got sent into elimination, he wanted to take a shot at the BB9 players as well. Melvin said he wished he had when he had the chance because he probably could’ve beaten them. Aura and Kaliegh had a similar conversation where they both complained about the results of the elimination and how the BB9 players were steamrolling. Aura said that she hates how people are scared of them. Kaliegh said that they are just as capable as the US players and Aura agreed. As Boherty went to the cabinet to get ingredients for dinner, she noticed several cases of beer and lit up. She called for everyone and announced that they’d been given alcohol for the night. Everyone super excited and celebrated. As everyone started digging in, Jake and Boherty began working on dinner. Katie and Zion sat with them as they prepared it. Jake asked them Zion long it’d been since their first date. Zion thought back but struggled to remember a specific day. Katie squints at him a bit and then tells Jake the exact date. Zion pretended to have had that on the tip of his tongue. Katie tilted her head and took that as a challenge. She then asked him what her birthday was and he couldn’t come up with an answer. Katie sighed and said it was in a few days.

 Ezra, Lenny and Neisha were outside by the patio and Ezra challenged Lenny to a shotgun challenge with their beers. Lenny smirked and took him on. Neisha laughed and cheered them on as they both went for it, and by a few seconds Ezra finished before Lenny. The trio then sat down and in a tipsy state started reflecting on the eliminations. Ezra asked Lenny and Neisha why they hung out with Shona and Zack when they’re such dicks. Neisha said she mostly just hung out with Lenny and hardly ever sees the other two. Lenny said she wasn’t that close with them and it’s mostly a friend group type thing. She said that they both turned on her back in their original season and she hasn’t quite trusted them since then. Ezra laughed and said he wouldn’t be shocked if he gets sent into elimination and explained how Troy and Zack attacked him after he saved Melvin in the safety chain. Lenny rolled her eyes and told him to not pay them any mind and she promised to talk to Troy. She sighs and says Troy’s a good guy once you get to know him and that he’s just really toxic within the friend group and that Zack’s a bad influence on him.

 Cameron, Frasier, Nick, and Tye were playing beer pong in the basement together and the topic of that elimination came up for them as well. Nick said he was really annoyed with Shona for picking Ava and that he didn’t know if Ava would ever forgive him. Tye sighed and said that she’ll come around. Nick explained that he never meant to distance from Ava and he hates that he let the game get in between them. Frasier starts laughing and Nick asks why he’s laughing at a time like this. Frasier explained that he never thought he’d see the day where Nick was caring about someone else’s feelings. Nick rolled his eyes and said he wasn’t soft now or anything, he just hated the way Ava left and said it was weak of Shona.

 Arianna and Noah sneak off with a pack of beer and lock themselves in one of the bedrooms. As they have drinks, they ask each other about their lives in different countries. Noah said that the stereotypes about Canada are completely wrong and not everyone is super nice. He also adds that he’s never heard a soul say “aboot” in his whole life. Arianna asked if it’s true that they all live in igloos. Noah laughs. While this was going on, Cleo and Grace who both hadn’t had anything to drink yet went to check the pantry and noticed there weren’t any packs of beer left. Grace gasped and Cleo said there was no way they’d already been dranken up. They went around and asked if anyone had seen where it went. Lukas also hadn’t drank any and was shocked when he heard there was nothing left. Cleo, Grace, and Lukas head around the house and asked people about the disappearance. Eventually they realzied that they hadn’t seen Noah or Arianna anywhere. Back in the room, Arianna and Noah are now getting more and more drunk. They’ve moved to Arianna’s bed and cuddle while talking about the other players. Back downstairs, Cleo finds Neisha and asked if she’d seen Arianna. Neisha thought about it and realized she hadn’t. Cleo asked if she could let her into their room and see if Arianna was in there. Neisha agreed and the two headed towards the bedroom. Neisha unlocked the door with her key, Cleo, Grace and Lukas were standing behind her. As the door creaked open, the four caught a visual of Arianna and Noah making out very aggressively. Grace gasped and noted that they were practically eating each other’s faces. As the two noticed the four bystanders, they all shot up and were startled. Cleo then looked at the ground and saw about five different packs of beer. She shook her head and called them selfish bastards. Lukas flipped them off and said that they might as well pack their bags because he’s going to make sure they leave. Grace honed in on Noah and reminded him that he had a girlfriend who’d be watching. Noah and Arianna tried to explain but they were so drunk they could hardly even see straight. Neisha grabbed Noah by the collar and told him to go to his room. Once he was gone, she tucked Arianna in and got her settled in for bed.

 The sun rised when it was morning time and by then, news had gone around about Arianna and Noah’s hookup. Some people were shocked, some were disgusted. Nori in particular found it hilarious. Everyone struggled to get up for breakfast as they were feeling very hungover. Boherty noted to Kit that it felt like everything was moving in slow motion. She told Boherty not to rub the fact that she was hungover in Lukas’ face. She agreed. Kit rolled her eyes as she hated being sappy, but sucked it up and asked Boherty how she was coping after Ava’s elimination. Boherty said she was doing a bit better but she still missed her bff a lot. Frasier and Troy were both resting their heads on the table as they had horrid migraines. Troy asked Frasier if he thought this might have had something to do with the upcoming challenge. Frasier laughed and said he hoped not. Zion threw up and then joined Katie outside for some fresh air. He asked how she was holding up and she admitted to him that she’s just acting drunk around the house but that she suspected the drinks might be to make the challenge harder so she avoided them.

 The cast headed outside to meet TJ for the daily challenge. He explained that the challenge was called Back to Class. In two heats, one for the guys and one for the girls, the players would have to answer thirty different math questions, varying in difficulty. Once they think their answers are all correct, they can buzz in. If their buzzer turns red, it means some of their answers are wrong. The first to buzz in with all of the correct answers wins the challenge. The first round between the men begins. They all sit with pencils and try to come up with answers. Some of them can hardly even focus and struggle to not fall asleep. Quickly it becomes a race between Ezra, Frasier, Jake and Lukas who are miles ahead of everyone else. Ezra pushes his buzzer but it turns red. After another four minutes, Jake pushes his and it turns red as well. In the end, Lukas pushes his buzzer and it turns green, alerting everyone that Lukas is the winner of the daily challenge. The women were the next up. Boherty fell asleep after writing down “?” as the answer to the first question. The girls could hear her snoring. It became a tight race between Aura, Grace, Cleo, and Katie. Aura buzzed in first thinking she had it but her buzzer went red. Katie was next to buzz in and it went red. A few minutes later, Katie buzzed again and this time it turned green, declaring Katie the other winner of the daily challenge.

 After the challenge, Boherty and Kit both congratulated Lukas and Boherty offered him a celebratory hug. Kit asked him what his plan was to take Zack out. Lukas shrugged and said he wanted Noah out more than Zack after the night before. Kit was gobsmacked and told Lukas not to be petty and to make the stronger move. Aura asked Kaliegh if she’d talked to Arianna since the incident with Noah. Kaliegh shook her head and said she was very disappointed in her. Aura said she’d hate to lose any international girls but if they have to lose one, maybe it’s best if it’s Arianna. Frasier, Nick, Zack, Lenny, Shona, and Troy sit by the bonfire to discuss the plans given that none of them won the dailies. Troy suggests they play into the Arianna and Noah drama to let them become bigger targets for the elimination. Everyone agrees that this is the best way to go about the round. Lenny takes the chance to address the previous elimination and asks that in the future, they keep it classy and respectful of the other players. Zack said they were only trying to help Shona. Lenny explains that they can do that without disrespecting the other players.

 Before the elimination, Katie and Cameron run into each other. He congratulates her on the win and she thanks him. Cameron said he was worried about the elimination because he felt like people saw him as an easy person to beat and that they might challenge him to the duel. Katie smiles and says he likely has nothing to worry about. Cameron pulled something out of his pocket and gave it to Katie, he said he wanted to give it to her now in case he gets eliminated and they don’t get to see each other again. Cameron tells her to consider it as an early birthday present. Katie looks at the thing in her hands and sees that it’s a charm of a little girl holding an elderly man’s hand. Cameron said he picked it off the wall from one of the challenges and that it reminded him of her and her grandpa. Katie hugged him and thanked him for it, saying she was surprised he remember her birthday or her story with her grandpa. Cameron laughed and said he listens when she talks before heading off to campaign.

 Before heading out for the safety chain ceremony, Noah caught a moment with Jake and asked if they can agree to save each other and expressed that he’s worried. Jake sighed and said that Noah dug this hole for himself. Noah begged, and Jake agreed to see what he could do.

 The men gathered outside with TJ for their safety chain as this time, they were randomly drawn to go first. TJ offered the floor to Lukas and asked him to kick off the safety chain. Lukas smirks, knowing what he’s about to do is unexpected but that in the end, it’ll give him what he wants. Lukas reveals that with his first pick, he’s saving Troy. Everyone gasps and their jaws dropped. Nobody saw it coming, not even Troy. Troy staggers to the front, surprised to have this power. He opts to save Frasier next. Frasier stands at the front and decides to save Nick next. Nick thanks him and takes the front where he reveals that he’s saving Owen next. Owen thanks him and approaches the front of the room. He looks to Zack and reveals he’s saving him next. Zack heads to the front and thinks carefully about who to pick next. He picks Jake, stating it’s to thank him for always making dinner. Jake then looks between Tye and Noah, trying to decide on who to pick. He takes a breath and apologizes to Noah before picking Tye. Noah rolls his eyes and spits on the ground. Tye then heads to the front and selects Ezra next to be safe. Ezra moves to the front and without missing a beat picks Cameron next for safety. Cameron thanks Ezra and stands at the front where he reveals he’ll be saving Zion next. Zion then heads to the front and wavers between the three options left before eventually settling on choosing to save Melvin. As Melvin heads to the front, TJ warns him that whoever between Noah and Skanivan he doesn’t save will head into elimination and be picking someone to join them. Without even thinking twice about it, Melvin saves Skanivan, sending Noah into elimination. TJ asks Noah who he’d like to send into the elimination with him. Noah moves to the front and says that his decision isn’t even out of spite of this person’s horrible decision, it’s because he knows they’re the easiest beat here. With that, he asks Jake to join him in the elimination. Jake chuckles and joins him at the front before saying “game on.”

 As Jake and Noah head back to prepare for the elimination, TJ welcomes the women out to do their safety chain. TJ invites Katie to take the front of the room and begin the safety chain. Katie smiles and wishes all of the women luck in the safety chain but ultimately chooses to save Cleo first. Cleo blows her a kiss and then approaches the front where she decides to save Grace. Grace thanks her and steps to the front. She looks around at all of her options before landing on saving Kaliegh. Kaliegh heads to the front and notices Arianna mouthing the word “please” to her. Kaliegh looks down and sighs before picking to save Aura. Aura heads to the front of the women and thinks about a few options. Eventually she decides to save Nori. Nori had a lot of options and she considered just about everyone. She gave Neisha a sympathetic look and she said that since she took care of Arianna after the incident and made sure she went to bed safe, she’d give her safety. Everyone clapped for Neisha as she moved towards the front. Neisha thanked everyone and took her spot at the front. She smiled to Lenny and offered her safety. Lenny thanked her as she walked up to the front. Lenny looked at Shona and managed a weak smile before offering her safety for the week. Shona headed to the front and without hesitation, she chose to save Gloria next. Gloria thought hard about who to save now, as she wasn’t really aligned with any of them. She said that she was going to save Boherty since she made them dinner every night so far. Boherty ran up to the front and hugged Gloria. She then looked to the remaining three girls and said she loved them all but had to stay true to “Kween Kit.” Kit rolled her eyes and headed to the front. TJ explained to her that whoever she didn’t pick between Arianna and Maria would have to face the elimination. Kit shrugged and said “I’ll save Maria I guess since she isn’t a homewrecker.” With that, TJ revealed that Arianna was now up for elimination and asked her to join him at the front and reveal who she’d be challenging to compete against her. Arianna was emotional and trying not to cry as she felt very vulnerable. Arianna sighs and says that she’s going to challenge Nori, simply because she hasn’t done too well in the daily challenges. Nori was taken aback, she didn’t expect to be called out at all. She slowly moved towards the front, suddenly very scared. TJ told Arianna and Nori to go and prepare while the guys do their elimination.

 The players head to the bleachers as they wait for the elimination to begin. The women and men each try to scope out who is and isn’t there. Boherty clutches her pearls when she realizes Jake is missing. As they settle in to their seats, the smoke machines start up as Jake and Noah head out into the arena. TJ explains the rules of the elimination. It’s called “Gardens”. Each player stands in an empty garden with room for two trees and three flowers. They must dig into the soil in their garden to retrieve bags with puzzle pieces in them. These pieces when put together form 3D plants, three of them being flowers and two of them being trees. The first player to correctly compete their garden will win the elimination and survive another day, the loser is then eliminated. TJ blows his horn and the two start digging immediately. Jake comes up with a strategy to start at the middle and branch out from there, hoping to cover more ground. Noah uses brute force and simply tries to go as fast as he can. Jake is able to find all of his bags first and starts firing the puzzle pieces out of them. He sorts the pieces by color and begins assembling them. Noah then finishes finding all of his bags and dumps out his pieces and starts clicking them together. Jake makes solid progress on the big tree puzzle, wanting to get hard one done first. Noah worked on the smaller flower puzzles first and made good progress. By the time Noah finished two flowers, Jake had the trees done and started whipping through the flowers. Before Noah knew it, Jake had finished and yelled “Check!” TJ blowed his horn and confirmed that Jake had won the duel and eliminated Noah. Jake cheered and asked TJ for a hug. TJ laughed and gave him one. Boherty cheered for Jake and swung her hoodie around excitedly. Noah kicked the sand and spit on it. TJ thanked Noah for his effort but regrettably informed him that he was officially eliminated and had to leave. Noah didn’t even say goodbye to anybody and walked off. Grace, Katie and Cleo laughed at the attitude. Lukas smirked and said that’s what he deserved.

 Following Noah’s elimination, the smoke started up again and from it emerged Arianna and Nori. Troy sighed and told Frasier he was worried about Nori against Arianna. Frasier nodded and said Arianna was a fierce competitor. TJ reexplained the rules to the two women and after the sounding of his horn, the elimination began. Arianna started aggressively digging into the sand, making a lot of progress and whipping out bags. Nori had a different strategy, before digging, she dug her feet into the sand and walked around, taking note of which spots had something hard beneath the surface. She then marked those spots and started digging. With that system, she made up the time she lost and really quickly found her five bags. Around the same time, both women had their puzzle pieces and started working. TJ noted that it was neck and neck. Once they started working on the puzzle, Arianna visibly started struggling to click the right pieces together and was confused by the 3D puzzle. Nori sorted them by color and started making progress instantly. Like Jake before her, she focused on the trees first. Arianna put a flower together and started to get into the rhythm of things. Once Nori finished the trees, it took her no time to finish putting the flowers together. Nori yelled for TJ to check her puzzle and upon observation, he noted that she had something wrong with it, opening the door up for Arianna who had just finished all of her flowers and was now working on her trees. Nori looks around at her puzzle trying to figure out where she went wrong, eating away at more of her time as Arianna slowly finished her first tree. Eventually Nori noticed that one of the flowers had the wrong color petal. She redid the two flowers and tried to go as quick as she could as Arianna started working on her last tree. In the end, Nori frantically yelled check a billion times. TJ headed over and looked over her puzzle again. He blew his horn and congratulated Nori on winning the elimination. Nori fell to the ground and heaved a sigh of relief. Arianna started to tear up and wiped her eyes with her hoodie sleeve. Nori offered Arianna a hug and said she hoped they’d see each other again next season. Nori joined the others who all cheered for her and patted her on the back. TJ thanked Arianna for her strong effort and for an intense duel. He told her that her time was up and she’d been officially eliminated. Arianna apologized to everyone about the drama with the alcohol and wished them all luck. She told Kaliegh, Neisha, Melvin and Skanivan that she’d be rooting them on. Some people clap for her as she heads out.

 As everyone heads back to the mansion, Cameron and Katie get a moment alone. She jokes that he made it through the night and congratulated him on not going into elimination. He awkwardly laughed and thanked her. The two just looked at each other for a bit and without any notice or warning, Cameron kissed Katie and she reciprocated it back. They stopped themselves after a few seconds. Katie apologized and Cameron insisted it was his fault. They promised not to tell Zion and Katie looked around to see if there were any cameras and she didn’t think there were. Katie pulled at her hair and said she couldn’t believe she did that and that she’s no better than Noah. Cameron tells her it’s okay and that nobody saw. They quickly try and catch up with the others and head back to the mansion. The camera then pans behind them where Lukas was peering behind a bush. He cackles quietly to himself before heading off and joining the others.