The Butler Games: Ride or Die II

The Butler Games: Ride or Die II was the eigth season of The Butler Games.

The season took place on Saturday 15th October 2022 and lasted for five rounds and a final vote.

Ride or Die II was our first sequel, revisiting the Ride or Die twist from season three, in which players were partnered up. This season was won by partners Olivia Williams and Becca Plaistow.

## The Players

This season featured 11 players.

Andrew HoggLindsey WoottenKath GleaveAndy BensonRyan Frain-WalkerOlivia WilliamsBarnie VarnavaRebecca PlaistowMeg LyonsSte FoyTom Langan
## The Ride or Die & Purgatory Twist

This seasons twist saw players compete in pairs, which were each assigned a colour. From the second round onwards, when the pair was voted out they could battle any other player who voted for them for their place in the game - with the exception of the Power Couple, who were immune). The teams / colours changed as below:

## Immunity Idol & Immunity Shield

Due to the Ride or Die Partner twist, immunity idols were altered slightly this season. An immunity Idol would die the player the power to swap teammates at an elimination ceremony, even if they were the player on the block. If they did this, they would choose another player and swap places, stealing their partner and putting them on the block in their place etc. This idol was hidden underneath a chair in the main room, but was never found.

This season also introduced the Immunity Shield. This would protect a player from being dragged into purgatory by another player. This was hidden from the second round in the bathroom. However the immunity shield was never found.

## The Challenges

There was a total of 12 challenges played this season:

## The Game

### Pregame

Before the games begun, a number of players were forming alliances. The Platinum Alliance was formed by Barnie, and included Becca, Andy and Hogg. This was a reference to a previous alliance these players were in called The Golden Alliance during season six.

Ryan also wanted to create a winners alliance, with Lindsey, Becca and Hogg. Lindsey believed her and Ryan already had an unspoken alliance as the first two winners of the game, and planned to have his back.

### Round One

To start, players competed in Flip Chase, where the winner would receive an advantage to help them in the game. Barnie won the challenge and was given the choice between awarding himself one round immunity, or having the luxury of choosing his partner out of any of the players. If he chose to pick a partner then the advantage would be rewarded to the player who was not chosen by anyone else. Barnie opted to choose his partner and the players paired up as follows:

 Becca
 Hogg
 Tom
 Kath

As Ste was not chosen by any player, he was awarded one round immunity. He would not compete in the challenge, but would still cast a vote in the elimination ceremony.

Prior to the Head of House challenge, the players were warned that this season there was no Veto competition. This meant it was more important than ever to win the HOH, as it was the only way to ensure you would be playing next round. All players competed in Dice, Dice, Baby, with the twist that you were not able to place your own dice, and your partner had to do it for you. Whichever player lasted the longest would secure the Head of House total for themselves and their partner.

Team Purple (Tom and Lindsey) were the winners and entered deliberation. Tom and Lindsey were on the same page and both wanted to nominate Team Red (Becca and Ryan) and Team Blue (Barnie and Olivia) calling them all Power Couples. They were also concerned by Team Green (Andy and Hogg) but thought the others were higher priority this early in the game. In Deliberation, Lindsey also admitted to starting a rumour that Becca was a 'dark horse' to the other players, in hopes that other players will target her.

Both teams campaigned for their game:

By a vote of 6-5, Barnie and Olivia were eliminated from the game. This was when the players were informed about a new part of the game known as Purgatory. This the status between life and death in this game, where each eliminated player will enter for one last chance to stay in the game. As the first players to enter this, Barnie and Olivia were asked to pick a challenge to complete against each other in. The winner will return to the game, whilst the loser is the first player eliminated.

Barnie and Olivia opted to play Bar Brawl. Barnie made the first move and went in to knock Olivia's cup off the disc, but in doing so knocked his own off as well. After the tapes were reviewed, it was clear that Bernie's cup had touched the ground first, giving the point to Olivia. In the second round, Olivia matched the aggressive tactics and charged Barnie, although both players cup's fell to the side they remained on the disc. Ultimately, Olivia was able to keep her cup the longest and returned to the game - now partnered with Ste.

### Round Two

The second round began by players splitting their pairs in half to compete in a variation of the game, Know It All. Players had to decide if they were going to compete in 'Brains' or 'Balls'. Lindsey, Becca, Andy, Kath and Ste opted for 'Balls' and the other players were asked to leave the room. They then each had two minutes to manouvre as many ping pong balls through an obstacle course as possible - All players did very well, with Kath, Ste and Lindsey each gaining 6 balls, Becca with 7 and Andy getting all 10 of his balls through the course with the time to spare. Each ball equaled a life in the second part of this game.

In the second part - Tom, Ryan, Hogg, Meg and Olivia had to ask questions about the pre season questionnaire and were able to take lives away from other players if they got the question correct. Although Hogg appeared to be targeted by the other players, Tom and Olivia were both out of the challenge before him, due to the lives earned by his partner. The final question was between Meg and Ryan, with Meg answering correctly and knowing Ryan out of the competition.

Meg and Kath discussed the most recent game and opted to nominate who they felt were strongest. They were both confident with putting up Team Red (Becca and Ryan), but were unsure between the other players. Due to their relationships with Team Blue (now Olivia and Ste), and having been protected by Team Purple (Lindsey and Tom) in the previous round, they opted to nominate Team Green (Andy & Hogg) as their second choice.

In the vote, players were split and as a result jury member, Barnie, was called upon to cast the final decision:

With Barnie's tie breaking vote sending Ryan & Becca into purgatory the pair chose the challenge What The Puck to seemingly face off against each other. They were however informed that moving forward the players voted into purgatory would get to choose any of the players who voted them out to challenge for their spot in the game. The players who won Head of House were immune from being dragged into Purgatory.

Becca chose to challenge Ste, not wanting to challenge her fellow Platinum Alliance members, Andy and Hogg. She was successful and returned to the game, now as a member of the Blue Team. In a surprising move, Ryan chose to challenge his fiancé, Olivia. However, this did not prove wise as she defeated him in the challenge and remained in the game.

Ryan and Ste were eliminated from the game. Becca became Olivias third partner and newest member of the Blue Team.

### The Battleback

Barnie, Ste and Ryan were all given the chance to battle back into the game and were forced to compete in Knot So Fast, where they had to make it as hard as possible for another player to untie their rope from around a brick. Barnie passed his brick to Ryan, Ryan passed to Ste and Ste to Barnie.

Despite being the first to remove the rope from the brick, Ryan's rope still had knots in that needed to be undone. This created time for Barnie to catch up and overtake, releasing his untied rope and winning the challenge. With another spot available, Ste and Ryan raced to finish, with Ryan successfully unknotting his rope.

Barnie and Ryan returned to the game as Team Black. Ste became the first member of our jury.

### Round Three

In the third round, players competed in endurance challenge, Bridgeblock. In this challenge they needed to balance a bridge of blocks between them, with the blocks increasing each round - the first team who drops would be automatically nominated for elimination. All players kept their balance for the first few rounds, with Tom & Lindsey dropping their blocks first. Andy and Hogg fell in the next round, followed by Kath & Meg.

When the challenge was down to Team Blue (Olivia and Becca) and Team Black (Barnie & Ryan), Barnie attempted to make a deal with the other team to keep each other safe. Team Blue were unsure but agreed that the boys were safe with them. Shortly after this, Team Black's blocks fell and Team Blue were announced as Head of House.

In Deliberation, Team Blue realised that with Purple already on the block (Tom & Lindsey) they could only really spare one team from the block. They both agreed to put Team Yellow on the block, but were unsure between Team Black (Barnie and Ryan, Olivia's fiancé) and Team Green (Hogg & Andy, Becca's boyfriend). Olivia predicted that if they betrayed Team Black, and went back on the deal made in the competition, then they would likely lose their jury votes if she was to make it to the end of the game. The pair ultimately decided to nominated Team Yellow and Team Green for elimination.