The Butler Games: Ride or Die

Season Three Logo

### Other Contestants

Richard Murgatroyd, Josh Kennerley, Barnie Varnava, Natalie Norton, Katie Yates, Lisa Williams, Rebecca Plaistow

The Butler Games: Ride or Die is the third season of The Butler Games.

This season took place on Saturday 18th November and consisted of eight rounds and a final vote. Unlike previous seasons, players were not given targets, but instead had a companion who the player must protect to avoid being punished.

The season was won by new player Rachel Williams with 7 out of 9 votes to win.

## The Players

11 players took part in this season. The contestants were:

* Katie YatesLindsey WoottenRachel WilliamsLisa WilliamsBarnie VarnavaNatalie NortonRebecca PlaistowTom LanganJosh KennerleyRyan Frain-WalkerRichard Murgatroyd

## The Ride or Die

For the first season ever, players were not given targets to eliminate from the game. Instead each player was given a 'Ride or Die', a partner whom they had to protect from being eliminated. The partnerships were: Ryan and Lindsey, Barnie and Richard, Natalie and Becca, Lisa and Rachel and Josh and Katie. Due to the odd number starting the game, Tom did not have a 'Ride or Die'. Instead he would be partnered with whichever player lost their partner first. Partnerships were told in secret, so it was up to the players if they wanted to keep it a secret.

When eliminated from the game, the eliminated player chose one of the Ride or Die punishments at random and gave it to their partner to suffer the consequences -

 Katie
 Lisa
 Lindsey
 Barnie

## Immunity Idol

This season there were two immunity idols, a pair of silver wings.

The first idol was hidden amongst a selection of cocktail umbrellas above the fridge in the kitchen. This was found by Josh before the first round even took place. The second idol was hidden inside a viking drinking horn, situated on a side table in the main room. This was found by Rich when in exile from the first tribal challenge.

Josh used his idol to make himself immune from elimination in Round Five, not knowing that the rest of the players were voting for his ally, Katie, instead of him.

Rich used his idol in Round Six to make himself immune from being voted out by the Ride or Die advantage.

## The Competitions

A total of 15 competitions were played across 8 rounds this season.

## The Rounds

The competition consisted of eight rounds and a final vote.

### Round One

In Round One, the players were split into two teams of five, with one of the players being exiled. 2 players were chosen at random to become team captains. Those players chose the first player they wanted on their team, that player then chose the next and so on.

 Josh
 Barnie
 Ryan
 Tom

Rich was sent to exile and automatically advanced to the second round. Whilst in exile, he found an immunity idol hidden inside a viking drinking horn.

In the Battleflip challenge, the players were given a choice between a a small shot of jalapeno tequila or a larger drink of grapefruit, cucumber and apple. Only Lindsey, Ryan and Barnie chose the smaller shot of alcohol over the larger soft drink. This proved to be fatal for the Red Tribe, when Katie was unable to finish the larger drink, giving the Blue Tribe an easy win.

Before the vote, The Power 6 Alliance quickly formed, consisting of Barnie, Lindsey, Lisa, Ryan. Rachel and Rich. Each agreed to vote the same way.

For the first time in The Butler Games history, all players were eligible to vote at the first elimination ceremony.

*(Nominated: Ryan, Tom, Barnie, Josh and Katie)*

With Katie receiving votes from all of the Power 6 Alliance, she would have been eliminated with the majority vote. However this was a non-elimination round, allowing Katie to stay in the game.

### Round Two

In Round two, players competed in the first ever Nomination Challenge. This challenge had no winners, but the losers of the challenge would be nominated and face the elimination ceremony. In 'Give-Wrapped', players played a pass the parcel-like game, wherein they had to choose which player opened the next layer of wrapping paper, some of which contained nomination cards.

As each layer was unwrapped, nomination cards were given to Barnie, Ryan, Rich and Becca. Lisa opened the final layer, revealing The Golden Power of Veto. As there was no Head of House, if she chose to use this the replacement nominee would be chosen by random draw, which would include Lisa. She did not use the veto.

*(Nominated: Ryan, Richard, Barnie and Becca)*

With 7 out of 11 votes, Becca was the first player eliminated from The Butler Games: Ride or Die.

As she had failed to protect her Ride or Die, Natalie was given the 'Death by Association' punishment, automatically nominating her for elimination in the next round.

### Round Three

In the first Head of House competition, 'Play Your Cards Right', Barnie was crowned the Head of House and nominated Josh and Katie to face the elimination ceremony.

In a new twist, all players except the nominees and Head of House had to participate in the Double Cross Ceremony. In the double cross, each player would pull an arrow from the wheel, one arrow had a double cross, whilst the others only had a single cross. The player who pulled the double cross had to nominate another player for elimination.

Ryan pulled the first double cross of the season and chose to double cross Tom, as the only eligible player not in the Power 6 alliance.

In the Power of Veto Challenge, 'The Ice Breaker', Tom won the Golden Power of Veto and used it to take himself off the block. Ryan was then forced to choose a member of the Power 6 Alliance to go up as a replacement - he chose Rachel.

*(Nominated: Katie, Josh, Natalie and Rachel)*

 Katie
 Lindsey

With 7 out of 10 votes, Katie would have been the second player eliminated from The Butler Games: Ride or Die. However, for failing to protect his Ride or Die, Josh was presented the 'I Volunteer As Tribute' punishment, automatically eliminating him in Katie's place.

### Round Four

In round four, players competed in the 'Twerk It Gurl' Head of House competition. This was played tournament style, with one player being chosen at random and choosing who they wish to compete against, the winner then chooses the next two to face off. The final came down to Natalie against Ryan, with Ryan taking the win and being crowned Head of House.

In a move which surprised his fellow alliance members, Ryan nominated alliance member Rachel alongside outsider Natalie for elimination.

At the double cross ceremony, Tom was able to take revenge on the Power 6 Alliance when pulling the double cross and nominating Lisa for elimination.

In 'The Last Knight' veto competition, Ryan won the Golden Power of Veto, allowing him to complete control on the round. He chose not to use the Power of Veto and kept alliance member's Rachel and Lisa on the block.

With the Power 6 Alliance in agreement to vote Natalie out of the game, Richard and Ryan hatched a plan to blindside on of their own. They approached Tom and Barnie with the plan; Tom was in agreement, knowing that the plan would save his Ride or Die, Natalie, from elimination, whilst Barnie was apprehensive, unsure if it was too early to start eliminating within the alliance. Unable to change their minds, Barnie informed Lindsey of the impending blindside.

*(Nominated: Lisa, Rachel and Natalie)*

 Lisa
 Natalie
 Richard

With 6 out of 9 votes, Lisa was the third player eliminated from The Butler Games: Ride or Die.

As she failed to protect her Ride or Die, Rachel received the 'Your Opinion Means Nothing' punishment. This meant that she would not be able to cast a vote in the next elimination ceremony.

### Round Five

In Round Five, the jurors were invited back to compete alongside the players in the 'Know It All: Play or Pass' Head of House / Battleback competition. Players were questioned on the game so far, and could remove the life of another player if they got their question right. Lisa was the first juror to be knocked out of the competition, with both the other jurors and her ex-alliance members targeting her lives. It was neck and neck between Becca and Josh, with Josh being the last juror standing and returning to the game. The competition went to a tiebreaker between Katie and Tom, with Tom winning Head of House.

Tom chose to take a shot at the Power Alliance, nominating Barnie and Lindsey for elimination. The players were also told that this round would be a double elimination.

At the double cross ceremony, it was Rich who pulled the double cross, nominating Josh for elimination. Then in a surprise second double cross ceremony, in which the jurors had the power, Becca chose to double cross Katie.

In the 'Can'n'Ball' power of veto competition, Tom, Katie, Rich and Josh were all unable to balance 2 limes between their cans. With Barnie and Lindsey both unable to balance 3 limes, it went to another tiebreaker. Barnie won the Golden Power of Veto and took himself off the block. Tom chose to put Rachel up as the replacement nominee.

With Josh holding an immunity idol, him and Katie debated which one of them to grant immunity to. They decided that Josh was the bigger threat and that the players were more likely to eliminate him, since he had just battled back into the competition. They discussed this with Natalie, who then reported the information to Tom and the Power Alliance.

Before the votes were read, Josh used his idol to make himself immune from any votes cast against him, unaware of Natalie's betrayal.

*(Nominated: Josh, Katie, Lindsey and Rachel)*

 Katie
 Lindsey
 Rachel
 Richard
 Ryan

With 5 out of 9 votes, Katie was the fourth player eliminated from The Butler Games: Ride or Die. As they had already suffered through a Ride or Die punishment, Josh and Katie were not required to choose another.

With both Rachel and Lindsey receiving 2 votes each, the other players were required to vote again to determine who would be the fifth player eliminated.

 Josh
 Natalie
 Richard
 Ryan
 Tom

As the votes were tied for a second time, the elimination ceremony went to deadlock. The players had a total of 5 minutes to unanimously decide which player was to be eliminated from the game, If they could not decide within those 5 minutes, both Rachel and Lindsey would become immune from the vote, and all none immune players (Barnie, Natalie, Richard and Ryan) would have to 'draw straws' on which one of them would be eliminated.

The players argued over which should be eliminated and had both Lindsey and Rachel state their cases. After an agreement could not be reached, Natalie campaigned for the nominees to compete in a 'lip sync battle' to decide which one should be eliminated. With the clock ticking down, and fearing for their own place in the game, the other players agreed and Lindsey and Rachel began their impromptu lip sync battle to Taylor Swift's 'Shake it Off'.

After a stunning death drop, the players agreed Rachel as the winner of the Lip Sync Battle, making Lindsey the fifth player eliminated from the The Butler Games: Ride or Die.

For failing to protect his Ride or Die, Ryan received 'The Lone Wolf' punishment, where he had to dress up as a wolf and serve drinks to the players and jurors.

### Round Six

At the beginning of Round Six, Natalie announced that due to a prior commitment, she was no longer able to continue in the game. Before leaving, she and Becca both cast their winners votes.

Due to Natalie's departure from the game, a second Battleback competition took place between Lindsey, Katie and Lisa. Lindsey returned to the game after winning 'The Battleflip' - or as it became known, 'The Nattleflip' -and took Natalie's place in the game. This meant she was now partnered with Tom, who had been partnered with Natalie following Becca's elimination in Round Two.

In the Head of House challenge 'Colour Code', Rich was crowned the winner after only two questions knocked out all the other players. He nominated Josh and Lindsey for elimination.

At the Double Cross ceremony, Tom pulled the doublecross and nominated Barnie for elimination.

In a Guardians Twist, players had to choose Jurors to run on behalf of them in the 'Scrabble Scramble' Power of Veto competition. Unlike previous seasons, the jurors were only running to collect the letters, whilst the player themselves would have to do the spelling.

Due to the lack of Jurors following Becca's departure and Lindsey's return to the game, the players not competing in this challenge could also be chosen. Season One's Olivia also returned to the game to assist in this challenge. Juror Katie competed on behalf of Josh, Juror Lisa competed on behalf of Lindsey, Player Rachel competed on behalf of Barnie, Player Ryan competed on behalf of Richard and Guest Olivia competed on behalf of Tom.

Lindsey and Lisa, much like the season before, won the Golden Power of Veto with the word 'lashes'. Lindsey used the Power of Veto to remove her own nomination. Richard then chose Ryan as the replacement nominee.

Thinking that he was the last Ride or Die couple remaining, not knowing about Tom and Lindsey (who replaced Natalie), Richard makes the decision to cut his Ride or Die loose, assuming that only then would he receive the Ride or Die Advantage.

Richard secretly campaigned to eliminate Barnie, whilst assuring Barnie that he would use the idol to protect him and ensure that Ryan is eliminated instead. Before the votes are read, Rich does not use the immunity idol.

*(Nominated: Barnie, Josh and Ryan)*

 Josh

With 6 out of 7 votes, Barnie was the sixth player eliminated from The Butler Games: Ride or Die.

For failing to protect, and campaigning to eliminate, his Ride or Die, Rich was presented the 'Guardian Angel' punishment. This meant that Barnie would compete on his behalf in the next Head of House Challenge.

For being the last surviving partnership, Tom and Lindsey (who replaced Natalie), were awarded the Ride or Die Advantage. This meant that they had the power to choose one player to instantly eliminate from the game. Richard played his immunity idol to make him immune from this power and ineligible to be eliminated.

After a short discussion, Tom and Lindsey voted to eliminate Josh from the game, making Josh the seventh player eliminated from The Butler Games: Ride or Die.

### Round Seven

In the seventh round, players competed for Head of House in the 'Fallen Friends' competition in which Tom earned his second Head of House this season. He nominated Lindsey and Richard for elimination. It is believed that had Tom not have won this competition, he would have been nominated, being the only player left who did not begin the game in the Power 6 Alliance.

Due to the number of players remaining in the game, the Double Cross twist was confirmed to be over.

In the Power of Veto competition 'Mastermind Map' which tested how much the players had learnt about each other, Ryan won the Golden Power of Veto and chose not to use it.

*(Nominated: Lindsey and Richard)*

 Tom

With 4 out of 5 votes, Richard was the eighth player eliminated from The Butler Games: Ride or Die.

### Round Eight - The Semi-Final

Unlike previous seasons, the semi-final was set up differently, consisting of two competitions. The winner of the first competition would automatically qualify to the final, whilst the other three moved onto the next competition. The winner of the second competition would join the first winner in the final, whilst the other two players would be eliminated without a vote.

The first challenge was 'Dice, Dice, Baby' with a slight twist - the players had to choose jurors to stack the dice onto the sticks in their mouths for them. The player who had the most dice after 2 minutes would qualify to the final.

The players chose their jurors in a random order. Lindsey chose Lisa, Tom chose Katie, Rachel chose Josh and Ryan chose guest juror, Olivia. At the end of the two minutes, both Ryan and Lindsey had 6 dice on their sticks, but with Ryan's dice falling first, it was Lindsey who won the first space in the final.

The second challenge was 'Battledice', a combination of the first challenge played and the last challenge played. Players had to flip 6 cups to reveal a pattern, they then had to recreate the pattern on a stick balanced in the mouth of a juror of their choice. They were not allowed to choose the same juror as the previous challenge - Rachel chose Lisa, Ryan opted for Barnie whilst Tom chose Josh.

Ryan began the challenge with a clear lead, but a quick flip by Rachel put her a few seconds ahead. Tom, handicapped by his hatred of Dr Pepper, fell behind and was unable to catch up. Having flipped all of her cups, Rachel began to put the pattern together on the table, whilst Ryan struggled to flip his final cup. Just seconds ahead of Ryan, Rachel was able to assemble to pattern first and win the second space in the final vote.

Ryan and Tom became the ninth and tenth players eliminated from The Butler Games: Ride or Die.

### The Final Vote

Before the final vote, each player was given the opportunity to give a speech to convince the players to vote for them to win. Rachel discussed how she laid low for the start of the game, survived multiple eliminations and a lip sync battle, before once again performing her death drop. Lindsey spoke about how she wanted to set a precedent that the game can be won by the same person multiple times, before telling the jurors that 'she already has a mug' and walking away.

With 7 out of 9 votes, Rachel was crowned the winner of The Butler Games: Ride or Die.

## Game Grid

* \* - Rich was not chosen to be on either tribe, and therefore was exiled for the round. He was able to vote but could not be voted out.
* † - Despite receiving the most votes, Katie was spared elimination due to a pre-designated non-elimination round.
* ‡ - Katie was spared elimination again when the Ride or Die twist meant her partner was eliminated in her place, sending Josh out of the game.
* # - Becca won the Doublecrosser power from the Jury.

## The Prize

For this season of The Butler Games, the grand prize consisted of a pineapple, a toblerone, a bottle of prosecco, orange flowers, a light box, penguin biscuits, cookie dough pop tarts, an advent calendar and the The Butler Games: Ride or Die winners mug.

Rachel, the winner of this season, shared the Prosecco with her fellow players at the after party.

## Trivia

* This was the first season to include a non-elimination round.
* This was the first and only season to have two female finalists.
* This was the first season where a player willingly withdrew themselves from the game.
* This was the first season to feature more than one Battleback Competition, allowing both Josh Kennerley and Lindsey Wootten to return to the game.
* This was the first season to feature a Nomination Challenge.
* This was the first season to not feature a dating couple. Although Olivia Williams, Ryan's girlfriend, did return as a guest, she was never eligible to vote and only competed in challenges as the assistant.
* The first season to feature players Josh Kennerley, Katie Yates, Natalie Norton, Richard Murgatroyd, Rachel Williams and Rebecca Plaistow.