‘The Challenge: Final Reckoning’ Fans Notice Unfair Disadvantage In Elimination Round
The Challenge: Final Reckoning saw its first elimination challenge this week when Paulie Calafiore and Natalie Negrotti faced off against Kam Williams and Kayleigh Morris. Kam and Kayleigh came out victorious, putting Kam’s elimination record now at 4-0. The two teams competed in a puzzle challenge where one teammate was locked in a cage who was passed pieces from their other teammate. The player on the outside of the cage was strapped to a pole with cables and had to fight their way to retrieve the pieces and then transport them to the player in the cage.
While watching the challenge play out on television, fans began taking to Twitter to notice an unfair advantage given to Paulie during the competition. Even fellow cast member Cara Maria Sorbello tweeted about the disadvantage, solidifying what fans saw at home.
For those who watched closely, Paulie had shorter cables and also had more cables holding him back to the pole than Kam did. This made it much more difficult for him to reach his puzzle pieces and the struggle was evident in his face. While Paulie was digging in the sand with all his might to reach the pieces, Kam seemed to effortlessly walk up to hers and then pass them through the cage to a waiting Kayleigh.
"If you have the guts to vote someone in, you better have the guts to take them out yourself." ? Still can't get over last night's twist? Watch it again NOW ? #TheChallenge32 https://t.co/ewbVQ2DbNH pic.twitter.com/MqFzoHBmFl
— The Challenge (@TheChallenge) July 25, 2018
According to Cara Maria, Paulie was given the shorter cables as an “equalizer” to make the physical challenge more evenly matched. It didn’t seem like a fair equalizer to fans who were shocked to see the Big Brother alum struggle while his competitor appeared to breeze through it.
“Why does it seem like the tension pulling Paulie is 10x the tension pulling Kam? She’s just standing there and he’s getting yanked backwards,” one fan tweeted.
Paulie’s famous brother Cody Calafiore also didn’t care too much for the disadvantage.
“WAIT so Kam was standing at the cage with slack on her bungie cord but Paulie had none after 4 steps.. el oh el,” he tweeted.
Why does Kam cord look longer than Paulie’s when they both looked fully stretched? Kam is standing while Paulie is crawling! #TheChallenge32
— Bananas Defender? (@MTVBananas) July 25, 2018
Paulie has appeared to take the loss in stride, paying respect to the two women who beat him out in the elimination.
“Win or lose I handle it like a champion. No win is too great, no loss is too terrible. Props to @iamkamiam_ & @Kmorrisx for handling that s***. All is fair in love & war. That night they were the better warriors. Proud of @NataliaNegrotti for lifting those pieces,” he shared on Twitter.
Last night we saw what happens when one person on a team puts a target on both theirs and their partner's backs ? #TheChallenge32 https://t.co/YGlfLJiFng
— The Challenge (@TheChallenge) July 25, 2018
Something fans should keep in mind when watching competitions play out on The Challenge is that they are watching highly edited versions of what actually took place. There is no way of telling just how much time had passed in a challenge unless producers document it on the screen. In this instance, fans did not get insight into how long it took Natalie and Kayleigh to complete their puzzles. If Kayleigh completed the puzzle much faster than Natalie, then Paulie’s whole cable debacle would be a moot point.
To see how the rest of the season plays out, watch The Challenge: Final Reckoning every Tuesday night on MTV at 9 p.m. EST.
