Once Jordan Wiseley and Aneesa Ferreira won the daily challenge this week on The Challenge season 38: Ride or Dies — an insane feat that involved players retrieving locks from their partners and snapping them into place while crawling over five speeding cars — the house knew that one team would be guaranteed to go into The Zone: Michele Fitzgerald and Jay Starrett.
The scrappy Survivor alums Jay and Michele have done well in challenges but their messy gameplay has rankled the rest of The Challenge season 38 cast, especially Jordan and Aneesa, who had been surprised to get thrown into elimination last week by the rookie team.
"I catch a glimpse of Jay's face and he's defeated!" Jordan said after their win this week. "Buddy, you should have done better because we're still here, we're like cockroaches, you can't get rid of us and now we're in your sandwich.
"I don't believe in revenge necessarily but this time, I'm gonna be a petty bitch," Aneesa teased.
"I know I'm definitely in trouble," Jay said.
So with Jay and Michele being chosen to go directly into elimination, which Ride or Die pairs would be joining them? Jordan and Aneesa strategically chose Nelson Thomas and Nurys Mateo, Olivia Kaiser and Horacio Gutiérrez, and Faysal "Fessy" Shafaat and Moriah Jadea. Nelson and Olivia are "dating" (or whatever "dating" means in The Challenge house) and Nelson and Faysal are friends — despite the latter blindsiding Nelson back during The Challenge: Double Agents with one of the most violent Hall Brawl smackdowns in the franchise's history — so anyway the dagger was drawn would result in the breaking up of an alliance.
Making things even more complicated was the fact that Nelson and Nurys drew the safe dagger, taking them out of the running for elimination this week and giving them the very awkward task of choosing which nominated pair would be going up against Jay and Michele in The Zone.
"This draw has now shaped up to be one of the most dramatic draws in Challenge history," Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio said. "You've got Nelson and Fessy, who have this fractured relationship that they're attempting to rebuild. You also have Nelson who has found himself in this absolute love affair with Olivia. Nobody on earth, including Nelson, has any idea what's going to happen and we are here for it."
"This decision is so hard," Nelson began, before announcing: "Tonight, we are going to have to save Fessy and Moriah."
"I don't understand why Nelson would save Fessy given the past they have in the Challenge world," Nany said of Nelson's strategy. "I do feel so bad for Olivia."
"She's the last person I want to hurt, she does not deserve that...I'm picking my friend over her," Nelson said, though Olivia was diplomatic about the decision: "I think that he made the best decision for himself and I respect that."
During the elimination game, which featured teammates being strapped to a spinning wheel while trying to complete a puzzle, Horacio and Olivia won thanks to some very pointed help from the other cast members, who were yelling loudly to sabotage Jay and Michele's communication.
"This is not Survivor. We come back and we keep playing if you're good," Jordan said of Jay and Michele's elimination. "So your reputation stays with you and if this game has taught us anything, you don't know how to play the game very well."
"Nelson has some making up to do and you know what I'm saying!" Olivia joked.
The Challenge elimination spoilers: fans react to episode 8
Can Horacio and Olivia win an elimination without help from everyone else? #TheChallenge38December 1, 2022
People mad that Olivia and horacio got help. When the real problem is Jay and Mitchell used their cards wrongly twice. Poor political gameplay. #TheChallenge38December 1, 2022
Anyways Horacio and Olivia killing it, my favorite rookie pair this season 🤞 hopeful they make it far #TheChallenge38December 1, 2022
There needs to be a rule against helping during eliminations. I hate this #TheChallenge38December 1, 2022
Michele and Jay's biggest mistakes was making too many enemies too early in the game and not using those wins correctly. #TheChallenge38December 1, 2022
Horacio and Olivia have been thrown in elimination so many times and not a single complaint. I love their rookie asses. #TheChallenge38 #thechallenge #TheChallengeRideorDiesDecember 1, 2022
I love the folks complaining about the “audience” helping. Y’all must be new here haha #TheChallenge38December 1, 2022
Michelle no one is scared of you, they’re just ready for you to leave. Buh-bye #TheChallenge38 pic.twitter.com/9dZji7pdjzDecember 1, 2022
I wanted jay and Mitchelle to come back 😪 #TheChallenge38December 1, 2022
This elimination is one of the many examples on why there shouldn’t be an Audience during eliminations, I love Olivia and Horacio but this is the second time the crowd won it for them #TheChallenge38December 1, 2022
Both Jay and Turbo were done dirty in elims man #thechallenge #thechallenge38December 1, 2022
Dang I wish Jay & Michelle had won #TheChallenge38 they r so fresh and new - I’m so tired of all the old cranky entitled vets - can we have an all new rookies only season next time? .@MTV - Jordan’s crusty (and Anissa, Tori, bananas, nany and kacey bore the shit out of me)December 1, 2022
Jay and Michelle's downfall will ALWAYS be their terrible political games. They play the challenge like survivor and you can't do that in this game. Also, why is everyone so scared of Jay when Michelle was the obvious brains and threat?#TheChallenge38December 1, 2022
The vets did exactly that, they competed, they won, and the losers went home. End game. Why is that so hard for people to understand. You want new players watch The Challenge CBS. #TheChallenge38December 1, 2022
