The Challenge: CM Punk learns a new move

Punk’s breaking the all-important rule of “Don’t wear the shirt of the show you are on.”

Last week on The Challenge, CM Punk barely survived a football player, Wes sent Bananas packing, and Lolo got moody.
 
This week is a Women’s Elimination, so Punk is safe, so I can breath easy during this week’s episode. We’re halfway through the season (I think), so we’re starting to get a closer look at each contestant. This is always better than the first few episodes of a competition-based reality show.

Some shows, like Surviving The Race, Master Rescue, The Amazing Road Rules, or Redneck Island, always start with 50 people, and they only have a limited time with each episode to introduce them. When the numbers dwindle, we get to see the character of these people a little more closely.
 
Most of these people are awful.
 
It’s already apparent with the Champs, since we’ve seen them on these shows for years, but I was hoping the Pros would be better humans. For the most part, they’re not. They’re either cliquish bullies or Lolo. 
 
Lindsey seems ok, though, and she volunteers to be team captain for the Pros. She’s a snowboarder by day and apparently a badass by night. We’ll get to that later.

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Big poles and even larger moats

Basically, this football player just stared real hard at Wes until he fell into the water.

The first challenge is called Out Of Bounds, where you face off one on one by holding on to a big pole and trying to push your opponent into a moat. I like how these are games designed so that when adults play them, they look like toddlers. Ashley M is the captain of the Champs, inexplicably volunteering for the position AGAIN, even though it sent her to Elimination the first time. I applaud her willingness to put all on the line for her charity, but I do question her decision-making skills. 
 
Since this is a strength game, or “Brawn,”(sup, Strowman?) and all the Champs got is CT, the Pros pull off the win. The actual fun doesn’t really start until it’s time to vote on who will be going into Elimination. On the Champs side, Ashley M is already in for being Captain of the losing team.

So in an act of chaos, Wes ties the vote up between sending Cara Maria or Ashley K in. This means Ashley K gets to choose who she’ll face in Elimination. She picks Ashley K because Cara Maria is a beast and would destroy her. This is where CM Punk learns a new trick.