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The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies power rankings after ep. 9

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE CHALLENGE AHEAD!

Ready?

Season 37 of The Challenge is here: Spies Lies & Allies, which pairs up some international reality star show stars with American counterparts as pairs try to win their share of $1 million. It’s a sequel of sorts to Double Agents, in which everyone paired up … but then could switch as the season went on.

As usual, we’ll do some power rankings each week to see who’s in the lead … and who could fall short.

In this week’s episode: Our first week without a rookie-rookie pair ends with a former champ going home along with a first-year player … but is a big twist going to change the game going forward?

1
Kaycee and Emanuel

Let’s recap what happened at the end of the ep first so we can talk about everyone left in that context: After Bettina and Cory defeated Jeremiah and Amber in elimination, the pair were prepared to choose different partners, as the winners of The Lair get to do every week.

But … NOPE. T.J. Lavin told them to rejoin the group and everyone’s wondering what’s next.

For the purposes of this week’s rankings, I’m going to rank them as pairings, but my theory is either that the group will go to a challenge that may change up the teams OR they’ll be playing as individuals going forward.

Regarding our No. 1 pairing for yet another week: They dodged a bullet because I’m sure Cory would have stolen Kaycee, thereby breaking up a team that appears unstoppable.

2
Emy and CT

Same with these two. Would Bettina have taken CT? It sounds like CT would have disliked that VERY much.

3
Priscilla and Josh

I’ll say it again: I’m amazed at how good Josh has been this season navigating the house politics. He did some groundwork getting the group to vote in Cory and didn’t lose it too badly when he was confronted by Cory. I’m impressed. Priscilla also did some great work talking to Nany post-challenge to make sure she wasn’t getting voted into elimination.

4
Nany and Logan

They won this week — in Bombshell Battle, in which the pairs had to dig through mud to get some balls and eventually grab the all-important silver ball to defeat other teams wrestling for it — and made the right moves putting Amber and Jeremiah in. So of course they move up.

Shoutout to Logan for making a deal with Ed and Nelson that he’d keep them out of elimination if they let him win. That was brilliant.

5
Ashley and Ed

I actually understand Ashley being nervous — once you’re a champion, the target is on your back forever (just ask Johnny Bananas!). What’s frustrating is Cory once again bringing up once again the fact that she took the money during Final Reckoning years ago. That’s all in the past!

6
Bettina and Cory W.

Congrats to these two in a comeback effort from the ages in elimination, as they figured out how to navigate a really tough challenge — they had to figure out how to walk across a beam they couldn’t both go on while carrying puzzle pieces to eventually solve on the other side. But Cory tossing a silver ball back to Jeremiah earlier in the episode was a rookie mistake from a veteran player! Of course all the vets are going to be suspicious that you’re working with rookies!

7
Tori

Uh, yeah, she doesn’t have a partner after Jeremiah went home! If this does turn into an individual game, she’s in a good spot.

8
Devin

Same for him. Another player I’d be intrigued by if he had to work alone.

9
Amanda and Kyle

Still not winning, but not involved too much in the drama to be a target. Not the worst place to be … but not all that great either.

10
Big T and Nelson

They almost won the challenge before Nelson tackled Ed to allow Logan to claim victory. But it’s more important to remember that they’re lumped in with Cory, and that’s not helpful when the house wants Cory gone.

11
Amber and Jeremiah (eliminated)

They were ahead in elimination, but they didn’t quite figure out the right way to walk together across that very uneven beam. Alas. Also a reminder that if you date in a Challenge house, you’re going to be targeted doubly.

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