War of the Worlds 2 Episode 12 Power Rankings

Every week, I’m going to rank the players based on their impact in the episode. These rankings are going to be completely subjective (so please don’t spend too much time critiquing them) based on my feelings of how entertaining the characters were, how they did competitively/politically, and how the episode impacted their overall game.

I’m going to keep running totals to determine who has the best season on War of the Worlds 2. The winner of this prestigious championship will be awarded the grand prize of nothing.

Let’s get to it.

RANKINGS

17. Joss- I don’t know how to keep coming up with new ways to say Joss is a bore. So yeah, Joss is a bore.

16. Josh- We didn’t see much from him after a big week last episode.

15. Kayleigh- Performed well in the mission, and it was very interesting that Rogan viewed Dee as a weaker link than Kayleigh for the final. I don’t think Kayleigh is a terrible competitor, especially after a solid run on Final Reckoning, but it’s still nuts that she hasn’t seen the Proving Ground when Georgia went in three times and Jenny went in twice.

14. Ninja- She seemed to perform the best out of anyone in the mission, flying through the obstacle course. As a character though, she hasn’t been portrayed this season as much more than Dee’s shoulder to cry on and the butt of jokes.

13. Cara- After looking terrible during Jordan’s proposal last week, Cara doubled down on her pettiness this week. She didn’t attend the engagement party, and threw out the wild conspiracy theory that Jordan and Tori already got married before they came on the show.

I’m continually disappointed by Cara’s actions.

12. Ashley- I enjoyed the scene of Ashley comforting Dee and telling her that winning a final is more about heart than anything. It’s definitely a true statement that Ashley knows from first hand experience, having beaten better athletes in Camila and Nicole Z in the Invasion final.

Also, Ashley wrongly said this was the first female Hall Brawl in Challenge history. It was played twice on Battle of the Seasons, between Cara/Lacey and Sam/Jasmine.

Get your facts straight Miss Mitchell.

11. Zach- He gave a nice speech congratulating Jordan and Tori for their engagement, but we were lacking from many of Zach’s trademark one-liners this week.

I did like when he rightfully called Jordan a dick, though. It takes one to know one.

10. Jenny- Earlier this season I said Jenny had all the makings of being one of the greatest female competitors in Challenge history, but this episode we found her biggest flaw.

Jenny clearly lacked the aggression that was necessary to beat Tori in Hall Brawl. It was somewhat reminiscent of Zach vs. CJ on Battle of the Seasons. Both Zach and Jenny on paper looked like they should have won Hall Brawl easily, but they lacked the technique required to win (Zach did technically beat CJ, but CJ won 3/5 rounds).

The elimination proved that you can have all the muscles in the world, but heart and tenaciousness is usually more important in winning eliminations.

Despite her loss, Jenny was by far my favorite rookie this season (to be fair, it was an incredibly weak crop) and I’m looking forward to seeing her again.

9. Jordan- The switch to Team UK hasn’t exactly gone to plan. With Jenny going out, Jordan and Tori are actually more outnumbered than they were on Team US, as they are now literally the only ones left from their alliance.

Now if there’s another guys day, it’ll be fascinating to see if Rogan will want to throw Jordan in, or sacrifice CT. CT is obviously the person to be the most concerned about running the final on Team UK, while Jordan is arguably the greatest competitor in finals in Challenge history.

We already saw Rogan was willing to sacrifice Dee, so I have no doubt he’ll be willing to throw CT under the bus as well.

8. Paulie- He continues to smoothly control his alliance. He was willing to get Dee thrown in as a favor to Rogan and Joss for all their help throughout the season, showing that he is a pretty solid ally.

Of course, this is the same guy who went back on his word and threw a grenade at Joss in the Final Reckoning final, and did the same thing when he threw in Bananas earlier this season.

7. CT- It’s been weird seeing CT play the role of loyal foot solider to Rogan and Joss this season.

He took all the heat for throwing the mission, then was the one to bluntly break it to Dee that her name is on the chopping blog.

CT, the Challenge legend in his 16th season, is doing the dirty work for a guy who’s on his first real season of the show.

Still, I kind of understand what he’s doing. After being a lone wolf for most of his career, at this point in his career CT knows he needs help to make a final. He’s put all his chips in the Joss and Rogan basket, and I hope it works out for him.

6. Rogan- Although he’s played a pretty cutthroat game this season, I was borderline shocked to see Rogan throw Dee under the bus this week.

Not only was it surprising to see him willing to sacrifice the woman that he’s having a showmance with, but the execution was so incredibly sloppy that it came off as disrespectful.

He didn’t have the balls to throw her in himself during the deliberation, but instead left it up to Leroy and Kam to do his dirty work. I don’t know if he thought that he could somehow get away with it, but it all blew up in his face and he lost one of his most loyal allies.

RIP Drogan.

5–3. Nany, Leroy and Kam- I’m grouping the tribunal together this week because their stories were so intertwined.

First of all, it was a bizarre move for Kam to bring Nany into the tribunal with her and Leroy, as it guaranteed there would be drama.

When Kam got in Leroy’s ear about not talking to the people not in their alliance, Nany wouldn’t stand for it, coming in hot with her red dress and cup of noodles.

I felt bad for Leroy being stuck between his best friend on the show and his lover, but I think he handled himself well. He’s looking out for himself first, but he’s also trying his best to get Nany to the final with him.

It’s Leroy’s 11th season, and he should be doing whatever it takes to get his first win, even if that means going against Nany.

As for Kam, it’s hard not to wonder how pure her intentions are with Leroy. I think there is definitely something real between them, but she also views him as a vote in her pocket.

And for her to get upset about Leroy having a conversation with Nany at the bar just came across as being too controlling. Anybody who’s ever been in a relationship knows that whenever your partner tries to tell you who you can and can’t talk to, that’s not a healthy relationship.

Regardless, Kam seems to have this game (and Leroy) by the balls right now.

2. Dee- Poor Dee. After declaring her love for Rogan earlier in the season (yeah, that actually happened), Dee was (almost) backstabbed this week.

Dee had a hilariously epic meltdown after she found out Rogan was targeting her, and it was enough for Rogan to feel bad and keep her out of the Proving Ground.

Although she’s been on almost two full seasons, I really have no idea how good of a competitor Dee is. You could tell me she’s the worst girl left on the show, and I wouldn’t argue it.

Her biggest strength she’s displayed so far is her heart and willingness to do things that she’s afraid of (heights/swimming), but it remains to be seen how far that actually gets her.

1 Tori- After a strong rookie season, there was a lot of talk that Tori was overhyped.

She lost to Kam as a mercenary on Vendettas and she had a bad showing on Final Reckoning (although that was in large part due to being partnered with Derrick H).

But with victories over Georgia and Jenny, there’s now no argument against Tori being one of the top female competitors on the show.

She and Jordan might need to go into every elimination from here on out to make the final, but if they can somehow survive and win the final, it’ll go down as one of the most legendary performances in Challenge history.

Stray Thoughts

• Team UK has solidified themselves as the dumbest team in Challenge history. They threw a challenge with finally the right intention — starting to trim the fat from their team. But Rogan chickened out on getting Dee sent in, and instead they threw their two best females against each other. They’ve been much more focused on keeping their numbers strong instead of their team strong.
• I don’t mind there being a purge next week, but I’m worried about the fairness of it. I don’t know how the players will be paired (there’s four guys and five girls on the US team, while there’s four guys and three girls on the UK team), but it’s not hard to imagine someone getting absolutely screwed.
• Hall Brawl is a classic, but I wasn’t a fan of the Escape to Freedom mission. I think it should have been timed individually instead of as a team (which resulted in CT completely ending the mission), and putting someone from the opposite team in as a road block just seemed pointless.
• The music department continues to be the MVP of the season. “It Takes Two,” “Monday, Monday” and “Little Lies” were all unexpectedly hilarious choices.
• Episode Grade: B-

Season Standings

32. S̵e̵a̵n̵ (1)

31–30. F̵a̵i̵t̵h̵ ̵a̵n̵d̵ ̵Z̵a̵h̵i̵d̵a̵ (6)

29. B̵i̵g̵ ̵T̵ (32)

28. N̶i̶c̶o̶l̶e̶ (67)

27. W̵e̵s̵ (76)

26. L̶a̶u̶r̶e̶l̶ (97)

25. E̶s̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ (103)

24. B̶a̶n̶a̶n̶a̶s̶ (131)

23. I̶d̶r̶i̶s̶ (138)

22. T̶u̶r̶b̶o̶ (168)

21. Kayleigh (170)

20. B̶e̶a̶r̶ (181)

19–17. Jenny, Joss and Ninja (189)

16. K̶y̶l̶e̶ (197)

15. T̶h̶e̶o̶ (214)

14. Cara (225)

13. Nany (228)

12–11. Kam and Josh (231)

10. Leroy (249)

9. Zach (250)

8. G̶e̶o̶r̶g̶i̶a̶ (256)

7. Paulie (259)

6. Ashley (265)

5. Tori (270)

4. Dee (280)

3. Jordan (288)

2. CT (295)

1 Rogan (296)