If you’ve watched even one second of a reality TV competition show, you’ve probably heard the expression, “It’s a numbers game.” The latest episode of The unknown I took this phrase literally with a mind-bending challenge that seemed to be taken straight out of elementary school math class.
Before this pesky challenge, a player with the power of The Anonymous managed to oust another competitor. Plus, everyone in the house finally began to realize that having a Big Brother winner in their midst might not be a wise path to victory. Here’s what happened during The Anonymous, Episode 6, “The Price of Safety.”
See you later, Wayne.
In the somewhat frustrating tradition of The Anonymous, the episode picked up where we left off last week, with the elimination date approaching. This show always leaves us on a cliffhanger, pushing the elimination date back to the following week to ensure you stay entertained week after week. Well done, USA Network.
On the disc, Danny announces that The Anonymous has chosen Detective Wayne to leave the competition. This isn’t too surprising considering how he went completely off-track during the showdown challenge. What was truly surprising was the fact that Jack won once again with the power of The Anonymous. What in the world?
In a flashback, we see Jack in his hideout winning power for the third time in this game. At this point, everyone must pack up and give him the money. He is in control of this, and has explained the rationale for his final move.
“If I take a big player out, the other players will feel uncomfortable,” Jack explained. “What I want is for everyone to feel safe and that they can beat me at the end of the game, when in reality we know they can’t.”
When called, Wayne confesses that he is not actually a janitor but a detective, which makes everyone choke up. Xavier can’t believe he just went head-to-head with a federal agent and won.
Jack is in control, but can he keep up?
After Wayne leaves, Jack explains in a confessional interview his plans for the next few days. After Wayne leaves, he says his next targets are Basma, Dillian, and Lily. Watch out guys.
Meanwhile, Jack has Xavier on his radar as well, but has made it clear that he wants to keep him around a little longer. He will strike when the time is right, and part of that strategy involves getting Victoria to go after Xavier as well.
Watching the episode from home, we can all see how Jack dominates the competition and pulls the strings left and right. In episode 6, we finally see some of the other players coming after him as well.
His roommate, Nina, said she noticed he was tossing and turning most nights. The night after Wayne was fired, he slept like a baby like there was nothing to worry about. Add that to the list of evidence!
Elsewhere, Xavier and Chris also talk about how they’re starting to suspect Jack. They can sense he’s plotting. Even Victoria takes a moment to embrace Chris and acknowledges Jack’s cunning way of maneuvering. The walls are closing in on Jack, but it’s probably happening too slowly to make a difference.
To sum it up
For this week’s challenge, Dani asked the players to split into teams of two. Victoria and Chris clearly teamed up before anyone could even process what Dani had said.
The other teams were Lily and Basma, Andy and Nina, Xavier and Jack, and Dillian and Marcel. The winning team would choose one player from their team to be safe from elimination.
Once they got to the challenge, Dani told them the rules, which was probably one of the most mind-boggling challenges yet. They were presented with a table full of puzzle pieces containing numbers and mathematical symbols, as well as a screen with a set of dollar amounts.
Their goal: choose an amount and then build a tower of puzzle pieces equal to that amount. The team that finishes the tower first wins.
The options ranged from easy ($50 to $140) to complex ($19,999). Basma and Lily wanted to be safe, so they chose the easiest amount of $50. Dillian and Marcel chose $140. Meanwhile, Jack begged Xavier to choose the bigger amount. The lovers also chose the bigger amount, although they seemed quite unsure of their abilities. At least Jack had the fact that he was a math teacher.
The players had only 12 minutes to complete this challenge, and it immediately proved to be much harder than it seemed. They were not equipped with calculators, not even a calculator. Furthermore, their towers had to remain stationary for a full three seconds.
In the end, the only two teams that completed the challenge were the ones who chose the easiest options: Basma and Lily, and Marcel and Dillian. The rest of the teams failed, which meant they won a whopping $140 for the challenge. That’s just a drop in the bucket.
It is revealed that Marcel and Dillian won because they completed the challenge first. Only one person can claim safety, and Dillian graciously gives it to Marcel. It’s a diplomatic move, but it will hurt him later.
The unknown situation was not good for Xavier.
Although the rest of the cast failed to complete the challenge, they were all mostly sympathetic to the teams that took the easy way out. Basma, Lily, and Dillian left the challenge facing major goals.
When Danny sent them into Unknown Mode, the failed challenge was at the forefront of many players’ minds. Meanwhile, a few others were just focused on eliminating threats. Why insist on the challenge when you can drag Xavier into the chat?
Immediately, a Popsicle known as Dillian joins the chat and announces that Xavier will be returning home after that. Nina and Victoria join in as well, under the guise of their secret avatars.
Elsewhere in the chat, Andy said he wanted to target people who didn’t contribute to the prize pot, which is ironic because that’s what everyone has been saying about him since episode one. Regardless, he threw Basma and Lily’s names into the chat, hoping they’d get nominations.
Mastermind Jack has taken this opportunity to mislead everyone. As a Flamingo, he has reacted to Andy’s message in a way that makes everyone think he is Lily. It’s a smart move. It’s this level of misdirection and confusion strategy that gives him power every week.
Who is the candidate for elimination this week?
After the conversation, it seemed clear that Basma, Lily, and Zafir would be the candidates for elimination. However, when Dani started revealing the nominations, there were a few truly strange choices in the lineup.
Of course, Basma, Victoria, Nina, and Dillian voted for Xavier. No surprises here. But what’s surprising is that Scissors aka Xavier voted for him! That’s a power move, guys! He’s desperate to get people off his scent and win the power of the unknown. This might be his only path to safety.
Chris ended up nominating Basma for her performance in the Math Challenge, and Andy nominated Lily for the same reason. Meanwhile, Lily randomly decided to nominate Nina for a second time for no apparent reason. Then moments later she complained that there were too many women nominated. Okay, girl.
The biggest stab in the back this episode came from Marcel. Despite Dillian giving him a pass this week after they won the challenge together, Marcel nominated him for elimination. Oh boy! Dillian then got another vote from Jack aka Flamingo.
After the nominations and the test to see who would become The Anonymous, Dani gathered all the players around the table once again for an exciting weekend. She indicated that it would be either Dillian or Xavier who would go home, depending on who The Anonymous chose. Regardless of the outcome, the next elimination is about to be a huge blow to this game.
Episodes of The Anonymous continue on Monday nights at 11/10c on USA Network. Episodes also air on Peacock.
Tell us – what did you think of The Anonymous episode 6? Were you surprised to see Jack regain the power of The Anonymous again? Do you think Xavier or Dillian will return home next?