Reality TV’s toughest competition, Race for Survival: New Zealand, has been a huge success
The toughest reality TV competition, The race for survival: New Zealand, presented a large-scale episode this week. This means more entertainment for us but more suffering for our competitors. Those poor, unfortunate souls were still in the thick of Race 2: Maungakaura, traversing the treacherous course after a sudden knee injury forced the Brooklyn climbers out of the competition.
This week, the seven remaining teams advanced toward Survival Camp, hoping to avoid elimination. For the teams leading the race, the perks in the finish box set the stage for some interesting strategic decisions. Meanwhile, the teams at the back of the group were fighting for their survival. Here’s what happened in Race to Survive: New Zealand Episode 4, “Eels, Heels, and Deals.”
Payment during the race 2
After the Brooklyn Climbers were eliminated from the competition, the remaining competitors saw their helicopter flying over the race track. This created shock throughout the course because no one knew who had left the race and how that would affect the final standings. Does this mean there is one less medal in the finish box? No one wanted to know the answer to this question.
The only two people who didn’t feel the pressure of Race 2 were the River Guides, Oliver, and Corry. They reached the finish box in first place with plenty of time to spare. After taking first place again, they were officially the leaders of this entire competition.
As team number one, they had a choice between four concessions: a steak, an eel fishing kit, an opossum trap, or a set of camp chairs. They chose the steak without hesitation, and after a few minutes, they turned Survival Camp into Morton’s Steakhouse. These two grilled steaks and dined like royalty. The river guides may have made Race 2 look easy, but you could see the life returning to their faces as they ate that steak.
As time ticked by on the second day, the smokejumpers did their best to reach Survival Camp. According to the narrator, they were only “1,000 yards” from the finish line when the clock for the second day’s race hit zero. loss. They ended up spending another night at the race track, punishing themselves for not moving a little faster.
Race two, day three
Day 3 of Race 2 started with all the teams about to move away from their camp sites. It seems like every day these racers wake up and are faced with another dramatic weather event. One day, a cold rain fell. They shiver all night, and then the next day, it’s sunny and hot. New Zealand is truly a wild place.
The Cool Moms and Canada Oil Riggers camped close together after race two, day two. At night, they were all kumbaya, but when the sun came up, they put their game faces on. The mothers asked the oil extraction workers if they would be willing to talk about strategy, and that was quickly shut down.
“We promised we wouldn’t do that during the races,” Nick said to the mothers, completely ignoring them.
Privately, the Oil Riggers admitted they didn’t want to risk putting Randy and Ashley off their coattails. Why risk landing at the bottom? There’s $500,000 on the line!
“I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to make enemies,” Kennedy told the cameras.
With that line drawn, Randy and Ashley moved forward and came up with a plan of their own. They decided to trail the oil workers a bit, then passed them at the last second just to be “annoying.” That’s the level of silliness we value here at Reality Tea, so kudos to Randy and Ashley for bringing a little shade to the race.
Steak, eel, or opossum?
The river guides may have had a few servings of steak when they placed first during the second race, but the real meal was on the actual river. On the third day, the Smokejumpers arrive at Survival Camp and choose an eel hunting kit for their merits. They chose this option because they “would rather eat eel than opossum.” Maybe if the only other option was starvation.
Surprisingly, the fishing kit ended up being the best feature of the box. Ethan and Terry got into the water, set a trap, and before they knew it, they had a 23-pound eel in their hands. Yes, you read that correctly.
Watching this scene from home, this eel looks like something out of a horror movie. It didn’t look edible, let alone something anyone should touch with their hands. For the competitors in the survival race, this little monster contained 2,000 grams of gold protein. They devoured it, cooked it, and celebrated. With all that flesh lying around, the smokejumpers quickly became stars at Survival Camp.
On the other side of the Survival Camp, the hunters made it to third place and chose the opossum trap as their feature. That was 100% fine for these two, but they had no luck catching anything with the makeshift trap. New Zealand’s opossums were too clever to fall for their tricks, leaving hunters dreaming of 3lbs of bacon from their last survival camp.
Broken NDA
When Paulina and Creighton arrived at Survival Camp in fourth place, they got stuck in the camp chairs as an advantage. However, they smelled the sweet scent of cooked eel, and their stomachs began to growl. They decide to hatch a plan to try to trade the chair with the smokejumper in exchange for food. Creighton said he couldn’t survive much longer than the bland almonds and oats in the food caches.
After a little strategizing, Terry and Ethan decide to set up an eel trap in exchange for half the jerky and half of any eel that was harvested. This whole situation is good practice for divorcees when they have to divide their assets after this competition. In the end, they agreed to the deal and signed a “non-disclosure agreement” so the other team wouldn’t know anything about the strategy.
A few minutes later, the smokejumpers caught another river monster. Creighton couldn’t believe it and almost burst into happy tears. In his eyes, this large helping of protein could be enough to fuel them until Race 4. Then, in his excitement, he completely forgot about the NDA and told everyone at Survival Camp about the eel deal they made with the Smokejumpers. So much for keeping a secret!
On Star Race 2, Day 4, there are only two teams left to finish the race: Cool Moms and Oil Riggers. Once the clock started for Day 4, both teams were racing to get that finisher’s box, hoping to avoid elimination.
Ultimately, sixth place could have gone either way. Kennedy and Nick wasted a lot of time moving in the wrong direction and bickering about it. Ashley sprained her ankle the day before which slowed their team down as well. These teams were evenly matched, but Kennedy and Nick made it to the finish box, finishing sixth, and scoring their medals.
Moments later, Randy and Ashley ran to the end box, and surprise! They got a medal too. It turns out that the Brooklyn Climbers’ exit from the competition cleared the way for everyone to move on to Race 3. That whole threat from the start of the race about continued elimination ended up being a huge misdirection. Everyone lived to race another day.
Here’s a quick look at how everyone finished Race 2.
- River Guides, Oliver, and Corey
- Smokejumpers, Ethan and Terry
- Hunters, Bronson and Ryan
- Absolutes, Crito, and Paulina
- Ultramarathoners, Jeff and Corey
- Oil workers, Nick, and Kennedy
- Wonderful mothers, Randy and Ashley
Race for Survival: New Zealand continues at 11/10c on USA Network.
TELL US – What are your thoughts on Race for Survival: New Zealand, Episode 4? Do you think you can handle eating giant eel, or will you stick to almonds and oats? Do you think Randy and Ashley should have been left out?
