After winning MTV’s The Challenge: Vendettas earlier this year, Cara Maria Sorbello is back in action for her 12th season, The Challenge: Final Reckoning. As she vies for the $1 million prize alongside rival and partner Marie Roda, she’s blogging about it exclusively on PEOPLE! Follow Cara Maria on Twitter at @CaraMariaMTV.
When we last left off, Marie and I had finally mended our rivalry. Marie seemed to have lost a bunch of fake friends and gained someone who really would have her back. We were unanimously voted into the Armageddon and we decided we wanted to make a big move and try to take out Shane and Nelson.
Armageddon: ‘Meet Me Half Way’
Tonight’s Armageddon places a member of each team at each corner of a giant maze. Players must break through various walls of cardboard drywall and plastic wrap to navigate their way to a locked puzzle box. Each teammate has a key and both keys are needed to open the box. First team to grab their flag and run to the bell wins.
When TJ blows the horn, my first thought is to break through the hardest wall first. I accurately assume the cardboard door leads to a dead end so I attack the drywall. I can’t hear Marie on the other side and I don’t know how she’s doing. I just concentrate on what is in front of me. It turns out that the plastic wrap is the hardest thing for me to get through. I’m ripping nails off in the process. As I finally reach the lockbox, I hear Shane and Nelson screaming for victory. I realize that we didn’t quite make it so I try to find my way to Marie. She broke through quite a few walls and she did amazing. We just couldn’t pull it off today.
Looking back, even if we had picked any other team, I still feel like the guy would have been able to break through faster than I could have to make it to their partner. I’m glad we chose who we chose and I know that Marie and I did the best that we could possibly both do. There are no regrets here tonight. We were just simply outmatched. We still have a chance if we can compete again for redemption. I’m not checking out now.
We arrive at Redemption House
I’m not playing any sort of political game. When I walk in, I straight up tell Kam and Kayleigh that we are sticking with the girls if we pull the double cross. It’s the only way to ensure that a girl-girl team will get back in no matter what. Kyle corners me in the kitchen and tells me that no matter what I do I can’t pick Kam and Kayleigh because they are not on Johnny’s side. I thought that Kayleigh and Kyle were genuine friends so him trying to prevent them from a chance at getting back in the game is a surprise to me. Let’s also recall that Kam and Kayleigh’s master plan earlier in the season was done to 100 percent keep Kyle and his teammate safe. Where is the loyalty? Is this how you thank them? I don’t know why I ever had any weakness with Kyle. At this point, every last feeling has finally been buried.
The double double cross
Kam & Kayleigh and Kyle & Brad successfully pull the double cross, so, to celebrate our last night in Redemption, we are going out to play. At the club, Kam has the idea that if she picks Paulie and Natalie for Armageddon, Kyle would have to choose me as he owed me for putting him through to the Vendettas final. She wanted to take the chance of two girl-girl teams making it back into the house rather than just one. She communicated this with me and I agreed that we should at least put him on the spot. Because if he said he would not choose me then it would just show what an even bigger scumbag he is.
What you didn’t see
When we got back from the club, Marie was busy planting bombs. She was trying to get Kyle and Paulie into it again to ensure that Kyle would not pick them if given the chance. She and Kyle got into it pretty bad on the bus. He called her a fat ass which set me off on him as well. Things were just heated and ugly.
Once at the house, Amanda again unleashed a hate storm on me, making side comments about me being a loser and Kyle wanting nothing to do with me, which I overheard. I hollered into the kitchen if she wanted to say anything to my face. So she screamed that Paulie thought I was crazy and couldn’t wait to get away for me. And that I was a loser and nobody wanted me. You know, just the usual. Unbeknownst to Amanda, she was as falling right into Paulie’s plan. Paulie planted bugs in her ear about wanting to get away from me so that he could set her off on another tear. He knew that Zach was at the end of his rope with her and that any mention of my name would set her off again. He was hoping it would be just enough to push Zach over the edge and encourage him to go home. The medical doctors had already warned him that he could suffer permanent breathing difficulties and damage if he did not get medical care as soon as possible.
After all of the mania of the night had ended, we went to bed awaiting our fates for tomorrow.
Back in Armageddon
Kam puts Kyle on the spot and announces that she would like to take on her vendetta with Natalie and let him settle it out with me once and for all. Kyle screams that he absolutely would send me on the first flight home and would not give me the chance to fight in Armageddon. Rather than risk calling his bluff, Kam sticks with her original plan and calls over me and Marie. Kyle jokes that he still would have chosen me at the end of the day, but we all know better than to believe him. Because Zach and Amanda had to go home due to his medical injury, Kyle and Brad can choose between Paulie and Natalie or Jozea and Da’Vonne. They decide to stick with Paulie and Natalie because of their track record in Armageddon.
‘That’s the Ticket’
Players have to find five numbered balls inside a spinning cage operated by a member of the opposite team.
Up first: Kam & Kayleigh vs Marie & me. Kam and I start spinning furiously. I actually feel awful because I feel like I’m hurting Kayleigh. I keep hearing her calling out in pain. I then slow down and shake the cage whenever I see Kayleigh stand. I feel that more precise movements would be more effective at preventing Kayleigh from getting a ball in the slot… and also less mean.
I don’t know whether it’s all of Marie‘s friends cheering for the other team that sets her off but I have never seen such laser focus with her. She came to win today. This is Marie’s elimination. This is her night. She gets it done and earns our ticket back into the main house and the game.
Next up: Natalie & Paulie vs Brad & Kyle. There are no equalizers here, folks. Paulie is spinning a man double his size while Kyle is murdering little Natalie. Honestly, just looking at the two teams and the positions that they are in, I can’t imagine Natalie being able to survive this brutal assault, let alone WIN.
As Natalie cries in agony from being spun in the metal ball and practically suffocating, I feel like she is losing hope. Marie recalls that when she was in the cage the hardest part was just remembering which ball she already put through. At this point, Natalie has put the number 81 into the shoot three times already. Marie starts screaming which balls she still has to get. I join in. We feel like if we just keep chanting which number she needs over and over again she can focus. I see a new determination in Natalie. She starts putting in ball after ball. Meanwhile, on the other side, Paulie is ferociously spinning Brad with every single fiber of his being. Paulie is all heart and strength. You can see that he’s literally giving it everything he has with zero quit. Together these two pull through and send Brad and Kyle packing. After how much Kyle had made fun of Paulie and Natalie’s eliminations, it seems like it wasn’t only hard work that got this done today but also a little bit of delicious karma.
After this Armageddon, the tides are changing. Here’s how the alliances are stacked now:
Johnny & Tony
Cara Maria & Marie
Paulie & Natalie
vs.
Cory & Devin
Shane & Nelson
Ashley & Hunter
Where will this lead us into next week? Stay tuned to find out. The only thing you can count on is never knowing what’s going to happen next. Stay weird.
The Challenge: Final Reckoning airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on MTV.
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