Tonight on The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras, the eras must work together to protect their team. A disgusting feast is prepared and TJ’s new gimmick puts two members of each era in danger of elimination. The winners make it difficult for themselves as they struggle to agree on a decision.

This year, the longest-running reality competition series kicks off its monumental 40th season. “The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras” features 40 legendary contestants from the show’s 26-year history representing their “Challenge Era” in an epic battle for the ages where legends clash to immortalize their names as Challenge 40 champions and win their share of the one million dollar prize money. As usual, “The Challenge” is hosted by TJ Lavin.

SEE MTV’s The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras: Cast, Elimination Order and Everything You Need to Know

Here are the participants still fighting for the Season 40 championship:

Era 1: Aneesa Ferreira, Brad Fiorenza, CT Tamburello, Darrell Taylor, Derrick Kosinski, Jodi Weatherton, Rachel Robinson, Tina Barta

Era 2: Aviv Melmed, Cara Maria Sorbello, Derek Chavez, Emily Schromm, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, Laurel Stucky, Nehemiah Clark, Ryan Kehoe

Era 3: Averey Tressler, Cory Wharton, Devin Walker, Jonna Mannion, Jordan Wiseley, Nia Moore, Tony Raines, Tori Deal

Era 4: Horacio Gutierrez Jr., Jenny West, Josh Martinez, Kaycee Clark, Kyland Young, Michele Fitzgerald, Olivia Kaiser, Theo Campbell

Read our full recap of tonight’s episode, titled “A Fatal Era,” below, airing Wednesday, August 28 (8:00-9:30 p.m. ET/PT) on MTV.

20:05 — The challengers return to the house and their minds immediately start racing. Why didn’t TJ send last week’s losers home immediately? What are they doing back in the arena? Could they return? Will there be a second chance? The reality is that these outcasts vote for the remaining players in the game, rating them from 1 to 5 – and those ratings could have a serious impact on who wins this game. Meanwhile, Cara Maria is already unhappy, as she’s stuck on a team with Bananas and Laurel, two people who obviously don’t want to work with her. On the other hand, she has a lot of other friends in the house, so she’s still hopeful. Horacio is upset that his girlfriend Nurys went home, and Michele tries to focus on the game. In another corner, Darrell and Aviv are figuring out how to work together despite being from different eras. They won “The Challenge 12: Fresh Meat.” It’s been 18 years since then and Aviv is back for the first time, but they’re ready to try again together.

20:10 — As the evening progresses, the drinks flow, and Brad and Emily appear to be starting a show romance in the shower. Emily admits she has a thing for beards and biceps. Another makeout session between Josh and Nia takes place in the pool. The next morning, everyone wakes up and heads to their second challenge in Vietnam. TJ explains that they’ll be working as teams today – and that each era must pick two representatives to kick things off. Era 1 picks Jodi and Darrell, Era 2 picks Derek and Aviv, Era 3 picks Tony and Averey, and Era 4 goes with Kaycee and Kyland. In “Gladieater,” the challengers will race to dragon boats, row around the island, race to a disgusting feast, and eat an entire plate of “Vietnamese delicacies”: snakes, rats, pig brains, coconut worms, duck embryos, boiled cow eyes, and some other gross things. Once the festivities are over, teams must place 40 shields representing each season of The Challenge in the correct order. The first team to do so will win today’s challenge and be the only team not eliminated. Let’s go!

8:30 p.m. — The competition has begun and all the teams are rowing around the island like mad. Era 1 is way behind, basically rowing in circles. Era 3 completes the rowing sessions and is the first to reach the food station, closely followed by Era 4 and Era 2. Disgusting food is consumed and people are throwing up just as quickly. Era 3 finishes first and now just has to fix the season shields. Meanwhile, Era 1 has just shown up at the food station. Era 2 finishes eating and is now working on her shield puzzle. Thanks to Tori’s learning, Era 3 wins this challenge and is safe from elimination. Era 2 comes in second place, Era 3 comes in third, and Era 1 loses. As Era 3 representatives, Tony and Averey are safe. As Era 1’s losing representatives, Darrell and Jodi go straight to the arena. The Era 2 and Era 4 representatives must explain to the winning representatives why they should not be sent to the arena.

20:35 – Josh tries to negotiate a deal with Tony, saying if Era 3 doesn’t target Era 4 this week, they’ll return the favor. Nia goes big and tells Averey to save Derek. Kaycee is a former Big Brother and The Challenge champion and uses her fidgeting skills. She also hopes to form an alliance with Era 3 since that’s where most of their relationships take place. It sounds like they’re hoping Era 3 will send Era 2’s representatives to the arena. Meanwhile, Derek has another idea. He thinks Kyland is a genius and Kaycee is a beast at the Challenge Finals. Why not try these two now?

20:45 — In the chamber, Tony and Averey sit down with the losers, Darrell and Jodi, and the teams up for elimination, Kyland & Kaycee and Derek & Aviv. Everyone begs to stay. When asked who he would rather face, Darrell answers: Aviv and Derek. Aviv feels blindsided because they just talked about working together all season! Darrell admits he trusts Aviv, but the man is trying to survive. Obviously, it would be easier to eat Derek & Aviv than Kyland & Kaycee. After everyone else leaves the table, Averey and Tony discuss who to send in. Averey refuses to say Derek’s name. Averey says all of their connections are in Era 2, but Tony doesn’t think Era 2 will ever have any power in play. In the end, Tony and Averey can’t reach a consensus and both agree that they aren’t afraid to go into the arena themselves if they have to. Cory calls Tony selfish because he would weaken their Era-3 team if he goes into the arena and loses.

20:55 — The Challengers have a poolside toga party, but the fun soon turns to serious game talk. Laurel and Bananas don’t understand why Tony refuses to throw Kaycee and Kyland into the arena. Bananas asks Tony if it’s worth throwing away his game to form an alliance with people he barely knows. Tony feels absolutely no loyalty to Bananas and wants to assert his dominance in the game. Meanwhile, Kyland brings up another interesting point. Wouldn’t it be selfish of Derek to let Averey get into a stalemate for him? She’d ultimately be risking her own game to save his—so how could Derek let that happen and still call himself a friend? Nia, turned on by Kyland’s train of thought, shoves her tongue down his throat. Wasn’t she just making out with Josh five minutes ago? Welcome to The Challenge! Romance is in the air and there are some serious DNA swaps going on between Devin and Michele, Olivia and Theo, and Nia and Kyland. Feeling a little disrespected when he hears the people in the house teasing him, Josh tells Tori he no longer considers her a friend. Now she’s crying. Michele can hardly get enough of that hot tea as she slurps her ramen between them.

21:05 — It’s the morning of eliminations, and it’s likely to be chaotic. Emily, fresh out of the shower with Brad, confesses her crush on Kaycee and excuses herself via the diary room to Kaycee’s fiancée Nany’s house. This house is crazy! Night falls, and it’s time to head to the arena. TJ asks Tony and Averey who they picked to face Darrell and Jodi. Tony admits they couldn’t decide, so TJ tells them to come to the sand, adding, “Don’t mess with me.” What a waste of an Era-3 win today. Derek praises Averey for having his back, but doesn’t seem to care that she gets to go home because of it. Averey tells TJ she’s mad and doesn’t think Tony wants to be here. Next, TJ explains that tonight’s elimination is an individual match, not played as a team.

21:15 — In Step by Step, players start on a box. They run as fast as they can to discover the directions. They run back, grab heavy tiles, and build themselves a walkway. They can only lay one tile at a time, and must always fill one frame at a time. If they make a mistake, they must start over. The first to build their walkway without making any mistakes wins. The men go first, and it’s Darrell versus Tony. Darrell relies heavily on the help of the players on the sidelines, as everyone seems to want Tony to just go home at this point. Tony reads the instructions and is immediately confused. There are a few Era 3 players on Tony’s team who also decide to help him. It doesn’t work, and Darrell beats up Tony, sending the stubborn challenger home.

21:25 — Now it’s time for the women to compete. Averey hopes to survive this contest against Jodi after sacrificing herself for Derek. Having already lost Tony, Era 3 does everything she can to help Averey win. Jodi takes an early lead, but she runs out of the colors she needs to complete her walkway. She has to change her strategy, opening the door for Averey. Unfortunately, Averey also runs into trouble and both women have to start completely over. Jodi gets nervous and says her anxiety is at “11.” Averey eventually backs out and sends Jodi home. It’s nice to see Averey come out on top, but I’m sad to see Jodi leave. She really wanted to be there. She’s in tears as she says, “I love this game and I’m really sad to have to go.”

21:30 — Next, TJ explains that with winning comes power. As you move forward, if you enter elimination and win, you’ll get to select targets—one man and one woman from each era who must win the next challenge. If they don’t, they’ll have a chance to go to the arena. The losing team’s targets go straight to elimination. The winning team’s targets go to the chamber. Darrell will select all the female targets, and Averey will select the male targets. They select Derrick & Aneesa from Era 1 (Aneesa’s blood is boiling), Bananas & Laurel from Era 2 (Cara Maria is ecstatic), Jordan & Nia from Era 3, and Horacio & Jenny from Era 4. Those are some heavy hitters! That’s it for tonight.

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