‘The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras’ episode 8 recap: Who was eliminated in ‘The Era of the Gladiator’? [LIVE BLOG]

Tonight on “The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras,” a battle erupts at the challenge as the players must find their inner Gladiator to take out their competition and achieve glory… and safety. A vote from one team causes friends to question whether they were ever on the same page.

Here are the contestants still in contention for the Season 40 championship:

Era 1: Derrick Kosinski, Rachel Robinson

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

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

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

Below, read our full recap of tonight’s episode, titled “Trust In Your Era” airing Wednesday, October 9 (8:00 – 9:30 PM ET/PT) on MTV.

SEE Darrell Taylor and Tina Barta (‘The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras’) exit interview

Heading into tonight’s episode the targets were Derrick & Rachel (Era 1), Derek & Cara Maria (Era 2), Cory & Averey (Era 3), and Theo & Jenny (Era 4). After returning to the house, Derrick and Rachel commiserate over being the last sitting ducks on Era 1. Derrick is pretty banged up, but Rachel is looking fit and she’s an absolute queen in this game. I’m not counting them out just yet! Anyways, congratulations challengers, you’ve wiped out the team true hardcore fans wanted to watch the most.

Meanwhile, the alliance between Eras 3 and 4 is beginning to crack because there are certain members of those teams being called out as targets more than others. Cory and Jenny are feeling particularly salty. Kaycee blames Jenny’s lack of a social game on her current position, but it’s still annoying to watch it play out. Cory has completely cut ties with the Era 4 squad and hopes his Era 3 team will work more closely with Era 2 instead.

Era 2 isn’t without its own infighting, as Ryan decides to move out of their room to avoid being around Bananas and Laurel for another second. The next morning, Derrick approaches Theo and reveals that Eras 2 and 3 are getting close, so Era 4 might as well just look out for Era 1. At least he’s’ trying. Theo is happy to make a deal with Derrick since nobody on his team seems to be filling him in on their alliances.

At the daily challenge it’s a “Gladiator” theme and in “Battle for Honor,” contestants will enter the ring in hopes of being the last era standing. They’ll have to use Roman army-inspired shields to push opponents into the water. There will be a men’s and women’s round — and the team with the most gladiators standing after 20 minutes will take the power into the chamber. The men are up first and things quickly get physical. After some bloodshed and bruising, there’s still no one in the water after a solid five minutes! Eventually Bananas goes out first followed by Derek. Derrick and Jordan are the next out with just five minutes left. With Era 4 now in the lead, Devin tries to get slick and suggests Cory make a deal with Theo. Unfortunately for them, Theo’s not biting. He would like nothing more than to see Eras 2 and 3 in the arena tonight. After a few more attacks, Theo eventually gets disqualified and when the horn blows Eras 3 and 4 each have two players standing, Era 2 has 1 and Era 1 has 0.

The women are next. Nia and Averey are out first, delivering a major blow to Era 3. As the last member of her team remaining, Tori hides in a corner. The strategy pays off and the horn blows with most of the women still on the platform. After two rounds, the Era with the least amount of players standing was Era 1. They’ll be back in the arena yet again. The winning team is Era 4. That means Theo and Jenny will have the power in tonight’s chamber.

Down in the chamber, Derrick lashes out at Cory and says he’d like to take on Era 2. He thinks Rachel has a better shot against Averey than she would Cara Maria. He’s not afraid to go in against Cory and tells Cory, “If you can’t beat a three-legged dog, you don’t deserve to be here.” He finds it amusing that Cory seems so concerned about going into the elimination. Derrick has nothing to lose and says there’s no time. for playing scared, he’s playing an “IDGAF game.”

The next morning at the Era 4 team meeting, Michele has the nerve to call it a “sham” because clearly Theo and Jenny are connected to Era 2. Weren’t Theo and Jenny’s teammates criticizing their games earlier because of their lack of connections? And now they’re upset that they actually do have connections, just not the ones Michele and her alliance have? Say it ain’t so! This entire situation just makes me hope Theo and Jenny throw Era 3 into the sand. Michele couldn’t sound like a bigger hypocrite right now. Jenny and Theo decide they’ll throw Cory and Averey into the arena. Cory is furious and seems to blame Josh and Kaycee more than Theo and Jenny because he thought they’d fight for him to stay. Of course, Michele runs back to Devin and tells him everything that happened. She’s upset they’re being selfish and not thinking about what it’s like for her. Since she was so concerned about Jenny getting a target put on her back week after week, right? No. Again, Michele lives in her own world. Now Devin has his sights set on ruining Josh’s and Kaycee’s games.

Over in another room, Cory unleashes his wrath on Josh. It’s hilarious because Josh is already unhinged and now he’s gone completely bonkers. Theo and Jenny’s plan to make Josh and Kaycee look like the a-holes has been a wild success. Consider the Era 3 and Era 4 alliance completely broken.

It’s time for the elimination arena. In “Fate of the Gladiators,” players will either be a “striker” or an “evader.” The striker will be wearing boxing gloves and a blindfold. The evader will be wearing a suit of armor and targets all over their body. The striker’s job will be to hit the evader and knock as many targets off his opponent as possible. Whoever hits the most target wins. Rachel and Averey face off first and Rachel really clocks Averey a few good ones to the face. Averey doesn’t seem to understand what a block is. It’s pretty brutal to watch. Next, Averey is the striker, but Rachel is wise enough to run around the ring and avoid her. It’s like night and day. The horn finally blows and Rachel has won this arena in a landslide.

Next up is the bitter rivalry of Cory vs. Derrick. Cory has the advantage of being the striker first. We’ve seen how a few good blows to the head could impact you later in the game. Cory gives Derrick a few good blows and it won’t be easy for the Era 1 legend to come back from this. But, when Derrick becomes the striker his animal instincts kick in and he goes absolutely wild on Cory, blasting off targets left and right. This was a tight battle, and in the end the two men share their mutual respect and admiration for each other despite their fiery exchange of words this week. Next, TJ reveals they both hit all the targets. However, Cory did it fast and he’s the winner of this matchup. Derrick can limp away with his head held high. What a legend! Nevertheless, I’m glad to see Cory return because he’s actually healthy and I frankly just want to see him stir up more drama with Josh. Time to stir the pot!

As the winners of this arena, Cory and Rachel choose the following targets for next week: Ryan & Laurel (Era 1), Devin & Tori (Era 3) and Kyland & Kaycee (Era 4). As the last remaining player on Era 1, Rachel returns to the game on a solo mission. How will this play out next week?