‘The Challenge’: KellyAnne Judd Might’ve Caused the Stalemate, Not Ben Driebergen

The Challenge: World Championship episode 5 ended with a stalemate that resulted in Ben Driebergen and Kaycee Clark seemingly getting blindsided into elimination. Ben might have unintentionally put them in the Arena by not voting for Jordan Wiseley and Kaz Crossley, as he previously told Danny McCray. However, it’s possible Ben didn’t cause the stalemate because Jodi Weatherton claimed it would have been prevented if one of her allies voted with her and Team Australia.

‘The Challenge: World Championship’ episode 5 ended in a stalemate

When Wes Bergmann and Zara Zoffany placed last in The Challenge: World Championship episode 5, the rest of the cast took the opportunity to throw in another strong team to face them in the Arena.

However, they couldn’t agree on who, resulting in a stalemate. Therefore, it gave daily winners Darrell Taylor and Kiki Morris all the power to throw any team they wanted into elimination.

The episode focused on Ben Driebergen’s deteriorating relationship with Team USA allies Danny McCray and Sarah Lacina. Danny wanted to target Jordan Wiseley but couldn’t because he partnered with Jordan’s ex-fiance, Tori Deal.

Therefore, the USA winner reached across the aisle to team up with Team Australia’s Grant Crapp and Emily Seebohm to get it done. He thought he could count on Ben’s vote as they appeared on the same page, but the Survivor champ changed his mind during deliberation.

Jodi Weatherton explains why she refused to vote with Johnny ‘Bananas’ Devenanzio and other legends

Instead, Ben sided with the legends and voted for Yes Duffy and Emily.

Because Danny had already promised to protect Team Australia, he refused to give in and burned his vote on Benjamin “Benja” Alfonso and Jodi Weatherton, leading to the stalemate.

While the episode made it seem as though they couldn’t agree due to Ben, two-time champ Jodi blamed KellyAnne Judd for causing it. Speaking to Challenge Mania, the Virginia native explained KellyAnne wanted her to vote with Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio and the legends for Yes and Emily.

However, Jodi refused because she didn’t have a relationship with the seven-time winner. Additionally, she claimed she knew Bananas had several other allegiances before her and didn’t want to pick off teams who would work with her.

The stalemate further fractured Team USA

At the time, Jodi didn’t know about the rifts in Team Australia and thought it benefited her and Benja’s game the most to vote with them for Kaz Crossley and Jordan, as it would weaken Team USA’s alliance if they or Wes and Zara went home.

According to the two-time champ, the stalemate wouldn’t have happened if KellyAnne had voted with her, as Jordan and Kaz would have gone into elimination.

However, the inability to agree on a team exposed secret alliances, such as Danny and Sarah’s agreements with Emily and Grant.

Additionally, it further divided the already fractured Team USA as the stalemate resulted in Kaycee Clark and Ben getting thrown into elimination.

The Challenge: World Championship airs Wednesdays on Paramount+.