MTV's The Gauntlet III Episode 8 Cold Blooded

Frank and Katie are scheming ways to keep her in the game. Katie wants to stay and is pissed that the guys on her team are trying to get rid of her. If I were Katie, however, I would be a little insulted at the reasons why Frank is trying to help her. Isn't it obvious that Frank wants to help Katie because he thinks she a hindrance to the Vets? Maybe Katie just doesn't care because she wants to stay that badly.

Meanwhile, Evan and Kenny agree that they need to get rid of Katie.

The next day, the teams meet up with host TJ Lavin in a large cooler for the Chill Out challenge. Inside the large freezer are two large tanks filled with ice water. Wearing swimsuits, each team member must jump into the freezing water. In each following round, players must remain in the water for 5 additional seconds. Players may quite the challenge at any time, but the team with the last player standing wins.

The Vet guys quit in lightning speed in order to throw the mission and send their girls to the gauntlet. I'm not certain if CT even entered the water once. Tori from the Rookies and Katie and Robin from the Vets drop out before the second round begins. One by one, the Vets drop out, finally leaving Johanna, Frank, Jillian, Nehemiah, and Rachel on the Rookies team and Danny the lone Vet standing as they enter the third round where players must remain neck-deep in the water for 10 seconds. Danny was pretty cocky in the second round, pretending to shower in the water and clean his armpits during his 5 seconds in the water.

Before the third round starts, the Rookies ask Danny what he wants, since they know his team wants to throw the mission. They can't figure out why he is continuing on with the challenge. Danny says he'll quit, on the grounds that if the Vets loose the guy's challenge, they will save Danny. The girls on the Rookie team, doing jumping jacks to keep their blood warm, quickly agree so they can get out of the freezer. "On your word, is that a deal?" Danny points at the Rookies demanding their word. Frank doesn't want to agree to that, however, so round 3 begins, and Danny says that he'll "go all f****** day, then."

Since Danny is the only Vet player he must go into the water for each of the five Rookies. His cockiness is gone this round, however, and he only makes it through one Rookie in round 3, not all day, giving the Rookies the victory. This means that all the Rookies girls are safe from the gauntlet and will make it to the final challenge.

Meanwhile outside, Evan and Kenny are wondering what the hell Danny is still doing in the freezer and why he was going to such extremes trying to win the challenge. Then, Danny crawls pathetically out of the cooler in an extremely overdramatic moment. The stops fondling Danny, however, once Frank comes out of the cooler and explains that Danny was trying to strike a deal with them. Danny denies everything, but his team doesn't trust him.

The Rookies now deliberate and decide who to save and who to send into the Gauntlet. Since they can't save Katie as she was saved the last time, they decide to save Diem and send in Paula, knowing that the team will vote in Katie. The Rookies think that Katie might stand a chance against Paula because Paula is very tiny.

Rather than giving the team the opportunity to explain why they think that she is the weakest link, Katie volunteers herself for the gauntlet.

Paula and Katie learn that they'll be competing in Sliders. A puppet game ensues as Katie is coached through Sliders by Frank, and Paula is coached by Adam and the rest of the Vets team. Katie is pissed at Adam and feels betrayed that they all are helping Paula. Team Adam/Paula end up finishing the puzzles faster than Team Katie/Frank. Katie gives Paula a hug, she has no hard feelings against her. It's rumored in Chicago that Katie works at the downtown Hooter's location, perhaps she is now making her way back there.

Back at the house, Evan and Kenny demand to know what happened in the freezer from Danny. Danny, getting obviously flustered, continues to deny the allegations to the point of a screaming match with the rest of the Vet guys. This continues until Frank, who has been standing behind Danny the entire time listening to his denials, again tells everyone exactly what happened in the cooler.

Later that night, after everyone has had a few drinks, Frank decides to start trouble with Vet hot head CT in hopes that CT, who has been known to get violent on these challenges, will punch him and have to be sent home. Not wanting to lose CT, Adam steps in between Frank and CT. CT then turns his aggression onto Adam, his former castmate from the Real World Paris. The two had butted heads during their season as well, but then again, who hasn't CT butted heads with? CT turns his beer upside down and poors it all over Adam's head. Adam tries to go after CT, but the entire Vets team then breaks it up. Frustrated, CT punches a cactus instead of Adam or Frank.

Frank and Adam later discuss the incident. They don't understand why everyone allows CT to be an a**hole just because he does very well in the challenges and why everyone walks on eggshells just to keep him happy. Frank tells Adam that if he helps to throw the next mission, the Rookies will vote CT into the gauntlet.

The next morning, as the teams prepare for the final male gauntlet challenge day, Danny fears that he will be sent into the gauntlet if the Vets lose. He is especially upset that he is so close to the final mission and he really wants to win the money to be able to give Melinda the "house and wedding of her dreams."

The final men's challenge has both teams attempting to balance two giant wooden platforms that are leaning to one side. The teams will need to distribute their weight across the platform until they are perfectly balanced and able to maintain it for 10 seconds. Each time a team does this, they will receive a point. The first team with 2 points wins.

Once the horn sounds, the Rookies discover they might at an advantage by having less people to maneuver around. The Vets, who can usually strategize these missions and win handily, find themselves just yelling and screaming at one another. Adam, who had been planning on helping to throw the mission, decides he doesn't really need to do much, just sit back and watch his team fail. Finally, the Rookies are able to find the balanace and get a point. Once the teams are back on the platform for round 2, the Rookies attempt to the do the exact same thing. The Vets are still arguing and not coming up with anything, other than trying to watch the Rookies strategy. The Rookies are able to get the balance again and win! This means that Frank and Nehemiah are safe and will get to compete in the final challenge.

The Rookies now deliberate to decide which Vet male to send into the gauntlet. Frank lets his team know about the agreement that he made with Adam, but the rest of his team isn't very happy that they made the agreement without them and they're not convinced that Adam did anything to throw the challenge. Frank wants to honor his word, but the team doesn't agree, especially Tori who tells Frank he can't manipulate them. Even Frank's girlfriend Jillian disagrees.

Frank regretfully announces the Rookies choice to put Adam into the Gauntlet at which point the episode abruptly ends. Traditionally, we would see the Vets choice as well as the men's gauntlet in this episode, but producers decided to save this for the final episode.