The Challenge: Ride or Dies Episode 4 arrived this past week with another surprise, as two of the show’s former champions returned to the MTV show as a formidable team.
Darrell Taylor and Veronica Portillo were the latest pair of OGs to show up as a surprise team, giving the field of competitors another squad to worry about.
Along with their arrival, multiple storylines were under the spotlight, including a few showmances and a potential rekindling of a broken relationship.
Like in previous episodes, rookies faced elimination again, and one of the newcomers hatched an intelligent plan to convince others they weren’t working with a veteran player.
Based on a recent reveal of The Challenge Season 38, Episode 4 ratings, the show remained among the top 10 cable telecasts this past Wednesday, with ratings and viewership remaining low.
This report will contain spoilers through Episode 4 of MTV’s The Challenge: Ride or Dies.
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The Challenge 38, Episode 4 ratings revealed
The Challenge: Ride or Dies Episode 4 aired at the 8 p.m. Eastern Time slot on Wednesday, November 2, with a runtime of approximately 90 minutes.
According to Showbuzz Daily, the latest installment scored a 0.22 rating, down slightly from the previous week’s rating. There were 459,000 viewers watching Episode 4, compared to 490,000 for the third installment.
The numbers were good enough for MTV’s competition series to again finish at No. 8 among Wednesday’s cable telecasts for a second-straight appearance in the top 10.
Cable programs ahead of it mainly included sports such as NBA telecasts on ESPN and All Elite Wrestling on TBS.
Ride or Dies episode featured showmances
The fourth episode of Ride or Dies kicked off with host TJ Lavin introducing OGs Darrell and Veronica, adding another tough team to the group.
There were also more than a few showmances under the spotlight. In particular, Faysal Shafaat and Colleen Schneider got additional screentime as they warmed up to one another more.
A brief hint of Jordan Wiseley and Tori Deal possibly rekindling their relationship arrived when a scene featured Jordan getting into bed with Tori. However, it was described as more of a “comfort” situation for the two Challengers to cuddle together rather than anything more.
There were also hints of rookie Horacio Gutierrez and vet Laurel Stucky continuing their flirtations and Nelson Thomas continuing his situation with Horacio’s teammate, Olivia Kaiser.
That came into play later as Nelson and his teammate Nurys Mateo won the daily challenge. One of the teams they chose for elimination was the rookie duo of Olivia and Horacio.
Challenge rookie formed plan ahead of elimination
With the daily challenge win, Nelson and Nurys also chose the other rookie teams: Analyse Talavera with Tommy Bracco and Kim Tranka with Collen. Their final choice was the newest team, Darrell and Veronica.
Olivia then brought a wise plan to Nelson to convince others they weren’t a weak team. She suggested throwing her and Horacio into elimination but ensuring the other teams would save them at The Draw.
At The Zone, Nelson said they chose to send in Analyse and Tommy due to them going back on their word in Episode 3. The Draw featured Olivia and Horacio pulling the safe dagger, then choosing to save the OGs.
With that, it was another rookie vs. rookie elimination. Due to their opponents’ struggles in the Flipping Wasted event (below), Kim and Colleen solved their puzzle first, sending Analyse and Tommy home.
Episode 5 should bring more showmances, strategizing, and potential drama among competitors as the Ride or Dies season rolls forward toward TJ’s final in Argentina.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
