Sneak peek of the Duel's first episode is now up on Overdrive

Just a quick announcement: Overdrive has posted a sneak peek for the Duel's first episode. If you have a broadband connection and don't want to wait until Thursday, be sure to catch it.

We'll also have screencaps and a review up here relatively soon for those of you that don't have a broadband connection. We'll also include any spoiler warnings for those of you who don't want to have the first episode spoiled.

So, what are you waiting for? Go see the first episode.

Update: The following contains a brief synopsis of the first half of the episode, now up on Overdrive. If you do not want to know what will happen on Thursday night, please stop reading now.









Clockwise from top: Diem (Fresh Meat) and Nehemiah (Austin) arrive in Brazil. The cast goes up to the Duel area. The cast assembles to hear the rules. Eric (Fresh Meat), Evan (Fresh Meat), CT (Paris) and Derrick (Extreme) conspire, The girls compete, The boys compete, Kenny (Fresh Meat) makes Svetlana (Key West) choose.

The episode starts out with the cast arriving in Brazil at the airport. This is probably the first time since the Gauntlet that the cast met up at the airport and then they board a bus to where they are staying. Everyone's talking in the bus and everyone is commenting on their whereabouts. If you read the Blog, you probably know all this information.

They go into the house and they see "The Duel" emblazoned across a wall. No one knows what it means, but the team question is already thrown into the air. TJ Lavin informs them on their first night of the rules: It basically amounts to a schoolyard picking game at the end of each mission. The winning guy or girl (dependent on which Duel day it is), will choose a member of the opposite sex to be safe. The person they chose, will then choose the next person, until one castmember is left. That one castmember goes into the Duel. That castmember also gets to choose their opponent.

It's a little mindboggling for the castmembers. But on their return home, Key West quickly recognizes the conspiring that is going on around them. Principally, Derrick (Extreme), CT (Paris), Evan (Fresh Meat) and Kenny (Fresh Meat) all decide to let John (Key West) go to the Duel. Derrick cites how it's been tradition.

So, mission day comes up and it's basically a group reverse tug-of-war. I won't tell you who wins, just to keep a little suspense. However, the group gets a surprise when they realize that there's NO deliberation time and they must pick who is going into the Duel at that exact moment. The interesting thing here is that castmembers were first choosing other castmembers from their own seasons (San Diego chose San Diego, Extreme chose Extreme, Fresh Meat chose Fresh Meat). Also, two seasons are deliberately left at the end: Fresh Meat and Key West. The manner of choosing the Duelers each week, explicitly draws lines between castmembers according to their alliances. Which sorta makes them accountable for their actions.

Anyway, at the very end, Kenny (Fresh Meat) must make a crucial choice, because after him, there are only two men left: John (Key West) and Tyler (Key West). One of them must be sent to the Duel, but Kenny must make the decision about who will get to make that decision: Is it Svetlana (Key West), Paula (Key West) or Casey (Fresh Meat), the last three remaining women? Kenny immediately goes for Svetlana wanting to make it "interesting". So, the episode ends with Svetlana torn to make a decision between her two "guardians" at the Challenge: John and Tyler.

To find out what happens, highlight the following text: Svetlana chooses Tyler, who oddly enough, chooses John. John is sent home in the first Duel.