The Power of the Dark Side

When Joe compared his opponents, Josh & Cher, to Darth Vader, he had no idea that Cher was about to cut off his hand and leave him dangling underneath Cloud City. Joe & Brittany may have been Beauty and the Geek 2's Luke Skywalker, but Josh & Cher took home the $250,000 prize.

After the previous episode's elimination sent Ankur & Jennipher home, Joe & Brittany returned to the suite, where Josh & Cher were waiting to see who their final opponents would be. The teams celebrated making it to the end with a soak in the hot tub. Josh finally got the courage to get in the tub, his first dip of the season.

The next morning, the teams were informed that the elimination room would test how well they understood their partner. Until this point, the pre-elimination round challenges had focused on overcoming weaknesses. This time, the challenge was replaced by a chance to demonstrate each person's strengths.

In order to show off one of his talents, Josh took Cher to a pond. When she asked if they were going skinny dipping, Josh joked, "We'll see where it goes."

Instead of taking clothes off, they put on some waders and tried fly fishing. Josh had learned the sport growing up in Michigan, and it surprised Cher that he'd be interested in something so outdoorsy. Cher only hit Josh with her fishing pole a couple of times.

Joe taught Brittany another outdoor sport -- of sorts. They played chess on an oversized board at the beach. Joe's teaching needed some refinement, as he fired off information at lightning speed. But Brittany picked up a lot of the information, and Joe was impressed that she'd mastered some advanced concepts so quickly.

To further impress Brittany, Joe played a round of speed chess against another expert player. Brittany said she felt honored to have shared her experience on the show with a master chess player. You think Joe's good at table games, Brittany? Until you've seen my sister-in-law beat my ass at Yahtzee, you have no idea what a master is.

Brittany took the opportunity to teach Joe how to ice skate. While she emphasized that she was only a casual skater, Joe was amazed by her skill, as he struggled to stay upright. By the end of Brittany's lesson, Joe was skating smoothly and even did a little spin.

Cher's skill was making sushi, and Josh guessed that he was probably the world's first Jewish sushi chef. Josh proposed that, if they won, they use their winnings to open a sushi restaurant together.

Before the elimination room, a montage of clips of both teams ruined the show, because it was set to that stupid "You're Beautiful" song that every show now uses for montages and poignant scenes. Joe talked about the final showdown: "Josh & Cher are the bad guys, and Brittany & I are the good guys. It's like Darth vs. Luke. May the force be with us." But just like Luke in Empire, Joe & Brittany must have left Dagobah before their training was complete.

Instead of the usual question-answer format of past eliminations, the finale included a special twist. One team member answered a question, and the other team member had to guess the answer that was given. Each correct match earned the team one point.

The guys were up first, answering three random questions while the girls were sequestered in another room. Unfortunately, the girls didn't know their guys as well as they thought they did, and Brittany and Cher failed to match a single one of their partner's answers.

For example, Cher was asked what the first word that popped into Josh's head was when he saw her on the first day. She guessed that the word was "vivacious." His real answer: "nauseous."

When it was their turn, Josh and Joe performed significantly better, each answering two of three questions correctly and forcing a tiebreaker round. The guys each answered their new question correctly, forcing another round.

Josh was asked what he'd most like to change about his partner, and he said he'd like Cher to have more self-confidence. Cher correctly guessed Josh's answer. Joe was asked the same question about Brittany, and he said he wished she was a little less innocent. Naive might have been the better way to phrase it, since less innocent sounds overly sexual. Unless that's what he really meant.

Brittany flip-flopped for a while, and finally decided that Joe would want her to be more self-confident, too. Josh & Cher were awarded the $250,000 first prize, but a sobbing Joe said he would've paid that much for the opportunity he had.

Cher put Josh's sushi restaurant idea to rest, saying she'll use her share of the money to enroll in medical school. No word on what Josh will do with his money, but hopefully he'll treat himself to a new man-purse.

Following the episode, Chicago's WGN News reported live from a viewing party held by Joe. He was joined by Karl & Danielle, two other Chicagoland contestants from this season. Danielle is currently working at the Mount Prospect Public Library while she waits for modeling and acting offers to come her way. Karl, the show's resident dungeon master, is now a spokesman for Dungeons & Dragons.