A Merry Chris-mas Day

Plot
The episode opens up with Team Booty in first class. Similar to last season, it is bustling with activity, with “All I Want For Christmas Is You” playing over the speakers. Interns dressed as Santa, Mrs. Claus, elves, reindeer and snowmen mill about, carrying trays of hot chocolate, hot apple cider, candy canes, little gifts and plates of cookies. Others decorate, putting up strings of Christmas lights and little holiday-themed decorations everywhere in addition to setting up a big Christmas tree. Interns sporadically come and give the contestants little costume pieces, such as reindeer ears or a Santa hat.

Yuri (CONF): *humming All I Want For Christmas Is You before realizing the camera is watching* This is my dream come true, I fricking love Christmas…let’s just hope I don’t get voted out tonight *snickers* that would suck

Yuri is decorating a gingerbread house with Ranjitha and Helina. They are competing against Gianna, Archer and Sofia to see who can make the best house. Archer places the roof on as Sofia and Gianna carefully decorate the sides. Suddenly, Helina jokingly dabs on Ranjitha, accidentally knocking the house onto Yuri who is putting together the roof, causing all six of them to laugh. Interns come over and put reindeer antlers on Ranjitha and a red and green scarf on Gianna.

Archer (CONF): The best moments on this show are not worrying about the game

Townes, Wilson and Kirk decide to make a team and get in on the competition, with Grant coming to be the official judge. An intern walks over and puts a necklace of lights around Grant’s neck and a headband with a little Santa hat on Kirk.

Sam and Kelsey are watching while they sit at the mini-bar drinking eggnog, and Fiona, now donning an ugly Christmas sweater, and Myra watch from one of the sets of four chairs, drinking hot chocolate.

Kelsey (CONF): You know, sometimes the crazy infighting makes me forget this team isn't half-bad

Similar celebrations ensue in economy class, with the same atmosphere of interns and Christmas music. Alex and Beyla hold festive mugs of hot apple cider and laugh at Nico, who had a Mrs. Claus bonnet put on his head, until an intern walks over and pulls ugly Christmas sweaters over both of them prompting him to return the laughter. Miller and Colby are helping the interns string up lights, and Frances and Zach are drinking hot chocolate and talking.

Annie grabs a gingerbread cookie off the plate of a passing intern as she sits on the ground with Rourke, Duncan and Paige playing Monopoly by a fake fireplace the interns created. Nick, Hailey and Kathryn lie on their stomachs watching, each of them also sipping on hot chocolate as Matt shoots little marshmallows into their cups from the bench with Ani and Mary who laugh and drink eggnog as they watch. Nico comes over to help Eli decorate the economy class Christmas tree, bringing Alex and Beyla with him, as Garrett evades an intern incessantly trying to put reindeer antlers on him.

Phillippa, Izzy, Dan, Kirsten and Vani play with a dreidel, with Dan jokingly but constantly reminding everyone he's Jewish. Kirsten sarcastically thanks Dan for reminding them, as Izzy sits mesmerized by the dreidel's spinning. Brian sings along to the Christmas carols with Lauren, as they smile and watch everyone enjoy the Christmas holiday.

The fun holiday times are (not shockingly) interrupted by Chris, when he calls everyone into the mess hall for the next challenge.

Phillippa (CONF): It’s literally Christmas, you couldn’t give us one extra day to celebrate?

When the three teams arrived to first class, there were three sleighs, one gold, one light orange and one light blue.

Garrett (CONF): This just can’t be good

He instructs everyone to get in one of the sleighs, and right as Myra climbs in, the floor drops out from underneath them and the sleighs go racing down the side of a mountain toward a small town, weaving in and out of what looks to be an enchanted forest. It’s late afternoon, but there’s no sun and that combined with the snow flurry makes visibility low. After a beautiful yet bumpy ride (Kirk's mini Santa hat was thankfully the only casually), eventually all three teams make it to the town. There, Chris is standing with Channing from season one. Myra flips, extremely excited to see her best friend again, as do both Alex and Sam, excited to have her back.

Miller (CONF): Is no one wondering how Chris was with us when the sleighs dropped out then beat us to the town where there’s nowhere for a giant military jumbo jet to land?

Channing (CONF): Ah yes, the real star of the show has returned

Chris tells them today’s challenge is going to be reminiscent of the Christmas challenge from season one, only harder. The contestants groan. Suddenly, a family with two dads and two young kids comes running toward the group, yelling for help. The one dad tells them a giant, possessed snowman came and destroyed half of their house, before digging a giant hole where the destroyed house was and taking off. Kristoff, the inn keeper, appears offering them shelter in the Inn with the many other families who had their house destroyed. Chris grins, telling the teams their challenge is to save Christmas for this little town, with Channing, Mayor Stephanie and a thirteen year-old resident named Andrew judging who does the best job instilling the holiday spirit into its residents. He sends Team Glory off with the family, with their part of the challenge – solve the mystery.

Alex (CONF): This seems vaguely similar to the challenge we had last time…

*flashback to Kacvinsky, Caroline, Lizzie, Nathan, Ian and Emily sitting in a circle with their notepads, discussing the details of the crimes*

Lauren (CONF): Ok this is gonna be fun, I love solving mysteries, and Ryan would…oh yeah *sighs*

Team Glory takes off toward the destroyed house. Chris tells Team Booty that this is the sixth house that has been destroyed, and their challenge is to rebuild all six, which will entail filling the holes and reconstructing the portion of the house that was gone. Extra points for good decorations.

Sofia (CONF): So Team Glory gets to go on this fun mystery-solving adventure and we have to build houses, right awesome

Sam (CONF): I kind of did this already so we should be good to go

*flashback to Sam hammering down a plank that JP was holding, Clayton and Samantha repainting a wall and Caelan, Nathanael and Andy stringing Christmas lights along the bushes outside the house*

Chris tells them they’ll have all the supplies they need at each of the six houses and throws Helina a map. Helina looks it over, and leads her team toward the first destroyed house.

The scene flashes to Team Waka standing amongst a forest of pine trees. Chris tells them their job is to find the biggest pine tree possible, chop it down, bring it to the town plaza and decorate it with lights, ornaments and a star on top. They also need to find presents to put underneath the tree for the town's children, especially those with the destroyed homes. They'll be judged on size, appearance and quality of the gifts. Channing laughs and remembers the difficulty of finding the presents because the store was wiped out of supplies last time.

*flashback to Channing, Myra, Ruchi, Serena and Sydney running into the store as Joseph, Katie and Matt run out with a shopping cart full of supplies*

Chris tosses six or seven giant axes to Brian, the weight knocking him to the ground. He lets his trusty airhorn loose, and Paige begins to lead Team Waka through the trees to find the best one for their plaza decorating.

The scene flashes to Team Glory investigating the scene of the destroyed house. Izzy and Miller are sitting with the kids, trying to calm them down, and Annie and Kirsten are interviewing the two dads, taking notes as Nick listens intently. Hailey and Alex are down the giant hole, trying to figure out its significance, and Beyla, Kathryn, Nico and Eli are exploring the rubble, trying to find a pattern to why that side was demolished.

Eli (CONF): This is actually really cool, I feel kind of like a spy

The scene flashes to Team Booty, having less fun. Sofia, Gianna and Archer sweat (despite the freezing cold) as they shovel dirt back into the hole. Chris gave them a team of construction workers to teach them how to rebuild, and one teaches Helina, Kelsey and Grant how to lay down bricks, while another shows Fiona, Grant and Townes how to do the flooring. Wilson and Yuri are creating a wooden frame for the destroyed wall, and Ranjitha, Myra, Kirk and Sam had gone into town to try and find decorations to try and gain bonus points from the panel of judges.

Ranjitha (CONF): I’m hoping Channing and Myra being so close will give us some bonus points, because ya girl does not want to be rebuilding houses right now

Paige and Duncan hack away at a tree they found that towers four or five stories tall.

Paige (CONF): How the hell does a pine tree even grow to be this big

Paige yells “timber” as the tree comes crashing down, and Brian, Garrett, Mary, Dan, Matt and Ani run over to help carry it the fifteen-minute walk to the plaza. Frances, Vani, Rourke and Phillippa run into Kirk, Myra, Sam and Ranjitha at the store as they look for decorations for the plaza. The two groups begin racing, competing for the small local store’s limited supply of lights and decorations.

A montage shows Kirsten furiously scribbling in her notebook, Alex leading Nico, Eli, Kathryn and Hailey to the Inn to interview the other families, Dan letting go of the tree for a second to let his arms rest, causing everyone else to collapse, Helina burning herself as she attempts to mortar the rebuilt brick wall, Gianna tripping and falling into the hole that’s almost refilled entirely, and Frances pushing a shopping cart full of supplies out of the store, with Vani, Rourke and Phillippa in tow.

After over half an hour, Team Waka manages to get the tree to the plaza.

Brian (CONF): Ok that was hard as shit

Once they get it settled directly in the center of the town plaza, Frances appears with the cart, filled with strings of Christmas lights, tons of ornaments, giant bows, and even some decorations for the buildings encircling the town plaza. The tree is so tall it even towers over the four-story town hall.

Alex gets frustrated when Kristoff is being ominous about his answers about the attacks, especially given it was an Innkeeper who was the perpetrator last time, trying to get more business for his Inn during Christmas time. Kathryn finds an old book in the Inn about the legend of an evil snowman, as Hailey reads one about the town’s history. She gasps, and realizes that there is supposedly a treasure buried underneath a stone chimney in the town. Eli interviews a single mother and her young daughter whose house was destroyed, who remember the snowman mumbling something about a stone chimney. Eli asks if they themselves had a stone chimney, and the mother nods her head. She also admits her ex-husband was left with nothing after their divorce and still lives in the town, so it could be him, but his house was one of the ones destroyed. Eli yells for Nico to check real estate sites to find any houses in the town with stone chimneys on the Inn’s computer. Nico prints out a couple copies and hands them to Alex, Eli, Kathryn and Hailey. Hailey asks to borrow the book, and Innkeeper reluctantly agrees.

Hailey (CONF): Wow it must really suck to be Team Booty right now, this is a fricking blast

The five run to get the rest of the team as the scene transitions to Team Booty on their third house.

Ranjitha, Kirk, Sam and Myra are lagging behind, taking extra time to meticulously decorate. Myra laughs that they got the easier end of the bargain, and the three agree as the scene transitions to Sofia heavily sweating as she hoists up the wooden frame of the wall with Kelsey, Grant and Wilson. Townes, Archer and Fiona already headed to the next house to start prepping it for building.

Townes (CONF): Honestly my team is complaining but I think we have the easiest job - it's very straightforward, just build the house

Team Waka is enjoying their challenge now that they are done lugging the tree. Duncan lassos the Christmas lights onto the tip and swings off the roof of a building, wrapping the tree in colorful lights. Brian and Phillippa laugh as they follow suit, and Mary, Rourke and Ani lob ornaments onto the tree. Vani takes Frances and Dan back to the store, forgetting presents to put underneath the tree. Matt gets an idea, and tags along.

Matt (CONF): I’ve fucked up in more than a couple challenges so I need to start pulling my weight with the team because I do not want to go home

Team Glory splits up to protect the houses the snowman might target next. Annie, Kirsten and Colby are guarding a house when suddenly the lights cut off. A cold gust of wind puts out the fire in the fireplace, and the family, a mother and father of four, gather together in the living room. The little boy screams as a giant, evil-looking snowman comes wrecking through the wall and starts wrecking the fireplace. Colby instructs the family to run to the Inn, when Kirsten is knocked out by the snowman. The snowman begins digging a hole, as Colby radios for the others to join him. They come running as the snowman is still digging, and Nick and Nico dive into the hole, pinning it to the ground. While the five were at the Inn, Izzy went to the store to get rope and the team works together to tie it up. Miller and Kathryn help an unconscious Kirsten to the plaza, as Nick, Alex, Nico, Izzy and Beyla work on lugging the snowman back.

The rest of Team Booty waits for Ranjitha, Myra, Sam and Kirk to arrive to the last house with the last of the decorations, and when they do, the team runs toward the plaza. As both Team Glory and Team Booty arrive, Vani places the star on the tree, having climbed up to the very top. She waves to Helina which distracts her and causes her to fall off, but thankfully into a deep snow drift.

Vani (CONF): *covered in snow* I hate Christmas

Chris appears with Channing, Mayor Stephanie, Andrew and the families from the destroyed homes. Many of the other townspeople also notice the commotion and begin to congregate in the plaza. Chris starts allows Team Glory to present themselves first. Annie and Nico had been holding hair driers to the snowman to reveal a metal contraption underneath. Izzy opens the hatch as she says that they solved the mystery – the bitter ex-husband of one of the women whose house was destroyed. He was looking for the town’s treasure. He curses, spitting in the direction of his ex-wife and daughter causing Chef to pelt him with a snowball. As he wipes the snow off his mittens, the contestants cheer.

In the meantime, Kirk and Ranjitha hand out pictures of the newly rebuilt and decorated houses to the families, Chris and the judging panel. Andrew's family was one of the one's who had their house destroyed, so he excitedly turns to his parents with the picture prompting Archer to smile.

Archer (CONF): It's weird, Chris had us...doing...good...for once

Matt turns the speaker on, blaring Mary Did You Know? as Brian plugs in the lights and Paige invites the children to check out the presents. The children rush the tree, opening new toy cars, dolls and video games. Andrew excitedly opens a brand new pair of goalie gloves, given he plays keeper. There's even a planner for Mayor Stephanie, for which she's delighted.

Chris tells all three teams they did a great job, but Channing, Mayor Stephanie and Andrew still have to pick what team is going to the barfbag ceremony that night. The three whisper excitedly, periodically looking at the pictures, the tree and the ex-husband. Finally, they break and Channing turns to address Chris and the contestants. She tells them she agrees with Chris in that they made this hard, and struggles as she looks among the three teams. She tells them she thinks they're the most impressed with…

Team Glory, for correctly solving the mystery.

Nick (CONF): That's right, first win as a new team hell yeah

They jump and cheer, exchanging embraces. Channing says the team they think could have done better is…

Team Waka.

They all look extremely upset, being sent to their third elimination ceremony in a row. Dan calls out that it’s unfair because Channing has friends on both the other teams, but Chris tells him there's three judges, and all three clearly came to a unanimous decision.

Rourke (CONF): I don't know Chris this is highly questionable

Channing argues it wasn’t a biased decision, pointing to the speaker. Because of the large amounts of electricity used, it cut power from some of the nearby buildings, forcing some other families to come out to the plaza to investigate why. Everyone glares at Matt, who curses as he tries to avoid eye contact.

Nevertheless, Merry Christmas Day comes on, and the contestants smile and enjoy the beauty of the plaza, as kids run amongst them with toys and everyone wishes each other a Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays).

As the song plays, the scene shows Alex and Beyla kicking a new soccer ball with Andrew, Helina comparing planners with Mayor Stephanie with Ranjitha, Yuri and Nick mocking her, Garrett sitting down with a little girl to help open her presents and Annie and Kirk smile and make snow angels with two of the other kids. Brian and Lauren sing along with the song with a nearby Grant strumming his guitar to the tune, as Matt, Ani and Frances hand out hot chocolate and Nico, Eli, Fiona, Zach and Gianna smile and engage in a snowball fight with a group of the town's teenagers.

Yuri (CONF): *wearing every item of Christmas garb the interns had to offer and a huge smile*

Mary and Sofia sled down a little mound with a group of parents and their kids as Dan, Izzy, Miller and Kirsten make the little kids giggle with a nerf fight. Myra, Channing, Phillippa and Paige build a snowman with Andrew's little brother Ryan, trying to contend with Kelsey, Sam and their new kid friends' snow fort, and Wilson stands with his arms draped over Rourke and Townes smiling. Even Chef is in on the action, helping a 10-year-old use a little easy bake oven. The little boy gives it to his mom who nearly vomits, prompting Chef to shed a tear or pride.

At Christmas dinner, there is a giant ham, among other delicious foods, saving them from the normally borderline inedible slush. Yuri cuts the ham, handing pieces to Helina who makes an assembly line alongside Nick and Ranjitha.

Matt, who is at an end of the table with Ani, Mary, Duncan and Frances, tells them he is scared he is going to be the next to go. Ani says that instead of targeting one of Rourke’s allies, they should go after Vani, Garrett or Brian. Mary asks why, and Ani reasons that they have had an absurd amount of power as the swing vote, essentially choosing who goes home each week and costing them Abbey, Hank and Sibu. They may be able to get Rourke on board, because it also cost them Suzanne and Erica.

Ani (CONF): Look, at this point I have to do whatever it takes to save Matt

Matt goes over to tell Rourke the plan. Rourke nods along, agreeing and saying the three of them are separately a threat anyways, but when Matt leaves he tells his alliance that Matt needs to go. Paige agrees, saying she loves him, but he has single-handedly cost them too many challenges for this vote to not make sense.

Phillippa (CONF): I feel like this vote is long overdue

Rourke says they can tip Vani off that they’re being targeted, and they’ll have concrete numbers over the other alliance.

Vani, Garrett and Brian sit and discuss which alliance they want to swing with. Mary told Brian they're voting Rourke, and Paige told Vani they're voting Matt. Toward the end of them discussing pros and cons, Chris announces over the speaker it's time for elimination.

~*ELIMINATION CEREMONY*~

Chris appears with a giant, light-orange present the size of Chef. He welcomes Team Waka to their first ever barfbag ceremony, impressed they avoided it for twenty-two episodes. He tells them he’s sure they’ve heard by now, but they have to go into the confessional and stamp the passport of the contestant they want to see eliminated.

Rourke (CONF): Wow, I hadn't realized we have never been to a barfbag ceremony...weirdanyways sorry Matt, it’s just your time *stamps Matt’s passport*

Paige (CONF): I love you girl, but your guy has got to go *stamps Matt’s passport*

Vani (CONF): Sorry, I really was planning on helping you guys this week but once I heard you’re targeting us…*shrugs and stamps Matt’s passport*

Brian (CONF): You know I love you guys *stamps Matt's passport*

Garrett (CONF): You kind of left us no choice...

Ani (CONF): *stamps unknown passport* I am literally so nervous I can barely breath right now

Chris tells them this is unlike usual barfbag ceremonies. The first person will come up and unwrap a present revealing the name of the next person safe, and so on and so forth. Duncan stops him, and tells Chris he wants to play his hidden immunity idol.

Duncan (CONF): I’m not taking any chances

Rourke grins at Paige and Phillippa as Duncan walks up, but right as Duncan gets to Chris, he turns to his team.

Duncan (CONF): And let’s hope I’m not making a huge mistake

He turns to Matt and tosses him the idol. He tells Chris he doesn’t want to play it for himself, he wants to play it for Matt. Everyone’s mouths drop, and Matt runs up and plays it. Chris tells them because a valid idol was played, they will unwrap the present until the bottom four is revealed, just to keep things interesting. The idol will automatically put Matt in the bottom four, but that doesn't mean he actually got any votes. The first name on the present is…

Frances.

She sighs and greedily unwraps the present, revealing Dan’s name. The process repeats, and as Ani, Garrett, Phillippa and Paige walk up, both Rourke and Matt look extremely nervous. Channing stands next to Chris, saying she lives for the drama.

Channing (CONF): This tea is so fun to watch when you're not a part of it

Duncan.

He sighs with relief, thankful that he didn’t make a huge mistake by not playing it for himself. He unwraps to reveal Mary’s name. That leaves Vani, Brian, Rourke and Matt as the bottom four. Mary hands the last present, now the size of a slinky, to Chris. He unwraps it, revealing the twelve passports. He starts reading the votes.

Matt. Doesn’t count.

Matt. Doesn’t count.

Matt. Doesn’t count.

Matt. Doesn’t count.

Matt. Doesn’t count. Matt squeezes Duncan, thanking him profusely.

Matt. Doesn’t count.

Matt. Doesn’t count. Ani shoots a look at Garrett, who looks away.

That’s seven votes Matt, and the eighth vote is for…

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Brian.

Brian. Two votes Brian.

Brian. Three votes Brian.

Brian. Four votes Brian.

And with the fifth and final vote, the person going home tonight…

Brian.

Rourke and Vani look a weird mix of relieved and guilty. Brian in the meantime, is in utter shock. Everyone warily eyes Duncan, who is still hugging Matt. Brian tells his team that he had a great time, and thanks them for being a great team. He looks out the open door and sighs. He tells them he hopes someone from Team Waka takes it home, then sadly jumps the Drop of Shame.

Brian (CONF): I just really wish I had started playing the game like Garrett told me...because I just 100% wasn’t ready to go yet

Vani, Paige and Garrett stick their head out the door as they watch Brian parachute into the abyss. Chris sticks his head out and says bummer, his voice monotone.

Team Waka walks to the mess hall, where Helina and Kirsten look really upset Brian is gone, though Kirsten is relieved Dan is safe yet again.

Kirsten (CONF): If Team Waka goes to one more elimination ceremony I think I’m going to have a heart attack…I mean better them than us but still

A Charlie Brown Christmas is starting on a huge projector screen, and the contestants happily settle and reveal they had a secret Santa, with people buying gifts in the town before they left.

Archer walks over and hands Alex a giant stuffed reindeer, which he’s psyched about. Alex gives a Mickey Mouse lunchbox filled with candy to Kelsey. Kelsey's gift to Fiona is a little picture of a pug that reminds Fiona of her pug back at UNC, and Fiona hands a cool glass ornament to Frances.

A montage shows Garrett getting an ugly Christmas sweater from Beyla, Dan getting some mistletoe from Townes, laughing as Townes winks as him, and Gianna gets a giant pizza box from Matt, kissing it profusely. Even Channing is in on the exchange, with Myra getting her a dinosaur hat for her signature dino-dance. Channing laughs as she hands Sam a little toy race car, and Sam gives a different race car to Kirk, both guys looking extremely excited. Eli and Ani pull each other and exchange a scarf and a cool snapback, and Kathryn gives Hailey a framed picture of the two of them from the beach party in Hawaii. Hailey is jumping on her back and they're both wearing hula skirts, torches lighting the photo and both girls grinning ear-to-ear. She is flattered, hugging Kathryn and gives a cookbook to Lauren, who excitedly flips through the pages. Lauren then gives Paige a cool new lacrosse stick, and Paige is astounded at how good of a gift it is. Ranjitha gives Nick a giant rainbow flag, prompting Yuri, Mary Alex and Helina to crack up.

Another montage shows Sam and Kirk racing their little toy cars, Kathryn, Hailey, Zach and Frances playing a new game of Life, Colby laughing as he opens a little stuffed grumpy cat from Annie, and Helina hitting Yuri and laughing after he got her a DVD with Mulan on it, jokingly calling him racist. Channing watches on and laughs, performing the infamous dino-dance prompting Alex, Nick, Myra, Beyla, Vani, Ranjitha and Sofia to crack up. It also shows Dan holding the mistletoe over Kirsten, and she blushes as the two kiss, and Gianna happily shares her pizza with Nico, Phillippa, Izzy and Miller.

The camera shows Helina sadly place a gift in the corner, and the camera zooms in to reveal the tag reads “For Brian” as the scene fades to black.

Trivia

 * A similar variation of this challenge was performed in the first season's Christmas special, Merry Christmas!
 * As of this episode, every team has gone to the barfbag ceremony
 * Every member of Team Glory has attended at least one barfbag ceremony
 * Connor from Team Friendship has never attended a barfbag ceremony
 * Morgan from Team Booty has never attended a barfbag ceremony
 * Mahmoud, Zack, Erica, Hank and Suzanne from Team Waka have never attended a barfbag ceremony
 * Abbey had never attended a barfbag ceremony up until her first elimination in Airheads, but has since her return in You're On Your Own
 * Suzanne is the contestant who lasted the longest and never attended a barfbag ceremony, lasting 21 episodes