The Upshaw family returns nyumbani after an intense Neighborhood Meeting, feeling distraught over sending the Bussieres home. Dad Rick Upshaw laments, “We just put out a Grandmother; small kids.” His wife, Therese, and 20-year-old son, Chris Upshaw, remind him that it’s a game and, as a strong family, it’s just as likely that the Bussieres would have come after the Upshaws. Therese states that, with the number of families dwindling, the Upshaws aren’t going to keep any promises that they make except for their pact with the Schindlers. Besides the Schindlers, there are only three other families left and they are all members of The Core, the Mullennixs, the Johnstons, and the Nelsons, so any family has a chance of being put in danger of leaving the game at this point.
Some Good Ol’ Boys
The inayofuata siku looks brighter as Dad Chris Upshaw approaches his good friend, Chris Nelson sitting outside inayofuata to the wall. They’ve been Marafiki for over ten years, and Chris Upshaw says that he wants to be inayofuata to Chris Nelson just to hear what he’s going to say inayofuata because, chances are, it will be funny. The dads are discussing their abs, and Chris Nelson doesn’t disappoint Chris Upshaw joking, “When it’s over we might become old dude models.”
Emmet’s a Boy; Not a Fly
Meanwhile, in the Schindler household, the younger kids are beginning to rebel. 5-year-old Olivia gets a hold of a fly swatter and begins passing time kwa swatting at her 10-year-old brother, Emmett. Despite Mom Christina Schindler’s attempts to dissuade them, classic suburban sibling bickering ensues. Christina describes their predicament, “The ukuta is becoming a little claustrophobic. It seems like every morning we’re starting to go through the same thing with Emmett being frustrated, and Olivia bugs him with anything she’s doing.”
It’s Raining Popsicles
In the midst of this brewing sibling storm, the musical bells of an ice cream truck sound from the other side of the wall, coaxing everyone out of their homes. The truck stops outside of the wall, and the ice cream man hurls various treats over the 20-foot wall. Dad Chris Upshaw comments, “The walls have made us appreciate the smaller things. Eatin’ ice cream, that’s simple. wewe go back to being a kid…it was wonderful.”
Mail Grab
Host Matt Rogers calls the families together for their nyumbani Challenge. He tells them that, because they have been cut off from the outside world for a while, their mail has really piled up, so today is mail day. A mail truck arrives on the other side of the ukuta and a mailman tosses several large sacks of mail over it. Each family receives a sack containing 500 pieces of mail, and they must find the 10 pieces of mail addressed to their family. The first family to find all ten pieces of mail wins the challenge and will receive a slight advantage in the upcoming Neighborhood Challenge. Therese Upshaw is confident in her family’s ability to win the challenge because she used to work at the Post Office. The Johnstons are using a method of meticulous organization, which reflects their qualities as a family. At the same time, 18-year-old Alexus Upshaw’s boisterous qualities shine through, as she yells throughout the challenge. The Schindlers like that all members of their family can participate, including their youngest, Olivia. The Mullennixs, the Johnstons, the Schindlers and the Nelsons become all tied up with 9 pieces of mail each, but the Johnstons are the first family to find their tenth piece of mail, making them the winners of the nyumbani Challenge.
Choice of Words
Following the Johnstons’ victory in the nyumbani Challenge, Matt brings the families over to the Neighborhood Challenge, and the families see a giant board game hanging on the ukuta that surrounds their houses. Matt explains that each family will start the game with 10 tiles that have letters and point values assigned to them. They must use those letter tiles to spell a word on the board. At the end of five rounds, the family with the highest score will become the Kings of the Neighborhood, and they must decide which two families will be put in danger of being kicked out of the game. There are some special squares on the game board, including “Choose who Looses a Turn.” If a family lands on that square while spelling their word, they get to pick another family whose turn will be skipped for that round.
As the winners of the nyumbani Challenge, the Johnstons will take the first turn in the game. With a strong start, the Johnstons use six tiles to spell “heeling” for 11 points. The Nelsons are the inayofuata to go and spell “clouds” for a total of 9 points, and they also land on “Choose Who Looses a Turn.” Chris Nelson announces that they choose the Mullennix family to lose a turn, giving them a score of zero for the first round. Chris Mullennix is disappointed and whispers to her family, “When they get to us, the Nelsons are losing a turn. Got it?” When the Mullennix family receives their turn in round 2, they spell “league” for a total of only 7 points, in order to land on the special square, “Choose Who Looses a Turn” and announce that they are skipping the Nelsons. The Nelson’s take their skipped turn in stride, figuring that the Mullennixs did it to get back at them for their initial skip.
When the Mullennixs’ turn comes in round three, they again build a word that lands them on “Choose Who Looses a Turn,” and they choose to skip the Nelsons again. Dad Cameron Johnston describes the moment, “Absolutely inexplicably, the Mullennixs choose the Nelsons to miss a turn. I mean it was just a stupid move. The Upshaws were out in front, and the Nelsons were nowhere near.” Chris Nelson is fuming at the decision, and feels that it’s a sign that not only do the Mullennixs want the Nelsons to lose the challenge, but that they must want his family to leave the game for good. His family calms him down and helps him to keep his cool.
At the end of round four, the Upshaws are leading with 42 points. The Johnston family begins the final round with a high-value letter, the Q, and spells “queer” for a total of 14 points, putting them in the lead with 45 points. The Nelsons add an “s” to spell “queers” for 15 points, and a final score of 37, which is not enough to pass the Johnstons. The Schindlers spell “soy” for 6 points and a final total of 39, also not enough to catch up to the Johnstons’ lead. The Upshaws have 42 points and need 4 points in order to songesha into first place. They spell “paint” for a total of 7 points, which gives them a total of 49 and first place. The Mullennix family is too far behind to catch up, and the Upshaws win their sekunde Neighborhood Challenge in a row. As the winners, the Upshaws will receive a brand new backyard set including a firepit, a meat smoker, a grill, and a margarita maker. They will also have to place two families in danger of leaving the game.
A Crack in the Core
The Nelsons return to their home, disappointed because they are sure that they would have won the Neighborhood Challenge if the Mullennixs hadn’t skipped them twice. Dad Chris Nelson laments, “It appears that The Core might be starting to crack a little bit. The Mullennix family deliberately took us out of that challenge. There was no sense in it. They just didn’t want us to win a prize and to have us be Kings of the Neighborhood. It was unexplainable.” Despite their shock at the Mullennixs’ actions during the challenge, the Nelsons are thankful that the Upshaws won, causing them to feel salama due to the longtime friendship between the Nelsons and the Upshaws.
A Mullennix Revelation
As night falls, Mom Christina Schindler visits with the Mullennixs and, despite the fact that they haven’t known one another for very long, Chris Mullennix reveals to Christina that, at times, they don’t know where they fit in with The Core. They feel accepted, but they weren’t invited to the vacation that The Core families took together in January. She also feels like they don’t fit in to the heterosexual couple mold, because there are two females at the head of her family. She then reveals to Christina why the game has made her so emotional. Due to financial difficulties, without the prize money, the Mullennix family may be forced to songesha out of their home. Mom Christina Schindler says, “It’s kind of strange to not know your neighbor when they’ve been just a few houses down.”
A Simple Plan
The inayofuata day, Dad Chris Nelson and Dad Cameron Johnston sit kwa the ukuta watching Mom Chris Mullennix doing yard work in the distance. They begin to hatch a plot for the upcoming Neighborhood Meeitng. Chris Nelson describes their plan, “Cameron Johnston has been a sit back player…but he wants to put himself up against the Mullennixs knowing that the Upshaws and the Nelsons would support him in a vote and then he would be safe.” It seems that Cameron Johnston has grown tired of Chris Mullennixs’ pettiness. Dad Cameron Johnston explains that, with the Johnstons being put up against the Mullennixs, it will take the heat off of the Upshaws as Kings of the Neighborhood, because the Mullennixs will be shocked to hear both of their names announced. Cameron says, “This will onyesha the Mullennixs The Core is not afraid to go after their own.” When Dad Rick Upshaw joins the two later, they ask him as King of the Neighborhood, to instigate their plan. Rick says that it’s a game, and he’s not sure if he can hold his family to that agreement.
The Fourth Neighborhood Meeting
Matt brings the families together for the Neighborhood Meeting and asks Mom Chris Mullennix about skipping the Nelson family twice in the Neighborhood Challenge, when the Nelson family skipped them just once. Chris says that, during the first round, when they picked the Nelsons, it was “kind of revenge” but the sekunde time was strategy because they believed that the Nelsons had a big word. Dad Chris Nelson says that, at that point in the challenge, his family wasn’t in the lead, so he believes that the Mullennixs’ choice was all based on revenge. Dad Cameron Johnston agrees that there seemed to be no strategy behind the move. Chris Mullennix looks angry at their responses, so Matt asks Chris Mullennix what it is that they’re saying that has made her so mad. Chris Mullennix says that she’s learning that maybe her family is not part of The Core, and reveals that she feels like an outsider because of her female-female relationship with Rene. Mom Regina Johnston protests, “You know for a fact that I don’t have an issue with your orientation. wewe have to know that.”
With the Mullennixs receiving reassurances from the neighbors, Matt moves on and asks who feels threatened tonight. Everyone does, except for Dad Chris Nelson, who says that he feels salama based on his relationship with the Upshaws. 20-year-old son Christopher Upshaw says, “If we were all strangers, strategy would be cake, but we all know each other, and when you’re aliyopewa a decision to choose which family to leave the neighborhood, it hurts.” With that, Rick Upshaw announces that the two families they are going to put in danger are the Johnstons and the Nelsons, two families that are members of The Core. Cameron Johnston is not surprised that his family was chosen, but Dad Chris Nelson is shocked to hear his family’s name called.
The families return to their homes to decide which family to support and keep in the game. They must decide if they are supporting the Johnstons au the Nelsons, and bring the picha of the family that they have chosen to support back to Matt. In the end, the Johnstons receive 2 kura of support, which is enough to keep them in the game and make the Nelsons the fourth family to be kicked out of the game. Dad Chris Nelson lightens the mood saying, “You must have all been scared of us,” as his family exits the ukuta through the opening gate, leaving THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
