Love in the Wild - Season 2 - Recap - Season Finale
On the season two finale of Love in the Wild, the last two couples standing will compete in one final adventure to determine who wins the first class trip around the world.
The Pre-Game Show:
Boobs McGee shares with us that she and Ben have a crazy physical attraction, but that it's much more than that and Ben loves her no matter what she looks like, even when she has her makeup off. Now ladies, we all know that's real love!
Ben tells us that he and Michelle really care about each other and that he's really looking forward to spending these last few days on Love in the Wild with her.
Ken says that Yanina takes his breath away and he feels so lucky to have found her on the first day of the show.
Yanina says she couldn't have asked for anything different and even gets a bit choked up about it.
The Final Adventure Challenge:
Jenny McCarthy tells the remaining contestants that they are going to be facing the mother of all adventures, but the reward is a first class trip around the world, where they will visit Venice, Sydney, New York, London, Tokyo, Buenas Aries, Rio and Paris, where they will be staying in five star accommodations and even get a bit of spending money!
Yanina wants to win very badly, because she's always heard that before you marry someone you need to travel with them, so you can experience certain things together. Traveling does tend to bring out the best and worst in people, so she might be on to something there.
Ben thinks that just going to the supermarket with Boobs McGee would be brilliant, but a trip around the world would be even better!
Jenny warns the contestants that a successful relationship is all about communication and so is this adventure challenge. Ken thinks that is good news for Yanina and him, since they have been together since the beginning and Ben and Boobs McGee have not. However, I seem to remember a number of challenges were Yanina was frustrated by Ken not listening to her, so we'll have to see if that comes back to bite them here.
To start off the challenge, each couple must decide which member is better at giving directions and which is better at following.
Ken and Ben will both be the direction givers and Yanina and Boobs McGee the followers. Jenny issues Ben & Ken each a backpack and Yanina & Michelle both get walkie talkies. Jenny then orders Ben & Ken to hop on a rather colorful truck that just pulled up behind her and go! go! go! Jenny joins the guys on the truck and leaves the two ladies behind to await further orders.
The guys arrive at a couple of huts which are equipped with a walkie-talkie and a map. They must use the map to guide their ladies to collect three items and then guide them to the guy's location, where we see two large crates on the ground. Once their lady love arrives, the guys may then proceed to open their crate.
The three objects the ladies must find are a wheel, a set of 2 seats and a set of four pedals. Gee, I wonder what is in the crate? Ken seems to be doing a pretty good job at directing Yanina in the early going and as a bonus, Yanina notes that Ken is pretty sexy on the radio.
Ben & Boobs Mcgee, on the other hand, are off to a rocky start and Michelle is already frustrated with Ben's poor direction giving and is completely turned around.
Yanina is the first one to reach the seats and then proceeds to navigate through a rice field in search of the pedals. She makes short work of that task as well.
Boobs McGee is still looking for the wheel and manages to just luck onto the seats, keeping her team in the race, but she's still having trouble interpreting Ben's directions. She does manage to find the rice field, but she's struggling to find the box and getting extremely frustrated. Michelle starts feeling like she is letting both Ben and herself down.
Meanwhile, Yanina has already made her way to the wheel, the last of the three objects she needed to obtain before heading back to find Ken. After a whole lot of frustration and a lot of cursing, Boobs McGee finally manages to find the pedals, leaving just the wheel for her to find.
Yanina makes her way back to Ken without any issues and they proceed to open the crate, discovering, in what I'm sure was a surprise to no one, a tandem bike that they will need to assemble. Once they get the bike assembled they have to ride up the road and follow the signs to a bike drop off, where they will retrieve a "special piece of limestone."
Boobs McGee is still cussing up a storm, but she does eventually manage to find the wheel and now must find her way back to Ben. Ben notes the reversal of fortune this week, where he is having to calm down Michelle, who has totally lost her shizz, instead of the other way around.
Ken & Yanina have some trouble putting the tandem bike together and end up departing the base camp just as Boobs McGee is on her way in. Ben & Michelle manage to make up a bit of time by getting their bike assembled pretty quickly and Michelle's spirits are lifting, along with their chances of winning the race.
Ken & Yanina are having a rough time of it on their tandem bike ride and things get even worse for them when one of the gears falls off their bike and they are forced to resort to pushing the bike to the drop off point. In spite of that, they manage to reach the bike drop off in first place.
The next leg of the challenge involves collecting the special limestone and navigating to a location with a bunch of stones sitting on top of stumps. They must then line up the hole in their special limestone with the hole in the rock on the stump in order to locate some hidden camping supplies. Once they have the supplies, they must follow the map to the "lost world," where they will be eaten by dinosaurs! Or camp for the night. One of the two.
Ken & Yanina are the first team to reach the camping supplies, which are in two large baskets, behind a big rock. Yanina, ever the practical one, is adamant that they dump everything they don't absolutely need in order to make the trek to the "lost world" a bit easier, but Ken wants to bring some of the luxury items, such as wine and coffee along.
Ben decides to bring a few luxury items as well, since he figures if they are going to have to stay in he jungle, they might as well camp in style.
After an exhausting trek through the jungle, Ken & Yanina finally reach the Lost World, still in first place, where they are instructed to make camp for the night and advised that couples will leave the Lost World in the order in which they arrived the next morning.
Ken tells us that he and Yanina aren't exactly a outdoorsy type couple, but as long as they're together they're going to have a good time. Yanina remarks that while she thought bringing the wine was a waste when they were gathering supplies, she's now glad that Ken decided to grab it.
This sort of setup is what I was expecting when they warned the couples early on about the dire accommodations they would be stuck with as a punishment for finishing last in the adventure challenges, so I was pretty disappointed when it was just a "lean-to" in the backyard behind the cozy cabins. At least in this challenge they are finally putting a bit of "wild" in our Love in the Wild.
Boobs McGee tells us that she is so happy to have found Ben, who likes her for her personality and not just her looks. She's not thrilled with the camping situation, but says that Ben made it bearable.
The next morning finds Boobs McGee not in a great mood. She's wet, itchy and in second place, but she plans to change all that.
Ken & Yanina are in good spirits about being in first place, in spite of being nasty and smelly and drinking coffee that Yanina compared to diarrhea.
Meanwhile, Boobs McGee is not at all impressed with Ben's "chocolate oatmeal" concoction, which appears to be oatmeal with M&Ms candy mixed in. Yum! I would suggest Michelle might want to do the cooking in that relationship....
The next task on the challenge is to find a tablet, where they will have to decode a message. Yanina & Ken arrive at the tablet in first place and find out they must use a decoder key to decipher the message on the tablet and then use that message to retrieve an idol that is hidden in a sea cave.
Ken does the decoding for his team. The message reads B-E-S-U-R-E-T-O-W-A-T-C-H-T-H-E-O-L-Y-M-P-I-C-S. A crummy commercial!? j/k It really instructs them to fold their map, which reveals the message "Sun/Moon Heron Sea Cave!" Ken & Yanina must now row two kayaks out to the Heron Sea Cave to retrieve their idol.
Ben does the decoding for his team and they make short work of the cryptic tablet. Meanwhile, Ken & Yanina have reached the kayaks and retrieved their next instructions, which instruct them to lash the two kayaks together, retrieve their idol and then follow the marked route to retrieve a floating crate, then cross the ocean to the large totems, where they will find a crowbar, which they must use to open their crate and then carry the contents across the finish line. The first couple to arrive will be the winners of Love in the Wild!
Yanina is excited and thinks they deserve to win, since they have been together since the very beginning, but Ken is worried, because he and Yanina have struggled on challenges involving boats in the past. Ken's fear seems to be a self ful-filling prophecy, as Yanina quickly becomes frustrated when Ken refuses to listen to her and begins untying the ropes she has already tied, when they disagree on the best way to lash the two kayaks together.
Ken & Yanina reach the idols, still in first place, and head off to the floating crates. Ben & Boobs McGee are making up ground though, thanks to their quick assembly of their boat and Michelle's mad rowing skills.
Both teams begin to struggle when they reach the rough ocean waters, on the way to the crates. Ken & Yanina are both getting tired and struggling to steer their boat. Ben & Boobs McGee appear to be catching up.
Ken & Yanina reach the floating crates first, but Ken makes a potentially fatal mistake, when he fails to secure the kayak to the crate before jumping out. As a result, while Ken is trying to retrieve the crate, Yanina and the boat begin to float away, forcing Yanina to attempt to row the kayak back to the crate on her own.
Ken swims over to the boat and swims the boat back over to the crates, but his error allows Ben and Boobs McGee to move into first place. Yanina & Ken continue to struggle, trying to get the crate up into their kayak. Ken is devastated when he realizes that Ben & Michelle have now passed them.
The race isn't over yet though, as there is still a pretty long distance to travel to the totems. Yanina is frustrated because she feels that Boobs McGee is contributing more to her team's rowing effort than she is, but in spite of that both teams arrive at the totems pretty close together.
Ken & Yanina manage to bust open their crate first and head for the finish line...where they cross in first place and become the season two winners of Love in the Wild!
Jenny McCarthy is super excited for them and so am I. As much as I love Ben and as much as Boobs McGee has grown on me, I can't help but root for this team. They weren't my favorites from day one, but their dedication to each other, persistence in spite of difficulties and obvious affection for each other won me over.
Yanina tells us that she had the time of her life and she can't believe that they won and she can't believe she met Ken. Ken is equally excited and says the trip around the world is just the cherry on top of the Sundae that is falling in love with Yanina.
Jenny asks them if they found Love in the Wild and of course the answer is yes!
Ben & Boobs McGee are of course disappointed to have finished in second place, but they both feel like they are winners for having found each other. They tell Jenny that they too have found Love in the Wild.
We close the season with a montage that tells us that Ben & Boobs McGee's relationship is still going strong. Ben has spent holidays with Michelle's family and she hopes to meet his family in England soon. They are convinced they are soul mates and plan to move in together soon.
Ken & Yanina are very excited about their trip around the world. They take turns flying to see each other every weekend, which sounds really expensive...and feel they are destined to be together forever.
This has been a fun season of Love in the Wild. Jenny McCarthy was a big improvement as the host and it was great to see a least three and maybe four real relationships come out of the show. The drama and excitement did ebb a bit as the couples became more settled and there was less drama at the couple's choice ceremonies and less cattiness and gossip back at camp, but I enjoyed the ride and hope we'll see a season three.
Congratulations to Ken & Yanina on their victory and to all the couples who managed to find Love in the Wild! I hope you have enjoyed reading the recaps as much as I have enjoyed writing them!
Congratulations Ken & Yanina!