Suvechha Sarkar
Fox’s ‘The Floor’ season 3 is back with another nail-biting episode, especially with the semi-finals being just a week away. Episode 10, titled ‘Courage Under Fire,’ starts with 25 contestants, amongst whom eight will bid goodbye to the platform following an intense night. Kathy had won the last duel in the previous episode, ‘A Hot Streak,’ and had secured a whopping 30 pieces of territory. So, with anticipation in the air, it is finally time for her to make the big decision of whether she wants to continue playing big or defend her category of Murder Mysteries.
The Episode Kicks-off With Two Unnerving Duels
The game begins with host Rob Lowe announcing the 15 options Kathy can choose to challenge if she decides to keep playing. However, she states that she knows how it feels to be on the Floor and just wait for a chance, so she chooses to stay in order to give someone else a chance. Once the Randomizer is activated, it selects Sharon, with the category of Constructions. After reviewing her options, she mentions that going after Brian is scary, considering how strategic he is. Hence, the mother as well as the grandmother chooses to challenge Makenna, an expert in the category of Baby Products. Makenna subsequently reveals that the reason she chose this category is because she has three little kids, which means she inadvertently has a lot of knowledge about the particular products.
The first battle of the night commences, with Rob making it known that the challenge for the players is to identify the Baby Products that appear on the screen. What ensues is an intense neck-to-neck duel, but Sharon fails to save the day at the end by just a few seconds. In other words, Makenna wins and inherits the Constructions category, an outcome she doesn’t mind at all since she works at a property management company. After some contemplation, she decides to challenge Brian, who has the category of Haunted Locations, because she knows it is time for her to go big or go home. This does not phase Brian at all, and he actually divulges that he has done construction and demolition work, so he can easily inherit his opponent’s category. He says before the dual even begins, which is a mark of his confidence. On the other hand, Makenna says that although she is not a risk-taker, she is excited to take her competitor off the pedestal. With the contestants ready, the duel commences, and once again, Brian emerges victorious after a fierce battle.
In a confessional, Zaph notes that he has noticed a few cracks in Brian’s armor over time and confidently states that he can be better and faster if given the opportunity. Nevertheless, with 17 pieces of the turf, Brian selects to defend his new category, a strategy not even the host questions since he has observed enough to know better. With the need for another challenger, the Randomizer is activated again. It lands under reality star Mari, whose chosen category is Hotels and Motels. Looking at her options, she observes that Trees would be difficult since they have a lot of subspecies that often even look similar. She also notes that Kathy’s Murder Mysteries might just be too obscure, so she chooses to duel Ted, whose category is Punctuation and Symbols. In a confessional, the ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ personality also reveals that she went with Ted because going for a larger piece on the Floor might put a target on her back. Hence, her plan is to take over one small piece at a time. Meanwhile, Ted admits he is nervous despite the fact he has studied his category.
A Series of Confident and Surprising Choices Unfold As the Duels Continue
Upon coming onto the stage, Ted reveals before a curious Rob that he had just graduated from law school, where he had also crafted their Punctuation and Symbol Rules, and that’s how he ended up choosing his category. As the duel finally takes place, Mary ends up passing once, but it is enough to seal the deal. She bids goodbye to ‘The Floor,’ after which Ted decides to defend his inherited category. His strategy is to study hard in front of all his fellow players, play a defensive game, and keep them nervous about his level of knowledge. Before moving forward with the game, Rob asks 19-time ‘Jeopardy!’ winner David why he thinks the Randomizer is not choosing him. In response, the latter quips that maybe it is scared of him, just like most of the people on the platform. In a confessional, he later even discloses that his plan from the very beginning was to lay low and scare the others, which he believes is working well.
Finally, the Randomizer is activated again, and it lands under Laura, whose category is Languages. After much deliberation, she challenges her neighbor and friend Amanda in the Song of the Year category. As the latter nears the stage, she discloses her confidence regarding her category. On the other hand, Laura mentions she has been studying this topic for weeks because it is one of the original ones that has not changed in front of her, which makes her confident in her abilities too. As the battle begins, everyone is amused to see how both competitors are actually rooting for each other after every correct answer while the clock is still running. In the end, Amanda emerges victorious, yet Rob can’t help but appreciate the adorable way they both went about the duel before bidding Laura goodbye. As a result, Amanda inherits the category of Languages, and after carefully considering her options, she chooses to play defense and return to her territory.
For the selection of the next challenger, the Randomizer gets to work again. It stops under Alex, whose category is Cosplay and who is surrounded by pretty tough options. Ultimately, he announces he will be choosing an unexpected person to duel, and it turns out to be Toni, who not only has the category of Anatomy but also a Time Boost. Alex admits that she is one of the best, but he believes this category will be more about speed than anything else, and he wants her to slip at least once. Meanwhile, Toni is confident because of her background as a biology minor, nursing major, and medical scribe. Toni decides to use all her advantages, and the opponents finally begin an intense duel. It ends with Toni winning with just having 7 seconds to spare, making it clear that the game could have gone either way if she hadn’t used the Time Boosy.
With Players Deciding to Aim Big, Tensions Run Higher Than Ever
Since Toni ends up inheriting the category of Cosplays, she gets a confidence boost and chooses to keep playing before revealing that she has been waiting to duel a particular topic for a long time. She challenges Emily, who has Water Brands as her category. When Rob asks the latter how competitive she is in her arena, she proudly reveals that she has been sitting back and learning strategy. So, she is more than ready to play. As another nail-biting battle pans out, Toni once again ends up winning, resulting in her securing a significant 12 pieces of territory on the Floor. Rob then reminds her that she is just one more duel away from winning another time boost, but she decides to return to her turf because she is comfortable with her category.
The host announces that Kathy is still in the lead to bag the $20,000 prize of the night, especially with just two more duels remaining. The player then admits that she has not written the cheque yet, knowing that tables can turn here at any given moment. The Randomizer is subsequently activated again, and this time, it chooses Tyler, whose category is Fairy Tales and Fables. With just two options present before him, he notes that Brian is the big shark and chooses to take him on for the 7th duel of the night in the hopes of scoring big. He also confesses that he does not want to go up against David since he knows of his reputation as a 19-time ‘Jeopardy!’ winner. Hence, he simply decides to go big.
When Brian confidently steps up on the platform, Rob notes that he is back for his ninth battle this season, which is more than anyone in the show’s history. Brian subsequently admits that he likes this statistic because nine is a good number according to numerology. Subsequently, rather unsurprisingly, he does not miss a single beat during his duel with Tyler and ends up sending him home. When Rob asks the winner about the secret to his winning streak, the player who already has $110,000 in the bag reveals that the key is to make sure to study what category is present around each one of them. The host then reminds him that it is up to him if he wants to keep playing, but if he does so, Kathy will automatically win the $20,000 prize for the night, considering she has the most number of territories. After careful consideration, Brian decides to leave the last duel up to chance and decides to defend his newly acquired category of Fairy Tales and Fables.
The Final Duel Determines The Leader of The Floor
As the Randomizer is activated for the final duel of the night, the tensions are at an all-time high. It finally lands under Ashlee, whose category is Authors and who is, interestingly, a direct neighbor of Kathy. Like many others, she decides to go big or go home and challenges the Floor leader, whose category is Murder Mysteries, which she had inherited in the last episode. Ashlee divulges that she chose Kathy because the whole situation is stressful, yet she wants to make the best of the opportunities presented to her. Meanwhile, her opponent is quite confident and is glad to be just one duel away from possibly acquiring the most coveted prize of the night. The last duel commences, and Ashlee ends up passing several times, resulting in Kathy emerging victorious.
Rob congratulates her on her big win of $20,000, bringing her total to $40,000 and an impressive 31 pieces of the Floor. He further compliments Ashlee for her efforts before letting her opponent know that she has now inherited the Authors category. Kathy is completely over the moon by this, expressing in a confessional that she is having the time of her life and that it is just a cherry on top that she is even getting paid with prizes for all this. Whether or not she will be able to maintain this winning streak of hers, though, is something we will have to wait and see. The next episode will bring us this answer, and with it being the semi-finals, all the duels will be harder than ever as each player will be putting their best foot forward in the hopes of getting one step closer to the $250,000 grand prize.
