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, later in the show, the elimination room would test
how well they understood their partner. They were also told that, because both teams would be facing elimination, there would not be a traditional pre-elimination challenge. Previously, such challenges had focused on overcoming weaknesses.
This time, the challenge was replaced by a chance for team members to demonstrate their individual 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.”

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.