After the elimination of Kayla Durden and Austin Clouse in the competition's first Surf Off, there are now 12 surfers left competing for three coveted Wild Cards onto the World Surf League's Championship Tour and $100,000 cash prize.
And ten of them have a serious problem: Last week Anastasia Ashely and Luke Davis tried to play politics and unwittingly created a super team out of Zeke Lau and Malia Ward.
But as the show goes on, there's not much time to let that fact sink it. The dust has barely settled after the first elimination Surf Off when a new Beach Battle is now unveiled.
With the help of a cameo appearance from international big wave surfer Billy Kemper, considered the King of Jaws -- maybe the scariest wave on the planet -- where he's won the coveted WSL Big Wave event a record four times.
Kemper knows that if you want to surf giant waves, you need to be able to hold your breath. Billy goes on to explain the best way to practice this skill is perhaps most famously depicted in a scene from the 2002 theatrical release ‘Blue Crush' -- underwater rock running.
"When I'm working on my lung capacity, my first go-to is running rocks underwater. It's been passed on for generations," Kemper says. Trust him, it's legit.
Do Hold Your Breath
Billy breaks down the Beach Battle for the squad. Competitors must strap a weighted bag to a lifeguard buoy then race underwater from the shore out to a portion of the basin that is over 10-feet deep, circle around a floating marker that is anchored to the bottom, and then back again. First team to cross the finish line buoy and weight in hand wins.
And there's a bonus prize up for grabs: The winning team will earn an exclusive night-time freesurf session -- and get to pick one other team to share it with.
'When I'm working on my lung capacity, my first go-to is running rocks underwater. It's been passed on for generations,' Kemper says. 'Trust him, it's legit' - WSL / ABC
And to make it interesting, just as he's about to sound the starting buzzer, host Jessie Palmer lets the contestants know they might want to make it to the first marker before a wave which has just been generated by the hydrofoil takes them out.
This simulates a heavy water lineup, where not only are you fighting against your own physical limitations, you're also dealing with mother nature in one of her most furious moods.
All of sudden people are tangled up in their lines and freaking out while Billy and Jessie are up in the tower absolutely loving the show.
That's a time-honoured tradition in surfing -- the guilty pleasure of watching chaos ensue from the safety of shore.
Turn up at any heavy lineup in the world and you're likely to find a peanut gallery relishing in the fact they're specating rather than participating.
The Wrap: Zeke Isn't King Of The Breathhold Jungle
They also notice that while he may be the competitive alpha while on waves, Zeke Lau along with partner Malia Ward are now at the back of the pack. But Koa Smith and Julie Hernandez know exactly what they're doing. Koa has the technique down-pat -- he's clearly a ‘Blue Crush' fan -- and Hernandez pays her way to surfing events by working as a lifeguard.
"In lifeguard training, usually I'm used to carrying a hundred and fifty pound weight, going down to a fifty-pound weight underwater is a little bit … nicer," Hernandez explains.
With this kind of form, team Koa and Julie are the clear winners. And the Lau-Ward super team clearly hasn't spent much time rock running together, coming in second-to-last place, only just ahead of Kai Barger and Bruna Zaun.
"Tried my best, didn't get last. But I'm feeling embarrassed, I'm just straight ashamed," Zeke says.
Still, Zeke somehow convinces Koa and Julie to let him and Malia tag along to the bonus nighttime surf session as their plus two.That extra time on the wave is important -- they barely get a chance to catch their breath when it's time for this week's Wave Challenge, which tests backside surfing.
'Tried my best, didn't get last. But I'm feeling embarrassed, I'm just straight ashamed,' Zeke says. - WSL / ABC
Wave Challenge: Backside Surfing
To make it on the world tour, you need to be able to surf at the highest level both frontside and backside. So what does that mean? Well, you're either a goofy-foot or a regular-foot. It's a bit like being born left or right handed, in the sense that you don't pick.
Waves either break left to right, or right to left, and that means that at any given break, some surfers will have their back to the wave -- on their backside -- while others will be facing the wave -- their frontside.
The challenge is scored on the overall judge's impression, and Zeke and Malia are up first. While they may not be the greatest Rock Runners, they are a super team when it comes to surfing, and manage to take the win.
A reminder that each week, whoever wins the Wave Challenge gets to choose the first team who will go to the Surf Off, and that's where the politics of team selection for the elimination begins once again.
Surf Off: Two More Contestants Go Home
"I like being the puppet master, I like to be in a place where I can just control my destiny and control you know, what happens next. And I'm always thinking ahead," says Zeke as he weighs up who to send to the Surf Off.
But it's his teammate Malia who has a favor to repay -- she's got to look out for her BFF Anastasia Ashley. Ward does this by picking the second-strongest team from the Battle, Alejandro Moreda and Tia Blanco, anticipating that they will in turn pick the team they are most confident they could beat -- i.e. not Luke Davis or Anastasia, who did quite well.
'I might have got roped into some Chick Drama,' is how Davis puts it. 'It's kind of a nightmare.' - WSL / ABC
But you know what they say about best laid plans … Tia is full-on Team Brianna, and her advantage of being picked as the first team to go to the Surf Off, she gets to pick the team to surf against.
Now it becomes clear that Brianna can't resist the chance to get involved, helping steer Tia towards making life as difficult as possible for enemy Anastasia, by zigging when everyone expects her to zag and picking Anastasia and Luke anyway.
"I might have got roped into some ‘Chick Drama'," is how Davis puts it. "It's kind of a nightmare."
However he ended up there, Luke headed to the wave with Anastasia, to face Alejandro and Tia -- and only two of them would be coming back. You have to feel for Alejandro. If Luke is mad, he should be furious. He's just a pawn in a plan, and he's got no beef with anyone.
But he's not going down with a fight. "I'm not scared," Alejandro says of his battle with Luke. "If that was my mindset, I would have stayed home."
"This is the biggest arena in surfing. I'm here for my family, and I'm here for Puerto Rico."
Everyone went absolutely HAM on this one. The surfers left everything out there on the wave, with some seriously high scores. But in the end, Alejandro won the men's surf off, rising to the occasion to send home one of the biggest threats on the show, California's Luke Davis.
And it was a clean sweep for Ale's team as teammate Tia handily eliminated Anastasia, leaving Malia all alone without a friend, and a lot of burnt bridges at the Ranch.
