'The Sims Spark'd' Episode 3 Highlights: A one-on-one challenge hinges on a single vote for the final teams
With Team FreezerBunny given the cold shoulder and Team Gnome sent home, it's down to the final two as Team Cowplant and Team Llama compete for the coveted $100,000. There's a twist in the skills challenge, however — the teams that have worked so hard to form a cohesive unit are being split apart and everything comes down to a one-on-one challenge to gain a significant advantage in the show's final elimination round.
First up, we have Llama's Xmiramira go up against Cowplant's Little Siha for a stylish challenge. This round was called Gender Not Required — the Sims players were given 45 minutes to design 6 unique genderfluid builds that were diverse across all possible Sims spectrums. Xmiramira went into this challenge with confidence, one that was well earned, as her blue-themed line of apparel covered a wide range of body and gender types. She earned a unanimous 3 votes against Little Siha's floral-inspired style choices that were inspired by her grandmother but were not diverse enough to fully impress the judges.
The second round saw builder vs builder, with Llama's SimLicy going up against Cowplant's Doctor Ashley. The Unconventional Build challenge asked its players to design a vehicle using unconventional materials. SimLicy immediately began work on a school bus home, and while her interiors were beautiful and played to her strengths, the judges felt like she was sticking to her comfort zone — so much so that host Tayla Parx dropped in to give SimLicy the barest of hints to redirect her focus.
Though SimLicy course-corrected, it was Doctor Ashley's time-machine vehicle that truly inspired the judges. A crashed time-machine with futuristic implements, multiple clocks, and rooms from other time periods earned all three votes from the judges — putting Team Llama and Team Cowplant in a tie.
When it came to the storytelling challenge, there was a surprise twist — Steph0Sims felt that she would be unable to be of use to her team after her friends in Team Gnome were eliminated, so she bowed out of the competition. She was replaced by the most recently eliminated storyteller, the English Simmer from Team Gnome. The challenge for the storytellers was remarkably different from the others — they were given no prep time. In the Sell That Fixer Upper challenge, judge Dave Miotke would guide the storytellers through a disaster house, as the storytellers pretend to be a real estate salesperson, coming up with ways to sell the house on the spot.
DrGluon had a distinct advantage here, as a Twitch streamer. More used to riffing live, his tour of the house had the judges laughing out loud at every turn. The English Simmer, more used to taking the time to carefully edit her YouTube videos, struggled through the challenge, falling relatively flat. While the English Simmer still won Dave Mioltke's vote, DrGluon won Tayla Parx, leaving both teams tied at 4-4 and the final deciding vote in Kelsey Impicciche's hands. Kelsey broke the tie with a vote in DrGluon's favor, putting Team Llama in the lead, and giving the team a significant advantage — a 15-minute headstart in the final challenge round.
The finale airs next week, with a challenge called Play With Life — though what that means is yet to be revealed. Managing time has always been the biggest challenge of the competition so far, so Team Llama's win might have just given them the edge they need to win the competition — assuming Team Cowplant doesn't have one last trick left up their sleeves.
The next episode of 'The Sims Spark'd' airs on August 7 on TBS with a repeat broadcast on August 10 on the Buzzfeed Multiplayer YouTube channel.