Can you believe it’s already time for House of Villains Season 2, Episode 1? It’s an undeniable fact that reality TV would be nothing without its villains. Some throw drinks and others throw hands. Some self-sabotage their shows, and in some cases, they scheme their way to victory in brutal competition. Whatever it is that makes them villainous, we are eternally grateful that E! has graced our screens with House of Villains, a showcase for reality TV’s worst. In Season 1, host Joel McHale gathered an elite group of superstars for a twisted competition that’s 10 times less serious than The Traitors. For Season 2, the budget is bigger, the villains are badder, and they’ve got Monica Garcia narrating all of the chaos. What more could you want?
What happened in House of Villains Season 2, Episode 1?
In the House of Villains Season 2 premiere, “Crimes Against Reality (Television),” the journey began for 10 iconic villains entering the evil lair. That evil lair just so happens to be the exact same house from Season 1, so if you’re a returning viewer, then we’re in familiar territory. Only one villain will come out on top with a fat check of $200,000, and we’ll be here to catch you up on every messy detail…
Bring on the villains
Naturally, Teresa from The Real Housewives of New Jersey was the first villain to enter the house in the Season 2 House of Villains premiere. She wouldn’t have it any other way, and in her introduction, she said that she doesn’t even consider herself a “villain,” per se. According to Tre, she’s just a “loud Italian.” We know that both things can be true at the same time, but we’ll let her write her own story.
Next up was Richard Hatch, the original winner of Survivor. Obviously, Teresa had no idea who this was, but they quickly bonded over the fact that they’d both been to prison for tax evasion. So sweet!
The next two villains to enter the lair were Safaree from Love & Hip Hop and Camilla Poindexter from Bad Girls Club. Once again Teresa had no idea who these people were, but she claimed she might have heard of Safaree. It rang a bell.
Quickly, Teresa found herself bonding with Camilla over astrology. She’s like, “You’re a Virgo? My mom was a Virgo. Let’s be roommates.”
Professional wrestler and Big Brother alum Jessie Godderz aka Mr. Pectacular came strolling in, pecs bouncing. His entrance was quickly upstaged by Kandy “If You Don’t Have Star Quality” Muse. Even the biggest, most greased-up pecs can’t compete with a drag queen.
The dating show alums came in back to back, both delivering extraordinary levels of obnoxiousness. Victoria Larson from The Bachelor came in donning a crown. Larissa Lima from 90 Day Fiancé waltzed in with upgraded boobs and plenty of stories about her many domestic violence arrests.
The last two villains to enter the house might be the two most important to the show, but for two totally different reasons. Wes Bergmann from The Challenge arrived, lying about being a MENSA-level genius. He might not be an actual genius, but he is a wiz at these games. The other wildcard to enter the arena was Tiffany “New York” Pollard. She said she’s ready for redemption after getting kicked out of the competition early in Season 1. We’ll see how that works out for her.
Battle for the bedrooms
Naturally, everybody freaked out when New York came into the building. How else would you react to the HBIC? Safaree and New York quickly recognized each other from a horror-themed VH1 show called Scared Famous (IYKYK). Teresa asked them if their tongues ever touched. The jury is still out on that one.
With all of the villains in their lair, it seemed like we were about to get our little spark of drama when Tiffany realized that her Season 1 bedroom was already occupied by the Virgo besties, Tre and Camilla. Tiffany decided to negotiate with Teresa to see if they could swap.
“I feel like I can come to you because I always respected your hairline on television,” New York hilariously told Teresa, before asking to swap rooms. Tre didn’t seem to clock the shade. It dawned on them. Why not have New Jersey and New York in the same room and just kick Camilla to the curb?
Now, it’s been over a decade since Camilla was on Bad Girls Club, but back in her heyday, this type of situation would end with someone’s mattress in the pool. That wasn’t the case here. When New York asked her to trade bedrooms, Camilla decided to use it as an opportunity for strategy. She’ll trade rooms if New York saves her if (and when) the time comes. New York agreed, but will she stick to that pact? Probably not!
The big, bad prison break
For the first Battle Royale Challenge, Joel got all of the villains into orange prison jumpsuits. It’s familiar territory for a good chunk of them, but Teresa made it very clear that she never wore orange like this. It’s not her color.
For the challenge, Joel brought them all to a set of totally not real prison cells, and Teresa, once again, made it known that this didn’t reflect her experience in the penal system. She told Joel, “My jail did not look like this. It was the camp. Thank you very much.” No Teresa, thank you very much!
The villains got split into two teams, and the goal was to break through a series of prison cells. The first team to get everyone out of their cells wins. Simple enough, right? Nope! Joel had a twist.
Inside each cell was an “F You Lever.” At any time, someone could pull that lever and earn guaranteed safety, but it would also cost their team a 60-second penalty. Surely none of these villains would be selfish enough to pull that, right? Right!?
The teams get started with the challenge. On the Black Team, it was Mr. Pecs, New York, Richard, Camilla, and Victoria. On the White Team, was, well … everybody else.
The challenge seemed easy once they started going. They had to kick through plaster and untangle some chains. Nothing too serious. They were neck and neck when for no reason at all, New York pulled the F You Lever, which was a big WTF for everyone. Why are you making enemies so quickly, Tiffany?
The Black team ended up winning, and they decided to let Safaree be the Supervillain of the week. He’s got the power, but with great power comes great responsibility. Not only does he win a fun outing with two other players, but he also has to put three people up on the Hit List. Cue the dramatic music.
Safaree swore to his teammates that he wouldn’t put them up on the chopping block. Can they trust him? Well…
Wes goes into gamer mode
For Safaree’s supervillain prize, he picked the two other straight dudes, Jessie and Wes to go out on a supervillain lunch date. Then, of all of the places in the world they could go, they wound up at none other than Jax’s Studio City. Words cannot describe the feelings of excitement and terror.
The bros went inside, ordered their drinks, and then who came around the corner? None other than Jax Taylor, the first eliminated player from Season 1 of House of Villains. What a treat! It’s like going to McDonald’s and Ronald McDonald comes out of the kitchen.
Since Jax flopped pretty hard on Season 1, he shared some words of advice with the Season 2 players. The main thing? Beware of the women. He said the ladies of Season 1 were the “scariest” women he ever encountered. Clearly, he’s still traumatized from his encounter with New York.
Jax had to clock back in to finish his shift, which gave Wes a chance to dig into strategy with his bros. He told them that they should put someone up as a pawn, Big Brother style, and then have someone else that they’re actually targeting. He suggested putting Victoria on the chopping block and then using Kandy, Larissa, or Teresa as pawns.
Meanwhile, Safaree was just sitting back and taking it all in. He looked out of his element, but it’s hard to imagine him just sitting around and letting Wes boss him around. That’s not the Safaree we know from Love & Hip Hop.
Kandy christens the Stronghold
In Season 1, Omarosa got a serious roasting from New York that went viral for all of the right reasons. In Season 2, Kandy stepped up to the plate. At the end of the premiere, she gave Safaree the nastiest read that only a drag queen could conjure up on the spot. It all went down in the new and improved Stronghold, where Safaree sat triumphantly in his supervillain chair.
When Joel had him reveal his picks for the Hit List, Safaree gave us theatrics and then a major plot twist. In a betrayal of his Battle Royale team, he nominated Larissa and Kandy along with the target, Victoria.
Victoria saw this coming from a mile away, but Larissa and Kandy were blindsided. How could Safaree just lie to them like that? That’s when Kandy let it rip on Safarree, right as the credits rolled on House of Villains Season 2, Episode 1.
“At the end of the day, you’re a sorry excuse for a man,” Kandy began, with the gravitas of a true New Yorker.
“Sitting there with your pink fur coat on looking like a prolapsed assh*le waiting to be pushed back in,” she continued. “And that’s why Nicki Minaj left your sorry excuse of a self.”
Mic drop! With that out in the air, it’s clear where the battle lines are drawn for HOV Season 2. Next week, the three villains on the Hit List will have their chance to veto Safaree’s decision, but one of them is going home.
House of Villains Season 2 continues with Episode 2 on October 10, before moving to its regular timeslot, Thursdays at 10/9c on E!.
TELL US – WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HOUSE OF VILLAINS SEASON 2, EPISODE 1? WHO STOOD OUT TO YOU THE MOST? DO YOU THINK SAFAREE MADE A MISTAKE BY BETRAYING HIS TEAM MEMBERS?