The Titan Games recap: Season two cranks up the action to our much-needed relief

Holy. Crap. Dwayne Johnson’s Titan Games is back and it’s here to slap the worries straight out of your brain for 120 minutes. In a cascade of pyrotechnics, sweat, and screams of sheer tenacity, The Titan Games celebrates the human spirit without a single use of the word... pandemic.

We didn’t realize how badly we needed this.

The season two premiere brought along a new format and six new elite Titans who were hand-picked by Dwayne Johnson to defend the monolithic Mount Olympus. The two-hour episode featured essentially the first two qualifying episodes of the Central region of competition.

• Check out this explainer on how the format of The Titan Games works.
• This article will introduce you to each of the elite Titans.
• Here, we explain the ins and outs of how each game (or challenge) works.

As Dwayne Johnson says at the top of the episode... “Here we go.”

CENTRAL REGION - Part One

The Titans: Pro Bowler Joe Thomas and Undisputed Middleweight Boxing Champion Claressa Shields

Game one - Launch Pad

The challengers:
Alexis Balliet vs Chantae McMillan

The moment:
After a quick and close battle, Alexis had to take a double kick at her last pad, but brought it down seconds before Chantae.

The winner: Alexis Balliet

Game two - Nuts and Bolts

The challengers:
Bartley Weaver vs Matt Chan

The moment:
Bartley made a fatal error when he jumped the gun and tried to move his wall before most of the weight was removed. When he was unable to tip it, Matt had the time advantage he needed to cinch the win.

The Winner: Matt Chan

Game three - Lunar Impact

The challengers:
Bartley Weaver vs Matt Chan

The moment:
Although he had a lead, Matt lost that advantage when he slammed straight into the ox that is Bartley.

The winner: Bartley Weaver

Game four - Over the Edge

The challengers:
Alexis Balliet vs Chantae McMillan

The moment:
The painful-looking tug-of-war came to an end when Chantae outlasted Alexis’ stamina and inched the stone to her side.

The winner:
Chantae McMillan

Game five - Herculean Pull (Women’s tiebreaker)

The challengers:
Alexis Balliet vs Chantae McMillan

The moment:
After getting the jump on the golden pole, Alexis faced her own exhaustion. She fell from the obstacle and was unable to even climb back up while Chantae completed the challenge herself.

The winner: Chantae McMillan

Game six - Herculean Pull (Men’s tiebreaker)

The challengers:
Bartley Weaver vs Matt Chan

The moment:
Matt was smooth as butter, moving so quickly and efficiently that he completed the challenge uncontested by Bartley.

The winner: Matt Chan

Mount Olympus

• Joe Thomas vs Matt Chan

The moment:
Joe Thomas showed exactly why he is a 10x Pro Bowler. Matt Chan showed exactly why he was selected for the show. Joe held a lead the entire time, but Matt was hot on his heels and slipped into the lead heading into Ball and Chain. We clapped as he grabbed the Titan Relic from the tomb and headed to the finish and our jaw slapped to the floor as Joe strode forward at the last possible second and won “by a turn.”

The Titan: Joe Thomas

• Claressa Shields vs Chantae McMillan

The moment:
Chantae moved like a cat on the course, slipping through obstacles. Claressa, shockingly, couldn’t find her rhythm. Chantae ran her own race, never looking back to see just how far ahead she was and soundly winning the match, claiming the Titan title.

The Titan: Chantae McMillan

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CENTRAL REGION - Part Two

The Titans: Joe Thomas and Chantae McMillan

Game one - Chain Linked

The challengers:
Jaime Seeman vs Jess Weatherby

The moment:
Once Jess, who was already lagging a bit, hesitated to jump to her fifth panel, Jamie had the win in the bag.

The winner: Jaime Seeman

Game two - Launch Pad

The challengers:
Blake Wright vs Steven Shelby

The moment:
Blake managed one heck of a comeback after a frayed start to the competition. He brought the competition to a tie until Steven got his final pad down first.

The winner: Steven Shelby

Game three - Over the Edge

The challengers:
Blake Wright vs Steven Shelby

The moment:
The game was back and forth until Blake was “on the ropes,” exhausted and just trying not to let go. That’s when Steven closed in on the win and opened the doors to Mount Olympus.

The winner: Steven Shelby

Game four - Kick Out

The challengers:
Jaime Seeman vs Jess Weatherby

The moment:
Jamie managed to slog through with steady progress while Jess struggled to even get started. While Jess’ grip gave out, Jamie set her eyes on Mount Olympus.

The winner: Jaime Seeman

Mount Olympus

• Chantae McMillan vs Jaime Seeman

The moment:
Chantae was pretty perfect on her first trip through Mount Olympus. Now, with experience on her side, she was fairly untouchable. Jamie was stumped by a few challenges, giving Chantae all the space in the world to take her second win.

The Titan: Chantae McMillan

• Joe Thomas vs Steven Shelby

Steven must have known this would be a dog fight after seeing Joe’s first run on Mount Olympus. He lunged for each obstacle and exited the the Cage Crawl first. But Joe’s brute strength is a force to be reckoned with. Once his hammer touched the Titan Tomb, it was over for Steven.

The Titan: Joe Thomas

Next episode: Monday, June 1 at 8pm EST/PST on NBC