Ride or Dies features a daily challenge, a selection process and an elimination round. This season had players competing in teams of two with their "ride or die", an ally they chose before the season began.[8]
Daily Challenge: Teams compete in a daily challenge where the winning team is immune from elimination and selects four teams to interrogate.
Eliminations (The Zone): The daily challenge winners must select one of the teams they interrogated to compete in the elimination round. The three unselected interrogated teams then participate in the "Draw" to determine the second team for the elimination round. The winners remain in the game while the losers are eliminated.
Twists
The Draw: To determine the second team for the elimination round, the three unselected interrogated teams must each pull a covered dagger out of a stone. The team that pulls the dagger marked "safe" is safe and selects one of the remaining two teams to save, sending the other to compete in the elimination round against the team chosen by the daily challenge winners.
Gameplay
Challenge games
Bolas for Blood: Teams must solve three math questions using their biographical information, then search a mud pit for numbered bolas and attach them on the chain to form the answers. The first team to correctly answer all three questions and bring their bolas to the finish line wins.
Winners:Johnny & Ravyn
Balancing Act: Played one team at a time. Team members swim and climb a ladder up separate shipping containers suspended above water. They must then use a rope to swing to a slanted platform at the center, then distribute their weight to pivot and level out the platform. Teams are disqualified if a team member falls into the water. The team with the fastest time wins.
Winners:Bananas & Nany
Build Me Up: Played in two heats. Teams must transfer six barrels across a field, stacking them to reach and set off flares atop three stations along the way. The team that sets off all three flares and transfers all six barrels to the finish line in the fastest time wins.
Winners:Faysal & Moriah
Hold On for Me: Played in five heats. One team member begins suspended off the side of a building and must hang onto a bar for as long as possible. When they are about to drop, their partner must leap off a ledge and launch them towards a flag hanging behind them. Teams are disqualified if they are unable to grab the flag. The team that hangs on the longest, and is able to grab their flag, wins.
Winners:Nelson & Nurys
Royal Relay: Played in two heats. Team members alternate turns swimming and rowing a boat to collect four crown pieces floating in a lake, then use them to assemble a crown. The team with the fastest time wins and also receives a cash prize of $5,000 each.
Winners:Jay & Michele
Down the Line: Played in two heats, teams must dig in their marked zone for two bags of puzzle pieces. Once teams find the first bag, one team member races to the end of a lake and spins a crank to extend the distance their partner can later zip line. After finding the second bag, the second team member must zip line into a lake and swim the remaining distance to reunite with their partner. Teams must then use the puzzle pieces to solve a word puzzle. The team with the fastest time wins.
Winners:Jay & Michele
Zone games
You Move I Move: Teams must stand on and tilt two platforms to maneuver five balls through a table maze. The first team to move all five balls to the end of the maze wins.
Played by:Devin & Tori vs. Kailah & Sam
Memory Lane: Team members alternate turns flipping over two tiles at a time from their board of covered tiles. If the symbols on the tiles match, they can place them face up, otherwise they must leave the tiles face down. The first team to uncover all 24 tiles wins.
Played by:Horacio & Olivia vs. Tamara & Turbo
Double Decker: Team members begin on different levels of a double-decker hallway across from their opponents. The team members on the lower level must push a sliding bar to their opponent's side of the hallway while their opponent tries to do the same. Once one team member achieves this, the two players on the upper level repeat this process, with the teammate of the lower level's winner being released one second earlier. The first player on the upper level to push the bar to their opponent's side wins the round for their team. The first team to win two rounds wins.
Played by:Horacio & Olivia vs. Johnny & Ravyn
Flipping Wasted: One team member begins strapped to a board above a mud pit. Their partner must pull the board upright so they can reach and solve a puzzle. The first team to solve the puzzle wins.
Played by:Analyse & Tommy vs. Colleen & Kim
Give Me Some Slack: Team members begin on opposite sides of a climbing wall. The team member on the colored side must describe the design of the wall to their partner, who climbs their side to collect miniature wall pieces and recreate the design on a board. Additionally, team member's harnesses are connected so that each time one team member climbs, their partner descends and vice versa. The first team to correctly replicate their wall wins.
Played by:Colleen & Kim vs. Jakk & Laurel
In Your Face: Teams must transfer cinder blocks onto a box to release a set of balls. One team member must then throw the balls at ten targets of their opponent's faces while their partner tries to block their opponent's shots. The first team to hit all ten targets wins.
Played by:Aneesa & Jordan vs. Jakk & Laurel
Game summary
Episode
Winners
Zone Contestants
Zone game
Zone outcome
#
Challenge
Winners' Pick
Saved at Draw
Not Saved
Winners
Eliminated
1
Bolas for Blood
Johnny & Ravyn
Kailah & Sam
Colleen & Kim
Devin & Tori
You Move I Move
Devin & Tori
Kailah & Sam
Jakk & Laurel
2
Balancing Act
Bananas & Nany
Tamara & Turbo
Jay & Michele
Horacio & Olivia
Memory Lane
Horacio & Olivia
Tamara & Turbo
Johnny & Ravyn
3
Build Me Up
Faysal & Moriah
Johnny & Ravyn
Analyse & Tommy
Horacio & Olivia
Double Decker
Horacio & Olivia
Johnny & Ravyn
Colleen & Kim
4
Hold On for Me
Nelson & Nurys
Analyse & Tommy
Horacio & Olivia
Colleen & Kim
Flipping Wasted
Colleen & Kim
Analyse & Tommy
Darrell & Veronica
5
Royal Relay
Jay & Michele
Jakk & Laurel
Darrell & Veronica
Colleen & Kim
Give Me Some Slack
Jakk & Laurel
Colleen & Kim
Aneesa & Jordan
6
Down the Line
Jay & Michele
Aneesa & Jordan
Bananas & Nany
Jakk & Laurel
In Your Face
Aneesa & Jordan
Jakk & Laurel
Kaycee & Kenny
7
Peaking Blinders
Nelson & Nurys
Amber & Chauncey
Bananas & Nany
Darrell & Veronica
Deep Web
Amber & Chauncey
Darrell & Veronica
Aneesa & Jordan
Bold indicates the team pulled the dagger marked "safe" and saved a second team
^ abcDarrell & Veronica joined the competition after the "Double Decker" elimination at the end of Episode 3.
^ abcdefgPrior to the "Bolas for Blood" challenge in episode 1, it was announced that Kaycee & Kenny had left the game. Their departure was not shown on screen; however, they revealed in a post-season interview that it was due to a positive COVID-19 test.[5] Emmy & Nam and Horacio & Olivia joined the competition as replacements for Kaycee & Kenny and Aneesa & James (see note d).
^ abcBananas & Nany joined the competition after the "You Move I Move" elimination at the end of Episode 1.
^ abcAneesa & Jordan joined the competition after the "Memory Lane" elimination at the end of Episode 2. Aneesa was initially partnered with her friend James Simon, who was briefly seen in the premiere, but left the competition for unknown reasons and was widely edited out of the show's final footage.[6]
^ abcdePrior to the "Balancing Act" challenge in Episode 2, it was announced that Emmy withdrew from the competition; Nam was disqualified as a result of being Emmy's partner. After being cleared to compete, Kaycee and Kenny re-entered the competition as replacements for Emmy & Nam during the challenge.