VPC is having some water heater issues so they only have one hot shower every day. A plumber tells Zona it can't be fixed and tries inviting her to his cat's funeral, though she refuses. Since the VPC gang is bad at taking turns, they dust off the wheel of challenges to decide who gets to use the hot shower.
On the first day of the competition, challenges include gummy bear eating contest, sexiest catwalk, cartwheeling, breath holding, car jousting, oil painting, hula hoop fire dancing, boxing, and longest to survive a group hug. By the end of the day, Zona is last in the competition so she hatches a plan to catch up and possibly win that hot shower.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Apologetic Attacker: Ryan apologizes for weakly attacking Micah, but then uses that opportunity to pull off "Mike Tyson's surprise" and bite Micah's ears.
- Batman Gambit: Owen says that Zona deserves the hot shower for all the work she does for the team, leading her to say that he should have it. Owen gleefully accepts the hot shower, saying he knew Zona would do that.
- Butt-Monkey: Zona. She wakes up super early to let the plumber in but everyone is bummed that she delivers bad news. Micah says she loses a lot and Owen doesn't view her as competition. Devin punches her down during the boxing match, and she has no points by the end of the day.
- Continuity Nod:
- Devin beating Owen in a boxing match gives his legs PTSD, referencing their fight in "Karate!"
- When Zona reveals her rigging the wheel, Micah declares, "For shame, Zona!" and holds out the Shame Hat, which Micah and Zona both wore in "Power Outage."
- Eating Contest: One of the first challenges is a gummy bear eating contest.
- Feel No Pain: After Micah mentions an incident where Ryan pet a porcupine, Ryan demonstrates how much nerve damage he got by putting a lighter close to his hand, unnerving everyone except Devin.
- Given Name Reveal: The last names for the VPC crew are revealed, which were previously unstated with the exception of Zona and Owen.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Mr. Gandolfini takes a break from being VPC's Abhorrent Admirer and helps out in the contest, acting as a judge for one event and posing for the oil painting challenge.
- Group Hug: One of the challenges is to survive the longest in a group hug.
- Noodle Incident: The last time VPC used the Wheel of Challenges apparently started with Ryan and Devin finding a human tooth and having them meet an astronaut.
- Public Exposure: The oil painting contest has Mr. Gandolfini making various poses in a skin-colored suit for VPC to paint him.
- Sarcastic Clapping: Owen starts clapping slowly after Zona wins a challenge, though everyone thinks he's doing it way too slowly.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Ryan says they could just take turns using the hot shower, but a Cutaway Gag shows how bad they are at taking turns on a swing set.
- Take That!: Owen says Devin has more integrity than anybody, to which she replies that she makes Abraham Lincoln look like a sack of crap.
- Warm Water Whiz: Zona makes everyone in the Group Hug pee themselves by putting their hands in water from the hot shower. When they wake up they panic and run into the cold showers.
