Kicking & Screaming Episode 7 recap: ‘Fear Pong’

The Fox reality show Kicking & Screaming pairs hardcore survivalists with people who have little experience in the outdoors. Now that Eagle Scout Terry Fossum has made it deep into the show, I’ll recap every episode until he’s eliminated … or wins?

New episodes air at 9/8 CT Thursdays on Fox. Note: The show is rated TV-14, so parents are cautioned against letting children under the age of 14 watch unattended.


Scouts will eat some weird things. Blueberry-chocolate pancakes, potato-chip hamburgers and spaghetti with ranch-dressing sauce. (I’ve seen — and tried — all three while on assignment for Boys’ Life and Scouting magazines.)

But even Scouts with the strongest stomachs might balk at eating worms, grubs and bat wings.

When $500,000 is on the line, though? Almost anything becomes edible. That appetizing decision faces the four remaining teams on Kicking & Screaming.

The Final Four includes the team that’s become the favorite of the entire Scouting community: Scoutmaster Terry and his partner Natalie, a pink-and-blue-haired professional gamer.

In six episodes, Terry has helped transform Natalie from someone who avoids the outdoors into a confident, happy camper.

“I play videogames for a living, so Day One coming here, I had not been outside in a long time,” she says. “But now I love this place called ‘outside.'”

Let’s find out how Terry and Natalie did in the penultimate episode. Set your dirty clothes by the campfire as I serve up your complete recap of Kicking & Screaming Episode 7: “Fear Pong.”

Spoilers follow.

Call him ‘mer-man’

For no reason at all, the contestants decide to turn Terry into a mermaid. They bury him under the sand and shape the sand into mermaid form.

They even carve a scaly pattern into Terry’s new tail, and Terry can’t help but think of Troop 400 back home.

“The boys in my troop are gonna laugh their butts off at this,” he says.

Exercising their ultimate power

Previously on Kicking & Screaming, Terry and Natalie won the elimination challenge against Jason and Elaine. But there was a twist in Episode 6: Nobody was eliminated.

Before the prize challenge begins in Episode 7, Terry and Natalie must send one team straight to the elimination challenge. It’s their reward after winning last week.

“You earned ultimate power,” says host Hannah Simone. “The decision you make could be the most important one of the game.”

“There is one team we believe to be the strongest among them all,” Terry says. “And if we have a chance not to go up against them, we’d like to take that chance not to.”

They choose Brady, a former Marine, and Claire, a former Miss Wyoming.

Let’s eat

Brady and Claire must sit out the prize challenge. The three other teams — Terry and Natalie, Ben and Juliana and Jason and Elaine — will compete for the prize: a few hours exploring Fiji’s coral reefs on a luxury yacht.

Five-star dining with a private chef on a yacht in Fiji?

Hey, just like a Scout trip!

Next, Hannah welcomes the teams and sets the stage.

“Survival in the jungle often comes down to eating things you would never normally eat,” she says.

So they’ll dine on stuff like grubs, worms and roasted bat wings.

Hey, just like a Scout trip!

Here’s how it will work: teams throw a softball-size pineapple toward another team’s bucket. Make the shot, and that bucket is gone. The team whose bucket is hit has to eat whatever’s under their bucket. Refuse to eat, and you lose. Lose all your buckets, and you lose.

Terry and Natalie pick Jason and Elaine first. Natalie sinks her shot in Jason and Elaine’s bucket, meaning Jason and Elaine get to eat … bat wings! Somewhere, Bruce Wayne is glowering.

Several rounds later, Hannah opens a tray to reveal 10 worms. Terry and Natalie must eat five each.

“The funky thing about these worms is, man, these suckers are active,” Terry says. “They’re jumping around, they’re trying to crawl off.”

They finish their 10 worms quickly. Later, it’s live grubs the size of rolls of quarters. After much squirming (from the contestants and the bugs), Terry and Natalie eat those as well.

“The body was squishy and gross,” Natalie says, “and I will never eat cream of corn again.”

Second place is just fine

Jason and Elaine are the first to lose all their buckets, so they’re off to the elimination challenge. Ben and Juliana win, so they’re off to enjoy the yacht.

For Terry and Natalie, a second-place finish is just fine. No five-star feast, but no elimination challenge either. They’re safe, and guaranteed a spot in the final three in next week’s season finale.

Translation: Scoutmaster Terry and professional gamer Natalie now have a 33.3 percent shot at a half-million bucks.

Jason and Elaine lose in a tough elimination challenge, meaning Terry and Natalie will face Brady and Claire and Ben and Juliana in the finale.

It’s been an entertaining, and strange, journey. I can’t wait to see how it all ends next Thursday night.

Stray observations

  • Loved this quote from Terry: “The most important factor in all of survival is attitude. Attitude is everything.”
  • Terry tells the group that smoke from a campfire is “great for killing the nasty smell in your clothes. Kills the bacteria.” Is that true?

Missed an episode?

Watch full episodes and learn more about Kicking and Screaming here.


About Bryan Wendell 3282 Articles
Bryan Wendell, an Eagle Scout, is the founder of Bryan on Scouting and a contributing writer.