At the start of the show, Andrew comments on the destruction of 14 cameras of various qualities from challenges over the previous 6 episodes.
The Maze – The contestants must drive in a tight concrete box forwards, around a sharp turn, and into a widened turnaround bay – where the contestants must turn all the way around and drive out the way they came. The challenge car is a Plymouth Horizon. In Aaron's run, he has a minor incident in the in-turn, and it causes him to rely on Lee throughout his run; though it does not stop him from backing the car into the concrete barriers during the turnaround. Sly drives right into the wall in the opening turn, and in trying to make the turn he scrapes the side of the car. By the time Sly reaches the turnaround, he too relies on Fred to get him out of trouble. Afiya's run is better, never relying on Cindy and hitting only three things in the turn – though like the others she hits the corner trying to make the turn. Shirley relies on the inside corner as a pivot point going in, and Janis eventually relents and helps her through the turnaround.
Drifting Doughnuts – After the annual lesson on how to do "drifting doughnuts" is taught, the task must be repeated inside a confined space in a Ford Mustang GT (with dye in the rear tires to produce red smoke). Shirley tries to finish after slowly driving in a circle, before spinning out of control repeatedly. In one attempt, she is so fixated by the boxes on the outside of the course (rather than on the road in trying to find the exit), she drives into them and does not stop until after the car is well into the fields. She never manages to do the doughnut. Afiya, described as the best in lessons, often counter steers too early; and in her run, she fails to do the doughnut. Aaron has a tendency to hit the central marker (a maple leaf) due to target fixation, and he too does not manage to do the doughnut. Sly, the self-proclaimed master of doughnuts, manages to repeatedly drive in circles. This prompts Cam Woolley to suggest that Sly "is a lock" for the final three. Like Aaron, he manages to spin the car out, and repeatedly hits the central marker.
Challenger Challenge: The Reverse Slalom – A simple reverse slalom must be attempted in 30 seconds or less. As with previous challenges, the faces of the nominators are on some of the foam figures. Contestants have 10 attempts to do this challenge. Shirley exceeds the time limit in her first attempt without hitting anything, but she hits obstacles in the rest of her attempts. Afiya is always on pace to finish in terms of time, but she either spins out past the last obstacle (Afiya once blaming a failed attempt on Cindy's countdown distracting her), or hits the last obstacle in each of her runs. Aaron also reverses wildly out of control in his attempts, and fails to finish. Sly's condition prevents him from trying to drive backwards reliably, and in his run he sometimes turns so wide that he goes off of the course and misses some of the turns. He, too, does not finish.
The Beer Truck – The contestants must drive a large beer truck around a "circle of frustration" and a pillar of rims, before entering a forward and reverse obstacle course towards a loading dock. Aaron is not frustrated by the circle of frustration, but is frustrated by the reverse portion of the course. It takes him 13 minutes for the circle and forward sections, and 19 minutes for the reverse. Fred is warned to not advise Sly in any way through his run. Sly hits the pillar, and the challenge is aborted when the truck gets stuck atop some of the overturned rims. Afiya only hits one thing around the circle of frustration – though not the pillar of rims. Afiya remains focused through the reverse (even through hitting things), finishing in 27 minutes. Shirley quits the challenge even before she drives into the circle of frustration.
Through some of the challenges, Fred had been contemplating whether Sly would have been better off quitting driving altogether; a sentiment that is also echoed by Andrew after the beer truck challenge. Sly cannot defend his performance in any of the challenges, and admits that he is bound for the final three. Shirley also admits being bound for the final three as well. Aaron also wants to be in the final three, if only to prove himself on the road test – the only test that matters to him. Afiya admits to progress during this episode, and it is enough for the experts to unanimously agree to graduate her. Andrew is still unconvinced, as he believes that she is still a pathological liar – and believes that this year's final challenges should have four contestants instead of three. Nevertheless, Andrew assents to graduating Afiya, setting the stage for the final drive in Hamilton.
