Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Stars On Mars episode "Water Crisis." Read at your own risk!
Tom Schwartz admitted during the latest Stars On Mars episode that he joined the show to take a break from the drama in his life, which included a pretty messy and public divorce. Schwartz has managed to escape the controversy that partly revolved around his kiss with Raquel Leviss, but given his latest performance in the show, he may be on his way back to Earth and that intense Vanderpump Rules reunion pretty soon. This revelation came after Schwartz miraculously survived another week in the Mars colony after flubbing a mission that would've ruined an actual space exploration.
The episode bid farewell to Tallulah Willis after the team decided the failure of the mission ultimately fell on her inability to lead and ensure its success. Tom Schwartz got off pretty easy in my opinion, and I can't imagine he'll survive another week if he makes a blunder quite as bad as he did in the latest episode.
Tom Schwartz' Inability To Count Barrels Led To A Failed Mission
The Stars On Mars crew was tasked with obtaining more water after losing access to the supply they had. Tom Schwartz was initially given the job of traveling into a cave with others to help hold a tarp and extract water but swapped duties with actress Ariel Winter at the last minute. She went into the cave while Schwartz stayed above ground with Marshawn Lynch to help fill and count the barrels being filled with water.
With six minutes left in the challenge, Tom Schwartz informed the team they had three and a half containers filled of the four they needed to complete the mission. Shortly after that announcement, a pipe became disconnected, and the team struggled to reconnect it immediately. Once the pipe was finally reconnected, Schwartz jumped on to explain that he had miscounted, and they had only filled two and a half containers. Time ran out, and the mission failed.
Ultimately there are a few reasons the challenge failed. Quite frankly, Tom Schwartz and Ariel Winter shouldn't have swapped roles, as his strength was needed more than his counting ability. Had he been down there to fix the pipe, it might've been connected faster, and Winter could've delivered an accurate count of containers filled and put more pressure on the team to work faster. Schwartz accepted responsibility for his part of the mission failing and found himself in the bottom three for elimination. As mentioned, he survived the elimination, but readers can revisit the episode with their Hulu subscription and make their own judgments on whether that was earned.
Does Tom Schwartz Have His Head In The Game?
Stars On Mars' latest episode was another poor outing for Tom Schwartz, who only just barely escaped elimination the week prior. Christopher Mintz-Plasse took the fall on that one, but one could make the argument that the only thing that separated his effort from Schwartz's was Marshawn Lynch calling the former McLovin. Mistaking two filled barrels for three is a rough look, and it has me wondering if Schwartz is really present during these challenges on the Fox competition.
If he isn't, that's completely understandable, but I'd love for the other Stars On Mars contestants to pick up on that. He's arguably been the least mission-critical member two weeks in a row now, and if he lands there again in the upcoming episode, I don't really think anyone can justify keeping him another week.
Stars On Mars airs on Fox on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET. It's one of many must-watch shows popping up in the month of June, so be sure to stay ahead of the game by peeping CinemaBlend's 2023 TV schedule to see what's around the corner.
