When you're in the throes of a cutthroat "Challenge," it can be a tall order to keep your personal feelings from affecting the game. But when it comes to Zach's "Battle of the Exes 2" strategy, the Herculean competitor was in a bit of a pickle on tonight's episode -- he didn't want to jeopardize his budding romance with newbie Jenna while in a power-play position.

But let's rewind a bit: Shortly after Z and J touched down in Panama, the good-looking duo (with their matching dirty blond locks) began to build a flirtatious connection outside of the daredevil missions -- and shared some sweet smooches on the sidelines.

But after the “Real World: San Diego” alum and his partner Jonna tasted their first victory during "The Brush Off" mission, they had a tough time deciding which rookie team (Jenna/Jay or Brittany/Adam) should face off against last place finishers Jemmye and Knight.

For obvious romantical reasons, Zach wanted to send in the two-time "Are You the One?" Dome victors. On the other hand, Jonna -- who had a game-talking session with Adam -- thought that the "Ex-plosion" pair should get a taste of an elimination round. But when J approached Z about her idea to throw in J-squared, he became irritated and more than a little testy with her.

"It's a dumb move to throw them in," Zach said, before Jonna tried to explain that A and B would come after them if they ran their Dome winning streak to three.

"Are you listening to yourself?" he continued in a berating tone. "I'm going with statistics here and probability, and you're going off emotions."

But is it the exact opposite? Ultimately, Zach and Jonna named the "AYTO" pair to compete against the "Real World: New Orleans" couple, and the whole house could see through his plan -- or, as Sarah perfectly put it, "He just wants to keep making out with Jenna." And in the end, Zach's idea backfired: Adam and Brittany defeated his friends Knight and Jemmye, and now they're definitely in a vulnerable spot.

What do you think -- is Zach's flirty behavior with Jenna affecting his game-play and ability to see the bigger picture? Or did it put less blame on the "Battle of the Seasons" lovebirds to name Adam/Brittany because they had already been called out by more than one team to compete in The Dome? Share your theories below, and keep watching "BOTE2" on Tuesday nights at 11/10c.