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The Challenge: North America's fifth sport (spoilers within)


DanteGabriel

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On 4/8/2021 at 4:24 PM, Whiskeyjack said:

I'd definitely like to watch it, but yeah - totally agree with both of you.  Don't want to subscribe to Paramount+ (I think its on that) just for this (and Champions League soccer is on there too, I guess). 

Heh, you're right. I said Discovery+ because I get inundated with ads for them. I guess we watch too much HGTV.

 

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And the cast they ended up getting is a huge letdown.  I saw Mark Long talking about getting people together for an OGs show, and when it was originally being discussed the potential cast list was pretty exciting.  I didn't pay attention to it in the months after that, but somehow it morphed from getting all of the old elite players together into this group, which is super underwhelming.  Its a huge miss by them. 

The only people who I'd call All-Stars are Mark, Alton, Darrell, and Derrick among the men, and Ruthie, Kendal, and maybe KellyAnne among the women.  And some of those are stretching it - not sure Kendal even competed in more than 1-2 seasons.  There are a few others I wouldn't mind seeing, just because they're really old school like Yes and Laterrian.  But would have strongly preferred a real All-Star competition.

So I went down the rabbit hole reading about this show and found this entertaining article:

https://www.eonline.com/news/1254770/the-challenge-all-stars-why-these-24-ogs-didnt-return

It talks about some of the reasons various people didn't come on for All-Stars and revisits a ton of people, often with current photographs. Ev and Paula are in there. As one might suspect, a lot of them have just moved on to regular productive lives and don't have time for the Challenge. Veronica said the fee they were paying wasn't worth her leaving her life and traveling during a pandemic.

Other interesting bits: some alternates were on site for All-Stars but didn't come in. The one I remembered most was Cohutta, so not exactly the heaviest hitters. And they're talking about having more All-Stars seasons, so maybe the plan is to have a few OGs in each season. I still don't think we'll see Bananas again.

 

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Yeah I was kind of surprised that Leroy didn't step up.  I get that he didn't want to be eliminated right before the final, but the point is to win, right?  That last elimination basically came down to a choice of either (1) risk going home, but if you win then you get to team up with Kaycee, or (2) stay safe but you're with Nany or Amber.  Since the ultimate goal is to win the final, think the right strategic move there is to do everything you can to stay with Kaycee.  I know he's friends with Nany and she's okay in some things, but I don't think she's even close to being on the same level overall.

It's true, Nany is no Kaycee, but I guess he feels pretty good about being with her. I knew he thought of her like a sister and I'd forgotten they were on a Real World season together. I suppose Leroy didn't want to risk going out right before the final, again, like what happened to Aneesa. Maybe in retrospect he should have asked for the house vote to be Kyle and then have Kam throw him in. But still a risk.

What Leroy has got going for him is that Kam is a good physical competitor and smarter than probably the rest of the women (Jesus that match challenge was tough to watch), and so they have decent odds of at least one of them winning.

 

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The thing I'm wondering is if he's maybe making a bet on there being no teams in the final?  Would be a twist if they separate everyone, either for the whole thing or halfway through after eliminating one team.  I could see it maybe happening, and honestly I think I'd probably favor that over sticking with the teams.  I know the whole season has been with everyone paired up, and I've liked it a lot, especially with all of the backstabbing and partner switching.  It was a great concept and I hope they continue with similar mechanics in the future.  But in the final.....tend to prefer people sinking or swimming on their own merit.

I'm also probably a bit biased, because I can't stand Fessy and don't want him to win with Kaycee.  Cheering for Leroy or Corey among the guys, and Kam among the girls.

I wouldn't be surprised if the teams got broken up or shaken up in the final. TJ keeps telling them nothing is as it seems. I am sure there'll be a twist in the final. I'm all in on Kam or Leroy winning. I have nothing against Nany or Corey. I didn't like that Kaycee had planned to jump to Fessy at the end. Loyalty to Leroy would have been more admirable. So I hope Fessy shits himself in the final.

 

On 4/8/2021 at 4:27 PM, Whiskeyjack said:

Oh one more thing.  Kyle was hilarious this season.  He's so much better without the Cara Maria + Paulie drama. 

I'm glad Kam didn't screw over Corey.  But sucks that Kyle ended up in the crosshairs and that he went out with an injury (though he probably didn't have a chance against Fessy in Hall Brawl regardless.....he got destroyed on that first run through).

Kyle grew on me this season, definitely. It's amazing how quickly Cara Maria went from someone I rooted for to someone I couldn't stand to see any more, and it was exacerbated by how huffy she got that Kyle wanted to sleep around, and then Paulie coming into it... I don't like him at all. Yappy and not as tough or athletic as he thinks.

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Cara was definitely one of my favorites for a while, probably mostly because she was always feuding with Bananas, who is fun to root against, but she's definitely become super unlikable the past several challenges she's been on.

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Seems to be a consensus on Cara Maria. She was a beast for a while but once Kyle damaged her (or whatever it was that happened), she became an insecure shell of herself and very unlikeable.

 

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I've been re-watching Battle of the Seasons.  It's my favorite season of The Challenge.  There's a drunken brawl in almost every episode because there are some true psychopaths on this season, Frank being the main one.  He just constantly stirs the pot and pushes people to the brink.  It also has an all time great Challenge moment in the form of the first episode's Wes/Easy hall brawl elimination where Easy picks Wes up and slams him into the bell.  

Other great moments include Camilla screaming "YOU'RE GONNA DIE" while flinging a patio chair, a great CJ/Zach hall brawl that goes five rounds, and Big Easy holding up a basket filled with an absolutely insane amount of rocks for a long ass time.

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22 hours ago, briantw said:

They need to do a season of this show where the twist is that every elimination is Hall Brawl. 

So basically battle of the big uns? Hell no since that favors Fessy! Maybe the old versions all tossed in? The one where they had to run up and down the ramps getting flags too?

3 hours ago, briantw said:

I've been re-watching Battle of the Seasons.  It's my favorite season of The Challenge.  There's a drunken brawl in almost every episode because there are some true psychopaths on this season, Frank being the main one.  He just constantly stirs the pot and pushes people to the brink.  It also has an all time great Challenge moment in the form of the first episode's Wes/Easy hall brawl elimination where Easy picks Wes up and slams him into the bell.  

Other great moments include Camilla screaming "YOU'RE GONNA DIE" while flinging a patio chair, a great CJ/Zach hall brawl that goes five rounds, and Big Easy holding up a basket filled with an absolutely insane amount of rocks for a long ass time.

Just watched this a couple of weeks ago too. Was a really good season for the drama.

My daughter is watching the current season now and is hooked. She is also watching the new All Stars, so I started so we can talk about it. Oh my... I won't put any details in here but damn the first challenge about wipes out half the cast.

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24 minutes ago, dbunting said:

Just watched this a couple of weeks ago too. Was a really good season for the drama.

Frank is a legit sociopath.  He makes every season he's on better.  A shame he's done so few of them, because he's an unparalleled agent of chaos. 

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I wasn't able to watch this for the past few months but finally spent this weekend doing my favorite thing with these type shows - watching 12 episodes in a row so I am pretty much caught up and now can keep everyone straight. I am still baffled by MTV's lack of repeated airing of this show. And I am curious who they think the audience for this show is? With the endless 80s music featured are they thinking only GenX is tuning in? Or is 80s music popular with younger viewers?

The one thing that has been interesting for me with this season is the minimized drunken brawls / relationship dramas included in the episodes. I have not watched any of the recent seasons before this one so I do not know if there has been a gradual shift over the years towards this. And I don't know if there just wasn't anything worth including this season or a deliberate choice on the producers part. But my recollection of the original years of the Challenge type shows was a lot of hooking up and endless drunken evenings and screaming matches. Some with this round but much less. Its in some ways nice to just have the main focus be on the challenges and I especially enjoy seeing all the gorgeous Iceland locations featured in them.

I don't have the streaming service so I don't think I will be watching All Stars unless they actually air it on MTV. But again you wonder who their target audience is for these shows.

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5 hours ago, lady narcissa said:

I wasn't able to watch this for the past few months but finally spent this weekend doing my favorite thing with these type shows - watching 12 episodes in a row so I am pretty much caught up and now can keep everyone straight. I am still baffled by MTV's lack of repeated airing of this show. And I am curious who they think the audience for this show is? With the endless 80s music featured are they thinking only GenX is tuning in? Or is 80s music popular with younger viewers?

The one thing that has been interesting for me with this season is the minimized drunken brawls / relationship dramas included in the episodes. I have not watched any of the recent seasons before this one so I do not know if there has been a gradual shift over the years towards this. And I don't know if there just wasn't anything worth including this season or a deliberate choice on the producers part. But my recollection of the original years of the Challenge type shows was a lot of hooking up and endless drunken evenings and screaming matches. Some with this round but much less. Its in some ways nice to just have the main focus be on the challenges and I especially enjoy seeing all the gorgeous Iceland locations featured in them.

I don't have the streaming service so I don't think I will be watching All Stars unless they actually air it on MTV. But again you wonder who their target audience is for these shows.

I think it's a combination of two factors.  First, many of the competitors are a lot older now and many are married and/or have children.  Second, this is a more serious show now than it used to be.  Every season is for a massive payday, and so things have gotten a bit more serious as a result, and they've brought in some legitimate athletes in recent seasons like Lolo Jones, even if she wasn't able to hack it in the social game.

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3 hours ago, briantw said:

I think it's a combination of two factors.  First, many of the competitors are a lot older now and many are married and/or have children.  Second, this is a more serious show now than it used to be.  Every season is for a massive payday, and so things have gotten a bit more serious as a result, and they've brought in some legitimate athletes in recent seasons like Lolo Jones, even if she wasn't able to hack it in the social game.

I think this is the main factor. Used to be like 50,000-100,000 to split amongst a team of 5. Now you can get 250,000+ each for the winners. The hooking up is still there, Kyle was with like 3-4 different girls in the last two seasons.

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6 hours ago, briantw said:

Potentially unpopular opinion...I hated Diem.  She's just the worst.  And I loved every time CT fucked her over because it was so predictable. 

Can't argue this much. Any time things didn't go her way she threw a shit fit. I just watched Fresh Meat, her rookie season (with the luggage weight challenges) and she throws in her 2 best show friends in back to back challenges, then when she gets thrown in by someone she goes ape shit. I love her story and strength but she is a piss poor loser.

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@lady narcissa I'm glad you were able to see the season finally. I've mostly enjoyed this season -- because of CT and Big T, and Leroy doing well, and some beautiful justice being visited upon some of the people I dislike.

Maybe I'll just do the free month or whatever of Paramount+ and binge some Challenge.

Tonight's the final? Oh boy...

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So I just watched an old season, big surprise. The Island. Basically a combo of the Challenge and Survivor. Not my favorite season as it was a very different format, no teams, no team challenges. Finale was a boat race to another island. Pretty tame since the last season I watched was the one where Big Easy nearly died.

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On 4/9/2021 at 6:16 PM, DanteGabriel said:

So I went down the rabbit hole reading about this show and found this entertaining article:

https://www.eonline.com/news/1254770/the-challenge-all-stars-why-these-24-ogs-didnt-return

It talks about some of the reasons various people didn't come on for All-Stars and revisits a ton of people, often with current photographs. Ev and Paula are in there. As one might suspect, a lot of them have just moved on to regular productive lives and don't have time for the Challenge. Veronica said the fee they were paying wasn't worth her leaving her life and traveling during a pandemic.

Other interesting bits: some alternates were on site for All-Stars but didn't come in. The one I remembered most was Cohutta, so not exactly the heaviest hitters. And they're talking about having more All-Stars seasons, so maybe the plan is to have a few OGs in each season. I still don't think we'll see Bananas again.

Thanks for sharing that.  Nice to get some insight on a few people, and sounds like at least a few of them are open to being on a future season.

I'm actually on board with the logic behind skipping over people like CT, Johnny, and Wes.  Wouldn't have them as priorities either, if the goal is to bring back people who have been gone for a while (though like people said before, probably should use something other than All-Stars for the name).  But would be cool to get people like Ev, Landon, Emily, Jodi, Abram, Rachel, Coral, etc.
 

On 4/9/2021 at 6:16 PM, DanteGabriel said:

I wouldn't be surprised if the teams got broken up or shaken up in the final. TJ keeps telling them nothing is as it seems. I am sure there'll be a twist in the final. I'm all in on Kam or Leroy winning. I have nothing against Nany or Corey. I didn't like that Kaycee had planned to jump to Fessy at the end. Loyalty to Leroy would have been more admirable. So I hope Fessy shits himself in the final.

Man that first part of the finale was great.  Loved the combination of running plus a physical/memory challenge plus eating. 

And loved watching the downfall of Fessy.  Felt really bad for Kaycee after she got hurt.  But Fessy's reaction where you could see him going from annoyance with her for holding him back to him then showing zero heart and basically quitting over the food, contrasted against Kaycee refusing to give up, really highlighted just how much he sucks.

Have to give CT + Amber credit, I thought they were the underdogs heading into the final, but they've dominated so far.  And I'm guessing they'll put the punishment on Kam + Corey, since they look to be their top competition at this point.

Also, good call about teams maybe being shaken up.  Think Amber made the right decision to stick with CT given how well they were doing.  But was glad to see they kept the option for her to switch.  I'm hoping there will be one more chance, that Leroy or Kam win it, and that they team up together for the comeback.  That'd be a pretty cool ending.

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Loved that episode as well. Nice to see Amber and CT in the lead since I am rooting for them, then Leroy. Didn't see that option to change partners coming and Amber made the right move. Now, does CT do the same thing? Do we assume that he will be the lead winner on this leg and get the same option as Amber did?  I don't know if I would leave her at this point though since she has shown hell of a heart in the run and eat.

If they don't give the disadvantage to Cam and Cory then they are idiots. Nany is holding Leroy back, Kaycee is busted up so the only real choice is Cam-Corey. 

Fessy, you giant man-child of a pussy. Kaycee is busted up and is fighting through to complete it and you won't? I really hope TJ calls him out for it.

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On 4/18/2021 at 9:07 PM, briantw said:

TJ forcing the two guys in the elimination to eat two Carolina reaper peppers before doing the elimination in All Stars is why I watch this fucking show.  :lol:

Yeah that shit came out of no where! He was just giggling and you knew something bad was gonna happen to them.

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2 hours ago, dbunting said:

Yeah that shit came out of no where! He was just giggling and you knew something bad was gonna happen to them.

Elimination idea: players have to get a colonoscopy and then see who can ride a bike the longest. 

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