Man how the **** did Johnny Bananas do the bike so quickly? Was it because he got the most rest after the section beforehand? Poor Portland Johnny, he could have won with different partner orders, or even there being no partners at all
[QUOTE=Nightwolf;428174]Man how the **** did Johnny Bananas do the bike so quickly? Was it because he got the most rest after the section beforehand? Poor Portland Johnny, he could have won with different partner orders, or even there being no partners at all[/QUOTE]
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Fun Fact : Before we did The Challenge Free Agents.. I trained with <a href="https://twitter.com/MTVBananas" rel="nofollow">@MTVBananas</a> and we went on bike riding trail.. FYI I DIED 😩😩😂— Roylee (@RoyLee25mtv) <a href="https://twitter.com/RoyLee25mtv/statuses/482351050046054400" rel="nofollow">June 27, 2014</a></blockquote>
I liked the final it was quite intense and even though I read the spoilers I quite enjoyed it.
It was a bit to tough I agree, but they did it in stages and I assume between every stage there was an 1 to 3 hour break.
Nany quite surprised me, with her endurance and her will power she really put it of and deserved the 2nd place.
For Zach I have to say payback is a *****! The way he was yelling at Sam back in BotS just came right back, and after this awful performance he is out of my fav list. ;-)
Kudos to Johnny he played a great final, shame he didn't win, Kudos to Devyn as well she was quite entertaining! And I hope she works out a bit cause she would take them all down if she wasn't that lazy.
Laurel and Banannas completely deserved to win, even though Johnny B is so annoying! They won daily challenges, went into eliminations and gave their best in the final.
The reunion was funny as well! Love that Nanny and Cohutta are a thing.
And I really really hope that Teresa gets into Rivals 3 with Devyn just to see her suffer. Such a stupid ******! I really can't respect her as an competitor, cause after this pathetic attempt of being cool she should just shut up. I mean come on! Stand by your choice to be a back stabber.
[QUOTE=kvm1977;428115]Not knowing basic geography speaks volumes about either the American education system or one's intelligence. If you don't comprehend that...[/QUOTE]
What was asked wasn't basic geography. I know every city on that list and what country they're in aside from La Paz. However, I don't know whether Puerto Vallarta or Manzanillo is further south within Mexico, or where Pucon and Santiago are within Chile, yet I'm very secure in my own intelligence and my American education.
[QUOTE=toenails;428111]Just because you don't know the locations of random cities from around the world does NOT automatically mean that you are an idiot. If your only criteria for determining intelligence is book knowledge, then that clearly shows a lack of critical thinking skills; it shows that you yourself are not the brightest bulb on the chandelier...[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=kvm1977;428115]Not knowing basic geography speaks volumes about either the American education system or one's intelligence. If you don't comprehend that...[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Youssarian;428116]Those cities weren't basic... Yeah, a couple of them were (San Diego, La Paz, Santiago, Lima are the ones I remember) but Oaxaco? Pucon? Rosarita? Manzanillo? Puerto Vallarta?[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=toenails;428125]Your argument is that people are idiots if they don't remember a few cities from middle school geography class. Speaks volumes about your own intelligence...[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=JL81790;428194]What was asked wasn't basic geography. I know every city on that list and what country they're in aside from La Paz. However, I don't know whether Puerto Vallarta or Manzanillo is further south within Mexico, or where Pucon and Santiago are within Chile, yet I'm very secure in my own intelligence and my American education.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=toenails;428111]Just because you don't know the locations of random cities from around the world does NOT automatically mean that you are an idiot. If your only criteria for determining intelligence is book knowledge, then that clearly shows a lack of critical thinking skills; it shows that you yourself are not the brightest bulb on the chandelier...[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=kvm1977;428115]Not knowing basic geography speaks volumes about either the American education system or one's intelligence. If you don't comprehend that...[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Youssarian;428116]Those cities weren't basic... Yeah, a couple of them were (San Diego, La Paz, Santiago, Lima are the ones I remember) but Oaxaco? Pucon? Rosarita? Manzanillo? Puerto Vallarta?[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=toenails;428125]Your argument is that people are idiots if they don't remember a few cities from middle school geography class. Speaks volumes about your own intelligence...[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=JL81790;428194]What was asked wasn't basic geography. I know every city on that list and what country they're in aside from La Paz. However, I don't know whether Puerto Vallarta or Manzanillo is further south within Mexico, or where Pucon and Santiago are within Chile, yet I'm very secure in my own intelligence and my American education.[/QUOTE]
-I'm glad we are having a DISCUSSION about this. Disclaimer: I loved the puzzle, and probably could've done it in 20 minutes on the second try. One thing I noticed is, Alot of those cities were cities that they've hosted challenges or finals in (Panama, Manzanillo,Puerto Vallarta, Bariloche, Pucon). Also, I know that all of them are pretty famous tourist destinations. So on the basis of that, I'm a little surprised that people who were in all those finals (Johnny Bananas) or hardcore fans of the show (Zach) wouldn't realize that.
-Rosarito was mispelled as Rosarita I believe. Rosarito is like the Mexican Santa Barbara, so not a really populous or well known place. I thought it was kind of a weird pick and also unfair since it was misspelled. That would of tripped me up.
- I think Oaxaca screwed them up cause it was an indian name, and so therefore they thought it was northern canadian? Again, another disclaimer- I am spanish so I knew Oaxaca was a decently famous Mayan city in South. Mexico where many immigrants come from in the 80s to 00s.
Second thing, Unlike most of our challengers and commenters, I am a book learner in law school right now. They kind of teach lawyers (and law students) about categorical thinking. The strategy would've been divide them into North, Central and South America; as there were five cities in each.From there on, I guess it would be a ************************* Vallarta and Santiago/Pucon are tricky)
I asked a question earlier, but can Nany speak spanish? One would think she could have an edge on this challenge but I guess maybe her family immigrated a while ago?
-I don't think that not being able to do that puzzle made anyone an idiot. BUT, It is fairly indicative of how Americans only find their own geography important (They could have probably all done that with 15 american cities pretty easy). Oaxaca is a decently relevant city of like 3 million people and everyone is saying WOW THAT IS SO WEIRD AND RANDOM.
So I understand kvm1977 for making fun of them, but I totally get where everyone else is coming from. I realize that sort of puzzle was custom designed for me to be good at (Spanish, well read) but I still think it would have taken me two tries as it was pretty hard geography to do (especially on the spot after running 10 km and kayaking through a raging river).
[QUOTE=Livewitpeace;428122]So if you had to do it, you could do it in like 10 minutes with complete ease? Right on the first try?[/QUOTE]
Correct because, at the minimum, one should know all but four and, common sense, dictates, this is a tree--not hard to fill in the rest--ask Johnny
[QUOTE=Rockstar;428209]-I'm glad we are having a DISCUSSION about this. Disclaimer: I loved the puzzle, and probably could've done it in 20 minutes on the second try. One thing I noticed is, Alot of those cities were cities that they've hosted challenges or finals in (Panama, Manzanillo,Puerto Vallarta, Bariloche, Pucon). Also, I know that all of them are pretty famous tourist destinations. So on the basis of that, I'm a little surprised that people who were in all those finals (Johnny Bananas) or hardcore fans of the show (Zach) wouldn't realize that.
-Rosarito was mispelled as Rosarita I believe. Rosarito is like the Mexican Santa Barbara, so not a really populous or well known place. I thought it was kind of a weird pick and also unfair since it was misspelled. That would of tripped me up.
- I think Oaxaca screwed them up cause it was an indian name, and so therefore they thought it was northern canadian? Again, another disclaimer- I am spanish so I knew Oaxaca was a decently famous Mayan city in South. Mexico where many immigrants come from in the 80s to 00s.
Second thing, Unlike most of our challengers and commenters, I am a book learner in law school right now. They kind of teach lawyers (and law students) about categorical thinking. The strategy would've been divide them into North, Central and South America; as there were five cities in each.From there on, I guess it would be a ************************* Vallarta and Santiago/Pucon are tricky)
I asked a question earlier, but can Nany speak spanish? One would think she could have an edge on this challenge but I guess maybe her family immigrated a while ago?
-I don't think that not being able to do that puzzle made anyone an idiot. BUT, It is fairly indicative of how Americans only find their own geography important (They could have probably all done that with 15 american cities pretty easy). Oaxaca is a decently relevant city of like 3 million people and everyone is saying WOW THAT IS SO WEIRD AND RANDOM.
So I understand kvm1977 for making fun of them, but I totally get where everyone else is coming from. I realize that sort of puzzle was custom designed for me to be good at (Spanish, well read) but I still think it would have taken me two tries as it was pretty hard geography to do (especially on the spot after running 10 km and kayaking through a raging river).[/QUOTE]
Are you really Spanish?? Because you are really wrong about Oaxaca and Rosarito.
And yes nany can speak Spanish, I think her family is from Dominican Republic .
[QUOTE=Rockstar;428209]
Second thing, Unlike most of our challengers and commenters, I am a book learner in law school right now. They kind of teach lawyers (and law students) about categorical thinking. The strategy would've been divide them into North, Central and South America; as there were five cities in each.From there on, I guess it would be a ************************* Vallarta and Santiago/Pucon are tricky)
-I don't think that not being able to do that puzzle made anyone an idiot. BUT, It is fairly indicative of how Americans only find their own geography important (They could have probably all done that with 15 american cities pretty easy). Oaxaca is a decently relevant city of like 3 million people and everyone is saying WOW THAT IS SO WEIRD AND RANDOM.
So I understand kvm1977 for making fun of them, but I totally get where everyone else is coming from. I realize that sort of puzzle was custom designed for me to be good at (Spanish, well read) but I still think it would have taken me two tries as it was pretty hard geography to do (especially on the spot after running 10 km and kayaking through a raging river).[/QUOTE]
I'm a law student as well and I agree about the categorization, but that was the easy part. ****, if it had been countries instead of cities I'd call that a 20 second puzzle. I just think it's a bit silly to paint with such a broad brush about their intelligence when it comes down to not knowing the geographic relationship between Oaxaca and Rosarito, especially if you know that they're both in Mexico. I don't really fault any of them for that. Those that said that they had never even HEARD of these cities, however, are a different story (or Zach not knowing where the Andes are).
I'll also say that if it had been something like put the US State capitals in order from East-West and they couldn't do it, I'd have a much larger problem with that.
[QUOTE=stuufman;428227]Are you really Spanish?? Because you are really wrong about Oaxaca and Rosarito.
And yes nany can speak Spanish, I think her family is from Dominican Republic .[/QUOTE]
How am i wrong???
(Also: I'm spanish and not mexican. i know people from the east coast use spanish as word for someone from any 1 of 20 countries)
[QUOTE=Wannabe90;428193]I liked the final it was quite intense and even though I read the spoilers I quite enjoyed it.
It was a bit to tough I agree, but they did it in stages and I assume between every stage there was an 1 to 3 hour break.
Nany quite surprised me, with her endurance and her will power she really put it of and deserved the 2nd place.
For Zach I have to say payback is a *****! The way he was yelling at Sam back in BotS just came right back, and after this awful performance he is out of my fav list. ;-)
Kudos to Johnny he played a great final, shame he didn't win, Kudos to Devyn as well she was quite entertaining! And I hope she works out a bit cause she would take them all down if she wasn't that lazy.
[B]Laurel and Bananas completely deserved to win[/B], even though Johnny B is so annoying! They won daily challenges, went into eliminations and gave their best in the final.
The reunion was funny as well! Love that Nanny and Cohutta are a thing.
And I really really hope that Teresa gets into Rivals 3 with Devyn just to see her suffer. Such a stupid ******! I really can't respect her as an competitor, cause after this pathetic attempt of being cool she should just shut up. I mean come on! Stand by your choice to be a back stabber.[/QUOTE]
Agreed, even though I'm not a huge Johnny fan.
Came back from the gym, bikes about 10 miles in 35 minutes. That means roughly it would've taken me the same time as Johnny Portland to finish the biking part of the Challenge.
Bananas clearing it in 61 minutes after climbing the side of the mountain, rafting, and walking briskly with Devyn for 10K -- man, what a beast.
Two more notes:
- I've realized they've really only done eating things for Challenges where there are duos/teams.
- This final would've been Landon's dream. Bananas would've had a **** of a Challenge in front of him if Landon was on this Challenge and made it to the finals.
[QUOTE=Meelz;428298]
- This final would've been Landon's dream. Bananas would've had a **** of a Challenge in front of him if Landon was on this Challenge and made it to the finals.[/QUOTE]
I think if any of the endurance monster guys had been there (Landon, Kenny, Frank) they would've likely beaten Johnny. Bananas trains a lot on a bike so I wasn't shocked that he kicked *** on that part but Johnny Reilly beat him up the mountain by 32 minutes. Landon and Kenny didn't even look gassed at the end of Fresh Meat 2 or Rivals. I'm happy for Bananas but either of those 2 or Frank would've definitely given it to him in the final.
Y input on Johnny/bananas time difference:
Yes, devyn slowed Johnny down.
Had Johnny had devyn first or second, I think he could have won cause devyn wouldn't have been so exhausted whereas having her third she was completely out of gas since she went through the first two stages back to back (I assume once all teams make it to check point, they switc gear then go right for the next leg. Devyn being last each leg meant she had very little time to rest.)
Also in the puzzle, I'm not sure if it gave bananas and devyn a time on how quick they completed it but MAYBE if they ran out of time as well like everyone else did, Johnny could have beaten bananas.
eta: I'm so skeptical about bananas 25mile bike ride.
There was NO way he was going 25mph on that stationary bike.
I really liked Johnny! He was calm with the girls, he was very strong at the next day, he even had time to help Zack! Seems very nice guy!
I love how he made fun of himself with that draw thing, took it as a joke.
[QUOTE=MTV Junky;428597]Bananas biked at a 25 mile per hour pace. Yes, that is impressive.[/QUOTE]
I cycled earlier this morning just to see how long it would take me to complete 25 miles if I really tried. It took me 81 minutes and 17 seconds and I felt like throwing up afterwards.
So it takes me about 3.5 minutes to complete a mile.
Bananas did it in 61 minutes so he can cycle a mile in a little less than 2.5 minutes. Not only that, but kayaking and running a 10k right before all this while carrying Devyn a couple times is impressive as ****.
[QUOTE=JayTee;428639]I cycled earlier this morning just to see how long it would take me to complete 25 miles if I really tried. It took me 81 minutes and 17 seconds and I felt like throwing up afterwards.
So it takes me about 3.5 minutes to complete a mile.
Bananas did it in 61 minutes so he can cycle a mile in a little less than 2.5 minutes. Not only that, but kayaking and running a 10k right before all this while carrying Devyn a couple times is impressive as hell.[/QUOTE]
I might have to try that on Monday just to see how fast I can go. It's also possible that those bikes had resistance added to them which would make it even MORE impressive. Who knows.
OKay I'm going to post my thoughts on this season.
Overall this season was great. I liked the Format(although there was some problems) The cast I liked for the most part(save for a few people) and I liked a couple of the missions too. The Draw was a great addition to the game. It added a lot of unpredictability to this show that was VERY needed IMO. CT was in the Background and People rallied against Backpack. The new generation was front and center and didn't disappoint IMO. Johnny(Portland) and Devyn kicked *** in the final and made it all the way and Zach floundered. Nany did well too.
Now this season had a lot going for it but it did have some problems. The Drama wasn't as good a previous seasons and I didn't like that only certain people went into the draw half the time. And I also didn't like repeating eliminations. If they were going to use a certain amount of eliminations I'd rather them do what they did in Battle of the Seasons 2. Just have 4 eliminations and have one of the people going into elimination choose the one that they want to go in..Or make it unpredictable. Also the Final challenge was just WAY over the top and ridiculous. They need to scale back on these final challenges because I think that someone is going to die from those things one day.
Overall I give this season an 8 out of 10. Had the drama been better and some of the people on the cast were replaced with different people I'd give it a 10.
[QUOTE=Debut Album;428838]OKay I'm going to post my thoughts on this season.
Overall this season was great. I liked the Format(although there was some problems) The cast I liked for the most part(save for a few people) and I liked a couple of the missions too. The Draw was a great addition to the game. It added a lot of unpredictability to this show that was VERY needed IMO. CT was in the Background and People rallied against Backpack. The new generation was front and center and didn't disappoint IMO. Johnny(Portland) and Devyn kicked *** in the final and made it all the way and Zach floundered. Nany did well too.
Now this season had a lot going for it but it did have some problems. The Drama wasn't as good a previous seasons and I didn't like that only certain people went into the draw half the time. And I also didn't like repeating eliminations. If they were going to use a certain amount of eliminations I'd rather them do what they did in Battle of the Seasons 2. Just have 4 eliminations and have one of the people going into elimination choose the one that they want to go in..Or make it unpredictable. Also the Final challenge was just WAY over the top and ridiculous. They need to scale back on these final challenges because I think that someone is going to die from those things one day.
Overall I give this season an 8 out of 10. Had the drama been better and some of the people on the cast were replaced with different people I'd give it a 10.[/QUOTE]
Repeating eliminations is stupid unless, like you said, it is done in a Duel/BOTSeasons setting.
But overall, the season was great. I'm a huge fan of The Draw, but next time it is used there needs to be none of that "only x amount of people go in" bull****.
So with Free Agents officially in the books, we're unfortunately back to downtime and making incredibly weird and out-of-the-blue speculation of 'What I Did On My Summer Vacation -- Challenge 26'. So chances are you'll see me lurking around the Generic Thread. But I'd like to give my final thoughts on the monumental Challenge 25.
[SIZE=4]
[B]Pros[/B][/SIZE]
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[B]Making It To Challenge 25[/B]
We've made it to Challenge 25 folks, and believe it or not - that's a major surprise considering how many times this series has faced cancellation. Methinks we have Rivals 2 to thank for The Challenge being brought back for another series, because the transitional 'Battle of the Seasons' nearly put us in the dirt featuring none of the beloved favorites and a lot of competitors from some of the most recent low-rated Real World seasons. Not only that, but they acknowledged that it was Challenge 25 at the beginning of the season, putting it over as a big deal. 25 seasons, over 15 years, and Aneesa clocks in with over 10 years of those years.
[B]Refreshing Faces[/B]
Many have complained about the constant appearances from a number of characters on the series, with people like Paula, Aneesa, Bananas, CT, Mark Long, Diem being casted almost every season. This season really showed that we've entered a new era in terms of Challenges with all the new faces. Johnny Reily (aka Johnny Portland), Brandon Swift, LaToya Jackson, Nia Moore all made their Challenge debuts on this series and certainly had enough airtime to showcase their personalities, people like Devyn, Jordan, Jessica were called back for their second Challenges, and Isaac, Cohutta, Emilee, returned from long LONG absences on the show. With CT and Bananas severely toned down, this made for a refreshing cast who could actually bring a lot to the show.
[B]Unpredictability / No True Alliances[/B]
The one thing that the Challenge community has been clamoring for is a solo Challenge so everyone has the opportunity to prove themselves on their own, well -- watch what you ask for. While BM/MTV didn't bring us the highly-anticipated The Duel 3, Free Agents might've been the most polarizing response to that request. In The Duel series, usually alliances are made with the opposite *** and a few more teammates, but on this Challenge, alliances made no sense due to the chancey nature of the game. The Draw, the numbers on the jerseys, the mixing-and-matching of different teams and formats every week made this the most unpredictable Challenge EVER. Finally the alliances that gets the familiar few to the end was demolished.
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[B]Male Cast of Competition[/B]
One of the more promising things in the Challenge when the roster was announced was the list of the male competitors. Granted, we may never see heavyweights like Alton, Landon, Kenny, Evan, Darrell, Derrick on the Challenges again, but considering the newest era of Challenges we had quite the competition. Bananas and CT are proven vets, no questions asked, but when you incorporate Zach and Leroy -- who have both earned the respect of the veterans, Frank -- quite possibly the second coming of Bananas in being one of the show's most well-rounded competitors, Dustin Zito, Rivals MVP rookie Jordan, and the underrated Chet -- you've got yourself a good roster. Sleepers like Johnny Portland, Cohutta, and even Preston emerged from the bunch and showed they have something to offer as well. The males side looked stacked compared to the females side, which we'll get to later.
[B]Female Eliminations[/B]
We'll get to the disappointment in the announcement of the female cast, but boy - did they ever deliver in the eliminations round. LaToya and Jemmye set the stage for a season where the females fought more fiercely than the males at times, as the rookie LaToya got physical and eventually toppled the slightly-seasoned Jemmye. Cara Maria vs. Nia, another tough elimination round with Looper (albeit incredibly painful), Theresa vs. Camila was one of the most heartbreaking eliminations of the season, and despite the 2-0 victory, no one expected Aneesa to give Laurel such a run for her money. Cara vs. Jessica saw Cara Maria break her hand which resulted in Laurel vs. Cara Maria being a tougher bout for Cara Maria than she's ever had. The roster for the females looked incredibly weak upon first glance, but these girls really came to play.
[B]Bananas Being Threatened[/B]
Bananas, the last-standing member of the JEK alliance, has always been cushioned in the last few Challenges because of his connections in the game whether it's girls like Paula, Emily, Theresa, Mark Long -- or other veterans in the game. Truly for the first time ever, Bananas had no alliance and the result was him being threatened for the first time. And that's exactly what rookie Jordan saw, an opportunity which sparked one of the high points of the season. Jordan vs. Bananas was every bit of the rivalry that this show needed because it was genuine. The boisterous rookie Jordan wanting to seize the throne from the then four-time champion Bananas, and him pulling out the most ballsy move in Challenge history to do it. Like the Kenny vs. Wes rivalries, like the CT vs. Bananas rivalries, THIS is something you could build the rest of the series on.
Bananas faced elimination three times, including the last one before the final, he emerged from all three the victor. And then he went on to win the final, and his record-breaking fifth victory overall.
[B]
Laurel vs. The World[/B]
While Bananas vs. Jordan was the high-point on the male side, Laurel's battle with seemingly all the power players on the girls roster. Theresa masterminded a scheme to send Laurel into the elimination round -- which earned Laurel a rival for the entire game. Aneesa and Laurel's rivalry, which extends back from her last season appearance on Rivals took on a new form which resulted in one of Aneesa's best elimiantion performances since The Duel 2, and she even turned on Cara Maria -- which added a whole new layer to their history of friendships and rivalries. One by one, she picked off the competition and it became incredibly evident who would be walking away from this Challenge the victor.
[B]Challenge Variety[/B]
Thank god for Challenge 25 they finally strayed away from their typical of protocol of "Let's add heights to water". Don't get me wrong, there were a couple on this Challenge, but not to the extent of the last few shows where they almost wanted to take advantage of people's fear of heights. We saw a variety of different Challenges that felt like a throwback to the earlier days of the show ("Battle of the Seasons", "Gauntlet", "Inferno") and the variety of different teams throughout the show due to the format added a fresh flavor too.
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[B]Final Challenge[/B]
This was honestly a great final, just from all the moving pieces and the story that was told in completing this helluva ******* final. There have been a few complaints about that it shouldn't have been teams in the beginning, but this entire show has featured teams in some sort and the fact that each of the legs of the final featured a different partner made it a bit more exciting. As much as people complained about there not being an eating Challenge or any true manual labor, that's what makes this final memorable - how much different from the rest that it was. This was a brutal test of will and determination, which plays out perfectly on TV as opposed to spitting out fish eyes. Seeing Zach die on the side of a mountain, Devyn push through the pain, Johnny Portland shine as a rookie, Nany hold her own against Laurel, Laurel win her first Challenge and Bananas win his fifth. It was a fantastic way to end the show, from how it was shot and how everything played out.
[SIZE=4][B]
Cons[/B][/SIZE]
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[B]Female Competition Roster[/B]
Let's get this out of the way because it's clearly the most obvious of them all. Upon the release of the roster, I think everyone knew who would be walking out of this Challenge the victor - it was obvious, Laurel. With no teams to hold her back, no feared competitors like Evelyn or Emily to really Challenge her, Laurel pretty much had this Challenge in the bag. From the beginning I chose Laurel, Cara Maria and Camila to round out the top 3 girls -- and due to the chancey nature and weird series of events, they never made it to the final and both Nany and Devyn did. Take out Laurel from this pack, and it's anyone's game, but if we're going to have Laurel in there at least throw Cooke, Emily, Sarah or Diem to make it hard on her.
[B]Mind-numbing Twitter beef[/B]
Every season we go through our own share of Twitter beef, but this season, I couldn't handle it. The main culprits behind this season's social media frenzy of Vevmo was the beef between Jasmine and Nia. I personally didn't get caught up into it too much, but there was no way to escape the harsh barbs thrown at each other on-and-off the show to the point where it became ridiculous. After a stellar season for Cara Maria, she also tainted the good response with some unwarranted shots at Devyn because her politicking made it possible for her to reach the end. I miss the days of Derrick's podcast, to contain all of this craziness that goes down.
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[B]
The Good Die Young[/B]
Despite the few power players on the girls side and the insanely good players on the guys side, I expected the last few episodes to be filled with high tensions and insane competition because my natural thought is that the best make it to the end. Boy was I wrong. By the halfway point through the season, the likes of Frank, Dustin, Chet, Camila, Jemmye, and Nia (yes, due to her size she does have a clear advantage) were wiped out of the competition. Not only were they good competitors that were wiped out, but they were easily the source of what could've been a voiltile last few episodes as they've managed to get into their own share of drama. By the end, everyone was a bit too friendly and it became clear who should've been sent in the elimination round with the quiet departures of Preston, Cohutta, Jessica, Jonna, and Leroy.
[B]
Luck over Everything[/B]
We'd like to have believe that the strongest make it to the end, or at least make it far in this game, but that concept was completely altered with the game of chance. In a normal Challenge, Dustin & Frank may not have touched each other until at least halfway through the game, Camila and Theresa wouldn't have even touched each other until it was absolutely necessary, but when luck is a determining fact of who could possibly go home -- the competitiveness is out the window. I would've loved to have seen a final with Camila, Cara Maria and Laurel - it may not have been that easy for Laurel, but with some great luck on their side, Nany, Devyn, nor Johnny Portland even saw an elimination. Ain't that a *****.
[B]
Thursday Night?[/B]
I was so settled into Wednesday nights that I carved out a nice chunk of my year (at least 12 Wednesday nights a year) where I didn't go out, and stayed home and watched the Challenge. Thursday nights ruined that. There's nothing that shows signs of a death sentence than shifting a show to a horrible timeslot, but luckily the ratings showed that they perservered with their head slightly above water, but way below the ratings for Rival 2. Catfish was moved to the comfy Wednesday night time slot, and now that THAT show is going downhill, perhaps we could see The Challenge move back to Wednesday nights when it starts airing next year.
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[B]
Crummy Aftershows / No S#!T Show.[/B]
If they wanted to dedicate 90 minutes every Thursday night to The Challenge, they could've simply made the show 90 minutes long because the aftershows were dreadful, largely in part to Jonny Mosely and largely in part were because no one really cares. They're competitors, we'd rather see them in their element than in a fancy studio talking about what happened. They then teased us with Challengers from the past that we'd much rather see on the Challenge than giving analysis on what just happened. If they're going to stuck to Thursdays, make the Challenges 90 minutes, one or two aftershows here and there, and bring back the ***** show which is the best part of the post-season. The BEST part.
[SIZE=4][B]Overall Thoughts:[/B][/SIZE]
If you love competition, this may have been the season for you because this challenge didn't lack in that department by any means from the crazy eliminations to the hellacious final. But if you want drama, this season lacked so much in drama that it really hurt the overall feel of it. New rivalries weren't established, very few new power players were created (Nany, Johnny Portland), and it just lacked a lot of the animosity and tension that made Rivals 2 or Exes really great television.
The potential of the drama was so great, but the format kind of pulled the rug from it being what it could've been. Still, very unpredictable and I'd consider a sequel to this format because now people will know what to expect and how to treat it.
Overall: 7 out of 10
[QUOTE=Meelz;428868][B]Female Eliminations[/B]
We'll get to the disappointment in the announcement of the female cast, but boy - did they ever deliver in the eliminations round. LaToya and Jemmye set the stage for a season where the females fought more fiercely than the males at times, as the rookie LaToya got physical and eventually toppled the slightly-seasoned Jemmye. Cara Maria vs. Nia, another tough elimination round with Looper (albeit incredibly painful), Theresa vs. Camila was one of the most heartbreaking eliminations of the season, and despite the 2-0 victory, no one expected Aneesa to give Laurel such a run for her money. Cara vs. Jessica saw Cara Maria break her hand which resulted in Laurel vs. Cara Maria being a tougher bout for Cara Maria than she's ever had. The roster for the females looked incredibly weak upon first glance, but these girls really came to play.
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[B]
Crummy Aftershows / No S#!T Show.[/B]
If they wanted to dedicate 90 minutes every Thursday night to The Challenge, they could've simply made the show 90 minutes long because the aftershows were dreadful, largely in part to Jonny Mosely and largely in part were because no one really cares. They're competitors, we'd rather see them in their element than in a fancy studio talking about what happened. They then teased us with Challengers from the past that we'd much rather see on the Challenge than giving analysis on what just happened. If they're going to stuck to Thursdays, make the Challenges 90 minutes, one or two aftershows here and there, and bring back the ***** show which is the best part of the post-season. The BEST part.[/QUOTE]
A weaker cast isn't always a bad thing, it means they have to step up to the plate and show what they're made of. The girls this season did NOT disappoint!
The after shows were pretty bad, and many of them pointless. I did, however, very much enjoy the Best of the Worst special.
[QUOTE=LurkerNoMore;428875]A weaker cast isn't always a bad thing, it means they have to step up to the plate and show what they're made of. The girls this season did NOT disappoint![/QUOTE]
You're right, they didn't. But at least throw some competition in this. You saw the cast and pretty much knew Laurel had this in the bag.
[QUOTE=LurkerNoMore;428875]A weaker cast isn't always a bad thing, it means they have to step up to the plate and show what they're made of. The girls this season did NOT disappoint!
The after shows were pretty bad, and many of them pointless. I did, however, very much enjoy the Best of the Worst special.[/QUOTE]
The girls absolutely disappointed this season but to each their own
Literally Laurel had zero competition. Only Zach being pathetic kept it close
This is delayed and not even the same episode but can anyone tell me what the name of the 2nd puzzle (the lines one) in the final elimination is called? I know the last puzzle but wanted to see how long it would take me to do the second one
I didn't like that swipe Cara Maria took at Devyn on the reunion. First of all Cara's not a real cast member and is basically useless on these things. Devyn deserved to be in that final much more that she ever did.
Even though I'm guilty of saying it, I think the idea of deserving or not deserving to be in a final is silly. Like, okay Devyn was probably not the best competitor there (I mean, she definitely wasn't close), but she still got to the finals. I say if you make it to the finals, without cheating or funny business, you deserve to be there.
Sure, many people probably kept her around bc she wasn't a threat but that's on those people, not her. I also think people kept her around because they genuinely liked her. It's not her fault that people didn't vote for her, so I can't really hold it against her.
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