Challenge 31: Vendettas

[Valisk]

I just want to pop in and say Kam and her titties look great. Thank you.

[Byrd]

I just want to pop in and say Kam and her titties look great. Thank you.

This season's confessional cleavage game has been particularly strong. Kam, Veronica, and Natalie have all been strong contributors, and I seem to recall Melissa and Kayleigh also having good moments.

[Xno Kappa]

Kayleigh was ready to burst out during the bully episode.

[Byrd]

Kayleigh was ready to burst out during the bully episode.

She's also a strong contributor to the cause.

[Moss]

Gotta get my week-late rant before the show tonight:

-Cara is the worst. They steal a pallet from another team, and then complain when everyone starts stealing theirs! 1. You did it first. 2. ITS HOW THE GAME WORKS

God I fucking hate when people complain about people playing within the damn game. Same shit with people getting mad when they get voted in. Hey idiots, thems the rules, people get voted in and eliminated.

-I still don't like the mercenaries gimmick. This time it worked in my favor as it helped Kam and screwed Britni, but I still felt bad for her as she would've had a better chance against literally any person to ever be on the show besides Laurel.

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[Vil]

How dare someone steal her pallets... even though the color on the pallet doesn't matter one bit? The only thing was that there were some that were closer to each team's lane. Maybe there was something else in the rules that was edited out, but it seems the only reason they even mentioned you can take from others was to cause something like that. There's really no reason to even care which ones anybody took. That was just classic Cara Maria to stop and throw a fit. If she and Jemmye got all their pallets across, I suppose they'd just go to the reservoir rather than taking ones that are right there.

Totally agree about mercenaries in general. It's a bad part of this format. The shock factor of having CT and Tina the first time was cool, but having someone go twice is a bad idea, and it's just difficult coming up with a fair challenge when there are separate matchups. I know that they're not concerned with being fair but doesn't mean I have to like it.

[Vil]

Seeing challenge fails is fun and all, but most of this season has been bogged down by imbalanced teams too much. Thankfully it's winding down. The Tony redemption story has been such a crazy thing to think about, there have been a few good rookies here, but it'll probably be forgettable overall. I don't need complete chaos and power shifts every single week, but the format has lends itself way too much to a fairly linear storyline here.

I love how they were throwing in that BK tie-in. So random and unnecessary other than the Troika King getting a crown. I miss back when they'd give winners prizes and all that back in the old days, especially since half of them are probably like "what do I want that for?"

Leroy... dude. Yes, sometimes he can act a little entitled but he does seem like a nice person all-in-all, but get your head in the game with that vote. Considering how he got voted in last season, I would hope that he'd be smarter about votes this time around. Contrast that with Jemmye, who is basically the opposite of him as a competitor, but does see the angles with things like who to put in the Troika.

On the aftershow or whatever it's called, they did show the clip where TJ announces which guy and girl won that race at the end of the episode.

Spoiler: show

Zach and Nicole. I am absolutely shocked!

[Byrd]

Standings After Episode 12:

Headspace 530 2
Valisk 500 3
Vil 465 2
Byrd 375 2
Xno Kappa 365 2
Moss 320 1
UFA 105 0

Scores this week:
Kam 40
Brad 35
Devin 35
Jemmye 35
Nicole Z 35
Tony 35
Zach 35
Cara Maria 25
Kailah 25
Kyle 25
Leroy 25
Nelson 25
Natalie 15

Scores for the Season:
Brad 205 VIL GAME
Nicole Z 205 VALISK GAME
Tony 165 HEAD GAME
Britni 160 VIL HOME
Kam 155 MOSS GAME
Kyle 155 VALISK GAME

[Vil]

Ignoring how the challenge ended up being broken, who came up with that dumb final elimination? A lot of the elimination challenges have been kind of dumb this season, but I was still hoping for something cool or at least a good competition for the final one. Invasion had the rope thing for the champs and the final leg of the Bloodbath for the challengers, and that all seemed fine. Dirty 30 had that wheel thing with more ropes to pull, which I thought was pretty cool. This was just a dumb concept.

That final scene of the preview for next week. Of course.

[Byrd]

The Final Elimination was a bit of a dumb concept, indeed. Four of each gender running the final is a switch, as well, but we'll see if they eliminate someone partway through to get it down to the standard three.

They still haven't declared there's only one winner, independent of gender.

Standings after Week Thirteen:

Overall Standings:

Headspace - 575 - 2 left (Tony and Zach)
Valisk 525 - 2 left (Kyle and Nicole Z)
Vil - 485 - 0 left
Byrd - 435 - 2 left (Kailah and Leroy)
Xno Kappa 370 - 1 left (Cara Maria)
Moss 325 - 1 left (Kam)
UFA 105 0
Weekly Contestant Scores:

Leroy 40
Brad 20
Kailah 20
Nicole Z 20
Tony 20
Zach 20
Cara Maria 5
Kam 5
Kyle 5
Contestant Scores for the Remaining Contestants for the Season to Date:

Nicole Z 225 VALISK
Tony 185 HEAD
Zach 160 HEAD
Kam 160 MOSS
Kyle 160 VALISK
Kailah 145 BYRD
Cara Maria 145 XNO
Leroy 135 BYRD

[Xno Kappa]

That had to be one of the lamest finals in challenge history. And of course, following the Dirty 30 format it ends on shitty cliffhanger with the reveal coming next week with the reunion show.

[Vil]

Pfft. Reveal in two weeks. Next week is part 1 of the reunion, so even though they would know who won, they'll probably milk it to the end. But yeah, that was just such a terrible final, it's not even worth time talking about it. Well, except for one question I had. Did Tony and Kam both finish and not bother taking off the armor, or did they have to go back and forth another time? I don't need some mountain climb or 5 miles of kayaking or any of that, but so much of that was just so dumb. 30 second head start for the first guy and girl to make it to part 2? Gee, thanks, Teej!

[Byrd]

I actually liked the final. I don't necessarily need 3 day long marathons that extend over two full episodes. That being said, I really didn't need to watch another reunion show. I'm sure I won't watch the whole thing, just to catch the results. I'll try to find the live broadcast to see if there's any bonus points beyond the final results, though.

Finishing the first phase of the final gave everyone 10 points, as will fourth place in Stage 2. First - 100, Second - 50, Third - 25, as normal.

I will send out final results after the final is revealed in one of the next two reunion shows. Sigh.

Regardless, barring a bunch of extra bonus points (which seems unlikely), it's only possible for Headspace or Valisk to win. If Kyle wins or if Kyle finishes second behind Cara or Kailah, Valisk wins. In any other combination, Headspace will win.

In the unlikely event of a tie, I'll break it by whoever has the higher finishing contestant in the final. Which would almost assuredly be Valisk in the case of a tie.

Standings:

Challenge 31: Vendettas
Column1 Total Points Active Players
Headspace 585 1
Valisk 540 1
Vil 485 0
Byrd 450 1
Xno Kappa 375 1
Moss 335 0
UFA 105 0

Weekly Contestant Results:

Kam 10
Leroy 10
Nicole Z 10
Tony 10
Cara Maria 5
Kailah 5
Kyle 5
Zach 5
(The eliminated contestants already got their Participation Trophy points for the final; the final 4 have not).

Contestant Results:

Nicole Z 235 VALISK HOME
Brad 225 VIL HOME
Tony 195 HEAD HOME
Kam 170 MOSS HOME
Kyle 165 VALISK GAME
Zach 165 HEAD GAME
Britni 160 VIL HOME
Cara Maria 150 XNO GAME
Kailah 150 BYRD GAME

Interesting that zero of the top four contestants are in Stage 2 of the final, but they're all in the top nine. It's almost like getting into drama doesn't help your game.

[Vil]

I don't think we're necessarily asking for multi-episode, several-day final challenge. What I'd hope for was a decent final challenge, and it was only decent for not dragging on several episodes. Unnecessary mercenary crap once again. People forced to wait for someone to team up with that far into the challenge? What is this, The Amazing Race? Considering they let Corey and Nicole go after that math/triangle fiasco a couple seasons ago, they couldn't put Tony on the clock and if nobody arrives in x minutes, he can go? I'd say to pause people's time if they had to wait, but there are problems with that not limited to just preferring to know who wins by the order they cross the finish line. Then despite all that, the lead/deficit going to the end was eliminated? Awesome. Right, 30 seconds for Zach and Cara Maria (for some reason).

But since I'm comparing it to TAR, I do appreciate them looking ridiculous running around in costumes. That's why they went to Prague or wherever? They couldn't find some random park with a little bit of forest in Spain? Not that I need them scaling huge mountains or jumping off waterfalls or stuff like that, but this just felt so generic.

[Byrd]

The thing I liked most about the final is that there was a finish line, and there wasn't an added up set of time that TJ had to announce at the end. There's actually a finish line where the first one to crosses it wins. Although in this case it's a puzzle where whoever wins is announced next week, but still ... there's no "Cross the finish line and gather everyone together so TJ announces it in an anti-climactic fashion."

I do wish all eight people who made the final (or at least the seven who finished, assuming Tony and Kam finished) got to keep their money. As it is, only four people on the entire season will come out with money.

[Vil]

In general, I agree, but at the end of the day, I'd rather have a good competition and TJ having to reveal results at the end than having neither. Especially now that they've shown a willingness to not even reveal on the same episode when they have a definitive "end". To me, the way they did this was like the worst of both worlds.

Leroy actually had 0 money anyway, which is hilarious, but they always put him on shitty teams anyway. I don't know if Tony and Kam were totally done or not since it was weird that they showed up still in armor, but I would have expected they'd go another 5 miles if it meant keeping their banks rather than only getting the appearance fee.

[Valisk]

That final was booty cheeks. Is seemed very tame. I do like that they added a puzzle element with the colors, but the peg portion was wack. I also like that they incorporated a chance for the vendetta to hurt your score, but bury a log was overkill compared to 30 jumping jacks and w/e. Do you know how hard it is to bury something in the ground?? And it wasn’t even soft soil, that was straight raw Earff. Burying a log was essentially an instant elimination, especially for the girls. It was stupid and not very thought out by MTV.

I do think every final should include strength, endurance, and puzzle legs. This final was just a huge drop off. They went from scaling mountains and zip lining thru jungles to walking around in medieval armor and card gambling. Shit was wack.

I will watch the reunion, but at my convenience, not for the results. Simply because I do want to hear what Leroy has to say and Bananas for that matter. On a slow day, I’ll put it on tv while I play ffxi or something. I’ll get the results from this thread/Byrd’s email.

[Xno Kappa]

That card game was the wackest fucking part of the final.

[Moss]

That card game was the wackest fucking part of the final.

Thank you. I was dumbfounded. They could've played old maid! Or Go Fish! Not only was high-low dumb, they picked 2s and Aces as the first card... so unless you do not understand what playing cards are, you will win.

I'm going to stay on brand and continue to moan about mercenaries given an unfair effect on the game. Sorry Kam, they happened to choose one of the few girls you didn't get along with, and they didn't give you TWO FUCKING DEUCES IN A ROW in the card game like they did to Cara. Cara must be blowing the fucking producers

It was stupid to have the sword shit be head to head. Should've made it like the peg puzzle Leroy mentioned, and you have to eat different foods based on how many pegs you have left.

The run back and forth and steal torches game was simple and dumb and poorly planned.

The final memorization puzzle is fine, at least compared to the garbage in stage one, but it's still shit for the viewers. It's a shame the final is so shitty because I felt like most of the challenges and elims this season were well designed.



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[Moss]

I do think every final should include strength, endurance, and puzzle legs.

Agreed. To me, the ideal challenges involve a physical aspect like strength or endurance with a strategy element as well, so being clever can make up for lack of brute strength.

Finals need to be punishing too. They need to be sleep deprived or to eat disgusting food. If these reality people are making all this money, they better earn it

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