Challenge 31: Vendettas

[Vil]

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

I deleted my recording and don't care enough to rewatch, but I thought I saw one of the dealers cutting the deck at some point, so I don't know. That could have also been something pre-recorded just for show. Knowing how sketchy this series is, it wouldn't surprise me if they stacked the deck every time before calling the dealers back in. As for Kam, maybe don't bet on higher when the dealer flips a 10 first?

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.

When/where did he say that? Aftershow? If the peg puzzle is what I think he was referring to, that idea would have been much better, especially with doling out progressive penalties. Look at last season's final. The bolo toss was kind of a tame sort of task, but taking a shot of (something) every time adds up for people that were really bad at that leg.

[Byrd]

I deleted my recording and don't care enough to rewatch, but I thought I saw one of the dealers cutting the deck at some point, so I don't know. That could have also been something pre-recorded just for show. Knowing how sketchy this series is, it wouldn't surprise me if they stacked the deck every time before calling the dealers back in. As for Kam, maybe don't bet on higher when the dealer flips a 10 first?

I don't think they stacked the deck to favor certain contestants. If they did, it certainly would have been in Bananas' favor, not Melissa's. And had Kam not chosen Higher on a 10, everyone would have passed with flying colors. So, if they did stack the deck, it might have been to assure the contestants didn't get penalized *unless* they screwed up.

And I actually really liked the torch challenge. It was the only element of the game where you could actually affect another contestant's challenge in a negative way. It allowed for people to team up against others, and also allowed for politics mid-challenge as people passed in the race.

[Moss]

I deleted my recording and don't care enough to rewatch, but I thought I saw one of the dealers cutting the deck at some point, so I don't know. That could have also been something pre-recorded just for show. Knowing how sketchy this series is, it wouldn't surprise me if they stacked the deck every time before calling the dealers back in. As for Kam, maybe don't bet on higher when the dealer flips a 10 first?

A dumb choice, sure, but MTV didn't have to pick the higher % choice. Someone else made the "right" choice by the percentages and still got dicked (I.e. said "high" on a 5 and it was a 3)

Just an embarrassingly dumb game. 1st graders could ace that shit.

When/where did he say that? Aftershow? If the peg puzzle is what I think he was referring to, that idea would have been much better, especially with doling out progressive penalties. Look at last season's final. The bolo toss was kind of a tame sort of task, but taking a shot of (something) every time adds up for people that were really bad at that leg.

It was when he first saw it during the episode. Yeah I'm fine with "simple" things that still require some strategy and effort

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[Moss]

And I actually really liked the torch challenge. It was the only element of the game where you could actually affect another contestant's challenge in a negative way. It allowed for people to team up against others, and also allowed for politics mid-challenge as people passed in the race.

I could at least see what they were going for with that one (as opposed to a dungeon game of hi-low) but still thought it was poorly designed. As you know I like the game to be reasonably fair, so I don't like when one player can be completely screwed in the final like Leroy was. They at least needed some sort of device to prevent two players going at each other forever, picking up and returning the same torches. Congrats to Kyle on skating through. I guess the lesson of Vendettas is to try not to have any vendettas? Seems like the opposite of the point of the show...

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[Vil]

@ Byrd

That's true. I also feel like the threat of penalties is better than having them. Unfortunately, it meant having to eat up that time to explain the mercenaries, do the shitty card game, and all that.

I like the idea of some sort of strategy element and possibly being able to sabotage your opponents in certain ways, but I think the torch thing was maybe too much. Last time, they had the "extra bolo" or "sleep outside". I think there was time penalties like they'd done in Invasion as well, but time penalties are lame. Make them do a penalty lap/go the long way around, carry more weight, eat more nasty food, etc.

[Vil]

I am absolutely shocked that they didn't reveal the winner tonight, even though they kept making it sound like they would. Whatever.

[Valisk]

I am absolutely shocked that they didn't reveal the winner tonight, even though they kept making it sound like they would. Whatever.

GOT CHO’ ASS!

Wasn’t getting me with the okeydoke again after last year.

[Vil]

Nah. Once they didn't show any footage at all in the first 5 minutes, I knew they weren't going to bother with it last night, so I was basically fast forwarding the whole thing anyway. Probably the only thing I might be somewhat interested in is going to be focused on next episode, and that's Devin rubbing it in Johnny's face outside of just finding random times to take shots at him. For a long time I was trying to figure out if Zach and Tony were there, til they did a part with Tony and I randomly saw Zach. I guess neither being arguably the biggest player of the season or making the final final challenge isn't enough to warrant a spot up front.

[Vil]

So, the winner, if anybody cares at this point:

Spoiler: show

1. Cara Maria 2. Zach 3. Kyle 4. Kailah

To me, the biggest problem with this season's final/reunion format is that I just couldn't bring myself to care who won by the end. The idea that they were filming a reunion for hours while they know who won, but they're not just revealing it? It's just annoying, and so I kept jumping 2 minutes at a time over and over. This week I think I stopped to watch the Bananas/Devin stuff and Brad/Zach.

Champs vs. Stars started, and I think it was in previews, but they had a pick-em to make teams, so at least they may be somewhat more even? The challenge is the type of thing I'd like to see on the regular show, and the elimination was another thing that was "simple but good". I'll keep an eye on this for now, but it may turn into something I turn the recording on when I'm doing other things.

[Byrd]

Congrats to Headspace for winning the season. Despite not having the winner or anyone in the top three of overall scoring, his foursome of Zach, Tony, Natalie, and Kayleigh was more than enough to take the prize.

I didn't add a new spreadsheet just to cover the four minutes of footage they showed, just added it to last week's. The four final finalists got last week's episode survival points to cover it. The only points scored were:
Cara Maria - first place - 100
Zach - second place - 50
Kyle - third place - 25
Kailah - fourth place - 10

I'm boycotting reunion shows as long as they try to mix the reveal of the winner in for it. I even sent MTV an annoyed tweet - I'm sure that will get their attention. Fuck that. Take cue from Survivor - have a three hour special, include the finale AND the reunion. I'll watch the whole damn thing. Dragging it out over three weeks is inexcusable and makes your fans angry.

See you all when they start Final Reckoning in eight weeks or so. Expect to see me start chomping at the bit for the draft in 2-4 weeks, whenever the official cast reveal is announced.

Final Standings:

Headspace 635 0
Valisk 565 0
Xno Kappa 480 0
Byrd 460 0
Vil 370 0
Moss 335 0
UFA 100


All Contestant Scoring:



Cara Maria 250 XNO HOME
Nicole Z 235 VALISK HOME
Brad 225 VIL HOME
Zach 215 HEAD HOME
Tony 195 HEAD HOME
Kyle 190 VALISK HOME
Kam 170 MOSS HOME
Britni 160 VIL HOME
Kailah 160 BYRD HOME
Leroy 145 BYRD HOME
Natalie 140 HEAD HOME
Nelson 135 VALISK HOME
Devin 130 XNO HOME
Melissa 120 BYRD HOME
Jemmye 105 VIL HOME
Johnny Bananas 105 MOSS HOME
Kayleigh 85 HEAD HOME
Marie 60 XNO HOME
Sylvia 50 UFA HOME
Joss 45 MOSS HOME
Shane 45 XNO HOME
Veronica 40 UFA HOME
Victor 35 BYRD HOME
Alicia 15 MOSS HOME
Cory 10 VIL HOME
Eddie 5 UFA HOME
Rogan 5 VALISK HOME
Nicole R 0 UFA HOM

[Valisk]

I lost my starting QB in the first quarter of the Super Bowl.

2 Challenges ago, my 1st round pick quit in during OTAs.

MTV doesn’t want me to be great.

[Vil]

Not sure if anybody's been watching this Champs vs. Stars, but it definitely feels like what they were going for last season is working this time around. It's taken a lot of "interesting" elements in this season, but it's been fairly tolerable.

They took the grenades from last season and basically gave them to the MVP, which is kind of hilarious. Imagine if Zach and Tony got the grenade every time last season. Not taking away from how they actually performed, but it made it so much easier when they were able to stack the deck on top of that every time. These power plays have ranged from picking someone from the other team to sit out the next challenge to twists of the Big Brother caliber.

Tonight's episode was the Final 14, and they dropped the red & blue teams and are now 7 pairs. I assume at this point they'll probably stick with those til the end, or at least til a purge if there is one.

Surprised they haven't run promos or announced a date for the upcoming main season. I thought this season was going to be winding down and season 32 would be just around the corner, but maybe it's not til late June or even early July.

[Moss]

Next challenge season July 10

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[Byrd]

Next challenge season July 10

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I figure I would wait until the first trailer pops up to start anything. Here's a link to the full cast with cast photos.

[Moss]

I figure I would wait until the first trailer pops up to start anything. Here's a link to the full cast with cast photos.

Yeah there's only like a 10 second teaser so far that shows little

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[Vil]

It shows Marie. That's all that's important!

[Vil]

The end of The Challenge... as you know it.

[Moss]

kewl. Hopefully they do a good job making the pairs relatively even.

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[Byrd]

Starting a new thread for Final Reckoning.