Challenge 36: Double Agents (premieres 12/9/20)

[Moss]

Imagine finally being a delivered an episode with daily+vote drama, where the elimination wasn't all but predetermined, and then ruining it with a steaming dump of hAlLbRaWl

The daily was great, loved the switcheroo of having the unchosen having to "do" the challenge. Adults should be able to finish those math problems but honestly that isn't the easiest mental math in the world. Not like, take 3 hours hard, but still

The possible cory vote was a nice wrinkle. I could tell Kam wouldn't have the heart to do it. Idk how betrayed kyle can really feel... not like he was risking anything by following that plan, it was his only move. Would've been more crushing if he was the swing vote and they still threw in kyle

I can't think of many times on this show I've been more deflated then when they revealed yet another boring fucking hallbrawl. Great idea - give the insufferable egoist the elimination that he is almost literally a professional at. That will make good TV. We've never had a chance to see this buffoon have to do a puzzle under pressure, or do one of those cool rope puzzles, or swing around to push buttons, etc etc. Get this dumb elimination off of my challenge! Literally ANYTHING is better

And of course, to top it off, the high injury risk is the other reason hallbrawl is trash and it came to fruition. Kyle had no chance anyway, but we're left seeing an nfl player tackle a skinny irishman one time. If that the best these producers can come up with then they're fucking hacks. Did they hire Benioff and Weiss when we weren't looking?

That letter-reading scene was so goddamn cringe, I hated and loved every second of it. I do hope they keep bringing back Fessy because he is a special breed of stupid with no self-awareness.

Hopefully that team gets knocked down a few ego pegs in the final given neither of them are especially good at math iirc

Nany's endurance wasn't too impressive during the daily so I could see her losing it for Leroy

I think Amber is underrated. She came in dead last because she is missing one very specific skill. Depending on how the final is set up, CT does puzzles/math/carrying and just makes sure Amber keeps up, I think she has the endurance and heart to do it. I'm tempted to say I'd take her over nany

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[Vil]

Yeah, I don't really think that Kam would have done it either. This is like the one time when Leroy should have actually played it cooler with the strategy and been more patient, but this plan was more interesting than the lack of anything happening in the past month or so. The move itself is definitely something someone would do on their way out, but I have no reason to think that Kam is going to stop these soon. Breaking a handshake deal with someone like Kyle? At most, he might be butthurt over that in the future. Backstabbing a partner for Kyle? Not a great look. I have no idea how close Kam and Cory are, but I'd think close enough to not do that unless really backed into a corner.

The question is if it would have been a better move for the final, and it probably would have been. Leroy/Kam run the final against Kaycee/elim winner, Kyle/Nany, CT/Amber. I'm not sure if they want to run together over having two shots at it though. Nany and especially Cory are better off for that plan not happening, but Leroy and Kam aren't.

[Moss]

So assuming they stay paired up for the entire final (which I think is 50/50), I'd power rank them

1 - Kam+Cory - Kam can solo puzzles and math, Cory is athletic and has stamina, we saw him come close last year

2 - CT+Amber - this is a take but I'm putting all of CT's experience and challenge-intelligence above Fessy's raw strength and I think Amber will do well with a chip on her shoulder

3 - Fessy+Kaycee - obv close with #2 and Kaycee is close to Kam as the strongest girl. But we've had all season to see how terrible Fessy's teamwork and communication are and I think that kills you in a long teamwork final

4 - Leroy + Nany - are either of them good at puzzles? Can they eat nasty shit? How's Leroy's swimming? Nany ran out of gas in the mini-final... not looking great

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[Vil]

I think there's a gap between your top 2 and bottom 2. Can CT do all/most of the eating, the lifting, the puzzles? If so, then he could be a co-favorite. CT is probably a better eater than any combined team. Also a large factor is how they do checkpoints/stages. I'm not sure who I'd expect would fare better if it's a cumulative run time or if they do the "You were 2nd last leg, you start 1 minute behind" type thing.

My expectations of Fessy are low. He wasn't good last season and has been such a douchebag all season and given one of the most comprehensive idiot edits they've ever done. Adding in this episodes bit about how he feels he's been held back and not been able to perform, and I'm hoping for total humiliation. Kaycee is a potential great partner for someone, but doesn't feel like someone that complements him. Then again, he's so great at everything that he could probably do it all on his own, right?

3 teams is too many for Leroy/Nany to beat, especially when one team is "kind of the same, but better". Nany's been a solid partner/teammate over the years but is the #3 female here without any real personal boons to bring that could possibly turn the tide. Leroy is probably better than Cory but likewise isn't bringing any unique perks.


All Stars episode made it 2 for 2 in good Challenge episodes...

Spoiler: show

That drama was so stupid, but I also kind of loved it because it felt so bizarre and out of place for "The Challenge" and it wasn't the same fight between the same people that we've seen for 4 straight seasons. Was LT not at the deliberation last week, or did Trishelle just choose to not go because she wanted to leave it in their hands? This is like this season on the main challenge. Several episodes in thinking "wait, has the Rogue Agent been there all along?"

Last place straight into elimination? I'm not sure how "fair" the challenge was, but at the end of the day I think the first out and the last ones surviving were fine. Those questions were no joke either. Not surprised by Aneesa, but wtf Ruthie. Teck Money almost winning the Life Saver!

"I don't give a fuck about Johnny Bananas."

Kendal explaining her actions during the deliberation, lmao.

I'm always ok with seeing Knot So Fast. Good challenge, fairly accessible to people, and they haven't completely overused it to the point that I hate it.

[Byrd]

I am a little disappointed that Kam didn't send Cory down there. It would have likely resulted in Cory going home, but Fessy would have taken Kaycee, which would have let Leroy pick Kam, since (although she was a Double Agent) she would have had no partner. CT would have still been with Amber. I would have felt bad for Cory, but Leroy + Kam running the final together would have been awesome, and I think they would have been the favorite. I understand why they didn't want to do it during the regular season, because they needed the political votes, but I think during the playoffs, it would have been fine to run together.

Even if she sent Cory down there and he won, I think Cory might have been pissed off enough at Kam to take Kaycee, and put Leroy and Kam back together.

I think any of the guys could win. However, I don't think any of the girls can win. I personally would rank them in terms of likely to win:

1) Cory + Kam. Both capable individuals, and Kam can easily overcome Cory's inability to count triangles. Physically, there's no weak link.

2) Fessy + Kaycee. Fessy gassed out last year, his size isn't likely to be a huge advantage in a final (maybe a portion of it). Neither appear brilliant at puzzles, which is their weak link. Everyone seems to want Fessy as a partner, which tells me than the edit probably isn't being kind to him. Fessy doesn't usually get the best out of his partners, but Kaycee probably doesn't need that as much as Fessy's previous partners did. I think the edit has absolutely not been playing up a Fessy win, and seems to be foreshadowing some breakdown, perhaps similar to last season where he dragged to a last place finish.

3) Leroy + Nany. Nany is the weak link here, barring a substantial swimming portion, but the Icelandic water's likely too cold for a long swim. Nany's not bad, but as Vil mentioned, she's clearly the #3 girl, and maybe #4. However, the edit has been portraying Leroy as a potential winner since day one, which definitely gives me some hope here, as this is definitely the team I am rooting to win. I also think if they are running second behind Cory & Kam (or first just ahead of C&K), Kam might sandbag it to let Leroy win.

4) CT + Amber. Obviously, CT isn't the problem here. I don't think math is necessarily going to show up in the final, and if it does, CT can make up for that. But AmBer's never performed overly well in dailies that I can recall. She won two eliminations in Hall Brawl against the two smallest girls in the house. That's better than not winning those eliminations, obviously, but ultimately doesn't tell us a lot. There's a distinct chance she could outperform Nany, but I would be really surprised if she had performed anywhere near the level of the first two girls. Wasn't she the last girl to get to the math problem last night?

I think it's also possible they break the teams up at some point and we have an individual final by sex, with everyone running a portion of the final with each opposite sex partner. That would be the most likely way I think Leroy could win, although I would put CT and Kam as the favorites in that case.

[Xno Kappa]

This season has to be the record for the most hall brawls. Shit was so anti climactic when I saw it after a pretty good episode.

[Byrd]

This season has to be the record for the most hall brawls. Shit was so anti climactic when I saw it after a pretty good episode.

Sure feels that way to me. Hall brawls are not interesting if there's any sort of size difference. And the only one that was remotely close was Fessy vs. Nelson, and that wasn't that close.

But Hall Brawl does have the potential to be awesome. For instance, if Nany had picked CT last week, and we'd seen a CT vs Fessy Hall Brawl, that could have been unbelievable. (Of course, Fessy probably doesn't volunteer and go down there if he knows CT is likely to be in there).

[Byrd]

All-Stars Thoughts:

Spoiler: show

Aaron Rodgers isn't a terrible Jeopardy host, but he could use some work on his interview skills.
Darrell: Welcome *back* to the Challenge. Indeed.
Kendal having second thoughts on the Challenge? She's been campaigning to get on the regular challenge. Hope she doesn't quit.
Trishelle being friends with Katie and making nice with Aneesa is setting her up for a downfall, methinks. That argument with Katie in the trailer?
Does Mark Long ever not stand in Mark Long (TM) Pose?
I hope they adjusted these panels for body weight.
I feel like they should do trivia like an "S-draft." I think maybe they did.
Tenderoni would be a great team name for Challenge Fantasy if we had team names like in Fantasy Football.
I do enjoy Kelly Anne just taking a step forward instead of even trying to answer the question.
Katie is just danger prone.
Crap, Kendal just isn't cut out for this show anymore. That's too bad, I really liked her. Figure she's the quitter from the trailer at this point.
Wow, this is the longest trivia showdown ever. I love it when they don't allow right answers to give other people strikes.
Katie screaming at 4:12am? Some things never change.
Trishelle trying to drag Jemmye into the argument and getting shut down was pretty funny.
I keep going to take notes about scoring before reminding myself I don't need to.
I think Kendal wins this if neither one of them quits.
TJ is a connoisseur of airhorns, I see.
Man, the swearing just makes this feel much more real and authentic.
My take on Kendal ten minutes ago may have been wrong. Maybe she just really did get confused on the platform.
Trishelle didn't quit, that's good for her. Was worried going into this, but both women did actually commit solid effort.
Now I feel like Beth is the overwhelming favorite to be the Quitter.

[Moss]

A few things about Kam throwing in Cory: first, that's a pretty heartless move on her part to blindside him like that. Kam is great politically because she's good at not making enemies. She waits for someone to "wrong" her in a way that others don't argue and pursues that person. If she fucks over Cory, who just lobbied with Fessy to help protect Leroy, I think a LOT of people are looking at her differently in future seasons. Also like, she might be too good of a human to do that to cory in that fashion

I don't think her and Leroy pairing up is necessarily a positive. Cory is a great, supportive partner and I don't think he's worse than Leroy. Looking at that couple (Kam + Lee), they're putting all of their eggs in one basket if they team up instead of having 2/4 teams in the final

All stars

Spoiler: show

trishelle is a nut. Katie called it perfectly: trishelle had misplaced anger and was looking for something to get mad about. "Why didn't you come tell me right away" is dumb as fuck. Glad she lost.

My nitpick is that challenge trivia isn't fun. We want to see people fuck up basic geography or history. Seeing who knows random challenge facts is boring

Katie is the person that tries so hard to not get injured that she makes it worse

Seriously wtf is up with kendall's face? She was super cute in those old seasons, I didn't even recognize her until they showed the old clips. Her weird breakdown was cringe AF but she killed the elimination

Three cheers for the Knot elim, one of the all time greats. Should be in every season but with different shapes, ropes, etc. Great example of an elim where physicality and strategy are equally important. As part of my never-ending mental quest to figure out the perfect strategy for that one, I'm thinking you tie a knot at the top of the jungle gym, then use your body weight to jump towards the ground, but with the knot you tied catching your weight. Essentially using your entire body weight to tighten the knot. Nobody is ever untying that.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[Byrd]

I found an explanation regarding Kendal's complexion as well as her hesitancy in the trivia challenge on All-Stars.

[Byrd]

Season 37 cast list is ... meh. That's a live document, so may change a lot. 17 men + 12 women obviously won't be the final list; I would assume that some of those are alternates, as well. The only real surprise vet is Amanda Garcia, I thought she had a small baby, and was likely going to retire. I never did think that much of her, but I don't mind seeing her back after some time off. The Survivor people also don't excite me too much, although Michaela could be intriguing. But Tommy? That dude was about as milquetoast as they come.

I wonder if one side effect of having an All Stars show is that a lot of those people aren't going to be convinced to come back to the main show again. Aneesa notwithstanding, of course, but she's on every season.

[Moss]

"Warsaw Shore & gay camshows"

Lmao ok

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[Byrd]

"Warsaw Shore & gay camshows"

Right? That jumped out at me, too. Might be my favorite one line challenge bio ever.

Also:

[Xno Kappa]

Fessy is such a douche lol

[Byrd]

Thoughts:

Spoiler: show

No episode survival points in final, unless we have a two week final.
The Stand mini-series had an executive producer named Roy Lee.
Aneesa: "Fessy's a bitch."
Kam with a hint of cleavage. Might be enough for this episode.
Has Nany been in a final before? I want to say yes, but it has been a while if so.
I would look it up now, but I'd probably get spoiled for this episode since I am west coast.
The editors are really setting up Kaycee and Fessy for a fall.
Ah, a purge halfway through the final. I like it.
Second place gets some money. Good.
Leroy's pre-final interview makes me nervous for him. He might be going home.
Nany might be the weak link if AmBer is good at endurance.
A hurricane in Iceland? What?
No real separation on this three mile run.
This whole thing looks very Death Stranding.
I have a terrible feeling this episode is going to end with "The purged team is … " to be continued.
Going to award heat points (5) for each gender winner here, and (10) for overall winner.
I really think editing is telling us Leroy and Nany are losing here, and I don't like it.
AmBer's decision makes sense. They were the first to finish the run, and both of them won their heats.
I like they are releasing them by time. Maybe there will be an actual finish line today.
Fessy's going to wuss out of this eating shit, huh?

Scoring Notes:

Spoiler: show

Kaycee did previously on the Challenge (5)
CT wins heat (5)
AmBer wins challenge (10)
Kaycee gets medical on camera (5)
Kaycee crying (5)
I think everyone puked on camera except Kaycee and Fessy (5)
Kam wins cleavage award (5)
Annoyingly, everyone gets episode survival points (5)

Standings:

Spoiler: show

Vil 716 2
Xno Kappa 615 2
Headspace 510 1
Moss 465 2
Byrd 395 1

Contestant Scoring to Date:

Spoiler: show

Aneesa 190 VIL HOME
Kaycee 185 MOSS GAME
Amber B 180 XNO GAME
CT 180 BYRD GAME
Big T 175 VIL HOME
Kam 175 HEAD GAME
Fessy 170 XNO GAME
Leroy 165 VIL GAME
Cory 140 MOSS GAME
Nany 136 VIL GAME
Kyle 135 BYRD HOME
Gabby 125 XNO HOME
Josh 120 HEAD HOME
Devin 105 XNO HOME
Darrell 95 HEAD HOME
Nam 55 MOSS HOME
Amber M 50 HEAD HOME
Theresa 50 BYRD HOME
Tori 40 MOSS HOME
Jay 35 MOSS HOME
Liv 35 HEAD HOME
Lolo 35 VIL HOME
Natalie 35 HEAD HOME
Nicole 25 XNO HOME
Mechie 20 BYRD HOME
Nelson 15 VIL HOME
Wes 15 XNO HOME
Ashley 10 BYRD HOME
Joseph 10 MOSS HOME
Lio 0 BYRD HOME

[Vil]

Has Nany been in a final before? I want to say yes, but it has been a while if so.

People like to forget that she nearly beat Laurel in Free Agents because it doesn't fit their narrative, but yes it has been a while.

LMAO @ Amber winning Fessy sitting there making it about him thinking she actually might pick him. "I'm relieved."

Chris "These guys need to know it's a marathon, not a sprint" Tamburello while Faysal "Ready to pick it up?" Shafaat is back

"All I can see in his eyes is 'ugh, she lost this final for me.'" - Finish him, Nany!

3 teams working hard, Kaycee making good progress on her plate. Fessy standing there with his HANDS ON HIS HIPS. Reminder that this guy thought he should have played in the NFL as a tight end.

Cool cliffhanger, bro. That timing is lame, but gotta keep all that suspense up there for which team is going to be purged. I would have rather had them take an extra half hour to finish the purge and then just have the top 3 teams run the final final next week. Oh right, I would have rather had ALL of it in an hour or 90 minutes. 18 episodes and not even the finish line.

Also, that dating show thing that they previewed is during the commercial breaks next week. Is that thing actually real? Or is it like some weird spoof thing?

[Moss]

It was almost my worst fear realized, with Kaycee going down and then Fessy getting to lose without taking any blame himself

Little did I know he would totally embarrass himself by REFUSING to eat because "well it's probably a waste anyways"

What a fucking pathetic moron hahahahahaha

I'm glad he made it to the final if only for that moment

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[Byrd]

Also, that dating show thing that they previewed is during the commercial breaks next week. Is that thing actually real? Or is it like some weird spoof thing?

The Pepsi Match Me If You Can show? I think it's real

Trailer:

I mean, any show that has Natalie Negrotti making out with other hot chicks will at least get my attention a little bit.

[Vil]

Yeah, when Ashley was on the commercial, I did a double take because the first couple people I thought were just made up names/caricatures. Kyra is absolutely hooking up with Natalie.

All-Stars:

Spoiler: show

Oh, there's Teck and Ruthie skinny dipping. Maybe they didn't do that as the actual first thing when they got to the house this season.

It's so weird seeing Beth so comfortable there. Like, she's not even worried about what people may be thinking/saying. It's one thing to not be starting trouble, but damn I feel like she's too comfortable for me to wonder if it's a case where she's just blind to it and they're editing it that way for dramatic effect.

Nehemiah has become one of my favorites this season despite having like no real opinion on him coming into this season. But pairing up with JEMMYE? Ugh. Dude looked like he was living his best life when Mark pointed his team out during the challenge. Teck obviously not caring is such an interesting contrast to the SUPER SERIOUS people on the Challenge. I didn't expect him to go too far, but I was hoping for at least one more cycle out of him.

Kendall being indecisive is such a strategic hot mess. I kind of wish that she were the indecisive hot mess on the wild card side of things rather than one that is probably more likely to play it "safe" to her own detriment. It's still potentially more interesting than the likes of Jemmye and Aneesa being some of the leading females. When they had Ruthie yelling at Aneesa in the preview, I thought there was going to be more buildup, not just Aneesa talking trash about someone for no reason.

TJ putting the glove on and Nehemiah asking if they need to bend over. Why have they not got this guy on the main series in 10 years or however long he said it's been? Teck surprised me a bit in that elimination, seemingly with a good lead despite almost faceplanting while puking stumbling out of the gates. I'd think that having them spin in a chair to get them dizzy would be the way to go if they wanted to spice up that elimination, but I agree with TJ. Spices are awesome!

Did TJ really not say in the premiere how the Life Saver works? I thought people were just being stupid about it til he was kind of cagey at the elimination and it seems to be a topic of conversation next week.

[Byrd]

All-Stars thoughts:

Spoiler: show

So they can show bare, unblurred butt on this version of the Challenge. Nice.
How is Jemmye one of the youngest people on the Challenge but looks like one of the oldest? This is not a good look for her, at all.
Going back and providing unblurred footage from the Real World: Hawaii was really a surprise. Man, if someone ever got into Bunim-Murray's uncut footage library, they would have one hell of a show.
Was Darrell really peeing on the ice block? Really?
What if God was one of us? Excellent musical choice there.
Arissa looks really unhealthy.
Not sure we've ever seen someone on the Challenge as overweight as Jisela. And you know what? I'm here for it.
Production must have known this was going to happen, so they had hammers ready to go once they got the gratuitous rubdown shots in.
I feel like Teck wants to go home.
LOL @ KellyAnne telling Kendal: "Keep your voice down" while she is a little drunk.
Really enjoying Jisela on this season.
I said it before, but on both Double Agents and All-Stars, they have done a hell of a job setting up the elimination arena.
I'm rooting for Kendal, but she feels like a rookie amongst a bunch of vets.
I expect Nehemiah to win this, but I'm not ruling out a Teck win. It's not purely size or strength based.
Teck flipping off TJ was great, as was his reaction.
That was close. I would have liked a better definition of what "punched out" means.
I wonder if Ruthie is a candidate for the quitter. I still think Beth is the favorite, though. Maybe Arissa as a third candidate, based on next week's preview.