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

**Moss** · 2021-01-06 23:49

Fessy is such an idiot lol. Burned his bridges way too early

MTV has done a pretty shitty job with the daily challenges this season. This one seemed like a good concept but it obviously wasn't tested very well if only one team could clear it

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

**Xno Kappa** · 2021-01-06 23:57

Originally Posted by Moss

Fessy is such an idiot lol. Burned his bridges way too early

MTV has done a pretty shitty job with the daily challenges this season. This one seemed like a good concept but it obviously wasn't tested very well if only one team could clear it

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Reading this was basically Fessy in a nutshell on his big brother season.

Wasn’t sure if that was his intention, but Devin completely destroyed an alliance while simultaneously taking the target off his back lol.

**Byrd** · 2021-01-07 00:01

Thoughts:

Spoiler: show

Scoring Notes:

Spoiler: show

Standings:

Spoiler: show

Contestant Standings:

Spoiler: show

**Xno Kappa** · 2021-01-07 00:03

To be honest I don’t think Fessy’s strategy was all that bad. For future seasons definitely, but nobody is going to be wanting to challenge him specifically down there for a skull with guys like Jay and Mechie still in the house. Leaving Aneesa after that was a foregone conclusion.

**Moss** · 2021-01-07 00:09

Not a fan of the manufactured drama of not declaring a girl's or guys elimination before making the winners pick if they want to go in. It didn't matter in this instance because Devin obv wouldnt have gone in anyway, but I don't like the precedent

Originally Posted by Xno Kappa

Reading this was basically Fessy in a nutshell on his big brother season.

Wasn’t sure if that was his intention, but Devin completely destroyed an alliance while simultaneously taking the target off his back lol.

I paused the episode to discuss this with my gf because I am a huge nerd but yeah, I think it was his intention

From Tori's POV, she's helping out Fessy who is allied with her. She was also helping out her friend Aneesa on the off chance it was a girls elimination

From Devin's POV, he's sending in two solid to good competitors that are allied together, so no matter what it's hurting that alliance

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

**Moss** · 2021-01-07 00:11

Originally Posted by Xno Kappa

To be honest I don’t think Fessy’s strategy was all that bad. For future seasons definitely, but nobody is going to be wanting to challenge him specifically down there for a skull with guys like Jay and Mechie still in the house. Leaving Aneesa after that was a foregone conclusion.

True but he's still at risk of being thrown in by the winning team each week

I also wouldn't enjoy living in that house with everyone against me lol

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

**Byrd** · 2021-01-11 13:22

Found a new favorite Challenge video series - Out of Context. Each is about 150 seconds long, and pretty damn funny.

Episode 1 Out of Context Video

Episode 2 Out of Context Video

Episode 3 Out of Context Video

**Byrd** · 2021-01-13 23:35

Episode Five:

EDIT: Found a couple of errors. Notably, I had CT listed before Cory on the episode-by-episode point tally, but when I alphabetized those on the summary page, it put Cory before CT, which meant they were getting each other's points after episode one. I fixed that, but it resulted in a 20 point add for me, and 20 point loss for Moss (that rhymes) since CT has outscored Cory by 20 in the last four episodes. Also, I had Aneesa listed as "home" for some reason, which didn't affect point standings but remaining contestants. Finally, I left 5 points off of Aneesa for switching partners last night.

Scoring:

Spoiler: show

Notes:

Spoiler: show

Standings:

Spoiler: show

Contestant Scores to Date:

Spoiler: show

**Xno Kappa** · 2021-01-14 10:20

Natalie had to leave the challenge due to the discovery she was pregnant. She later miscarried.

https://www.usmagazine.com/entertain...er-miscarried/

This is sad as hell. And what the fuck on MTVs part!? This is at least the 3rd time this has happened. Melissa went all the way to the finals last season and found out only afterwards she was four months pregnant at the time.

**Byrd** · 2021-01-14 11:15

Originally Posted by Xno Kappa

This is at least the 3rd time this has happened. Melissa went all the way to the finals last season and found out only afterwards she was four months pregnant at the time.

I don't remember the first time - when was that? We might very soon have a fourth, as well - Theresa just announced she was pregnant with a girl. I think Double Agents filmed in the September-November range; if she's far along enough to be showing and announcing, there's a very real chance she was pregnant before the challenge.

I would have thought taking a pregnancy test would be part of the standard pre-game physical right before the show starts. Guess not?

**Xno Kappa** · 2021-01-14 11:36

Faith was the other I was thinking of who was pregnant during war of the worlds two.

Apparently Liv, the other chick who messed up her arm in the challenge that sent Nicole home with an injury, was pregnant as well and also lost the child.

**Vil** · 2021-01-14 12:53

There's plenty of simple fixes they could have made to make that main challenge more balanced, like having the girls hold on to a handle and the guys be going for a rope on the other end of it or something. They've had challenges in the past where they have had a single partner do 100% of it. This wasn't quite that, but it's probably somewhere in the range of 75/25 or so. Hell, they could have just had the girls be the ones pulling the rope to "release" the partner.

I fully support the "Itty Bitty Committee". If I had to choose between casting those 3 and casting Tori, Natalie, and Lolo, I'd take the first trio. Tori has now had 2 good seasons and 3 VERY bad ones. Natalie is too good for this show to be good for this show. While the Lolo/Nam pairing is one of my favorite minor plots, unfortunately that's all there is to show for her through 1/3 of a season when she's not even a typical rookie who generally get underedited.

At least Tori did get a full story arc over the course of this season. It was negative as hell, but that's probably better than having the "oh yeah, they're eliminated this week, gotta show them finally". Trying to flip the cart with no momentum and no leverage was good for a laugh. Fessy probably thought it was "kind of janky" though. Then there's Devin, who just sucks. He's spent enough time this season crying about how he has no allies (maybe it's because you're such an asshole), and gleefully wants to play against someone who at least would begrudgingly work with him.

My biggest question after that episode... did Aneesa/Tori at least try to work the votes/power couple or we just talking about delusional veteran entitlement? What about after even saying "worst case scenario is that we go in against each other"? At this point, I welcome the vets continuing to burn their votes while the newer people just send them packing. It would be one thing if they were caught off guard once by people that were willing to throw a wrench in there. But besides Joseph putting his foot in his mouth, have they paid attention to the matchups this season?

Finally, Fessy. What a disaster and lmao @ Aneesa stealing him back. He's now got to rely on this season or hope that people have short and/or selective memories. Many do, but this is way too much attention and is building the wrong kind of reputation here. At the end of the day, The Challenge is a team game, even when it's an individual or pair format. If you have no team, then you and/or people around you are going to get targeted early on seasons. That's just the reality of this since it went from the "you're such a loser, you've been on 4 challenges!" to "man, I missed 2 seasons, nobody remembers me!".

**Byrd** · 2021-01-14 13:07

Originally Posted by Vil

Finally, Fessy. What a disaster and lmao @ Aneesa stealing him back.

The thing I like about Aneesa stealing him back is that they're now the only team where both members have gold skulls. Only one of five gold skulls for the women is claimed, so nobody is likely to go after Aneesa's. While three of the five mens' skulls have been claimed, people aren't likely to go after Fessy either just because of his sheer size. So there's a good chance that this team goes all the way to the final with this exact makeup, and Aneesa probably likes her chances in a final with Fessy. And if someone steals Fessy back, she then has her pick of all the remaining guys in the house. I really like Aneesa's position in the game now - I'll be really surprised at this point if she doesn't make the final. Winning it might be a different story, but if she can somehow find a way to get rid of Lolo and maybe Kaycee, I think she's got a decent chance against any other woman in the house. If the final is an extreme endurance test, she's probably screwed, but if it's only moderately so, I think she has a chance.

**Xno Kappa** · 2021-01-14 13:31

Yeah I thought Aneesa’s move was pretty smart. Extremely doubtful any of the other women in the house go after her and with only two men gold skulls left Fessy is pretty untouchable as well. They’re both pretty much a lock for the final while being paired up.

**Vil** · 2021-01-14 13:45

Oh yeah, plus many of the teams are dealing with the "well, I want to go into elimination, but my partner doesn't" either because one is holding off for the right opportunity or because one already has theirs.

Until you mentioning that part about the skull breakdown, I hadn't even given a thought to how (potentially) easier Aneesa and the upcoming female skull holders could have it. 10 girls for 4 remaining skulls is a great opportunity to play kumbaya like the way last season went. Now it makes me wonder if there'll be some changes in a few episodes assuming nothing funky happens. From Moss, upthread:

Not a fan of the manufactured drama of not declaring a girl's or guys elimination before making the winners pick if they want to go in.

They probably have to after a few more. Once the guys hit 5 (assuming nobody gets removed or one of these guys goes in again), will they just tell them that the house has to vote in a skull holder? If so, they'd have to know if the elimination is girls or guys. Making it so "well, there aren't any more skulls, so this elimination is just for elimination" sounds like a terrible thing for them to allow for. It's like a great strategic exploit that they'd patch out in the following season with some new rule.

**Xno Kappa** · 2021-01-14 18:11

The manufactured drama with the not knowing if it’s a guys or girls elimination also seems pretty jarring as well since the information was already being provided the first few episodes.

**Headspace** · 2021-01-14 23:35

**Headspace** · 2021-01-14 23:44

Originally Posted by Xno Kappa

The manufactured drama with the not knowing if it’s a guys or girls elimination also seems pretty jarring as well since the information was already being provided the first few episodes.

I think soon, maybe in two episodes (after there’s no rogue agent for a week) they’ll have a double elim with both partners competing on their own but in the same ep

**Byrd** · 2021-01-15 10:17

Originally Posted by Headspace

I think soon, maybe in two episodes (after there’s no rogue agent for a week) they’ll have a double elim with both partners competing on their own but in the same ep

I was really hoping it was going to be this week, considering everyone was talking about women elimination, and Leroy literally voted for his own team. I love Leroy, but that would have been amazing.

**Vil** · 2021-01-15 11:12

While I'm sure that some people do discuss the possibility of "what if it's not a ___ day", I'm guessing it just doesn't fit the narrative and/or isn't prevalent enough even when the numbers are even.

But speaking of that Leroy vote, what in the world was that? I get the notion of him wanting to protect Kam from the vote, but who in the hell is even considering voting her? She's been completely off the radar recently. Considering Kam voted Aneesa/Leroy and it was almost the entire house, I'm just going to hope it was the notion of "protecting" by going with the majority so as to not stick out on that vote.

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

Thread Tools