Challenge 38: Ride or Dies

[Headspace]

I’d they’re gonna have 20 week seasons they need to bring back excessive drinking and harassment

[Vil]

I don't think I'm going to get around to it til late night or tomorrow, but the first two episodes of World Championship are up on Paramount now. Looks like the norm may be ~45 minutes, but the premiere getting 1.5x running time. That's really all the time they should need.

Tried watching the UK season last week, but I gave up before they even went to the first elimination. There were other things in play, but also the same things were used between Ride or Dies/Challenge CBS/Challenge AUS and that made watching the AUS season a bit of a struggle even though I liked that cast. Couldn't imagine watching the same things a 3rd time. One thing that made me double take was them lining up for the 1st challenge to hear the rules and I'm like "that's it?" The cast only had 16 people, which is how many people are still in a US season after 2 months.

[Headspace]

Anyone watch the Challenge live channel on Paramount+? Streams challenge eps nonstop.

Watching free agents now and it’s crazy how different the vibes on the show are now that they don’t allow so much drinking between challenges

[Vil]

Only time I'd done a rewatch it was going way back, like Inferno era. I don't think I've rewatched any from the ~20s.

Caught up on the Championship episodes, lol @ a cliffhanger. Did they give those both away for free and do that to sell subscriptions? Doing this season in locked (I think?) pairs is probably the right way to go but I've just got mixed feelings at best about most of the pairs. I didn't see/remember a potential cast list, so Theo being back was a pleasant surprise... and then he gets picked by Sarah. I'm dreading the Ben/Kaycee pair and the Troy/Amber pair is the cure for insomnia. Wes/Zara, Darrell/Kiki, and Danny/Tori are fine, even if that last one is bound for some obnoxious Jordan drama. Can Tori and Jordan do like what some couples/exes have done and not do the same season please?

Ultimately, I'd rather have had the "MTV show" people be another group rather than half the cast, but that's not going to get enough attention. The problem is that you can already see it that this runs the risk of being like a common half and half situation where vets are all that are going to matter. War of the Worlds somehow managed to avoid getting pulled into that for large portions, so I'm going to hope for more like that.

[Headspace]

I like some more extended scenes at the house but I can’t deal with an hour long episode that just did a bad elimination and Kelly Anne drama

[Vil]

Even if that is a major storyline for most of the season, having that go on for basically 2 episodes was just excessive. Ok, they're "back on schedule" but just make the 2nd episode the same length as the 1st to accomplish that then. Big drama between two likely outsider teams, one who is potentially a "threat" and another who is "easy pickings" seems like easy street for the Challenge regulars to just coast and not get involved for the first half of the season.

That elimination performance was so bad. But how about that stacking portion? Am I missing something, or was that extremely basic? They at least looked flat, and heavy/wide enough that it wasn't going to wobble. It wasn't stacking high enough that height was going to be a factor.

[Vil]

"Work harder, not smarter." Thanks, Darrell.

My hope was that this season might work out like War of the Worlds. My fear is that it'll be like Spies Lies Allies, where there are definitely people who want to do something, but they are constantly stifled. Here either by people wanting to jump ship, or just partners refusing. It seems weird as hell that Danny is getting such a big part here. Hopefully not a case of him just being a "big player that goes early" even though hearing the stupid come out of his partner's mouth, I wouldn't be completely mad.

That said, the principle was fine, but this was not the time. Not with that team in last place.

[Vil]

As far as cliffhangers go, I didn't mind that one as much as most, certainly better than that one a few weeks ago.

Felt like half the rules this episode were TJ voice-overs, making me wonder what even was explained to them or not. That seemed like the sort of screwy thing where they'd make it so Wes wasn't actually last, but I'm not sure if there was any way to prevent that since they were so bad.

The episode felt like a constant stream of "the worst person you know made a good point". That place is a mess with a lot of teams that would be potential threats getting way more heat than they would have wanted. Even though I can't stand Grant, Sarah, and Emily, them being so over this Tori-Jordan crap and them hating Ben at least puts that out in the game.

lmao @ Darrell though. Them winning that is fine and he wouldn't sweat having to make a choice between 2 teams, but that deadlock and them having to choose out of everybody seems like it'd be his nightmare.

[Vil]

This World Championship is a nightmare. As much as there's been to complain about some of the recent seasons, this after the disaster of the Challenge USA final is just awful. I'm not going to say that some of the outsiders are free from blame, but the "gameplay" from the regulars is just insufferable.

Tristan/KA and Darrell/Kiki being the only glimmers of hope this season and going back to back just destroyed this. Emily/Yes losing just before the final was a delight, especially her reaction, but we're heading into the final and I'm thinking that I hope everyone gets food poisoning and has to WD.

[Byrd]

Well, the Challenge World Championships Final was 1) well executed and 2) over in one episode. Amazing.

The best team probably won, although I have some sympathy for Danny saying all along "We need to get rid of Jordan to have a shot at winning" and being unable to even try to do so due to his partner. Oh well. The season overall was kind of meh. Nothing awful, but nothing great. Some cool challenges and some other really stupid ones. Teams going straight from trivia to elimination without ever been asked a question, that's some bad challenge design.

I do hope to see Kaz back, I like her quite a bit. It will be interesting to see who all from the show comes back. This certainly doesn't feel nearly as cast-alienating as Challenge USA did.

I'm not sure when Challenge: All Stars 4 premieres. Looking forward to that one, with the female cast being so stacked. Filming finished in February, according to Reddit, so I'm not sure why it's not ready to go.

Challenge USA 2 is towards the end of filming.

Challenge flagship season 39 is apparently late in the casting process aiming for June filming, but the initial names are kind of WTF.

With this many shows, I'm really surprised they are taking a break at all. Seems like you could have a show a week (or more) every week.

[Vil]

I randomly watched that Championship final last week. The "run laps" thing is incredibly lame.



Oh yes, 18 people from reality shows and 6 Challenge vets. What a joke. It's a regular season of The Challenge, only that the handful of new players are only from CBS shows, not a mix from around the world.

Cast:

Spoiler: show

Chris Underwood (Survivor)
Cory W
Dusty Harris (TAR)
Faysal "Big Brother"
Bananas
Josh "Big Brother"
Luis Colon (TAR)
Monte Taylor (BB)
Paulie "Big Brother"
Sebastian Noel (Survivor)
Tyler Crispen (BB)
Wes

Alyssa Lopez (BB/USA)
Alyssa Snider (BB)
Amanda Garcia
Ameerah Jones (BB)
Cassidy Clark (Survivor)
Chanelle Howell (Survivor)
Desi Williams (Survivor/USA)
Jonna
Michaela Bradshaw "Survivor"
Michele Fitzgerald "Survivor"
Tiffany Mitchell (BB/USA)
Tori

The non-stale portion cast doesn't seem so bad, with a few that I'm definitely looking forward to, but they're so hilariously dishonest in the way they are wording the makeup of this cast.

[Vil]

This starts tonight on CBS.

I'd been seeing bits of the trailer here and there the past few days and that "there are only 6 vets" or whatever line just makes me roll my eyes. I suppose there's the possibility that it's like Invasion and they're somehow different at least til late game/final but the reality is they're probably "surprise" entrants at the start. Who's going to act like a bigger fool like they're "Big Brother" despite being a permanent fixture in the Challenge cast? Josh or Faysal?

[Vil]

Probably more than other shows you can see when they try to "fix" what they deem as a problem because there's always the concern that they overcorrect or create another problem. The hopper thing? I think there's some merit to it. I think there's going to be a lot of conspiracies about it. The "burn votes" all these years have been a moronic part of this game. The concept of just stacking votes on the men this time to try to force a male elimination is a new wrinkle, but there could be some real balance issues fast with these teams.

That first challenge, lmao. That whole scene with the runaway cart when the one statue fell off, I'm like "how the hell did someone not get seriously injured?"

I don't understand what this show is going for though. I'm more looking forward to the people that have been on 0-3 seasons than any of the rest, yet they were largely afterthoughts. If I'm someone tuning in that hasn't watched the MTV show, I'd probably be really turned off by that, the focus on the past drama, the host, and then that cliffhanger. For people that want vets and don't really care about the new folks, there's probably not enough vets. Then there's TAR fans, and I know it's a tougher casting pool, but putting just 2 of them on this, come on.

At least the new folks have their eyes open already even if they got steamrolled in that episode.

Josh swearing on his parents' life in the first episode. There's enough tape on this guy that they can come up with their own conclusions, but someone jumping in that hot like that, I would not trust very far.

[Xno Kappa]

Really interested to see what happens tonight which will decide if I continue to watch. I can’t do another season with everything being handed to the same handful of vets over and over AGAIN.

The first episode was already a tough watch. People like Amanda are fucking worthless and are just vestigial personalities from a long gone era of the Challenge.

[Vil]

They're such a minority, but they put a few people in critical places who have a foot in both camp. Those people are not going to be like this is all or nothing this season, but it's more like this is game 4 of a 12-game series. Their future in the series is as important as any individual success, probably more. Then for every new player that seems to realize what's going on, there's another that's either complacent or clueless, so the people that try to get something going often get stonewalled, ratted out, and targeted as the "troublemakers" alongside the randos with no connections.

I would have noticed the recording tomorrow probably, but til seeing your post, I'd completely forgotten that it's on tonight.

Also, the weird hatred/distrust for Survivor people on this series always confuses me, but I guess that's the next progression. It was AYTO, then BB, now Survivor is the "oooh, can't trust them!"

[Xno Kappa]

Probably because Michelle absolutely sucks socially for whatever reason on the Challenge.

Also, If Luis goes home I’m done! The guy was awesome as hell on TAR. Let my man shine and give him a dancing challenge lol.

[Vil]

lmao, Michele's last season was a cautionary tale, but they've had it out for Survivor people before she even started.

Red Team meeting to discuss the prior vote, wondering where Jonna is: https://clip.cafe/pirates-of-the-car...-one-among-us/

This stuff with her and Amanda is just insufferable. I've watched all these damn shows and don't even know what it's about and definitely don't care. Is Amanda someone that watches sports and cheers when people get injured?

That main challenge was pretty cool, albeit probably should have been ironed out a little better. It went fine (besides Monte's breaking), but actually testing the challenges out, they could have made it even better/smoother. I'm tired of the overreliance on heights over water stuff, but this was one of the best new challenges of that type.

There's hope for this season after these votes. Giving me an elimination matchup in the 2nd round where I want both of them to lose? Great job.

[Byrd]

Is Amanda someone that watches sports and cheers when people get injured?

I think Amanda knows the reason she is invited to these shows is because she causes drama. She's not a physical or challenge threat, she's not Challenge-Hot, she's not particularly funny or a good narrator, so she being dramatic and villainous is how she keeps getting invited back.

I'm actually really enjoying this season so far. Good challenges and eliminations, I like the voting schematic. You can make a somewhat secret vote, but it's harder to get away with, which I like. I also really like the element of the hopper where there's always a chance you could get saved/get very unlucky. So far both of the matchups have been amongst the more likely ones, but at some point, someone's going to get picked when they just have one vote in there, and it's going to be awesome. Also, I'm curious how much longer it's going to be random as to guy/girl days. I like that, but unless the guys are randomly drawn next, you could set the balance getting real out of whack pretty soon.

[Xno Kappa]

Michaela and Desi were breaths of fresh air. When Wes tried to politik for the vets they shut that shit down immediately.

[Vil]

The votes have been mostly on men, a decent amount more in the first one. I could see them having some sort of purge to even things out at some point, but for now I think they'll work out just by continuing what they're doing. Also, that big overlapping "CBS alliance" is mostly women w/ some affiliated men, so that presumably could be a lot of sway with the hopper draw.

The last time I remember Wes getting shut down that badly was whichever spinoff it was when he was on a team with Louise and Casper and they basically had absolute control.