Challenge 38: Ride or Dies

**Xno Kappa** · 2022-11-10 07:54

Apparently Kim and Colleen weren’t allowed to speak German? That’s absolute fucking bullshit. This show is getting harder and harder to justify watching.

**Headspace** · 2022-11-11 01:12

Jay and Michelle all time bag fumble

**Byrd** · 2022-11-17 00:52

Episode Six Stuff:
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Scoring:

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Standings:

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Challenger Scores to Date:

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**Headspace** · 2022-11-17 21:36

The contestants on this season are extra whiny. It’s becoming annoying lol

**Xno Kappa** · 2022-11-18 07:25

Felt like Laurel was blatantly playing everything up for the cameras tbh lol. Fuck it. I like what Jay and Michele are doing. Maximum chaos, I hope they win again.

**Vil** · 2022-11-23 23:00

Been off the grid since GoW released + being away from home a few days after I finished that but oh boy those last two weeks of this show. Jay and Michele, like... you can explain most of the picks they made individually, but as a group of 4, what a mess. I've kind of questioned if the plan was to play for future seasons, thus staying away from certain teams, but the past two episodes at least threw that away.

As competitors, they're great, but every time they're there, I usually reach some point fairly early on when I'm like "I've had enough of Laurel and Jordan". Yeah, others need to *also* go, but I think I've reached a point where I don't count "pettiness" as a personality trait, at least not when it's 1 of 1 or 1 of 2. Too many people have just become 1-note here and maybe that's just because their permaspot on casts is established. I don't know. As obnoxious as he 98% of the time, at least Bananas doesn't forget that this is an actual tv show, ya know?

But now we get to this week and Nelson, lmao. Dude was doing fine and then throws it away, and for what? I don't even get it. These consecutive weeks, you may as well just underline and circle them, and they're why (I'm speculating) that all these people are going to crash and burn around mid-season. Look at the picks that Bananas made back in week 2(?). There was a deliberate plan, not just some nebulous "reasons" for each team. That sort of seemed to be the case early in this episode and then... nope! "We want to get a strong team out." Proceeds to directly throw in a team that has done nothing so far, with them ending up against a team that has done even less.

And Devin, ugh. Nobody likes a micromanager, dude. Maybe he was just on a good one that night or something, but when you're grilling your alliance-mate who had the power to throw you in two weeks in a row, just chill out.

So in summary, the vets suck, but the new castmates are too stupid to get rid of them. I'm already over the pity pow-wows that they have each week when the nominees go up. It's the same thing every time.

Oh, and I don't understand that main challenge at all this week. Were they told they'd be DQd if they got it wrong? Because why else would those teams run back to check for 2 pieces? I'm thinking of that one challenge from All Stars(?) where Kailah just spammed "Check" every 5 seconds on some math thing. Even if that's the case, feels like a miss on Devin's part not saying "We're not going to beat them in a footrace, may as well try a 50-50 guess".

**Byrd** · 2022-11-24 01:18

Good episode, lots of drama, but not lots of scoring.

Thoughts:

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Scoring:

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Standings:

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Challenger Scores to Date:

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**Vil** · 2022-11-30 22:16

Well, this was the first episode that I found myself just straight up fast-forwarding through, not just the commercials. 60 minute episodes please.

I liked the part when Devin asked Aneesa "So what's the deal with you guys?" because like everyone else, he doesn't see a connection between that pair of teammates. Then tack on a Jay confessional out of nowhere about Jordan winning and throwing them in directly. I wonder what'll happen?

"There's a big divide in the house and the other side keeps winning." Guess it's time for a challenge that Jordan will be great at and you can do nothing, Aneesa. lmao @ O/H and M/J being the first two while the Clarks, Bananas, and Jordan all went late. Convenient! One half of that challenge was actually good, but it's a terrible challenge overall. That part when they were acting like Devin had a shot when he was just trundling across the cars? Come on.

Amber and that hugging stuff is super annoying, so is her getting butthurt about someone not wanting it in that moment.

Obviously they brought this on themselves to some degree by not pushing the advantage when they or their allies had power for a month, but losing those two is going to suck. And I don't just mean it for my team. I have little hope for the back half of the season. Weekly reminder that Kenny Clark is a person in this cast.

They laid on that Nelson stuff this week thicker than "Faysal means decision maker" episode. While I do feel that he would *try* to do right by Nelson here, I just feel like there's a limit and I'd be worried about him being pulled by the other vets. Besides that stuff that connects through Kaycee, there's some girl that apparently is Faysal's teammate who supposedly is close with Bananas. That's putting a lot of faith in that guy, and if there were one situation where he might be forgiving about not being picked, this was the one.

lol @ that elimination and the screaming. Whatever, man.

**Byrd** · 2022-12-01 00:24

Thoughts:

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Scoring:

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Standings:

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Challenger Scores to Date:

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Originally Posted by Vil

Well, this was the first episode that I found myself just straight up fast-forwarding through, not just the commercials. 60 minute episodes please.

Yeah, if there's not a lot of drama or other shenanigans, 90 minutes is a lot, particularly as the cast dwindles. It turns into huge chunks of the episode being devoted to a challenge that is the same heat repeated over and over. If there's not head-to-head drama on that kind of thing, it's really hard to keep my interest. I didn't fast forward, but I certainly tuned out for a while.

**Headspace** · 2022-12-01 05:13

Haven’t seen this weeks episode but we just watched last weeks and I’m falling into the camp that this shit is rigged.

Every fucking time someone has a position of power to start really going after vets or previous champs they fuck it up.

One of the most calculating people (Devin) throws his plan away to go after bananas and Nany to go after Amber??? I don’t buy it. It’s a work.

**Xno Kappa** · 2022-12-01 13:31

Did Kaycee do something wrong to get the Dee shadow ban treatment?

**Vil** · 2022-12-01 21:03

Her first season, they'd at least shoehorn her in by giving her the confessional explaining the rules right after TJ explained them. She's just doing nothing this time, so no need to even try to fit her in really. Josh is probably sitting at home thinking he should have been her partner. At least then she'd have constant fires to put out.

As for Headspace's point, did Jordan beat Jay in that challenge? Sure, he may have, but we don't know. They put all those effects on there to obfuscate things and they can just pick whoever they want to win in some of these time trials. The bottom line is that the series has generally stacked the deck in some ways with casting, and between that and bizarre changes of direction I've got to wonder how much confessional manipulation may be in play here.

**Byrd** · 2022-12-02 11:31

Originally Posted by Vil

Her first season, they'd at least shoehorn her in by giving her the confessional explaining the rules right after TJ explained them. She's just doing nothing this time, so no need to even try to fit her in really. Josh is probably sitting at home thinking he should have been her partner. At least then she'd have constant fires to put out.

I feel like she is doing more than Kenny is, but on par with Chauncey, who is apparently still on the show. I don't dislike Kaycee at all, she's one of the Challengers I think we be most fun to hang out with personally, but I have no idea why she is continually cast on the show. She's not interesting enough for TV.

**Xno Kappa** · 2022-12-07 19:39

Nelson is 100% on PEDs.

**Vil** · 2022-12-07 21:26

3/3 on crying on my team, some shouting and a killed it? Almost not feeling bad about losing 2 ppl last week!

Don't like this twist and I'm dreading the incoming "I can't believe I have to compete against my girlfriend!" spam to get that Kaycee/Nany screentime. Speaking of them, I don't know what made me laugh more, Nany asking "am I antisocial?" or Kaycee's "I literally forget that my brother is here." That 2nd one is a ridiculous intentionally unintentional burn. The other one? What is Nany even doing this season? Or Kaycee? Do they even hang around each other? Do they talk at all? How is there actually no content of any sort?

Faysal actually crying over not winning a final the episode that they give a mini-final. Come on, editors. Was that scene even from this episode's time frame? Nelson's confessional about loving power and responsibility? That was probably filmed 3 weeks before that challenge, unless he'd already forgotten (possible) about that ordeal at the knife pull.

If there were any doubts that Faysal just brought a potential ringer that he kinda knows, her line about not knowing if he's the person she thought he was confirmed it. Kind of makes me appreciate pairs like Kim/Colleen more. I don't know how thin their relationship is, but they at least seemed like a fun team with semblance of cohesion/chemistry.

I'm not going to look up early RW/RR or Vet/Rookie teams from the Gauntlet era, but this team split sure feels like it'd fit in with them.

**Byrd** · 2022-12-08 01:04

Thoughts:

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Scoring:

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Standings:

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Challenger Scores to Date:

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**Vil** · 2022-12-14 23:26

I'm not even surprised by the twist, but I'm disappointed? Ok, I guess at least they're going to actually have the original pairs for the final which is a good thing, but this whole stage is a twist to give their favorites a second life. I was just trying to run the numbers in my head as to how many cycles of this stage there might be then they pulled that. While there is some complications bound to happen in the upcoming weeks with these two-team format, they were headed to some potentially tricky portions of the season with the dwindling numbers and we're not going to see the sense of urgency that was going to be coming naturally.

(But I guess I ought to be at least somewhat relieved because Olivia's position is in danger on that team if they lose one)

A bit OT, but I'm pretty sure Byrd (and Xno?) watch Survivor and I think I'm still laughing at that finale. Between that and The Challenge, I sat through 4 hours of hearing "Ride or Die" over and over and over. What the hell was that season? It didn't really click for me, but the nice thing about having that was always that when I'd get around to the Challenge, I could FF through commercials and now sadly I'll be watching this show live.

Anyway, challenges sucked as usual. Main one was fine, but terrible to watch and also terrible because of the mismatched teams. Elimination wasn't as strategy/endurance as they tried to pretend it was, when it was just "go grab the next tool".

Shout out to Kenny for actually having a self deprecating sense of humor. He's just too normal, but it was nice seeing that bit of him even though it made it clear that he was going to go.

**Byrd** · 2022-12-15 02:06

Thoughts:

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Scoring:

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Standings:

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Challenger Scores to Date:

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Originally Posted by Vil

A bit OT, but I'm pretty sure Byrd (and Xno?) watch Survivor and I think I'm still laughing at that finale. Between that and The Challenge, I sat through 4 hours of hearing "Ride or Die" over and over and over. What the hell was that season? It didn't really click for me, but the nice thing about having that was always that when I'd get around to the Challenge, I could FF through commercials and now sadly I'll be watching this show live.

Yeah, I also noticed that Ride or Die thing and laughed at it myself. I didn't really like this season of Survivor in general, but the finale definitely surprised me. I was pretty sure Cassidy was going to win with Owen having an outside chance. I was shocked, and it sure looked like Cassidy and Owen were, too. I certainly did not expect Gabler to win, and I sure as hell did not expect a 7-1 vote. Like ... what? I completely thought that guy was a goat that was getting dragged to the end because everyone was sure he could beat them.

Originally Posted by Vil

Anyway, challenges sucked as usual. Main one was fine, but terrible to watch and also terrible because of the mismatched teams.

Yeah, first one was interesting in theory because hypothetically, one person could beat all of the other contestants, but that really just boils down to whichever team Fessy is on is going to win that challenge because eventually, he can go every team and knock everyone else off, although it didn't come to that. Oh well.

Originally Posted by Vil

Shout out to Kenny for actually having a self deprecating sense of humor. He's just too normal, but it was nice seeing that bit of him even though it made it clear that he was going to go.

I completely agree. There has been a history of people who are too normal for this show, and none of them come back a second time, although I find myself rooting for them. Mike Mike, Abram's brother Mike, Kenny come to mind, and I'm sure there are more. hell, maybe Nam a little bit.

I'm glad my overly busy Wednesday nights are done. No more Survivor / Amazing Race / The Challenge back-to-back-to-backs.

**Xno Kappa** · 2022-12-15 06:43

Meh. Another episode another challenge with the usual suspects completely controlling everything. Shit is tired. Read an interesting article about the appearance fees some of the players receive, mentioned how guys like Bananas and CT get almost close to six figures, and why it's in MTV's best interests for those specific players to go far in the game.

I will say I do enjoy the twist of the Ride or Die pairs still meaning something. Kenny seems like a genuinely good dude, but he's clearly not built for the challenge.

Originally Posted by Vil

A bit OT, but I'm pretty sure Byrd (and Xno?) watch Survivor and I think I'm still laughing at that finale. Between that and The Challenge, I sat through 4 hours of hearing "Ride or Die" over and over and over. What the hell was that season? It didn't really click for me, but the nice thing about having that was always that when I'd get around to the Challenge, I could FF through commercials and now sadly I'll be watching this show live.

I enjoyed this season of survivor. I thought there was some great game-play between Jesse, Karla, and Cody. Owen was a great underdog story. I thought Gabler played a unique game as well. I don't think he was ever on the wrong side of votes post-merge. On the contrary he seemed to be involved in some crucial ones by building some solid relationships, and it showed during FTC. Never once thought of him as a goat. Probably the first player to successfully pull off the "assassin for hire" schtick.

If anything I saw Cassidy as the one being strung along to the end. Ryan calling her out immediately for trying to take credit over something pulled off by the Ride or Die alliance was hilarious. It showed me she was never really taken seriously. Confirming what Karla told her to her face that most of the jury would not vote for her.

I'm surprised it wasn't closer between Gabler and Owen.

Originally Posted by Byrd

I'm glad my overly busy Wednesday nights are done. No more Survivor / Amazing Race / The Challenge back-to-back-to-backs.

Wednesday nights have pretty much become family night in my house with those shows. We order takeout, get some drinks, and all link up to watch. It's a ton of fun lol.

**Vil** · 2022-12-15 12:58

I never really saw Gabler as the winner until that reward early on when Cassiday/Owen said something like "I don't think he could win" which is code for "Gabler beats us in the finals". He did well at FTC and the win was confirmed with the "no, that was actually us" bit against Cassidy right before the end, but one vote from a jury sweep? Maybe Cody/Jesse just had a ton of sway on that jury, but also that people simply liked him more than they liked her. Still a weird edit for a guy who won in a blowout, but maybe that's what happens when all the production favorites leave in 7th-4th because they take each other out and they're left with this oddball F3.

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