AncientNewbie

As a kid I used to grab the fence as a way to scare my town-living friends when they'd come visit. Was never really a problem, except that one time I was jogging across the pastures and tried to duck under it and hit my head. That knocked me back. I think that shock challenge was a little microcosm of what I love about this show...these people are usually a mess, but they think it out, power through or weirdly collapse under the oddest pressure.

In the end, the game is all about jury management. Everything is keyed toward having power to put people there or keep yourself from there, and then to navigate what you've done. Amanda Kimmel and Coach both played masterful games but couldn't (or wouldn't) admit to their necessary treachery. Russel Hantz played a strong game and claimed it, but was so socially offputting he'd burned all the bridges with the jury before the vote. Charlie also played a good game but ended up in a terrible place. He either came off as Maria's henchman, probably keeping her vote but likely losing another, or he tried to take credit and claim leadership, true or not, but that costs her vote (which he did not expect.) I didn't hear Kenzie as a sob story. I just thought she was honest about where she was in life and what she wanted.

I honestly just sat here for over a minute trying to remember who this was, because Survivor Jay was the only one I could remember. And yet being forgotten seems a better fate than being married to Zach.

It is if that's providing the audience that keeps hold of the time slot. Judging by the people that seem to be trying out and what the producers seem to focus on, I think they are trying really hard to court that demographic.

Coach/Ozzie, to be pedantic and annoying. But enough about Coach. I'm sure there's no hard and fast rule, because Jeff always likes the good tv. But I also think they could draw a distinction--two people can't do the puzzle, for example, but one could run for items or rebound beanbags or something that wasn't direct sharing. (which happened here, but I'm thinking more on how they might explain it away.) Anyway, I'm good with the end. Correct winner's the one with the votes, in my mind. Not a season I think I'll revisit a lot in the future, but there have been worse. I guess I could think the whole point of the Bhanu show for the early eps was to feature Kenzie more, but mainly I think Peachy loves casting people out of their depth for cheap content as they struggle.

Decent opening. There are always too many people and too much activity, even in the 2 hours, for me to keep it all straight. There were a couple people I liked, which I won't mention because that's a quick ticket to Ponderosa, and no one I really hated. Even Jelensky, with his glaring flaws only he couldn't see, was an entertaining flop and not a mean villain. I did think Bhanu resembles Flula Borg a lot. Even if he gets voted out, let's keep him around for the faces. He can be the new Eliza Orlins reacting to everything.

I don't know when this filmed, but his divorce and part-time parenting is a pretty new thing. He was posting some emotional memories recently regarding the late Diem Brown. He's also, for a reality tv person, had fluctuating weight over the years and is probably still a smoker. In short, he's been going through a lot this year.

I was glad to see Cara Maria back, despite her IRL weirdness and Paulie and whatever else. She comes across as very genuine. I've said it before, but it applies here...for all the editing shenanigans that the cast allege in their post-show twitter beeves, I do love that this show doesn't sugar coat some things. Cara Maria is not good at puzzles and they didn't edit it to a photo finish. (Or last week, when they showed what a brat Laurel is.) I'm good with Michele getting called down, even if she pulled it out. It justifies some of the attention on her to show she's somewhat capable at more than chat and wine. Not really down with the Nurys/Olivia angle, though...just feels too much like middle school and not enough like adults communicating. Which would be highly unexpected on this show, but throw some clothes into the pool then or something.

But what are the rules?

It felt like an old school episode with the unhinged arguing and the thrown drink. I miss those days. For me, Melissa has sort of a blank check, after TJ gave her his usual crap for quitting and then it turned out (and Clear Blue even advertises during this show!) that once again they'd let a pregnant woman compete without anyone realizing. I also agree with another poster upthread--the alliances don't seem to be thinking long term. Only if you're Nelly T do you get excited about running a final with your buds. If they do let Zara go long enough to get to into the final, it will be a nice montage when she gets a chance to redeem herself in the eating challenge after Wes convinced her not to drink the shake in her first American season.

As a longtime watcher (and fan, I admit it) I really enjoyed the elimination. It was almost fan service to us old timers that have been here a while, yelling at these kids to get off our lawn. I find Jordan insufferable at times, but he laid it on with a trowel tonight and I laughed. I do feel a bit bad for Ciarran, mainly in the way post-production offered him up as the sacrifice. But the whole bit really sold the champs hard.

Maybe I was just in the mood for it, but I really liked this preview special. Drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, but it makes for a solid intro episode of the Challenge. I don't expect internal consistency from the people that brought us "All Stars" featuring the same people on the contemporaneous regular season, but I think this is a solid cast. If anything I might have cut a couple of the World Champion regional cast members for some other people that have been on the regular cast once or twice, but I also get that they need to appeal to more than my personal tastes. And as much as I love the vets that I have sort of grown up with, they aren't the same as they used to be. Fortunately for livers and for STI rates, I suppose. Once they are in relationships and have kids they aren't into partying shenanigans, nor do they tend to be all that strategic when they have a vet's bloc of votes, and then we just end up with endless 20 person heats in a challenge to fill the show. At least they haven't deigned to provide Banana's time for musical numbers with his ever present guitar (which also reminds me of Animal House and what I would love Wes to do.) To futilely try to recover the point, I'm optimistic for this season of conventionally attractive unconventionally employed people to do something entertaining.

Wholly agree, @Nashville. But one point in your post stuck out to me, where you distinguished "trial lawyer." There are so many different types of lawyer, within a narrow band that probably looks like from the outside, that some of the jobs have as much in common as chemist and model or civil air patroller.

I reached out to her early in my own legal journey because I was trying to do a project on law and reality tv. She politely declined, but I'll count that as a positive contestant interaction. The whole legal case and contrasting witnesses is quite interesting. It's almost a relic of a bygone era, when reality was new and we all* assumed it was "real" and not subject to manipulation. It's almost a "what if?" scenario if her claim had prevailed or gotten different settlement terms. *Speaking of the general public and not the wise sorts dwelling here.

Very interesting point. I hear similar takes on hard-charging female lawyers in practice where it's just accepted that is how some male lawyers are, so it doesn't really surprise me it carries over at all. I have a kernel of a thought this morning that I can't quite turn into a full-fledged theory, dealing with how male and female lawyers are presented on the show. The male lawyer players are perhaps less fleshed out in backstory pieces, but given more attention to (lawyerly) gameplay. The female lawyer players are more likely (at least in my recollection) to be a Survivor Character (tm) who happens to be a lawyer in the real world. Annoying Eliza, Curt Caryn and Chaos Kass are immediate callbacks, maybe in part because they are some of the only female lawyers to go deep into the game. Aurora on Exile was more about being out, a foster child, and being a physical threat in the game. (I mainly remember her as my pick early in the season to win. In my defense, I have a type.) And now my boss just looked into the office so I suppose I ought to get to real legal work instead of trying to form a coherent thought about lawyers edited into characters playing a game on tv.