Eolivet

Jay set himself up to have a huge rivalry with Bananas on the Ex on the Beach Reunion, but it never made sense why Bananas would have a problem with him. Morgan pretended to like Jay, and then went off to The Challenge and pursued Bananas. Bananas is the victor. Jay is the loser. Does the windshield have a rivalry with a bug? I think Jay is massively insecure in this company, and it comes across in how he presents. Fessy with his styled jackets and tailored pants. Cory in his suit. CT in his well-fitting father figure cool. Kyle in his button-down shirt. Even Josh looking somewhat put together (for Josh). And Jay with the backwards cap at age 32, looking like Joey from Friends when Joey tried to be nineteen. I half-expected Jay to interject, "Playstation is whack" in the middle of the reunion.

This may be a very unpopular opinion, but I think we may have seen the last of TAR for good. Unless they decide to do a U.S. version, there is no way they can leave the country. Where are they going to go? Europe, which requires vaccine passports? Africa and South America, which don't even have vaccines? Asia, where some vaccines are of questionable efficacy? And countries with quarantine requirements are out, right? Unfortunately, all that may be left are the countries with the raging outbreaks and sporadic access to vaccines. I think the "get on a plane and travel around the world" show died with the pandemic. There can be no more crowded marketplaces with highly contagious variants, and as others have said, you're at the mercy of who gets on a plane with you. Unlike Survivor, which had its own headaches resuming, you can't lock down the world. This show is about exploring the world in an unfettered way that COVID and even post-COVID will make impossible. MTV's The Challenge had to shut down production due to a positive COVID test and they supposedly quarantined. There's too much risk for exposure baked into the fabric of TAR. Interfacing with the locals and long-haul airline flights and all those high-risk things was the essence of this show. Its time has come and gone. I do believe COVID was the final nail in its coffin.

CDC updated their quarantine guidance, which now states 7 days after travel, if one tests 3-5 days after travel. I'm beginning to wonder if MTV tested them after travel at all, just tested them before, quarantined for 7 days and then let them loose. In which case, they could very easily miss a positive test. And yeah, I would guess the entire cast and crew now has to quarantine for at least 7 days (with a negative test on day 5 or later) or 10 days without testing. But like you alluded to, if anybody else develops symptoms, that's game over for the season, I'd imagine.

I can see someone breaking protocol, and I put that on MTV's shoulders. If the producers tried to bring them to a bar or club, instead of creating Club Quarantine on set, that's asking for trouble. Or since they quarantined for two weeks, someone would have to have tested negative, but be so sick, they were shedding virus two weeks later. That would expose everyone, and shut down production, if not cancel the season outright. I'm beyond curious to see what happens next.

Contestants are under age 25, so I'm guessing it's very much Teen Hell's Kitchen. It sounds like American Idol, where the majority may be late teens, early 20s, but there will likely be 15 and 16 year-olds, too.

I wasn't spoiled, but I was over on reddit a couple weeks ago where someone said Mary Lou commented on Instagram that nothing ever happened with her and Cody off the show. So, I figured she didn't win. Kori was the most deserving. When Ramsay said, "natural-born leader" (seconds before her door opened), that was a huge clue she was the winner. Rough finale night service, the roughest I can remember in a while. Ramsay bailed out both their inappropriate station choices. Not sure I can take Teen Hell's Kitchen.

Ironic they keep dropping Survivor people when after two years of cold challenges, the location is Croatia and the rumored theme is something jungle-related. Interesting Wendell isn't on. Some Vevmo people were irritated he was 37 and cast as a rookie. This is looking like War of the Worlds 1, in a 50/50 rookie/vet balance way. (Also, Stop Being Polite: Kyle's initial show was Geordie Shore. Come on, now, it was 2018).

Thought people might get a kick out of this.

There was absolutely no suspense to this. They tried, but MTV can't edit for crap. I guess all the Leroy hero edit stuff was to give him a nice sendoff? While CT will get credit for his lion-share of the work, Amber deserves a ton of praise for keeping a cool head and not melting down. I do think some rookies (and not-so-rookies) would've cracked under the pressure of the all-nighter in the glacier (even without using about five puns). I enjoyed this season. Iceland is one of the most gorgeous places I have absolutely no desire to visit. Like Prague before it, cold-weather challenges continue to provide the most interesting interpersonal dynamics. I hope they never go back to a sprawling beach villa ever again.

I actually thought that was better than Chayce's "I mixed up my cue cards" version of Bryan Adams. It was like everything I do (is one word off the original). I've been listening to that song since the early '90s, and last night made me question if I knew the words at all. I found Casey's performance incredibly pageant-y, and though I admittedly only started watching during the live shows, she proves my crotchety get-off-my-lawn attitude of, "high schoolers should not sing certain songs because they don't understand them." Like last week: do you get what "House of the Risin' Sun" is about, Casey? On the other hand, I had to laugh that Ava got eliminated with "City of Stars" (which has all the depth befitting a high school vocalist) because I always thought it was an overrated, forgettable song with no real melody ... and the voters proved me right!

Scott was such a blah, nothing, forgettable nobody of a character I've seen so many times before on reality TV. I've seen rich Scotts and poor Scotts, old Scotts and young Scotts. Scotts with and without guitars. Scotts with and without kids. Athletic Scotts and scrappy Scotts who "hustle." And they're always so shocked when they win. Never thought they could do it. By golly, they're just like us! I fear we're getting a preview into CBS reality show casting going forward. We'll see a more diverse cast, but the winner won't be a Sarah or a Zeus or a Swifty. They might be there at the end, but a Scott will win. Because one way or another, Scotts always win.

Gut feeling prediction: Mary Lou doomed herself picking Cody when Declan was right there. Declan was three points from the finale and she picks the guy she's likely attracted to, who she knows is attracted to her? Instant distraction. She either won't direct him enough to be meaningful, or she'll go overboard, trying to prove she's being fair, and cause havoc for the team. Lose/lose. To be fair, Mary Lou would still be the underdog compared to Kori, experience-wise, but her justification for picking Cody was weak ("he's never had anything sent back") and pretty transparent. I've made no secret of how much this storyline bugged me in the latter part of the season, but now I have to see it in the finale, too? Meh.

I get the Challenge is all about weird payouts, but they've been promoting this "one million dollars!!!!1111" all season, only for MTV's accountants to be all, "Well, actually ..." in the second to last episode. You're telling me they couldn't have found an extra hundred grand somewhere. Having contestants say "nine hundred thousand dollars" over and over sounds ridiculous. "I'm going for nine hundred thousand dollars!" "Let's get that nine hundred thousand dollars!" "Nine hundred thousand dollars, here we come!" I'm convinced MTV's accountants switched the payout at the last minute purely for the lulz.

And no Jay, who either has COVID or posted a racist tweet 10 years ago, depending on what you read in Vevmo's cast discussion thread. We'll know next season which it is. Everything Dee touches dies!

https://vevmo.com/forums/challenge-season-37-spoilers This link still works. It's mostly the same, but there are a few changes.

Our dearly departed tabby liked to turn my black fleeces gray with his fur, but the fur always came out in the washer and dryer, so I was about to ask if this is more for dog owners than cat owners. I've had cats shedding on my clothes all my life and not once has the fur remained after washing them (my clothes, not the cats). Have I been insanely lucky or is this less of a problem than Lori and company think it is?

Which means they need to get rid of their "need a skull for the final" requirement if they want him to be anything but an early boot. Or do away with physical eliminations entirely. He's too small to ever make a final as long as there's a chance he'd face a physical elimination. It's just science. I get shades of BB's Victor from Vendettas when I look at Wendell's physique and social game, not sure why. Michele Fitzgerald could thrive here. Challenges were the only thing keeping her in Survivor. I do look forward to Devin yelling, "Survivor sucks!" at every opportunity now.

I'm not unhappy with this cast, I just can't pick my jaw up off the floor at all the Survivor people. I never thought my encyclopedic knowledge of Survivor Millennials vs Gen X would come in handy ever again, but they literally have three people from that season, and six people from Survivor total, as of now. Michele and Wendell aren't shocks, but I honestly thought both Michaela and Michelle Schubert were done with reality TV. And Tommy won one challenge total? I mean, a challenge beast he was not, as far as I remember, though I've blocked most of Survivor 39 out.

I cannot believe The Challenge got Michaela. And Michelle. And Michele and Wendell. What is this, Survivor: The Challenge? Survivor: Millennials vs Gen X-adjacent The Challenge? Did Jay handpick these people? Good night nurse. (and Tommy. TOMMY? Fourth grade teacher Tommy who was bad at challenges? oh my god.) What happened to Natalie? Sigh.

Missy from Survivor 39 (The One With All the Sexual Harrassment) was raked across the coals and almost got more grief for supporting sexual harassment than the guy who did the actual sexual harassment, which is the most 2019 thing to do, I can't even. She would be an interesting fit for The Challenge. I'm glad Jay is getting a paycheck out of competing, mostly losing, causing no drama and then being someone's easy skull every time a physical elimination comes up. Live your dreams, Jay! Wonder how many Big Brother contestants will be there. Kaycee might have to look outside her own show to find cult-- uh, alliance members.

Did they really do a wideshot of the bathroom for Cody and Mary Lou's ... activities, like this was freaking MTV's The Challenge? I'm sure they edited it to appear that way, but it sure looked like Christina was just sending sabotaged dishes up every time. I'm like, "why would you trust anything she sends you?!" When Adam Corolla makes comments about Declan's sweating, you know it's a problem.

By my count, they have had six eliminations total, including variations on a theme: --Hall Brawl (with/without a ball. Fessy def. Nelson, Amber B def. Amber M, Amber B def. Big T, Fessy def. Kyle) --Fire Escape (Natalie def. Ashley, Leroy def. Jay, Big T def. Aneesa) --Dead Ringer (with/without a puzzle. Kam def. Ashley, CT def. Josh, Darrell def. Devin) --Tethered together (with/without rings. Devin def. Wes, Kaycee def. Theresa, Cory def. Darrell ) --Hold onto rings as long as you can (Kyle def. Joseph, Nany def. Gabby*) --Throw stuff through other stuff (with/without a puzzle. Aneesa def. Tori, Josh def. Mechie) By my count, that's 18 match-ups, meaning we've seen an average of three match-ups per challenge, except the "brute strength rings" challenge and "throw stuff through other stuff" challenges were only twice (*I don't remember if Nany and Gabby were tethered together, but I know Kyle and Joseph weren't), and Hall Brawl four times. There were clearly production issues with the eliminations. Maybe with COVID restrictions, they weren't allowed to bring in local crews. I'm remembering the challenge last year where Kyle defeated Josh, which involved two used cars. Or Take Shelter, which was a shack, coils of rope, barrels and huge rocks. So they had to limit their elimination challenges to what production could set up themselves (I could've sworn the Cory/Darrell race was through the disassembled Hall Brawl set). After how epic the daily challenges have been, there's a reason elimination feels like summer reruns.

Kaycee: We're an unstoppable partnership, Leroy. You're my ride-or-die. Now let's run this final together. Also Kaycee:

We ordered the Pizza Cupcake, promptly forgot about it and it came two days ago. It tasted like an Uno's pizza, a deep-dish type pizza. The crust reminded me of Uno's, but it was good quality cheese. My husband and I enjoyed it, as it tasted like the pizzas of his childhood, but my kids didn't. I'm not sure it was worth all that money, but it was a pandemic buy, and not the worst one we've ever made.

You could be right. Cody's arc has shifted entirely to "get into Mary Lou's pants," while Mary Lou seems to have a pretty balanced one (and pointedly did not choose Cody for the reward). Is this (Blue) Jay and Holli Redux? Are we going to see Cody as Ramsay's sous chef on Hell's Kitchen 27?