Eolivet

I'm sorry, maskless photos at a sports game no less, with no social distancing, is a really bad look for a show that claims to be all enlightened with its bubble and its "please put on your mask when exiting." And fans at a sports game, given all the positive cases in both baseball and football leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. I don't care if I'm taking it too seriously, I'm tired of joking about it. 210,000 people are dead.

OTEV was styled like the Grateful Dead, talked like an 80s surfer, demanded shirts styled after 60s bands, buried under paraphernalia from a Frankie and Annette movie, and this was put together by PAs and competed in by houseguests who likely all hadn't been born yet when any of this was originally popular. That's 2020 for you.

I wish Zingbot could call out people's games, like it used to (beyond "ya boring"). Maybe you couldn't tell houseguests they are racist, but more like "As I've been watching this game, and seeing who the HoH nominates every week, I noticed something isn't ... white. TRUTH-ZING!"

Da'Vonne and Fessy weren't on The Challenge together, but Bayleigh and Fessy were. I can't believe we've gotten to the point where we're handing out penalty nominations for using the Veto? Because Memphis was so torn up about Ian going home? It's not like Nicole was HoH. Hearing Da'Vonne and Kevin described as a "power duo" was bizarre. Because they went against the hive mind? Because Tyler got 3 votes? I'm utterly baffled. And really bored.

This has almost, almost gotten as uncomfortable to watch as Dan on Survivor 39. And he committed a felony.

Here's where Christmas turned a corner from Christmas to KKKristmas for me. Nominating the two Black women is a bad enough look, but okay, there's the Veto. So, Christmas wins the Veto. Who is her target? Bayleigh? Great, Da'Vonne can come down, she can put up a pawn (kind of like Enzo did). She earns some trust back from Da'Vonne and her true target, Bayleigh, goes home. That's game play. Because if Bayleigh was Christmas' target, why not have a white or guy pawn next to her? Do exactly what Enzo did last week (granted, he was forced to, but still) to ensure Kaysar's exit. He had one target, so he put up a pawn. Enzo could've returned the favor. Or Kevin could retake his pawn seat. Why would you not mend fences with Da'Vonne? I can't qwhite put my finger on why. By not using the Veto, Christmas is saying, "I can't have two Black women in the house, I need a Black woman to go, I don't care which one" (which is pretty close to "you all look the same to me"). And that turns her into KKKristmas. Cross-Burning Christmas. Which brings me back to my original point, which is: Christmas is a racist.

Christmas is a racist. (oh, sorry, did I say that out loud?)

Natalie Anderson snatching the first female Survivor on The Challenge spot from Michele Fitzgerald (rumored to be dropped from Challenge 33), after Michele's friends conspired to get Natalie to lose Survivor 40 ... you love to see it.

Vevmo and MTV's official account is reporting Challenge 36 quarantine starting August 23. Reportedly going to Iceland (well, they certainly have controlled COVID-19). Google "Vevmo" and "Challenge 36" and you can see all the rumored cast. I mean, we're letting 200,000 people die, why not film a reality show with international travel? Fiddling as Rome burns.

CBS All Access doesn't appear to have Season 32, which is the one I wanted to see, so I started season 31. All I could think of during the 10-minutes-of-Challenge-30-minutes-of-drunken-villa-party (which included two people sneaking off to hook up in the bathroom), and lots of drunken making out, is that interview with Entertainment Weekly, where the showrunner actually said with a straight face that the show should be considered for an Emmy in the past. Uh ... really?

They separated Josh and Kaycee (who barely appeared) -- they were sitting together last time, which led me to wonder if this was filmed prior to or after last week's reunion. Which did nothing to quell those COVID rumors either. Loved hearing about the bunker. More bunkers, please. Contestants should not be comfortable when a million dollars is on the line. I know I'm a broken record, but: trauma leads to bonding, which leads to better TV than you'll ever get in a mansion. A few weeks ago, I would've said the U.S. is interested in stopping a global pandemic, but since we've prioritized sports and reality TV filming over public health, maybe I'll see you guys back here sooner than we think. Stay safe!

From the interview. Not sure if this is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek: I think the showrunner perceives the show very differently than the public. As a newer viewer, I always thought The Challenge was ... well ... trashy. A Big Brother-type show where challenges were a backdrop to people hooking up. As Kyle said on the reunion: when do we move into the mansion? I don't know if if that's MTV, or who they cast, but my very first Challenge episode ever on season 33, Cara Maria and Paulie were listing all the places they were going to have sex. That's not going to win you any Emmy nominations. If The Challenge wants to change its perception with the public, this season was a good start. They need to cast people in existing relationships or those there more for the competition than the hook-ups (note: that doesn't mean they should shy away from contestants who bring drama, just not romantic drama). More bunkers, fewer mansions (more Survivor, less Big Brother). Dee's self-destruction may have saved the season in a sense, because they were forced away from the romantic drama. They have fifteen-whatever years of history with these contestants, and when they were forced to mine that, it produced their most compelling stories. But as someone who loves reality competitions with a psychological element, I never dreamed of watching The Challenge until recently because my perception was that it's MTV stars hooking up in a mansion, now with competitions. Not saying that's accurate, but if I thought that, I couldn't have been the only one.

There are 14 countries in the world currently accepting American travelers? I continue to doubt this is as "imminent" as they say. But we're filming Big Brother in the middle of a pandemic, so ...

I also called this final early on, but is Ari really going to lose to Wes Adams 2: The Wes Adams-ing? On a season where Chef Alex doesn't seem to be laying down and dying for Anne Burrell? I wonder.

Tonight was a rerun? I'd never seen it. But boy, those Descendants 3 kids were vapid. How could neither one of those Mensa candidates figure out what Kermit and Miss Piggy would never order at dinner? And "lip injections?" Their money was showing.

Vernon Davis? Is he some kind of Challenge super-fan? I can't see TJ stooping so low as to host, but ... that was so random. Tori was there, but no Jordan? Don't they live together? Also, I was obsessed with why Jay would have a couch literally blocking the door behind it. Did he push a couch into a room specifically for this? Who does that? I can't believe this thing is going to be two weeks long.

What?! Okay, answer me this: who's going to get food for the contestants? And the crew? How will they have no contact with the outside world? Since the contestants can't be masked, are they crossing their fingers that nobody in the crew breaks quarantine? Or the cast? And how will quarantine breaks be dealt with? Slap on the wrist? Cross your fingers and hope for the best? It's like ......... they do know the latest science on this is that poorly ventilated indoor spaces with lots of close contact and no masks is ideal breeding ground for this virus? And all it takes is one person to break quarantine (cast or crew) and then enter that poorly ventilated indoor space. Will the cast and crew get COVID tests every few days? While regular people continue to wait more than a week?! I can't. I hope the governor shuts it down, I'm sorry. Filming now in the middle of a raging pandemic is a slap in the face to public health.

Wonder if Fessy was tempted on The Challenge. As to the news there will likely be no Big Brother this summer, I refer to the paraphrased words of the wise baseball player, Sean Doolittle: "[Reality shows] are like the reward of a functional society."

Someone on Vevmo (but not the main spoiler source) posted filming starts "the 2nd to 3rd week of August." I can find no record of that anywhere else, but I find it laughable, as I cannot see any country that would take any Americans at this point. They're going to face the same problems as Survivor, in my opinion: quarantining the cast is hard enough. Quarantining that many crew members to produce an overseas show will be nigh-on impossible.

That was the Vevmo rumor for next season. Also: Dee is still there, oops.

They had to light fires and did the tribunal by lighted torches? Hey, I always wondered what cold weather Survivor would be like. I agree this went by too fast. What I wonder is if the blizzard made it impossible to do some planned challenges on day two, if it would've been too dangerous to stop and they just had to get them up to the top of the mountain as fast as possible before, as Kyle said, they all died. Had this gone on longer, it would've been close to what the War of the Worlds final was, to me: epic scale, brutal challenges and a war of attrition. Day two was sadly anticlimactic. However, I found this an overall better season than War of the Worlds (my first season, so I'm a relative newbie) because of the relative lack of hook-up drama. Dee getting booted from the edit was the best thing that could've happened, because it forced the show to focus on non-romantic bonds, and discover a more emotional core. Whatever Total Madness was in the latter half, it wasn't (that) trashy. And the '90s soundtrack! Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Chumbawumba (!), 10,000 Maniacs and Filter. Can we have a '90s soundtrack every year? It fit so well. I also think the bunker played a huge part in how good the season was. People bond when they go through psychological trauma and a beach house ain't it. Brutal challenges, more settled veterans, more newbies not looking to hook up, and throwing them into an atmosphere of deprivation created a stronger product, for me. It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine). See you all on the other side of the pandemic.

I've never been so happy to see someone miss out on the million. A single rich white kid who plays poker for fun, puts an engagement ring for his long-time girlfriend up as a prize and asks for a Tesla (which the show bumps up to two Teslas), plays a flawless game until he hits two Whammys, somehow hits the $100K twice with extra spins, plus the two Teslas, and misses out on the million by less than $20K. A balm for my soul in 2020. If someone's going to win the million, I want it to be someone who needs it. He wasn't it.

Interestingly, my closed captioning said of Bruce Smith, "he had two hands on the table" (which I thought wasn't allowed). One of the younger guys kept saying it over and over. What I was struck by (other than how they bent over backwards to give the hall of famers money) was saying the Kansas City Chiefs running back was a Super Bowl champion. Meaning this had to be taped in February after the Super Bowl (since by March, they seemed to have COVID-19 restrictions in place). Which makes the audience and all the handshaking and hugging even more egregious and icky. California did have cases by then.

I was also surprised Johnny Bananas kept his word to Kaycee about not throwing Fessy in, but then I remembered Kaycee's social game is really quite something. She was the perfect balance of laid back, while not letting them walk all over her. And however she presented her argument, it made the guys believe it would not behoove them to break their word. Considering she's a rookie and Johnny Bananas is a zillion year old vet, that's impressive, to me. She got what she wanted, and the guys felt like they were running the show. And wow, three BB21 rookies in the final. Let's go!