Badlands

If I remember correctly, the offer on the original show was usually somewhere in the range of the average dollar value of the cases. In this case, that would have been around $90,000, so the $49,000 offer was actually kind of weak. For the purpose of this game, any offer between $751 and $99,999 gave Rob the same chance of winning. On the original, it was bad opening up big dollar cases because your final offer would be much less. However, on this show, opening up the high cases is actually a big advantage for the player's survival in the game. Rob's ended up with a 75% chance of having a lower dollar case. Of course, eliminating the high dollar values is bad for adding to the final case, but that's of minimal concern for the player just trying to survive.

They didn't preview one of the West brackets. I paused it and it was Darnell Ferguson vs Amanda Freitag. If they were lucky, Amanda won. I wonder if they will even show that match. If Darnell won, I have no idea what they will do.

Springsteen taped his part in December of 2022, so it's been quite awhile. The Giuliani hair dye incident was about two years before that, though.

What... was that?? I think this Asher line from episode 9 was important: "Because I know you, baby. If you didn’t want to be with me and I actually truly felt that, I’d be gone. I’d disappear. You wouldn’t have to say it. I would feel it and I would disappear.” There was also a line in the last episode where he said something about her having a "little me inside you." I guess it was some kind of rebirth. Asher was stuck in the house, like a baby in a womb, was released by the doula, and then was set free by cutting the tree branch, like the baby was via the C-section. Or something. 😄

Michelle played Survivor twice. She won the first season and made it to the end in her second season, finishing third. I don't see her two statements as contradictory at all. You don't have to win Daily Challenges to win. It's also true that Zara would be a huge threat in the final because she's good at everything. One thing I really like about Michelle is that she's way more self-aware than most challengers. She admits when she screws up, is being too emotional or being hypocritical.

That's the way to do it! The non-vets had a plan and stuck to it. I love how they listened to Wes and then just disregarded what he was trying to sell them. Most villains are at least somewhat funny or entertaining on occasion. Amanda is not one of those people. I don't know why they give her so much air time. It's just really boring mean girl nonsense.

I didn't like the blue team aligning with red or the vets running the blue team vote. I'd like nothing more than for the vets to have no control and go out one by one.

No. They met at the airport before the flight and TJ gave her book recommendations. BTW, TJ sure didn't waste much time in moving on to Violet (who was murdered after going on a date with suddenly older Cal). So what happens from here? Maybe some end up in psychiatric holds from their crazy stories? Then again, it would be a huge story that 11 passengers from the plane went missing, so maybe they will be believed by their loved ones. After the way they were treated after the original landing, they would probably be smart enough not to say much publicly. Vance would end up interviewing the passengers and I would think Ben would tell him the whole story.

A lot of the show was a nonsensical mess, but they kind of... stuck the landing.

It's hard to imagine how they got so savage so fast. These are high school girls. who were mostly fine with murdering and eating their friend (I can't believe I even typed that sentence). Shauna was ready to slit her throat. Then they let Javi drown, when he could have been saved. Oh, sorry... the wildnerness chose. 🙄 BTW, it doesn't seem smart to eat the person who is the best with a gun (and one of the few with much sanity left). Meanwhile, Ben found the hatch. I was concerned that someone was going to have to enter numbers into a computer every 108 minutes. Why did Javi keep it a secret? Was he still going there for lunch?

That was another excellent episode. I can't believe there is only one more left! When they cut to the dinner scene with Abe, I wasn't thrilled, but it ended up with a realization from Abe that had been a long time coming. One of the annoying things in the show was Abe, Rose and Joel's parents never taking Midge's accomplishments seriously. Of course, it was the 60s, so it wasn't at all uncommon for women to be diminished. It also put it into perspective when they mentioned Abe being born in the 1800s (if they're still in 1961, that would put his birth in 1897). Then again, Abe was supposed to be the enlightened one. It took Ethan's dimwittedness and Esther's possible genius to get Abe to look at the big picture, but at least he finally got there. I like her too. She doesn't seem to take any nonsense.

Why can't we get rid of Jordan?? Not only is he my least favorite, but it's so tedious hearing Tori talking about him constantly. It's gotten to the point where I had to root for Bananas. Bananas, people! I really like Justine, though, so that helped. It was interesting that people noticed that the sun barrel was wrong and didn't say anything. Bananas isn't used to being on the wrong end of help from the peanut gallery. I'm glad KellyAnne pulled that off. She hasn't been the best strategically, but I'm pulling for her. I'm not sure if I need to spoiler the preview, but in case...

I'm in favor of Danny's plan because I don't like Jordan and don't want Bananas to get his way. That said, I don't know think it's the best strategy right now. It was amusing to hear Johnny whining that this isn't how they've ever done it. Sorry, but this ain't the Bananas show anymore (hopefully). Meanwhile, Justine completely nailed it as per Ben. He can totally flip over the smallest thing.

It's kind of shocking that they chose Mark Wahlberg to present an award that was very likely go to to a majority Asian film. For those not aware, as a teenager, he brutally attacked two Vietnamese men specifically for their race.

Way to go show, in leaving no drama as to which team was going to win the elimination. Jordan wouldn't have been nearly as smug had he lost. He sure is cocky for a guy who was not only eliminated in the last show, but then lost the first competition to get back in the game and needed a second second chance. Aneesa had way too much of a size advantage for Amber to have any chance to win her part of the elimination. Jordan's strategy definitely helped him, but he's surely not the genius he thinks he is. With Amber and Chauncey gone, I guess I'll have to root for Olivia and Horacio the rest of the way, as all the others are insufferable.

Spoiler for anyone who didn't watch White last.. How did Ava resist running over Bob? What was with Ray and Hanna having an in depth conversation while Carlos could have regained consciousness, overheard Hanna's plan and killed them both at any minute?

This show is getting hilariously stupid. How are people on the sidelines allowed to shout things out during an elimination that is based on communication with your partner?? Imagine on Survivor if one of the people sitting out a blindfold challenge starting shouting stuff out, not even to help their own team, but so another team couldn't hear. Probst would shut that down so fast. This show has no such integrity.

I have no idea what Nelson was thinking. He was clearly manipulated by Devin, but that wasn't actually a smart mover for either of them. Devin talks about how he is all about strategy and not emotion, but the only reason to target Amber was that she was the one to say out loud what most people were already thinking. Now everyone knows it's true. I don't know how people fall for Devin's pitches. He's just so smarmy. Nelson's given explanation for putting in Amber and Chauncey was that they were a weak team who hadn't won anything. Of course, if you are already ticking off a bunch of vets by putting them in danger, it's better to get rid of a strong team. I'll also note that Amber has actually won the show in her two appearances, while Nelson is 0 for 8.

The format of this season is pretty ridiculous. The team who wins has to piss off a large portion of the house. It's funny to see people who have been on this challenge forever be such big crybabies when they're not controlling things. Jordan may very well be the biggest dick ever to appear on this show and that's a monstrously high bar. He told Jay and Michele that he understood the game and then had a hissy fit that they dared to go against the mighty Jordan. Johnny and Nany put them in a few weeks ago, but they're not allowed to reciprocate? There's such entitlement from these vets and I'd love to see them all knocked down a few pegs.

So what was with them being shocked he didn't leap 3 seconds after he saved Jason? He never leaps immediately. At the very least, he has to have a conversation with an invisible person in the middle of a crowded place with seemingly nobody noticing.

Well, that was a disaster of a finale! The consensus seems to be that these people couldn't compete with the "real" challenge. However, I'm not so sure many of the regulars could have finished the Sudoku. Many of those people aren't the brightest crayons in the box. I'm also not sure if there were any finals where they had to use their hands in the bitter cold. I understand Angela's thinking in that in the previous legs, the last place team/person timed out and automatically got the 2 points. They should have made the rules clear. Enzo obviously had to be eliminated because he didn't even make it to the end of the leg. Speaking of which, it was ridiculous that Desi was eliminated. Just let two women run together! It was already nonsensical that one woman had to go alone on each leg. They should always keep the last person or two close by (in this case David) in case of a situation like this. I was glad to see Danny win, but Sarah is just insufferable. Kudos to her for finishing, though.

This show is brilliant! The line about not going to synagogue in years because it is boring cracked me up, as did the part where he dumped the nativity pieces and launched the Christmas tree into the woods. It was an interesting ending with Nathan seeming to trade one religious zealot for another. 55,000-117,000 viewers per episode is crazy low, but that's just live and same day viewing, so it's hard to know how many people watch it in total. Since HBO doesn't sell advertising, they're not as concerned with numbers as commercial TV. Sometimes, they'll renew low performing shows if they are critically acclaimed, as this one is On the negative side, shows like this are usually cheap to produce, but building the replica bar alone had to have cost a fortune.

Maybe the most impressive thing about the trivia was that Angela still almost won, despite have a partner who didn't think a shark was an animal.

I'm not sure that was a good move for Team Big Brother. Xavier was one of the best competitors on his team and I doubt he would have made a move on them until the end. On the other hand, they did also take out a number from Survivor, so that limits the damage. I didn't mind Shan on Survivor, but she was completely insufferable on this show and I was glad to see her go. I'm not sure why all her vitriol went toward Alyssa, while she seemed to spare Kyland.

I guess I'm in the opposite camp on a lot of this. I find a majority of the feuds and drama on the original Challenge to be tedious and boring. I tune out or skip through a lot of it. There are just too many over the top dramatic cast members and I prefer people with a little more sanity. I'm more a fan of the strategy and the actual challenges (other than anything requiring eating).