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For those just joining us . . . eliminated teams in Battle Of The Exes II will be sent to "Exile." Or is it "EX-ile"? The duos face off against each other every week on MTV.com. Winners stay in Exile (a comfy little house), losers go to the airport. Eventually, an exiled couple will be brought back into the game/show itself. Anybody else expecting Mark Burnett and/or Jeff Probst to throw a brick at a TV screen? This week, Dustin & Jessica took on Thomas & Hailey. The game was Sweaters; each team had to fill up a liter bottle with their own sweat, using equipment for collection. I'm guessing this was an early-2000s Road Rules mission that fell through the cracks. Not much suspense . . . Dustin & Jessica wound up beating Thomas & Hailey, and they await the next opponents. Oh, and one of the girls threw up some water, though I don't know which one.

"CT is a monster"? Tell me something I don't know, Kroll Show. And thanks for showing off "Bananas Backpack," which ranks as one of the funniest moments in Challenge history. Seriously, I hope CT gets worked into as much of this season as possible, because I'm getting sick of thinking about him and poor Diem. We can speculate what king of gigolo CT would be, and what would get him to sell his body for money. I really hope "Wheels, Ontario" isn't that offensive to Canadians. Also looking forward to seeing more Bobby Bottleservice down the line. I remember what he wants on his tombstone: "VODKA, JESUS, REVENGE." ETA: Anybody want to speculate how Kroll Show will end? I'm betting all of his characters will meet each other, and the show implodes thusly.

ABC should order a pilot where an Englishman and Englishwoman talk to each other for an hour. At certain times, the lady kicks ass, while the man commentates on it in a horrifying mock American accent. Please tell me I'm not the only one thinking Bosom Buddies about Peggy's current digs. Can't wait to see how Jarvis gets his ass to the second floor. You just know it'll happen. Damn, Carter can kick some ass. Sure, she won with a deus ex macchina, but she was holding her own quite nicely before Jarvis intervened.

With a new episode on the horizon, I thought we could reminisce about our favorite moments from The Venture Bros. At least we can kick back and remember while waiting too long for a new season's worth of episodes comes out. Oh, and I'd be open to renaming the topic title . . . I remember "No way!" when Brock was wrestling an alligator that got stuck in the X-1. Or was it a crocodile? Chubacabra? That stuck with me from the pilot episode. Also: "Quick! Deploy the J-U-D-O!"

Had to check . . . we'll be having sixty minutes of Challenge "fun," with no After Show following it. ETA: Great, now I gotta go online to cover the losers' bracket. Fuck you, MTV, I'll be watching @Midnight on delay first. Really, any drama is drowned out by Diem's illness. Even minimized for this week, seeing her in pain looms large So does the "THIS SEASON IS DEDICATED TO DIEM AND KNIGHT" card, which will be shown every week. With pictures. Y'know, in case we forget two people passed away after filming of this season. To think the last mission she would compete in involved licking peanut butter, bat stroking, and trying to get pipe laid. You think the production team would have come up with something more -- I dunno -- dignified if they knew this would be Diem's last ride? Big fat "whatever" to the drama. Sucks to see Jenna get snuggly with Zach, because I consider him to be a Neanderthal meathead. Also "whatever" to the Johnny/Wes feud. Been there, done that, and I expect Wes to fall through a trap door because he's Wes. He rarely beats the Banana, and I hate him for that. Anybody else have peanut allergies? I guess the gang doesn't have that problem.

Thanks for the feedback. I have until the end of the week to decide which piece goes into the final slot. My goal is to get as many votes as possible . . . it can be a little deflating to put up five sketches and get a combined four votes, which is what happened last year. ETA: Here's my competition. Just showing you what I'm up against. I'm pretty sure about the four sketches I picked, but I'd be open to any ideas for substitutions.

We're really never going to hear from Jason and/or Nicole again after this season. They get into a fight, they nearly come to blows . . . then they discuss what went wrong and hug it out. Both didn't come off well in the argument, and Nicole wasn't right in yelling about Jason's babydaddy status, but they wound up making peace. BMP hates that. When Sylvia (or was it Violetta?) was on the phone with the producer, re: Alicia potentially getting killed, I assume the person on the other side of the line was so aroused. Bye, Alicia! I bet if Sylvia does a Challenge, BMP would call Alicia if they have a "Rivals" format. Lucky thing for BMP that they have at least six more "skeletons" to unload on the kids . . . and they're too stupid and/or weak to walk off in protest. For Alicia . . . at least she didn't get the total Madison experience. Big "meh" overall from the episode . . . maybe we'll get some fun watching Tony squirm next week. ETA: Lucky for me that MTV aired the episode tonight . . . I can watch the season premiere of Kroll Show "live" tomorrow at 10:30. Did you know CT will be popping up there? Also, "Gigolo Horse" seems like more fun than the current RW.

Oh, nice. Big question: why couldn't we get this on the weekend?

I think the space between the manga and anime was too close, so we "needed" the filler in order to get some breathing room. And yes, I'm sure the next episode won't be filler.

Anybody interested in the national championship game? I'm not . . . though I am amused that the team nicknames are taken from gentle sources. Who would fear a duck or a buckeye? I need some feedback . . . the place where I post my sketches is doing a vote thing for bragging rights. Here's what I got so far. I have one more slot left, and I don't know which sketch to use. Here's what I collected in 2014 . . . any feedback would be of great help to me.

Update: Yes, that is CT on Kroll Show. Here's a peek at "Gigolo Horse," which airs on Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. And even if you don't like CT, watch the show . . . it's a fun program. ETA: Here's the YouTube link.

Most of the time, the filler is killer. Tonight? Not so much. It's nice that Robin got a recap, but those that saw the Water7/Ennies Lobby arc already know her story. What about her time with Sir Crocodile and Baroque Works? A flashback to Skypeia (sic?) would've been nice as well. At least "Monster Time" was fun . .. and we'll be having more fun next week, when the story lurches forward again.

I'd trade, but I don't know who else collects the figures. I know people who are into Doctor Who, so at least I can give the figures away if need be, I'm not paying much attention to the NFL . . . I'm usually good for the Super Bowl, though.

Does anybody else go to the library to get graphic novels? I tend to get them and not read, but there have been a few that I've thumbed through . . . Seconds . . . this is Bryan Lee O'Malley's follow-up to the Scott Pilgrim franchise. It's pretty good, and I'm hoping it could be made into a movie. DC Showcase: Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5 . . . the "Showcase" books are large, telephone directory-styled tomes that come in black & white. This one has 500-plus pages, covering the Legion of the mid-Seventies. You can laugh about how the tech of the 30th Century doesn't age well, but I think it's held up pretty good. Good stuff from writers Cary Bates and Jim Shooter and artists Dave Cockrum and Mike Grell. Ms. Marvel . . . it's a book that lives up to the hype. Kamila is a cutie, and her power set makes for unique storytelling.

I forgot about Ruthie. My main knock against her is that she put in diminishing results the further she got in her Challenge career, especially when she got pulled by friggin' Beth in Reverse Tug-Of-War during Gauntlet 2. I still remember her endurance on Deadman's Drop in BOTS1, as well as her rappel-stopping in the penultimate mission. I wouldn't think she'd be out of place on a show like Survivor and/or The Amazing Race. Now that I think about it, the cutoff point for Mark being cool would be BOTS1. Remember, he volunteered to leave BOTS2 so that his pal Eric could get the $60,000 grand prize.

Thanks for the heads-up, OnceSane. Maybe MTV is looking to move the show, so that The Challenge could move to Wednesdays at 10. Or maybe MTV is banking on everything on network TV being reruns, what with the national championship being played that night.

With 25 seasons behind us, I ask you: who are your favorite Challengers? And which ones would you spit on if they were dying of thirst? Off the top of my head . . . in no particular order and in brief . . . Faves: Coral (those that got abused by her usually deserved it), Sarah Greyson (Queen of the Gauntlet; deserved way better than what she got), CT (reformed thug), Roni (seldom-seen force), Melissa (lasted almost all of BOTS1; gave insanely good interview), Antoine (met him once; saw him dance on top of a bar), Danny & Kelley (gotta pair these two up; if he switched orientation, she'd dump her husband in a heartbeat), Syrus (nice guy unless he's pissed off), Timmy (cornier than a Nebraskan's poop, but good people), Jamie Murray (especially during BOTS1), and Mark Long (before Gauntlet 2) Hated: *deep breath* Abram (psycho), Wes (ginger jackass), Rachel Robinson (ugly inside and out), Veronica (except for the time Julie almost killed her), Julie (starting with Extreme Challenge; thank goodness Melissa got her off first in BOTS1), Beth (so many reasons), "Johnny Bananas" (a guy who has transcended to shtick status), Evan (good guy who turned into a jackass), Kenny (unlike Johnny and Evan, he was a jagoff to start), Tina (once a scrub, always a scrub), Casey (did TJ really go horizontal with her?), Puck (do I need to explain why?), and . . . I should stop now. I'll be up all night if I dive into my brain to pick up all the people I hate.

From the episode thread: Show of hands. . . who would accept Johnny as host? I wouldn't, and I don't think I'd want it to happen to keep the show alive. I honestly don't think the show hinges on one person in particular. . . I prefer to think that the unruly mob brought in makes the show. Basically, the show is like something out Pinocchio's story, where all the bad boys hang out to smoke and drink . . . except they don't turn into donkeys and get sold into labor. Also, donkeys are cute. A lot of the people we see aren't.

Bill Simmons makes playoff picks; shows himself being in the bag for Johnny Bananas. The bastard got into Grantland's anniversary party specifically for his toasting ability. Here, take a look. I don't know whether to admire his skills or punch him in the nuts.

From Reality Blurred: Why S30 isn't an "all star' season. Probst also hypes the upcoming season; doesn't he say stuff like "Person for person and pound for pound, I will say that this is the best group of people I think we’ve ever had" just before every season?

David Jacoby goes over the Challenge season premiere. You have to get past The Bachelor coverage first, though. and he seems to be in the bag for Johnny.

I think that the ambiguous timeframe allows for a WWII "holdout" to be alive and kicking. There are archaic elements in the office to suggest that.

Fun episode. Finn and Princess Bubblegum sneak away from a Candy Kingdom slumber party. Chaos ensues, as the subjects fear the worse. It's fun to see the duo reconnect, though I wouldn't "ship" them just yet. I think the biggest dick would be Jake, who escalates the revolution between the denizens of the Kingdom.

Is it too early to speculate what Abbiejean's first word will be? I'm thinking "Phrasing," with "Boosh" and "Fignuts!" being the longshots. Good way to reintroduce the series, from the bland office to Pam's weight gain. I liked the "Vice" season, but I understand why it couldn't last. And "Ken" was a nice parallel to the show itself though I suspect the anvils could have been lighter, though.

Caprice . . . it's blind item. You don't know what figure you're getting until you open the box and rip it out of the little bag. That's part of the fun . . . you never know what you'll get. It's also a pain when you already have a figure.