S36.E17: True Lies

[lilabennet]

I think they should replace Hall Brawl with the variation that Ty/Emily beat Paula/Dunbar at in Exes 1.  Still potential for some hard hits, but with a wider playing area the smaller player still has a chance if they are faster, smarter or more athletic than their opponent.  There is almost always zero suspense in the current iteration of Hall Brawl.  I don't understand why production likes it so much, you would think from their perspective no suspense equals no entertainment value.

[aghst]

The elimination that Nany won, she just outmaneuvered her opponent instead of going for direct contact.

But it would still be tough to beat Fessy because he can run well and if he gets a hand on a smaller guy, his strength takes over.

There was also that Daily challenge where they were in a pool of water looking for someone in the brackish water and the people who were winning did so by sneaking towards the finish line and making a run for it, not trying to go through people.

Edited April 8, 2021 by aghst

[LaurelleJ]

2 hours ago, AntFTW said:

2) Leroy and Kam believe it's possible that Kaycee threw the Challenge so that she can eligible to be picked by Fessy if he won the elimination because Kaycee can outrun Nany and she seemingly wasn't able to catch up to her. Leroy caught up with Kyle on the run back but Kaycee was seemingly slower than Nany.

Ah, this is an interesting theory, and smart on Kaycee's part. She knew she was safe regardless, and worst case scenario she keeps Leroy as a partner, and best case scenario she gets Fessy. Or it could be that she really just performed poorly. Really all she had to do was hang back in second place behind Kam. 

6 hours ago, Jobiska said:

I wonder if Kam and Leroy planned never to pair up because it expanded their chance of one of them winning, since they are planning a life together.  (I don't want to say doubled bc I  think Kam has a hugely greater chance of winning than Leroy does).

Yeah when everyone was pairing up, Kam said to Leroy that they had to split up. That's when she asked CT to partner, and he turned her down for Ashley. It's likely to increase chances of winning as well as help control the numbers. Protection of two alliances, it worked out pretty well for them. 

19 minutes ago, Jillibean said:

I felt really bad when Amber revealed she has dyscalculia. I wish they had allowed her to say that during the episode. 

Bananas and Wes are both excellent at producing themselves. They know how to narrate and act to put together a storyline. Fessy is not nearly as bright as either of them, and he's also on social media telling everyone that he did stuff for television, which is something neither Bananas or Wes will ever do--they commit to their stuff, because they know saying "oh actually I didn't feel that way; I just said it for TV" hurts the credibility and enjoyment of the show. But Fessy wants it both ways. He wants to get airtime and he also wants to pretend he's not really like that and it's all for TV. I really can't stand him, and I don't think he's good for the show. He has too great a need to dismiss any criticism against him to be a good spokesperson for the challenge. 

I know Hall Brawl is a classic, but I'm not a fan. The potential for serious injury is so high, and so much of it is about how big you are. I'd rather see Balls In or a return to the Gauntlet 2 wrestling circle elim that Derrick excelled at. One of these days someone is going to get seriously hurt doing this elimination. 

I felt bad about Amber too. I do wish they had allowed her to say that, but probably didn't because it makes them look kind of mean that they showed her struggling knowing she had a problem. 

Bananas and Wes are indeed excellent at producing themselves. This concept is currently going around social media, but both Bananas and Wes "understand the assignment". Look at the previous season, when Bananas and Wes decided to team up after being at odds, and then went against each other in the elimination. Those are "villains" I can support. 

11 minutes ago, lilabennet said:

I think they should replace Hall Brawl with the variation that Ty/Emily beat Paula/Dunbar at in Exes 1.  Still potential for some hard hits, but with a wider playing area the smaller player still has a chance if they are faster, smarter or more athletic than their opponent.  There is almost always zero suspense in the current iteration of Hall Brawl.  I don't understand why production likes it so much, you would think from their perspective no suspense equals no entertainment value.

I also hate Hall Brawl, especially when it looks lopsided, rarely is the matchup pretty even. What happened to pole wrestle? The simplest elimination to set up, you only need a pole, for goodness sake. 

[peachmangosteen]

I despise hall brawl. It’s boring and I don’t wanna see someone be seriously injured during it, which seems bound to happen at some point.

Honestly, I hate all the elimination challenges of late and I actually just fast forward through them lol.

[AntFTW]

I liked the elimination that CT and Darrell won. I thought that elimination game was made so much better by adding a puzzle.

[Never Again]

10 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

Does 2nd place get money or not? If not, I'm thinking I might rather see Fessy/Kaycee get 2nd just for the lols of them being close but failing. But them being absolutely last would be beautiful, too.

Please don’t put that out into the universe.  The only acceptable result is for them to be dead last.

[Michichick]

26 minutes ago, Never Again said:

Please don’t put that out into the universe.  The only acceptable result is for them to be dead last.

Yessss! And that would be even sweeter because Fessy picked his own finals partner. He wouldn’t be able to use the excuse of a bad partner like he whined about so often this season. He’d have no excuses for losing and it would be glorious to watch.

[tinderbox]

12 hours ago, Jess14 said:

He definitely did not act like this on Big Brother. While he was never a favorite of mine, I never disliked him. He seemed like a decent person, not entertaining, but not someone who I felt no need to root against. Now, I don’t know if things just went to his head or if he thinks this is what MTV wants, or something else, but his ego is out of control. 

I thought Fessy was dumb as rocks on Big Brother.  

[BK1978]

On 4/8/2021 at 11:01 PM, tinderbox said:

I thought Fessy was dumb as rocks on Big Brother.  

I did as well.  Mainly because of the whole, "Who flipped?" thing.  It's like mother fer you're in a house with what fourteen people.  Six of which are aligned with you the rest are not in your alliance but every week they say they will vote with you. Who the hell do you think is lying to you?  I understand him not getting who flipped during the first vote, but after that vote his reactions were just painful to watch.

I also remember thinking, this dude is a teacher...my god I feel bad for those kids.

One thing I was meaning to bring up is, I wonder why they choose to play 80's songs during this show.  Now don't get me wrong, I love 80's music it was what I grew up listening to.  But it seems so weird to be playing it on a show where a good portion of the cast were probably not even born when that music came out.

Edited April 10, 2021 by BK1978
Because I put or not instead of are not. Sometimes my typos even get me confused.

[Jess14]

53 minutes ago, tinderbox said:

I thought Fessy was dumb as rocks on Big Brother.  

Oh for sure. He was hopeless, as was his entire alliance, other than Haleigh at times. However, I would gladly take dumb Fessy over unbelievably arrogant Fessy that we’re getting now lol. 

[lasu]

Let me add my voice to the chorus (again) of those who just don't enjoy hall brawl. It's dangerous.  If it was a matter of not having a lot of resources to set things up (which I would totally understand and support them scaling things down), doing that blindfolded thing where you try to whack the other person with a cane would be far easier to set up, as well as pole dance as someone else mentioned.

Do you think it's because this particular forum tends to skew female?  I'm just trying to figure out the disconnect between what I'm reading here and how often the producers think we want to see hall brawl.

I'm disappointed that Kaycee would rather go the finals with Fessy than LeRoy.  I don't dislike her, I think she's boring but inoffensive, but I like that seems confident in who she is and likes herself.  However, for the moment, I want her and her partner to come in WAAAAY last.  Though I will say if part of the reason she made that move was because of a possible "winner can steal it all" twist, I'm going to really reassess her because I think would have been insanely smart thinking, and...I think LeRoy might have done it.  Not any other season, but when he's going to walk?  And with Cam saying DO IT DO IT DO IT in his ear?  I think he might have done it.

Corey doesn't know he could be super screwed with Cam as partner.  If they get near the finish line, and LeRoy and Nany are in sight, I think she will refuse to cross - maybe in some less dramatically obvious way, but if Cam can come in second to LeRoy, I think that's her ultimate win this season.

What  fucking tool Fessy is.  Blugh.  I'm really upset that some of y'all are thinking they might be setting him up as the next villain.  I can't tell you how sad that made me, because the only reason I was even remotely enjoying this was thinking about Fessy watching this season with his really horrible edit.  Interesting that Tori got with him after he got (or revealed) super arrogant for no reason.  She seems to have a type.  But if anyone can wrangle a hothead, it's her.  But HOW can a hothead be so boring??  Was Tori actually on this season?  Seems like four seasons ago at this point.

And Fessy reading his whole ass letter?  Forget how badly he read his own words, but did you actually see his handwriting?  Jiminy.  And then he had the nerve to call out Amber for GRACIOUSLY trying to let him off the hook and save a little face for herself by saying it wasn't about her? YES YES IT WAS ABOUT HER, YOU FUCKING DOLLAR STORE TOY TOOL.  Yes, he made this whole speech about how he's been held back and he needs to prove himself and all this other noble bullshit, but it's simply not true.  The only reason, and I mean the ONLY reason he went into the crater was because he didn't want Amber as a partner.  If he had Kaycee or Kam as a partner, his noble quest wouldn't have happened.  So literally, it was all about Amber.

And as such, this is what I need:

• Fessy to royally fuck up in the final.
• Amber to out perform everyone.
• CT to be gracious and kind to her.
• Amber/CT come in first with Amber being the real MVP.
• Fessy/Kaycee dead last, with Fessy being the real LVP.
• At the reunion, I need PEAK smarmy/charming CT
  • I need to him to talk about how he couldn't have done it without Amber.
  • I need him to like give Fessy a BOW WRAPPED PRESENT for letting him have Amber.
  • I need Fessy to suffer publicly where I can watch it.

[AntFTW]

3 minutes ago, lasu said:

Though I will say if part of the reason she made that move was because of a possible "winner can steal it all" twist

That could be the real meaning of “Double Agents.”

6 minutes ago, lasu said:

Was Tori actually on this season?  Seems like four seasons ago at this point.

If you blinked, you missed her.

[Unclejosh]

I have found this forum feels like it skews female at least in public posting even going back to the TWOP days.  When I compare the posts and thoughts here with some other forums I visit (mostly dvd and audio visual forums) which are almost exclusively male, it is almost opposite and mostly follows stereotypical male female lines.  Not all of course but I can typically tell what will be posted after each episode on each of the forums due to the makeup of the base.

I do find it very interesting and enjoy it all to get different viewpoints and feelings.

 

[mojoween]

16 hours ago, BK1978 said:

One thing I was meaning to bring up is, I wonder why they choose to play 80's songs during this show.  Now don't get me wrong, I love 80's music it was what I grew up listening to.  But it seems so weird to be playing it on a show where a good portion of the cast was probably not even born when that music came out.

It’s so great.  When Kam and LeRoy were in the hot tub I have no idea what they were saying, because I was caterwauling “Eternal Flame” alongside Susana Hoffs because I love it so much, even though my husband calls it the burning STD song.  Ahh 1988.  Such a good year.

Edited April 9, 2021 by mojoween

[BK1978]

7 hours ago, mojoween said:

It’s so great.  When Kam and LeRoy were in the hot tub I have no idea what they were saying, because I was caterwauling “Eternal Flame” alongside Susana Hoffs because I love it so much, even though my husband calls it the burning STD song.  Ahh 1988.  Such a good year.

Susana Hoffs was one of my first real crushes that I remember as a kid.  The whole eye thing in Walk Like an Egyptian...yeah.  I saw a YouTube video of her from a few years ago and she is still smoking hot.  I am not sure how old she is, but she's like the female version of Dick Clark in that she does not age.

[Jillibean]

On 4/9/2021 at 9:11 AM, lasu said:

Let me add my voice to the chorus (again) of those who just don't enjoy hall brawl. It's dangerous.  If it was a matter of not having a lot of resources to set things up (which I would totally understand and support them scaling things down), doing that blindfolded thing where you try to whack the other person with a cane would be far easier to set up, as well as pole dance as someone else mentioned.

Do you think it's because this particular forum tends to skew female?  I'm just trying to figure out the disconnect between what I'm reading here and how often the producers think we want to see hall brawl.

I'm disappointed that Kaycee would rather go the finals with Fessy than LeRoy.  I don't dislike her, I think she's boring but inoffensive, but I like that seems confident in who she is and likes herself.  However, for the moment, I want her and her partner to come in WAAAAY last.  Though I will say if part of the reason she made that move was because of a possible "winner can steal it all" twist, I'm going to really reassess her because I think would have been insanely smart thinking, and...I think LeRoy might have done it.  Not any other season, but when he's going to walk?  And with Cam saying DO IT DO IT DO IT in his ear?  I think he might have done it.

Corey doesn't know he could be super screwed with Cam as partner.  If they get near the finish line, and LeRoy and Nany are in sight, I think she will refuse to cross - maybe in some less dramatically obvious way, but if Cam can come in second to LeRoy, I think that's her ultimate win this season.

 

Not to flatter us, but I think the posters here also tend to be maybe a little more mature than elsewhere. I'd be interested to know what the gender breakdown is of the actual challenge audience. My other issue with Hall Brawl is that whoever loses can validly say that it was unfair, and they're usually right. I like it when we at least pretend success in an elimination isn't solely due to size/weight.

I agree about Leroy. I think the fact that he's said this is his last season and that his true partner in the game is Kam might be enough to persuade him to take it all if given the opportunity. He wants the money for both of them, not just him.  

19 hours ago, mojoween said:

It’s so great.  When Kam and LeRoy were in the hot tub I have no idea what they were saying, because I was caterwauling “Eternal Flame” alongside Susana Hoffs because I love it so much, even though my husband calls it the burning STD song.  Ahh 1988.  Such a good year.

The sound mixing on that scene was terrible--it was so hard to hear what they were actually saying--but I didn't even care because I love Eternal Flame so much. 

As for the 80s songs, the past few seasons have each tapped musical hits from a different decade. Last season was 90s and I believe WotW2 was 70s. 

Edited April 10, 2021 by Jillibean

[lasu]

Eternal Flame had me cracking up, but Josh's I Get So Emotional was fucking hilarious. It's been getting better each season, but someone in production has a delightful sense of humor and I hope they never leave. 

[sabretooth]

5 hours ago, lasu said:

Eternal Flame had me cracking up, but Josh's I Get So Emotional was fucking hilarious. It's been getting better each season, but someone in production has a delightful sense of humor and I hope they never leave. 

I was cracking up at the Oscar acceptance speech music playing behind Fessy's deliberation speech. 

[Fretful]

I'm not spolied, so I could be way off, but for the most part- I like these 4 matchups for the final.

FESSY AND KAYCEE- Seem the the strongest, and if the final was 100% physical I think they'd take the whole thing.  However, there's always much more to it than that.  They have so much confidence in their strength that I can imagine them falling apart if they make a bad decision somewhere along the line.

CORY AND KAM- These two are really well matched.  Cory may be the only guy in the final who has the ability to put his ego aside and let Kam do her thing. They don't seem to have any obvious weaknesses in skills. I can also imagine her getting distracted  about Leroy and losing her focus, causing them to fail.  

LEROY AND NANY-  He wants this, and I can see him killing himself to get it.  I know Nany wants it, too, and wants it for him, but in the past she hasn't been able to dig deep when she's needed to.

CT AND AMBER -  They are both strong, and CT can cover the puzzles. I don't think either of them have any quit in them and he knows what it takes to win.  The curveball is that, as a rookie, we just don't know what Amber brings to a final.  She may not be ready.

[Jess14]

Kam and Cory definitely seem to be the best matched team, IMO. Kam is the alpha on the team, and Cory is fine with taking a backseat, while also more than holding his own physically. I think Kam and CT would’ve been a disaster, so I think they both dodged a bullet when Cory picked her.

I also think Amber compliments CT pretty well. She’s in shape, and while she obviously isn’t going to do well at puzzles, I don’t see any reason otherwise to think that she’s that much weaker than Kam or Kaycee. Like with Kam and Cory, I think she can hold her own physically while CT takes the lead.

I think Nany and Leroy have similar strengths and weakness, so I don’t know about them. And Kaycee and Fessy....I still think Fessy is the most likely out of the men to gas out.