S03.E05: More Than Friends?

[AntFTW]

Quote

Lines are drawn at the "Sidetracked" challenge after several All Stars team up to target their biggest competition. Two players are shocked to find themselves on everyone's radar when a notorious veteran accuses them of being more than just allies. An All Star puts a friend's game in serious danger and must pay the price.

Air Date: June 1, 2022

[jsm1125]

I’m assuming Beth mispronouncing Jonna’s name was intentional? Also, any word if the cheating rumor is true? A bit surprised Beth wasn’t considering choosing Veronica as her opponent in the Arena had she had that option.

I know Veronica is divisive, but seeing her loyalty to Yes made me smile.

Edited June 1, 2022 by jsm1125

[AntFTW]

I hated that elimination game.

[Lantern7]

1 hour ago, AntFTW said:

I hated that elimination game.

I liked the concept, but crowd participation reared its lopsided head yet again. As much as I would’ve been dandy with Jonna trying to out Beth’s lungs, Bad Beth & Beyond had a point. If you don’t have people that like you in the crowd, the odds of you winning drop.

Well, Beth did what Beth does, and she’ll keep coming back . . . at least until BMP brings friggin’ Julie out of retirement. Sophia wouldn’t have stirred the tea. Beth just grabbed the tea and violently shook it. That’s Beth, and that’s all we can expect from her.

*sigh* I can’t remember the mission. Wait . . . Ring Toss w/Politics! Teege’s format change was typical BMP. “Okay, we’re reducing the Authority to the winners of the mission. They pick who goes into the Arena, and they pick their own opponents. Now let’s bring out a game that’s really easy to game!”

Wes probably jerked it raw after beating Yes. Yes has to settle for being Teege’s “favorite human,” whatever the fuck that means. Does that mean Emy is his favorite alien?

[funnygirl]

It's smart to go after Jonna. She won season 2, made it to the finals in season 1. When Wes said that the guys are gunning for the season 1 and 2 winners, I was like that's smart! 

I do love Yes, though, and will miss him. 

Didn't they have Road Rules Tara as an alternate, as well? I can think of a few women on this season's cast that they could have replaced her with, let alone bringing Beth on for Tina (or was it for Jemmye? either way...). 

MJ is so whiney. 

Edited June 1, 2022 by funnygirl

[bunnyface]

That was kind of a boring elimination.  I think Beth could have lasted a lot longer if she hadn't given up, given that she seemed to be standing between the pegs that were being pushed.  But I can understand not feeling there is any point in going on when someone (everyone) is giving direction to the other person.  I don't like Jonna either, so either one winning was okay.

Come to think of it, the earlier task was boring also.  Were they on a budget this week?

ETA:  But when I think about it some more, I guess I understand it.  These aren't kids made of bendy cartilage any longer.  They have formed bones and brittle bones at that.  Look at how many injuries we are starting to get.  You know Darrell and Tina and whoever else would have just bounced up and laughed it off 20 years ago.  Now they have casts and crutches and being carried out on stretchers.   They aren't kids any longer.  Handle with care.

Edited June 1, 2022 by bunnyface
Adding more nonsense.

[xfuse]

2 hours ago, funnygirl said:

I do love Yes, though, and will miss him. 

I don't. I really dislike it when people pretend about taking the moral high ground on playing a game and look down on anyone not playing it their way. It's a game with certain rules and certain conditions and their way of playing is not the only right way to play it.  

Anyone else think that Brad was scared to go in elimination so that is why he called out his good friend Wes.

[AntFTW]

3 hours ago, funnygirl said:

It's smart to go after Jonna. She won season 2, made it to the finals in season 1. When Wes said that the guys are gunning for the season 1 and 2 winners, I was like that's smart!

What was not smart was the other Challengers choosing to go at it alone rather than team up. Yes, MJ, and Jordan could have teamed up to sabotage their plan and focus their efforts on Mark or anyone else in their round. Same goes for the girls. They know the "Tree House" is working together, yet Beth, Nia, and KellyAnne do nothing.

[ljenkins782]

4 hours ago, funnygirl said:

It's smart to go after Jonna. She won season 2, made it to the finals in season 1. When Wes said that the guys are gunning for the season 1 and 2 winners, I was like that's smart! 

I do love Yes, though, and will miss him. 

Didn't they have Road Rules Tara as an alternate, as well? I can think of a few women on this season's cast that they could have replaced her with, let alone bringing Beth on for Tina (or was it for Jemmye? either way...). 

MJ is so whiney. 

Yes looks like he's bulked up since season 1 of All Stars, I remember thinking he looked too thin in that one. I won't miss that unfortunate fedora, but I like him and wish he could have taken out Wes, who I loathe.

I won't miss Beth, she's one of my all-time least favorites. She acts like a villain, but I personally think she's just unlikeable and socially awkward so she plays up the villain thing to explain away the fact that no one likes her. And I thought it was a dirty move to throw out the "MJ and Jonna are cheating on their spouses with each other" rumor as justification for wanting Jonna out. Even if it's true, that's none of Beth's business and has zero to do with the game.

I don't understand why real OGs like Tara and Dan would be left on the alternates list, the story has been that people can't take the time away or whatever but if you have people who were willing to play and you leave them on the sidelines in favor of having the same people back for a 2nd or 3rd time, that doesn't make sense. 

[AntFTW]

5 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Wes probably jerked it raw after beating Yes. Yes has to settle for being Teege’s “favorite human,” whatever the fuck that means. Does that mean Emy is his favorite alien?

I think that honor belongs to Fessy.

[choclatechip45]

15 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

Yes looks like he's bulked up since season 1 of All Stars, I remember thinking he looked too thin in that one. I won't miss that unfortunate fedora, but I like him and wish he could have taken out Wes, who I loathe.

I won't miss Beth, she's one of my all-time least favorites. She acts like a villain, but I personally think she's just unlikeable and socially awkward so she plays up the villain thing to explain away the fact that no one likes her. And I thought it was a dirty move to throw out the "MJ and Jonna are cheating on their spouses with each other" rumor as justification for wanting Jonna out. Even if it's true, that's none of Beth's business and has zero to do with the game.

I don't understand why real OGs like Tara and Dan would be left on the alternates list, the story has been that people can't take the time away or whatever but if you have people who were willing to play and you leave them on the sidelines in favor of having the same people back for a 2nd or 3rd time, that doesn't make sense. 

Tara and Dan were brought in as Alternates after filming started. Dan replaced Tyler and Tara replaced Beth. Maybe they couldn't commit to the start of filming? I agree I would have rather have them both on the cast. 

[LaurelleJ]

Beth. Lots of thoughts on Beth. First, before this episode I could go either way on Beth, she annoys me but I understand that you need a villain on the show, and she leans into that roll so well. That said, this episode pushed me into 100% not a fan territory.

When she was sitting at the table talking to Mark and Sylvia, I don't buy it. I have watched enough reality TV to know that when someone is saying something and you cannot see their face, you can assume that it is ADR. I don't believe that Beth said that Jonna was cheating on her husband with MJ at that table at that time, I think she said it later and they put it in there. I know they have a show and they need drama, but I think there is a line and she crossed it. You want to go against Jonna because she is a cheater and she cheats on her husband? I bet that whole cheating thing stemmed from MJ helping Jonna during the elimination. She complained that MJ helped Jonna and that they were cheating. Production took those sound bites, cut them up, and ran with it. It would be very easy to do after the fact. Maybe they even gave Beth bonus money to say the line that she was cheating on her husband after the elimination round, and then they inserted the sound bite into that scene of her talking to Mark and Sylvia. 

However it happened, no respect for her and the whole situation. Good riddance. I actually found myself rooting for Wes during the elimination and was happy when he won. I don't know much about Yes, but now I know why their somewhat one sided social media feud is going on. Nice gesture for Wes to go in and save Brad. Now I believe Brad is on his own, he has said that if Wes wet in he would finish the game backing him up. We will see. 

ETA Beth intentionally mispronouncing Jonna's name after being corrected is just icing on the cake for me to say F her. 

Edited June 2, 2022 by LaurelleJ

[AntFTW]

38 minutes ago, LaurelleJ said:

Nice gesture for Wes to go in and save Brad. Now I believe Brad is on his own, he has said that if Wes wet in he would finish the game backing him up. We will see. 

I thought Brad was being a little bitch.

[AntFTW]

I like the new game dynamic of the person being put into elimination gets to pick their opponent. Now that Jonna has won, she's willing to take a risky bet like going into elimination. She was not willing to do that the first two seasons.

[AntFTW]

2 hours ago, LaurelleJ said:

Beth. Lots of thoughts on Beth. First, before this episode I could go either way on Beth, she annoys me but I understand that you need a villain on the show, and she leans into that roll so well. That said, this episode pushed me into 100% not a fan territory.

When she was sitting at the table talking to Mark and Sylvia, I don't buy it. I have watched enough reality TV to know that when someone is saying something and you cannot see their face, you can assume that it is ADR. I don't believe that Beth said that Jonna was cheating on her husband with MJ at that table at that time, I think she said it later and they put it in there.

I thought it was extremely out of line. She knows this will be aired to a large audience and she shouldn't mess with someone's family like that. That's not cool. When I heard it on the trailer after episode 4, my jaw dropped.

Overall, this was not a good season for Beth because unlike season one, she just didn't fit in here with the younger cast and the younger cast is running the game. I feel like Beth was lashing out because of that (and I'm just guessing). Season one was more of Beth's lane than this season. Unlike Beth, Veronica has been on more recent seasons of the flagship show and has competed with the younger cast members and Beth hasn't. Beth wasn't able to gain a foothold in the game for the couple of days she was there and lashed out in the wrong way and why she ultimately quit.

Edited June 2, 2022 by AntFTW

[Zizzlezazzle]

Once again: Ohhh Beth!

She just can't get out of her own way on these challenges, and social awkwardness aside, why is somebody still so deathly afraid of heights coming back into the game in denial that she’ll be able to avoid that element? If you haven’t dealt with those fears in 20+ years, what incentive is there to do so now?

Waste of a spot for sure.

[snarts]

On 6/1/2022 at 6:01 PM, xfuse said:

Anyone else think that Brad was scared to go in elimination so that is why he called out his good friend Wes.

Absolutely. Brad always pulls this crap too. I was embarrassed for him, he was so obviously scared. 

Why'd they have to bring in Beth if they had Tara on the bench ready?  Total waste of a spot.

Finally, the daily challenge would've been far more interesting if to win they had to find & successfully toss their own rings rather than the stupid sabotage angle. 

[AntFTW]

1 hour ago, snarts said:

Finally, the daily challenge would've been far more interesting if to win they had to find & successfully toss their own rings rather than the stupid sabotage angle. 

 I usually love sabotage challenges but I didn't care for this one so much because of the sabotage angle.

Initially, what I thought the game would be is Challengers having to throw their 5 rings on their own star. I find the sabotage less interesting in a challenge like this.

1 hour ago, snarts said:

Absolutely. Brad always pulls this crap too. I was embarrassed for him, he was so obviously scared. 

I hated that. If he wanted to be the winner, all he had to do was speak up. From what we're shown, Mark speaks up and says he'll be the Authority... and Brad says nothing.

Edited June 3, 2022 by AntFTW

[lasu]

Does anyone know if there is any truth to the Jonna/MJ rumors?  I hope not on a lot of levels, obviously that's she's married with kids, but also it's nice to see a man and a woman just be sincerely supportive of each other.

I've normally teetered between enjoying Beth's villain façade, and feeling badly for her because I feel like she has that façade to hide her vulnerability at being disliked.  It's easier to be disliked if you feel you are the one orchestrating it.  That said, fuck her for saying Jonna is having an affair with MJ.  If it's true, I certainly don't consider it Beth's responsibility to lie or cover it up, but that's a world of difference between actually outing her.  It was a dick thing to do, and I can't excuse it.  Again, I hope it's not true, though it would make things even shittier from Beth.  On many levels, I hope that's it for Beth. (Unless they give me a true Old Stars season.)

[noluvnoluck]

I heard the rumors were true. I think Jonna and her husband were separated since she took down all his photos at one point. They've looked like they've recently reconciled though. 

I wished Yes would've stopped talking and remained focused. I wished Veronica gave him hints. I was good on not seeing Wes for another 10 years. I feel like this show will replicate the main show again. I don't even know who Kailah is! Must suck for Tara and Dan to be relegated to subs to have her on. 

Edited June 3, 2022 by noluvnoluck

[Unclejosh]

I heard about the rumors of them hooking up after Season 2 before this Season even filmed and coinciding with her removal of all signs of her husband from social media and reports from the filming of this season as well, I think they were clearly hooking up. MJ was divorced or single at the time but she was not at least not when it began.

This is nothing new for Jonna, she has cheated before and it was mentioned in multiple shows she was on previously.  No shade, just a fact that she is a repeat cheater.  

Her and hubby are back together though now though.  Hopefully it works out for them for the sake of them both and their kids.

[1011101010001]

I think in both the main show and all stars the onlookers should be able to cheer or jeer but not give concrete assistance.  Otherwise  it just becomes a mean girls type popularity contest.  And this is especially true if it is math or puzzles.  People who are weak in physical challenges don’t get assistance, why should those in mental challenges get it?

[Jillibean]

Mispronouncing Jonna's name--clearly on purpose by the end--seemed super micro-aggressiony to me, and I hope Beth gets an appropriate amount of flak for it. 

I think it's a stretch to say that Jonna cheated. It certainly does seem like something happened between her and MJ, but we have no idea what Jonna's situation was at the time that it did. She and her husband might already have been separated. We don't know what people's lives are. That said, I do think Jonna and MJ seemed to be pretty super specific about saying they didn't have an affair or weren't having one currently, not saying they never hooked up. Honestly though, while I wish Jonna the best in her marriage and for her family, it seems clear to me that MJ and Jonna have chemistry and a very strong connection. A lot of the season to this point has been Jonna talking about how she feels about him, but in this episode we really saw his devotion to her as well.

I adore Tara and would have loved to see her. I hope she's used for a future season. My understanding is that Beth was originally supposed to be on the cast but refused to film with Tina unless Tina apologized, which she did not do. So it probably was an intuitive choice for production to have her come in when Tina left. I am not a fan of how she behaved, but look how much drama she stirred up in her grand two episodes of screen time. It's probably exactly what production wanted. 

Edited June 5, 2022 by Jillibean

[millennium]

Great to see Wes send Yes packing!    "Favorite human being?"  It seemed a petty and unnecessary thing for TJ to say, given that there are so many veterans standing right there and in the audience who have done much more for the show than Yes.  Wes' superhero pose coming down from the platform cracked me up.  I had to rewind and watch it again.

I think Beth was done in by the combo of acrophobia and coaching from the sidelines.  She probably could have handled either one separately but together it was too much.   I wish they would do something about the group participation.   I know it adds spice to the scene, but it chafes against my notions of fairness.    What I don't understand is why Beth keeps getting invited back when she has backed out of or quit more challenges/eliminations than anyone I can recall.   Wasn't there a season where she trash-talked Aneesa for several episodes, but when it came time to actually go up against Aneesa, Beth walked away?

I don't know how anyone could have thought MJ and Jonna were having an affair.   I mean, sure, it was talked about in social media and Jonna and her husband were said to be having problems, but anyone who saw how lovingly Jonna was braiding MJ's gross hair would naturally conclude there was nothing going on between them, right?

[1011101010001]

21 minutes ago, millennium said:

What I don't understand is why Beth keeps getting invited back when she has backed out of or quit more challenges/eliminations than anyone I can recall.  

I think people who quit an elimination should be permanently banned but at the least they should not be allowed to come back the very next season like Tina.  But producers want larger than life characters so they don’t care about sportsmanship.  I also think people who quit individual challenges should be sent home immediately.  If you are afraid of heights or a picky eater don’t come on the show.

[Zima]

Sad to see Yes go. I freaking love him, and would love to see him in a final vs. Jordan.  I like Wes too, and he definitely played the superior game during that elimination, so I can't be too upset about his win. 

I enjoyed seeing Beth in the 1st season, but she's just gone back to all her old ways now, and I think everyone who said that she resorts to that "villain" behavior because of insecurity and social awkwardness is totally spot-on. 

[AntFTW]

8 minutes ago, Zima said:

I enjoyed seeing Beth in the 1st season, but she's just gone back to all her old ways now, and I think everyone who said that she resorts to that "villain" behavior because of insecurity and social awkwardness is totally spot-on.

Not to excuse Beth's behavior but they really didn't make it easy for Beth. In a personal capacity, I felt like they tried to make Beth uncomfortable. They were intentionally giving Beth side eyes and awkward silences when she comes into the room. They have this passive aggressive high school 'clique' behavior towards Beth, and I hate it.