S14E04: Qualifiers 4

[Lantern7]

Can you smell the corporate synergy???

Quote

The qualifying rounds continue in San Antonio with competitors as young as 15 return in this first round of competition. Minions have taken over the course and brought new obstacle Despicaballs. Other new obstacles include Shattered Panes, Final Frontier in addition to the iconic Warped Wall.

If you have a low tolerance for Minions . . . this won’t be your favorite episode.

[ams1001]

This is Bananas!

Aw, happy for Barclay and her fiancée (and their puppy). 

Edited June 28, 2022 by ams1001

[Lantern7]

“HERSTORY! HERSTORY!!”

Calm down, Akbar. But yeah, seven women in the top 30 is worth recognizing.

Edited June 28, 2022 by Lantern7

[AZChristian]

Just when you thought the introduction of competitors couldn't get worse, we get a shark who recently proposed to his T-Rex girlfriend.  They've gotten too far away from an athletic competition and too close to The Gong Show with movie plugs.

[ams1001]

24 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

Just when you thought the introduction of competitors couldn't get worse, we get a shark who recently proposed to his T-Rex girlfriend.  They've gotten too far away from an athletic competition and too close to The Gong Show with movie plugs.

At the beginning everyone seemed to be going the same way at Split Decision; I was starting to wonder if a certain number of people were contractually-obligated to go for the Minion-head obstacle (or at least the broadcast was arranged to show a certain number of runs that went that way).

[Rickster]

Didn’t they do a Jurassic Park tie in show a couple of seasons ago?

After last night, maybe it’s time to stop the automatic five qualifiers for women, although I was trying to figure out if they stacked the field to help get the result they wanted.

We always DVR the show and watch about a minute of the intro package for the competitors, then FF through everything except the runs. Amazing how quickly you can get through the show.

Just occurred to me with the comment about the Minion obstacle. I wonder if the show is obligated to air the run of every competitor? If some crash out on the first or second obstacle, could we never see them.

[ams1001]

5 hours ago, Rickster said:

Didn’t they do a Jurassic Park tie in show a couple of seasons ago?

Yes, it was a tie-in with the 2018 Jurassic World movie.

[SophiaD]

I think one of the reasons we're seeing so many women succeed is that they actually did what many of us were hoping for - they put a balance obstacle in the middle of the course and stopped relying so heavily on upper-body strength.  The real test will be in the Finals, which is usually All All About the Upper Body.  It will be interesting to see if they discontinue the Top 5 women thing, although that's preferable to the Wild Card for me.  

Decent episode last night.  I didn't really care as much about the final competitor as much as, say, Jody Avila (who got the WWWA treatment for the most part).  Some really nice runs and the backstories were less tedious than usual.  I did think the Shark/T. Rex thing was a bit overblown.  

For me, the best moment was Barclay Stockett and her adorable new fiancée.  So happy for them both and very happy for Barclay that she got such great support and is finding happiness in the wake of her mother's death.  It was especially nice after her poor showing last season and at the Women's Championship.  

[MsMalin]

Very happy for the 16 year old girl with diabetes.

[eel21788]

54 minutes ago, MsMalin said:

Very happy for the 16 year old girl with diabetes.

How did you know she was diabetic? They barely mentioned it (major sarcasm)!

[SophiaD]

51 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

How did you know she was diabetic? They barely mentioned it (major sarcasm)!

LOL.  I will say, the backstories are more relevant and helpful this season.  Kids watching this show will get a more powerful message from watching the young lady with diabetes complete the course (and what a great run she had!) than they would have had over Nicholas Coolridge's dumpster diving or whatever.  

[Lovecat]

7 hours ago, Rickster said:

Just occurred to me with the comment about the Minion obstacle. I wonder if the show is obligated to air the run of every competitor? If some crash out on the first or second obstacle, could we never see them.

They are not.  A friend's husband competed on Night 2 of Qualifying, and though he made the aired program the last 2 years, his run was not shown this year.  I spotted him on the sidelines, though.  I also noticed that one of those Tower of Power dudebros placed in the Top 30 last night (Polizzi, I think...saw his name on the leaderboard) but was nowhere to be seen in the broadcast.

[DEL901]

32 minutes ago, Lovecat said:

They are not.  A friend's husband competed on Night 2 of Qualifying, and though he made the aired program the last 2 years, his run was not shown this year.  I spotted him on the sidelines, though.  I also noticed that one of those Tower of Power dudebros placed in the Top 30 last night (Polizzi, I think...saw his name on the leaderboard) but was nowhere to be seen in the broadcast.

I actually saw him horabout half a second, but his name wasn’t mentioned. 

[MsMalin]

I don't particularly care for the constant backstories,but I do have to say that personally , some have been inspiring in a personal struggle I am experiencing.

[Vermicious Knid]

Quote

“HERSTORY! HERSTORY!!”

If they're going to do that, they need to bring out RuPaul.

Go Barclay, living out the friends-to-lovers trope for real. And she got through. Final Frontier was another fiendishly difficult obstacle that mowed down the field. I can see the Despicaballs coming back without the faces and under a different name. It was pretty challenging.

This episode is repeating on Friday and is tagged as new, for some reason.

[Good Queen Jane]

I never remember names. Did the firefighter with the prosthesis make it to LA? 

[Ciarrai]

On 6/28/2022 at 10:44 AM, Lovecat said:

They are not.  A friend's husband competed on Night 2 of Qualifying, and though he made the aired program the last 2 years, his run was not shown this year.  I spotted him on the sidelines, though.  I also noticed that one of those Tower of Power dudebros placed in the Top 30 last night (Polizzi, I think...saw his name on the leaderboard) but was nowhere to be seen in the broadcast.

Good. They are two of the competitors I dislike most; I don't need to see them/

[enoughcats]

Did only three or four complete the course?  

I had watched a repeat somewhere of an episode several years ago.  I liked the editing then: lots of pictures of excited friends and family on site, no screens of people in a room cheering, more details of the contestants running the course. It seemed a lot more dynamic and challenging.

This version is going to be hard pressed to carry viewer interest from season to season as the old folks, the twenty and thirty somethings, aren't going to be there.  The new show format will embrace the kids who have time to practice a couple of hours a day EVERY day.  And there won't be any going back.  Very big sigh.

[TimothyQ]

7 hours ago, enoughcats said:

Did only three or four complete the course? 

Wikipedia says 8 finished: Nate Hansen, Austin Gray, Owen Dyer, Jody Avila, Christian Youst, Isaiah Wakeham, Mark Antioquia and Katie Bone. Some of those were WWWAs, though.

[candall]

On 6/28/2022 at 12:44 PM, Lovecat said:

They are not.  A friend's husband competed on Night 2 of Qualifying, and though he made the aired program the last 2 years, his run was not shown this year.  I spotted him on the sidelines, though.  I also noticed that one of those Tower of Power dudebros placed in the Top 30 last night (Polizzi, I think...saw his name on the leaderboard) but was nowhere to be seen in the broadcast.

I didn't care for Shattered Panes OR the planet thing.  And I hated all the fake enthusiasm for the paid Minion sponsorship crap.

Mainly I'm shocked that they load a two-hour show with so much filler and promotion but can't find a few seconds to feature each individual who has sweated out months of dedicated effort to reach the broadcast level.

WTF.