S01.E09: Nevertheless She Persisted

[peachmangosteen]

Airs August 31st.

[LadyChatts]

This was the best episode of the season so far, even if it didn’t have the ending I wanted.  Desi and Justine, I wanted to like you, but then you had to go and do the stupid ‘fab five’ with Sarah.  And Cayla was in on that, too?  Sarah still sucks, but it is comical at how bad she is at this game.  She had my head spinning at her thought process and how bad ass she thinks she is. 

The first challenge was hysterical.  Sarah and her fab five going in targeting Angela and Alyssa, but how dare those girls turn it back on Sarah!  I loved how she was whining to everyone to help her and they were just ignoring her (including her girls, besides Cayla-why Cayla, did you have to go to the dark side?)  And where was this side of Danny during Survivor? 

I was 18 minutes in when I heard the first Kiki reference!  Anyone get anything earlier on their bingo card?

[AntFTW]

The poor sucker that had to put all those tokens in the seats, especially the nosebleed section…

It took them nine episodes, but they finally produced an episode that I liked. I liked the daily challenge, there was some decent drama, and it built some good tension. I didn’t care for the elimination game.

This episode felt more like The Challenge than any previous episode.

Edited September 1, 2022 by AntFTW

[jsm1125]

I can’t figure Sarah out. She seemed pretty devoid of charisma and likability during her Survivor seasons and even on this season, and the editors are having quite the time with showing her in a poor light, but she always manages to work well with a group of people: Andrea/Cirie/Sierra on Game Changers, Sophie/Ben/Yul on Winners at War (not counting Tony, as that was a pre-existing relationship), and Desi/Cashay/Cayla/Justine on this season. Does she just not translate well on TV?

Does anyone else get the impression that Angela and Alyssa are all about being the “cool girls” who only work well with men?

Edited September 1, 2022 by jsm1125

[AntFTW]

25 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

This was the best episode of the season so far, even if it didn’t have the ending I wanted.

Same

25 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

Desi and Justine, I wanted to like you, but then you had to go and do the stupid ‘fab five’ with Sarah.

What are these girls doing??? I like them both but they are not playing good games. They are not bad competitors but they are making bad social moves in the game. Justine is just not playing that much at all and I want her to stick around. She doesn't seem to be wheeling and dealing, and forming new bonds with people that could get further in the game. She has shown herself to be a pretty good competitor.

Desi should have used her power to cement her place in the alliance over Alyssa and Angela. She realized she was out of the loop on a plan (which Danny should have said nothing about a plan to begin with), and she seemingly did nothing to put herself in a better position.

25 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

Sarah still sucks, but it is comical at how bad she is at this game.  She had my head spinning at her thought process and how bad ass she thinks she is. 

I didn't expect Sarah to be so bad at this game.

25 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

And where was this side of Danny during Survivor? 

Kiki wasn't playing then so we didn't get to see it.

Edited September 1, 2022 by AntFTW

[Lantern7]

I'm mostly tuned out at this point. Leo's boot made things worse, and now Sarah is going to be extra insufferable for the rest of the season.

It's not that she's weak. She's probably one of the stronger competitors out there. It's just that her results have been sorely lacking, and she still insisted on being a top dog. Watching her complain to her allies about getting blocked during the mission . . . is anyone here familiar with the comedian Maria Bamford in any way? Sarah sounded like Maria doing an impression of a Karen. Maximum cringe. She should be embarrassed . . . but she beat Cash in the Arena (helped that Cash couldn't figure out how to make a hamster wheel spin for a few minutes), and now she has enough money to run TJ's Final.

And why should she complain about being made to lose? She hasn't won a mission all season. The only way to have kept her out of the finale would be to not put her in the Arena, thus keeping her balance the same and sadly lacking. She was sent to the Arena and she got a lay-up in Cash. Getting beat would have been the ultimate humiliation, but she won.

Bring on The Amazing Race. Fuck it, bring on Survivor. Maybe the casting people will fuck up again and give us a new Maryann.

Edited September 1, 2022 by Lantern7

[Artsda]

Wow was Sarah annoying during that challenge telling everyone to target Angela.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

I loved how she was whining to everyone to help her and they were just ignoring her

And then said they were too dumb to understand what she was telling them to do.  She's so arrogant and full of herself that it never crossed her mind that they would just ignore her and play the game to their own advantage.  I don't remember disliking her on Survivor but man she's on my last nerve here.

[mojoween]

Kiki (drink!) is one lucky lady.  Danny is fine as hell, and funny, and looks great in a football uniform, even *that* heinous atrocity.

Sarah’s feat was amazing.  No, not beating Cash.  But making me root for Angela.  I hope Angela’s jewelry sells like hot cakes and her recipe books move units and is she still with Tyler?  If so I hope that is going well.  And if you told me that I would think any of this after how I felt about her on Big Brother, I would assume it’s because I had some sort of head injury.

[DEL901]

I don’t remember Sarah having such crazy eyes on Survivor.  

And both alliances had the wrong strategy.    Sarah should have been grateful they were sabotaging her, guaranteeing she’d go into elimination and having a good chance of winning and getting her finals money.    And those strategic geniuses Alyssa and Angela should have just made sure she didn’t win.   That way she couldn’t put herself into the Arena.  

[seacliffsal]

Wow, I didn't think I could like Sarah any less than after the previous episode but I was really wrong.  She certainly feels entitled-and expected everyone else to help her while whinging endlessly.  She seems to have let her Survivor win really go to her head.  I really, really, really wish that she had lost the elimination challenge, but oh well.

[Artsda]

2 hours ago, mojoween said:

Kiki (drink!) is one lucky lady.  Danny is fine as hell, and funny, and looks great in a football uniform, even *that* heinous atrocity.

Sarah’s feat was amazing.  No, not beating Cash.  But making me root for Angela.  I hope Angela’s jewelry sells like hot cakes and her recipe books move units and is she still with Tyler?   

Yes, they're engaged.

[aghst]

10 hours ago, Artsda said:

Wow was Sarah annoying during that challenge telling everyone to target Angela.

But she was right though, the Fab Five are out of Angela/Alyssa and the 4 Survivor men alliance.

If they don't band together they get picked off one by one.

And what Sarah proposed was the best move for the other women, one of them would go home and the women wouldn't have to face one of the top 2 or 3 women in the Final.

Desi herself said it, if Angela makes it to the Final, she might as well not leave the starting line because she can't run with her.

Danny convinced Desi to go along with his choice.  But is she now going to be protected by the Angela/Alyssa/4 Survivor men alliance?

Next episode they're probably going to target David but then the other remaining men are the 4 in the alliance if I counted it correctly.

So the alliance breaks up at that point, unless Dominick or Enzo go quietly when one of the is voted in.

[AntFTW]

2 hours ago, aghst said:

But she was right though, the Fab Five are out of Angela/Alyssa and the 4 Survivor men alliance.

If they don't band together they get picked off one by one.

I just listened to the podcast with Desi, and she basically says the "Fab Five" was sort of an impromptu thing that happened on the boat because Cash yelled out "FAB FIVE!" for everyone to hear and from that point, people thought this was a game alliance. They just went with it, it seems 😂

She was saying there was no planning or talking at all, this alliance just happened.

ETA: Knowing that, it now makes sense why they really weren't working together during the daily challenge to target Angela and Alyssa, and why they weren't helping Sarah.

2 hours ago, aghst said:

Danny convinced Desi to go along with his choice.  But is she now going to be protected by the Angela/Alyssa/4 Survivor men alliance?

Desi's primary alliance was Dom and Danny. She says her and Cash didn't really talk game all season until this 'fab five' point, and apparently they had gotten into a little scuffle because Cash thought Desi was flirting with Cinco. She also says she didn't have much of a connection with Cash, so she had no problems sending Cash in if it came down to it.

Also, DaVonne and Devyn brought up a good point that I forgot about that if Desi and Danny didn't agree, Desi would have went into elimination because it's a women's elimination day while Danny is sitting pretty. Danny had no real incentive to budge. All the pressure was on Desi.

Edited September 1, 2022 by AntFTW

[aghst]

Well we assume that's how TJ would have done it, make one of the winners go into elimination if there was a deadlock

If the women didn't sense that there was an alliance, based on them sending in Leo last week, they should have known.

But looks like Sarah was depending on some of the men who had already agreed to be in the alliance.

The people out of alliance are David, Sarah, Justine and Cayla.

Desi may or may not be in the big alliance.

[Jobiska]

7 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

Wow, I didn't think I could like Sarah any less than after the previous episode but I was really wrong.  She certainly feels entitled-and expected everyone else to help her while whinging endlessly.  She seems to have let her Survivor win really go to her head.  I really, really, really wish that she had lost the elimination challenge, but oh well.

Entitled is the word.  Not only did she think she could order everyone around as to placing black dots, but then she pontificated about how she should get the chance to decide who to go against in the arena.  No, that's not how the game works.  Sometimes (more on the regular Challenge, where they see each other every half year or so, which makes a difference) the deciders offer that courtesy, but they don't have to.  Good for Danny for not caving.  

Also, snotting about (to? I forget) A&A going with the blocking strategy rather than winning "honestly" (I forget the term she used but she was implying they were less moral than if they had just played straight out) while she herself was trying to direct the others to block?  That's rich.

This is all capped off by the extremely attractive face she pulled behind Alyssa's back after they talked in the club.  How dare Alyssa approach her?  and yet how dare Alyssa not approach her previously to "talk game?"   

Meanwhile, if Angela's bread and butter is jewelry design and sales, it's no huge deal if her diamonds are real, I mean, not as much as if she had other luxurious items around...they're an investment in advertising her brand, in a way (if they are her design).  

[Shorty186]

I've never seen Sarah before (haven't seen Survivor since S1), so she hasn't bugged me as much and if she's anti-Angela that's good to me. But watching Sarah yell to every single person to help her was pretty pathetic. Especially since she desperately wanted to go into the arena last week, she shouldn't have been losing her $hit. My Angela hate runs deep though so now I've lost some respect for Alyssa.

[AntFTW]

4 hours ago, Shorty186 said:

I've never seen Sarah before (haven't seen Survivor since S1), so she hasn't bugged me as much and if she's anti-Angela that's good to me. But watching Sarah yell to every single person to help her was pretty pathetic. Especially since she desperately wanted to go into the arena last week, she shouldn't have been losing her $hit. My Angela hate runs deep though so now I've lost some respect for Alyssa.

If you don’t have a certain level of hate for someone on a reality show, you’re doing it wrong. You’re doing reality shows all wrong.

I don’t watch BB so all I know about Angela is that she’s monotoned and her face doesn’t move.

[AntFTW]

10 hours ago, aghst said:

Desi may or may not be in the big alliance.

After listening to the podcast, it appears her agreement to throw Cash in signaled that she is with Angela, Alyssa and the Survivor guys. She spoke with Angela and Alyssa. I guess we'll see if that holds up.

[millennium]

On 8/31/2022 at 11:54 PM, Artsda said:

Wow was Sarah annoying during that challenge telling everyone to target Angela.

Cringiest most self-absorbed display I have ever seen in a daily Challenge.   Sarah's a legend in her own mind.   She seems to believe everyone is totally invested in her personal welfare at the expense of their own.  Can't stand her.    That said, a little part of me feels sorry for her because it must be tough competing in that environment with so many younger and very attractive women. 

22 hours ago, AntFTW said:

If you don’t have a certain level of hate for someone on a reality show, you’re doing it wrong. You’re doing reality shows all wrong.

^ This may be one of the funniest things I ever read on this site.

Peeve:   They open each show saying, "Last time on The Challenge."

Um, no.  Last time on The Challenge, CT won the final.

Last time on The Challenge USA, Leo had his ass handed to him and pouted about it.

Edited September 2, 2022 by millennium

[aghst]

Best strategy would have been to put Angela into elimination by blocking her first in the Daily.

Sarah didn't convince anyone but she was right.

However, Angela probably would have beaten any other woman in that hamster wheel elimination.

[MMLEsq]

7 hours ago, aghst said:

Best strategy would have been to put Angela into elimination by blocking her first in the Daily.

Sarah didn't convince anyone but she was right.

However, Angela probably would have beaten any other woman in that hamster wheel elimination.

That might have been the best strategy for everyone else [throw in Angela and Sarah and you eliminate at least one threat (that's assuming Sarah is as much of a threat as she believes in her own mind)], but I don't see how it was Sarah's best strategy.  Her best strategy, I think, would have been to try to win herself because then she would have earned enough from winning the daily challenge to compete in the final challenge without risking possibly being eliminated in the elimination challenge 

Barring that, going into the elimination against the easiest person to beat (presumably Cash or Cayla) would have been Sarah's best move, wouldn't it?  Is her focus trying to make sure she's eligible to compete in the final, or rallying the house against Angela and Alyssa?  She's made this personal and seems slightly unhinged.

[aghst]

Sarah couldn't win, Angela and Alyssa were going to block her.

But if all the other women ganged up on Angela for instance, she would have finished last.

Sarah says she runs marathons, though maybe not suited to sprint.  Angela looks like a runner too.

I don't know how much the other women run but two regular runners have to be threats in the Final.  They might get screwed by puzzles or an eating challenge but for the parts where they're doing a lot of running or hiking or climbing up hills, those runners in good CV condition would have a leg up.

So if one of them does come in first among the women, then the other women basically missed a chance to knock one of them out.

[AntFTW]

10 hours ago, MMLEsq said:

That might have been the best strategy for everyone else [throw in Angela and Sarah and you eliminate at least one threat (that's assuming Sarah is as much of a threat as she believes in her own mind)], but I don't see how it was Sarah's best strategy.  Her best strategy, I think, would have been to try to win herself because then she would have earned enough from winning the daily challenge to compete in the final challenge without risking possibly being eliminated in the elimination challenge 

I think of it differently. My thinking is assuming that the 'fab five' gang would have at least talked about a strategy.

If the goal is for Sarah to win money to qualify, she has two options - win a challenge or go into elimination. Every other woman had enough money to qualify, so going into elimination is now worth it for Sarah. She's only one that had something to gain from an elimination. Therefore, being last or thrown in by the winner should have been something she was okay with, IMO.

They should have used the same strategy that Dom used to help Danny. Dom wasn't playing to win, he was playing to help Danny. Once Angela and Alyssa targeted Sarah, she couldn't win. Angela and Alyssa weren't playing to win, they were playing for Sarah to be last. Everyone else was playing to win for themselves. IMO, the best strategy for Sarah would be helping someone win who will use their power to give her what she wanted because she wasn't going to win.

Also, I don't think they said it in the episode but on the podcast, in order to win, Desi said they had to block at least one time. One round up and down those stairs to get a token had to be dedicated toward blocking someone. Also, she mentioned that guys can place blocks on women, and vice versa. She said her spidey senses went off when her alliance of Dom and Danny weren't using their one block on Angela.

Edited September 3, 2022 by AntFTW

[aghst]

Yeah the Fab Five sounds like an informal thing at least when this episode was filmed.

They probably didn't discuss strategy or consider that Angela had this big alliance going.  But they should have been suspicious when Leo got thrown in in the previous episode.

There were 7 women left going into the first women's elimination.  How many women were going to at least start the Final challenge, 4 or 5 at most?

And this was the 8th or 9th Daily Challenge, so they probably could guess that this season was only going to have 10-12 episodes or so.

So at most 2-3 women's eliminations before the Final.  They should be evaluating each other, what kind of alliances they probably have with each other.  For instance, everyone knew Angela and Tyson were in an alliance and there was a chance to throw Tyson in the men's elimination but somehow the script was flipped and Leo was sent it.  That should have let the Fab Five know that the winners of the previous episode had made a deal with Tyson and Angela at least.

They're all newbies so maybe they weren't gaming out the season.

[AntFTW]

2 hours ago, MMLEsq said:

Barring that, going into the elimination against the easiest person to beat (presumably Cash or Cayla) would have been Sarah's best move, wouldn't it?  Is her focus trying to make sure she's eligible to compete in the final, or rallying the house against Angela and Alyssa?  She's made this personal and seems slightly unhinged.

Yes. Absolutely!

[TAG42481]

Sarah was insufferable.  I previously liked here, but she was just so over the top here (or maybe it was just the editors going crazy).  I finally had to fast-forward through 10 minutes of the drama - just tell me who she's going against.  And now that she won the challenge, I'm sure she'll be even more bombastic.  Great.  Ugh.

I've never watched The Challenge before - how many people run the final?

[DEL901]

42 minutes ago, TAG42481 said:

Sarah was insufferable.  I previously liked here, but she was just so over the top here (or maybe it was just the editors going crazy).  I finally had to fast-forward through 10 minutes of the drama - just tell me who she's going against.  And now that she won the challenge, I'm sure she'll be even more bombastic.  Great.  Ugh.

I've never watched The Challenge before - how many people run the final?

I’ve only seen a few seasons….as many as ten from what I’ve seen.  

[AntFTW]

1 hour ago, TAG42481 said:

I've never watched The Challenge before - how many people run the final?

It really depends on the format, whether it's teams or pairs or individuals.

For the last few seasons, it's been 8 people with 2 people getting eliminated at some checkpoint in the final. Sometimes it's 6 people. In the older seasons, it's been 10 or more as they used to be more team seasons than they do now.

[Shorty186]

On 9/2/2022 at 12:32 PM, AntFTW said:

Also, I don't think they said it in the episode but on the podcast, in order to win, Desi said they had to block at least one time. One round up and down those stairs to get a token had to be dedicated toward blocking someone. 

That makes even less sense then. If all 5 of the "Fab Five" had used their 1 block on Angela, wouldn't they have been able to eliminate her? I think it took about 7 blocks for A/A to eliminate Sarah, so Sarah could have made up those extra 2 needed instead of screaming at everyone. So who were they blocking?

Edited September 4, 2022 by Shorty186

[30 Helens]

I found Survivor Sarah plucky and easy to root for. I find Challenge Sarah obnoxious and overbearing.
I found Survivor Dominick very likeable. I find Challenge Dominick a bit of a dick.
I found Big Brother Alyssa annoying and clingy. I find Challenge Alyssa strong and independent.

Different games, different personalities? 
At least some things never change… Enzo will always be Enzo.

[Lantern7]

11 minutes ago, 30 Helens said:

I found Survivor Dominick very likable. I find Challenge Dominick a bit of a dick.

I think of him as “What You Get When You Order Boston Rob Off Wish.”

On 9/2/2022 at 6:13 PM, TAG42481 said:

I've never watched The Challenge before - how many people run the final?

It changes from season to season. Also, you have to remember . . . it”s TJ’s final. And now, eyeroll emojis.

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

[peachmangosteen]

11 hours ago, Shorty186 said:

That makes even less sense then. If all 5 of the "Fab Five" had used their 1 block on Angela, wouldn't they have been able to eliminate her? I think it took about 7 blocks for A/A to eliminate Sarah, so Sarah could have made up those extra 2 needed instead of screaming at everyone. So who were they blocking?

They weren't blocking anyone, they were trying to win. At least I think so, I was barely paying attention lol.

[snarts]

Angela & Alyssa made the best move for them based on the info they had. Sarah needed to either win the daily or win an elimination to qualify for the final. They knew that if she won the daily, she'd fight to get one of them into the elimination. They heard that all five of the remaining women were aligned. So they blocked Sarah and forced her to go into and win an elimination and take out one of her alliance members. 

Sarah's confidence is impressive if not a bit delusional. I'm not sure she would've bested many of the women in that hamster wheel and she's done nothing else of note aside from run her mouth all season. 

[seacliffsal]

I really don't think Sarah is very tough (yes, she is tougher than me, but at this point most insects are probably tougher than me [and fire ants totally are!]).  She tries to intimidate others rather than go up against others (the faces and threats towards Tyson who really doesn't care).  The pleading and whinging for others to help her rather than just try to win or block someone else (she was shown multiple times just standing in place and yelling at others rather than running through the stadium to get the game pieces).  It's like she believes if she tells people enough times how tough she is and that they never want to go up against her that they will start believing it.  Then, when she is finally in the elimination and has a chance to win she complains that her "alliance" should have helped her win so that she could then "volunteer" to go into elimination.  It's like she doesn't even know how to make sense in her arguments about how tough she is.

[tvfanatic13]

Gah... I am starting to loathe Sarah. I wasn't a huge fan during Survivor, but she is just completely irksome in the Challenge [USA!]. I actually loved that no one listened to her.