S38.E12: Frenemy of the State

[shantown]

Quote

After multiple losses, one team realizes that they must come together to win; after losing his Ride or Die in the last elimination, one player feels vulnerable to danger while another player must count on their Ride or Die.

Airs Wednesday, December 28, at 8:00 pm eastern on MTV

[AntFTW]

"I DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS"

Edited December 29, 2022 by AntFTW

[AntFTW]

This was a great episode. The only thing that would have made it better was Moriah tying up the vote.

Take the chance. Find out what happens. She wasn't going into elimination anyway.

[aghst]

TJ would have made them re-vote.

Fessy as the direct vote was the right move.

Was another strength elimination.  But I don’t think Nelson would have done better in a puzzle.

Johnny threw Fessy under the bus, probably convinced Jordan that Fessy was the biggest threat to the other team.

The Daily was cool, again the producers could have easily have made up who won.  In fact the design could be all about time, probably tested to make sure all 6 players could easily hit the targets, as the helicopter flew slowly and the targets were plenty large enough for everyone to hit targets on their first try, assuming there really was just one try for each team.

Looks like eating or drinking challenge in the next daily, don’t think they ever had that other than in a Final?

[mojoween]

Do you think Tori watched this episode back, or she was so convinced she didn’t say what she said that she was like “nah, I’m good.”

Damn I’ve never rooted harder for an outcome I knew wasn’t going to happen than tonight.  I still love Nelson, and Faysal is so annoying, but I knew there was no chance.  Also are all the men on that team short?  Because when they showed the group shot Faysal was way taller than everyone and Chauncey, John and Nelson were the same height as the women.

Amber’s squeal when Chauncey was safe was very cute.

I finally figured out what is bugging me about Moriah.  She has absolutely no affect when speaking.  She could be talking about a cute butterfly she saw, or sending her partner to his death, and it would sound the same.

[DEL901]

Fessy is such a worm, trying to convince Moriah to throw the challenge because it was a male elimination but not having done the same for her because “she didn’t ask”.   Jerk.  

And I don’t blame Moriah for not risking what might happen with a tie for the likes of Fessy.  

Also, when it ended up Fessy vs Nelson, I was glad it was a challenge where Fessy couldn’t hurt Nelson again.  

[Jillibean]

I actually feel bad for Moriah. Fessy is by fat the worst partner in the game. He clearly expects her to sacrifice herself to help him out because he's the vet and she's there to support his game, in his mind. And they're not even close outside the game! I think not bothering to force a tie for him was understandable given the way he's been behaving toward her, but she is never going to hear the end of it and I'm sure his passive-aggressive behavior is going to be off the charts. Bananas is actually a better game partner to her than he is, but I hope for her sake that she doesn't try to continue things with him in normal life.

I'm sad about Nelson. He was super entertaining this season. I guess he had to face the "consequisence" of his actions, as he put it.

This Tori/Jordan thing is just...a lot. She shouldn't have asked him to save Fessy, of all people, on the strength of their relationship, especially given how messy their relationship has been recently. It's true that she looked out for him, but I think apart from an expectation that he would also look out for specifically HER, he didn't owe her any other favors. I really don't even understand Tori's reasoning. She seemed almost panicked when she spoke to Jordan, and I don't get it. They have a strong team with or without Fessy. One wonders what exactly Fessy said to her about her needing to get Jordan in line. 

That said, Jordan, for heaven's sake. That was so ridiculous. What is he, five? This man is clearly still ridiculously in love with her to behave so poorly--you don't act like that when you're over someone. His need to continue punishing her for every single thing she does just shows what a mess he is about Tori. To have someone who on one hand is helping out in a humanitarian crisis in a war ravaged area but who is this immature about his ex girlfriend...it's quite a stark contrast. Jordan and Tori keep telling us how hard it is to be in a relationship with Tori, but based on these past couple of episodes I cannot imagine how hard it would be to be in a relationship with JORDAN. 

Chauncey and Amber seem to have a really healthy and supportive relationship. 

2 hours ago, mojoween said:

I finally figured out what is bugging me about Moriah.  She has absolutely no affect when speaking.  She could be talking about a cute butterfly she saw, or sending her partner to his death, and it would sound the same.

YES! I noticed the same thing. She delivers every line as if she's reading off a script (badly). It makes her seem very dull; even Fessy adds some inflection to his voice when he's droning on. I think they generally use as little of her interview footage as possible, but they're stuck in an episode like this where they really need her to fill in the narrative for the story. 

[Midwestern Lady]

I have always liked Nelson but he needs to stop with the weird dramatics in the interviews.   Nelson being Nelson is far more entertaining  than Nelly T theatrics.   He reminds me of a dumber Devin in that regard.   

 

[bunnyface]

22 minutes ago, Jillibean said:

 

I'm sad about Nelson. He was super entertaining this season. I guess he had to face the "consequisence" of his actions, as he put it.

 

I wondered if anyone else heard that.  I heard it as "consequinches" and smiled.  Ah, Nelly.

[MMLEsq]

2 hours ago, mojoween said:

... Also are all the men on that team short?  Because when they showed the group shot Faysal was way taller than everyone and Chauncey, John and Nelson were the same height as the women. ...

Doing some quick Googling (very quick, so I can't guarantee 100% accuracy; I welcome corrections), I came up with this:

Aneesa – 5'5"-5'6"

Olivia – 5'7"

Tori – 5'7"/5'9" (about half of the sources said 5'7"; the other half said 5'9")

Nelson – found sites that said 5'8"-5'9" (although, oddly, a number of sources said 6'2" [doesn't seem like there's any way he's that tall])

Kaycee – 5'10"

Johnny Bananas – 5'10"

Chauncey – 5'11" (from a community college basketball roster) (I also saw that he's 11 years younger than Amber)

Faysal – 6'4"-6'5"

 

Underdogs:

Moriah -- ??? (I couldn't find anything)

Nany – 5'8"

Amber – 5'9"

Jordan – 5'10"

Horacio – 5'11" (from a college soccer roster)

Devin – 6'1"

 

Bottom line:  If the average height for U.S. women is 5'4" and the average height for U.S. men is 5'9" (per https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321132#), then the remaining women are all above average in height and the men are closer to average (other than Devin and Faysal, who are both tall).

[snarts]

I knew Nelson was a goner the second they showed him facetiming Cory. Still hurt to see Fessy (err, Faysal) win. He's such a sanctimonious prick. Vowing to avenge being sent into the elimination, why would expect any loyalty from the men on the opposing team? 

His level of sell-importance is only rivaled by Nany. Nany, who's never won a damn thing, expects everyone to step aside and let her coast to the finals. 

Which brings me to Jordan. Is he looking for an Emmy Award? Terrorists? I can't. That said, it doesn't make sense why Tori was campaigning for Fessy. 

I hate the format change and the fact that they're now only eliminating one person each week. The pace was already slow enough, IMO. Are they going to revert to ride or dies for the final? If so, that doesn't bode well for any remaining single players. 

Edited December 29, 2022 by snarts

[luckyroll3]

12 hours ago, AntFTW said:

"I DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS"

This was literally my reaction on my couch just now! It was ridiculous, but wow did I love Jordan for this. Particularly because Tori has been absolutely insufferable this season. 

Also, shut the fuck up Faysal! He is the absolute worst person. He doesn't think about anyone except himself. The first opportunity he had to manipulate and turn on Moriah, he didn't fucking hesitate. But when he needs something, Moriah's supposed to completely live by their Ride or Die creed? GTFOH! And how interesting, and so on brand that he told Moriah not to say Nelson's name, but was perfectly fine with her throwing Nelson in if it meant he was safe. Faysal's a dick. It's not surprising to me at all that Kaycee is one of his closest friends; they're both awful people. 

[AncientNewbie]

Maybe it's my new larger tv, but I never noticed Maysal Faysal's acne scars before. Part of me wonders if it's an editing choice to portray him with less polish than previous seasons, like the editors are now in on making him the villain. 

Jordan is ridiculous, but I loved the "terrorists" line because I love the Challenge when it is ridiculous. We don't get enough Stupid Brigade in these newer seasons. 

Ah, Nelly...I was running scenarios between the four once they lost and couldn't see a way he'd be safe unless he drew the dagger. The bonds of the others just overpowered his ties. Not even the consequisences of his actions, as he so eloquently put it.

[mojoween]

There is no way on god’s green earth that Nelson is 6’2”.  Absolutely none.

The gauntlet or whatever they’re calling it was cool, as there was a learning curve to figure out how to get the spear out.

[AntFTW]

3 hours ago, DEL901 said:

And I don’t blame Moriah for not risking what might happen with a tie for the likes of Fessy.  

For the sake of our entertainment, I do blame her for not risking what might happen with a tie for the likes of Fessy.

1 hour ago, Jillibean said:

I actually feel bad for Moriah. Fessy is by fat the worst partner in the game. He clearly expects her to sacrifice herself to help him out because he's the vet and she's there to support his game, in his mind. And they're not even close outside the game! I think not bothering to force a tie for him was understandable given the way he's been behaving toward her, but she is never going to hear the end of it and I'm sure his passive-aggressive behavior is going to be off the charts.

I understand not forcing a tie, but *putting on my devil's advocate hat* if I'm Fessy, I would think that is effectively a vote for me. She voted in a way that put "me" into elimination. She didn't say "my" name but she sent "me" into elimination.

She made the reasonable decision in not forcing a tie but as a viewer, I. WANTED. A. TIE. I was ready for the chaos.

1 hour ago, Jillibean said:

This Tori/Jordan thing is just...a lot. She shouldn't have asked him to save Fessy, of all people, on the strength of their relationship, especially given how messy their relationship has been recently. It's true that she looked out for him, but I think apart from an expectation that he would also look out for specifically HER, he didn't owe her any other favors.

I agree. I cringed when Tori said that his vote will change how views or she feels about their relationship. Not cool Tori!

Tori looked out for Jordan. Tori convinced Fessy to look out for Jordan. I don't think Tori was wrong to ask the favor from Jordan because that was the deal: Fessy doesn't say Jordan, and Jordan returns the favor to Fessy. However, she shouldn't have leveraged their personal relationship for this favor. She should have just reiterated the prior deal and asked if that was still in full force and effect and left it at that. This reinforces that Tori is really bad at the politics of this game.

1 hour ago, Jillibean said:

That said, Jordan, for heaven's sake. That was so ridiculous. What is he, five? This man is clearly still ridiculously in love with her to behave so poorly--you don't act like that when you're over someone.

RIGHT!!!!

1 hour ago, Jillibean said:

Jordan and Tori keep telling us how hard it is to be in a relationship with Tori, but based on these past couple of episodes I cannot imagine how hard it would be to be in a relationship with JORDAN.

It seems like he's forever playing a game of "one-upmanship" with Tori.

4 hours ago, mojoween said:

I finally figured out what is bugging me about Moriah.  She has absolutely no affect when speaking.  She could be talking about a cute butterfly she saw, or sending her partner to his death, and it would sound the same.

Yes. She's very mono-toned. Her excitement and her disappointment sound the same, and she speaks in a timid or meek manner I think.

She did mention on Johnny's podcast that she's introverted. I question if that's why combined with the fact that this is her first reality show.

32 minutes ago, mojoween said:

The gauntlet or whatever they’re calling it was cool, as there was a learning curve to figure out how to get the spear out.

It was nice to finally see Fessy in something other than a Hall Brawl or a Pole Wrestle.

We've seen other eliminations like this. I'm not sure if they've ever done something like this while Fessy has been on The Challenge. However, Nelson has been on plenty of seasons now. Nelson has seen the previous elimination games where they have to pull hammers, torches, spears and whatever else, he should have known the best strategy is always to pull the thing at an angle.

[mojoween]

Speaking of Jordan and Faysal, the camerapeople made a point to show that Jordan said he would keep Faysal out…for now.  IIRC Jordan said something like “but things can change.”  Faysal chose to forget that ever happened when cloaking himself in self-righteousness.

[Michichick]

3 hours ago, snarts said:

I hate the format change and the fact that they're now only eliminating one person each week. The pace was already slow enough, IMO. Are they going to revert to ride or dies for the final? If so, that doesn't bode well for any remaining single players. 

The eliminated players will come back into the game if their ride or die makes it to the end, so they could go back to,ride or die pairs for the final and nobody would be alone.

[ImpinAintEasy]

For the love of all things holy, will Fessy ever see an elimination that isn’t heavily strength based? I don’t know if it’s just pure luck or the producers tailor the eliminations to favor certain players or what. But this is beyond fortuitous for all 4 of his eliminations to be eliminations where nobody could beat him(CT might have had a chance in pole wrestle). 
 

I still think the Jordan-Tori stuff seems a bit staged. I do laugh whenever Tori is upset, though, especially since she seems to be the person who campaigned for Smashley to be kicked off last season and still not be allowed to return, even though Josh, the person who would be offended by what Ashley said, didn’t want either of those things to happen. 
 

I’m not liking how Banany seem to be skating to the final. In general, I hope the Final isn’t pairs, because then the contenders are all people I don’t want to see win(Banany,Fessy, and Tori). Olivia/Horacio and Chauncey are unknowns. Aneesa ain’t winning a final. And Kenny/Kaycee would be the most invisible winners ever. 

[snarts]

2 hours ago, Michichick said:

The eliminated players will come back into the game if their ride or die makes it to the end, so they could go back to,ride or die pairs for the final and nobody would be alone.

Which is utter stupidity unless the final will be like all-stars and include almost half the cast.  There are still 13 contestants, which means a least three more weeks of challenges/eliminations before the final and even then, we could end up with with more the 10 in the final depending on who is "eliminated" (but not really eliminated).

Between this and all the surprise cast members added after the season started, I sure hope they earn a decent appearance fee or pick up a huge amount of social media followers that equates to income. The likelihood that we'll ever see another surprise non-veteran winner is unlikely based on how they stack the deck/adjust the rules in favor of the veterans.

[luckyroll3]

I bet the producers are trying to foment drama between the Ride or Dies, so that when they bring the eliminated partner back, the partners have to decide whether they want to continue pairing or choose someone else because their partner didn't stand up for them or whatever BS in the team voting. I could totally see Fessy using this episode as reason to ditch Moriah and choose Kaycee as his finals partner. But would Kaycee choose him over her brother or Nany?

[aghst]

1 hour ago, luckyroll3 said:

I bet the producers are trying to foment drama between the Ride or Dies, so that when they bring the eliminated partner back, the partners have to decide whether they want to continue pairing or choose someone else because their partner didn't stand up for them or whatever BS in the team voting. I could totally see Fessy using this episode as reason to ditch Moriah and choose Kaycee as his finals partner. But would Kaycee choose him over her brother or Nany?

Or for the winning pair, one member is given the option of splitting the money or taking it all again.

 

 

[aghst]

BTW, it's cool that Jordan is volunteering in Ukraine, moving supplies in and getting civilians out.

His good work was partly overshadowed by "I don't negotiate with terrorists!"😆

But he referred to winning on the Challenge allowing him to volunteer.  So he doesn't hold a regular job apparently and is able to go volunteer for weeks or months.

Did he ever win one of the $1 million prize seasons?  Even if he did, he'd have to split part of it and after taxes, maybe around $200-300k?  That would cover living expenses for a few years but not more than 5-6 years or so.

Maybe he has some Ukrainian ancestry.

[joanne3482]

5 hours ago, AntFTW said:

Tori looked out for Jordan. Tori convinced Fessy to look out for Jordan. I don't think Tori was wrong to ask the favor from Jordan because that was the deal: Fessy doesn't say Jordan, and Jordan returns the favor to Fessy. However, she shouldn't have leveraged their personal relationship for this favor. She should have just reiterated the prior deal and asked if that was still in full force and effect and left it at that. This reinforces that Tori is really bad at the politics of this game.

She shouldn't have asked Jordan to look out for Fessy because she knows he hates Fessy. For those that may or may not follow Challenge stuff outside the show, she hooked up with Fessy 2 months after Jordan broke off their engagement. She admits it and says she did it out of spite and to hurt him. And while it is true that he broke up with her and she had every right to do whatever she wanted, she specifically went out of her way to hurt him because of how she was hurt. Not that Jordan is ever right, but she was a dang fool for thinking he would protect Fessy for her. 

[aghst]

Wow forgot about that.  So for Tori to ask Jordan to spare Fessy probably antagonized him.

[LaurelleJ]

Good sode. Editing wise, it was a toss up in the beginning. My initial guess was that the stacked team was going to win, and Nelson and Bananas were going into elimination. Nelson for sure. I was surprised to see Cory on the phone call. More surprised that he said that Nelson needed to get Bananas and Fessy out of there. I guess it's allowed for the alum to talk about who is in the house. I wonder when that was filmed, maybe earlier on before ride or die pairs were split up. Nice to see Jordan's charity work.

I really really wanted the underdogs to win the challenge. Devin said welcome to your favorite team, they were already my favorite team. Make the other team squirm. So glad they won. I wonder if that was true or if it was a production win. I saw just a bit of chatter about it on twitter even though I try not to read challenge tweets to avoid spoilers. (Maybe you guys have already discussed it upthread, I'm typing before I read the rest of the posts). 

This deliberation should be pretty easy. The only choice is whether to throw in Fessy or Nelson. To me, Fessy was the obvious choice. Why? Because if you pick Nelson, you give Fessy or Bananas the opportunity to pick the safe dagger. Both choose each other and put in Chauncey, even though Bananas had the deal with Chauncey. Make no mistake, if Bananas had drawn the safe dagger and it was between Chauncey and Fessy/Nelson, he wouldn't pick Chauncey. Pick Bananas, Fessy or Nelson pick each other. With Fessy, he is for sure going into elimination.  It would have tickled me if Chauncey saved Nelson to make Fessy and Bananas go against each other, but that's team sabotage. 

No idea what Tori was doing when she went up to Jordan and low-key tried to threaten him about not saying Fessy's name. What was that? Jordan's speech about choosing Fessy was funny. The vote shook down just the way it needed to. I do wonder what would happen if there was a tie. One of the guys on the winning team may have had to go down, you never know. I just knew Chauncey was going to draw the safe dagger. I kind of wish Johnny drew the safe dagger because I know that he would have showed his cards and picked Nelson. If Nelson drew the safe dagger he would have obviously picked Bananas. In this moment it just occurred to me that if Nelson leaves then Nurys leaves too. 

I really wanted Nelson to win, he grew on me so much this season. For Nelson to save Fessy earlier just to be the one who sent Nelson home is terrible. 

Random but I really enjoy TJ as the host of this show. 

[AntFTW]

24 minutes ago, joanne3482 said:

She shouldn't have asked Jordan to look out for Fessy because she knows he hates Fessy. For those that may or may not follow Challenge stuff outside the show, she hooked up with Fessy 2 months after Jordan broke off their engagement.

I'm aware of that but for the sake of the game, that seems to have been put aside because they made the deal to keep Jordan safe (or as safe as he could possibly be) a few episodes ago. She had already asked this of Jordan a few episodes ago in order to keep Jordan safe then. All she had to do was reiterate what they had already agreed on, so I don't think it was wrong of her to ask. However, I do think it was wrong to insert their personal relationship while asking.

Edited December 29, 2022 by AntFTW

[AntFTW]

33 minutes ago, LaurelleJ said:

More surprised that he said that Nelson needed to get Bananas and Fessy out of there.

This is the thing that made me think Fessy was going into elimination, this conversation between Nelson and Cory.

35 minutes ago, LaurelleJ said:

This deliberation should be pretty easy. The only choice is whether to throw in Fessy or Nelson.

Yup. I didn't care which one they threw in as long as they both ended up in elimination at the end of it.

38 minutes ago, LaurelleJ said:

Why? Because if you pick Nelson, you give Fessy or Bananas the opportunity to pick the safe dagger. Both choose each other and put in Chauncey, even though Bananas had the deal with Chauncey.

That's a good point. Now that I think about it, I agree with that. If Johnny drew the safe dagger, I also think he'd throw Chauncey in before Fessy, but throw Nelson in before Chauncey. So to get Nelson and Fessy in, the lineup for the draw had to be Nelson, Johnny and Chauncey.

Initially when I was thinking about it, I thought it didn't matter whether they chose Nelson or Fessy as a direct vote, but now that you mention it, I think Johnny would save Fessy over Chauncey.

45 minutes ago, LaurelleJ said:

I kind of wish Johnny drew the safe dagger because I know that he would have showed his cards and picked Nelson.

Nelson nominated Johnny for elimination and threw him into the draw earlier this season. For Johnny, I think he'd use that as justification for saying Nelson's name.

[luckyroll3]

1 hour ago, joanne3482 said:

She shouldn't have asked Jordan to look out for Fessy because she knows he hates Fessy. For those that may or may not follow Challenge stuff outside the show, she hooked up with Fessy 2 months after Jordan broke off their engagement. She admits it and says she did it out of spite and to hurt him. And while it is true that he broke up with her and she had every right to do whatever she wanted, she specifically went out of her way to hurt him because of how she was hurt. Not that Jordan is ever right, but she was a dang fool for thinking he would protect Fessy for her. 

Especially after Jordan had already made his decision. All she had to do was ask instead of demanding and trying to manipulate him. 

 

1 hour ago, LaurelleJ said:

Random but I really enjoy TJ as the host of this show.

Did anyone else notice TJ's pose as they all walked into the elimination area? It was so silly it made me chuckle. 

[LaurelleJ]

2 hours ago, luckyroll3 said:

Did anyone else notice TJ's pose as they all walked into the elimination area? It was so silly it made me chuckle. 

This is the exact moment I was thinking of when I said that I really enjoy TJ as host LOL. 

[LaurelleJ]

3 hours ago, AntFTW said:

That's a good point. Now that I think about it, I agree with that. If Johnny drew the safe dagger, I also think he'd throw Chauncey in before Fessy, but throw Nelson in before Chauncey. So to get Nelson and Fessy in, the lineup for the draw had to be Nelson, Johnny and Chauncey.

Initially when I was thinking about it, I thought it didn't matter whether they chose Nelson or Fessy as a direct vote, but now that you mention it, I think Johnny would save Fessy over Chauncey.

Nelson nominated Johnny for elimination and threw him into the draw earlier this season. For Johnny, I think he'd use that as justification for saying Nelson's name.

That's a good point on Nelson nominating Johnny for elimination. I go back and forth on this, but ultimately I think Johnny would have still picked Nelson to stay over Chauncey. It comes down to experience. Johnny is familiar with how Nelson can perform. Chauncey is largely untested. Winning is the ultimate goal for Johnny, and I think he would choose Nelson over Chauncey for a better chance at winning. 

[AntFTW]

12 minutes ago, LaurelleJ said:

It comes down to experience. Johnny is familiar with how Nelson can perform. Chauncey is largely untested. Winning is the ultimate goal for Johnny, and I think he would choose Nelson over Chauncey for a better chance at winning. 

I mean... I don't know...

Untested vs. 9 seasons of fucking up

[AntFTW]

2 hours ago, luckyroll3 said:

Did anyone else notice TJ's pose as they all walked into the elimination area? It was so silly it made me chuckle. 

32 minutes ago, LaurelleJ said:

This is the exact moment I was thinking of when I said that I really enjoy TJ as host LOL. 

He has definitely leaned into his 'evil Challenge puppetmaster' persona over the years.

Edited December 30, 2022 by AntFTW

[Drogo]

10 hours ago, ImpinAintEasy said:

For the love of all things holy, will Fessy ever see an elimination that isn’t heavily strength based?

I would’ve loved to see Messy and Nelly (the two rocket scientists) in a strategic elimination like Bananas v Devin with the light switches.  They would’ve had to provide sleeping bags for the spectators.

[Drogo]

8 hours ago, luckyroll3 said:

 

I could totally see Fessy using this episode as reason to ditch Moriah and choose Kaycee as his finals partner. But would Kaycee choose him over her brother or Nany?

 

I sure as hell hope not- IIRC she once ran on a torn MCL(?) in a final leg 1 just for him to refuse to eat on leg 2. 

[aghst]

12 minutes ago, Drogo said:

I would’ve loved to see Messy and Nelly (the two rocket scientists) in a strategic elimination like Bananas v Devin with the light switches.  They would’ve had to provide sleeping bags for the spectators.

Fessy would still beat him.

Maybe something involving running, either sprint or distance, though if Fessy kept in football shape, he probably could sprint well for bursts, since he was a TE at the collegiate level.

[Drogo]

22 minutes ago, aghst said:

Fessy would still beat him.

Naturally, but it would take a long ego-crushing time.

[LaurelleJ]

10 hours ago, AntFTW said:

I mean... I don't know...

Untested vs. 9 seasons of fucking up

You know what, you're right LOL. 

[DEL901]

8 hours ago, Drogo said:

I would’ve loved to see Messy and Nelly (the two rocket scientists) in a strategic elimination like Bananas v Devin with the light switches.  They would’ve had to provide sleeping bags for the spectators.

When Fessy was on Big Brother, iirc, he was introduced as a substitute teacher….he might have some brains deep down, although he was still an idiot on BB…he was part of the majority alliance and couldn’t figure out how his side got picked off week after week.  

[luckyroll3]

9 hours ago, Drogo said:

I sure as hell hope not- IIRC she once ran on a torn MCL(?) in a final leg 1 just for him to refuse to eat on leg 2. 

Exactly. He's the worst fucking partner ever!

[bunnyface]

I noticed Jordan had his babushka head scarf on again.  I wonder if it's something he picked up in Ukraine?

[AntFTW]

I listened to a little bit of Johnny's podcast. Nelson said Chauncey was a shitty Challenger. I couldn't help but laugh and say "my dude, so are you!"

[Jobiska]

12 hours ago, AntFTW said:

I listened to a little bit of Johnny's podcast. Nelson said Chauncey was a shitty Challenger. I couldn't help but laugh and say "my dude, so are you!"

Well, it depends how he measures Challenge worthiness.  He beats Chauncey in misogyny, braggadocio, egotism.... which seem to be endemic on the Challenge sometimes!

[millennium]

On 12/29/2022 at 10:36 AM, AncientNewbie said:

but I loved the "terrorists" line because I love the Challenge when it is ridiculous.

^ So much this!   😁

I have never rooted for Fessy to win ... until now.

I have zero tolerance for Nelson.   Despite TJ's charitable billing, he is NOT a "legend" by any definition.   He and Cory are cut from the same cloth, a couple of underachievers who feel they should win just because they've shown up so many times.   The constant and clumsy attempt at rebranding himself "Nelly T" is almost as ridiculous as that single braid dangling over his forehead.   He's worn out his welcome AFAIC.   He was easier to take when there were more colorful personalities to overshadow him (Cara Maria, Wes, Kyle, etc.) but he's front and center every episode now and his mediocrity drags the whole show down, IMO.

Much as I dislike Nelson, the epilogue scene with TJ was almost cruel.   Nelson's face all but shrieked "REDEMPTION HOUSE???" only to get an affirmation that not only was he gone but responsible for terminating Nurys's chances too.

On 12/29/2022 at 7:00 PM, luckyroll3 said:

Did anyone else notice TJ's pose as they all walked into the elimination area? It was so silly it made me chuckle. 

Did a stylist arrange his fingers for him?   Did he have a collar fluffer?

Edited January 2, 2023 by millennium

[Drogo]

11 hours ago, millennium said:

I have zero tolerance for Nelson.   Despite TJ's charitable billing, he is NOT a "legend" by any definition.   He and Cory are cut from the same cloth, a couple of underachievers who feel they should win just because they've shown up so many times.   The constant and clumsy attempt at rebranding himself "Nelly T" is almost as ridiculous as that single braid dangling over his forehead.   He's worn out his welcome AFAIC.  

All of this, and also his ridiculous fake teeth look like the wax vampire ones you’d get trick or treating circa 1987.

I do like that he unironically invents his own words.

[Lantern7]

I’m still watching.

Its funny . . . this week, Tough as Nails starts its fourth season on CBS. There’s so much difference between that and The Challenge, especially with the hosts. Between Nails and The Amazing Race, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Phil Keoghan figuratively kick a guy in the dick the way Teege did to Nelson. “Hey, buddy! Okay, so not only did you lose, you also officially eliminated your partner from the game!” “Cruel” might not be the best word, but I can’t think of a better one now.

Would it have ruined the game to give messages to Kaycee and Nelson about their situations? “If you make it to the end, we bring your partner back to run the finale with you. Don’t tell anyone else.” That’s all it would’ve taken.

Another bummer: the end of the Nelson Redemption Redemption Nelly storyline. Between him actually winning missions, how cool Nurys has been, and the need for someone new to win (YMMV), I was suckered into thinking he’d at least make it to the end. Nope . . . turns out he’s the same dumbass as in his other thousands of seasons, and Fessy will always get eliminations that bend to his favor. This time, we found out his pull-out game was better than Nelson’s.

On 12/29/2022 at 1:16 PM, ImpinAintEasy said:

For the love of all things holy, will Fessy ever see an elimination that isn’t heavily strength based?

Here’s what I want to do:

1. Give Fessy a nondescript pole
2. Get him to stand in front of a mirror
3. Have him say “Laterrian” three times

Seriously not caring about the Tori/Jordan drama. His bit about not negotiating with terrorists was epic cringe. I’m still thinking they might fill the vacuum the CT/Diem ship occupied, in that they’d constantly break up and reconcile. I thought of Puddy and Elaine from Seinfeld while watching the latter couple. I don’t think Puddy ever called Elaine a “terrorist,” though.

On 12/29/2022 at 4:19 AM, aghst said:

The Daily was cool, again the producers could have easily have made up who won.  In fact the design could be all about time, probably tested to make sure all 6 players could easily hit the targets, as the helicopter flew slowly and the targets were plenty large enough for everyone to hit targets on their first try, assuming there really was just one try for each team.

No kidding. I think Johnny has been squawking on social media about how Jordan could never have made the target. My reaction was basically “Shut up, Johnny . . . but yeah, I can see that shit happen.”

On 12/29/2022 at 9:49 PM, AntFTW said:

He has definitely leaned into his 'evil Challenge puppetmaster' persona over the years.

*tch* More like TJ “Not Ready For Network Primetime” Lavin. As least I still have Phil Keoghan when CBS deigns his shows are worthy of getting broadcast.

[bunnyface]

10 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

 

Would it have ruined the game to give messages to Kaycee and Nelson about their situations? “If you make it to the end, we bring your partner back to run the finale with you. Don’t tell anyone else.” That’s all it would’ve taken.

 

*tch* More like TJ “Not Ready For Network Primetime” Lavin. As least I still have Phil Keoghan when CBS deigns his shows are worthy of getting broadcast.

Except that would never, ever happen.  He would no more than get the words out of this mouth "dont' tell anyone" than they would be running around screaming about it.  Like keeping an idol secret on Survivor.  Never happens.

Phil will always be the best.

[RedbirdNelly]

I loved Jordan's speech. It was just fun TV. 

[millennium]

13 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Another bummer: the end of the Nelson Redemption Redemption Nelly storyline. Between him actually winning missions, how cool Nurys has been, and the need for someone new to win (YMMV), I was suckered into thinking he’d at least make it to the end.

The favorable edit Nelson has been getting all season had me terrified that they were skewing the game in his favor for the sake of drama.   "Redemption Nelly" indeed.   A pity he took Nurys down the drain with him.

13 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I don’t think Puddy ever called Elaine a “terrorist,” though.

He did tell her she was going to hell.

[Lantern7]

3 hours ago, bunnyface said:

Except that would never, ever happen.  He would no more than get the words out of this mouth "dont' tell anyone" than they would be running around screaming about it.  Like keeping an idol secret on Survivor.  Never happens.

Okay, but we might gotten a new strategic level if the twist had gotten out to the remaining players.

13 minutes ago, millennium said:

He did tell her she was going to hell.

Didn’t she steal his “Jesus fish” or something?

[millennium]

I think she took a whole pizza back to her room -- wait, that was Marie.