S38.E15: Knot a Problem

[shantown]

Quote

The remaining pairs hoping to earn their spot back in the game must face off in a classic Challenge elimination. Ride or Dies must quickly readjust to a change in the game. One pair of Ride or Dies makes a risky decision.

Airs Wednesday, January 18, at 8:00 pm eastern on MTV

[mojoween]

I am just not here for the Jordan redemption tour.  Fuck that guy.

So Tori would save Aneesa and Aneesa would save Tori, so John and Nany save … Faysal.  And gave Godzilla a pass to get closer to the final, where if there is no gross eating,  he and Moriah (who totally hate each other, by the way) will crush all of them.

Aneesa and Amber in that particular competition could not have been more unevenly matched.  Sucks for Amber and her big plan.

Tori did make me laugh though - “hork … pause … bro”.

Edited January 19, 2023 by mojoween

[jsm1125]

Nany has been put through the wringer this season? Since when?

I’m beyond over the Amber hate from most of the vets.

 

[AntFTW]

I didn't care for the daily challenge. I hope they at least cleaned up after someone vomited. Ew!

Aneesa and Jordan and Devin and Tori getting thrown around in the bus was pretty funny though.

The elimination was pretty good. Jordan did what I thought Amber should have done, or she should have tried. Not sure how successful she would have been. I think had it been Olivia and Horacio instead of Amber and Chauncey, I think Olivia and Horacio would have won this no matter which team from the draw went into elimination.

10 hours ago, mojoween said:

So Tori would save Aneesa and Aneesa would save Tori, so John and Nany save … Faysal.

Johnny's chasing Moriah so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it.

Edited January 19, 2023 by AntFTW

[Lantern7]

Nearing the end, we got the one GOAT candidate with the partner that has never won, the other GOAT candidate with the partner that has never won, the two screw-ups that never win, the ego posing as a human being and its partner . . . and the Wonder Boy and Golden Girl. Oh, and there was a chance Horacio would've gone into the Zone a sixth time. Six. Back on The Gauntlet, the Road Rules team laid off voting Sarah into harm's way after they competed in the next-to-last mission, and that team had some pure-blooded petty haters.

Thankfully, Horacio pulls the Safe Dagger, Aneesa comes close to outright Bething Amber, and Jordan outs himself as a Star Wars fan as he gives a clinic while sending Chauncey home. Jordan used the word "Padawan." Jordan. JORDAN. Then I get to thinking, "Dude probably has cosplayed as Han Solo at least one in his life." The similarities are there, up to and possibly including  having a son that gets him killed.

The bad news is that Jordan & Aneesa beat Kacey & Kenny, sending the latter team home. Honestly, how funny would it have been if Nany broke down, left with Kaycee, leaving Johnny with his dick in hand? I was rooting for love. Yeah. I know they'll be tight once things wrap up, but why couldn't Nany choose love over Johnny? It would've also have been a nice "fuck you" to TJ "Ain't No Damn Quitters On My Show!" Lavin.

Mission: great idea, horrific execution. Knowing BMP, they probably didn't think to hose the inside of the van between trips.

A lot of people on the Facebook group I post think the fix is in . . .  but for who? Fessy? Nany? Aneesa? Tori & Devin? It's enough to root for Horacio and Olivia. I don't know the that well as people, they could wind up becoming trash (looking at you, Turabi), but they're the team with the fewest negatives. Also, Olivia is hot.

[Remlab]

Highlights of the episode for me: Bananas’ absolute glee at Aneesa saying “OH, my cooch!” and TJ’s “Look at this guy!” during Jordan’s final push in his elimination. I cackled at both.

[aghst]

Gotta give props to the Banany, a name they used for themselves in this episode.  They had a strategy, the other teams didn't on the Daily.

They even had time to confirm they got the right balls.

Seems ike they did it faster than Horacio and Olivia too.

Probably helped that they went last, had ideas on how to approach it.

Some teams just gave up, needing 2 or 3 balls.

As for the knots elimination, yeah Aneesa was ready to quit but Jordan dragged her through.

The shade everyone threw at Amber and Chauncey, who figured they'd at best have to draw daggers and figured better to psych themselves to go into elimination.  OF course it favored the stronger and bigger, though Jordan was smart.  But even if Chauncey beat him, it would presumably be Aneesa vs. Amber for the tiebreaker.

Five teams left, they could have all gone to the Final and then eliminate one or two and have the other 3 or 4 pairs race for the money.

But looks like there will be the last Daily and elimination, so it would be 4 teams competing in the Final.

That makes sense, this is only the 15the episode and they could probably sell at least 2 more episodes worth of ads.

 

[Badlands]

Way to go show, in leaving no drama as to which team was going to win the elimination. Jordan wouldn't have been nearly as smug had he lost. He sure is cocky for a guy who was not only eliminated in the last show, but then lost the first competition to get back in the game and needed a second second chance.

Aneesa had way too much of a size advantage for Amber to have any chance to win her part of the elimination. Jordan's strategy definitely helped him, but he's surely not the genius he thinks he is.

With Amber and Chauncey gone, I guess I'll have to root for Olivia and Horacio the rest of the way, as all the others are insufferable.

[DEL901]

I thought TJ hated quitters, so why did he say he wanted Chauncey to come back?

I was disappointed Fessy was safe, but he and Moriah would have beaten pretty much whoever they were against in the elimination.

And one last chance to eliminate Fessy before the finale…and it would be so sweet to see him soooooooooo close but turned away.

[Jillibean]

How I feel about Jordan fluctuates a lot, but that was impressive. I almost felt bad for Tori having to watch it, because if I, who dislike Jordan a good deal of the time, found that hot, I can't even imagine what she thought. In addition to the weight advantage, Jordan can only grip the sand with one hand to dig in. It's a bit crazy what he can do--but on that note, I'm flashing back to the daily where he and Moriah couldn't finish the rubber band pole challenge. Seems a little suspect in retrospect.

Johnny trying to get favor with Fessy seems short-sighted. Fessy and Moriah are the strongest team there. Nany has lost every final she's been to. As it happens, I think F & M would have won this particular elimination, but strategy wise they should be taking every shot at Fessy that they can at this point. If Johnny and Nany don't win next week, the chances of them going in are pretty high regardless. I think the move there is to protect Jordan and Aneesa and ensure a team that can beat you in the final goes home. 

Aneesa can't get through Knot So Bad without getting winded and wonders why no one thinks she can win a final. She's absolutely right that she would have been toast without Jordan, both because of his motivating her and because whatever they tried to tell us about how well Kaycee and Kenny were doing, it was visually clear that Jordan's strategy for knotting the rope was much stronger than Kaycee and Kenny's. I mean, one looked insane and one looked sort of messy. 

Amber is so confusing to me. I like her a lot as a viewer, but she continues to be pretty disliked by most people in the house--and not just vets. I was just catching up on some of the official podcasts episodes, and it seems like Nurys and Moriah also think she's "shady"--one example Nurys gave was Amber commiserating with Nurys over the Jordan thing, then going to Tori and pulling the "Can you believe she's doing this?"card. She said she likes Amber but that she thought that was a really messy thing to do. If that IS the sort of thing Amber regularly does, I can see why she's earned so few friends. 

Kaycee and Nany seem to really love each other. I hope it works out for them, only because this seems like the healthiest relationship we've ever seen Nany have. And (tiny, quiet voice) I sort of would like to see Jordan and Tori work things out, also. You know, with the help of a trained professional. 

Edited January 19, 2023 by Jillibean

[AntFTW]

6 hours ago, aghst said:

But even if Chauncey beat him, it would presumably be Aneesa vs. Amber for the tiebreaker.

Not necessarily. If my memory serves me correctly, when they have guy-girl teams or pairs and they have to alternate rounds between the sexes, the sex that plays the tiebreaker round is usually decided by something like a coin flip or whatever other random thing.

54 minutes ago, DEL901 said:

I was disappointed Fessy was safe, but he and Moriah would have beaten pretty much whoever they were against in the elimination.

I think Fessy would have beat anyone in this elimination. He has too much of a size advantage over everyone else. I think a couple of the girls, maybe Tori or Olivia, would have given Moriah a run for her money. I think Moriah could win but I don’t think it would be easy for her but having Fessy gives Moriah a huge edge when they would have to turn it over for the guys round.

37 minutes ago, Jillibean said:

If Johnny and Nany don't win next week, the chances of them going in are pretty high regardless.

Assuming that the dynamics of the draw remain the same, only the winning team is safe next week. One winning team and everyone else is either in the draw or direct vote. I think the most rogue team is Olivia and Horacio if they win or pull the safe dagger in the draw. I have no idea who they would vote directly in if they win or who they would save if they pull the safe dagger. They have the least amount of loyalty to all of the other teams because they’re rookies.

55 minutes ago, Jillibean said:

I think the move there is to protect Jordan and Aneesa and ensure a team that can beat you in the final goes home. 

In that case, Devin is also worth protecting.

44 minutes ago, Jillibean said:

Aneesa can't get through Knot So Bad without getting winded and wonders why no one thinks she can win a final. She's absolutely right that she would have been toast without Jordan, both because of his motivating her and because whatever they tried to tell us about how well Kaycee and Kenny were doing, it was visually clear that Jordan's strategy for knotting the rope was much stronger than Kaycee and Kenny's. I mean, one looked insane and one looked sort of messy. 

Usually editing gives clues as who will win but this hodge podge of mess that production put together gave me no insight as to who would win but visually, Jordan and Aneesa’s knots looked harder to untangle than Kaycee and Kenny’s. It looked like Kaycee and Kenny made one loop and called it a day. Lol

Also, this elimination makes Kaycee look like a rookie. I’m of the opinion that players tend to get good at eliminations by trial and error. They get put into elimination, fuck up, lose, come back next season (or from a redemption house), and do it again and win. It forces them to think about what they could have done better and how to do it next time.

54 minutes ago, Jillibean said:

Kaycee and Nany seem to really love each other. I hope it works out for them, only because this seems like the healthiest relationship we've ever seen Nany have. And (tiny, quiet voice) I sort of would like to see Jordan and Tori work things out, also. You know, with the help of a trained professional. 

Jordan is too stubborn for a trained professional.

[bunnyface]

I get that Jordan had a good strategy, but he's just so damn smug about the whole thing.  It's very off-putting.  If he's like that in real life, he'd be impossible to deal with.

I was watching all the people careen around in that bus and thinking "this is why they make us wear seat belts.  This is a seat belt PSA right here."

In the previouslies, they showed them chasing the ducks from the 1st (?) challenge.  That was sooooo loooong agooooo.  This season has lasted for years.  

They had better make Fessy eat something nasty in the final or else this whole thing was a waste.

[aghst]

It's a lot of resentment because Amber won big money as a rookie.

They don't want to see her keep winning money.

[ImpinAintEasy]

Say what you will about Jordan, but his strategies in eliminations where he was undersized is as impressive as anything I’ve ever seen on the show. Not to mention only having one hand. It’s nice to see him have at least something that was impressive from this season. If he wasn’t tethered to Aneesa he’d be the heavy favorite in the final. But I’m not upset about it since he was eliminated already and I don’t support second chances in these type of shows. 

Banany is totally going to win, unfortunately. These idiots are seriously going to let a 7 time champion get to a final without seeing an elimination. And only Jordan is better in finals than Johnny, but we all know he’s not winning with Aneesa. I refuse to believe Fessy is winning with the edit he has received. So that leaves Horacio/Olivia and Devin/Tori. They’ve teased Horacio crumbling under pressure all season. And I just don’t believe Devin has the endurance to win a final. I hope I’m wrong. 


 

 

Edited January 19, 2023 by ImpinAintEasy

[MaggieG]

16 hours ago, jsm1125 said:

Nany has been put through the wringer this season? Since when?

I’m beyond over the Amber hate from most of the vets.

 

I don't get it. I know she lost her mom and I feel for her on that front, but everyone is acting like she's been thrown into daily eliminations and is doing it all on her own. She's been in one elimination that she only won because Moriah messed up and Kaycee and Johnny have been pretty supportive of her. Nany is hardly the first person in the Challenge that had their significant other go home. 

[erikaelvis]

2 hours ago, ImpinAintEasy said:

Say what you will about Jordan, but his strategies in eliminations where he was undersized is as impressive as anything I’ve ever seen on the show. Not to mention only having one hand. It’s nice to see him have at least something that was impressive from this season. If he wasn’t tethered to Aneesa he’d be the heavy favorite in the final. But I’m not upset about it since he was eliminated already and I don’t support second chances in these type of shows. 

Banany is totally going to win, unfortunately. These idiots are seriously going to let a 7 time champion get to a final without seeing an elimination. And only Jordan is better in finals than Johnny, but we all know he’s not winning with Aneesa. I refuse to believe Fessy is winning with the edit he has received. So that leaves Horacio/Olivia and Devin/Tori. They’ve teased Horacio crumbling under pressure all season. And I just don’t believe Devin has the endurance to win a final. I hope I’m wrong. 


 

 

If anyone has been through the wringer this season its Horatio and Olivia!  They are dumb for not putting in Bananas.  The jealousy from Aneesa in regards to Amber is oozing out of her and it is laughable to think she could complete a final.

[AncientNewbie]

I admit to finding Bananas laughing about Aneesa way too amusing. His unbridled joy was just too much, even if he is a junior high boy sometimes. 

I have a feeling they'll keep bringing Faysal back until he wins one, and this might be it, but I hope I get a break from him eventually. 

[joanne3482]

On 1/19/2023 at 10:27 AM, aghst said:

It's a lot of resentment because Amber won big money as a rookie.

They don't want to see her keep winning money.

Is that what it is do you think? I've asked the podcast folks more than once to explain their bizarre hatred of her since I don't get it at all. They seem to forgive a lot of others but Amber can do no right. 

[aghst]

 

16 minutes ago, joanne3482 said:

Is that what it is do you think? I've asked the podcast folks more than once to explain their bizarre hatred of her since I don't get it at all. They seem to forgive a lot of others but Amber can do no right. 

 

What have they shown which would explain the hate?

Maybe off the show she's been trash-talking others or something?

When they put her in earlier in the season, nobody gave a reason why.

 

[luckyroll3]

On 1/19/2023 at 8:05 AM, Jillibean said:

but on that note, I'm flashing back to the daily where he and Moriah couldn't finish the rubber band pole challenge. Seems a little suspect in retrospect.

I think this was more due to Moriah's strengths (or lack of) rather than Jordan's. She couldn't hold on to the bar/sand as Jordan was trying to pull himself forward, and she couldn't pull herself up Jordan when they reversed positions. 

The vomiting in the bus on the balls as they sloshed all around......🤢. Just reminded me why I get grossed out walking by any type of ball pit. And I really hope they were cleaning out the bus in between or at least had multiple buses, because eeeeeew.

I also don't get the Amber it. It seems so irrational, especially this episode when both she and Chauncy had a very valid reason for wanting to be the main vote. The "manipulation" stuff seemed to be coming from out of thin air. IDK, it was just weird. 

Man was I happy to see Kaycee go home. 

[AntFTW]

1 hour ago, luckyroll3 said:

Man was I happy to see Kaycee go home. 

[LaurelleJ]

Finally MTV put up the episode! usually it's available Thursday morning but no go. Will have to DVR from now on. So many commercials!

Rooting for Jordan and Aneesa this first elimination  They finally showed a smidge of Jordan's reaction to being told he was in the game. once they explained the knot challenge, Jordan looked defeated already, like he knew it would be a tall order and didn't want to lose 3X in a row. This challenge is 51/49 experience and strategy to endurance. Experience and strategy get the slight edge here. This elimination is a glimpse into the final for Jordan and Aneesa. They might as well have stayed eliminated. Bananas laughing while Nany was freaking out was hilarious. Aneesa saying she was motivated by Jordan's yelling was interesting.

I figured Jordan and Aneesa were going to win the knot challenge. Tori shut up you knew you were happy to see Jordan coming back. Dang it Kaycee and Nany making me shed a tear. No crying during the challenge for me. I wonder if the teams would have lasted longer if things weren't so lopsided with the underdogs constantly losing. 

Blech, Fest and Moriah, I feel betrayed..shut up. Fessy would have done the exact same thing to Moriah if the roles were reversed. He absolutely did not have her back when she went into elimination. Bananas and Nany were wearing the same clothes in their conversation in the room as they were in their confessional. That's the first time that kind of thing stuck out to me. 

The challenge. I want to ride this bus looks fun. Oh yuck, Chauncey is throwing up, that's not so fun. They had to take the time to sanitize the bus between runs. Oh yuck, everyone is hacking. I wonder if the challenge testers threw up. Obviously not since they decided to do the challenge anyway. For some reason, seeing Nany get tossed around was the funniest. 

When Nany said it was in their best interest to save Fessy and Moriah I screamed out loud WHAT?! Bananas still wearing the same clothes in the confessional when talking about the deliberation. Again, WHY does everyone think Amber is shady? I'm over that. I don't think Amber saying she was going in was so much strategy. I think it was pretty clear that the pickings were slim and she was likely going in anyway. I was hoping that Horacio and Olivia would pull the safe dagger to see who they would save. I would think they saved Jordan and Aneesa, they are overall slightly weaker than Devin and Tori. I was shocked they saved Devin and Tori. 

Eff your word Fessy. and F you. Fessy is just an unlikeable A-hole. Get off my screen. 

Unfortunately I follow Amber on twitter so I was not able to keep from seeing her tweets before the episode was finally posted online. I would have put my money on Amber and Chauncey before I saw the elimination, and Aneesa and Jordan after I saw the elimination. Chauncey has 30 pounds on Jordan?? I thought Jordan was heavier. This is another elimination where experience comes into play. Strategy is working. 

The version of the show posted online shows Kaycee and Kenny and Amber and Chauncey giving their elimination speeches before showing the end of the elimination and the preview for next week. WTF? We will see if they actually take a shot at Bananas. The smartest move would be to try to get Fessy/Moriah and Bananas/Nany into elimination together. 

[AntFTW]

I feel like they should have known that in a season that's themed "Ride or Die" that they should have known or guess they would be riding or "dying" with their partners at the end of it... especially the ones who have watched the show over the years or have been on the show long enough to make an educated guess.

Luckily for Johnny, his line was always "how could we make the other team weaker" and the answer was always, explicitly or implicitly, "keep Nany." It's clear that Fessy didn't try hard enough to keep his partner out of elimination. Kenny and Jordan had unfortunate bad luck of not pulling the 'safe' dagger in the draw.

10 hours ago, LaurelleJ said:

For some reason, seeing Nany get tossed around was the funniest. 

Aneesa did it for me. Watching people get thrown around in the bus isn't funny, but Aneesa getting tossed around was just so funny to watch... and then Johnny 🤣

10 hours ago, LaurelleJ said:

Chauncey has 30 pounds on Jordan?? I thought Jordan was heavier.

Chauncey seems like a short guy, but he looks heavier than Jordan to me.

Initially, I thought it would have a much easier elimination for Chauncey but once they started cutting to Jordan's interviews and Jordan starts laying out his strategy, I thought "never mind. Jordan has the right strategy. That's what I said Amber should have done." In these sort of 'tug of war' games, it's all about making your opponent as unstable as possible. Chauncey wasn't prepared to resist that force pulling him sideways. Aneesa wouldn't have been prepared to resist that either, but I'm not sure if Amber would have had the strength to pull that off before Aneesa caught on.

[RedbirdNelly]

I enjoyed seeing Aneesa and Jordan send Kaycee home and I'm a sucker for Aneesa tearing up about being supported. It's something Jordan seems to do a lot (despite having a jerk side). 

If Horacio's real reason for voting to save Devin/Tori was what he stated (tallying up who voted for him), I think he's got a weak strategy game. It's obvious rookies get votes and some of those "you said my name" come down to the situation of the game/how the teams were structured. I would put more weight on "you said you had my back and double crossed me" type votes and work as a rookie to build up some relationships --like the Jordan friendship (see Exhibit A: Moriah and Johnny).

when Nanny and Johnny immediately agree to save Fessy I was so annoyed. Seriously? But in the end, I don't think it mattered since he would have just dragged around any opponent.

I did not get the Amber stuff. Who cares if they self-nominated? how does that take power away? Johnny and Nany were free to ignore the request. The advantage of appearing to be selfless is very fleeting and I couldn't see it as some big conspiracy. I feel like we are missing footage that explains the Amber hate. Cameras: do better because it seems like you must be missing drama footage or this is just all ridiculous.  

[millennium]

On 1/19/2023 at 9:01 AM, AntFTW said:

I think Fessy would have beat anyone in this elimination. He has too much of a size advantage over everyone else.

To a degree that it seems patently unfair.  If they want to feature guys that big, then there should be more than one.  Bring in CT, Zach, Joss or someone who might give Fessy a run for his money.  Fessy's whole attitude seems to be, "I'm a giant, so I stand a good chance of winning."

On 1/18/2023 at 9:37 PM, mojoween said:

I am just not here for the Jordan redemption tour.  Fuck that guy.

I'm seeing it as the Fessy redemption tour.   The new name, new partner, a more reserved demeanor ... an edit that suggests he may be the show's favorite to win (although I don't believe it's fixed).

That said, I find it impossible to dislike Jordan.   He's smart.   He makes me laugh.  He makes me root for him to win.   And he rarely disappoints.   TJ's "This guy!  Oh my God!" took the words right out of my mouth.

Horacio did out-Jordan Jordan in their elimination, though. 

On 1/18/2023 at 11:16 PM, Lantern7 said:

and the Wonder Boy and Golden Girl.

LOL, every week I think Horacio comes off like one of the Teen Titans.

 

On 1/20/2023 at 7:53 PM, LaurelleJ said:

Blech, Fest and Moriah, I feel betrayed..shut up.

IMO Moriah is one of the blandest, most basic personalities ever to go this far on The Challenge.   She sounds like an AI when talking -- well, minus the I.  Can't understand why Bananas is attracted to her.   She seems to have little by way of a peel.