S38.E19: The End of the Ride

[tinderbox]

11 hours ago, joanne3482 said:

…..I'm glad Tori and Devin won. I like them both just fine. I wonder if they're going to start a 'tradition' about giving part of the money away. I really liked that aspect. It says a lot about who they both are. 

I agree but I’m wondering if Bananas would have been as generous considering what he did to his partner several years ago.  (I can’t think of her name at this moment.  Sorry.)  I remember being flabbergasted at his selfishness. How can he live with himself?  

[Inga]

8 minutes ago, tinderbox said:

I agree but I’m wondering if Bananas would have been as generous considering what he did to his partner several years ago.  (I can’t think of her name at this moment.  Sorry.)  I remember being flabbergasted at his selfishness. How can he live with himself?  

It was Sarah. And i think he would’ve done it to redeem himself for that. I like Aneesa and I want her to win, but I’m sorry, she’s never going to win if doesn’t get into better shape! 
Aneesa—stop crying that you never win, or that nobody ever picks you. If you really want to win, hire a personal trainer, take a break from drinking and smoking and get into shape!!

[bunnyface]

11 hours ago, Inga said:

It was Sarah. And i think he would’ve done it to redeem himself for that. I like Aneesa and I want her to win, but I’m sorry, she’s never going to win if doesn’t get into better shape! 
Aneesa—stop crying that you never win, or that nobody ever picks you. If you really want to win, hire a personal trainer, take a break from drinking and smoking and get into shape!!

That's my thing, too.  I probably couldn't do near what Aneesa has done, but I'm not on the show, in seemingly worse shape season after season.  Compared to the other people on the show, she's way out of shape.  If she would do the work, then I'd be excited to see her go for it.

[luckyroll3]

14 hours ago, DEL901 said:

I’ve only been watching for a few seasons, but I don’t think Aneesa has ever made the finals, so that was a big accomplishment for her. Nany can make the finals, but can’t seal the deal.  

 

14 hours ago, shantown said:

Aneesa made a couple finals way back in the day (like, back when it was still called "Real World Road Rules Challenge!) but never won. She's been an elimination round bamf though. I'm somewhat glad she didn't get the same "always a bridesmaid" edit as Nany - only made the loss that much worse with how much they were building it up.

On top of all this, despite being a elimination assassin, there have been many seasons where Aneesa has made it through to the end only to be thrown into the final elimination before Teej announces that the next time he sees them will be the start of the final. And that has to be so much worse than any other loss.

[DEL901]

Apparently Aneesa also tore her ACL and had to have surgery. 
https://ew.com/tv/the-challenge-ride-or-dies-jordan-wiseley-aneesa-ferreira-finale-interview/

[Lola82]

I really enjoyed this 3-episode finale. I get bored of all the elimination discussions through the season so it was nice to just watch them compete for a while. I’d say the tension was great through the whole finale not knowing who would win (I mean, obviously not Aneesa/Jordan). Up until Banany messed up the puzzle, I wasn’t sure who’d make it. I’m glad Tori/Devin took it, they made a great team and others could learn from them how to work together.

[ImpinAintEasy]

Aneesa could have won this final. Being slower didn’t matter because the running wasn’t at the end. If Jordan doesn’t drop the ball, literally, they are in the final 2. And I think they would have been better at the puzzle than Banany. 
 

I didn’t mind the final giant walls of puzzles, but I do think there should have been something more endurance related at the end. I don’t think it changes the outcome, but had Jordan and Aneesa been in the final 2, it would have felt unfair for them to win. I have to imagine Devin and Tori were hours ahead of them if you combined the times. 
 

As someone else mentioned, I find it endlessly hilarious that Devin is a Challenge champion and Fessy isn’t. There is even a clip of them arguing at one of the reunions where Fessy says Devin will never win. 

[angelamh66]

8 minutes ago, ImpinAintEasy said:

Aneesa could have won this final. Being slower didn’t matter because the running wasn’t at the end. If Jordan doesn’t drop the ball, literally, they are in the final 2. And I think they would have been better at the puzzle than Banany. 
 

I didn’t mind the final giant walls of puzzles, but I do think there should have been something more endurance related at the end. I don’t think it changes the outcome, but had Jordan and Aneesa been in the final 2, it would have felt unfair for them to win. I have to imagine Devin and Tori were hours ahead of them if you combined the times. 
 

As someone else mentioned, I find it endlessly hilarious that Devin is a Challenge champion and Fessy isn’t. There is even a clip of them arguing at one of the reunions where Fessy says Devin will never win. 

I was just going to post that about Aneesa... this was a final she actually could have won. I think her and Jordan would have been pretty good in all of those rooms. I really don't like it though when early leads are completely erased and everyone starts from the same place. 

I rarely listen to Bananas' podcast but he had Bill Simmons on this week and they had that same discussion about Fessy and Devin. Simmons had some really funny stuff to say about Fessy. It was actually a pretty good podcast. 

[MaggieG]

1 hour ago, ImpinAintEasy said:

As someone else mentioned, I find it endlessly hilarious that Devin is a Challenge champion and Fessy isn’t. There is even a clip of them arguing at one of the reunions where Fessy says Devin will never win. 

You know Devin is petty enough to make Fessy eat his words.

[AntFTW]

2 hours ago, ImpinAintEasy said:

Aneesa could have won this final. Being slower didn’t matter because the running wasn’t at the end. If Jordan doesn’t drop the ball, literally, they are in the final 2. And I think they would have been better at the puzzle than Banany. 

2 hours ago, angelamh66 said:

I was just going to post that about Aneesa... this was a final she actually could have won. I think her and Jordan would have been pretty good in all of those rooms.

I said the same upthread. Had Aneesa and Jordan made it past the elimination, they would have had a good chance at winning. I don't think Aneesa would have fucked up the way Johnny and Nany did on the block puzzle.

Although, I would have preferred a more traditional final 5-mile run for the money with some checkpoints along the way, one thing I liked about this final challenge was that it gave no advantage to anyone. You didn't need an athletic level of fitness to win that final challenge. This is one that Aneesa could have won had she got there.

Separately, I think they could have utilized the corn maze in the final challenge for the money. These puzzles and phases could have been scattered throughout the maze with our Challengers having to go out and find them, and then complete them.

Edited February 17, 2023 by AntFTW

[aghst]

The corn maize was completely random, due to luck.

At the first fork, 2 teams went right, which turned out to be the longer way.

Banany went left and they beat Jordan and Aneesa, who had taken the right fork earlier than them.

But then for the maze, Banany went left again and they hit a dead end so they had to go back and follow the path that Devin and Tori took.

Aneesa might have won but she probably would have struggled to carry and lift those cinder blocks so could Jordan have done most or all of the lifting?

 

 

[luckyroll3]

3 hours ago, AntFTW said:

Separately, I think they could have utilized the corn maze in the final challenge for the money. These puzzles and phases could have been scattered throughout the maze with our Challengers having to go out and find them, and then complete them.

Such a good idea! This would have certainly been more interesting.

[Lantern7]

*sigh* Another season in the books. Well, this and two weeks of Reunion "fun." I had a unique experience because I was at a finale party that night, hosting by ChallengeMania. Very loud, no captions. It was cool. I got to met Roni and Jonna. I'd post the pics, but I'm so humble that i possess the humility Fessy should have.

Seriously, though, this was a rough ending. The 100-hour format felt like a way to show up the guys on Challenge USA who bailed out on the final mission, and BMP is lucky that no one got hurt any worse than Olivia's busted face. They had two teams forming a puzzle with 200 30-lb cinder blocks. It was like they wanted a fatality. Instead, they got Johnny & Nany fucking up so hard, they basically quit the game. And you just know TJ will never bring that up. Not that I'd blame him or them . . . but listening to Johnny talking about how it looked like someone snatched Nany's soul? My reaction was basically, "Oh, like you did with Sarah?!?"

Olivia got seriously injured twice. Aneesa probably had to get extended medical attention after Nany essentially went all "sweep the leg" on her. Thinking about it . . . . even if Jordan & Aneesa had advanced to the final few hours, you have to wonder if things would have been altered to make sure his having the one hand wouldn't impair him too much. The real irony that given the stretch run wasn't a foot race, Aneesa would've had her best chance ever to win.

Tori and the Wannabe Bananas finally got their first titles, and they become the first AYTO alumni to win the game AND get money out of it. The sharing of money was nice, though I wonder if that was just Devin trying to jump on CT's shoulders in being a nice guy. I get how others find him entertaining, but he's still a clout-chaser to me, his greatest achievement being getting distance between himself and real hopeless cases like Nelly and Fessy.

Great idea with the cornfield. I wondered what the over/under for dead baseball players would've been, but this was Argentina. Balls In? Not a great idea. I didn't understand the rules changes, and I don't think Teege explained them. Credit to Nany for amping up the drama by fucking up slam dunks twice. Not as sad as those two guys playing Balls In at the end of Challenge USA, but still pretty damn sad.

At least we'll be getting a break. If you don't have Paramount+, you can spare yourself the drama of seeing the "world championships" and the next iteration of All Stars. I keep rooting for the franchise to collapse once and for all, but this series is the Jason Voorhees of reality TV properties.

[Drogo]

11 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Thinking about it . . . . even if Jordan & Aneesa had advanced to the final few hours, you have to wonder if things would have been altered to make sure his having the one hand wouldn't impair him too much.

Doubtful.  I can’t think of one instance where any Challenge was modified for Jordan’s disability.  (Including a few seasons ago when TPTB knew he was getting thrown into elimination vs Fessy and they still made it a Pole Wrestle, where he wrecked his shoulder and collarbone.)

[AntFTW]

28 minutes ago, Drogo said:

Doubtful.  I can’t think of one instance where any Challenge was modified for Jordan’s disability.  (Including a few seasons ago when TPTB knew he was getting thrown into elimination vs Fessy and they still made it a Pole Wrestle, where he wrecked his shoulder and collarbone.)

I doubt it too. On All-Stars, Syrus is colorblind and they still gave him a color puzzle.

I'm curious of how this would have played out if Olivia and Horacio were there, because they were supposed to be there. It was supposed to be 4 teams throughout this final instead of 3.

Edited February 20, 2023 by AntFTW

[Drogo]

1 hour ago, AntFTW said:

I'm curious of how this would have played out if Olivia and Horacio were there, because they were supposed to be there. It was supposed to be 4 teams throughout this final instead of 3.

I’m thinking they probably either would’ve either (a) had the last two teams to get through the cornfield compete in Balls In or (b) would’ve had two Balls In eliminations with Team 1 vs Team 4 and Team 2 vs Team 3.  
 

I hate that they weren’t in that Final.  Worst way to go.

[joanne3482]

I listened to the Official Challenge Podcast. It's interesting that Tori said that she liked that she knew it was going to be 100 hours going in because that gave them a way to focus and to know there's an end time. She said mentally it was easier because ordinarily they don't know what to expect and what's coming or how long things are going to go on. Devin said Tori was the one who suggested they split the money since they are all her friends and they helped protect her and Devin. 

The executive producer, Emer, did say that it was Olivia's finger injury that likely caused the hit in the face. They tested it a ton of times, and it was the same set up as the one they did earlier in the season.  

 

[ImpinAintEasy]

15 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

*sigh* Another season in the books. Well, this and two weeks of Reunion "fun." I had a unique experience because I was at a finale party that night, hosting by ChallengeMania. Very loud, no captions. It was cool. I got to met Roni and Jonna. I'd post the pics, but I'm so humble that i possess the humility Fessy should have.

Seriously, though, this was a rough ending. The 100-hour format felt like a way to show up the guys on Challenge USA who bailed out on the final mission, and BMP is lucky that no one got hurt any worse than Olivia's busted face. They had two teams forming a puzzle with 200 30-lb cinder blocks. It was like they wanted a fatality. Instead, they got Johnny & Nany fucking up so hard, they basically quit the game. And you just know TJ will never bring that up. Not that I'd blame him or them . . . but listening to Johnny talking about how it looked like someone snatched Nany's soul? My reaction was basically, "Oh, like you did with Sarah?!?"

Olivia got seriously injured twice. Aneesa probably had to get extended medical attention after Nany essentially went all "sweep the leg" on her. Thinking about it . . . . even if Jordan & Aneesa had advanced to the final few hours, you have to wonder if things would have been altered to make sure his having the one hand wouldn't impair him too much. The real irony that given the stretch run wasn't a foot race, Aneesa would've had her best chance ever to win.

Tori and the Wannabe Bananas finally got their first titles, and they become the first AYTO alumni to win the game AND get money out of it. The sharing of money was nice, though I wonder if that was just Devin trying to jump on CT's shoulders in being a nice guy. I get how others find him entertaining, but he's still a clout-chaser to me, his greatest achievement being getting distance between himself and real hopeless cases like Nelly and Fessy.

Great idea with the cornfield. I wondered what the over/under for dead baseball players would've been, but this was Argentina. Balls In? Not a great idea. I didn't understand the rules changes, and I don't think Teege explained them. Credit to Nany for amping up the drama by fucking up slam dunks twice. Not as sad as those two guys playing Balls In at the end of Challenge USA, but still pretty damn sad.

At least we'll be getting a break. If you don't have Paramount+, you can spare yourself the drama of seeing the "world championships" and the next iteration of All Stars. I keep rooting for the franchise to collapse once and for all, but this series is the Jason Voorhees of reality TV properties.

When you go to these events do you tell the contestants you get to mingle with that you hope the show is canceled? I’m not crazy about a lot of things, but I still get entertainment from it. 

[aghst]

I guess for the first time in awhile, they didn't try to integrate sleep deprivation into the game, other than that first leg with the bike riding, though the difference between the first pair and the last pair only seemed to be about an hour or so.

They may have had difficult time sleeping though, depending on the conditions.

But a large chunk of the 100 hours seem to be time devoted for sleep and they overnighted at least 3 or 4 times during the 100 hours?

 

 

[AntFTW]

I just listened to Johnny’s podcast with Aneesa. It wasn’t for this episode, but for the last episode. Aneesa says she was supposed to come into the game with a friend of hers named James. Meanwhile, Jordan was supposed to come in with Nia but Nia didn’t pass whatever medical qualifications or exam they had.

However, Aneesa ends up catching COVID and had to quarantine. That meant Aneesa’s friend was out. It seems that once Nia didn’t pass the medical exam, they then asked Aneesa if she wanted to partner with Jordan (I assume she had a negative COVID test at this point). That colors in the picture for me because in the beginning of the season, Tori and Aneesa both said that Aneesa flew over with the rest of the cast so it didn’t make sense that she was a part of the twist of a surprise pair entering the game. It seems to me that Aneesa wasn’t originally apart of the twist. Jordan knew Tori was on the show but Tori didn’t know that Jordan was coming.

They also did some other portions of the final that wasn’t shown. At one station, each pair had to squat in a frame or box that was drawn on the ground for a combined hour with each partner in a pair alternating. If they fell, time restarted. Also, if you remember the big rolling pin that they had to hold up in that elimination to get back into the game (Fessy and Moriah vs Jordan and Aneesa vs Kaycee and Kenny), they had to hold that up that for a combined hour.

Edited February 21, 2023 by AntFTW

[RedbirdNelly]

any idea on why they would do challenges and not show them--especially since they drug this out over 3 episodes

I was ok with Tori and Devin winning. I always root for Devin some due to his "what is 7x9 Josh" thing. That was hilarious

[bunnyface]

4 minutes ago, RedbirdNelly said:

any idea on why they would do challenges and not show them--especially since they drug this out over 3 episodes

I was ok with Tori and Devin winning. I always root for Devin some due to his "what is 7x9 Josh" thing. That was hilarious

They do that sometimes if the event didn't result in any changes.  If it was so totally boring it put everyone to sleep AND it resulted in no changes in the standings, more room watch other exciting whining montages and vomit scenes.  

[DEL901]

5 hours ago, RedbirdNelly said:

any idea on why they would do challenges and not show them--especially since they drug this out over 3 episodes

I was ok with Tori and Devin winning. I always root for Devin some due to his "what is 7x9 Josh" thing. That was hilarious

With so much going on in the three day finale…I read one challenge was the big round ball one like Fessy and Mariah won…boring and results weren’t impacted.  

Edited February 21, 2023 by DEL901

[Lantern7]

 

[millennium]

On 2/15/2023 at 10:41 PM, AntFTW said:

I... did... not like that.

Honestly, I thought it was kinda lame. It kinda took the thrill out of it for me.

Lame is the perfect word, given the leg injuries sustained by Aneesa and Nany, allowing Tori and Devin to go virtually unopposed.   It  facilitated probably the only set of circumstances under which Devin could win.  

Worst final since that "city challenge" about ten years ago.   It didn't feel like the Challenge at all.   No kayaking.  No trekking across deserts.   No mountain climbing.   Nobody thinking "am I gonna die up here?"   Never a point where any two teams were truly neck in neck.   I swear, it seemed like all they did for most of the hundred hours was run multiple laps around the perimeter of the same cow pasture.   Then, sure, the  Final Challenge had a Hunger Games look, but take away all the bells and whistles and it was just a bunch of recycled (and overused) eliminations that we've seen too many times before.

Covid killed this show.   It hasn't been the same since Total Madness.

[millennium]

This diminished Final screamed "no budget."    It felt like a "bottle episode."  Maybe Bunim-Murray has spread itself too thin, or perhaps lost money on The Challenge: USA.   Remember when Finals kicked off with the remaining players leaving the Challenge house and jetting away to another country, enjoying a night or two of celebration before the ordeal began?  Where did all the fun go?