S38.E21: Reunion Part 2

[shantown]

Quote

The Ride or Dies settle unfinished business; a familiar face makes a surprise appearance.

Airs Wednesday, March 1, at 8:00 pm eastern on MTV

[bunnyface]

Was it as bad as I imagine it was?  I have to assume my DVR was preserving my sanity and eye muscles because it noped out of recording it.

[AntFTW]

6 minutes ago, bunnyface said:

Was it as bad as I imagine it was?  I have to assume my DVR was preserving my sanity and eye muscles because it noped out of recording it.

It was a waste of 60 minutes.

[jsm1125]

Having Kaycee and Kenny on stage was interesting, as the latter especially didn’t get a lick of airtime.

[Tachi Rocinante]

Kenny looks like Joe LoTruglio from Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

I thought Amber's teary reveal would be that she had a miscarriage.

[Jillibean]

For the winner, Devin certainly didn't get many questions directed at him.

Michelle was basically sitting on Jay's lap at one point. What was that about?

Turbo's video was embarrassingly stupid and very clearly scripted. It sounded like someone wrote what they thought Turbo sounded like in English for him to read, but the grammar was all off from Turbo's usual patterns. 

Tori and Jordan have a lot of unfinished business. It was interesting to me how Laurel seemed to be almost apologizing to Tori for hooking up with Tori's ex more than a year ago. It seems like she also knows this story isn't over. I continue to applaud Tori for being open about her mental health. 

I don't know Amber in real life, of course, but I was a bit confused by both her diagnosis and her explanation of her diagnosis. 

Hot take: if you come onto the challenge as a rookie, I don't know that anyone owes it to you to be your friend or even be friendLY. Respectful, sure. But this isn't camp. They're all competing. And someone like Aneesa has been doing this for two decades and has seen literally hundreds of people come and go over the years. Most of the rookies are one and done. I don't blame her for not going out of her way to befriend them.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Jillibean

[snarts]

So many damn tears...I'm emotionally drained just from watching it. Some justified, others I couldn't help but feel like they were auditioning for something.

I think my eyes actually rolled out of my head listening to Nelson carry on.

Also, is Laurel prettier in person?  Her attractiveness does not come through the TV for me. Or maybe I just can't see past how she treated Big Easy all those years ago...

 

[Tachi Rocinante]

The biggest problem with vets like Aneesa and others is that they demand respect just for being vets. They haven't accomplished shit and they coast to mid-season or beyond because they are protected.  If I was a rookie I wouldn't respect her game at all.

[AntFTW]

2 hours ago, Jillibean said:

Turbo's video was embarrassingly stupid and very clearly scripted. It sounded like someone wrote what they thought Turbo sounded like in English for him to read, but the grammar was all off from Turbo's usual patterns. 

I thought that was the funniest part of the reunion. That video was hilariously stupid.

[shantown]

There was not enough in either reunion episode to justify stretching it over two weeks. Should have been one more 1.5hr episode and be done. Lots of melodramatic tears and yelling, and another cheesy speech from Nelson. I did find it interesting how many people on stage jumped in with compliments and cheers for him. Nelson has never seemed that adored on the show itself. But then again, Bananas made a good point (ugh, I hate agreeing with him) when was showing support for Amber. He said that while on the show they all may fight or dislike each other because they're all competing, on stage they are all supportive of each other and in real life they all have her back. An interesting dichotomy between earlier when there were all the accusations of the "We Hate Amber" group text and such. 

All in all I'm surprised there wasn't more from Devin as a winner finally (I so badly wanted to see him gloat over Fessy), but also the final 3-4 teams all seemed to be supportive of each during the final and in real life, so there probably just wasn't much drama to pull from. 

[AntFTW]

10 minutes ago, shantown said:

There was not enough in either reunion episode to justify stretching it over two weeks. Should have been one more 1.5hr episode and be done.

Agreed. I would’ve taken an episode of clips of shit they should’ve shown instead.

[Zima]

1 hour ago, AntFTW said:

Agreed. I would’ve taken an episode of clips of shit they should’ve shown instead.

I miss those! 

[Unclejosh]

4 hours ago, snarts said:

Also, is Laurel prettier in person?  Her attractiveness does not come through the TV for me. Or maybe I just can't see past how she treated Big Easy all those years ago...

 

I will forever hate MTV for the way they edited out Easy shitting all over her FIRST and only showing Laurel's response to make her look bad when he was the one who started it and said some terrible things to her. Like making fun of her looks, bacne, that no one would ever want sleep with her, that she couldn't have kids or something relating to fertility and more.  Easy is an AWFUL person who was protected by MTV production on every show he was on.  Like in All-Stars when they made it seem like it was Jemmye who wanted to quit when Easy was asking to quit first and was more vocal about it.

Laurel was the initial victim of bullying who responded in a harsh manner and editing only showed her to shame her. The fact that she had to apologize at the reunion still makes me sick.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Unclejosh
spelling

[AntFTW]

20 minutes ago, Unclejosh said:

Like in All-Stars when they made it seem like it was Jemmye who wanted to quit when Easy was asking to quit first and was more vocal about it.

He was definitely pulling a Fessy. "Just let me know if you wanna quit because ain't no point in eating this food. I ain't gonna be mad about but just let me know if you wanna quit." LOL

[aghst]

My Tivo didn't record.

Oh well doesn't feel like I missed much.

Onto the next season of whichever version.

[MaggieG]

That Turbo video was very on brand for Turbo. Especially his repeated use of the words pussy chicken 😂

Did Kenny even speak during this reunion?

I just wanted to give Amber a hug. I like that Chauncey stood up for her. I like what Johnny said to her but I also hope she's careful in the future about trusting these people. Then again, she's pregnant now so who knows when she'll be back.

Jay and Michele did look very coupled up on the couch.

I was trying to follow the Nelson/Olivia argument and it seems like when they got back from filming Olivia just didn't want to talk to Nelson anymore? Which she has every right to do. She owes him nothing unless they were in an actual relationship.

[AntFTW]

24 minutes ago, MaggieG said:

I was trying to follow the Nelson/Olivia argument and it seems like when they got back from filming Olivia just didn't want to talk to Nelson anymore? Which she has every right to do. She owes him nothing unless they were in an actual relationship.

It seems like once Olivia got off the show, she needed to reassess her situation, her life and figure out what she wanted so she needed some time to herself to reflect on that.

I feel like that wasn't getting through to Nelson. Nelson doesn't seem to have the ability to empathize at all. While I understand that Nelson may not have had some closure with the feelings he was left with, it seems like he was not taking in her message. She was listening to him (like actually hearing and understanding him), but he wasn't listening to her.

[Jobiska]

On 3/3/2023 at 11:39 AM, AntFTW said:

feel like that wasn't getting through to Nelson. Nelson doesn't seem to have the ability to empathize at all. While I understand that Nelson may not have had some closure with the feelings he was left with, it seems like he was not taking in her message. She was listening to him (like actually hearing and understanding him), but he wasn't listening to her.

Yeah.  I didn't mind their convo on stage too much, but thought it was kind of uncomfortable when he collared her during the break, shown in a bumper back to the show.  Like, stop haranguing her, dude.  

[LaurelleJ]

Turbo's video was cringe. I'll pass on him. I can't for the life of me get Fessy's appeal. He's hooked up with so many ladies on that stage and it's sick. Blech. Laurel and Horacio are an interesting couple, but I think Laurel will corrupt him and I would like Horacio to stay the nice guy on the challenge. Laurel ad Jordan hooked up??? Uh, ok. Johnny and Ravyn being there was ridiculous because they barely spoke, it was just to talk about Nurys and Johnny. Not surprised at all that Jordan and Nurys did not continue. I feel like Nurys understands the game and knew she needed a hookup to get ore airtime. Fessy was super busy, Bananas had his sights set on Moriah, and Jordan was a big name and had history with Tori so it was a good story for her. Maybe she actually liked him, but that's my initial thought. She has likely secured an invite to future challenges. 

I feel like Olivia thought that with Nelson this was just going to be a cute challenge relationship and they were going to leave it there, but Nelson caught real feelings and she didn't want that. I actually thought that Nelson showed great maturity and vulnerability when discussing it on stage, that couldn't have been easy. It would have been easy to just say yeah it was what it was, and now it's over and I'm moving on. Nelson moved the needle for me this season in his favor, but he still loses some points because he is friends with Fessy. Yuck. 

Can we count the amount of words that Darrell, Kenny, Devin and Laurel's partner (can't even remember his name) collectively said the whole reunion? I was expecting more Devin vs. Fessy about being a challenge champion. 

[jsm1125]

I have a theory about why Devin didn’t get a ton of airtime during the reunion. He’s made it no secret that he dislikes Amber for reasons that nobody seems to know, and I don’t know if he would have been able to contain himself from rolling his eyes when she was revealing her Autism diagnosis. That would make one of the winners of this season look like a total dick.

Let me get this straight, Bananas. Amber has to have an official diagnosis in order for others to not be douchebags to her? 

[millennium]

Remember when The Challenge reunions used to be all about snark and throwing shade at other castmates? (my personal favorite moment was Bananas telling Paulie his outfit made him look like a Hunger Games host).

Now it's crying and broken hearts and mental health and autism. 

On 3/2/2023 at 12:15 PM, Unclejosh said:

I will forever hate MTV for the way they edited out Easy shitting all over her FIRST and only showing Laurel's response to make her look bad when he was the one who started it and said some terrible things to her. Like making fun of her looks, bacne, that no one would ever want sleep with her, that she couldn't have kids or something relating to fertility and more.  Easy is an AWFUL person who was protected by MTV production on every show he was on.  Like in All-Stars when they made it seem like it was Jemmye who wanted to quit when Easy was asking to quit first and was more vocal about it.

Easy is not a good guy.   Anybody who shows up to a competition game knowing he's dooming the chances of whomever has the shitty luck to be teamed with him is either selfish, malicious, or both.   To me, his attitude has always seemed to be, "My weight problem is THEIR problem, not mine."  I remember Camila freaking out over being teamed with him but she give their elimination challenge 110% regardless, while he took "the Easy way out" -- he just gave up, no matter how much Camila begged him not to.   He tries to come off as good-natured but I always get the sense it's an act.

 

[lasu]

Eric should have been removed and banned from game play after he put his genitals on another competitor's face. 

[millennium]

On 4/9/2023 at 2:01 PM, lasu said:

Eric should have been removed and banned from game play after he put his genitals on another competitor's face. 

Did I miss this? (thankfully)

[lasu]

1 hour ago, millennium said:

Did I miss this? (thankfully)

I think it's from their Fresh Meat season, but I'm not 100% on that part.  But yes, Eric "teabagged" Kenny, for "hilarity."  Perhaps if they had taken that more seriously, the toothbrush incident wouldn't have happened.  But I'm bothered that this behavior, while in the past, has remained unrecognized as problematic.