S01.E02: When Worlds Collide

[AntFTW]

Quote

The Legends and Global MVPs join forces and begin their quest for $500,000 and the title of first ever Challenge World Champion. After a brutal Challenge, paranoia runs rampant as the players are forced to nominate teams for elimination.

Airs March 8, 2023 on Paramount+

[AntFTW]

Of course Nelson loses a puzzle challenge!

If I'm in power, even though KellyAnne is playing like a scared rookie, I would throw in another Argentina player. As much as I don't want Jodi down in elimination so early in the season, that just seems to make the most sense to me. If it ain't broke...

Great, they're going to reduce me down to 1 episode a week after getting me high on 2 episodes.

This World Championship season is starting off great. These two episodes are better than the entirety of USA and the last 4 seasons of the flagship.

Edited March 9, 2023 by AntFTW

[shantown]

Zero surprise on KellyAnne and Nelson being picked last. Was also not surprised they were the bottom 2 pairs.

Grant/Jonna and Kaz/Jordan are two of my favorite pairs, so I was stoked to see them come in first. Was also happy to see Jodi, Yes, and Darrell in the top 6. The older challengers have still got it! 

There are so many layers to the politics/social game this season, I love it. Having an equal number of MVPs and Legends and them being paired up means there's not a real rookie vs. vet vibe. And because even among the Legends there's a good spread of previous winners vs not, old seasons vs newer, past relationships vs no connections there isn't a clear majority anywhere. Add in the alliances of the four countries and it would be hard to start a clear dominating alliance. 

But I guess I didn't realize they would be competing within a "countries as a team" format so much. I guess it's similar to when castmates from the same Season (or original show) naturally align. But putting the flag of their partner's country on the Legend jerseys just seems weird. I think Zara and Wes were right in saying they were Team Zara/Wes before Team Country.

I enjoyed the daily this time around and thought it was a good mix of strategy, strength, and brains. Hopefully they can keep up the solid mix of skills needed in each!

[Lamima]

Gawd, had enough of Tori and Jordan on the recent Challenge. Are we going to get more? Plus a few other ex couples that will also be snipping at each other. Ick.

Also not thrilled to have more Bananas and Jordan. And this Wes guy will probably also annoy. 

[Lantern7]

The word of emphasis for Nelson: "Heart." No, really. "Heart." I would have gone with "Audacity" or "Needy Greedy." Once again . . . . we could've had Fessy in there. He hasn't won a title, but he's gotten further than Nelson. Maybe he couldn't find the right turtleneck sweater to wear in South Africa.

Looks like the teams are just the pairs, and that the uniforms are just dressing. It would be interesting if they had to compete as the nations they represent or drafted by, but pairs work better.

Wes' word was "Strategy." Uh huh. Look how far that's gotten him. I hope Zara likes plunges off cliffs, because that's probably what will happen to her.

Good mission, though I think it was better to play than to watch. By the way, is Teege running the show now? Or will the other hosts rotate duties?we'll be

I'm not sure about ending the episode before Grant & Jonna's decision was good. I'm dreading that we'll be getting alternating episodes between missions and the Arena. I must be stuck in the past, because I miss the days where everything was wrapped up within thirty minutes.

On 3/8/2023 at 10:12 PM, AntFTW said:

This World Championship season is starting off great. These two episodes are better than the entirety of USA and the last 4 seasons of the flagship.

Ah, BMP will find a way to blow it. Maybe we'll get a 200-hour finale. Are there corn mazes in South Africa?

[SunshineOnMe]

19 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

 

Ah, BMP will find a way to blow it. Maybe we'll get a 200-hour finale. Are there corn mazes in South Africa?

😂

[jsm1125]

On 3/9/2023 at 9:42 PM, Lantern7 said:

The word of emphasis for Nelson: "Heart." No, really. "Heart." I would have gone with "Audacity" or "Needy Greedy." Once again . . . . we could've had Fessy in there. He hasn't won a title, but he's gotten further than Nelson. Maybe he couldn't find the right turtleneck sweater to wear in South Africa.

Looks like the teams are just the pairs, and that the uniforms are just dressing. It would be interesting if they had to compete as the nations they represent or drafted by, but pairs work better.

Wes' word was "Strategy." Uh huh. Look how far that's gotten him. I hope Zara likes plunges off cliffs, because that's probably what will happen to her.

Good mission, though I think it was better to play than to watch. By the way, is Teege running the show now? Or will the other hosts rotate duties?we'll be

I'm not sure about ending the episode before Grant & Jonna's decision was good. I'm dreading that we'll be getting alternating episodes between missions and the Arena. I must be stuck in the past, because I miss the days where everything was wrapped up within thirty minutes.

Ah, BMP will find a way to blow it. Maybe we'll get a 200-hour finale. Are there corn mazes in South Africa?

At least Nelson has placed second in a final. I don’t think Fessy has done that just yet.

[jsm1125]

How has Kelly Anne’s political game not improved during the decade and a half she’s done these challenges?

[aghst]

The Daily was serious work.  Grant and Jonna got to their chain last yet finished before others.  So were the the furthest out from the shipwreck or the closest, meaning the hardest puzzle?

Lot of running and lifting so far.  Looks like hot weather since most were in shorts and short-sleeve tops.

Have they been in Cape Town or South Africa before?  The scenery is suppose to be spectacular with nearby mountains looming over the seaside city.

It would be cool if they make running up those mountains part of a Daily or the Final, though it's suppose to be a popular hiking destination so they may not be able to take over the trails.

But if they can get access to sand dunes like that for a Daily, not to mention around that stadium for the Qualifier in episode one, they could have some cool venues.  I imagine we will see water as part of some Daily soon.

Maybe if they step up their Daily challenges, using things like stunt drivers and using helicopters again, that would explain only $500k grand prize instead of $1 million.  They had to fly in cast from all over the world, though I don't think the starting cast size is more than other Challenge seasons.

As for the voting and politics, the foreign cast wanted to gravitate towards each other, just like they did on Challenge USA with the casts from different shows.  Those are natural alliances and they can vote together in the early voting.

It's a very simple strategy but it could be the best one they have, because if they don't stick together, they will just get picked apart, like everyone is going after Argentina since Claudia got eliminated first.

It's like rookies and newbies on the OG Challenge, they should stick together because the vets will always vote as a bloc to eliminate the rookies first.  But they rarely do and almost always play right into their hands.

Why call them Legends anyways, Theo and Nia each did one seasons previously?  They performed well in some of the Dailies and maybe elimination but just call them all vets.

So the teams should look to vote as a bloc and try to ally with another team but the vets will just influence their partners to vote out teams and ultimately protect vets.

I can't recall but did any Argentine challengers vote for these Argentine pairs?

Episode was just 45 minutes including opening and end credits.  So kind of stingy that they didn't have the elimination.

Previous Challenge seasons on Paramount + have only been 10 episodes but I think they started with fewer people.  So who knows they may try to stretch this season out to 15-20, like the Challenge OG seasons on MTV.

So that could mean you may have to subscribe 4 months instead of 2.5 months.

 

 

[AntFTW]

7 hours ago, aghst said:

The Daily was serious work.  Grant and Jonna got to their chain last yet finished before others.  So were the the furthest out from the shipwreck or the closest, meaning the hardest puzzle?

Lot of running and lifting so far.  Looks like hot weather since most were in shorts and short-sleeve tops.

Grant and Jonna got to the chains last, so they had the hardest puzzle. The hardest puzzle was closest to the shipwreck and the bell. Everyone else seemingly chose the easier puzzles and they were further out. I question whether these were actually more difficult or easier in any significant way.

7 hours ago, aghst said:

Have they been in Cape Town or South Africa before?  The scenery is suppose to be spectacular with nearby mountains looming over the seaside city.

On the flagship show, they have. Final Reckoning was shot in South Africa. I'm unsure if it was specifically in Cape Town. However, only Johnny, Nelson and Tori were on that season.

Edited March 13, 2023 by AntFTW

[MaggieG]

I haven't watched any of the other iterations so all of the non-Legends are new to me. I'm still trying to learn everyone's names. Sarah reminds me of Davina from Selling Sunset. I'm happy to see Theo again and I'm always shocked at how tall he is.

11 hours ago, AntFTW said:

Grant and Jonna got to the chains last, so they had the hardest puzzle. The hardest puzzle was closest to the shipwreck and the bell. Everyone else seemingly chose the easier puzzles and they were further out. I question whether these were actually more difficult or easier in any significant way.

I was very confused about this so thanks for explaining. 

[jsm1125]

18 hours ago, AntFTW said:

Grant and Jonna got to the chains last, so they had the hardest puzzle. The hardest puzzle was closest to the shipwreck and the bell. Everyone else seemingly chose the easier puzzles and they were further out. I question whether these were actually more difficult or easier in any significant way.

On the flagship show, they have. Final Reckoning was shot in South Africa. I'm unsure if it was specifically in Cape Town. However, only Johnny, Nelson and Tori were on that season.

They also went to Capetown in the Inferno 3, which I know was over 15 years ago.  Fascinating to see a young Johnny Bananas there 

[jsm1125]

I normally like Yes, but what was with his “I’m voting based on performance” and then voting for Jodi anyway?? 

[AntFTW]

I'm not seeing much of a political advantage in the game for the daily challenge winners.... and it's just because of the rules they've made for the game. It just seems that the winning pair has no real power. Ultimately the house chooses who goes in because the house does the nominating, and the winning chooses among the options that the house gives them and the house can give the winners options they don't want.

As a winner, you can't even threaten to throw someone in or give an absolute promise of safety by keeping them out of nominations because it's all about that house vote.

Edited March 14, 2023 by AntFTW

[AntFTW]

4 hours ago, jsm1125 said:

I normally like Yes, but what was with his “I’m voting based on performance” and then voting for Jodi anyway?? 

He was absolutely full of shit. They got 5th place. There were 8 teams behind Jodi and Benja, not including the losers.

Jodi has the unfortunate luck of being on Team Argentina.

Also, Jodi had an interesting point, that Nia and Rodrigo performed worse and yet, they're not being considered. They're also Team Argentina, and they more sense as a vote of 'performance' is the reason. I'm thinking that has more to do with Jordan. I don't think Jordan would vote for Nia. Kaz may have gotten her UK alliance onboard with that vote also since she's teamed with Jordan... assuming the UK people have an alliance considering they voted for Tristan.

Edited March 14, 2023 by AntFTW

[Jobiska]

I'm actually a Wes fan, but watching him run down the dune flailing like a rag doll was hilarious.  Not shoe-to-the-head hilarious, but still funny.

 

ETA:  And I'm not a huge Ben fan--I don't hate him, but I usually say "shut up Ben" or more commonly "shut up Ben's hat"--but I found the segment about cleaning up, and hiding his own little stash of serveware, rather endearing.  

Edited March 29, 2023 by Jobiska