S01.E07: The New World Order

[shantown]

Quote

A group of underdog competitors plot to turn the tide of the game; at the "Tunnel Time" challenge, teams are unexpectedly torn apart; the threat of elimination brings a pair of players with a complicated past together and reignites a storied rivalry.

Available April 12 on Paramount+

[Badlands]

Why can't we get rid of Jordan?? Not only is he my least favorite, but it's so tedious hearing Tori talking about him constantly. It's gotten to the point where I had to root for Bananas. Bananas, people! I really like Justine, though, so that helped.

It was interesting that people noticed that the sun barrel was wrong and didn't say anything.  Bananas isn't used to being on the wrong end of help from the peanut gallery.

I'm glad KellyAnne pulled that off. She hasn't been the best strategically, but I'm pulling for her.

I'm not sure if I need to spoiler the preview, but in case...

Spoiler

I hope we don't lose anyone to the "sickness," particularly Amber and KellyAnne's teams.

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by Badlands

[AntFTW]

Good episode.

I didn't care for the daily challenge but I liked the elimination. I don't have many notes on this episode but I'm thankful we finally got a "regularly formatted" episode with a daily challenge and elimination.

My only comment about the episode really has to do with the politics. In my view, Kaycee has never been good at politics but good at being likeable. Kaycee's social game is amazing! After Tori left the room leaving only KellyAnne and Kaycee, the moment KellyAnne said "I don't mind stalemating", I would have switched the vote to KellyAnne and Tristan, instead of Darrell and Kiki and try to get Darrell and Kiki to hop on that vote. However, Kaycee let KellyAnne get to Darrell first. I'm assuming that Kaycee wanted to try to save the USA squad.

4 hours ago, Badlands said:

It was interesting that people noticed that the sun barrel was wrong and didn't say anything.  Bananas isn't used to being on the wrong end of help from the peanut gallery.

I wouldn't say he was on the wrong side because no one got any useful help from what we saw. Jordan also picked up the wrong barrel. Jordan caught his error faster. Jordan caught that he had the wrong barrel. I figured there was a reason he took out the barrel with the sun, and tossed it aside.

3 hours ago, Badlands said:

  Hide contents

I hope we don't lose anyone to the "sickness," particularly Amber and KellyAnne's teams.

A couple of episodes back (when they did the swinging from the excavators), Amber said she had been feeling sick. I'm guessing it's because she was pregnant.

[bunnyface]

8 hours ago, Badlands said:

Why can't we get rid of Jordan??

Because apparently Tori will diiiieeeeee if he goes.  Nevermind that he will probably beat her in a final also.  She's willing to lay it all down for him.  But also, just to annoy the rest of us?

I wonder if they were told not to help in the elmination?  Because Tori looked like she wanted to tell Jordan he had the wrong barrel but seemingly switched it up to "attention to detail" when he had the wrong sun barrel and he looked it over.  If it's shown the way it really happened.  And nobody helping Bananas and him realizing it?  Pure Solid Gold and needs some Solid Gold dancers along with Marilyn McCoo.  

[luckyroll3]

9 hours ago, Badlands said:

I'm glad KellyAnne pulled that off. She hasn't been the best strategically, but I'm pulling for her.

Me when Kelly-Anne's plan worked:

It's always great seeing Johnny taking things personally after an entire season of him telling everyone else he's voted for and schemed against not to take it personally. Did they really think Kelly-Anne was going to do what they say after they've all been treating her like crap since the beginning?

Also, the look on Sarah's face when she started getting all those votes was priceless! She thinks she's such a mastermind. 

4 hours ago, AntFTW said:

In my view, Kaycee has never been good at politics but good at being likeable. Kaycee's social game is amazing! After Tori left the room leaving only KellyAnne and Kaycee, the moment KellyAnne said "I don't mind stalemating", I would have switched the vote to KellyAnne and Tristan, instead of Darrell and Kiki and try to get Darrell and Kiki to hop on that vote. However, Kaycee let KellyAnne get to Darrell first. I'm assuming that Kaycee wanted to try to save the USA squad.

This! I don't understand why she's so likeable because she triggers all the manipulator alarms in my head, but she is. But she's shit at politics and tends to be allied with people who everyone else vehemently dislikes (crybaby Josh, asshole Faysal) or have strong alliances built in (Nany) so she's been able to coast. As soon as she heard there would be a possibility of a "stalemate" all Kaycee could think was that they'd use the same tactic the house has been using all season - say the same names that have been called before - and she couldn't think about anything else.

[AntFTW]

9 hours ago, Badlands said:

I'm glad KellyAnne pulled that off. She hasn't been the best strategically, but I'm pulling for her.

21 minutes ago, luckyroll3 said:

Me when Kelly-Anne's plan worked:

It's always great seeing Johnny taking things personally after an entire season of him telling everyone else he's voted for and schemed against not to take it personally. Did they really think Kelly-Anne was going to do what they say after they've all been treating her like crap since the beginning?

I didn't understand why they thought KellyAnne would have been the person to loop in on that plan because they've nominated her and tossed her into elimination, like what, 2 times?

37 minutes ago, luckyroll3 said:

This! I don't understand why she's so likeable because she triggers all the manipulator alarms in my head, but she is. But she's shit at politics and tends to be allied with people who everyone else vehemently dislikes (crybaby Josh, asshole Faysal) or have strong alliances built in (Nany) so she's been able to coast.

All of them Nany, Kaycee, Fessy and Josh come in with numbers and that's the reason they get far. They have to do the bare minimum of the game politics, and they squeak by. That's why it was great seeing Kaycee lose that elimination on Ride or Dies. I want to see Kaycee actually work to stay in the game.

40 minutes ago, luckyroll3 said:

As soon as she heard there would be a possibility of a "stalemate" all Kaycee could think was that they'd use the same tactic the house has been using all season - say the same names that have been called before - and she couldn't think about anything else.

All the more reason to she should have got to work and whipped up the votes to save her numbers... and I'm assuming Kaycee considers Johnny a number. It does seem like they were playing together. KellyAnne is aligned with Jodi and Benja, and did what she had to do get numbers on her side. I think KellyAnne would have been willing to go to a stalemate. I'm not sure if KellyAnne counted on the other side blinking first, but they did and KellyAnne saved the day.

Now, I'm wondering if Ben and Kaycee are on an island of one.

[Lamb18]

I can't help wondering if anyone ever sang, "Yes, we have no Bananas, we have no Bananas today."

[Lamb18]

I'm sorry to see Justine go. I don't care if Bananas leaves or stays.

[Blueboxes]

13 hours ago, AntFTW said:

However, Kaycee let KellyAnne get to Darrell first. I'm assuming that Kaycee wanted to try to save the USA squad.

Kaycee and Ben were already not really on board with Team USA and looking for a reason to defect. KellyAnne gave them cover to say "we were going to vote with the team until we saw it would be a stalemate"

PS I am SO happy Johnny is gone. 

Tired of watching him smugly convince some rookie girl that he's genuinely interested in her. Seemed to me from this episode that he & Justine were "more than partners." The nerve.... Telling Justine he's more impressed with her than any other partner he's ever had (yeah right). Justine is a good competitor, but no. 

[AntFTW]

26 minutes ago, Blueboxes said:

Kaycee and Ben were already not really on board with Team USA and looking for a reason to defect.

Ben isn't. Kaycee is... as nonsensical as that sounds.

As long as Kaycee was Ben's partner, Ben has a little cover with USA because Johnny and Tori (both Team USA) were working with Kaycee. I suspect that's why he didn't throw a vote to Johnny and Justine like everyone else did. He hopped on the vote for Sarah and Theo, but Kaycee was working with Johnny and Tori so no votes for them.

3 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

I'm sorry to see Justine go. I don't care if Bananas leaves or stays.

29 minutes ago, Blueboxes said:

PS I am SO happy Johnny is gone. 

I like Justine though. She really grew on me on The Challenge USA. I liked her on this show also.

I hope we see her on future seasons.

 

Edited April 13, 2023 by AntFTW

[aghst]

I thought both games were terrific.

all of them worked together in the tunnel but seemed to get different totals, even when both teams unlocked on the first try.

Kaz was really poor at calculations and got frazzled under pressure, as did Benja.

KellyAnnes alliance was smart, they’d all been thrown in and would keep being thrown in.  They had no other recourse or else they’d continued to be picked off one by one.

Tori’s strategy seemed more about saving Jordan and she went to KA, who’d been loudly bitter about repeatedly being voted in.  Wrong move, KA was the leader of the rebel alliance.

In the elimination, Bananas and Justine were faster but obviously made a critical mistake.  Kaz wasn’t much help, Jordan literally did the heavy lifting, physically and mentally.

This was one exhilarating episode, both in suspense-buildup and the results.

 

[Lantern7]

Imagine Turbo at his home, grinning and muttering “Justice” as the peanut gallery doesn’t bail out Johnny. I can’t keep track of all the alliances, and I’d want everyone to keep their yaps shut with two certified legends battling for survival.

On 4/12/2023 at 9:17 PM, Lamb18 said:

I can't help wondering if anyone ever sang, "Yes, we have no Bananas, we have no Bananas today."

Eh, if nobody sang “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina” yet . . .

Nice take on the episode:

 

[millennium]

On 4/12/2023 at 11:46 AM, AntFTW said:

Jordan caught his error faster. Jordan caught that he had the wrong barrel.

It appeared that Tori caught his error and alerted him to it.   Perhaps it was just editing, but after he slid the first sun barrel into the slot, she called out "Attention to detail!" and that's when Jordan swapped it out for the other one.

First Wes, now Bananas.   It may be an an unpopular opinion, but I love those guys.   Bananas said on his podcast awhile ago that the time to worry is when the peanut gallery tries to help you, because that means they don't consider you a threat anymore.

Scant reason left to watch now other than my hope of seeing Sarah, Danny and Ben go down in flames.  And Yes, too.   Who knows, maybe Amber and David Spade will win.

Edited April 22, 2023 by millennium