S39.E00: Battle for a New Champion: Countdown Begins

[AntFTW]

Quote

Embarking on an exhilarating new chapter, TJ sets his sights on the next generation of Challenge Contenders: all have competed before, but are to yet to claim victory. Get to know the Contenders as they spend the night before battle.

Air date: October 18, 2023

[mojoween]

Melissa to Asaf - your baby is one, he won’t notice you are gone.  Oh Melissa no.  Imagine if someone said that to her when (the incredibly adorable Vienna) was one?

Moriah et al - Chauncey is with us.  No I don’t think Chauncey is with us.

But no one went over and, you know, *talked* to Chauncey.

Speaking of which, I would watch a show where we just followed around Amber, Chauncey and Sunny (Sunni?).

I have watched this show since the 90’s.  And this must have been within like the last three years.  But Devin winning a challenge is nowhere in my memory bank.

Wait is Aneesa retired?  She should be here.

Edited October 19, 2023 by mojoween

[aghst]

So preview show, introducing the challengers for this season?

[AntFTW]

7 minutes ago, aghst said:

So preview show, introducing the challengers for this season?

Yup. You also get to see them do a little challenge in the beginning.

3 hours ago, mojoween said:

Wait is Aneesa retired?  She should be here.

It’s for the newer people, to whatever extent we consider Melissa and Big T as “newer people.”

[shantown]

Even though I think we've seen way too much of Melissa over the past couple Challenge iterations, I kind of like this cast! They're all newer yet memorable folks. I'm glad there's no "almost was" non-winners like Faysal, Cory, Aneesa, Kyle, etc.

It's yet to be seen how exactly they'll have to beat a previous Champion to win, but I do like that idea. Not sure if Johnny, CT, Laurel, Cara Maria, etc are considering this kind of their victory lap but an appearance fee and ego polishing for not having to do any work? That's gotta be appealing! I also think, yeah, you should have to go against (one or more!) of the greats to become a winner. Can't just slide through an easy season of all non-winners and rookies!

From the jump I'm rooting for Ed, Emanuel, and Horacio for the guys. I'd love to see Olivia take it all for the women, I still feel bad for her after the slingshot injury. Rooting for Jujuy and Zara too, I think they were out way too early previously.

[AntFTW]

1 hour ago, AntFTW said:

It’s for the newer people, to whatever extent we consider Melissa and Big T as “newer people.”

8 minutes ago, shantown said:

Even though I think we've seen way too much of Melissa over the past couple Challenge iterations, I kind of like this cast! They're all newer yet memorable folks. I'm glad there's no "almost was" non-winners like Faysal, Cory, Aneesa, Kyle, etc.

I kept trying to find the right word to describe this cast. With the exception of Melissa and Big T (and maybe even Jay) these are new people. This is Jay’s 4th season I believe. Most of them have done one season previous.

Fessy and Jay did their first season together, and yet Jay seems like a much fresher face than Fessy. They started their Challenge careers together, and Jay is always put in the same pool as rookies and Fessy has been put in the same pool as vets.

I guess “underdog” would be the best word??? 

Even though Aneesa hasn’t won, she’s is more often in a dominant position over many players. She’s obviously been around for a while. She would definitely get more protection among vets than just about everyone on this season.

16 minutes ago, shantown said:

It's yet to be seen how exactly they'll have to beat a previous Champion to win, but I do like that idea. Not sure if Johnny, CT, Laurel, Cara Maria, etc are considering this kind of their victory lap but an appearance fee and ego polishing for not having to do any work? That's gotta be appealing! I also think, yeah, you should have to go against (one or more!) of the greats to become a winner. Can't just slide through an easy season of all non-winners and rookies!

I feel like this is probably Invasion of the Champions done correctly. The concept of having to beat Champions to become a champion is appealing. However, the way they implemented that in Invasion was not that appealing.

[Lantern7]

I finally got around to watching the preview special. Gotta love that the players were on stage, waiting for Teege to arrive . . . . and it took them so long before it dawned on them to look at the stuff in the Arena. Production folks on the side looking on in bemusement was a nice bonus.

I'm hoping for the best, though that's probably not the best idea with this franchise. I think that I'll watch this "live" and catch Survivor on DVR or P+ the next day. We had a happy ending with Chris and Desi, and watching Johnny's shot at another title sputter into exhaustion in Ride or Dies (I'm amazed he didn't suffer flashbacks when he came to the stacking cinder blocks in USA 2) was pretty sweet. Maybe we'll get a satisfactory finish here.

On 10/19/2023 at 8:40 AM, mojoween said:

I have watched this show since the 90’s.  And this must have been within like the last three years.  But Devin winning a challenge is nowhere in my memory bank.

It happened in the last season, Ride or Dies. Yeah, I was surprised as well. If Olivia didn't get hurt, maybe Devin and Tori would have shown up on the other side of the group.

I forgot about Nelson's accident. Sweet that he got a little face time with Nurys (his ex-partner) and Jay.

[AntFTW]

 

[AncientNewbie]

Maybe I was just in the mood for it, but I really liked this preview special. Drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, but it makes for a solid intro episode of the Challenge. 

I don't expect internal consistency from the people that brought us "All Stars" featuring the same people on the contemporaneous regular season, but I think this is a solid cast. If anything I might have cut a couple of the World Champion regional cast members for some other people that have been on the regular cast once or twice, but I also get that they need to appeal to more than my personal tastes. 

And as much as I love the vets that I have sort of grown up with, they aren't the same as they used to be. Fortunately for livers and for STI rates, I suppose. Once they are in relationships and have kids they aren't into partying shenanigans, nor do they tend to be all that strategic when they have a vet's bloc of votes, and then we just end up with endless 20 person heats in a challenge to fill the show. At least they haven't deigned to provide Banana's time for musical numbers with his ever present guitar (which also reminds me of Animal House and what I would love Wes to do.) 

To futilely try to recover the point, I'm optimistic for this season of conventionally attractive unconventionally employed people to do something entertaining. 

[millennium]

Too many non-English-as-their-first-language contenders.   Can't stand Huey.   Big T should not be here.   Would be happy if I never saw Jay again.  Does Michelle Fitzgerald do anything but The Challenge year round?

Ravyn and Nurys are very easy on the eyes, so that's something.

Oh yeah, I like Ed.

Way too much mugging for the camera overall.

I suspect this season is going to go down like a Challenge smoothie.