S08: Talk

[Whimsy]

Since some older seasons are available to view on different platforms, we are starting all episodes threads for each season.

[ApprenticeFan]

I remember this season was an all-Family race covered within entire North America, which mostly racing in the motherland. Memorable moments that on the race including Tammy struggled the red bean RB in Costa Rica costed a long time. The Weavers Yielded twice that were much deserved to stay. I also recalled the airport drama between Alex Linz and Rolly Weaver in Toronto Airport to catch a connecting flight to Montreal, The two ran, Alex grabbing Rolly's leg and caused a critical time.

So happy for the Linzes to win.

Edited January 11, 2016 by ApprenticeFan

[Supay]

The original gimmick season, and truth be told, the lack of legs/episodes set in New England, the Heartland, or the Pacific Coast states was more disconcerting than anything else.

[beeblebrox]

I'm doing a Hulu rewatch of TAR because apparently I'm crazy. This season is such a chore to watch. I don't care about any of the families whatsoever. It's so boring. I like original recipe TAR better. 

[NewDigs]

I sat out this season.

If I remember correctly it was even a chore trying to follow it on twop.

[TheRabbi]

As gimmick seasons go, this is far preferable to those offered by seasons 26 or 29. I've bought all 19 seasons that have been DVD released so far, but this is the only one that I still haven't made the effort to rewatch. That will change soon.

Edited August 30, 2016 by TheRabbi

[Robert]

I don't disagree TAR8 was bad in many... many ways, but I've always thought the casting was spot on and fantastic.

I will go out on a limb to say all final 6 teams were genius.  We had the downright loveability of the Gaghans, the OTT Paolos (Marion Paolo 4eva) and the best villains ever in the Weavers. I still wish Bill & Tammy or Marion & DJ ended up on an AllStars/Redemption season. Marion was that fan voice coming through saying 'Why you doing that? Don't be stupid!'

I will defend the teams to my dying breathe. However I cannot defend much else. :/

The problem definitely was the US-centricism of the route. It isn't that nobody wanted to see a giant chair in Alabama...or New Jersey... (though I doubt either are high on anybodies lists). The major problem was that there was so much driving and nothing but driving. Especially in the Arizona-Utah-Wyoming-Montana legs. Doing nothing but driving as dull, and well frankly, we've all had to put up with those deathly boring road-trips at some point in our childhood, who wants to relive them on the tele? Plus the simplicity of the challenges at that point plus the driving - the positioning of the teams didn't change and never where. And since you knew they where not going to change (No was just no way of editing around that) thus making the dullness even worse.

One unintentional highlight was during the Utah leg due to having previously lived there, I was able to yell at the TV that the teams where not taking the most optimal route or mispronouncing place names (its Hee-ber City, not Heb-er City if you're curious - yes I remember that 11 years after the fact!)

However, the 2.5 episodes in outside of the US in Central America where genuinely up there as some of the best legs ever, over any season. Heck even the legs in Montréal & Toronto where okayish as well.  Plus the Panama City leg also gave us our first Evil!Fern as well! (The lady who said she'd help the Godlewski Sisters only to use their bus as a means to get to work!) Pity the Belize leg was cancelled due to Hurricane Emily (it was unfortunately filmed during the shocking 2005 Hurricane Season) or we would've got another leg in the region at least.

I've always wondered where there always going to be so many car racing themed challenges prior to the casting of the Weavers, or was this planned after? I mean that is seriously dark if it was planned after (I mean while nobody actually liked the Weavers but to have 3 challenges that related to a sport that killed their father/husband is still seriously morbid).

Saying that... I can watch it as a kinda failed social/anthropological experiment (it is surprisingly less painful that way). And I can definitely watching the 2.5 Central American legs without issue. It is just frustrating seeing some of the best casting deal with the worst and most watered down route ever. And so much freaking driving... and nothing but driving.

On the other hand... seeing the previews of Season 9 at the end... and the fact it was back to normal... goodness me that was just an awesome feeling!

Edited November 18, 2016 by Robert

[TheRabbi]

Great post. And I agree with most of it. I remember the first episode being pretty good, with a decent detour (and the scary image of Mama Weaver almost getting trampled), and the Central American legs being decent. But you are right, those legs in the western US were just brutal. I remember multiple teams having camera problems which had their car batteries drained which was one of the only times positions changed. Very poor design.

And I also still remember how giddy I was seeing the trailer for season 9 at the end of the season. Real TAR finally returning!

Edited November 18, 2016 by TheRabbi

[Robert]

Giddy was the right word! I also think a lot of us gave TAR9 a BIG pass at the time because we kept chanting the mantra of 'At least it isn't TAR8'.

Back onto TAR8 and the poor design leading to the impossibility of team placements changing -  I think the Aiello family had one of the most unfair eliminations ever as it was basically determined by who grabbed a piece of paper fastest (the ticket for the space camp ride) as the ride was so long it was never going to allow for a change in order after that (and Space Camp just isn't big enough to cause a Debbie & Bianca or Victor & Tammy level getting totally lost in the wrong direction scenario).

The only out I'll give them is I think Hurricane Dennis was bearing down at that point causing some last minute changes for the Alabama leg. Still no excuse for one of the poorest designed legs ever.

[NewDigs]

Ugh. Season 8.

Really not a kid person. I don't think it would have mattered to me had they gone to the moon. Well, maybe the moon, but, kids.

It's the first season of AR I gave up on. Barely even checked in on TWoP. And only then 'cuz I think Racers checked in. But, kids.

[Roccos Brother]

I feel like I’m never going to get through this season. I’ve been watching sporadically forever.

I’m all for mixing things up, and I think on paper, it sounds like an awesome concept – the execution, not so much.

Contrary to popular opinion, I actually thought the kids were the best part of this season. They were ADORABLE (and I hate kids). It’s unfortunate that having them on the race came at the expense of dumbing down challenges and a lack of international destinations. The Black and Gaghan families were by far my favorite, and to a lesser extent – the Paolos (like watching Cher in Moonstruck).

The biggest issue for me with this edition, was by far – the blatant lack of any diversity. With such a huge cast, it was hard enough to connect with any specific individuals, but it became practically impossible to distinguish between families, let alone the members within each one. The lack of branding and background stories made it even harder. There was only one token ethnic minority family and they were out the first leg.

State-shaming is perfectly fine, but job-shaming? Not nice, Weavers.

[green]

On 6/17/2017 at 8:16 PM, Geenee said:

Linda a.k.a. Mama Weaver was a more entertaining finalist than literally any individual racer from the other single-digit even-numbered seasons with the sole exceptions of S4's runner-up co-eds. 

I actually loved watching all three final teams as well as the many ones behind them in Season 2.  Yes, even Wil.  And I always loved Tara.  Still do.

Hated the winner of Family Edition because they were vanilla bland as it gets and were recruited when vacationing in Cancun apparently when a casting director vacationing there ran into them.  They never even heard of the show before that.  They didn't deserve to be on the show.  They were neither fans (like beloved Mama Paolo who was one of the biggest fans ever) nor did they bring anything of interest with them to the cast (like Mama Paolo did with her own brand of awesomeness).

Mama Paolo was one of my favorite Racers ever (can you tell) and deserved to be asked back so she could go to New Zealand like she begged for instead of back to Arizona again.  Her uppity son DJ and her good son (the younger one who posted online and was such a sweet, gentle guy) and her husband, the hard working garbage collector.  All four were interesting.

Linda Weaver was a great villain.  Her son (Rollo??) saved that team constantly.  He should be old enough for him and his mom to be on real TAR now.  And Mama Paolo and any of the other three in her family too.  Make it happen, TAR!!!!

Didn't like the family with the cute kids because they were too corny "good" and artificially (it seemed to me) "cute" and edited so over the top that way I couldn't stand them.  Or the four sisters who screeched and screamed over one another so I didn't know what they were saying the whole time.  Or the father and three daughters who all looked alike (not the father, just the daughters, hah) and were boring beyond measure.  And I already mentioned hating the winners. 

So Mama Paolo and a family member and Linda Weaver and her grown-up son now.  They should be back.  The rest mentioned may they fade from memory forever.

As to what else was wrong with that season.  Like you all mentioned.  Everything.  But one thing not mentioned as a problem I should also like to throw in.  Teams of four all talk over one another. There is no one-on-one conversations where you can follow what is being said.  It is just endless interruptions and yelling louder to be heard etc etc etc.

The western episodes were one big blur of horrid boredom.  I thought I was in a version of Ground Hog Day where ever episode they seemed to be going back to some place called Park City again and again and again and one time it was just to visit the parking lot of a high school.  I have hated Park City ever since and I don't even know where it is and please no one tell me either.  Best for Park City that I don't know.

And how you can make the Grand Canyon and Monuments Park look boring and awful and places you would never want to visit in a million years I guess takes some talent of the dark kind.  But God I hated ever last one of those western episodes.  Ever second of ever minute of ever hour of ever year -- it felt like years -- made moments spent the previous season with Jonathan seem like mana from heaven by contrast.  And that ain't good!!!

The only good thing I can come up otherwise is that TAR9 turned out to be so horribly bad that I stopped hating Family Edition just a tad after the fake fake FAKE hippies (stop giving real hippies a bad name) and Eric (who would ruin All Stars as well) and his loutish frat brother and his fake girl friend he "used" to get on All Stars showed that you can ruin the whole damn world as well if you get a lousy cast like TAR9.  At least Family Edition had the awesome and hilarious Paolos and the insane and off the wall Weavers.

Oh one thing that might be right about the season -- other then beloved Mama Paolo -- is that some of those endless American legs (NOT the ones out west) would have made decent finale legs on a regular season of TAR.  I read posts from outside the US from viewers that enjoyed seeing non-NY and non-LA areas of the US on their TVs for once.  They mentioned the Amish-themed one and the Civil War re-enactment one I remember.  Have something like that as a full final leg instead of just running around in some final big city like they do now with lame artificial memory tests thrown in.  Or at least make them quilt their memories together Amish-style instead, haha.

Edited January 3, 2018 by green

[TheRabbi]

I love the passion in the opinions! I should really watch this again. Of the 21 Amazon DVD's I had in my collection prior to the last month, they are the only ones I haven't gone through. Couldn't bring myself to watch this season again. As you mention, the episodes in the western US are just atrocious. I still vividly recall Mama Paolo's line begging to go to New Zealand, which is the highlight of the season. I've got some of the newer DVD releases sitting here waiting to be watched as well, but I will try to muster the courage to watch this again as well.

Just seeing that I posted something similar a few years ago. So maybe I'm full of it. Agreed that Mama Paolo is awesome though.

Edited January 4, 2018 by TheRabbi

[Roccos Brother]

Amazon prime appears to be missing episode 10, as one episode was listed twice under different titles. It's all very confusing and i haven't been following the season closely enough to figure out where the inconsistency or mistake was made. Seems like this season got the shaft.

[green]

10 hours ago, Roccos Brother said:

Amazon prime appears to be missing episode 10, as one episode was listed twice under different titles. It's all very confusing and i haven't been following the season closely enough to figure out where the inconsistency or mistake was made. Seems like this season got the shaft.

Given that might be one of the endless "western" episodes maybe no one can now even figure out the difference between them, hah.

[SVNBob]

I watched this season live when it first aired, but my mother, who came later to TAR, did not.  (Or if she did, she doesn't remember.  Things like this don't stick in her head.)  And as we've been going through the old school seasons after the current season of Survivor and TAR, we're now here.

Ok, we've jumped around a little.  1,2,5,3,4,6; in that order, and temporarily skipping 7 for now.  Since we finished 6, I kind of wanted to get the two least-acclaimed seasons out of the way back to back.

Throughout our watch of S6, I kept reiterating that that season was disliked because of the cast (since the likable teams pretty much all went out in the first half, leaving us with an unlikable 4 of the top 6 teams, including possibly the worst Racer ever.)  When we started this one up, I've been repeating that this one is disliked mainly because of the course.  Yes, there's "too many" Racers as well, but the teams themselves are fine, for the most part (it's early...we've only watched them be loud thus far).   And lots of them would be great on regular seasons, or it would be interesting to see these bigger teams cope with a regular-ish Race.

Instead, we got this; The "Amazing" Family Road-Trip.  A Race that doesn't leave the North American continent.  Not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself.  But it's not really TAR, and probably shouldn't have carried the name.

Anyway; we've only gotten through the first episode (double length premiere, so we split it over 2 weeks).  During the initial introduction of the teams, I did have to pause during the introduction of the Black family.  We talked a bit about how it was a weird coincidence, but I mentioned that the Unfortunate Implications of their family name and ethnicity did last throughout their entire time on the Race.

But speaking of this family, as I recall, they said that Austin, they youngest of the family, was 8 years old at the time.  And that season took place almost 15 years ago.  That puts him in his early 20s now.  With his older brother around mid-20s.  They'd be incredibly interesting to see run a regular Race now, if they wanted to.  Talk about a "redemption" arc.

We also talked a little about the setting up of camp in the middle of the leg, and how the teams that were already done kept helping each new team as they arrived.  There apparently wasn't any rule against helping or receiving help, and it didn't cost the teams that already had a departure time anything.  Plus, it kind of helped with the theme of the season: these 10 teams were all the newest members of the TAR family, so might as well help each other out.  (Although, thinking about it, I don't recall seeing any of the Weavers helping anyone else out...).

When it came to the Detour, the decisions that certain teams made made a lot of sense.  The Aiellos and Linzes had more adult men on their teams, so it made sense for them to use their strength.  And the Gaghans had two small kids to put in the buggy.  That also made sense for them.  It also made a lot of sense for the Weavers to switch after the crash, regardless of the condition of their buggy.  Them building the mini-mill (well ok, Rolly, since he's the most competent of the group) allowed the kids to see and be sure Mom was ok after the buggy accident and also let them decompress somewhat after what I'm sure was a triggering event that reminded them of their dad.  (And not for the last time on this Race.)

[SVNBob]

Over the last few weeks, we've made our way through this season and finally finished earlier this week.

The biggest takeaway from the whole thing was that it had the wrong name the whole time.   The route wasn't too bad for what it was, and it showed off a lot of the diversity of the American continent (lots of great scenic shots of the Southwest).  And the teams were overall pretty good.  But it just wasn't an "Amazing Race".  If it had been called "The Great American Road Trip (from the people that brought you The Amazing Race)", it probably would have had a much better reception at the time.

It's still a bit of a pity that TPTB have more or less disavowed this season even existing (barring keeping the numbering scheme intact).  There's several Racers from this season that would be great to bring back.  The 4 most deserving would be the Black brothers (as I mentioned before) and the Gaghan siblings.  All 4 would be in their mid-20s to mid-30s at this time, so they'd be right in the current "Racer demographic".

[green]

On 7/12/2019 at 6:24 AM, SVNBob said:

It's still a bit of a pity that TPTB have more or less disavowed this season even existing (barring keeping the numbering scheme intact).  There's several Racers from this season that would be great to bring back.  The 4 most deserving would be the Black brothers (as I mentioned before) and the Gaghan siblings.  All 4 would be in their mid-20s to mid-30s at this time, so they'd be right in the current "Racer demographic".

I don't think the Producer disavowed it as much as they HEARD big time on ALL online sites that they should never ever again turn TAR into watching terrible vacation home movies.

And the locations were horrible. Especially the western ones which just blended in together as one big piece of dusty landscapes with infinite returns to Park City, Utah featuring that iconic American landmark, the Park City HS parking lot.

And 4 people on a team was a terrible dynamic.  All teams were endlessly talking over each other so you couldn't hear diddley most of the times.  Especially the screaming sisters team.

I also hate a recruited team -- a casting agent ran into them at some Mexico vacation spot and recruited them then and there -- that never saw TAR before in their lives won because 4 young 20-somethings had a huge advantage.

The only teams I enjoyed watching at all in this seasons were the Paulos and the Weavers.  The latter for being entertaining villains and the former because Mama Paulo is a TAR icon worshiped everywhere by us TAR fans.  She spoke for us all saying she didn't want to go back to Arizona, she wanted to go to New Zealand.

The only person I'd want to see in that season back is Mama and maybe her nice son, Brian.  Because DJ was not respecting of our TAR Mama as he should have been he doesn't get to come on Real TAR, hah.

Edited July 16, 2019 by green

[dgpolo]

On 8/30/2016 at 7:27 AM, beeblebrox said:

I'm doing a Hulu rewatch of TAR because apparently I'm crazy. This season is such a chore to watch. I don't care about any of the families whatsoever. It's so boring. I like original recipe TAR better. 

On 1/3/2018 at 10:52 AM, green said:

Ever second of ever minute of ever hour of ever year -- it felt like years -- made moments spent the previous season with Jonathan seem like mana from heaven by contrast.  And that ain't good!!!

So agree with both of these, just finished my rewatch and I write down a few things I want to say when I post here and one of the last things I wrote was 'so f*cking boring zzzzzzz'

On 5/3/2019 at 5:53 AM, SVNBob said:

Instead, we got this; The "Amazing" Family Road-Trip.  A Race that doesn't leave the North American continent.  Not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself.  But it's not really TAR, and probably shouldn't have carried the name.

Agree with this too, it felt like an experiment gone wrong, it was too cumbersome. I had the thought that if -redesigned- and renamed to could be an off shoot show for families. Having the little kids along really made this difficult, they had to always keep in mind that it was possible, not probable, but possible that an 8 year old might have to do what they had planned. Also, I have no idea how many immunizations racers have to have to go around the world so I wonder if that was also an issue for the kids? How many could they have all at once?

The Weavers were lucky they had Rolly, I heard he turned procyclist. He was certainly athletic enough.

I disliked that no one (except DJ?) recognized Kevin and Drew (and from the clue was it supposed to be 'Frank'?)

The worst thing about this format is you get double the screeching.

[green]

On 7/16/2019 at 9:24 PM, dgpolo said:

I disliked that no one (except DJ?) recognized Kevin and Drew (and from the clue was it supposed to be 'Frank'?)

The worst thing about this format is you get double the screeching.

If it was then DJ can be allowed to race with Mama Paulo, Queen of Lasagna, after all.  I can't bear to go back and watch to see if it was DJ or Brian.  But anyone in the Paulo family would have recognized Kevin & Drew.  It was the Paulo's favorite show from the first season, first episode.

I'm so glad the people on Sucks made tons of iconic Mama Paulo posters Brian downloaded and printed for her.  She was photo shopped into every Race.  She even hung out with Woman Shopping in Empty Field in Iceland from TAR4 even so that poor woman would have some company.  Mama Paulo: Our Lady of the TARs.

So damn it, TAR.  Send Mama to NZ!

Edited July 18, 2019 by green

[jette]

Doing a TAR watch and have reached S8, which I've never seen. After episode 1, how can is possibly be true that "Mama Paulo: Our Lady of the TARs?"

That woman is a pill!

[Babalu]

@jette - I “liked” your post not because I currently agree with it but because I certainly did after episode 1. I don’t know how much you know about the season, so I’ll put this in spoiler tags, even though it only spoils whether the Paolos lasted beyond the first few episodes:

Spoiler

 Mid-season, the Paolos and another team were racing to be first, and I astonished myself when I realized I was rooting for the Paolos. (And the other team wasn’t one of the more hateworthy ones, either.) 

I can’t swear to this, but it seems like survivorsucks people were the first ones to “deify” Mama Paolo.  I met her at a few TARcons, and she’s one of my favorite racers ever! And I’m far from alone. I’ll be interested to see if your feelings change.

Edited July 10, 2020 by Babalu

[LadyChatts]

I'm in the middle of re-watching this (I think I only have 4 episodes left).  It's not as bad on re-watch, although I thought the first episode really dragged.  I was all for the Drew/Kevin cameo, but I felt like I zoned out seeing all those teams driving around aimlessly in NYC.  Second episode, too, but was a little bit better.  Once the teams started dwindling down is when I enjoyed it more.  I don't think it was the family concept or even the teams of 4 that dragged it down, and I think some of the things they did in the US were cool and interesting.  But I don't know, something was definitely missing (and not just the international travel).  It's too bad they couldn't spend more time outside the US, even if it was neighboring countries.  I wouldn't be opposed to a family edition again, except teams of 2 (not 4), and more time outside the US.  I did get a kick out of some of the comments a few of the racers made about the tasks and lack of international travel so far.  

And I loved Mama Paolo.  She's a peach compared to some of these other teams.  I wish they had brought her back for an all star season so she could finally get to New Zealand.    

Edited July 12, 2020 by LadyChatts

[jette]

Yes, Babalu & LadyChatts, after finishing the season, I can see how Mama Paolo gets a pass. She was only unkind to her own family, whereas the Weavers spread their hatefulness around to everyone.

Still can't get over one of the Weaver girls saying their beliefs didn't allow them to be treated rudely by others. Yet somehow, they could treat others as rudely as they wished? 🤔

Glad I'm finished. Onward!

[LadyChatts]

Oh, the Weavers were even worse on re-watch.  One of the episodes I last watched had them throwing stuff out of their car over at the Godlewski's, who were just minding their own business.  They really couldn't understand why people didn't like them?  Luckily for them U-turns weren't a thing back then.  Only the Yield.

[SVNBob]

11 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

I don't think it was the family concept or even the teams of 4 that dragged it down, and I think some of the things they did in the US were cool and interesting.  But I don't know, something was definitely missing (and not just the international travel)

As I've been saying since my re-watch; it just had the wrong name.  If they had made it an actual spin-off of TAR with a different title, like "The Great American Road Trip", then it probably would have had a better reception over all.  But since it's still classified as TAR8, it loses a lot of points.

[Grundoon59]

This was the fastest of my Quarantine rewatches since I Fast Forwarded through a lot of it.  I agree with most of the comments posted here - it could have been titled something different and been more palatable.  I get the whole family relationships vibe but it seemed unfair for some teams to be all adults and others be an adult/children mix.  For me the oddest moment given other pop culture news of year was watching Stassi from Vanderpump Rules competing as a teenager and not really liking her any more then than now.

[LadyChatts]

4 hours ago, Grundoon59 said:

This was the fastest of my Quarantine rewatches since I Fast Forwarded through a lot of it.  I agree with most of the comments posted here - it could have been titled something different and been more palatable.  I get the whole family relationships vibe but it seemed unfair for some teams to be all adults and others be an adult/children mix.  For me the oddest moment given other pop culture news of year was watching Stassi from Vanderpump Rules competing as a teenager and not really liking her any more then than now.

I remember being shocked when I found out that the Stassi on VR was the same Stassi on TAR.  Seeing people go from one reality show to the next nowadays isn't anything special, but seeing someone that was on this show so long ago suddenly being present on another reality show seemed weird.  I think that was a lot of it, was how the teams were assembled.  The Gaghans and the Blacks were the only teams that really had little kids.  I know there was the Schroeder boy and Rolly Weaver, but they were at least a little older (I think anyway).  It might have been better to do families with all kids, or all adults/teens.  At least they would have been more on equal footing.  

Quote

As I've been saying since my re-watch; it just had the wrong name.  If they had made it an actual spin-off of TAR with a different title, like "The Great American Road Trip", then it probably would have had a better reception over all.  But since it's still classified as TAR8, it loses a lot of points.

Oddly enough, NBC's rip off of TAR Family Edition was this very show, and I actually enjoyed it.  Maybe it's because I knew what to expect going in.  The TAR versions that spend the majority of the race on one or two continents (usually Europe or Asia) also bore me.  It's still international travel, but I like the seasons that go all over.  

Edited July 13, 2020 by LadyChatts

[kaygeeret]

Ye gods.....I remember really disliking this season originally.

I truly liked the Black family and the ones with the little girl..... .but there really should have been an age limit, those folks had disadvantages.

Much as I Have found a number of teams quite distasteful on rewatch, I so despised this season that I watched 1 1/2 episodes and the finale (fast forwarding to the end so I could at least see the winners).

Yoowza what a god awful mess.

[Racj82]

Like with most things, I don't get the over the top hatred of this season 

I didn't hate the Linz family. I really couldn't care less if they were recruited or not. They remained pretty level headed. There wasn't a bunch of the guys piling up on Meg. They were typical siblings. Just an all around fun group.

I feel the obnoxious aspects of the teams except for the Weavers started to lessen as the season went on. Like I didn't enjoy the sisters ragging on their dad but there was far less of that as time went on. 

I don't understand all the love for Mama Paolo. Papa was my favorite out of that family. Less screechy. Less rude. Hard working man. I didn't think she deserved the constant attitude from the older son. 

I just took the season for what it was. Not comparing it to other seasons. 

All I really wanted was for the Weavers not to win. And I really disliked looking at mama Weaver. It's not her fault but man. Not a pleasant face with a stank attitude to match.

[lilabennet]

I didn't watch this one when it first came out and I avoided it until now because so many at TWoP were adamant that it sucked, but it wasn't that bad.  And the Weavers weren't that bad either.  Maybe it is just because I have watched too many reality competition shows like The Challenge, but I mostly just saw some bratty teenagers doing bratty teenage things.  I also thought it was deeply weird for a team with three grown men to have a vendetta against a team with teenagers.