Battle Of The Sexes (2003)

[Lantern7]

I thought maybe we could have threads devoted to old seasons of The Challenge. I figured we could start with the original Battle Of The Sexes.

We wound up with a mixed bag. Sure, we had fun and drama and Ruthie showing that she was more than a dangerous alcoholic. But then they was shit like Puck trying to run the show, up to and including having an episode dedicated to his wedding. He also took delight in picking fights with Ellen, whose skin was way too thin for the show. James and Emily's relationship took priority a few times, including when Emily left her team in the lurch when James was voted off. Finally, you had the final men's team (Mark Long, Jamie and Colin) cheat by working off the girls' (Ruthie, Ellen, Lori) puzzle in order to win.

Hell, the first episode had so much to offer. You had Puck spitting in David Edwards' face, leading to his ejection from the game, which led to a cast revolt . . . which had to be staged, because grown men acting like that was too brutal to bear. You also had the feud between NOLA cast members Julie and Melissa, which ended prematurely when Melissa and Amaya won the first event (Sargent Says, anyone?), and Melissa proceeded to get the Inner Circle to vote Julie out. This was epic, because Julie was a huge Mormon pain in the ass, while Melissa was awesome . . . at least for me.

Does anybody else want to share some BOTS1 memories? Antoine's Belgian awesomeness, the aborted David/Ayanna showmance, Emily using her "bloody axe" to chop down Rachel and Veronica . . . mostly good times.

[pumpkinspice]

The game is UGLY! The inner circle is UGLY!

God, I love the old shows. I think I still have about half of this one recorded on VHS somewhere in my parents' house!

Hated Emily and James, loved Lori, loved Tonya because she wasn't crazy this challenger. Wish Jamie would have been able to use his lifesaver on Veronica just to piss Emily off.

[Princess Sparkle]

This was my second favorite old-school challenge (all-time favorite challenge is still the original Battle of the Seasons).  I lost so much respect for Emily on this challenge though - I always thought of her as a bad-ass who stood her ground, and to watch her leave because her boyfriend got kicked off was so depressing to me.  Especially because you know she would've been smart enough to knock over the puzzle after they'd finished it.

I liked this challenge too because it was back when it wasn't all about strength in order to win.  I hate that because most of the cast members got dumber, we had to suffer through the elimination of puzzle solving (and anything that isn't brute strength) being eliminated.  Even look at those final three men - other than Mark, with the way the challenge is structured now, I seriously doubt Colin and Jamie would make it to the end.  Especially Colin, since he had a sprained ankle for most of the challenge.

I did like Colin's blog he kept around the time of the challenge - I wish I still had the link, because I remember there being a lot of inside info he put in there.

Finally, you had the final men's team (Mark Long, Jamie and Colin) cheat by working off the girls' (Ruthie, Ellen, Lori) puzzle in order to win.

 

Now see, while I don't love it, I don't consider that cheating.  It wasn't against the rules for them to look at the puzzle, and one of the women should've been smart enough to knock it over (and as I said above, I bet Emily would've knocked it over in a heartbeat).  The fact that they didn't think of that is their own fault.  I wouldn't have been mad if the men's team finished the puzzle first and the women looked at theirs.

Edited April 3, 2014 by Princess Sparkle

[Lantern7]

I think it was Ruthie who said that Emily would've been "demon enough" to disassemble the puzzle. Then again, I vaguely remember Mark saying that his team beat the women by a half-hour, at least.

More memories of this Challenge for me involves Melissa openly questioning the missions. I loved her so much, and I fretted over her each week, even though she wasn't in any real danger of getting voted off. And I liked her recaps, which weren't as self-indulgent as Colin's. Also, I was somewhat disturbed that James didn't say "dude" until near the end of his run.

ETA for PumpkinSpice . . . I recapped this season, so I know what you mean about recording the stuff on VHS. I used to play, take notes, rewind, play, take notes, rewind, etc. Good times . . . this was back when I regarded Rachel, Veronica and Eric Friggin' Nies as human beings.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Lantern7

[joanne3482]

Is this the season of the infamous Amaya won't do the bobbing for pig's feet because she's "Jewish"? 

[Lantern7]

No, that would be Challenge 2000. Amaya was more well-behaved in BOTS1, back when she and Melissa were BFFs.

[pumpkinspice]

I had challenge 2000 on VHS, too! I remember that well. Along with the "what'd you have for breakfast, Amaya?" Amaya: "sausage"

I loved the Amaya/Veronica feud back then. Holly's crush on Dan was cute.

[purplex15]

I did like Colin's blog he kept around the time of the challenge - I wish I still had the link, because I remember there being a lot of inside info he put in there.

Colin is one of my all time favorite people to ever be on these shows, because he has an awesome sense of humor. BOTS1 was great for me, not only because the actually show was a lot of fun, but because of reading Colin's blog ( and Lori from Back to NY had a blog that I frequented as well). The website was colinsworld.com, but it hasn't been up in years. I remember one post in particular about him and some of the other cast members doing mushrooms while there. I really miss that site.

Edited May 12, 2014 by purplex15

[LoLo]

I just watched a few clips from Inferno 3 where Johnny was actually on the "Good Guys" team.

[SophiaPehawkins]

Battle of the Sexes is my all time favorite challenge. I was a super duper fan of Emily and was bummed when she bowed out when James left.

I uploaded that season on YouTube.

[larrybear]

I also just rewatched this season, it's so funny to see Shane Veronica and Rachel so aghast at someone using strategy on a challenge. 

 

Also, Antoine wanting to exchange his lifesaver for intercourse with Genesis, he was amazing.

[larrybear]

People that season were quitting left and right, so bizarre. If Emily had stayed there were only a couple challenges left so it would have been what? A week? and she would have won a car and possibly remembered to break up the puzzle at the end so the boys couldn't cheat. Whatevs,

 

No way they can do another one of these. With these current players the women are mostly scrawny and the men are at least double their size. I can't think of any challenges that would favor a team with Jasmine, Jonna, Jemmye etc vs Zach, Frank, Jordan. Mental or Physical.

[sunrisepink]

This was my all-time favorite season of the Challenge, I think because it aired on the heels of my favorite season of Real World, the original New Orleans. I agree with the above poster that this was back when the challenges weren't as physical and so some of the underdogs had more of a shot. These days I feel like it's too predictable who's going to make it to the final rounds. I miss seeing a lot of these people around..Ruthie, Amaya, Jamie, Puck, Melissa, Julie. I don't need to see the same "old-timers" resurrected each season but they were preferable to the fresh meat brought in now..all looks and no substance.

[BK1978]

This was the first challenge season that I watched and I hardly remember anything about it.  It seems like unlike Survivor this show's seasons seem to blend together for me.  So thanks everyone for refreshing my memory.

[Lantern7]

No problem. It was the first season I recapped, and a lot of it is still stuck in my memory. I even remember how ludicrous the opening credits were.

[TD3000]

Yeah, I remember there being minimal drama with the boys because they just got rid of the person with the lowest point total. With the girls, there were more factors in play, so the drama was ramped up for them. Ruthie was such a badass that season. I remember one particular mission where they had to rappel down a rope and stop in the marked area. Ruthie ended up completing it in mere seconds to win it for the girls. I miss the days of Ion Lifesavers, Inner Circles, and reasonable challenges that were more fun to watch.

[Lantern7]

I'm going to be reposting my recaps from BOTS1 on my blog. Here's a prelude piece. So far, I've retrieved three recaps, including the hour-long premiere (title: "Jamaica Me Crazy"), and I'll be posting them when I have free time.

[luckyroll3]

On ‎8‎/‎29‎/‎2016 at 3:23 PM, Lantern7 said:

I'm going to be reposting my recaps from BOTS1 on my blog. Here's a prelude piece. So far, I've retrieved three recaps, including the hour-long premiere (title: "Jamaica Me Crazy"), and I'll be posting them when I have free time.

Anyone up for a re-watch to go along with your reposting of the recaps??

[Lantern7]

I figured that MTV Classic will get around to airing the seasons I covered, which is why I'm retrieving them now.

Bad News: I can't get Colin and Lori's old sites via Archive, so I'll have to go by memory. For instance, I'm pretty certain Lori was the one who wrote about Beth approaching Ruthie for the Lifesaver when she was sick and puking her guts out.

[Tatum]

No that was Colin. He also made sure to point out that Ruthie had a tampon in her vagina. As opposed to a tampon in her ear, Colin?

[Lantern7]

I guess Ruthie would confide in her ex-roommate. I assumed it was Lori because of the nature of how Ruthie was feeling in that episode.

I have two articles up: the preview special and my take on the fantasy game. I'm sure that the first two episodes (presented in one hour) will be posted over the weekend. Right now, I'm going to get some more recaps to save.

ETA: Forgot about this nugget from Dan in the wedding episode: “The mountains are going to tumble. The skies are going to fall. The world is coming to an end. Ellen’s life has been threatened.” Why did he have to revert to being a jackhole on Inferno II?

ETA2: Here's "Jamaica Me Crazy." I'll try to get "Riding (and Dying) In Cars With Boys" up over the weekend.

[Lantern7]

Here are the third and fourth episodes. Does anybody else occasionally miss Ellen?

ETA: Apparently, I can find Colin's drug-trip story through Archive. Dunno if I'll bring it up in my retrospective.

[Lantern7]

And here's the recap featuring David/Ayanna, Breath-Hold Bungee and Bogart. Bonus: video of Teck's Bud Lite commercial that only ran once because it sucked so hard.

[Lantern7]

Just reposted "My Big Fat Puck Wedding." I'm hoping to get the next one up in a more timely manner, even though there's no real evidence MTV Classic will ever run old Challenges from the mid-2000s.

[Lantern7]

Here's "Everybody Loathes Ellen." Up next: the ice-sitting mission, where Melissa almost died.

[Lantern7]

I'm back. Here's "Cold-Butted Snakes." I'll try to get the rest of the season's recaps posted without huge delays.

[Lantern7]

From 2003: I overthink Puck's depature. And before I retrieved the essay, I completely forgot about what he did in front of Ellen after Rachel got voted off. Might rank as high as Julie pissing on Coral's bed.

[Lantern7]

Getting back to posting with the Battle Of The Opposite Sexes mission. Exasperating stuff. And James still had not cracked a "dude." Most distressing.

[Lantern7]

I'm still plugging away. Here are the "midterm reviews" of the season, the men, and the women. I have to dive into Archive to copy and paste the second half on Word.

[Lantern7]

Picking up the pace. Bit of a turning point in the season. If Veronica hadn't slipped on the stirrups, the ugliness in the following episode wouldn't have happened. Maybe. Also, Melissa kicks off complaining about the missions. I still liked her a lot.

ETA: Here's "True Colors." This is what my anger looked like almost fourteen years ago. Sad, right?

[Lantern7]

Here's the Laser Tag mission.

[Lantern7]

I'm still plugging away. Rather than link the recaps themselves, I'm just going to link this tag. I just posted the one that got screwed up by MTV two-thirds of the way through, and I have two more missions and the reunion to put up.

[Maharincess]

I'm rewatching this and I still don't understand what that ion lifesaver was supposed to be for. They said it was to save somebody but how would that work when it wasn't even given out until after the voting had taken place? 

Can somebody explain what it was for?  Please?? 

[jsm1125]

7 hours ago, Maharincess said:

I'm rewatching this and I still don't understand what that ion lifesaver was supposed to be for. They said it was to save somebody but how would that work when it wasn't even given out until after the voting had taken place? 

Can somebody explain what it was for?  Please?? 

I'll try my best to explain, but someone feel free to chime in if I screw up any of it.

The Ion Lifesaver saves someone from being voted out of the game that night, and that night only. The winner of each mission (whether it be a singles or pairs mission) was supposed to announce their decision to Johnny Mosley prior to the Inner Circle's elimination decision on the hill in front of everyone. The lifesaver was not gender-restrictive, so men could use it to save women, and vice versa. I believe the lifesaver was useful only once in this season. I hope this made sense and was accurate!

[Lantern7]

@jsm1125 . . . you got it. Nicely done.

I wrapped up reposting the recaps. Here's the list of links.