Past Seasons Thread

[Lantern7]

With all the talk of Abram and his Challenge past, I thought I'd set up a non-specific thread for past seasons. Today's question: What were the lowest points Abram hit? I have two examples:

 

1. The threesome with Rachel & Veronica. (The Gauntlet) I know, not many heterosexual men on the cast would pass that up . . . but with Butterface and the Verantula? Ew. I'm also pissed that the girls talked shit about Sarah and Theo's off-camera hookups prior to the show scene. At least she tried to keep it on the down low. Also, I figure she would have been with Steve if he didn't have a girlfriend at the time.

 

2. Saying Karamo had no dignity. This was in Inferno II, so this took place before the beatdown of Adam and other stuff, but after the threesome and Donell. From what I remember hearing about it, Karamo threw the Inferno against Landon because he had a speaking engagement that would have cost money to miss. I wasn't a fan of Karamo, but my basic reaction boiled down to, "Bitch, have you looked in a mirror?!?"

 

Any other Abram memories y'all want to share?

[Tatum]

Normally I like him, but he did do a couple things that really pissed me off. During the challenge where everyone hated Katie, Abram was throwing the mission in a very obnoxious and obvious way (as was planned so the lifeshield winner could throw in Katie) and then during the Inferno, he wore RW team colors as a way to cheer on Katie's opponent. Yet, later he gave an interview saying he thought the scheme was cruel to Katie and he didn't like that his team was doing it and that's why he wore the RW team colors. Yeah, whatever, Abram.

 

That said, Abram redeemed himself completely in my eyes during Inferno III when he threw Susie in the pool, and after she tearfully chucked her wet clothes at him and told him he needed to wash them, he readily agreed and then threw the clothes in the toilet.

[Lantern7]

Ugh. I totally forgot about the rappelling/flag-collecting mission in The Inferno. Bad enough that Abram was in on saving Veronica in order to sacrifice Katie into the Inferno, but he did in the most obnoxious way imaginable. If Katie had somehow cut the rope Abram was swinging from, I would not have blamed her.

[Maharincess]

I'm surprised that Jenn has stopped doing Challenges, I really thought she would be a lifer like John. She lives in the next town over from me, I used to see her around town a lot. The last time I saw her was about a year and a half ago and she had gained a LOT of weight. She's really short and she looked like she'd put in about 50 pounds.

When she started I really thought we'd be seeing her on every challenge until it was cancelled.

[BK1978]

Watching that clip of Abe's RR season, I wonder what happened to all of those people.  Besides David Giuntoli and Abe it seems like these people have dropped off the world.  I had completely forgotten about Cara.  I remember thinking she was hot but hating her because she was a bitch.  I did not realize that was the season where Tina was a replacement.  Man I hated Tina as well.

 

 

[Tatum]

Why are we always stuck with TJ Lavin? Couldn't they mix it up with another host at least once? Mosley had 3-4 seasons, and Dave Mirra had 2-3, and Teej has had the last 4,341. What gives?

[Lantern7]

I found it humorous that two BMP stalwarts -- Coral and Mike -- had to take out their cut-rate counterparts from Road Rules: South Pacific in The Gauntlet. Tina has always been a scrub. Sucked to see her teamed up with Rachel and Veronica to torment Tonya in Inferno II.

[Tatum]

I think the best Tina moment was hitting Beth. Not because hitting Beth was awesome, but because it was just such a weak, ineffective blow, and everyone interviewed that she was such a loser for blowing her chances of winning over such a sorry punch. I mean, I don't think Beth even lost her smirk as Tina's slap bounced off her. And Tina just looked so pathetic trying and failing to intimidate Beth. Even Julie- the least imposing wanna be badass ever got a few tears out of Veronica. Beth just looked amused.

[Lantern7]

Like I said, Tina was a scrub. She probably still is a scrub. Nobody remembers that she was brought into Cutthroat along with CT because she lost both times.

 

New question: What is your favorite opening credits? I go with the early 2000s, from Battle Of The Seasons to Inferno II. BOTS had profile pics with images synonymous with their original seasons . . . including the brief glimpse at the Roadmaster for Theo and Holly. Battle Of The Sexes had the cheesy credits, with Puck offering a sandy hot dog to Julie and Jamie and Melissa happily grinding on each other. The Gauntlet brought "Rock Star" and Steve goosing Sarah . . . they totally would have been a couple if he wasn't dating at the time. The Inferno brought in Yellowcard and "Miles Apart," with Dave Mirra biking in the background. All I remember from BOTS2 was the theme song, "Come Out Fighting." And Inferno II emphasized the "Good Guys vs. Bad Asses" aspect, complete with Rachel smacking CT . . . which would have ended poorly for ol' Butterface had she done that for real.

[whirlingdervish]

Well, I dunno about my favorite, by my pick for Most Awful Credits has got to be the sad Appropriative Maori Haka Ripoff from Duel II.  So...self-serious...so...just so wrong on so many levels. At some point it almost went all the way back around to being almost awkwardly hilarious. But then I would feel dirty and exploitative about it. 

 

Edit to revise Duel III to Duel II. 

Edited January 6, 2016 by whirlingdervish

[Lantern7]

Do you mean Duel II? There were only two of those.

[Tatum]

I liked the Rock Star theme from the first gauntlet.

The worst was when the cast mates had to pretend to be desert animals, and run on all fours. I don't know how these guys let themselves be filmed like that.

[SnideAsides]

I actually like how ridiculous that one (for Inferno III) is. My personal favourite though has to be Cutthroat's. It's just so cheesy and awful, and the music is so over the top, that I can't help but enjoy it.

[Maharincess]

I've been watching old episodes here and there. I had forgotten how much I hated Julie, she was more annoying than Beth S. in my opinion. Remember her messing with Veronica's safety harness when they were a few stories off the ground? Veronica was terrified.

I wonder what became of Veronica and Rachel. We haven't seen them in a long time. Anybody know?

I don't remember all of the individual seasons, let alone the opening credits. How do you people remember that shit?

Edited January 7, 2016 by Maharincess

[BK1978]

I've been watching old episodes here and there. I had forgotten how much I hated Julie, she was more annoying than Beth S. in my opinion. Remember her messing with Veronica's safety harness when they were a few stories off the ground? Veronica was terrified.

I wonder what became of Veronica and Rachel. We haven't seen them in a long time. Anybody know?

I don't remember all of the individual seasons, let alone the opening credits. How do you people remember that shit?

 

I was thinking the same thing.  Heck I don't even remember the opening credits for this season and I watched it last night.

 

I often wondered why they kept T.J. as the host when Jonny Moseley was by far the better host. 

[Tatum]

I was thinking the same thing.  Heck I don't even remember the opening credits for this season and I watched it last night.

 

I often wondered why they kept T.J. as the host when Jonny Moseley was by far the better host. 

 

Funny story- I actually met Tonya back in 2005 (so this was before the Teej years). I asked Tonya if any of the girls ever hooked up with Jonny, and she said no, and in fact, the whole cast hated Jonny because he frequently flubbed his lines and they had to reshoot almost any scene he was in.

[Maharincess]

I was thinking the same thing. Heck I don't even remember the opening credits for this season and I watched it last night.

I often wondered why they kept T.J. as the host when Jonny Moseley was by far the better host.

I know! When the question "what is your favorite opening credits" I thought you've got to be fucking kidding me, but people answered! That's crazy. I barely have time to watch the new episodes, how do people have time to memorize everything about every season?!

Tatum, I totally believe that about Johnny. He seemed kind of dumb.

Edited January 7, 2016 by Maharincess

[Lantern7]

Maybe Jonny was baked most of the time. I still think there should be a new host because TJ bugs. He's like a discount version of Jeff Probst . . . which is weird, since Jeff Probst has become a discount version of Jeff Probst, if that makes sense.

I don't remember all of the individual seasons, let alone the opening credits. How do you people remember that shit?

 

My excuse is that I recapped four seasons for a website, then two more on my blog. I think it's a matter of nostalgia towards old seasons, before we went from "fuck this shit" to "man, FUCK this shit, and fuck me for watching it." That, and credits in general aren't as important these days. Notice how Survivor and The Amazing Race shorten their credits. The Challenge doesn't show as much love there, either, aside from Johnny's "love tap" to his cousin's crotch.

[Decider]

I wonder what became of Veronica and Rachel. We haven't seen them in a long time. Anybody know?

Rachel is a fitness trainer.  Her Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/rachel_fitness/?hl=en

I thought I had read somewhere that Veronica had a baby.  According to her Twitter feed, she lives in San Francisco:  https://twitter.com/v_cakes?lang=en

[Lantern7]

With CT arriving on the show alongside Diem's sister, I have to ask you guys: what are your favorite CT moments from The Challenge? There are two in particular for me:

 

1. Taking out Shane in the Inferno. At the time, I thought the season needed a hero, especially since I wasn't totally on Katie's side. Sure, it was a stupid game of spinning and eating cookies, but I still hated Shane for his disdain of Sarah on Campus Crawl, so seeing him puke was rewarding. And then CT had to throw Leah into the Inferno.

 

2. Bananas Backpack. Do I have to explain why? Sure, CT was probably brought in to see if he'd kill and devour anybody in five minutes, and he and Tina were glorified obstacles in the Gulag. But how often have we've seen Johnny and his ilk get their comeuppance? And CT slammed Johnny into the barrel, and I don't think he had to do that, but he wanted to. So awesome.

[choclatechip45]

 

I thought I had read somewhere that Veronica had a baby.  According to her Twitter feed, she lives in San Francisco:  https://twitter.com/v_cakes?lang=en

She was pregnant she posted that she had a stillbirth.

[Maharincess]

Oh damn, that's so sad. Do you know when it happened chocolatechip?

[choclatechip45]

Oh damn, that's so sad. Do you know when it happened chocolatechip?

No idea she posted on Instagram about it.

Edited January 8, 2016 by choclatechip45

[threemileallan]

With the arrival of CT later this season, I started thinking about past challenges, specifically Rivals II and how CLOSE Adam and cT came to making the finals, just barely losing to Tyler and Bananas in that ball challenge.  I remember watching and thinking that it was a sweet story that cT and Adam had thrived as a pair with cT being the bad cop/ brawn and Adam being the good cop/ agile one.  Truly had the makings of a sports redemption movie.  

 

However, looking up the old clip and rewatching it, many of the comments claim that Adam threw that challenge with how he botched the balls and couldn't get up the hill.  Some youtube commenters even reference some interviews where former cast members believe that Adam threw the challenge.  If so, that would disappoint me storyline-wise, but from Adam's perspective I would kind of understand.  I wouldn't want to be badgered into a friendship by someone who tried to take my head off, it's hard to 100% trust that person.

 

 

What say you TwOpers, errr previously.tv peeps?  Did Adam throw that challenge?

[choclatechip45]

I don't think Adam threw it because he was a frequent guest on this Rtvzone that Katie and Robin hosted and he said he put so much pressure on himself that challenge not to screw up because he was afraid of how CT would react if he lost a challenge for them.

[KerleyQ]

If Adam was trying to throw it, Tyler was trying to throw it, too, because he made the same mistake and had the same problem getting up the hill.  I think it was a situation where they didn't pay enough attention to the explanation of the game (as far as the two of them grabbing the wrong colored balls), along with just being gassed because grabbing the wrong ones added on more running up and down those hills.  

 

I think, by that point, Adam was really OK with CT, for the most part.  I think CT's reaction to the loss is what pushed him over the top into seeing him as a friend again, but I think that, over the course of that season, they had already bonded.  I never saw CT's behavior that season as harassing or bullying Adam into being his friend.  It really came across as more of a game between the two of them for him to check in each episode with "so, we friends yet?"  And, honestly, I think that was the entire reason CT came on that challenge.  I know they claim that the cast doesn't know what the format will be before they get there, but, I think that, when BMP really wants someone there, they use that as an incentive.  I think they knew CT was in that whole process of trying to turn himself around, and they dangled getting a shot at redemption with Adam in front of him.  (I also think that he knew full well on both Exes seasons that he was going in for that format and a chance to pair up with Diem. I believe he flat out said it in the first episode talking heads on the last one.)   I also think Adam had to know going in that it was a Rivals format and he was being paired with CT.  I don't think there is any way the show would spring that on him, given their history.  It's too much of a potential liability for them to have not spelled out for him that, not only will CT be there, but he'll be your partner, and then get him to explicitly agree to it.  

[luckyroll3]

I wonder what became of Veronica and Rachel. We haven't seen them in a long time. Anybody know?

 

 

Rachel is a fitness trainer.  Her Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/rachel_fitness/?hl=en

I saw Rachel a few months ago.  She was standing behind me in Home Goods.  I didn't even realize it was her until she walked by me later, because the entire time I was like, "Damn I want that body!" and hadn't even bothered to look at her face. Lol!  She looked absolutely amazing. 

 

With CT arriving on the show alongside Diem's sister, I have to ask you guys: what are your favorite CT moments from The Challenge? There are two in particular for me:

 

1. Taking out Shane in the Inferno. At the time, I thought the season needed a hero, especially since I wasn't totally on Katie's side. Sure, it was a stupid game of spinning and eating cookies, but I still hated Shane for his disdain of Sarah on Campus Crawl, so seeing him puke was rewarding. And then CT had to throw Leah into the Inferno.

 

2. Bananas Backpack. Do I have to explain why? Sure, CT was probably brought in to see if he'd kill and devour anybody in five minutes, and he and Tina were glorified obstacles in the Gulag. But how often have we've seen Johnny and his ilk get their comeuppance? And CT slammed Johnny into the barrel, and I don't think he had to do that, but he wanted to. So awesome.

The cookie challenge and Banana Backpack were the two moments that immediately sprung to my mind.  CT declaring his love for cookies and being able to eat them all day and then the awesomeness of Johnny being simultaneously dominated and shamed.   I just wish that every time Johnny starts acting like a douche, someone would whip out that clip to remind him that we all saw another human being wear him as backpack.

[Lantern7]

Speaking of CT . . . StopBeingPolite put out a list of him causing havoc.

[Lantern7]

Reading the thread for "Tear Down This Wall," I have two questions:

 

1. When has a season hinged on a particular cast member? I figured that BOTB has been focused on Cara Maria, what with the HJ with Thomas, the fallout with Abram, and her victories over Johnny and Aneesa in the Pit. I think this is a phenomena that dates back to Julie in Extreme Challenge, when she went from likable Mormon ingénue to psycho bitch that deserved to be voted off Battle of the Sexes early. Sarah Grayson and Katie come to mind because they were in the crosshairs of their teams in The Gauntlet and The Inferno, respectively. Closer to now, there was Sarah Rice and Jordan in Battle Of The Exes 2, especially after Diem & CT left the game. I got a sense that neither of them would come back to the show, especially after getting the better of Johnny and winning the season.

 

2. What have been the worst thing to happen on The Challenge? yogi2014L did a list of ten items on the episode thread, pointing out stuff that tends to be forgotten/whitewashed in people's minds. The (alleged) violation of Tonya by Evan and Kenny tops the list. I don't know if it would belong because it make the finished product, though I can totally see that happening with those two assholes. yogi2014L pointed out some serious shit, like CT's attempted murder of Adam King, Wes dumping a bottle of soda on Cara Maria, and Frank and Zach double-teaming Sam. I'd throw in the Road Rules team's attempts to send Katie into the Inferno, the Abram/Rachel/Veronica threesome (remember when departing cast members had time to pack after getting eliminated?), and Rachel/Tina/Veronica heaping abuse on Tonya. And as much as I feel that Coral gets a bad rap, I'd  add her abuse of Ace after he bailed out of the "Bug Helmet" Inferno (this coming after a spider bite wrecked her in The Gauntlet finale), and her and Tina "convincing" Sophia to vote off Ruthie in BOTS2, leading to Sophia's massive breakdown on Elimination Hill. And I know it wouldn't make the big lists, but I'm still bitter Steve didn't get a farewell sequence after he got beat by Trishelle in the Gauntlet.

[Tatum]

The systematic bullying is what really grinds my gears. The three most annoying cases were the inferno 2 bullying of Tonya already mentioned, the Island bullying of all girls other than Paula and Johanna, particularly when Johnny insulted Ev for being a lesbian and mocked KellyAnne and Robin for being on anti depressants, and then JEK "pranking" the girls on The Ruins by throwing flour in Tonya's face and sticking a dirty plunger in Katie's bed.

Special mention goes to the bullying of Shauvon in the first episode of the challenge where CT almost killed Adam. If I recall, Diem and CT had just broken up and CT hooked up with Shauvon. CT got the "boys will be boys" treatment (until he went after Adam) where Shauvon was snubbed and insulted by all the girls for daring to hook up with Diem's ex. I remember Paula doing a talking head after shauvons elimination saying Shauvon shouldn't hook up with people's ex boyfriends if she doesn't want everyone to hate her. Coming from Paula, who was fucking Dunbar while he had a girlfriend, that was pretty rich.

I'm no fan of Shauvon, but she really didn't do anything wrong in this instance. It just goes back to the whole "boys will be boys but the girls are whores undeserving of respect" mentality that seems to underscore all these challenges.

[Maharincess]

.

Edited February 5, 2016 by Maharincess

[Lantern7]

In case you didn't hear . . . Dave Mirra is dead at 41. Worse, it looks to be suicide. I don't think we're on the verge of "this show is cursed" like with Diem and Knight dying near each other, but it's still very disheartening.

[KerleyQ]

In terms of a season hinging on a cast member, I think The Island kind of hinged on Ev, with her season long fight against Johnny before eventually cutting a deal with his alliance for the win.  

[luckyroll3]

2. What have been the worst thing to happen on The Challenge? yogi2014L did a list of ten items on the episode thread, pointing out stuff that tends to be forgotten/whitewashed in people's minds. The (alleged) violation of Tonya by Evan and Kenny tops the list. I don't know if it would belong because it make the finished product, though I can totally see that happening with those two assholes. yogi2014L pointed out some serious shit, like CT's attempted murder of Adam King, Wes dumping a bottle of soda on Cara Maria, and Frank and Zach double-teaming Sam. I'd throw in the Road Rules team's attempts to send Katie into the Inferno, the Abram/Rachel/Veronica threesome (remember when departing cast members had time to pack after getting eliminated?), and Rachel/Tina/Veronica heaping abuse on Tonya. And as much as I feel that Coral gets a bad rap, I'd  add her abuse of Ace after he bailed out of the "Bug Helmet" Inferno (this coming after a spider bite wrecked her in The Gauntlet finale), and her and Tina "convincing" Sophia to vote off Ruthie in BOTS2, leading to Sophia's massive breakdown on Elimination Hill. And I know it wouldn't make the big lists, but I'm still bitter Steve didn't get a farewell sequence after he got beat by Trishelle in the Gauntlet.

 

Someone, I think it was Tonya but can't remember exactly, tossing all of Beth's clothes into the pool.  So mean and wrong, but then again, so fucking funny.  They really do have a bad history of bullying on this show that the culprits rarely get called out on because they're "popular".  It's the return to high school for the 20 and 30 somethings.

[Lantern7]

That was Tonya. Here's the recap I wrote back then.

[Tatum]

Tonya did it to Beth while Veronica and Rachel cheered her on. Then once Beth left Rachel and Veronica turned on Tonya. I was always split on Tonya- she would be bullied and I would feel sorry for her, but she so desperately wanted to fit in that she would jump in with the bullies in a heartbeat if their target was someone other than her. Also, as big of assholes as these people are, considering Tonya has been bullied every season she was on with the exception of the original Battle of the Sexes and original Gauntlet (when she was still pretty normal), I have to wonder about the common denominator here.

[luckyroll3]

Funny they made Tonya spend a night in a hotel for that, when considering there have been actual physical confrontations, threatening violence and the parties were allowed to stay in the house.  

 

Tonya has always been an easy target though, from her season.  She's insecure and weird, and sometimes that's all people need.  I'd totally forgotten about Rachel and Veronica cheering her on.  Veronica is someone I could not stand since her own RR season.  I don't use the C-word, but damn she comes really close.  

Edited February 10, 2016 by luckyroll3

[AngryCarrot86]

Word to the above posts regarding bullying on this show.  Some of the incidents mentioned were terrible on epic scales.  Tonya sticks out in my mind as having received some of the worst treatment.  To each their own, but I was always shocked to see her return season after season when she was continuously targeted and bullied.  The toothbrush incident seemed to be the nail in the coffin though, because I'm pretty sure that was her last season.  Equally disgusting was the ever popular mean girls club, ala Veronica, Rachel, Tina, and I'll go out on a limb and include Susie.  Their behaviors were appalling, yet the rest of the cast and I'd even imagine production, encouraged it.  Tonya wasn't their only victim.  They were ALWAYS tearing down someone, while the rest of the cast laughed and laughed.  The pretentious PHD Susie, (in religious studies...HA), even wrote a piece that touched on the toothbrush incident, how she wouldn't tolerate such behaviors, yet tried to discredit Tonya at the same time.  Tonya is no saint, but nobody deserves what she was dished.  Ugh.

Edited February 10, 2016 by AngryCarrot86

[luckyroll3]

Don't even mention Susie.  She's such a fucking hypocrite as she bullies people under a banner of, "but i'm a good girl."  Ugh!

[whirlingdervish]

Home sick today, and rewatching some of Gauntlet 2.  Man, I really did enjoy the setup of that season--this idea that if a team lost, the team captain went into the Gauntlet against a challenger from their team and the winner of the Gauntlet is the team captain going forward [until they lose a Gauntlet].  I thought that did a great job of raising the stakes while keeping everything fairly transparent. It also helped that most of the players really wanted to be there, and wanted to hang on to their numbers. I don't think it would work with the casting pool that we have now, but it was really fun to watch the old crew go for it. 

[Lantern7]

Here are my recaps from back then. I covered the show for a website for four seasons, and if I hadn't gotten shitcanned after Battle Of The Sexes 2, I definitely would've been booted during Gauntlet 2. Hated Beth sooooooo much. She and Derrick were the focus characters of that season, and I plan to go over that on my blog soon.

[SnideAsides]

I really liked that format too. I think they got a bit screwed that one of the first captains was one of the people they clearly had to work hardest to get to come on the show in the first place, but the idea was great.

[Lantern7]

After writing about the latest season of The Amazing Race, I banged out a post about "spotlight Challengers" on my blog in two days. Thanks to KerleyQ for pointing out Evelyn to me . . . with my shot memory, I would not have remembered her time on The Island. And thanks to Wikipedia for providing details on the episodes. It's like walking down Memory Lane. Or Crime Alley. Feel free to leave a comment on the blog.

[KerleyQ]

After writing about the latest season of The Amazing Race, I banged out a post about "spotlight Challengers" on my blog in two days. Thanks to KerleyQ for pointing out Evelyn to me . . . with my shot memory, I would not have remembered her time on The Island. And thanks to Wikipedia for providing details on the episodes. It's like walking down Memory Lane. Or Crime Alley. Feel free to leave a comment on the blog.

 

God bless you for including the Johnny Bananas Backpack clip.  I don't care how many times I see it, I will enjoy it just as much each and every time.  

[Lantern7]

My pleasure. I looked up an old post where I got that clip from MTV.com, and I reused the HTML. Thankfully, the site still has the clip, and I didn't have to use something sketchy from elsewhere.

[Asp Burger]

I watched all of Challenge 2000 on YouTube. They had the last two episodes in the wrong order and misnumbered. They had the finale with the skydiving followed by the next-to-last episode with the padded cells and the teams having to keep a ball in motion. But I realized that quickly and reversed them myself.

 

I loved this season, but what's funny is that when I was younger and this was on, I didn't mind Holly, and now I just want to tell her to SHUT UP with her incessant whining and neediness about Dan. At one point she says he's the greatest male she has ever known (after knowing him for less than a month). I know that Dan (and maybe Holly too) said in later years that this storyline was created in editing, and someone else said her real crush was on David from the other team, but I sure don't hear any sound edits in all her Dan testimonials, and her lips are matching the words. There is plenty of B&M audio/video trickery elsewhere in this season, but in my opinion, they had 1999-era Holly dead to rights on the Dan obsession.  

 

Anyway, I mostly liked this cast (especially Heather, Kat, Dan, Yes), and it was fun to go back to, I guess, summer of 1999 when it was being filmed and hear the music and see the clothes of that era. I had forgotten that youth fashion trend of cowboy hats on men and women around turn of the millennium.  

 

I stopped being as interested in this series when it turned into Survivor with weekly eliminations. Then when they started importing those Fresh Meat people, I was done. Also, the whole B&M universe around the time of Real World Las Vegas started to get trashier than I was willing to put up with...or maybe I just aged out of the demo.  

Edited March 8, 2016 by Asp Burger

[Tatum]

I loved, loved, loved Dan!  Dan was awesome. I was sad he never showed up after Battle of the Seasons. Tara was really cool too. I didn't really care for Holly S.

 

Speaking of BMP editing and crushes, in my Real World book (yes, I'm a loser) Mike from London bitched pretty bitterly that editing made up his crush on Kat during their season. He was particularly pissed about an episode where Kat is discussing some guy she likes (or possibly flirting with Neil) while they show Mike in the background glowering like a serial killer while Gin Blossoms' "Hey Jealousy" plays in the background.

 

I do feel like the earlier seasons of RW did kind of edit the show in a way that hinted at crushes or romances that never actually happened. They did it with Seattle David and Rebecca as well. And they released all these teasers saying David was dating someone on the show. They meant of course, Kira, but that was pretty misleading to 13 year old me that wanted David and Rebecca to get together and I felt cheated.

 

Of course, by the time The Challenge was a thing, show romances were par for the course.

[Asp Burger]

I loved, loved, loved Dan!  Dan was awesome. I was sad he never showed up after Battle of the Seasons.

 

He was on Battle of the Sexes 2, which I think was his last appearance in the Bunim/Murray universe (2004-05).

 

Dan was probably my favorite Road Rules or Challenge male player ("He's the greatest male I've ever known," tm Holly), but I think he got out at the right time with a good track record. He was a standout player on Northern Trail (which crossed over with the original Road Rules All-Stars with Cynthia, Jon, Rachel, Eric, and Sean). He came back in the Australia season and was the MVP of the football game.Then he was on the winning team in Challenge 2000 and again was consistently a standout player; made it to the finale on a team that narrowly lost in Seasons, and was on the winning side again in Sexes 2. 

 

Then he got on with his post-B/M life and never had to put up with CT, Johnny Bananas, or anyone from the Fresh Meat group.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Asp Burger

[Lantern7]

Dan Setzler is so cool, you don't hold the end of BOTS2 against him. Very remarkable.

[Tatum]

I don't remember him on BOTS2. What did he do at the end?