S28.E14: Split Decision/S28.E15: Reunion

[Lantern7]

Turns out I was wrong about the split grand prize being the biggest payout. Wes and Jodi won $150,000 on The Duel. This raises a new question: did Johnny know this and take the $275K for himself to jab the ginger punching bag yet again? Really wouldn't put that past him.

[KerleyQ]

2 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Turns out I was wrong about the split grand prize being the biggest payout. Wes and Jodi won $150,000 on The Duel. This raises a new question: did Johnny know this and take the $275K for himself to jab the ginger punching bag yet again? Really wouldn't put that past him.

It would not remotely surprise me to find out that John has a mental database of all of the big payouts over the years.  

[Hiacios]

This whole season was made for Bananas and Sarah to win because there so called competition was completely incompetent. smh.   The only thing that went right and made me happy was Bananas keeping all the money for himself and shoving it in Sarah's gullible face. She is such a joke. lol.

[Tatum]

I haven't watched the Reunion yet and I don't know if I will. I watched the finale and that was enough. I still can't figure what really happened. I mean, I totally believe John would keep the money and not feel bad, but I don't know that he actually did. Sarah has been singing his praises on her podcast, and while she may be contractually prohibited from speaking ill of him or spoiling the ending, she isn't obligated to discuss what an awesome person he is, which she has been doing.

 

The way I see it, there are four possibilities:

 

1. What we saw is exactly what happened, and Sarah's commitment to BMP is such that she will say anything to remain in character as the show was aired, which means talking about how great Bananas was because that's what she was saying on the show that aired, not how she feels in real time

2. Bananas told her privately he would split the money with her but for show he was going to say he was keeping it, and she would need to act devastated to further their storyline

3. Bananas kept the money initially but at some later point gave her some, maybe after the reunion, either due to guilt or he always intended to share he just liked making her suffer

4. Bananas kept all the money, BMP offered her some kind of cash consolation if she would continue to praise Johnny to throw off the audience and keep the twist a surprise

 

I can't see it being either #1 or #4. Sarah is an insufferable kiss ass, but that is a stretch, even for her. And for #4- BMP is notoriously cheap. I don't think they'd give even a minimal payout to ensure a spoiler free season.

 

I think it is 2 or 3. And I think Sarah would happily play along because it meant she and Johnny had a secret, and Sarah lives to be included in the inner circle. I didn't think she was much of an actor, but her legitimate reactions to things over the last 8 years tend to be so over the top anyways that she wouldn't have to worry about over emoting.

[Lantern7]

I would fast-forward through the beginning, the Wince/Camila bit, the Challenged Awards, and Johnny asking random New Yorkers what they'd do in his shoes.

[luckyroll3]

But, During the Wince/Camilla segment, you should definitely watch Camilla trying to be rude to Nessa and Nessa totally shutting her down without hesitation. 

[Lantern7]

I was going to blog about the finale, but I'm going to end it early and do a Johnny bash piece in the near future. Regarding the Adderall allegation, I'd like to float a metaphor for you.

imagine Usain Bolt in the 4x100 relay. Imagine that the IOC has a system where the runner with the fastest time gets to decide how the medals are allocated. Bolt, being Bolt, winds up expanding on the lead he is given, and he clinches the win for Jamaica. He decides to keep all four medals for himself, which doesn't produce much criticism. The allegation from Susie would be finding out that Bolt had injected fast-acting steroids between qualifying heats, and that the IOC decided to give him four smaller medals.

Is that too much? I'd appreciate the feedback.

ETA: Here is "Challenge Postmortem: The Decision."

[Talky Tina]

On 8/8/2016 at 5:23 AM, dangwoodchucks said:

These finals have become so formulaic and unimaginative. Run, do a task, stop, run some more, stop, stand around somewhere all night, eat something gross, stop, solve a puzzle, stop, run some more. But wait, the end isn't even the end, give us a moment to tally numbers no one can verify. 

This thing with Johnny using Adderall and only being fined for it is such BS. Sarah should've been awarded those 2 points since he cheated during that stage. Better yet, he should have been DQ'd and she would win by default. I would normally say the team should have been DQ'd altogether, but TPTB made the rule that partners were competing against each other so Sarah should have gotten those points which probably would've put her on top.  

What's this about John using Adderall? I haven't heard anything about that.  Doesn't surprise me a bit though. 

[Lantern7]

Susie tweeted that Johnny took Adderall and only got fined for it. Dunno if that's true, but it wouldn't surprise me much, either.

[jadecorleone]

On 8/14/2016 at 4:30 PM, Lantern7 said:

Susie tweeted that Johnny took Adderall and only got fined for it. Dunno if that's true, but it wouldn't surprise me much, either.

I bet if anyone else had done it, they would have been disqualified.  Once again MTV caters to Bananas and it's long since gotten old. Sad part is even if he comes back, even after this, there will still be contestants that will kiss up to him and wanna work with him. 

[atlanticslide]

I have no idea why this is the line for me, but somehow it is. I have loved this dumb show for so many years, and there have been plenty of times that I've been annoyed by the ending and/or who won, but for some reason this ending bothered me to such a degree that I think it's killed my interest in the show. 

If this is all genuine and true and Johnny really did keep all of the money for himself, that's so fucking low and vile and such an unpleasant note to end on that it just leaves a terrible taste in my mouth. I didn't even get through more than 10 minutes of the after show because I just couldn't stomach any of it anymore. 

If this is fake and all for the storyline, it's just obnoxious and manipulative and still a terrible downer of an ending for the season. It wasn't shocking or dramatic, it was just weird and depressing. If this is what Bunim-Murray thinks the show needs to keep people interested and entertained, I think I'm out.

[Lantern7]

@atlanticslide . . . I wish I could join you. Quitting this show seems to be beyond me. Maybe I want to see this sad franchise end like I did Smallville. Maybe I want to go out on the happiest ending possible. Or maybe I like snarking on these dipshits all of the time. If there was a recovery program for fans, I would be interested.

[MV007]

I loved the ending.  I think Bananas was completely justified in his decision.  Not to mention, this is a game and he won.

[AngryCarrot86]

On ‎8‎/‎29‎/‎2016 at 1:29 PM, MV007 said:

I loved the ending.  I think Bananas was completely justified in his decision.  Not to mention, this is a game and he won.

John?  Is that you?  CT is calling, and he needs a new backpack. 

[Genius]

On 8/25/2016 at 11:17 PM, atlanticslide said:

I have no idea why this is the line for me, but somehow it is. I have loved this dumb show for so many years, and there have been plenty of times that I've been annoyed by the ending and/or who won, but for some reason this ending bothered me to such a degree that I think it's killed my interest in the show. 

If this is all genuine and true and Johnny really did keep all of the money for himself, that's so fucking low and vile and such an unpleasant note to end on that it just leaves a terrible taste in my mouth.

I couldn't agree more.  I have watched every season of the "The Real World," "Road Rules" and "The Challenge."  I know these idiots.  Inside and out, as much as any viewing fan can.  And even I was shocked and disgusted by not only John's vile decision, but that the show would even set up such an offer in the first place.  

Why would any contestant ever agree to be on this show again?  BMP just showed all of them that they can do everything right, and even win, and still go home empty-handed.  Who the fuck would agree to that?  And why would anyone ever want to watch that?  It goes against the fundamental gratification of watching a competition in the first place: to the victor go the spoils.  Why would BMP & MTV violate such a trust between production and loyal castmate, not to mention production and loyal viewer?

Sarah earned that money, and got completely screwed by BMP and the biggest piece of shit in MTV history.  And that is a MASSIVE history of pieces of shit.

[KerleyQ]

1 hour ago, Genius said:

I couldn't agree more.  I have watched every season of the "The Real World," "Road Rules" and "The Challenge."  I know these idiots.  Inside and out, as much as any viewing fan can.  And even I was shocked and disgusted by not only John's vile decision, but that the show would even set up such an offer in the first place.  

Why would any contestant ever agree to be on this show again?  BMP just showed all of them that they can do everything right, and even win, and still go home empty-handed.  Who the fuck would agree to that?  And why would anyone ever want to watch that?  It goes against the fundamental gratification of watching a competition in the first place: to the victor go the spoils.  Why would BMP & MTV violate such a trust between production and loyal castmate, not to mention production and loyal viewer?

Sarah earned that money, and got completely screwed by BMP and the biggest piece of shit in MTV history.  And that is a MASSIVE history of pieces of shit.

That's my biggest question in the whole thing.  How does anyone trust production any more?  Even the ones who generally just show up for the free vacations have to take pause at the idea that, if they do manage to win, they might still not get to take home a penny of the prize money.  And now that they've all actually seen the twist play out, and they've seen Sarah kick ass all season long and walk away empty handed, I would imagine that the finales are going to be such a clusterfuck most of the time.  We'll see teammates aggressively competing against each other, instead of working together, because nobody trusts that they'll get a share of the money if they aren't the top performer on their team.  Even if there is no twist announced ahead of time, they'll all just operate on the assumption that there is a possibility it can happen at any time.  

[atlanticslide]

Also, on top of the points made above, it's just such a freaking bummer to watch something like that play out. It's more of a bummer even than watching someone I dislike compete and win, because at least they won fair and square. And the way the episode ended was so weird and depressing - Johnny decides to keep all the money, Sarah crouches down on the ground, everyone looks shocked and disgusted, TJ kind of mumbles "sorry, Sarah," and... that's it. Season over. Even if it was all fake and made up for the sake of a storyline, what weirdly bleak and blah note to end the entire season on.

[MV007]

On 9/1/2016 at 1:50 PM, AngryCarrot86 said:

John?  Is that you?  CT is calling, and he needs a new backpack. 

Just someone with a different opinion.  Heaven forbid.