Inferno II (2005)

[Lantern7]

I met Challenge fan Bill Simmons at a signing for The Book Of Basketball. I suggested that Inferno II was the last great Challenge season, and he agreed with me. Granted, I think he could only talk with me for so long, but I'd like to think I'm right about this.

Inferno II divided players into "Good Guys" and "Bad Asses." The system was kinda flawed, given how pains in the ass like Shovonda and Julie were considered to be "good." And, for a short while, the forces of badness seemed to be winning out. One painful example came when the Good Guys chose Veronica to be in the Inferno, utilizing some stratagem I can't be bothered to remember. The Bad Asses took it out on Jodi, who was blamed for coming up with the plan. In the end, Jodi lost the Inferno, and the Bad Asses jeered her to the point where a. I would turn on Dan Renzi from that moment on, and b. I wouldn't have been surprised if they dumped pig's blood on her. Then you had Veronica jumping into Rachel's brawny arms and wrapping her legs around her, which . . . ick. If you dismiss Karamo throwing an Inferno on his own and Beth leaving, the Bad Asses lost only once in the Inferno (when Dan got beat).

But a funny thing happened . . . as the Good Guys' numbers dwindled, they started winning more missions. In the end, they were reduced to four players: Mike (in what would be his finale), Darrell (about to win his third out of a record four Challenges), Landon (a rookie about to win his first of three) and Jamie (in her sole Challenge before going into film). In the final mission, the Good Guys helped each other in the long run, while the heinous bitches on the other side (Rachel, Veronica, Tina) disparaged Tonya the entire way. From what I understand, Tonya went out partying the night before the final mission. I'd like to think that the Bad Asses would've won if they bothered to treat her like a human being. She took out Julie and Shavonda . . . that alone deserves some respect.

What do I take away from this season? I remember Jon getting taken out in the first Inferno, leading to one of Beth's few sincere moments (as well as a crying jag from Julie). I remember Tonya dumping Beth's clothes in the pool, which lead to the bloated one fleeing. I remember Julie sabotaging her team's chances by trying to ride a mini bike over a narrow path, muttering "The road to God is straight and narrow" while her teammates screamed for her to stop. I remember Veronica being unable to handle crabs, which still strikes me as funny. And I remember Brad and Abram's intense Inferno, followed by a victorious Abram all but challenging Darrell to a fistfight. Remember that? "Send me tonight, you little poodle!" Good times . . . unless you were Brad.

What do you take away from Inferno II? To help jog your memories, I'd like to share my recaps from back then, going from the preview special to the finale. For instance, I was just reminded about how Mike gave Brad a wedgie, and Brad calling Mike a "meathead" in an interview. "NOW IT'S A NECKLACE!!" Good times . . . unless, once again, you were Brad.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Lantern7

[NichD]

Oh, the thing with Jodi was that she and Julie were both nominated for the Inferno, and they disagreed on which Bad Ass they wanted to throw in. So, since the Good Guys knew the Bad Asses would be announcing their pick first, they agreed to work around the rules and have whoever the Bad Asses voted in (it turned out to be Jodi) announce their choice, and let them decide on the spot.

Jodi picked Veronica, but I think she mealy-mouthed it in such a way that made it clear that it wasn't the group consensus, so the Bad Ass team flipped out on her. It was harsh, considering the whole Good Guys team was in on the plan, but I also think the plan was to pretend that it had been a team decision either way, so she kind of biffed that -- if I remember correctly, which I kind of hope I don't, because I could clearly be devoting that brain space to more important matters.

Edited April 15, 2014 by NichD

[Lantern7]

Thanks. All I can remember is Jodi trying to de-mummy herself and falling down. Then, after Veronica won, Rachel's bleating, "AND YOU PICKED HER!" followed by Dan jeering, "Karma's a bitch!" I think that was the ugliest part of the season . . . and I wasn't even a fan of Jodi. Or maybe the ugliest part was after the Karamo/Landon Inferno, when Abram went on and on about how Karamo had no dignity . . . and I'm all, "Bitch, have you LOOKED in a mirror lately?!?"

[Lantern7]

With the emergence of the Queer Eye reboot, is Karamo the most famous participant in this season after Mike and Jamie?

[Girl in a Cardigan]

I binged this over the weekend since it's showed up on Netflix (labeled as "season 1") and have a few stray observations. It was so surreal to see these folks from 15 years ago that I used to care so much about and haven't thought about it ages (except like CT and Derrick, who are still there!).

• The show only being 30 minutes (well, less than 20 actual minutes without commercials on Netflix) feels so quick.
• Likewise, the missions are so easy and tame compared to what they do now. Like memorizing a room or carrying live crabs across a beach. I do miss the trivia/spelling challenges.
• Dave Mirra is such an awful host. I feel like TJ started with the same flat affect, but now he's consistently one of my favorite characters on the show.
• I totally forgot that they'd wear their own clothes to the challenges, so people like Julie or Tonya would just rock up to a beach challenge in jeans.
• The bullying of Tonya is so stark and hard to watch. I hope I felt the same way when I watched it originally, but now it's just ridiculous how everyone mean girls her.
• It's so weird how Landon and Derrick drunk fought each other bloody in the street outside a bar, but then when Landon wakes up after passing out to found all the homophobic writing on his back and his head shaved, he's just like laughing. I'm trying to think of any of the guys now who would just laugh that off.
• Julie and Jon with the Jesus stuff just feels like of such a bygone era. You're not going to get many Jesus freaks from Love Island or Big Brother, you know? (I'm not complaining, but without the original vibe of Real World feeder system, it's a different cast of characters.)
• I did not miss Beth and I was happy she left.
• The drama after Jodi "switched" her vote for the Inferno was so laughable. This "we play by the rules" feels so old school, it's almost like it was a different show.
• Ditto the final challenge. It took like 15 minutes to show and had three easy legs. The whole thing probably took like two hours to film? Such a change from the overnight, climb a mountain finals we have now.

Next season on Netflix (oddly labeled "season 3") is "The Duel" with TJ, so I'm excited to continue this flashback.

[shantown]

13 hours ago, Girl in a Cardigan said:

I totally forgot that they'd wear their own clothes to the challenges, so people like Julie or Tonya would just rock up to a beach challenge in jeans.

This was making me laugh so hard. I didn't realize how professional the uniforms had gotten because it was kind of a slow transition from street clothes, to matching colors, to matching t-shirts, to the sleek all black Under Armor gear everyone's in now. Watching people go into an elimination with cargo shorts and a belt on had me ROLLING! 

[Lantern7]

Here are my recaps from that season. I'd like to apologize if I'm coming off as thirsty for attention. I just figure that the recaps I wrote way back when (Battle Of the Sexes - Gauntlet 2) might be entertaining for fans who only know the series being with Johnny and/or Cara Maria.

Julie was a psycho, wasn't she? Just so exhausting to watch.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Lantern7

[sara416]

This is amazing to rewatch. I've totally forgotten about some of these people. Why was Karamo a bad ass? They were all such babies on this show! This is going to be a fun rewatch. 

[Zima]

I've seen this season semi-recently, because it was on YouTube. I'm glad to see it again in better quality though.

Off the bat, I love that the women aren't all wearing 10 lbs of makeup.  Beth got made fun of for wearing what was considered "a lot" back then, but she looks practically bare-faced compared to what we're used to seeing now. 

Veronica, Tina and Rachel. Ugh. I mean, sure it's entertaining in a sick way to see them pick on Tonya, but the way they deny it and victim-blame her takes it to a whole new level of disgusting.

Julie comparing Jon to Jesus was so cringey. 

"YOUR UGLY FACE DOES NOT DESERVE THIS CONVERSATION" was almost as cringey. 

The Miz 😞 He was such an entertaining meat head. 

Jamie Chung! 

"DON'T EVER PUT YOUR HANDS ON MY UNDERWEAR!" 

Aside from the way Dan acted towards Jodi, he came off very likeable this season.

I can't not love Abe. He was so cute and entertaining. 

I miss these old challenges, and wish they were allll available, from season 1 on. Yes, I know that CBS has a lot of them, but not ALL. 

 

[ljenkins782]

On 12/21/2020 at 3:49 AM, Girl in a Cardigan said:

I binged this over the weekend since it's showed up on Netflix (labeled as "season 1") and have a few stray observations. It was so surreal to see these folks from 15 years ago that I used to care so much about and haven't thought about it ages (except like CT and Derrick, who are still there!).

• The show only being 30 minutes (well, less than 20 actual minutes without commercials on Netflix) feels so quick.
• Likewise, the missions are so easy and tame compared to what they do now. Like memorizing a room or carrying live crabs across a beach. I do miss the trivia/spelling challenges.
• Dave Mirra is such an awful host. I feel like TJ started with the same flat affect, but now he's consistently one of my favorite characters on the show.
• I totally forgot that they'd wear their own clothes to the challenges, so people like Julie or Tonya would just rock up to a beach challenge in jeans.
• The bullying of Tonya is so stark and hard to watch. I hope I felt the same way when I watched it originally, but now it's just ridiculous how everyone mean girls her.
• It's so weird how Landon and Derrick drunk fought each other bloody in the street outside a bar, but then when Landon wakes up after passing out to found all the homophobic writing on his back and his head shaved, he's just like laughing. I'm trying to think of any of the guys now who would just laugh that off.
• Julie and Jon with the Jesus stuff just feels like of such a bygone era. You're not going to get many Jesus freaks from Love Island or Big Brother, you know? (I'm not complaining, but without the original vibe of Real World feeder system, it's a different cast of characters.)
• I did not miss Beth and I was happy she left.
• The drama after Jodi "switched" her vote for the Inferno was so laughable. This "we play by the rules" feels so old school, it's almost like it was a different show.
• Ditto the final challenge. It took like 15 minutes to show and had three easy legs. The whole thing probably took like two hours to film? Such a change from the overnight, climb a mountain finals we have now.

Next season on Netflix (oddly labeled "season 3") is "The Duel" with TJ, so I'm excited to continue this flashback.

I discovered the 2 Challenge seasons on Netflix and what seemed like an hour later, I'd watched both from start to finish, lol! 

Gauntlet II stands out for being the last (or at least one of the last) Kenny/Evan/Johnny Bananas season. So I enjoyed it for the old schoolness of the cast, but there was a lot to be uncomfortable with, most of it revolving around Tonya.

The saddest part is the beginning, where she clearly thinks she's part of the mean girl clique because she's bullying the only person less popular than she is (Beth) and then doesn't seem to know how to react when she becomes the target after Beth leaves. It's a tale as old as time, but people never seem to learn that your status won't be elevated just by joining the crowd and picking on people with even less power than they have.

Beth is the kind of character that I can't even find entertaining. She hasn't changed in the nearly 30 years since her Real World season, she was an unpleasant drama queen who inserted herself into every situation and she's still doing it. Much as she plays it up for the camera, I really do think that's just who she is and has always been. There was no benefit to being a "villain" on season 2 of the RW, before reality TV became the juggernaut it's become. They didn't even have the challenge or any subsequent opportunities, it was a one and done experience as far as they knew, so coming across as an asshole wasn't really a career move. And even the "nice" people on her season and every Challenge season she's been on clearly struggle to like her.

Agreed that Dave Mirra isn't a great host, but I feel bad thinking that knowing that he eventually committed suicide. There's a moment in this one that's weird in retrospect, it's a shot of Dave talking with Derrick putting an imaginary gun to his head over whatever it is that Dave was saying. It's spooky to see it now knowing that Dave later shot himself in the head.

Agreed on TJ, I remember thinking he was the worst, but he's actually quite funny in a lot of scenes, especially in the Duel. However, Jonny Moseley will always hold my heart as my favorite "extreme sport" host and I don't know why he didn't come back. He was hilarious and seemed like a blast.

ReL the Jodi vote "change", that had to be one of the silliest controversies I've ever seen. And Jodi was too new and too dim to realize that they were only making a huge deal out of it to bully her. There was nothing wrong at all with her choice and Dan, who had to be 40-something or close to it by then,  especially looked like a complete ass. If Jodi were smart, she'd have snapped back about a man his age behaving so ridiculously.

And then the next time around, Rachel coming over to lecture the RW team about playing "fair" and whatever? Please, you have no authority. I really wish Julie would've just picked Veronica and looked straight at Rachel while doing it. Rachel was one I could never stand, she was a bully from the moment we first saw her. She is in extremely good physical shape, but there's no saving that muppet face.

I'd forgotten how many classic moments came out of this season. NOW IT'S A NECKLACE! followed by "congratulations, you're a meathead, son, but don't ever touch my underwear again" 

And Landon's response to getting his head shaved was delightfully laid back. I'm pretty sure Landon had some alcohol issues, his personality really changed and there was some kind of extra clip showing him attempting to walk up the stairs and he literally couldn't stand up. Not good.

Overall, I'm baffled that these people can drink to such extremes at night and then get up and balance on shit 200 feet in the air without any obvious effects. I guess that's youth or tolerance, but I'd be in bed for 2 days if I partied like that.