Gauntlet 2 (2005-06)

[Lantern7]

Gauntlet 2 was the last season I recapped in full. Why did I stop? Because it was a hot mess Because it became a one-sided affair. And because of fucking Beth . . . or, as Timmy called her, "Bad Beth & Beyond." Seriously, you guys, I miss Timmy.

The Gauntlet format got tweaked . . . each team had male and female captains, with the losing team's captain being forced to face one of his/her own teammates in the Gauntlet. It was a kinky premise, but it would doom Derrick into fighting five times in total. The teams were separated into "Veterans" (those who had competed in two or more Challenges) and "Rookies" (one Challenge or fewer). For some reason, Jamie Murray was put in with the Rookies, even though he competed in (and won) Extreme Challenge and Battle of the Sexes. The Rookies probably didn't need him, as they won ten of 16 missions en route to winning the season.

Derrick became the poster boy of this Challenge, as he was sent into the Gauntlet by his teammates, and he wound up beating Adam Larson, who had been the ringleader of the anti-Sarah faction in the original Gauntlet. As his team underachieved, Derrick was forced to battle for his life, taking out Ace, Syrus and Brad. What most people take away, however, was how he murdered an innocent table. The Veterans couldn't decide whether to send in David or Timmy into the Gauntlet, and an exasperated Derrick took it out on the table, kicking the legs out before stomping it to death. In the end, Timmy halted Derrick's streak at four, taking the wee Challenger out of the game before the finale.

Derrick's struggles were compounded by the uselessness of Beth, who weighed down her team like an albatross. She was able to stay in the game by beating captain Ruthie, using her girth to drag Ruthie to defeat in Reverse Tug-Of-War. She would later dispatch Montana in the same game, giggling and cackling at the defeat of one of her biggest critics. However, when Aneesa got a chance to play Beach Brawl, Beth turned yellow and quit the game, sparing herself some probably scraps in the process.

This was also the first season host by BMX biker TJ Lavin. Personally, I think that he's turned into a poor man's Jeff Probst over the years . . . which is weird, since Jeff Probst has turned out to be a poor man's Jeff Probst. My least fave moment came in the reunion, when we found out that he had called Syrus "motherfucker," which set the usually jovial contestant off. Teege hasn't done much to dissuade me from that impression.

What else . . . there's the Mark/Robin drama, with Mark uppercutting the bus from inside; Alton's awesomeness that season, culminating with making Danny his bitch in the Gauntlet; Julie actually behaving in her final Challenge appearance; and the clusterfuck that was the final mission. You can read about the season here. Maybe you'll understand why I didn't move onto Fresh Meat afterward.

[NichD]

Gauntlet 2 was when Aneesa busted out, "I don't need a Gauntlet, bitch, I will cut you with words!", right? That's pretty much all I remember from the season.

[Lantern7]

Lucky you. I can still hear Beth cackling anytime I think of this season. And I forgot about Aneesa's little outburst, which I did indeed wrote about. Now I got Aneesa yelling in my head, and Timmy's behind her and making fun of her. Once again: I miss Timmy.

[Lantern7]

Belated "thanks" to StarsFallen. That was a time when I devoted too much time and brain matter to the show. The season was a bit of a letdown after Inferno II, and Beth just ruined things for me so much.

[Craphole Island]

I loved this challenge, heh. It was the last of the golden era IMO (Fresh Meat came right after it). Plus, it was the last challenge that had a good mix of new school players and old school players. I just loved that cast because it proved you didn't need most of the big guns (Coral, Miz, Veronica, Tonya, Rachel, Tina, Abe, etc.) to have a good challenge. Plus, I love Kina so there's that.

[Princess Sparkle]

I always remember feeling so bad for Derrick in this challenge.  I mean, if anyone deserved to be there in the end, it was him, because he had to fight so hard to stay there week after week.  And I like Timmy for the most part, but I did find it a little shitty that someone, who said he didn't even want to win, still put his effort into defeating Derrick.

 

It did make me laugh that somehow, someone in production forgot that Jamie had been on  two prior challenges, and let him be a rookie (which in this season, was being on zero or one challenge).  And that Jamie didn't say anything, and went on to win for a third time.

[choclatechip45]

I was re-watching some episodes of this Challenge last night I forgot how much I loved the cast. It had a mix of old school/new school cast members.  Jo flipping out is hilarious. Kina is still insufferable 9 years later. It's still hilarious Derrick thought his Road Rules season which was in South America was in Tahiti.