S01.E07: Champs vs Stars: Sink, Purge, Repeat

[OnceSane]

Quote

The remaining players are shocked with a game-changing announcement. Two bitter rivals are forced to compete for only one final spot, while another player's betrayal seals their fate in the game.

[Lantern7]

Yes, CvS is still a thing. No, we still don't know why Terrell Owens showed up if he looked like he didn't want to do that.

We get a Purge, with three players per side advancing. It's an underwater mission, so Wes gets rock hard. And then he has to untangle a knot to proceed, and that takes him out. Johnny is the male Champ winner, because of course he is. Emily beats Laurel TORI for the female slot. The Stars . . . don't really care. Anyway, the big twist is that the winners on each side get to bring somebody into the final. Wes offers to give $5,000 -- apparently out of his own pocket-- to Johnny and Emily's charities. Big fat whatever. Nice that a lot of charities will be getting money, but Vendettas kinda makes CvS irrelevant.

I will say that Mike is a good host. Not great on play-by-play, but I think he brings more to the table than Victor Cruz. Not being on a football team that went 3-13 helps as well.

ETA because I had a dyslexic attack, subbing Tori for Laurel. Also: Have Laurel and Emily been on a Challenge together? I say that a Laurel/Nicole endgame would destroy everything around them, but Laurel/Emily? The explosion would be seen from orbit.

[dangwoodchucks]

Gee, I’m on pins and needles to see if that coin lands on heads or tails.

[Vicky8675309]

I'm bummed that Wes is out.

[Lantern7]

5 minutes ago, Vicky8675309 said:

I'm bummed that Wes is out.

Now, now, Wes would have a lot to offer for Johnny and Emily, so that they can get the most amount of money for their respective charities. In unrelated news, it is a lot easier to say stuff like that online than face-to-face, because nobody can see you smirking and/or rolling your eyes. Oh, and I guess Tori isn't being considered, leaving the choice go down to Heavy Meathead and Heavy Meathead.

So that's a "Dad Bod." I dunno . .  .CT probably looks better than me, and I've had that sort of body my entire damn life.

[scrb]

Kind of telling that more than one contestant mentioned that they will eat anything.

They're not going to have some big endurance challenge for the "stars" so fitness may not matter.  Anyways, CT, Zach and Wes aren't built for endurance any more.

Who'd have imagined that CT, if you've seen him in the RW Paris days, would be strong on puzzles.  Now that he's no longer the youngest, biggest, strongest, he's some eminence grise?

[Unclejosh]

Well CT did go to college for engineering so he is smarter than people think but I think drugs and bad choices in his youth plus that temper and testosterone prevented him from using it a lot of times.  If you could put CTs older wisdom and relative calmness now back in his physical prime he would have been pretty unbeatable in most things.

[luckyroll3]

Ah Wes.  I was rooting for you.  But as soon as he started with the loudness of how this was his competition to lose, I knew he was done.  The hubris gets him every. damn. time.  He just can't help himself.  

I'm pissed that Banana's made it through, but he earned it with his slow but stready pace.  

I'm shocked that CT fit through that first tube thing; Wes barely fit through it.

Also shocked that Tori was the only one who realized that in the last obstacle it would be easier to bring the ring down instead of trying to carry the weight up a couple feet.  

I did like this challenge though.  

All that being said, why are there still more episodes of this shit????

[Lantern7]

1 hour ago, luckyroll3 said:

Ah Wes.  I was rooting for you.  But as soon as he started with the loudness of how this was his competition to lose, I knew he was done.  The hubris gets him every. damn. time.  He just can't help himself. 

Well, he felt confident. If it weren't for the knot, production aides would have handcuffed him to the bottom of the pool and let him drown. "Sorry, but the ratings went down after he eliminated Johnny last time, and he doesn't do the main show anymore, so . . . "

1 hour ago, luckyroll3 said:

All that being said, why are there still more episodes of this shit????

I kept saying that during Dirty XXX.  I think next week is the CvS finale. I'm awesome with these fools raising money for charity, but we need a balance between "Pros" and "Stars."

[mojoween]

Now, at the beginning of the new season of Vendettas John said that he is single for the first time in a long time, but after watching this episode, I don’t see how that’s possible.  Because with the way Mike was acting, I think he is making “Bananas + The Miz true love forever” needlepoint.  

It was annoying, the way Mike was fawning all over John.

In the interview Kim gave where she said she was nervous about the swim she was smokin’.  She is foxy and tall, she would absolutely intimidate me if I were to stand next to her.

[Peper81]

20 hours ago, luckyroll3 said:

Ah Wes.  I was rooting for you.  But as soon as he started with the loudness of how this was his competition to lose, I knew he was done.  The hubris gets him every. damn. time.  He just can't help himself.  

Is it wrong that that is what I love about Wes?  It's also what I hate about John (Bananas).  I've always said they are two sides of the same coin.  I just prefer the Ginger side of things.  

That said, John has a lot more qualities I hate about him then just the hubris.  It seems like Wes can take it when he's outmaneuvered or his politicking doesn't get him as far.  When that happens to John he acts like a toddler and throws a tantrum.  I keep thinking one day he will grow up...

[MaggieG]

On 1/2/2018 at 11:56 PM, Lantern7 said:

I will say that Mike is a good host. Not great on play-by-play, but I think he brings more to the table than Victor Cruz. Not being on a football team that went 3-13 helps as well.

ETA because I had a dyslexic attack, subbing Tori for Laurel. Also: Have Laurel and Emily been on a Challenge together? I say that a Laurel/Nicole endgame would destroy everything around them, but Laurel/Emily? The explosion would be seen from orbit.

I agree about Mike, he does make it slightly entertaining.

I can't remember if Laurel and Emily have ever been on together. That would be intersesting. I wonder if Matt knew she was going to beat him and that's why he acted all "I can't do this blah blah" to try and save face that he got beat by a girl.

Out of all the stars, I think I liked Justina the best. She seemed to have a positive attitude and got along with everyone and she actually did pretty well in most of the compititions. I would not mind if they brought her back for future challenges.

[Jobiska]

The one thing I was grateful for on this rather boring episode was that the "Purge" in the title referred to getting rid of contestants and not vomiting in a gross food challenge.  I cannot say how sick I am of vomit shots.  Almost as much as I am sick of John.  

[Aaron4102]

15 hours ago, MaggieG said:

 

I can't remember if Laurel and Emily have ever been on together.

 

On 1/2/2018 at 8:56 PM, Lantern7 said:

Also: Have Laurel and Emily been on a Challenge together? 

Laurel/Emily have only done 1 challenge together: Cutthroat

Edited January 5, 2018 by Aaron4102

[Hiacios]

I'm glad that Michelle and Josh made it to the finals and I hope that Kim joins them.

[KerleyQ]

On 1/4/2018 at 8:10 AM, Peper81 said:

Is it wrong that that is what I love about Wes?  It's also what I hate about John (Bananas).  I've always said they are two sides of the same coin.  I just prefer the Ginger side of things.  

That said, John has a lot more qualities I hate about him then just the hubris.  It seems like Wes can take it when he's outmaneuvered or his politicking doesn't get him as far.  When that happens to John he acts like a toddler and throws a tantrum.  I keep thinking one day he will grow up...

 

And John typically throws those tantrums over shit he just wishes he would have gotten to do first.  And they should all know this about him by now, so I'm annoyed that so many of his cast mates indulged his whiny tantrum over not being made MVP, just because he staged a whole deal with the kid showing up and told everyone how great it would be to be MVP while he was there.  You weren't the MVP, John.  Deal with it.  It's not fair to the other charities being represented there if you get to tilt the advantage and take away money that they should have been given under the existing rules.  I live for the day he launches into one of his tantrums (over someone doing the kind of shit he's always doing), and the whole cast shrugs and walks away instead of trying to argue or placate him.  

In this one, I think Wes psyched himself out.  He knew this was his to lose, and once John put in a good time, and as others did well, you could see all over his face that he was letting that get in his head.  Then he hd trouble with that knot, and it was all over.  Had he not gotten stuck there, he would have smoked the rest of them.  Oh, and I question the official times.  It seems like CT did much better than John, but there was no drama in CT getting it, so John it is. 

 

On 1/4/2018 at 1:45 PM, Jobiska said:

The one thing I was grateful for on this rather boring episode was that the "Purge" in the title referred to getting rid of contestants and not vomiting in a gross food challenge.  I cannot say how sick I am of vomit shots.  Almost as much as I am sick of John.  

I'll be shocked if next week's finale doesn't include gross food.  

I'm surprised John is talking about bringing in strong players as their third.  I thought, for sure, he'd want Tori, telling himself both girls are strong enough to compete with him and not hold him back, if his outcome partially depends on them, but not strong enough to outdo him.  And given that he had to know the odds were high that the other side would be fielding two girls (because everyone over there apparently dislikes Matt now), it wouldn't put him at any disadvantage against the stars side.  Unless he knows something about the final format, I can't believe he's pushing to bring CT in.  (And, yeah, CT gets gassed on those serious endurance things, but I doubt they're taking them on a two day finale culminating in climbing a mountain on one of these charity things.) 

[Hiacios]

I really hope the stars win as I don't want bananas to win and the champs have really turned me off this season.

[neenyah]

20 hours ago, KerleyQ said:

 

  I live for the day he launches into one of his tantrums (over someone doing the kind of shit he's always doing), and the whole cast shrugs and walks away instead of trying to argue or placate him.  

I'm surprised John is talking about bringing in strong players as their third.  I thought, for sure, he'd want Tori, telling himself both girls are strong enough to compete with him and not hold him back, if his outcome partially depends on them, but not strong enough to outdo him.  And given that he had to know the odds were high that the other side would be fielding two girls (because everyone over there apparently dislikes Matt now), it wouldn't put him at any disadvantage against the stars side.  Unless he knows something about the final format, I can't believe he's pushing to bring CT in.  (And, yeah, CT gets gassed on those serious endurance things, but I doubt they're taking them on a two day finale culminating in climbing a mountain on one of these charity things.) 

I think that day is coming sooner rather than later, especially as more outsiders and newbies get added. They just won't care about the mythical Johnny Bananas or be awed by him anymore. I cannot wait! 

I think there are a few reasons Johnny is bringing CT...He's a pack mule for any heavy carrying/lifting; Iron gut for gross food; Puzzle skills/level headedness. These all lighten the burden on Johnny and allow him to save up strength to outrun CT at the end if they need speed while getting the hard tasks out of the way. Despite his size, Zach is a pretty weak competitor. He not only gasses out, he has temper tantrums and mysterious ailments (the Rivals 2 stomach pain, the mystery cramps in the final with Laurel) when things aren't going his way, there's no encouragement or helping him get past those situations. He has no mental/puzzle skills. He's a big liability. We just don't know enough about Tori to gauge ongoing performance, he hasn't seen her do a lot (he wasn't in the finals with them last time), so I don't blame Johnny for not taking her without firsthand observation. 

Wes is the only real option to CT and Johnny hates him, so that's a no just on principle. 

I would've taken Wes up on that offer of $5000 in BitCoin, no doubt. I thought Johnny loved money. He's already gotten his participation fee, I'm sure and will get a bonus for being in the final. No skin off his back to get a lil extra from Wes.

Edited January 6, 2018 by neenyah