S32.E08: Shaneless

[Lantern7]

"This week: Shane sucks. Like, really sucks. I know, he's been an asshole since coming back, but he friggin' goes all out tonight. Also, Kyle and Smashley fuck."

Seriously, if there's been a bigger theme in the "trilogy," it's what an utter disappointment Shane Landrum has become. And if he's playing a character merely for TV, that would probably be worse, because he's portraying someone with barely one dimension. He's not the bad guy that the hero knocks out at the end of the movie. He's the bad guy the hero knocks out a quarter into the movie to show that the good guy can beat up bad guys.

Shane is such a little bitch. He argues with people in the house. He tries to negotiate, but looks more transparent than Sue Storm in a see-through nightie. And he deliberately sabotages his team, which is should be slightly less a sin as quitting. And all the while, I kinda want someone to beat him up. Maybe even Steven Hill, who smacked Shane in BOTS2. Okay, I wouldn't go that far.

What's worse is that there's nobody to really root for. I mean, great that Jozea is giving Shane the business . . .  but he's Jozea. Not only is he a scrub, he's from Big Brother, and that's so much worse than being "merely" a Challenge veteran. It feels like every woman at the main house is loud as fuck. Kam still peddles her "Killer Kam" hype. Hunter is there, but he'll be gone because Johnny is Johnny, and therefore mostly bulletproof. If you take away Joss and Kyle's accents, they'd have so little to work with. And just because Brad hasn't been homaging Matt Simon from RW: Hawaii doesn't mean he's not still crazy.

I did feel for Faith. I bet she was checked out medically between the Armageddon and Redemption House, but the feeling of driving a thumbnail inside one's thumb can't be good at all. Cut to Angela shitting on her. Then TJ expresses his disappointment, and I hope they both feel like shit looking at this episode. And I don't give a flying fuck about Faith. The bad news is that Angela/Kam Faith could have won, because Smashley was crapping the bed like Natalie, barely making an impact in punching the walls. BTW, has there been ANY mission where punching a wall was at the center? It's something Abram would've thought up.

Edited August 29, 2018 by Lantern7

[Coco88]

1 hour ago, Lantern7 said:

What's worse is that there's nobody to really root for.

So true.  I feel like Jenna was the only halfway decent one this season and she was gone first true elimination.  I usually like Kam except when she’s doing the killer Kam stuff.  Nelson hasn’t been too bad but he’s Nelson so he’ll mess that up.  Marie has been surprisingly sane but it can’t last.  I keep forgetting Joss is on the show and basically only remember when Amanda mentions their showmance and tonight when they did that half naked stuff .  The rest...blech

[mccartygirl]

Seriously, is Shane just mad cuz Bananas wouldn't sleep with him or something? It's like the kid who has such a huge crush that they are mean if that makes any sense. Wow.

And what is the draw to Kyle??? I don't get it. 

Rooting for Zach here, until (if) CT gets back. But not sure that will happen with Veronica as his partner. 

[crookedjackson44]

It was bad enough for Ashley and Hunter to come back for a cameo, but now we have to watch both of these people as part of the crew.  Yuck.  Ashley is not a great competitor, as Cara said; she got lucky to win her lone championship.  She is an awful person, and goodness, she slept with the Brit almost immediately!  Yuck again.

[scrb]

If Shane evades the elimination, then his plan would have worked.

guess he’s feeling confident in the Lavender Alliance.

A couple of seasons ago, the rookies outnumbered the vets and tried to band together but it seems some of them kept the alliance together.

Amanda thinks she’s more than pussy to Joss.  We’ll see how that plays out.  As CT said, polidicking only goes so far.

[RHJunkie]

I know it’s been at least a couple of seasons now, but when did Cara and Johnny being friends become a thing? He went from being the instigator that led to Cara and Abram’s break-up to them being good friends and alliances in the game.

Johnny went from being the puppeteer to the guy who is losing his intimidation factor among rookies. Him acting surprised that people aren’t just letting him ride to the end because he’s changed up his ‘strategy’ is just funny. Also, Shane is a piece of shit. He sabotaged his entire team and is telling Nelson that he’s not thinking smart when the entire reason he had to throw that game is because HE was talking shit in the house and had a confrontation with Johnny. It’s his own unnecessary behaviour that put him at risk and then he’s lecturing Nelson about how he’s not thinking smart in the game. If Shane knew what was smart, he wouldn’t be talking 90% of the time because it usually just leads to trouble for himself. I don’t mind Nelson but I don’t want to see Shane win anything and he needs to get off my screen asap. 

If Marie is co-signing your game as being a smart play, you should worry.

[Jobiska]

14 minutes ago, RHJunkie said:

I know it’s been at least a couple of seasons now, but when did Cara and Johnny being friends become a thing? He went from being the instigator that led to Cara and Abram’s break-up to them being good friends and alliances in the game.

This is just speculation; I don't follow their Twitters or anything like that.  I think that John and Cara have come to a sort of detente at least partly because they have been, for a few seasons now, used as the "face" of the Challenges (literally in some ways; the image on my saved programs on my DVR for the past 2 or 3 challenges has been their faces).  I thought it was kind of telling that Cara said something about "he says terrible stuff about me but I just let it roll off" (not an exact quote).  I think that for the past few challenges, she's realized that the better she puts up with John, the better her game will go (though this may be changing).  

Now, they've always given producers stuff to work with if they wanted to be portrayed in a negative light, but I think producers have taken advantage of that with Cara (especially early edits, e.g. "she's weird and sits on the beach drawing ponies" or whatever it was), and now her whiny "woman scorned" thing is also fodder, but that John was untouchable until recently.  I was living for his petulant faces when Hunter came back, etc. and for people calling him out for being a poor sport and all that.  I mean, Shane was one of the ones doing it and Shane is a ridiculous turd, but he wasn't wrong about that particular thing.

Poor ol' Nelson, stuck with Shane.  I'm not a huge Nelson fan but he doesn't deserve that.  Maybe having his buddy Hunter there will be some consolation.

[RHJunkie]

17 minutes ago, Jobiska said:

This is just speculation; I don't follow their Twitters or anything like that.  I think that John and Cara have come to a sort of detente at least partly because they have been, for a few seasons now, used as the "face" of the Challenges (literally in some ways; the image on my saved programs on my DVR for the past 2 or 3 challenges has been their faces).  I thought it was kind of telling that Cara said something about "he says terrible stuff about me but I just let it roll off" (not an exact quote).  I think that for the past few challenges, she's realized that the better she puts up with John, the better her game will go (though this may be changing).  

Now, they've always given producers stuff to work with if they wanted to be portrayed in a negative light, but I think producers have taken advantage of that with Cara (especially early edits, e.g. "she's weird and sits on the beach drawing ponies" or whatever it was), and now her whiny "woman scorned" thing is also fodder, but that John was untouchable until recently.  I was living for his petulant faces when Hunter came back, etc. and for people calling him out for being a poor sport and all that.  I mean, Shane was one of the ones doing it and Shane is a ridiculous turd, but he wasn't wrong about that particular thing.

Poor ol' Nelson, stuck with Shane.  I'm not a huge Nelson fan but he doesn't deserve that.  Maybe having his buddy Hunter there will be some consolation.

That explanation could work. Cara did say that she and Johnny know each other outside of the house because they work together. I don't think either of them have real life jobs so if they look at the show as their job, then I can see that approach by both of them - particularly with both of them not only being seasoned players, but they're real competition as well.

If Nelson gets thrown into an elimination quickly because of Shane's mouth, that consolation prize will be short lived, lol.

[Cherry Cola]

14 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

 

I did feel for Faith. I bet she was checked out medically between the Armageddon and Redemption House, but the feeling of driving a thumbnail inside one's thumb can't be good at all. Cut to Angela shitting on her. 

At first I thought you meant she was checked medically for having slept with Kyle.   That might not be a bad idea. 

Shane is gross.  So smug. 

[xfuse]

8 hours ago, scrb said:

If Shane evades the elimination, then his plan would have worked.

guess he’s feeling confident in the Lavender Alliance.

Out of all the teams, the two teams that would use the double vote to vote him in would be the ones he was playing with. It makes sense.  In saying that, I don't like him and I think the way he went about was all wrong. You can throw the game without having throwing it in everyone's faces.

[mojoween]

Shane is gross.  Also, I have never ever liked Jozea and Shane made me actually root for Jozea, and that is unforgivable.

Ashley is a bitchy whiny baby quitter so where this comp beast nonsense comes from is beyond me.  I hope she gets bounced back out.  Also anything that makes Amanda happy is automatically bad.

Poor Nelson.  He may not be the best competitor, but he can’t comprehend what Shane is doing and I feel badly for him.  Also, Nelson is still smoking hot.

I agree with all of you.  There really is no one to root for.  Especially not Cara, I can only see so many pictures of her yucking it up with Natalie and Paul on Twitter before I lose my dinner.  I am disappointed in her.

[Neveragain]

I think Shane made a smart move, but in a stupid way. He could have easily finessed it by feigning injury, acting genuinely (not sarcastically) confused, being athletically weak, a million things.  Instead he crowed about tanking it, in the bitchiest way.  Shane would rather stand out than be rich.  He’ll never win now.  Dumb. 

[scrb]

Thing about Shane is that he's among the older cast members and he's never won or even come close.

So why does he keep doing this show?  Free vacations?  Being bitchy on camera?

Does he really expect to win?

Maybe the appearance fees and being able to stay on for at least a half dozen episodes a season is worth his time.

One way to keep getting invited to the challenges may be to stand out by causing drama.  Now people may use his behavior to vote him into the elimination.

[Lantern7]

27 minutes ago, scrb said:

Thing about Shane is that he's among the older cast members and he's never won or even come close.

So why does he keep doing this show?  Free vacations?  Being bitchy on camera?

Does he really expect to win?

Maybe the appearance fees and being able to stay on for at least a half dozen episodes a season is worth his time.

One way to keep getting invited to the challenges may be to stand out by causing drama.  Now people may use his behavior to vote him into the elimination.

I think that maybe -- just maybe -- he's "playing a character." Now, under normal circumstances, this would be unforgivable . . . but since getting camera time is "the game within the game" and everyone is a dick, that's not the worst thing. Maybe he's a nice guy in real life, and he just plays a bitch on TV. That might be worse . . . if you're going to get your ass beat for being an asshole, wouldn't it be better to be an actual asshole, as opposed to a pretend asshole? And Shane is basically a guy who's jumped into the enclosure and has been poking the silverback gorillas in the eyes for ten minutes straight.

Looking at my old recaps, I did have problems with him, but they were relatively minor. Here, I want somebody to punch him. Is he lactose-intolerant? Fuck it, drown him in whole milk.

9 hours ago, Cherry Cola said:

At first I thought you meant she was checked medically for having slept with Kyle.   That might not be a bad idea.

I wonder how a woman would know? I figured it out: she'd use the toilet, get up, look down, and discovered that she somehow urinated a perfect Union Jack, with the appropriate colors.

Edited August 30, 2018 by Lantern7

[luckyroll3]

The shade award goes to the MTV Editors for playing Jozea's awful, awful rap song in the background during the scene after which it was mentioned.  LMAO!  Did anyone understand what Jozea's job is?  As much as I can't stand Shane at least he recognizes that THIS is not a job.

And as much as I can't stand Shane, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed his antics during the Rugby challenge.  From him trying desperately, and failing, to explain his strategy to Nelson (who just doesn't get it, because he doesn't get many things), to him blatantly throwing the game (c'mon Shane, at least do it with some finesse!), to him telling Jozea, "I didn't screw us...I screwed you."  Man, it was the most enjoyable this show has been in while.  I do wish that he would have just owned it outright AND called out a couple of other folks on his team for also throwing challenges when it suited them.  But he was absolutely right, if his team won, he and Nelson would not have been voted for as the top team and any team that did get the top spot would most likely cast their two votes for Shane and Nelson.  His best bet was for the other team to win.  

Had to chuckle at Angela thinking that her and Josh have a "real" relationship.  And had to roll my eyes at Faith(?) being "shocked" that Kyle would disrespect her so quickly with Ashley.  Uhm, he did the EXACT SAME THING to Cara with you.  Why are you surprised???

[zoltana]

I want to grab Ashley and wipe off that overdone highlighter she insists on using under her eyes and then I want to smack her upside the head and tell her to quit with the cutey, kissy face crap and act like a grown up.  

[BarneySays]

I venture to say this was a show about hair.  From the dig at Kam's crooked wig to that hair hat on the returning guy (and then that most awesome combover from his neck up to his forehead) to the grand daddy of them all, that insanely silly contraption shane had on his head to help "regrow" his lost hair.  What a maroon.

[angelamh66]

1 hour ago, BarneySays said:

I venture to say this was a show about hair.  From the dig at Kam's crooked wig to that hair hat on the returning guy (and then that most awesome combover from his neck up to his forehead) to the grand daddy of them all, that insanely silly contraption shane had on his head to help "regrow" his lost hair.  What a maroon.

Can we throw in Ashley's ridiculously awful hair extensions.  If I can tell where your real hair ends, you didn't do it right. 

[Lola82]

On 8/30/2018 at 1:11 PM, zoltana said:

I want to grab Ashley and wipe off that overdone highlighter she insists on using under her eyes and then I want to smack her upside the head and tell her to quit with the cutey, kissy face crap and act like a grown up.  

Ugh none of these people act like grown ups. I can’t fathom having sex in a bunk bed with several other people in the room (and a camera!).

[MVFrostsMyPie]

10 minutes ago, Lola82 said:

Ugh none of these people act like grown ups. I can’t fathom having sex in a bunk bed with several other people in the room (and a camera!).

Reminds me of college! Minus the camera. Bonus points if you were able to dodge stepping on a condom someone’s dude flinged away and missed the trash can with. Ah, the things we tolerated.... barely. 

[Lola82]

Yep I went through the college days too...but these people are pushing 30. 

[MVFrostsMyPie]

I think mentally/emotionally they might be around 18-19. The veterans are in their 30s, which is even worse. 

[Lantern7]

Basically, I figure that The Challenge is like that one town in the story of Pinocchio. You know, the one where all the boys run wild, smoking, drinking, and engaging in all sorts of naughtiness. Two differences: None of the guys here get turned into donkeys and sold into labor, and women are allowed in this town. Also, they don't turn into donkeys, either.

[Steph619]

Ashley is classy as always! I seriously don’t understand the appeal to Kyle. 

Shane is such a snake and if I was on his team, I would’ve been angry that he threw the game. However, as an outsider, I found the whole thing entertaining. He put such a huge target on his back and  Nelson knows there is no way he will win with Shane as his partner.

[snarts]

13 minutes ago, Steph619 said:

Ashley is classy as always! I seriously don’t understand the appeal to Kyle. 

Kyle isn't too discriminating, she was appealing because she was there and down for it.

I'd have a hard time arguing with Shane, he always looks as if he's on the verge of tears. 

This season is moving so slowly, we're eight hour long episodes in and I feel like really nothing has happened.

[Hiacios]

It's official, I hate Shane more than Bananas. I've never seen somebody so conniving then Shane on the show. Man, what a real piece of shit that guy is.

[IDreamofJoaquin]

I thought Shane was hilarious this episode.  Just blatantly fucking off and laughing.  I mean why would he want anyone to win and especially Tony or Bananas?  And Jozea is annoying.  He and Da'Vonne aren't anything special yet.

Faith (and he partner - someone with name starting with A?) were actually very strong competition.  I get Faith hurt her hand but they seemed to do pretty well.  Don't like them but have to give them that.  Also her A named partner was talking shit about someones looks but she looks like a different human being altogether without her hair done and her makeup on.

[esco1822]

On 9/3/2018 at 9:24 PM, Hiacios said:

It's official, I hate Shane more than Bananas. I've never seen somebody so conniving then Shane on the show. Man, what a real piece of shit that guy is.

I'm really surprised we didn't hear something from TJ about Shane's antics during the actual challenge. We all know Teej hates quitters and that's essentially what Shane did or maybe it's not considered quitting if you actively help the other team? I haven't hated anyone on this show this much in a long time. Shane brings nothing to the table.  All he does is fail at trying to run this game, season after season.  I can't believe nobody threw in his face the fact that he's never won anything. 

[Hiacios]

On 9/4/2018 at 9:10 AM, IDreamofJoaquin said:

I thought Shane was hilarious this episode.  Just blatantly fucking off and laughing.  I mean why would he want anyone to win and especially Tony or Bananas?  And Jozea is annoying.  He and Da'Vonne aren't anything special yet.

Faith (and he partner - someone with name starting with A?) were actually very strong competition.  I get Faith hurt her hand but they seemed to do pretty well.  Don't like them but have to give them that.  Also her A named partner was talking shit about someones looks but she looks like a different human being altogether without her hair done and her makeup on.

He is not hilarious he's a dick.

[IDreamofJoaquin]

I think he's hilarious.

[Hiacios]

On 9/18/2018 at 2:34 AM, IDreamofJoaquin said:

I think he's hilarious.

Well, the majority of people who watch the show will tell you he's a dick.

[lasu]

I thought he was funny and a dick.  Everyone can have their opinion. Even if it's true the majority of people think he's a dick, it doesn't make differing opinions less valid.

[Unclejosh]

Yeah being a major dick does not preclude someone from also being funny.  If that was the case most comedians and comic actors would be out of work.

[IDreamofJoaquin]

Also, everyone on the show is a dick.   Who are the nice, kind and rational people here?

[hilaryvm]

I just loved when Shane was trashing Jozea's single and then said "it's probably actually a good single but I hate him so I can't be nice to him" or something like that.  That made me laugh more than I should have.  Shane is certainly playing a part to some degree, but when it's not clever, it's just him being a dick and whether it's for show or for real, he's still being a dick and not an entertaining one.