S32.E13: The People vs. Johnny Bananas

[OnceSane]

Quote

The Lavender Ladies and Team Young Buck plot to topple Johnny Bananas but it spins wildly out of control, resulting in the most shocking elimination of the season so far.

Airs October 2, 2018.

[scrb]

Weird, I got spammed with notifications for this thread, like 2 dozen emails.

[mojoween]

Oh my god FUCK Amanda sideways.  How is she chirping that what she did was right, and Zach did the exact same thing, but he was wrong?

And Shane FUCK OFF you need to shut your trap when the conversation does not involve you.

Someone please tell me that Zach thinks Frank is a pile of garbage so I don’t feel badly for rooting for Zach.

Amanda is such amazing trash.  I mean, who thinks that they are a good person because she only wished Cara’s horse to be dead and not Cara?

Not many creatures left to root for in this shitshow.

[LaurelleJ]

Amanda and Zach both getting angry at each other for doing the exact same thing was ridiculous. I'm not really a fan of either of them, but it's nice that Amanda stood up for herself just as Zach did, reminds me of that time where Bananas and nany couldn't agree and one had to cave in. Sucks that they ended up going home though. For a million dollars, I don't know that I would have made that move. Not sure that Tony would have made that move had he and Bananas been in the situation. 

Love that Devin and Cory made it back just to see Bananas squirm. 

[GreenlinetoHarlem]

27 minutes ago, LaurelleJ said:

Amanda and Zach both getting angry at each other for doing the exact same thing was ridiculous. I'm not really a fan of either of them, but it's nice that Amanda stood up for herself just as Zach did, reminds me of that time where Bananas and nany couldn't agree and one had to cave in. Sucks that they ended up going home though. For a million dollars, I don't know that I would have made that move. Not sure that Tony would have made that move had he and Bananas been in the situation. 

Love that Devin and Cory made it back just to see Bananas squirm. 

Tony would never in a million fucking years have done that for Zach and Zach only did it because he was blinded by his sexist douchery and wanted to teach a little girl a lesson more than he wanted a run at a million dollars. . I never really thought much of Amanda until tonight but I'm so glad she didn't back down. Every condescending word out of Zach's piehole made me wish someone would punch him in the face and I was gratified by his gnarly broken nose. Shane was the broken clock who called Zack out accurately as the poster dickwad for toxic masculinity. I only hope that sweetheart Jenna manages to get a clue and get away from this assclown.

[RandomWatcher]

It's crazy, I follow a bunch of these idiots on Twitter and they barely get along where with Big Brother and Survivor, and  I guess the Amazing Race, they all get along for the most part. 

[Jillibean]

4 minutes ago, RandomWatcher said:

It's crazy, I follow a bunch of these idiots on Twitter and they barely get along where with Big Brother and Survivor, and  I guess the Amazing Race, they all get along for the most part. 

I think it’s a bit different, because on those shows being cast for another season doesn’t depend on how much drama you bring and your feuds with other people. For people on the challenge this is a career and you have to keep yourself interesting to production. No such pressure for other shows. Survivor and TAR are never going to make a casting decision based on social media wars.

I don’t have a problem with what either Zach or Amanda did. I think it’s fine to not want to send in an alliance member and real life friend. I also think, as noted above, this goes beyond just this particular challenge. When Zach comes back next season, none of the LLs are going to be there for him. He has to keep his own friendships and alliances that he’s cultivated over the years to protect him in the future. Same for Amanda. That said, I don’t love that Amanda (and Shane on Twitter) are turning this into “Zach just didn’t want to work with women and a gay guy.” That doesn’t seem fair to him, even knowing his history on these shows. Amanda strikes me as particularly challenging to work with, especially for Zach. They’re both stubborn. They’re both confident that they’re right and the other is wrong. They both feel they have genuine friendships they want to protect at the other’s expense. I don’t think gender was one of the key issues in their failure as a partnership.  And Amanda and Shane need to watch those rocks in their glass houses. They haven’t exactly behaved in such a way that they are entitled to be the morality police now. 

It seemed to me like Zach just felt done in general with Amanda. When he said they were going in and walked down, it came off to me like someone who just couldn’t argue with her for another minute. During their earlier conversation it seemed clear he couldn’t win—she would press a point and if he raised his voice slightly, she told him to stop yelling at her and then yelled at him.  Calling a woman a whore is never acceptable. Saying he was “teaching her a lesson” was also concerning, though I have to believe he meant because of the way she handled their partnership, not her gender. But behind door number two, there’s “well I didn’t wish SHE would die, just her horse.” I mean...what does one even say?

[laschifosavita]

Ugh, I've been waiting for the feminist revolution on The Challenge for so long, and this is not it. Zach is sexist and terrible. Amanda and Shane are terrible to both genders, but that isn't enough in their favor for me to enjoy this moment as much as I want to. After years of suffering, I think we deserve this moment to come from people that aren't kind of the worst. It's hard when she's throwing in totally reasonable stuff like not wanting her to bully other women in with the stuff that he's done that is more objectionable. I hope they aren't just parroting what they've heard other people say about him because maybe that will mean that there is some hope that they might see the issues wih their own behavior.

I'm glad that Devin's in the house now, though. He's the only one that can play a character and still have it seem likely that he's a decent person in real life.

[angelamh66]

I hate that my loathing of Amanda and Ashley and Shane has me rooting for Bananas a little bit. I hate Bananas but the Lavender Ladies are super fricking annoying. I didn't like Zach's attitude, but he was right about one thing... the LLs are going to have to turn on each other in the very near future. Why not vote in Ashley maybe a challenge or two before you otherwise would have had to in order to save yourself? 

[TiffanyNichelle]

What the hell was that?? Maybe it was childish of Zach to throw himself in rather than vote Amanda's way but I hate Amanda and the look on her face was delicious when TJ told to go in. Delicious! She couldn't even shake off one lousy thing? Jeez. And all that mocking of Zach that he only had one team who has his back and wouldn't go into the elimination, well she has four and none of them were stepping up. STFU Hunter with your "as a man I shouldn't have let Amanda go in." Yeah right. Everyone was being cowardly (and smart) by not volunteering.

I wish Cory and Devin could have gone against Tony and Bananas though. I hate that they are tied with the bullshit Lavender Ladies alliance because it would be so much fun to root them on against Bananas.

Shane's pathetic and it's gross that Ashley is still around thinking she's hot shit.

I feel really bad for Jozea and Davonne. Early on I didn't care about them but watching them be the easy vote and Davonne going off on the group, I find myself rooting for them. I hope their double cross luck holds.

[Coco88]

I liked Davonne popping off on Ashley because I hate Ashley.  I giggled when Ashley gasped when Davonne said F U bitch.  Although I found Davonne a little disingenuous with her outrage because you know her BB crew would be picking off the newbies left and right if they had the chance.  I’m finding Jozea refreshingly tolerable.  

Nelson, I knew you would start to bug sooner or later.  Power corrupts.

[Lantern7]

II wound up at a viewing party. In attendance: Johnny (of course; he did a thing at DragCon the previous weekend, so I guess he had a place to crash), Derrick, Kam, Marie and Jenna. Jenna is FINE. I mean, I feel weird saying that in the sense you could probably stick a teenager between our birth years, but she was. And yeah, I would hope she can do better than Zach. Not like I'd have the onions to tell her that. Then again, she probably hears that all the time.

Once again, things go sideways from where BMP probably wanted them to go. Look at Cory and Devin jumping, grabbing the rope, then letting go. I'm convinced a lot of these people would've made good lawyers, because they always seem to find a loophole, sometimes by accident. Didn't know those were metal medallions until I saw how fucked up Zach got. Naturally, another mercenary team gets a berth into the house, even though it's late in the game.

This was a fun episode to watch with a bar full of people. Basically, everyone acted the fool. Zach pulls a Jordan, only it was more along the lines of "Fuck it, my partner's an idiot anyway." Da'vonne did some choice cussing. I always say "Big Brother ruins everything." I think that should be amended to "Big Brother can ruin anything." Shane is basically Shane, so he still sucks. Johnny gets off in one piece. Yeah, he's got another rival gunning for him, but I thought he and Tony Two Kids were R-House-bound, given the episode title. One awesome part: now we got Brad and Zach in R-House with Paulie. And Paulie is begging for a beating. Seriously, why the fuck is Cara Maria with him today? Someone has to be paying her. No, not like that . . .she gets money for keeping Paulie away from everybody else. Honestly, if he gets worked over by one or both alpha males, would that be so horrible? Nope . . . someone pulls the Double Cross, picks him and Natalie (who?) and beats them, because this season is fucked up enough where a team can get eliminated four times.

Edited October 3, 2018 by Lantern7

[Spencer Hastings]

Who is Zach to have the audacity to say he’s going to teach Amanda a lesson?  I hate Amanda.  I loathe her.  But Zach, Tony, and Johnny assumed that Zach could steamroll her because he’s a guy and what he says goes.  He was pissed that she had the audacity to stand up to him and not back down.  They did the exact same thing but the fact that he feels like she has to “learn a lesson” for her part grates my last nerve.  Why is she the one who has a lesson to learn for making the same choice?  Why can’t she be the one proving a point? Maybe his broken nose will teach HIM a lesson? 

[RHJunkie]

Maybe I sit at a table of one, but I didn't think Zach's claim about teaching Amanda a lesson had anything to do with her being a woman or believing he was 'right' and she was 'wrong'. I think it had everything to do with calling her bluff because she was being stubborn. In fairness, he was being stubborn as well, but to defend his logic here - they don't trust each other and have focused their attention in cultivating their existing friendships in the house and none on their partnership. Zach only asked that ONE person in the house be protected by his vote where Amanda had an alliance so big that all she did was ask Zach to vote in his one alliance. If he would turn his back on his one loyalty in the house, I would think he would want to make sure he not only trusts his partner, but that he trusts where on the totem pole she sits within her alliance, he trusted neither. I think Zach disliked Amanda more than he wanted to protect Tony, and I think Amanda disliked Zach and thought he was being a 'bully' more than he wanted to protect Ashley. Their own egos sent them into the elimination and it was the big mouth herself that ended up being the reason they got sent home. You can call people names in anger, but to wish death upon any living creature and then defend that by saying 'at least I didn't wish death upon 'her''...I'm sorry, that vileness is on par with Camilla's racist antics. The difference with Amanda and Marie - Marie recognized that Cara was a lone wolf in the house and she potentially jeopardized her alliance in order to stick up for her partner because she realized that Cara was the only one in the house that could help her take home real money. That's not to put it all on Amanda because Zach didn't try either, but aside from having to carry the weight of the team to avoid last place finishes, he asked for far less out of Amanda than she did of him. Amanda was kind of stupid for not talking this through with her alliance to begin with. It seemed pretty obvious that if her alliance went through with their votes, it may expose one of them and put her and Zach in the same position as the double vote. 

How rich that Shane and Amanda call out Zach for his loyalty to a friend who allowed him to sacrifice himself for them. Are these bitches seriously? Amanda's alliance members stood by and watched her sacrifice herself for them as well...and then the rest of her alliance said nothing. I hate that the two of them, Shane especially could make me root for Bananas. 

I know Day is taking the voting way too personally but I did enjoy her cussing out Ashley, lol. 

Edited October 3, 2018 by RHJunkie

[scrb]

4 hours ago, LaurelleJ said:

Amanda and Zach both getting angry at each other for doing the exact same thing was ridiculous. I'm not really a fan of either of them, but it's nice that Amanda stood up for herself just as Zach did, reminds me of that time where Bananas and nany couldn't agree and one had to cave in. Sucks that they ended up going home though. For a million dollars, I don't know that I would have made that move. Not sure that Tony would have made that move had he and Bananas been in the situation. 

Love that Devin and Cory made it back just to see Bananas squirm. 

What I don't get is, Zach didn't even win in Vendettas right?

So how much more does he owe Tony?  Certainly not taking a bullet for him in Final Reckoning, which has an even bigger prize money.

And Amanda may be right, that her alliance kept them out of Armageddon, since there are more people in it.

Shane probably hit on a truth, that nobody likes Banana -- at least among the remaining challengers -- and only like Tony.

Now he's got Shane and Devin yapping at him.

At least the dummies from AYTO finally get it, to band together to take down the vets.  It only took 3-4 seasons but they figured out it's about numbers.

Davonne as rookie doesn't like being thrown in all the time.  Well truthfully, all the AYTO people have had to endure that treatment, until they finally figured out to vote as a bloc.

 

Well this Armageddon favored body weight.  I think the women struggled in generating enough force to make that rope shake.  So far the Armageddons and the challenges haven't favored strength and body weight but it may only be a matter of time where the male-male teams start to enjoy that advantage.

[crookedjackson44]

Regardless of the gender politics and such, Amanda is the reason she and Zack are out of the house.  After they couldn't compromise, she couldn't get the last medallion.  All she had to do was climb out on that rope ten feet and pull it off.  But she is generally useless in challenges (except the last one) and fails miserably most of the time.  Worst of all, this lets more despicable people (Cory especially, and Devon too) back onto the show.

[mccartygirl]

4 hours ago, RHJunkie said:

Maybe I sit at a table of one, but I didn't think Zach's claim about teaching Amanda a lesson had anything to do with her being a woman or believing he was 'right' and she was 'wrong'. I think it had everything to do with calling her bluff because she was being stubborn. In fairness, he was being stubborn as well, but to defend his logic here - they don't trust each other and have focused their attention in cultivating their existing friendships in the house and none on their partnership. Zach only asked that ONE person in the house be protected by his vote where Amanda had an alliance so big that all she did was ask Zach to vote in his one alliance. If he would turn his back on his one loyalty in the house, I would think he would want to make sure he not only trusts his partner, but that he trusts where on the totem pole she sits within her alliance, he trusted neither. I think Zach disliked Amanda more than he wanted to protect Tony, and I think Amanda disliked Zach and thought he was being a 'bully' more than he wanted to protect Ashley. Their own egos sent them into the elimination and it was the big mouth herself that ended up being the reason they got sent home. You can call people names in anger, but to wish death upon any living creature and then defend that by saying 'at least I didn't wish death upon 'her''...I'm sorry, that vileness is on par with Camilla's racist antics. The difference with Amanda and Marie - Marie recognized that Cara was a lone wolf in the house and she potentially jeopardized her alliance in order to stick up for her partner because she realized that Cara was the only one in the house that could help her take home real money. That's not to put it all on Amanda because Zach didn't try either, but aside from having to carry the weight of the team to avoid last place finishes, he asked for far less out of Amanda than she did of him. Amanda was kind of stupid for not talking this through with her alliance to begin with. It seemed pretty obvious that if her alliance went through with their votes, it may expose one of them and put her and Zach in the same position as the double vote. 

How rich that Shane and Amanda call out Zach for his loyalty to a friend who allowed him to sacrifice himself for them. Are these bitches seriously? Amanda's alliance members stood by and watched her sacrifice herself for them as well...and then the rest of her alliance said nothing. I hate that the two of them, Shane especially could make me root for Bananas. 

I know Day is taking the voting way too personally but I did enjoy her cussing out Ashley, lol. 

May I have a seat at your table?? Zach is mainly the reason they have gotten so far in this challenge. Again, I didn't see previous bad behavior Zach, but he really is tolerating his teammate well. Did someone say she is a nurse??? Reminds me of my bully in high school. Was an evil beyotch to me and many people, low and behold - a nurse. How do these people decide to do that for a living??? 

Too bad Zach and CT didn't have a Vendetta and let Amanda and Veronica be partners. That would have been funny. Onto rooting for Cara, Bananas and Jozea's teams.

And did we see Silvia head butt Marie in the previews? That should be a DQ, hopefully. 

[Neveragain]

2 hours ago, mccartygirl said:

6 hours ago, RHJunkie said:

Maybe I sit at a table of one, but I didn't think Zach's claim about teaching Amanda a lesson had anything to do with her being a woman or believing he was 'right' and she was 'wrong'. I think it had everything to do with calling her bluff because she was being stubborn. 

 

May I have a seat at your table?? Zach is mainly the reason they have gotten so far in this challenge. Again, I didn't see previous bad behavior Zach, but he really is tolerating his teammate well. 

Pull up a chair for me too, please

Also, I hope Zach and Amanda both see that unless they pull the double cross they gave up a shot at a million dollars.   The redemption house is crowded so their odds are not good.  The fact that Tony and Johnny not only let Zach do it but laughed and high fived and crowed about it should have made Zach say never mind and stepped back out of the ring.  I mean what kind of relationship is that where Zach throws himself on the grenade but Tony allows it and thoroughly enjoyed it?  It seems Tony lately has realized that winning is what matters here.  Zach should have too.  Same for Amanda, you’re saying that so many of these people are your true friends who would never put you up?  Well allowing you to go up in their place is the same thing, just without getting any blood on their hands.  I don’t fault any of the others bc I feel the point is to come here and win, but I hope these two were able to see how dumb that move was.  Loyalty is for your friends on the outside.  On the inside the name of the game is to win the money and take it home to your real life people  

Neither Zach nor Amanda are shy wallflowers so I hope they have a thing or two to say to their “friends” next time 

[esco1822]

8 hours ago, RHJunkie said:

Maybe I sit at a table of one, but I didn't think Zach's claim about teaching Amanda a lesson had anything to do with her being a woman or believing he was 'right' and she was 'wrong'. I think it had everything to do with calling her bluff because she was being stubborn.

This is a very important point to make. In the past we have seen Zach be outwardly sexist and misogynistic but I don't think that was the case in this scenario. He wanted Amanda to understand that he, in no uncertain terms, is not voting for Tony. End of story. And while Tony's history with Bananas could lead one to conclude he would reciprocate Zach's loyalty, that says everything about Tony and nothing about Zach.  In the end though, even if Zach and Amanda won the whole thing, would she end up with a dime? We all know (thanks to previews) that the winning team chooses an MVP and that person decides if they want to keep or split the million.  I'm pretty sure they don't know that at this point.  But think about it, if Zach and Amanda win the final, what are the odds (based on all of her past performances) that she is voted MVP of a final? And if Zach is MVP, i'm pretty sure there is no chance he'd split anything with her and vice versa. This twist is why I think the best outcome for purposes of all our entertainment is for Bananas and Tony to win the final and Tony to be voted MVP. This sets up possible retribution for Sarah and for Tony and having to make a HUGE decision. But really who doesn't think he'd choose to keep all the money? This would be the most fun end to watch play out on tv, in my opinion. 

[RHJunkie]

4 minutes ago, esco1822 said:

This is a very important point to make. In the past we have seen Zach be outwardly sexist and misogynistic but I don't think that was the case in this scenario. He wanted Amanda to understand that he, in no uncertain terms, is not voting for Tony. End of story. And while Tony's history with Bananas could lead one to conclude he would reciprocate Zach's loyalty, that says everything about Tony and nothing about Zach.  In the end though, even if Zach and Amanda won the whole thing, would she end up with a dime? We all know (thanks to previews) that the winning team chooses an MVP and that person decides if they want to keep or split the million.  I'm pretty sure they don't know that at this point.  But think about it, if Zach and Amanda win the final, what are the odds (based on all of her past performances) that she is voted MVP of a final? And if Zach is MVP, i'm pretty sure there is no chance he'd split anything with her and vice versa. This twist is why I think the best outcome for purposes of all our entertainment is for Bananas and Tony to win the final and Tony to be voted MVP. This sets up possible retribution for Sarah and for Tony and having to make a HUGE decision. But really who doesn't think he'd choose to keep all the money? This would be the most fun end to watch play out on tv, in my opinion. 

For all of Zach's past doughbaggery ways, I'm not going to ignore the fact that he has made positive strides in the past few seasons. He has been less aggressive in general, he has shown to care about things other than himself, he has refrained from bullying, confrontation, hasn't tried to use physical intimidation against others and has avoided drama by simply keeping his friendships in the house rather than politicking and pissing people off. These are all things that were part of his approach in earlier seasons. His attitude toward Jenna alone is a huge improvement and I hope for her sake that it's legit because she is probably the only person on this show that seems far too kind to be among such idiots. Amanda has gotten in people's faces, has talked shit behind people's back and then get upset when they call her out for it, she has bullied, she has demeaned the intelligence and competitiveness of others and thinks that winning the game is purely about having numbers in an alliance - she is a foul person and regardless of whether it's a man or woman doing it, nothing wrong with cussing out someone who deserves to know that their bullshit don't fly with everyone.

[Jobiska]

6 hours ago, crookedjackson44 said:

Regardless of the gender politics and such, Amanda is the reason she and Zack are out of the house.  After they couldn't compromise, she couldn't get the last medallion.  All she had to do was climb out on that rope ten feet and pull it off. 

She wasn't allowed to pull it off.  She had to shake it off.  Da'vonne was also having trouble with her last one even though she got pretty close to it.  

(If they were allowed to pull it off, Zach wouldn't have gotten hit in the nose with one!)

[strippedhalo]

Ugh, I hate everyone. They're all terrible. Shut UP, Devin. And Amanda. And Zach. And Bananas. I don't know who to root for, so I think I'm going to go Shane and Nelson? But I don't want to?

If I were Da'vonne and Amanda, I would have made someone from production shake off that last medallion to prove that it actually would come loose. It was the same one for both of them that was the problem, and it seemed (to me) like some of the other ones came off a lot easier. I know that weight had a lot to do with it, but Amanda got that red one to spin around an awful lot and it still didn't come off.

Are we all expecting to get round 3 of Natalie/Paulie vs. Da'vonne/Jozea in the next comp to come back from Redemption House?

My main take away from this episode is that Cory's baby is ADORABLE.

[scrb]

Bet Zach doesn't maintain that pact on the next Challenge.

He'll say he paid off his debt.

[Calm81]

Both Zach and Amanda can go pound sand in the redemption house. I don’t like how they were BOTH being stubborn on who to eliminate but somehow Amanda is the unruly one that needs to be taught a lesson.

However, it may have something to do with the fact that Amanda has a begillion people that are off limits meanwhile Zach just had one person, Tony, that he did. Not. Want. To. Nominate.

In the end, they both can take a hike. I hope Paulie gets to get back into the game. I really like him and I like how, even though he and Natalie are vendettas, he tries so hard to help her boost her confidence and push herself - he’d make a very good coach.

[Neveragain]

6 hours ago, esco1822 said:

We all know (thanks to previews) that the winning team chooses an MVP and that person decides if they want to keep or split the million

No, I did not know that.  You’re saying that was in the previews? Am I the only one who didn’t see it?  Why would they spoil such a big twist? I would definitely prefer not to have known 

[Coco88]

If only Zach would have used his head and told Amanda in private (or at least at not be so dramatic in the deed) that he was going to volunteer them if she didn’t choose Hunter and Ashley.  Amanda definitely wasn’t going to give Zach the satisfaction of getting his way after his theatrical performance 

[Lantern7]

1 hour ago, Neveragain said:

No, I did not know that.  You’re saying that was in the previews? Am I the only one who didn’t see it?  Why would they spoil such a big twist? I would definitely prefer not to have known 

Midseason teaser.

[Jillibean]

Quote

For all of Zach's past doughbaggery ways, I'm not going to ignore the fact that he has made positive strides in the past few seasons.

Absolutely. If Shane thought that scene last night was Zach throwing a tantrum, he clearly missed Zach's first few seasons during which he threw literal tantrums and acted like a toddler. His behavior has been so different since Vendettas that it's almost hard to believe he's the same person as that guy with long hair who made me want to throw things at my TV. I think he's grown up a lot. I think Knight's death probably affected him significantly. I think he's off steroids now (of course, my assumption that he was ever on them is pure speculation on my part). I think he probably realized he was past 30 and it was time to put a life together for himself. That's not to say that he didn't make some remarks last night that gave me pause, but this is leaps and bounds from where he started, and he was paired with a particularly difficult person in terms of personality and personal history--I'm sure Zach feels protective of Jenna with regard to Amanda. Hell, I feel protective of Jenna and I don't even know her.  Zach of olden times would never have made it this far under these circumstances in such a calm manner. I don't condone his language, but I do identify with where he's coming from, because if I had to deal with Amanda as a teammate, I'd probably defenestrate myself. 

Quote

If only Zach would have used his head and told Amanda in private (or at least at not be so dramatic in the deed) that he was going to volunteer them if she didn’t choose Hunter and Ashley.  Amanda definitely wasn’t going to give Zach the satisfaction of getting his way after his theatrical performance 

It really looked to me like he was just checked out on her. Sort of Killer Fatigue, if you will. I'm sure the prospect of being in the house for another month with a bunch of people he doesn't really like added to his determination to keep Tony. He and Amanda were being equally stubborn, but he's the one who decided to just call it and go into elimination. Part of it was loyalty, sure. But I have to think part of it was that he was pretty emotionally done and going home no longer seemed like such a terrible alternative. He definitely gave it his all in that elimination, though.

That particular elimination seemed poorly conceived as a gender neutral game. Neither Dayvonne nor Amanda could budge that last thingie, which makes me think it wasn't really gender neutral. Then there's the fact that Zach got super hurt in what seems like a really predictable thing to go wrong with this particular event. 

Lantern, I almost went to that watch party! We have to coordinate next time. 

[Steph619]

I can’t stand the Lavender Ladies and Team Young Buck alliances! These fools don’t realize that they can’t all go to the final and win. You know it’s bad when I’m rooting for Johnny and Tony, although I like Tony now. I would like Cara Maria and Marie to make it far, but the numbers are not on their side and they’re not a strong team.

I enjoyed Da’vonne cursing out Ashley because she deserves it. Amanda is an idiot  and Zach has grown on me. I don’t think he was being sexist at all in this situation. I think he got fed up with her stubbornness and just her in general because of how horrible she is. Too bad it had to end in him going to the Redemption House.

I can’t believe this is the same Shane that I liked back on Road Rules. He’s insufferable. 

[scrb]

17 minutes ago, Steph619 said:

These fools don’t realize that they can’t all go to the final and win. 

That's true of all alliances.

When Bananas or other vets had the numbers in their favor, it was far more than 3 teams in that alliance.

For that not to be the case, there would have to be no more than 5 teams and you only need 3 teams in the alliance to control the vote.

That would make for a real short Challenge season.

[Hiacios]

This was a great episode if you've been waiting to say fuck Bananas, Cara, Tony, Zack, and Amanda!

 

The remaining vets are surrounded by wolves and I love it! :)

Edited October 4, 2018 by Hiacios

[luckyroll3]

On 10/2/2018 at 8:25 PM, Jillibean said:

But behind door number two, there’s “well I didn’t wish SHE would die, just her horse.” I mean...what does one even say?

Ugh, Amanda is awful.  I never actually remember who she is until she starts yelling, I mean screeching, at someone else.  

And I still don't understand why if there is a tie, those 2 teams don't automatically go in?

[scrb]

You know we could be seeing a turning of the tide here, if MTV continues to overweight the cast of future Challenges with younger cast members, not just from later B-M shows but from AYTO, BB, etc.

There are several vets who are popular but MTV may just prefer to have more twenty-somethings in the cast over time.

In that case, will the vets simply be outnumbered?

It may also be the case that they prefer cast members who bring the drama.  Shane's persona may be something the producers are encouraging or Shane may have be behaving strategically, to get air time.

They may not get rid of the vets right away but unless they invite them en masse, they will simply be outnumbered by the AYTO horde who started appearing a few years ago.  Bananas won't be able to manipulate his way to the Finals so he'd have to win most of the Challenges to wield power.  That's viable but as AYTO players do more of these Challenges, they'll be a lot more competitive.

[IDreamofJoaquin]

I actually felt a little something for Da'vonne and Jozea this episode.  I mean they have been coming back. They do have some strength, they don't exactly navigate their way politically through the game but it is their rookie year.  I never like rookies.  They are always so loud and arrogant. I hated Nelson at first but then I saw him on Cory's segment of Teen Mom and I was kind of happy.

Whatever the case may be with Zach that was a dumb move to put yourself in to save someone else especially when you have spent the first half of the season talking about how much you wanted the money and to have a life with Jenna.  It's a game, if Tony could not understand Zach's reasoning after the season ended then he is the sore loser.  

[lasu]

Zach to Joss: You need to handle your whore girlfriend.

lasu: Ah, Zach, there you are!  Perhaps you can name all the Disney Princesses, but there's that misogynistic asshole we all know and don't love!

And I'm on the team that definitely things the "teaching you a lesson" definitely had to do with gender.  They were BOTH being the same amount of stubborn.  You can say that she has more people than he does, but if she votes against her alliance, they could turn on her.  I don't see where she doesn't have just as much incentive to not vote against her friends as he does.  And while they both were being sanctimonious about it (and Amanda acting so shocked he would go into elimination rather than give in to her was pathetic), but that he felt she should have learned and will know better next time was gross.  He was being just as stubborn as her!  How is one of them in the wrong and not the other?

Ugh, and now I have to go bathe, because I just took Amanda's side.  And I was honestly cheering her on when she was like, TEACH ME A LESSON? YOU AREN'T MY DAD, YOU AREN'T TEACHING ME ANYTHING.

[dangwoodchucks]

8 hours ago, IDreamofJoaquin said:

I actually felt a little something for Da'vonne and Jozea this episode.  I mean they have been coming back. They do have some strength, they don't exactly navigate their way politically through the game but it is their rookie year.  I never like rookies.  They are always so loud and arrogant. I hated Nelson at first but then I saw him on Cory's segment of Teen Mom and I was kind of happy.

Whatever the case may be with Zach that was a dumb move to put yourself in to save someone else especially when you have spent the first half of the season talking about how much you wanted the money and to have a life with Jenna.  It's a game, if Tony could not understand Zach's reasoning after the season ended then he is the sore loser.  

The same thing could be said about Amanda. If Ashley couldn't understand Amanda's reasoning (if she'd voted for Hunter and Ashley) after the season she's a sore loser. It really would have been fun to see Ashley lose her shit if Amanda/Zach had put her into elimination. Amanda's alliance could have lost a pair and still had numbers. Zach's could not have. Amanda thinks she was 100% right standing by her character and beliefs, but if Zach does the same he's wrong? At least Zach was willing to go into elimination to stand by his beliefs, Amanda just expected Zach to cave to her wishes. Amanda is such a trashy screechy person I don't blame Zach for not wanting to continue to discuss anything. She seems exhausting to deal with. Stupid move on Zach's part or not, I totally enjoyed Amanda's reaction when she realized they were really going in. She kept saying she wanted to prove to everyone, including Zach, that he didn't run the team. Sounds like she was trying to teach him a lesson, even if she didn't verbalize it that way, it was still wrong. Who cares who runs the team as long as you win? I don't think Zach meant 'teach her a lesson' due to her gender, I think he meant teach her a lesson in terms of game play. Not saying Zach was totally in the right, but I'll never side with someone who wishes death on someone's animal with no remorse and then justifies it in some way.

After all these years of wishing the newbies would take John out, this isn't as satisfying to watch as I'd thought it would be because the LLs and TYBs are such assholes. They have to be pretty insufferable for me to hope John beats them, because he's a dick.

I didn't expect much from Jozea after seeing him on Champs/Stars but he and Davonne have impressed me on Final Reckoning. At least they'll have friends in the Redemption House which gives them an extra chance to get back in the game. I don't know Paulie other than from this show but he doesn't seem more of an asshole than the other guys are. Kyle is the one who didn't want Cara but didn't want anyone else to have her either. I feel like Paulie and Natalie should have shirts which read "I went to the Challenge in South Africa and all I got was a month-long vacation in the redemption house'. At least they're getting along and he's helping her with her confidence.

That head butt next week should be a DQ.

[BarneySays]

On 10/3/2018 at 3:57 AM, crookedjackson44 said:

After they couldn't compromise, she couldn't get the last medallion.  All she had to do was climb out on that rope ten feet and pull it off. 

I could be wrong- who pays close attention to the nonsense of this show?- but I believe they had to "shake them off."  I got the impression that they couldn't grab them with their hands. 

As for the Zach v. Amanda battle, she had the better argument as her alliance was more valuable to them than tony two kids could be.  but it all turns out well.  they lost and he got a fat nose for his efforts.  Everytime his nose runs for the two weeks after, he'd be reminded of his decision.   

Edited October 4, 2018 by BarneySays

[scrb]

The Young Bucks took it on a chin a lot over the past couple of Challenges.

 

They were often sent into the elimination together to fight each other.

 

So if they want to crow a little for finally getting over on Johnny and some of the vets, let them crow a little.

 

As for sympathy for Josea and Davonne, watch that evaporate as soon as there's a challenge involving swimming.  They should be grateful for lasting as long as they have.

[laschifosavita]

I don't really get how Amanda didn't seem to realize that they were going in if they couldn't choose.  It's not exactly a new rule in The Challenge.  I think the majority of people there would have assumed that would be TJ's reaction to a team not being able to make a decision.  Zach seemed to know that was going to happen as soon as they couldn't agree but she seemed surprised by it.

[SophiaPehawkins]

What Zach should have done is had a conversation with Amanda where they each named their number one. Zach should have told Amanda that under no circumstances would he vote for Tony/Johnny. Amanda should have done the same, because there's was an obvious possibility of this happening. Amanda has to realize that she has too many people she's trying to protect. The only people they agreed with voting in were Jozea and De'Vonne. Possibly Cara and Marie, but Zach does seem to have a friendship with Cara and I would consider them in the same alliance. They were both being stubborn, but the problem came down to their lack of communication. For as much as Amanda was screeching about Zach and how he was trying to control the team, she was trying to do the same. I end up coming back to this point, but I think Amanda was the one that needed to concede. I say this only because she didn't want to vote in Ashley, Sylvia, or Shane. That's a majority of the cast. This team was doomed to fail. What Amanda also didn't realize is that she wanted to vote in Tony/Johnny, but that's a team that wouldn't vote for her because she's partnered with Zach. Her alliance would eventually have to turn on each other and she may be low man on the totem pole. She was willing to save "friends" that wouldn't do the same for her. Ashley could have easily volunteered to go in so Amanda didn't have to, but she and Hunter stayed silence. And fucking Hunter can miss me with that "gentlemen" bullshit. It's easy to say that he should have volunteered himself, after the fact.

It's a horrible group of people when they're making me kind of root for Johnny. 

[MaggieG]

11 hours ago, SophiaPehawkins said:

It's a horrible group of people when they're making me kind of root for Johnny. 

This. I laughed when he said "really scraping the bottom of the barrel for mercenaries" when Devin and Cory walked out.

[gunderda]

It made me laugh when they found a loophole in the challenge and instead of looking like idiots on a rope for hours they figured out how to beat the system quickly - although not if you're a girl.  It made me wonder if the people behind the scenes were like 'oh crap - we didn't expect them to do it this way!' or 'yay - now we don't have to sit out here for hours'!

[Unclejosh]

Amanda's sense of entitlement rivals Bananas. Amanda not understanding that Zach had only 1 team he needed to save and Amanda had 3 PLUS the throwaway vote of Jozea and Da'vonne makes my mind boggle at her lack of compromise and her subsequent outrage at the outcome of her refusal to do so. She was arrogant due to the numbers her alliance had PLUS thinking that she had one of the best male partners in the game so she was sure she would make the final and never have to go in at all.  I know Zach has had many misogynist and douche-bag moments over the years but I think in this case he would have acted the same exact way if his partner was male and acted like Amanda did.

Zach saying fuck it and choosing his friend over winning and seeing Amanda's face frozen in shock and utter confusion that she wasn't going to get her way is one of the best things the show has aired all season.