S34.E04: Benedict Laurel

[OnceSane]

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Divisions on both teams come to light during the "Relic Runner" challenge; Laurel and Cara Maria's long-standing feud takes center stage; Bear and Georgia begin to flirt once again, leading Josh to question if he has a shot.

Airs September 18, 2019.

[Michichick]

Hahahahahaha! Suck it, Laurel and Johnny!

[UGAmp]

ahahahahahahaha. That was AMAZING. 

Screw you Laurel for making me have sympathy for Cara who has been my least favorite for several seasons. That’s gotta suck being on a team where you don’t even know if people will try to win the challenges because you’re next on their hit list. 

Kam can be a bit much but I loved her confronting Laurel and not losing her cool as Laurel just continued to raise her voice and talk over her. I used to like Laurel and she’s physically attractive but her attitude these past two episodes have made her really unattractive. That was a terrifying shot of her after she thought she won. She looked truly deranged. I’m no Ninja fan but I was pulling for her tonight. 

What a satisfying payoff after an episode that was honestly stressing me out because everyone was fighting and I don’t need to hear people arguing (or Georgia and Bear canoodling). 

I’m sure Team USA will continue to implode but I’m more excited now that I’m not going to watch a team throw challenges and pick off an alliance one by one. 

[laschifosavita]

If Laurel hadn't been eliminated, I don't know that I could have kept up with this season. I had forgotten how her voice gets when she's worked up about something. My head is killing me.

[Steph619]

That ending was so crazy and satisfying! Last week’s episode just showed what a shady person Laurel is and I was dreading  her running the show with Johnny for the rest of the season. Karma truly does exist. Don’t let the door hit you and your notebook on the way out, Laurel!

Can’t wait to see Johnny go next as well as Josh. Josh is too emotional of a player and we all know he’s at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes time to pick a guy to go into elimination. 

I loved Kam standing up to Laurel. Laurel loves to intimidate people and make them feel inferior, but Kam wasn’t having any of that.

In a game where everyone betrays each other, Dee and Ninja’s friendship and loyalty is refreshing. 

[Hoi Polloi]

48 minutes ago, UGAmp said:

Screw you Laurel for making me have sympathy for Cara who has been my least favorite for several seasons. That’s gotta suck being on a team where you don’t even know if people will try to win the challenges because you’re next on their hit list. 

Exactly my thoughts. Cara with Paulie is insufferable. But not even half as insufferable as Laurel on this challenge. Her smugness blew up in her face. 

[TiffanyNichelle]

So Laurel's the devil right? Damn I so happy how that turned out. All the gross gloating and showboating and she missed the hole and lost after all. Ha ha! Suck it, you looney tunes. She looked unhinged during her last interview. God, she has become as bad as Johnny and it's just awful. She deserved that lost after all that.

I hated that I agreed with Ashley for quitting the challenge when Johnny was obviously sabotaging her. Why bother trying to win or even finish when your own team is trying to make you lose? Then she went back to being the Ashley I can't stand when she fell in line with Laurel to save her ass.

Georgia really has no taste. She thinks Laurel lights up a room, is willing to to talk to Josh at all, and is gaga over Bear. Girl, get it together.

If I was Ninja I would have joined the UK team, The US team cannot be trusted, not while people like Johnny are still there pulling strings.

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Kam can be a bit much but I loved her confronting Laurel and not losing her cool as Laurel just continued to raise her voice and talk over her.

I loved Kam's fuck you attitude to Laurel. It was rich that Laurel and Johnny were all "oh you evil people came in with your own alliances before the show even started so we had to come for you." Like no one else comes with alliances already made. They've known each other for years. Alliances will happen. Johnny is desperate to regain control of the show as the King of the Challenge because Sarah's curse has been kicking his ass for years now. I don't think it's going to work. Too many newbies with their own ways who actually don't need him. I think that's why he has such an issue with Wes. One, having this "epic" feud with Wes is one way to make sure he's always invited back for that storyline (esp since Team Young Buck fizzled as a nemesis). And two, Wes is obvious about not really needing this, This is just for fun for him. With Johnny it feels like he really needs this. This is his life. Not his vacation.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

The stuff of nightmares.... hilarious nightmares.

[hjmugillecuty]

Can someone remind me who Wes was actually allied with? I vaguely remember the Brady Bunch squares in the first episode but I only know Joss and Rohan for sure. Because based on this episode, Kyle just gave Laurel a list of random names and suddenly they were ‘facts’. 

Laurel drives me crazy. She was the first one to turn against the team, but it’s everyone else’s fault? And arguing that the ‘call’ was wrong at the end? No, girl, you screwed up.

[BK1978]

3 hours ago, UGAmp said:

Screw you Laurel for making me have sympathy for Cara who has been my least favorite for several seasons. That’s gotta suck being on a team where you don’t even know if people will try to win the challenges because you’re next on their hit list. 

What a satisfying payoff after an episode that was honestly stressing me out because everyone was fighting and I don’t need to hear people arguing (or Georgia and Bear canoodling).  

Exactly.  I was getting used to Cara being disliked by me after being a fan of her for years (She does look really cute with the short hair though.).  Then this psycho had to make me like Cara all over again.

But damn did Georgia look amazing in that yellow dress.  

1 hour ago, TiffanyNichelle said:

So Laurel's the devil right? Damn I so happy how that turned out. All the gross gloating and showboating and she missed the hole and lost after all. Ha ha! Suck it, you looney tunes. She looked unhinged during her last interview. God, she has become as bad as Johnny and it's just awful. She deserved that lost after all that.

I hated that I agreed with Ashley for quitting the challenge when Johnny was obviously sabotaging her. Why bother trying to win or even finish when your own team is trying to make you lose? Then she went back to being the Ashley I can't stand when she fell in line with Laurel to save her ass.

Georgia really has no taste. She thinks Laurel lights up a room, is willing to to talk to Josh at all, and is gaga over Bear. Girl, get it together.

 (esp since Team Young Buck fizzled as a nemesis). 

I think Laurel might have mental problems.  That reaction was just psychotic, the look in her eyes when she made the DX crotch chop was just beyond insane.

I am not a fan of Ashley at all, but when she to Johnny (I am paraphrasing here)…"I've one twice and have a million dollars.  Some people on here have won a ton of times and don't have anywhere that much."  The look on Johnny's face was hilarious.  You know he was not happy with that remark.

What the hell happened to Team Young Bucks?  I thought Corey would be a lifer, I wonder why he has not been back.

29 minutes ago, hjmugillecuty said:

Laurel drives me crazy. She was the first one to turn against the team, but it’s everyone else’s fault? And arguing that the ‘call’ was wrong at the end? No, girl, you screwed up.

Laurel is one of those sore losers/sore winners.  She is just an over the top, psychotic, bad sport.  

The funny thing is I used to hate Laurel, then she stopped appearing and when she came back a few seasons ago I actually did not mid her so much.  She did not seem like an asshole and I was honestly happy she and Nicole were able to find love.  Then tonight reminded me why I disliked her so much.

[scrb]

“No, no I don’t agree.”

Don’t agree with what, that you clearly missed a hole Laurel?

It’s obvious Laurel was allied with Johnny from the beginning.  She just suckered Josh to voting with her to throw in Wes, who was in the rival alliance.

They all teamed up from the beginning, most of the players on the US side other than Turbo and Josh.

Ashley is too easily manipulated and so is Georgia, unless she’s got a deal with Bananas too.

Laurel was cocky about how she’d take out every one of the other girls, talking about eating them.  Well she’s mostly been in physical eliminations where she was half a foot taller and outweighed the other girls by at least 40 pounds.

But in recent Challenges, the eliminations haven’t always been physical ones where they wrestle or just try to run over each other.

When they first saw those trees Laurel was nervous in case she got thrown in.  So her premature celebration was probably a lot of relief as much as arrogance.

She was going to rub it in Ninjas face.

This event really didn’t give Ninja that much advantage other than she’s used to climbing.  If the pegs were already there and it was a straight race up the pole, it would have been her game.  But having to put in the pegs and go up deliberately?  That’s why it was close.

5 minutes ago, scrb said:

Edited September 19, 2019 by scrb

[angelamh66]

There is not one wholly likeable person on this show. They all have their a-hole moments.  Heck, I don't even always root against Bananas (although mostly I do). I guess my Bananas hate is powerful enough for me to root for an alliance that involves Jordan and Paulie.  Barf. Although if he and Laurel hadn't thrown the challenge I might have been on their side. 

[TresGatos]

8 hours ago, BK1978 said:

I thought Corey would be a lifer, I wonder why he has not been back.

Too busy with the Teen Mom franchise? More money, guaranteed, and not nearly as much physical effort. 

[Lantern7]

Yesterday, I banged my head on a curb, and I had to go to the emergency room. Bad news: while I got four staples in my head, my foot got worse and worse from when I twisted it. Good news: it feels better this morning. Also, I could watch this episode “live.” That was almost in the “bad news” column.

I think it’s safe to say this season is karma balancing the scales for how good WotW1 was. Just ninety straight minutes of clusterfuckery with a happy ending based on a technicality. Of course, since it meant Laurel was sent packing, I will gladly take it.

I think Laurel is probably a nice person . . . but competition turns her into Killbot, and last night did not flatter her. She sabotaged Cara Maria, acted the bitch through most of the episode, and wound being a sore winner and sore loser. Even if most of the chaos can be blamed on Teege for blowing the horn, Laurel still sucked. She did everything short of crapping on Natalie . . . sadly, a good chunk of the cast seems to want to do that to her.

I get the hate for Natalie. I don’t think she needs the “Ninja” nickname, because she’s the only Natalie there. But like Nicole before her, I don’t get THE HATE. She was basically fucked over by the bulk of her team, so her win was sweet vindication. And when her teammates smart off about her in interviews, they tend to be extra nasty. She got lucky last night, but I’m proud of her. And if she punches Johnny in the face a few dozen times? Well, I don’t see how that’s a bad thing.

Honestly, so many people needed a slap. The mission only really worked on paper, not taking into account either team throwing it. Johnny was basically as insufferable as Abram boning Katie in The Inferno (a level I did not think to be reachable). I found myself on the same side as Paulie and Ashley (USAshley?), but that felt wrong because they were still being assholes. The UK team couldn’t pick a “voice” off the bat, and that made TJ upset. Why should this be a team-based season? Have everyone rip off their jerseys and just brawl, because that’s what might happen anyway.

The sad thing? Survivor has its sseason premiere next week, but it’s going to run ninety minutes, and I just might miss the last half-hour for this massive trainwreck of a show.

Edited September 19, 2019 by Lantern7

[esco1822]

2 hours ago, angelamh66 said:

There is not one wholly likeable person on this show. They all have their a-hole moments. 

I'm having this problem too, it makes the show too hard to watch. There really is nobody worth rooting for.  I used to like Ninja, but I agree with Johnny (there's a first time for everything), she's super annoying. There was a point last season where she started to grate on me and it has continued into this season. That said, Laurel is a complete maniac and Tori is dead on in her assessment of Cara. Anyone else forget Turbo is on this show? I do kind of think he's adorable so I'm going to root for him. Again. 

[scrb]

4 hours ago, angelamh66 said:

There is not one wholly likeable person on this show. They all have their a-hole moments.  Heck, I don't even always root against Bananas (although mostly I do). I guess my Bananas hate is powerful enough for me to root for an alliance that involves Jordan and Paulie.  Barf. Although if he and Laurel hadn't thrown the challenge I might have been on their side. 

Pretty sure Jordan and Tori are working with Bananas, which is why they voted Ninja while the other side voted Laurel.

Jordan had his rivalry with Bananas but I guess he's gettable.

Also disappointing how easily Georgia was swayed by Bananas to vote for Cara.

[TiffanyNichelle]

42 minutes ago, scrb said:

Jordan had his rivalry with Bananas but I guess he's gettable.

Jordan's rivalry with Johnny was all about him wanting to be the new Johnny.

[Lantern7]

17 hours ago, Michichick said:

Hahahahahaha! Suck it, Laurel and Johnny!

You gotta love how Johnny will blame Wes for anything and everything. Wes is gone. There is no more "Wes Alliance." The people that he aligned with would still be dangerous, but Johnny goes way the fuck too far. And if Laurel had won, we would have gotten ten straight minutes from him about how Natalie is a shit competitor. If he doesn't like you and he sees a wound, he grabs the biggest salt shaker he can find. And that's a huge reason why I love it when he gets fucked over.

17 hours ago, UGAmp said:

Kam can be a bit much but I loved her confronting Laurel and not losing her cool as Laurel just continued to raise her voice and talk over her.

Kam going on about how she plays hard and winds when her butt is on the line . . . no. Just . . . no. I don't outright hate Kam, but she's nowhere near Laurel's league as a competitor.

16 hours ago, Steph619 said:

Can’t wait to see Johnny go next as well as Josh. Josh is too emotional of a player and we all know he’s at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes time to pick a guy to go into elimination.

I'm rooting for Johnny facing Josh in the Proving Ground next week. We can call it the Butthurt Bowl. Seriously, at least Johnny has charisma. Josh is just . . . bleh.

14 hours ago, TiffanyNichelle said:

So Laurel's the devil right?

Nope, she's the Killbot. She's a relentless killing machine, and her two losses in elimination games come with footnotes (Lost to Camila because she was hurt and decided not to risk her health in a final mission; lost to Natalie under really bizarre circumstances)

14 hours ago, TiffanyNichelle said:

I hated that I agreed with Ashley for quitting the challenge when Johnny was obviously sabotaging her. Why bother trying to win or even finish when your own team is trying to make you lose? Then she went back to being the Ashley I can't stand when she fell in line with Laurel to save her ass.

Georgia really has no taste. She thinks Laurel lights up a room, is willing to to talk to Josh at all, and is gaga over Bear. Girl, get it together.

Yeah, Ashley had points . . . but she tried to feed Cara Maria to Natalie, so fuck her. And maybe Georgia was banking on a threesome with herself, Laurel and Bear? The mere thought is even more nauseating than Abram/Rachel/Veronica.

13 hours ago, BK1978 said:

I am not a fan of Ashley at all, but when she to Johnny (I am paraphrasing here)…"I've one twice and have a million dollars.  Some people on here have won a ton of times and don't have anywhere that much."  The look on Johnny's face was hilarious.  You know he was not happy with that remark.

She got lucky in both of her wins. And she was brought in midway through Final Reckoning. Not enough asterisks to slap on her for that.

6 hours ago, angelamh66 said:

There is not one wholly likeable person on this show.

Turbo. He had the sweet dive into the pool to start the cold open. And I'm sure there are a few UK people that aren't assholes. Maybe Idris?

Edited September 19, 2019 by Lantern7

[scrb]

Kam has a great record in eliminations too doesn't she?

She doesn't have the size and weight advantage Laurel has over other girls but she's fared well when matched up against similar sized girls.  One was a mercenary that she beat.

Anything involving stamina and agility, where they're not directly coming into contactLaurel may not fare as well in.  That may be why she hasn't won so many Finals, because they're usually endurance and racing over long distances so she doesn't have the physical advantage over other female competitors.

In this elimination, Laurel and Natalie both missed pegs near the bottom.  So they hurried plugging in the pegs and missed one.  If it was a straight up race or maybe obstacle courses where they're scaling walls then doing more climbing, you'd think Ninja would have beat her fairly easily because the extra weight Laurel carries would be a disadvantage when it comes to pulling up their bodies and doing it speedily.

[Decider]

I nearly laughed myself into a hernia at Laurel's celebration thinking that she won.  I knew the minute she stuck the bar into the truss around the top of the tree that she was doomed.  All that whooping and hollering and carrying on for nothing. 

Production doesn't get a pass, though -- I think there should have been a do-over given that both Laurel and Natalie missed the hole at the bottom but I am wondering if that wasn't somehow deliberate given where it was placed.

[scrb]

10 minutes ago, Decider said:

I nearly laughed myself into a hernia at Laurel's celebration thinking that she won.  I knew the minute she stuck the bar into the truss around the top of the tree that she was doomed.  All that whooping and hollering and carrying on for nothing. 

Production doesn't get a pass, though -- I think there should have been a do-over given that both Laurel and Natalie missed the hole at the bottom but I am wondering if that wasn't somehow deliberate given where it was placed.

Yeah I can see the potential for shenanigans.

But TJ clearly said before they started that they must use ALL the pegs.  Unless they edited that back in or something, I think it was pretty clear.

In fact Laurel counted her 21 pegs but Natalie didn't see a hole at the top of her pole.  So she looked back and forth, pointed out the unused hole on Laurel's pole, then put hers in and climbed and rang the bell.

But once Ninja kept pointing to the unused hole, it looked like it dawned on Laurel that she messed up.  She wouldn't admit it right away because after all the trash talk she did, it must have been brutal to recognize that she lost.

I think also it's incredible how quickly the US team set upon each other.  They could have coasted for another 4 or 5 missions before they started worrying about culling potential rivals for the Final.

So maybe the producers stacked the US team but told them they needed to take each other out.  Or whispered in their ears that Wes was lining up people on both teams and Laurel and Johnny decided they better make their move sooner than later.

Edited September 19, 2019 by scrb

[Lola82]

Every season has that one elimination challenge that doesn’t go the way you’d expect, this one was it. That was really fun to watch once Ninja figured out what happened. And props to her for doing it calmly and not hollering for TJ like most of them would.

As far as the challenge, I legit LOLd when they showed Kyle’s manic face popping out of that large ball he was in.

[Lantern7]

Master list of cast reactions from last night's episode. As you can see, battle lines are drawn. Nicole chiming in wasn't a good idea on her part. I was hoping she'd move beyond the series.

ETA: Just saw this:

2 hours ago, Lola82 said:

As far as the challenge, I legit LOLd when they showed Kyle’s manic face popping out of that large ball he was in.

Cue Weston:

Edited September 20, 2019 by Lantern7

[Decider]

4 hours ago, scrb said:

Yeah I can see the potential for shenanigans.

But TJ clearly said before they started that they must use ALL the pegs.  Unless they edited that back in or something, I think it was pretty clear.

In fact Laurel counted her 21 pegs but Natalie didn't see a hole at the top of her pole.  So she looked back and forth, pointed out the unused hole on Laurel's pole, then put hers in and climbed and rang the bell.

But once Ninja kept pointing to the unused hole, it looked like it dawned on Laurel that she messed up.  She wouldn't admit it right away because after all the trash talk she did, it must have been brutal to recognize that she lost.

Yep, if I recall correctly (without going back to watch), Teege never said explicitly that the pegs had to go in the brackets, only that they had to use all of the pegs.  Laurel even started climbing again at one point after Natalie pointed out the empty bracket so Laurel knew something was up.  I think the botch was blowing the horn and telling Laurel she had won without confirmation that all of the pegs were properly placed, especially since the check that apparently happened by production was edited out.

Edited September 20, 2019 by Decider

[ImpinAintEasy]

I guess I’m in the minority in liking Laurel. I find her to be an entertaining villain. Ninja annoys the hell out of me. So I was disappointed in the result.  Laurel was screwed by TJ blowing the horn. They should have restarted. 

Losing Wes and Laurel so soon sucks. Now I just want to see Jordan vs Turbo in an elimination or final. Those are the only two elite competitors left. 

[Irritable]

I think Laurel knew she wasn't doing something right at the moment she did it.  Every peg had a hole, every hole was exactly the same, but she gets to the top and just jams it in where there isn't a hole for it.  No chance she didn't know then that she was cheating, because she is smart enough to realize she must have missed a hole somewhere but wasn't willing to risk the time it took to figure out where because Ninja was right on her tail.

Of course, I say Laurel is smart, but she also assumed that Team USA should be happily on board with her plan to throw challenges to get rid of fellow team members that are a threat... to Laurel.  Narcissist, much?  If they aren't with her on this, they are against her?  No, maybe they just understand the concept of this challenge as Team vs. Team, and that it isn't for everyone to just help Laurel pick off her enemies until it's time to hoist her over the finish line and cheer for her.

It really irks me when Cara Maria (or any of the veterans, really) gets indignant that she shouldn't have to go into showdowns because she has already proved herself in the past.  Every new Challenge season means you have to prove yourself all over again.  You don't get immunity this year because you beat some people last year.  That's not how any of this works. I used to like Cara Maria, but somehow her being with Pauly makes her very unlikable to me. Even when they aren't doing anything particularly annoying, they annoy me.

I really like Georgia so much, but holy shit does that girl have horrific taste in people.  Bear is always a bad choice, no matter how charming he is.  Josh is always a bad choice, and he is not charming in any way.  I also have no idea why she was trying to help prevent Laurel from going in...what reason does she have to protect her?  I must have missed something there, because if anything I would have expected her to want to get rid of her rival for Bear.

Speaking of Bear, he said he has feelings for 4 different women there, and that makes him a slag, but I don't think the word feelings means what he thinks it does, unless he's talking about the tingly feelings in his penis.  Bear doesn't actually care about anyone, he's just trying to get in the pants of as many women as he possibly can. And how dumb do you have to be to not understand that you can't spread cold, hard butter on soft bread?  It was painful to watch him mangle that poor slice of white bread.  

I never did like Johnny, and now he's forced me to agree with Ashley, who I loathe?  Unforgivable.  If she can figure out that he sabotaged her, then no, Leroy, he is not a good actor at all.  

To be honest, I'm rooting for the UK team, because I like their people more.  Or at least I don't know enough about them to dislike them as intensely as I do the USA team.  I still love CT, and continue to worry about his health.  Glad to see he's taking it easy when it comes to screaming and yelling, I really do not want him to have a stroke.

[IDreamofJoaquin]

Laurel was scary and I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt this way.  I was having a hard time watching her and Johnny screw with the game.  

Does anyone else feel a little offended when they are talking about being traitors and they will defend Team USA?  It's not a war and not the Olympics.  They make it seem dirty.

I hate everything about Josh. I hate his face, voice, emotions and the fact that he tried to hook up with Amanda last year. Bad taste.

[scrb]

7 hours ago, Decider said:

Yep, if I recall correctly (without going back to watch), Teege never said explicitly that the pegs had to go in the brackets, only that they had to use all of the pegs.  Laurel even started climbing again at one point after Natalie pointed out the empty bracket so Laurel knew something was up.  I think the botch was blowing the horn and telling Laurel she had won without confirmation that all of the pegs were properly placed, especially since the check that apparently happened by production was edited out.

Sure but he blew the horn in the flat puzzle challenge, awarding the win to the UK, before finding the broken locks and awards the win to the US.

Maybe if they have more of these challenge or elimination reversals this season, I will look suspicious.  

A couple of times may be a coincidence but more than that, you have to wonder.

[peachmangosteen]

23 hours ago, angelamh66 said:

There is not one wholly likeable person on this show. 

Right! It's kinda fun to hate literally all of them though lol.

8 hours ago, ImpinAintEasy said:

I guess I’m in the minority in liking Laurel. I find her to be an entertaining villain. Ninja annoys the hell out of me. So I was disappointed in the result.  Laurel was screwed by TJ blowing the horn. They should have restarted. 

This.

I just really, really hate Ninja. She is straight-up insufferable. Laurel is no great loss but I would have much preferred to see Ninja go.

[MaggieG]

21 hours ago, esco1822 said:

I'm having this problem too, it makes the show too hard to watch. There really is nobody worth rooting for.  I used to like Ninja, but I agree with Johnny (there's a first time for everything), she's super annoying. There was a point last season where she started to grate on me and it has continued into this season. That said, Laurel is a complete maniac and Tori is dead on in her assessment of Cara. Anyone else forget Turbo is on this show? I do kind of think he's adorable so I'm going to root for him. Again. 

I agree. I'm not the biggest fan of Ninja, but I did feel bad for how the team blindsided her. Then Johnny laughing at her "Welcome to the fucking Challenge!" Shut up Johnny. But then she went straight back to annoying when she saw the trees and started jumping up and down and smiling like a maniac.

I loved TJ's face when the UK team was going back and forth at who was going to be the speaker. 

[Lantern7]

4 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I just really, really hate Ninja. She is straight-up insufferable. Laurel is no great loss but I would have much preferred to see Ninja go.

Once again: I get the hate for Natalie, but I don't get THE HATE. I can see how she bugs, but her team threw the mission, and she wound up getting sent to the Proving Ground even though she wasn't a "thrower." Also: had Laurel won, we would have gotten at least four talking head segments of Challengers shitting on Natalie’s abilities. Next episode, it looks like Zach is yelling at her about how his three-year-old nephew can swim better than her. My reaction: "Yeah, and I bet he'd make for a better boyfriend than you."

3 hours ago, MaggieG said:

I agree. I'm not the biggest fan of Ninja, but I did feel bad for how the team blindsided her. Then Johnny laughing at her "Welcome to the fucking Challenge!" Shut up Johnny.

I was expecting him to follow up with, "Now bend over, close your eyes, and think of Mt. Midoriyama." I know that most of the people here are detestable, but any result that fucks Johnny over is usually awesome by me.

Edited September 20, 2019 by Lantern7

[rwgrab]

Hey, Laurel, you probably shouldn't give a talking head where you say "I came here to COMPETE!"  on the same episode where you actively threw a challenge to make your team lose.  Not a great look.  I guess she didn't have much of a choice since she won't be on any more episodes this season! 🙂

Also, you may not want to try to excuse your bad sportsmanship by saying that somebody else started it.  Laurel, you're in your 30s; it's time to learn how to be both a gracious winner and a gracious loser if you're going to seek out competitive situations.    

It looked to me like the confusion was that they had hung a GoPro on that post in the tree they both missed, so it wasn't immediately apparent that it was also supposed to hold a branch.  Definitely an easy mistake to make, but while Ninja took the time to figure that out, Laurel starts screeching "NO!" when it's pointed out to her and insisting that she somehow deserves the win.  Yeah, let's see how that works out for you.

[Jobiska]

15 hours ago, scrb said:

Sure but he blew the horn in the flat puzzle challenge, awarding the win to the UK, before finding the broken locks and awards the win to the US.

I'm pretty sure they didn't, as I was waiting for it and that week commented about how it was surprising the Brits didn't notice no horn.

Thanks @Lantern7 for that master list of reactions--I went ahead and liked Wes' tweets so they would hopefully continue to have more likes than John's.  

Mileage varies, but I don't find Laurel a love-to-hate.  I don't even hate her--I find her irrationality in her arguments and hypocrisy in her positions (e.g. team player, but threw the challenge) disturbing to watch.  Glad she's gone.  John is a hypocrite too, and much as my opinion of CM has gone down, I was glad she was pointing out how he only plays for himself, on camera.

[OnceSane]

On one hand, Laurel is a beast.  On the other hand, not as intimidating as she thinks.  On the other other hand, she can offer some good advice on rare occasions or have an amusing TH.  On the other other other hand, she's fucking annoying, so this was me...

I. Cackled.

[Zima]

I was excited to see Laurel again, but man, she acted like a complete asshole over the past two episodes. It was great to see her eliminated after that dreadful display of bad sportsmanship. I'm glad that this ep was so good, because the season as a whole has been lackluster for me thus far. 

[lasu]

I don't care if it was right or wrong, and I'm no Ninja fan, but I had to smoke a metaphorical cigarette after that it was so satisfying.  And there is no question someone at MTV isn't a fan of Laurel's because they edited that to make her look as bad as possible.  I loved every second of it.  

[Jillibean]

Natalie went on. Challenge Mania and alleged that a redo was offered by production, since they had mistakenly announced Laurel the winner before realizing her error, but that Laurel refused to participate. Obviously that’s according to Natalie, so it might not be the whole truth. 

The only reason Wes ever has as much power as he does on a challenge is because of all the people who act like he is the devil incarnate, giving him far more social and athletic credit than he deserves. They spent all this energy taking out evil Wes and trying to take out anyone who has ever so much as spoken to evil Wes and it has already begun to completely blow up in their faces. Laurel—casualty of trying to cripple Wes AFTER HE HAS ALREADY LEFT THE GAME. I doubt she’ll be the last, because instead of gaining a number, the other side drew a line in the sand and then lost a number. 

Gotta love how Laurel attempted to intimidate Kam into ceasing to say that Laurel tried to intimidate people. I think Natalie and Laurel both need to find some humility. However, Natalie wasn’t the one who threw the challenge smugly assuming she could just pick off team members she personally didn’t care for, regardless of their challenge performance, so...bye, Laurel. As was infamously said on this show, enjoy your middle seat on the flight home. 

i think Ashley is very “anyone but me” in her approach to politics. All that lavender ladies nonsense was just talk—at the end of the day she allowed her “best friend” Amanda to sacrifice herself for Ashley not once, but twice. When the chips are down, Ashley is on Ashley’s side and they’d all be smart to remember that. 

[Lantern7]

1 hour ago, Jillibean said:

Natalie went on. Challenge Mania and alleged that a redo was offered by production, since they had mistakenly announced Laurel the winner before realizing her error, but that Laurel refused to participate. Obviously that’s according to Natalie, so it might not be the whole truth.

I trust her.

1 hour ago, Jillibean said:

The only reason Wes ever has as much power as he does on a challenge is because of all the people who act like he is the devil incarnate, giving him far more social and athletic credit than he deserves. They spent all this energy taking out evil Wes and trying to take out anyone who has ever so much as spoken to evil Wes and it has already begun to completely blow up in their faces. Laurel—casualty of trying to cripple Wes AFTER HE HAS ALREADY LEFT THE GAME. I doubt she’ll be the last, because instead of gaining a number, the other side drew a line in the sand and then lost a number.

Including Johnny. ESPECIALLY JOHNNY. He doesn't have a WWJD bracelet. Nope, it says BWF: "Blame Wes First." Johnny loses his keys? He blames Wes. An ally gets taken out of the game? He blames Wes.  Missed a flight? Blames Wes. Caught in bed with another woman by his girlfriend? "Honey . . . that ginger motherfucker is behind this. I have tape."

The stupid thing is that Wes' strategies usually don't pan out. He's the guy who might be the smartest one in the room, but he doesn't bother covering his tracks. Like I've been saying for a while now, he's Wes E. Coyote: Super Genius. And two episodes ago, Josh, Laurel and Bear played Roadrunner, sending Wes off the cliff once again.

[peachmangosteen]

10 hours ago, Jillibean said:

Natalie went on. Challenge Mania and alleged that a redo was offered by production, since they had mistakenly announced Laurel the winner before realizing her error, but that Laurel refused to participate. Obviously that’s according to Natalie, so it might not be the whole truth. 

I don't really trust Natalie in general because she sucks in every possible way, but this makes sense. I mean, it makes sense that they offered to redo. That is what should have been done because they did announce Laurel as the winner. It also tracks that Laurel would refuse because, you know, it's Laurel.

[Lantern7]

3 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I don't really trust Natalie in general because she sucks in every possible way . . .

My only real response after reading that is, "But Ashley is still there."

[peachmangosteen]

5 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

My only real response after reading that is, "But Ashley is still there."

Multiple people can suck. This show is infinite proof of that!

[falltime]

The way this elimination played out was hilarious. They ended up missing the same hole. I wish they would have spend more time showing how much higher Laurel put the rod. lol It's so damn high up.