The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 | Season 34 Episode 5 - "In Paulie We Trust"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello everyone and here ends this season of the challenge for me.

No, I'm kidding because this season has been great but yeah, my main motivation just went home.

And, if I already was mostly rooting for the UK Team, now I'm 100% only rooting for them. You know what this means right? Yes, Bananas went home. I guess my prediction on my last rant was pretty accurate and it didn't end that well. I can't say I wasn't expecting it because I knew Bananas would go home around this time (either this episode or episode 7) but you can't help being hopeful. 

But let's talk about all the events that led up to Bananas going home.

The drama in the beginning was really foreshadowing Bananas' departure, but you never really know until it actually happens. There was a whole thing with Team USA debating the fact that they were split up and something happened that was huge for this episode - basically Paulie shook hands not only with Josh but also with Bananas' saying that if he was speaker he would not put anything from their team up for elimination. I was really skeptical about Paulie's word but it would be really hypocritical of him to not keep his word so... I had hope (as always). But first, they had to win the challenge, which wasn't that easy.

This week's challenge was pretty good (this season all of them have been, to be honest) - it was swimming related (mostly) and it showed what a lot of people are really made of.

In the end, Team US won and yes, Paulie was speaker and chose Cara and Jordan for the Tribunal with him. This left me really uneasy but again, I was hopeful.

When it came to nominations from the Team UK it was a real mess. 1) they chose a good competitor and 2) it was kind of fair because he kind of deserved it - I'm talking about Theo, by the way.

Well, needless to say that when it came to the Team US to send someone in they sent Bananas. Jordan chose Rogan though and, in the end, even himself realized that he was played by Paulie and Cara, but mostly Paulie, who said that wasn't going to throw in Bananas and... he did it anyway.

Bananas' was actually almost winning the elimination but he made a mistake and Theo won.

I really wanted to see Bananas win not only because he's my favorite but also because he said that he would change to the UK Team if he did win and I really wanted to see that. If there was anyone that would switch teams it would be him. Right now, I hope that Leroy switches teams - he doesn't really have anyone on that team and he's basically the only one that I like from Team US so it would be amazing for him to be on Team UK, the one that I'm rooting for right now.

Well, I guess that's it for this week's rant of The Challenge.

Obviously I'm not happy with the outcome but I can't say I'm surprised. Now I just hope the UK wins this season and I really hope Cara goes home next episode.

Let me know what you thought of the episode and I'll talk to you on my next rant.

Love,

Daniela.

American Horror Story: 1984 | Season 9 Episode 1 - "Camp Redwood"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello everyone!

Yes, American Horror Story is back and with a really different tone and season. Unfortunately, not the best.

We go from a super great episode from The Challenge to a not so great premiere of American Horror Story's new season - 1984. 

I feel like I need to tell a little back story before I really get into my thoughts so, here it is.

When they first announced the theme, back in April, I believe, I was pretty excited. I saw the teaser trailer that they did, with just the announcement of the title and it was great, with Billie Eilish's song and everything. Then, more stuff started to come out, as cast and details and other teasers and, although I was super hyped about Matthew Morrison being in this season, the fact that neither Evan Peters nor Sarah Paulson would be back for this season really put me down. Evan Peters is my absolute fave and I feel like he always brings a different feel to the seasons, as well as Sarah Paulson so, needless to say, those were pretty big red flags about this season. Still, I remember the first teaser and I had hope, even more when some theories started to go around and, knowing Ryan Murphy, he must have something up his sleeve. But then, I also started watching more horror movies, more opinions on horror and on what this season could be like and... I just understood that I'm not the type of person that likes 'cheese' in horror, which this is completely full of.

Getting into the episode I knew this would be really cheesy and, in the beginning, I was okay with it. The initial montages and the opening were extremely cheesy and out there and, I must be honest, I'm not really a fan of this years' intro, but okay, I feel like I'll be fine with it once the season goes on. But anyway, I was expecting 'cheese' but not this much. Everything about this episode looks like it comes from other slashers such as Friday the 13th and Halloween and everything is too out there for my liking. I don't even know if I should/can touch in the story because it's extremely simple and just what you saw in the 'real trailer'. A group of friends go to a summer camp where a few years ago there was a mass murder. We see some creepy stuff but not that creepy, to be honest and, as expected in slashers, the characters doing really dumb stuff such as running and falling every three seconds, which I just can't get on board with.

There's not really much else to this episode, to be honest. They learn about the Summer Camp, they meet the only survivor who's the owner know and, apparently, there's two killers going around this season, the one from the summer camp and another one from LA that followed Brooke (Emma Roberts) all the way to the Camp after attacking her before she left to the camp. I mean, this first episode is just exposition and finding out more about each character but... It really didn't do for me. I really hope it gets better but I don't really have my hopes up. But hey, it's Ryan Murphy and there's always a plot twist so, I hope it's a good one and that it comes quickly because I don't know if I can take more of this cheesiness. 

The performances are good though and I can't wait to see more of Matthew Morrison (he's my new Evan Peters so, expect me to talk about him a lot).

I know this rant was really down and that I didn't have a lot of good things to say but American Horror Story is still one of my favorite series ever and, like I said, I have hope.

Let me know what you thought and what are you predictions for future episodes and I'll see you next week.

Love,

Daniela.

The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 | Season 34 Episode 4 - "Benedict Laurel"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello everyone!

What another great The Challenge episode!

As I said last time, this season is going all in and it's turning out to be one of (if not the) the best seasons of the show, even if I wasn't entirely pleased with the outcome in this episode.

So, I guess I can say I was right - the Brits really did win this week's challenge but... Just because Bananas basically sabotaged it. I was really surprised at how quiet Bananas has been this past few episodes and it was about it he started 'steering the pot' and, in a kind of plot twist, he aligned with Laurel and basically made a plan to drop the numbers on the 'Wes Alliance'. It was fun to see everything play out, and I was happy to see the UK team win, but it was a given win, which isn't that satisfactory, but let's roll with it.

Of course this whole thing crumbled down and divided the USA Team, which we all knew was bound to happen. 

Right away I need to say that I'm not a fan of Laurel. Heck, I don't really like her to be completely honest, but I also don't like Wes and don't like how he plays the game so I was on her side with this. Also, even though I don't like her, I can see that she's strong and everything so, there's also that. But anyway, in this, I was on her side and I was liking where this was going. I would much prefer to see Cara go into elimination than Ninja, but that's fine. Actually, Georgia then tried to throw Cara but... It didn't stick and, as she as already expecting, Laurel was thrown into elimination to go against Ninja. This had everything for Ninja to win and... Well, in the end she did win but for s few moments everyone thought Laurel had won and I was happy with that. Then, we learned the truth and she actually lost and was sent home. I can't say that I'm sad with that either because, like I said in the beginning, I don't really like her either, but I'm rooting for her alliance so it was a disappointment, mainly because of the smug on Cara's face, who I really dislike right now.

And well, I guess that's pretty much it for this episode. I know it doesn't look like much written down, but it was an hell of a roller-coaster watching everything unfoald.

From the title of the next episode, and keeping in mind everything that happened, I feel like the USA is going to win the next challenge and Paulie is going to be in the Tribunal. I also have a feeling that Bananas' time is almost up, but I don't know if it is in the next episode, mainly because I doubt Paulie and whoever is in the Tribunal will put more of their own, or at least it will look really bad if they do, since they were so bothered when Laurel threw Wes. It will be really hypocritical if they do the exact same thing, but I guess everything's fair game now. 

Well, this are my thoughts and predictions. Let me know yours and I'll see you in my next rant!

Love,

Daniela.

The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 | Season 34 Episode 3 - "United We Stand, Divided We Fall"

Spoiler Alert!

Oh My God!

Hi everyone and welcome to the craziest episode of The Challenge.

Seriously, this episode got me so pumped for the rest of the season! They said that they were going all out and they weren't kidding.

I'm not even going to waste any time and I'm just going to talk about the end - Wow! Like wow! Wes going home defeated by Bear. This really couldn't get any better, to be honest.

Okay, now that we got that out, let's get to the 'usual programming'.

There was quite a lot of talk in the beginning of this episode, I guess foreshadowing everything that then happened but you know how I feel about the 'drama' and the 'fillers'... It's interesting, but I want to see some challenges. They didn't take too long, so that was nice.

I have to say, this week's challenge wasn't easy, and I guess it depended a lot on luck - and not cheating. I guess I was kind of right on my prediction, that the UK Team was going to win this week's challenge, and they did, but they cheated so, in the end, the USA Team won, which wasn't entirely bad because of everything that happened next.

The USA Team decided to 'nominate' Josh as the speaker, in a way to prove that he was with the team, and he chose for the tribunal Laurel and Zach. The initial thought was to choose Theo, because he's basically the strongest male in the UK Team, but then the UK chose Bear and they didn't want to 'waste' an elimination because the USA thought that Theo was going to win (plus, Laurel has been 'sleeping' with Bear so, there's also that). And then, of course, Wes had to say something and I guess he said too much when he said that Josh was expendable that it was just a matter of time before they would send him home. Well, Laurel didn't really like that and told Josh and came up with the plan to instead of Theo or anyone from the UK Team, to send Wes against Bear. That was genius! For some moments I even thought she was playing Josh but.. Now. When the elimination came she voted for Wes and so Josh did too (Zach voted for Theo, but that doesn't really matter). It was a shock for basically everyone (Laurel told Bananas who is always in favor of sending Wes home, even if, at this point, the whole thing between them is basically just for the show). I loved it! Even if he didn't lose, I'm also always up for trying to send Wes home and... I guess time worked! And it was a physical challenge! I think a lot of people underestimate Bear but he's not a bad competitor, he just has a pretty big mouth, which just fits right in on the challenge.

Anyway so Bear won and he chose to stay in the UK Team. Seriously, I can't wait for an elimination that someone from the USA wins because I bet that person is going to change teams, just wait.

And that's basically it. If I wasn't that pumped about this season, I am now. I freaking loved this episode! Seriously, I doubt there's a better one.

Let me know your thoughts on the whole thing and I'll see you in my next rant.

Love,

Daniela.

The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 | Season 34 Episode 2 - "God Save the Queen"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello everyone!

Yes, I know, I'm pretty late with this rant but life has been crazy lately.

Anyway, last week's episode of The Challenge was... Interesting. I can't say I'm already pumped for this season, it feels like I'm still on defense, but I feel like it's getting there. This first episodes have been 'easy', in terms of people to put into elimination because there's still so many rookies that, once they go in, that's when stuff is going to get interesting.

The episode begins with Rogan deciding to stay in the UK Team and they move pretty quickly to the week's challenge. Before the challenge is explained, TJ lets us (and them) know that Zahida had to go home because her grandma died and so UK Team is even shorter on competitors.

When it comes to the actual challenge, it was kind of a fun one, but the USA Team beat the sh*t out of the other team like, the UK people were really bad (and I'm starting to realize that I'm kind of rooting for them, to be honest). So, once again, the USA has to pick a speaker and then a tribunal (which ends up being Kam, Ashley and Paulie, all people that I hate) and the UK has to nominate someone and, like I was mentioning before, it's still easy and they end up picking a rookie - Big T. This nomination was interesting though because there was some drama, but some drama that made sense. Basically they only wanted to pick between two rookies and leave out the other two, one because she was really strong and the other because she was friends with Georgia like... Where does that make sense? Well, in the end they end up picking between the four but no one voted for those two girls and yeah, like I said, Big T was the 'chosen one'.

However, the USA tribunal kind of played it right and Kam wanted to make big moves and choose one of the stronger girls, and so they ended up picking Georgia, who's basically the girl that runs the Team.

I have to say, the elimination was quite good and both Big T and Georgia were really good and really strong. I was rooting for Big T because I'm all for the underdogs but, unfortunately, Georgia won and Big T was sent home. Also, Faith decided to leave because of some drama that also happened in the house... Was a bit stupid but yeah.

And so, Georgia had to pick if she wanted to change Teams but, as expected, she didn't. And that was basically it.

From the preview, I feel like next episode the USA Team is going to lose the challenge so, if that happens, it's going to be an interesting episode.

Like I mentioned, it's not quite there yet for me, but it has potential and I'm hopeful.

Let me know what you have been thinking about this season and I'll see you soon with a new rant (hopefully on time).

Love,

Daniela.