The Challenge: USA | Season 1 Episode 8 - "Independence Day"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello people!

Back with a new The Challenge: USA rant! A little later than usual but, hopefully, you're still interested in my thoughts.

So, I'm gonna get straight into the episode and say that, for once, I was right about the direction the show was taking. Yes, now it is an individual game and I'm actually pretty excited about that! However, they caught me off guard because, this week, was a men's elimination day and I thought they would still do the female and male elimination... Guess I was wrong. Also, this means that the season will have more than 10 episodes, which I'm not mad about.

Well, because now they're playing as individuals, there's a lot more than can do in terms of challenges. This week's challenge wasn't the hardest one - the daily challenge was just running in a floatie of sorts and who got the keys from one point to the other the fastest would win. The twist was that there would be people throwing water at them, but that sort of didn't matter because some of them didn't do it because they wanted certain people to win (or at least to help them). I actually really thought Tyson was going to win this one because it looked like he did it pretty fast but I was wrong - Ben won and, honestly, I should have seen that coming because they really focused on him in the beginning of the episode. As for the girls, Angela won which I'm not mad about. And going straight into elimination was Enzo, which was a little unfortunate because he got injured and that's never fair... But that's the game.

As far as the deliberation goes, it was pretty interesting. First of all, Angela came up with a strategy to protect herself and Alyssa, to make an alliance with the Survivor guys - but only the guys! I guess that's an interesting way to play the game, she was already working with Tyson so it makes sense. With that said, that excludes the Survivor girls - Sarah and Desi. And speaking of Sarah, she's so desperate to get some money to be able to go to the final that she was willing to go against a guy which yes, it would be something never done before but I'm pretty sure that's against the rules and, honestly, it just feels like she's trying too hard to show that she's strong. Well, if she's that strong just win a daily challenge!

Anyway... Lastly, we have to talk about the elimination which was Hall Brawl - my favourite! On top of that, Enzo went against Leo which let's be honest, it was pretty obvious that Enzo was going to win (even injured), which was what ended up happening at the end.

To finish it all Leo didn't even say goodbye to everyone, which was really childish.

Next episode it's a girls elimination and I'm super curious to see how everything goes down because 1) we saw in a preview for the remaining of the season that Desi ends up winning one of the daily challenges so, maybe she can win this one 2) Sarah talked a lot about beating Angela in the preview for the next episode and 3) we also saw in the season preview that there will be a pole wrestle so I'm curious to see if it's a girls pole wrestle, which would be really exciting!

I'm not necessarily rooting for any girl to be honest (maybe just Cayla) but I really want to see Angela and Sarah face off and, hopefully, Angela beats Sarah because I'm just so tired of Sarah talking such a big game! 

But that's it from me. Let me know what you thought of this episode and what you thought of Leo's actions at the end of the episode and I'll talk to you next week!

Love,

Daniela.

The Challenge: USA | Season 1 Episode 7 - "State Of The Unions"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello people!

Back with a new The Challenge: USA rant and, once again, I was wrong about my predictions. I mean, I was right when it came to Sarah and Tyson being paired in this episode, but not about everything else... Those previews really are misleading. But yeah... Let's talk about the episode!

I'm not going to get into the pairings because there's still a lot of people in the game and I don't think a lot of it is relevant. What is relevant for this episode is that Domenick is out for the big trio - Angela, Tyson and Kyland - and guess what? Yes, him and Cayla win the daily challenge! It was actually a really fun one and I was actually rooting for Sarah and Tyson but I was happy for Cayla (not so much Domenick though...).

We actually didn't spend much time on 'drama' in this episode, just a little thing with Leo wanting to leave because of some problems at home but he didn't leave. Next, we jump straight into the deliberation.

Alyssa and Leo were the pair straight into elimination and, honestly, their opinion didn't matter much here. Cayla and Domenick were set on one of the big three. There were pros and cons for each like they wanted to send in Tyson also to help Sarah get some money to qualify for the final, but they didn't want them to win - Domenick wanted to send one of them home so I guess that was a no for Sarah and Tyson. Then, it was between Angela/Enzo and Kyland/Kyra, and they had all the reasons to send Angela and Enzo but, ultimately they went with Kyland and Kyra.

I gotta be honest - I was rooting for Kyland and Kyra. I'm not a huge fan of Alyssa nor Leo. And it was actually pretty tied that elimination. It was a mix between physical and trivia, so that was fun! Well, ulimately, Alyssa and Leo won, so Domenick got what he wanted. 

Not much else to talk about this episode honestly. Oh, just a little twist at the end - TJ says he's tired of the algorithm so what that means?! My prediction is that, from now on, it's going to be individuals. And I think that for two reasons: 1) there's not a lot of episodes left so they wouldn't pair different people now just for 3 episodes or so and 2) because we see in the preview for the remaining of the season that there's a hall brawl and a pole wrestle, and those are eliminations that you can't do as pairs so... It's going to be interesting from now on! I'm really curious to see who are the people doing those eliminations because those are my favourites and they are pretty physical!

But that's pretty much it from me. Let me know what you thought of this episode and who were you rooting for - Alyssa/Leo or Kyland/Kyra? Tell me everything in the comments and I'll talk to you soon!

Love,

Daniela.

The Challenge: USA | Season 1 Episode 6 - "A Civil War"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello people!

Back with a new The Challenge: USA rant and this was an interesting one!

First of all, we saw a lot more of some players that have been laying low this whole time, such as Enzo and David. Actually, the episode starts with them having some conversations about wanting to stand out but, at the same time, trying to lay low and not create any drama. So, of course we knew what that meant - one or both of them were going to be a big part of the episode. Then, I was really surprised that, after everything that happened last episode, we didn't see much of Tyson in this one and no one took a shot at him. Granted, he almost went into elimination because Kyra couldn't finish the daily challenge but they got lucky and Enzo and Justine couldn't do it either so they were the ones going straight into elimination. And well, since we're already on the daily challenge topic let's get to that.

As I said, Enzo and Justine were the ones going straight into elimination. As for the winners, it was between three teams - Desi/David, Alyssa/Danny and Domenick/Angela. Well, as you can guess, David and Desi were the winners (just proving that the beginning of episodes always hint at what's going to happen later on). I was actually okay with both things, the winners and the losers because I couldn't see anything really major and no one that I liked going home. I was wrong.

When it came to the deliberation, Enzo and Justine didn't give any names so it was up to Desi and David alone to pick someone to go against Enzo and Justine. They had a lot of options, actually. They thought about making a big move and sending either Kyland or Tyson, but at the same time the safest options were Leo/Cayla and Derek/Shannon because of the alliances and, out of everyone, I prefered them to choose Kylan and Cashay but they didn't do that. Instead, they went with Shannon and Derek and, as you can imagine, yes, they lost. It was really unfortunate because not only they give their all (and Shannon was injuried) but also because it literally came to the stacking of the tires that kept falling off... It was really unfortunate. But, in the end, I was really happy with their performance and I was really surprised with Shannon because she did pretty good! Unfortunately, they were sent home and, once again, I'm left with not a lot of people to root for.

There's not a lot more to talk about when it comes to this episode and I'm really curious to see what happens in the next one because we have already started repeating partners (Angela was partnered with Domenick again) and we see on the preview that Sarah and Tyson are going to get paired so... That's going to be super interesting! Also, little theory, but I think, based on the preview, that they are going to win the daily challenge (Sarah and Tyson). Not much else to add to that, honestly, but based on their conversation about someone wanting to volunteer, I think they are the winners and they have to pick a team to go into elimination.

But that's it from me. Let me know what you thought of this episode, were you surprised that Enzo and Justine won? Who were you rooting for? Tell me everything and I'll see next week with another rant!

Love,

Daniela.

The Challenge: USA | Season 1 Episode 5 - "In Tyson We Trust"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello everyone!

Yes, back with a new The Challenge: USA rant (this time on time) and, in a way, this was a juicy one!

Right away, how they were paired was pretty juicy, mainly because Sarah was paired with Leo, who she talked a lot of sh*t in the last episode. On the plus side, Cayla was paired with Derek and honestly, this episode just made everyone really like Cayla.

She was already one of my favourites, based on previous episodes, but this one just solidified how much I like her and, at this poin, she might be my favourite in this season. She's that type of person that, not only does great in challenges - we have seen that in the elimination she won but we also saw that in this episode - but she's also a great person! And even when she tries to talk game and strategy, she does it in such a nice polite way that I'm pretty sure everyone would do whatever she wants, and I love that about her! Well, as long as she stays truthful and doesn't backstab anyone. I love a good backstab but I tend to root for the people that don't usually lie.

Since we're on the topic of her doing great at in this episode, let's talk about the daily challenge. I've said this before but I'm really impressed with the challenges they have come up with in this spin-off. Not only daily challenges but also eliminations, and this daily challenge was pretty different and really intense!

Usually we see this type of challenge, where they have to go back and forth to see a puzzle on land (aka running). Well, in this episode they did that but swimming, which sort of makes it worse (there's a good number of people that still don't know how to swim). So it was really interesting to see who did good in this challenge and that shows who will, most likely, go further in the game. As I said, Cayla and Derek did amazing! They were in first place for most of the challenge but then, somehow, Tyson and Cashay got all the way from 8th place to first and yes - Tyson won once again! This really solidifies him as the strongest player in this game! However, he sort of made the wrong move here when it came to choosing who to go against the last place - Cinco and Azah. 

Because Cashay won, Cinco told Azah not to pick anyone to go against so Cashay wouldn't have anything to create drama with, and that's what they did. At the same time, because Cashay is from Love Island and Tyson is from Survivor, Cayla and Derek were sort of afraid that they would pick them (since they're from The Amazing Race and Big Brother) so that's when Cayla went to Tyson and talked game with him, sort of throwing Ben under the bus. I didn't really like that because I kind of like Ben, but I can understand her and she's not really backstabing anyone so... It's all good for now.

Well, turns out that little talk did help Cayla! However, because Ben was paired with Justine and Justine is friends with Cashay, she didn't want to throw them into elimination. Instead, they went with Sarah and Leo, and this is where Tyson kind of f*cked up.

Not only he showed that he's not really part of the Survivor alliance (at least, he's not afraid to betray them) but also Sarah and Leo came back (therefore sending Cinco and Azah home) and that's going to create a lot of drama in the next episode. And from the looks of it (from the preview), I think there won't be alliance's from now on anymore. At least, that's sort of what someone said, so that's going to be interesting to see how the game develops.

Post all of that, I'm still rooting for Cayla and Derek and, honestly, I kind of like Tyson as well so... We'll see. I did like Sarah in the beginning but I did not like how she handled her win (the elimination) and how she talked about Leo in her confessionals so... I'm not rooting for her anymore. But that's it from me!

Let me know what you thought of this episode and who are your favourites so far and, is it too early to talk about winners? I personally really think Tyson is going to win... Based on all his wins, it really looks like it, but let me know your thoughts and predictions and I'll talk to you soon!

Love,

Daniela.

The Challenge: USA | Season 1 Episode 4 - "Liberty And Justice For All"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello everyone!

I know, I know... I'm super late with this review but you know the drill - this past weeks have been pretty chaotic. Hopefully I'll be more pontual from now on. With that said, let's get to the actual episode!

Well, I gotta be honest with you - I barely remember anything from this episode, so bare with me if I forget some major details. The only two things that really stuck with me were the fact that the daily challenge was Trivia (I love Trivia) and that this ended with Alyssa's revenge on Xavier. That last bit was, indeed, interesting. However, because I didn't follow any of their original shows, I had no idea about the drama and, although they did explain it a little bit, it wasn't enough for me to be fully invested. Also, on top of that, I didn't really vibe with either Alyssa or Xavier so I wasn't exactly rooting for either... 

But back to the daily challenge - Trivia. This was done in an interesting way where they were split into three groups and TJ would give them a 'subject' per se, and they would give answers until someone got it wrong, for example, TJ asked them to name Actress that had been nominated for an Oscar and so they would name Actress until someone got it wrong. Then, after the three groups compete, they would have a loser round, to come up with a duo to go straight into elimination - which in this case was David and Justine - and then a winners round, to get a proper winner - which was Alyssa Kyland.

When it comes to the deliberation, there wasn't really much for debate - Alyssa really wanted to get her revenge on Xavier (for whatever that happened on Big Brother) which really caught everyone off guard because Xavier is Big Brother and they all thought each show was going to stick together but, of course, they weren't mad at it.

Needless to say that Alyssa did go for Xavier and Shan and, surprisingly, Justine and David won and so Alyssa got her revenge. Shan was a little clueless to why Alyssa sent them in which her excuse was that people didn't trust Shan which, in reality, she just wanted Xavier to pay for what he did on Big Brother. I don't know why she blamed it on Shan, and that's one of the reasons why I'm not a big fan of Alyssa either.

Overall, I'm not into the people from Big Brother... I still like Surivor and Amazing Race the best, but I gotta be honest - the Love Island people are surprising me, in a good way, so let's see what happens in the next episode.

As far as the next episode goes, I can't really remember anything from the preview so it's going to be a surprise. It is out already so I'm going to review that next but, int he meantime, let me know your thoughts on this episode (Episode 4) and I'll see you pretty soon!

Love,

Daniela.