The Challenge: USA | Season 2 Episode 11 - "Slippery Business"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello people!

Back with a new rant, this time a proper individual one. And, I'm actually so excited about this one so let's not waste any time and get to it!

As it was shown in the preview last week, this week we had a physical challenge - a wrestling challenge. The only thing different was that they all needed to be covered in oil (which made for some really fun montages) and it wasn't a one-on-one match (like I thought it would be). Instead, it was played in two heats - a women's heat and a men's heat - and they all fought "together". That didn't really mattered when it came to the boys (surprisingly, they were pretty "tamed"), but the girls... Damn! They fought hard and they were really nasty to each other (as girls usually are).

For the most part, I was happy with the winners - Michaela won for the girls and, my favourite, was Cory winning for the boys! Everyone was afraid to go against Fessy and Fessy really thought that he had it in the bad and, guess what?! You didn't win, which again, I was really happy about!

Then, the nominations were a mess.

It's getting to that point that everyone is thinking about the final and the boys want to run with good girls but the girls want to eliminate their competitions and, in the end, Michaela and Cory just had to compromise - Michaela chose the guy (Tyler) and Cory chose the girl (Cassidy). And then the voting...

Again, it was pretty much split between Tori and Chris, but not really. Tori only got 3 votes so, as you could imagine, Chris went into elimination, again, against Tyler. It was really bittersweet because I do like Tyler more but, with all that has been happening to Chris, I'm starting to root for him! Poor guy can't catch a break! And at this point I don't think they want to get rid of him "just because". I think they're starting to see him as a real threat and want him out for that.

Well, they didn't get it, yet again and, unfortunately, Tyler was the one to go home (right after Alyssa going last week, funny). At least it was an elimination that, not only he had a chance at winning, but also it was a timed event so, until they both finished their rounds, we didn't know who had won.

Anyway, it looks like the final is right around the corner and people need to start making bigger and smarter moves. It's just a matter of time until these Vets have to go against each other, and I hope that happens in the next episode (I just hope, if it ends up being Bananas, that he wins - no matter who he goes against).

But yeah, that's it from me. Let me know what you thought of this episode - were you a fan of the wrestling challenge? What are your thoughts on Chris right now? Tell me everything and I'll talk to you next week!

Love,

Daniela.

The Challenge: USA | Season 2 Episode 9 & 10 - "Enemy of the State" & "A Less Perfect Union"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello people!

I know, I did it again... I'm sorry but last week was so crazy that I wasn't able to watch the new episode until this week and then I didn't have time to write my rant so, yet again, I'm reviewing the last two episodes in one post - I hope you don't mind. And if you think about, it actually makes sense to do it this way, because both episodes follow a 'story' and a 'pattern' and makes sense for me to talk about them together.

So, as far as episode 9 goes, it was all about Chris. And in a way, episode 10 was as well, but I'll get to that.

Episode's 9 main challenge was kind of anti-climatic. Initially, they all had to jump on a trampoline to do some math and then only the first three girls and three guys to get the math right would go onto the next round. So that alone was kind of lame. And then, the second part, although more adrenaline based, it was pretty obvious who was going to win - Fessy for sure because of his height and then Tori, by a lot. And next the nominations and elimination were kind of predictable - they went with Cassidy and Chris because they wanted to lower Survivor's numbers and then the Chris paranoia and just sinking ship started.

Chris got really pissed and started throwing 'shots' at everyone and making deals and it all just didn't sit right with anyone so it was pretty obvious that he was going to be the one that they all would target, therefore most people voted for a guy and, at the end, the one to go against Chris was Sebastian, again because of the Survivor thing.

In this case it was pretty easy to be rooting for someone - Sebastian was one of my favourites this season, unfortunately, Chris did send him home... And well, he did the same on episode 10.

This week's episode, as I said, followed a pretty similar formula, although the main challenge was way more interesting and we did get a new winner - Michaela. I really liked to see her so afraid and still doing it and winning at the end. Unfortunately, for the boys, Fessy won again... 

Anyway, moving to the nominations, I knew something was about to go down. However, Michaela was pretty tamed and she didn't make big moves like I thought she would. It sort of makes sense because they're really close to the final and she didn't want to piss anyone off (like Tori, for example) but she could've gone with Michelle because, at the end of the day, eventually, they'll have to go against each other (the Survivor girls) but not yet... Instead, for the girls, they went with Alyssa - the easy choice. And, as you can expect, for the guys was the same, and the same guy as it was last week - Chris. But now it's when things get interesting!

Chris is really down because he's once again down in the sand because yeah, I completely forgot to mentions that this is a double elimination week so both Chris and Alyssa are definitely going into elimination, so he's pretty down about that so he decides that if he's going down, might as well be against a big player and he mentions Wes. Not everyone is on board with that - only three players vote for Wes - but, surprisingly, Josh does vote for Wes saying that he has no shot against him in a final (which is definitely true) and guess what?! Even though Tyler was the one to get the most votes (9 in total) Wes is the one to go against Chris. As for the girls, Cassidy got most of the votes and she was the one to go against Alyssa.

Surprisingly, for this elimination, I was rooting for Chris and Alyssa. Alyssa was an obvious choice just because I don't really like Cassidy, but Chris is odd but I would just like to see a Rookie send Wes home which... It did happen! Yes, Chris send Wes home which was shocking but also took away the spotlight from everyone else because Wes made sure to make a speech about this being his last challenge. Honestely, I doubt that but okay... 

So Chris won and, for the girls, unfortunately, Cassidy won... It wasn't by a lot, Alyssa actually gave her a good fight, but yeah... 

Now, I doubt the guys will target Chris again (it also depends on who wins the next challenge) but Cassidy will probably be the choice again. But one thing's for sure, the final is really close and the preview promised us some really cool challenges, one in particular with all of them fighting, like hand-to-hand combat and that looked sick and I'm very much looking forward to that.

But yeah, that's it from me for this episode. Once again I'm sorry for doing this like this again, I hope it's fine with you, and don't forget to give me your thoughts on the past two episodes - what are your thoughts on the Chris evolution? Did you feel the same as I did? Tell me everything in the comments and I'll speek to you next week!

Love,

Daniela.

The Challenge: USA | Season 2 Episode 8 - "Independence Day"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello people!!

Slightly later than I anticipated but still in time to fully discuss the latest episode so, let's get to it!

To be completely honest, I don't have a ton to say about this episode. A lot happened and a ton of things were things that made me happy, but there wasn't any big drama nor any big dilemmas when ti comes to nominations and voting, it was all pretty straightforward... But let's talk about the daily challenge.

Now that the game is played as individuals, not only it got a lot more interesting but it's way easier for me to root for the people that I like, because they're not attached to other players that I do not like. So for this one, which was a swimming/diving challenge, I was fully rooting for Bananas and... Guess what?! Bananas did win for the boys, which I was stoked about! And for the girls, Tori was the winner, which all of that only proves that the Vets are Vets for a reason. However, there was a difference between Bananas and Tori - while Bananas gave the other players in his heat some sort of hint/help, Tori gave them nothing so... That kind of left a bitter taste in my mouth and supports my 'dislike' for Tori as a player... She's good and she's strong, but I don't like how she plays the game.

Anyway, after that came the nominations and both Bananas and Tori were pretty set on a guys elimination day and wanted someone from Big Brother to go home, so they went with this season's couple - Tyler and Alysa, which was kind of sad because I like Tyler. I think he's genuinely a good person and plays a fair game (also he's a pretty good player and super underrated). 

Then the rest of the house had to vote and it was pretty obvious that everyone wanted a guys elimination because the votes were torn between Sebastian (the Big Brother people voted for him) and Monte (the Survivor people voted for him) and, at the end, Monte was the one to go against Tyler. For me, that was good because I also like Sebastian and I didn't want to have to choose between the two for them but Monte was a bigger threat to Tyler, so I was afraid for him. Luckily it wasn't a physical challenge (not a one-on-one physical challenge) it was more about patience and strategy and that gave Tyler a better fighting chance. However, that elimination must have been so hard to watch because they had to redo that pyramid countless times and that must have been so furstrating (for those who where playing as well as for the ones that were just watching). Well, but at the end Tyler did win and I was super happy about that! And that's basically it.

There wasn't anything super major in the preview for the next episode so I don't have anything to theorize about. let's just see what else this new individuals game brings - I'm excited.

Let me know what you thought of this episode and who were you rooting for and I'll talk to you later in the week!

Love,

Daniela.

The Challenge: USA | Season 2 Episode 6 & 7 - "A Really Good Looking Underdog" & "Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Love"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello people!

I know, I'm soooo late with this ones, that's why I'm putting both episodes in one post - it just makes more sense to keep them together and I'm pretty sure you're not that interested in my thoughts on episode 6. Regardless, I'm going to talk about it and I'm going to start with ir right away.

Honestly, I don't have a lot to say about it, which is actually kind of great. This was the Trivia episode and I guess that was pretty exciting!

For once, they were able to do the Trivia challenge in group and it didn't matter who answered, so that was an advantage. However, it didn't matter much because they were still pretty bad at it, but that's what we like to see. What was impressive though was how some people were able to stick to that glass, in particular Alyssa S. and Tiffany. Unfortunately, neither of them were able to get the win for their Team and yes, it was another Blue Team win. That was great for my fave - Bananas - but it created a whole thing with Wes.

Basically this whole episode was about how Wes is becoming a father and this will most likely be his last season. Well, as soon as that became a huge plot point of this episode, I knew he would most likely say, and that was kind of unfortunate because he went to elimination against Dusty.

I don't care what anyone says but I liked Dusty. I saw a lot of comments saying he was anoying but I liked how a super fan he was (and obviously he was a good ally for Bananas).

Anyway, as you can probably tell, Wes went indeed into elimination and against Dusty, and they made it look like Dusty would win for sure and guess what?! Wes won and Dusty went home. Kinda sad about that but super happy that he took Chris spot in the Blue Team and now, finally, the Vets have a chance, so I'm excited about that.

Well, I guess that's it for episode 6 so let's move into episode 7.

When it comes to the daily challenge of episode 7, it wasn't a super inventive one, like they have done in the previous episode and honestely, I thought it was kind of rushed. To be honest, this whole episode felt kind of rushed and a bit lifeless. I felt like even the producers were tired of the Blue Team winning (because yes, they won again) and they just moved on with everything because it was all so predictable. And I guess it says a lot about the episode when the most interesting thing that happened was Bananas and Wes' plan to get Tyler and Alyssa S to kiss, which was both funny and cute at the same time.

So the votes went as expected, with the Vets now running the Blue Team, they got what they wanted (Tyler and Michaela) even though their plan all along was to send Michaela against another strong Survivor girl and Tyler was just the sacrificial lamb when it comes to the boys.

As I was saying, the votes went that way, the votes from everyone else sort of went the say they wanted as well, and Michaela indeed went into elimination - but against Tiffany (which I was already expecting because of all the attention she got in the beginning of the episode).

Honestly, the elimination was really hard to watch because I felt like the producers were mocking Tiffany for not being able to get any point, and I just felt bad for her. And yes, she lost and Michaela won and, when she thought she was going to wreck havoc in the Blue Team... Plot Twist!

From now on it's an individual game and I'm really happy with that! Now everyone has to show how strong they are and they can't hide behind a strong team. Love it!

So, let me know what you thought of this past couple of episodes, did you feel bad for Tiffany? Did you prefer the Teams game? Tell me everything and I'll see you tomorrow!

Love,

Daniela