The Challenge | Season 40 Episode 3 - "A Fatal Era"

Spoiler Alert!

Hey everyone!

Another great episode of Season 40 of The Challenge! This one brought us a ton of those great moments and great things that we look foward to in an episode, starting with eating challenges and ending with a ton of plot twists.

So, I guess we did get a little bit of a introduction to the episode but I would say we jumped straight into the main challenge and the first thing the teams had to do was choose two captains (a male and a female) for each team. TJ didn't tell them what that entitled, not until the end of the challenge, so they had to make a blind choice. They almost went with the ones that won the last elimination but Aneesa wasn't having none of it and I didn't really see anyone else pushing forward with that idea so they just kind of did it randomly. So, for Era I we've got Jodi and Darrell as the captains, Era II we got Derek and Aviv, Era III Tony and Avery and Era IV Kaycee and Kyland.

This week's challenge was pretty exciting! Again, a challenge with multiple parts and that gave us a bit of everything - initally a bit of strenght and coordination with them rowing around the island, then they moved to a good old eating challenge and, this time, I was happy to see that they got vegan options for those that are vegan (as someone who doesn't eat meat, I've always wondered about that, so it's nice to see that they're thinking about that now) and lastly the third part of the challenge was sort of a memory game with them having to put all 40 seasons in order. 

For some reason, I had a feeling this was Era III's so win, and that's what happened. I was pretty happy because both Tony and Avery are some of my favourites, but then Era I got last place and even though Jodi isn't really someone that I root for, I do like Darrell. And then we had Kyland on Era IV that I also didn't want to see up for possible elimination, but all of this changed when we got to the 'Deliberation'.

I didn't really knew that well that Avery and Derek were really big friends (even before The Challenge) so that started a whole thing. Avery wanted to protect Derek but Tony wanted to make a deal with Kyland and Kaycee so they didn't get to a decision and you can guess where that led them, right?! It was up in the air for most of the episode but, at the end of the day, neither of them made a decision and so they went straight into elimination. Definitely not the best case scenario and, even though I love Tony, I have to be on Avery's side for this one. Avery is friends with Derek while Tony has no alliegance to anyone and any of those people. I love Kyland as well but he should've been the one going into elimination and now knowing what the elimination was, I was pretty certain he would've won.

Anyway, so it was Avery and Tony against Jodi and Darrell but, in reality, this was an individual elimination so it was just Avery against Jodi and Darrell against Tony, in a challenge that was pretty physical but it had a lot of thinking as well. And I guess it ended in the best way it could've. Darrell and Avery won! Again, I love Tony, but he was so dumb with his choice so he totally deserved to go home. It's not even a girl power thing (even though I'm all for girl power and Avery just making a point) but it's just dumb to think that she would go against her real life friend... Anyway... So Tony went home and, because karma is a b*tch, Avery won so... Yeah, I'm pretty happy with this outcome. But the excitement doesn't end here.

The episode ended with TJ throwing us another twist - the winners of the elimination pick targets from each team (two targets, a male and a female), and these targets will be the 'captains' for the next challenge which means we already know who's up for elimination overall. Darrell chose the females for each Era and Avery the males and, in the end, this was what they went with: Era I - Derrick and Aneesa; Era II - Laurel and Bananas; Era III - Jordan and Nia; Era IV - Horacio and Jenny. So, with this lineup, it will definietely be a great elimination regardless of who's winning and who's going straight into elimination. These are all really strong players and as far as the girls go, I would say Nia is the one with a bit more trouble but the guys! Damn! Derrick, Bananas, Jordan, Horacio, these are all such strong guys! I'm scared for Horacio, not gonna lie, mainly because all the others have the experience but maybe Era IV will win the main challenge and he will be safe. And speaking of main challenge, next episode is TRIVIA DAY! And I'm so excited about that! I love physical challenges but I always get so excited when it's Trivia Day so let's bring it!

Again, so far so good so let's keep this going! I'm loving this Season and my TOP 3 is still in the game so we'll see... Don't forget to let me know what you thought of this episode - Do you agree with what Tony did? Or are you on Avery's side? Tell me everything and I'll speak with you next week!

Love,

Daniela.

The Challenge | Season 40 Episode 2 - "The Era Invitational, Part 2"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello everyone!

Back for another great episode of The Challenge Season 40!

I must say, they really are doing everything to make this season as iconic as possible - as they should! Not only the Era's theme is already so exciting but they had a great challenge last episode and in this unprecedented episode we had only eliminations. 1 hour full of the most iconic eliminations in Challenge history with some of the most iconic players! If this isn't a great start to a new season, I don't know what is.

So, they completely jump the whole debate thing and the decision and we get straight into the elimination. However, they did something that they have never done before again, they showed some 'flashbacks' from what happened after deliberation in between the eliminations, which was good to spice things up and made it for a not so boring episode (because, let's be honest, what we really want to see are the challenges and eliminations).

Let's go through Eras then... 

Era I ended up being Katie against Aneesa and Mark against Derrick, which was sort of predictable. It didn't keep Aneesa from being mad at Rachel though... And their elimination was Pole Wrestle - a good old iconic elimination. Oh yeah, I completely forgot to mention that this elimination was made out of the 4 most iconic eliminations from the challenge - one for each Era - so Balls In, Pole Wrestle, Hall Brawl and Take Shelter (the one that CT lost against Jay). This was a pretty exciting elimination because we thought it would be easy but oh boy, not really! Yes, Aneesa ended up winning, but Katie put up such a good fight that everyone, me included, were shocked! And the same goes for Mark and Derrick although, Derrick ended up winning which ultimately, was the one that I wanted to win! Honestly, as of now, my money is on three guys to win this whole season and Derrick is one of them. I would actually love for someone from Era I to win just to show that they might be old, but they're still the strongest ones.

Anyway, moving on to Era II, I would say this was the least exciting elimination game (just because it isn't as physical) but everyone played at the same time and there was a lot on the line so it was Cara Maria against KellyAnne and Ryan against Brandon. Obviously I was rooting for Ryan and Ryan ended up winning but, as for the girls, I was pretty torn. I don't necessarily love either of them and part of me was rooting for KellyAnne just because she's the underdog but I also didn't want Laurel to get her way so I wanted Cara to win...  Well, Cara did win at the end so... I guess that's fine. I don't like how Bananas is positioning himself in the game right now so I hope that changes but (spoilers for Era III) with Leroy gone and Tony slightly mad that Bananas was cheering for Leroy so much... I don't know if Bananas is allining himself with the people that I like, but we'll see.

I've mentioned Era III already so you know that Leroy ended up going against Tony and that Leroy lost. This was actually a pretty fair fight. They played Balls In and they have the same physic but Tony was just too strong and honestly, I was rooting for Tony the most. I just feel like his time last season (All Stars season) was cut short and he wasn't able to show what he's capable off and Leroy was supposed to win that All Stars season so... I really want Tony to go far this season. As for the girls, it was Amanda against Nia and it went as we thought it would, sort of. Amanda did manage to score a point but just because Nia wasn't paying attention. Then, Nia just ran over Amanda and she totally beat her. As she should (thank god Amanda is gone).

Lastly, but certainly not least, Era IV was the most epic I would say. Not for the best reasons though because Nurys went against Olivia on an Hall Brawl and lost but because Paulie went against Theo and Theo won! Theo won against Paulie! That was priceless! I'm sad that Nurys is gone though, I really thought she could go far but Horacio and Kyland are still in the game and those are my other two guys that I think can win this whole season. Right now, without knowing a lot, just based on skills (and who I like, let's be honest) I would say Derrick, Horacio or Kyland will win this season. And I'm totally fine with either of them.

But the elimination didn't end here. Everyone went back to the house apart from the ones that were eliminated and TJ introduced something new - the Karma vote. Basically the ones eliminated had to rank from 1 to 5 the remaining members of their respective Era and that will play a part in the future. What, I have no idea, but this makes things interesting. Also, we still don't know how the challenges will play from now on and how the eliminations will be because these were some different eliminations so there's still a lot to figure out. And from what we've seen in the preview those karma votes will switch things up in the game in the future (something tells me they will make new teams, but I hope I'm wrong, honestly). There's still so much to look forward to and I can't wait. I'm sad a lot of my favourite players went home but I still have a lot of people in the game that I like - Bananas, CT, Derrick, Devin, Horacio, Jenny, Kyland, Tony... so many! I'm excited!

So far this season is looking promising so tell me your thoughts on this eliminations only episode - were you surprised by any of the winners? did any of your favourites went home? Tell me everything in the comments and I'll talk to you next week with a brand new episode!

Love,

Daniela.

The Challenge | Season 40 Episode 1 - "The Era Invitational, Part 1"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello everyone!

OMG, it has been ages since I've posted! Do I even know how to do this?!

I planned on ranting about the newst All Stars season but I kept on missing episodes and when I watched them they had been out for a while so I just decided "well, this isn't the main show so I'll just skip it" but this is the main show so I had to comeback for this one. Plus, this is an highly anticipated season - every Era against each other - and I'm so stoked about that!

This post won't cover every single thing that happened in this episode because so much happened (and we didn't even get to an elimination) but I'm going to try my best.

We actually jumped right into everything! The truth is, we know these people, we don't need an introduction. And I'm actually super stoked that, for once, I have multiple people here that I love - Bananas of course, but also Tony, Rachel, Nurys, Mark, Leroy, Kyland, Horacio, Devin, Derrick, Darrell, CT and Jenny is back! So the chances of someone that I like wining is high. However, there's also a ton of people that I don't like and honestly, I don't know which Era I'm rooting for. I would say Era I has the higher number of people that I like but Era IV is a close second, even tho that's also the era that has the higher number of people that I don't like at all! And then there's Era II which is Bananas' era so... It's really a mix, but I'm rambling - let's get to the first challenge.

As I said, they jumped right into a challenge and a big one with high stakes - this challenge will lead to 8 eliminations, one man and one woman for each Era, to eliminate the weak links. That was exciting, and the first ones to finish this challenge - hence safe from elimination - were also pretty good - CT and Rachel for Era I, Cory and Tori for Era III, but unfortunately, even though both Bananas and Horacio won for their respective Eras, Michele and Laurel also won so... It's not all good. 

Then, straight into elimination were the ones that finished last - Mark and Katie for Era I, Ryan and KellyAnne for Era II, Leroy and Nia for Era III and Theo and Nurys for Era IV. This does make for an exciting elimination but it's not the best case scenario.

Everyone else that didn't win is up for elimination and it's the wining pairs that will choose and that's when the animotisies begin, starting off with Cara Maria and Laurel. I used to despise both of them and I wouldn't have cared about this, if it wasn't for last All Stars' season. What that last All Stars season did was make me more sympathetic towards Cara Maria and this whole thing with Laurel is just so annoying. Laurel has always been super annoying but this whole situation is even worst and it doesn't even make any sense for Laurel to  want to put Cara Maria into elimination because she's clearly the strongest female out of the three that are up for elimination - for some reason she was second after Laurel, before anyone else, even before Bananas (and you guys know I love Bananas). 

Someone else that keeps being super annoying is Michele, and her whole 'friendship' with Olivia...  Ugh! Both of them are so annoying and I'm living for the Perfect Trio - Nurys, Horacio and Kyland - love them! Unfortunately Nurys is going straight into elimination, I just hope she goes against Olivia and she wins because she's definitely one of the strongest females in the latest seasons.

Lastly, the third (of many) beefs that happened was the one between Paulie and Theo that honestely, I didn't even remember anymore. Still, Paulie keeps being annoying, I just don't have a big attachment to Theo so I'm not that involved in that drama. Personally I would've preferred Josh to be the one going into elimination against Theo (for sure he would've gone home) but with what we saw, I'm pretty sure Paulie will be the one going against Theo. As for the other Eras, Mark is going against Derrick because Derrick volunteered in order to save Darrell from going into elimination which was cute but kind of dumb at the same time, Katie is probably going against Aneesa, which is making Aneesa pretty angry, Ryan probably against Brandon, Nia will most likely go against Amanda (which I'm all for) and that only leaves KellyAnne and Leroy in the limbo. It looks like it will be Cara Maria and Tony but... I'm not too sure. I certainly don't want any of them to go into elimination so we'll see.

So far I would say this Season is living up to the hype. There's still so much to find out about this season - Will they play as a team? Will they keep going against eachother in the same team? How are the eliminations going to work after these initial ones? We still have a lot learn about this season and I'm excited about that so let's go!

Please, tell me your thoughts on this new season so far and who are you rooting for? I know there are a lot of good players so tell me like your TOP 5 or something. And which Era is your favourite? Tell me everything in the comments and I'll talk to you in a few days hopefully with some good news!

Love,

Daniela