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 

The Challenge: USA | Season 2 Episode 5 - "Operation Hat Trick"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello people!

New week, new The Challenge rant. Unfortunately, this episode wasn't nowhere near as good as the previous ones. I'm not saying it was bad, because it wasn't, but it just wasn't as eventful. It was interesting the fact that the Vets got the grip on the game, but I guess that is the same reason why this wasn't as exciting - it was more of the same and, let's be honest, I was having a lot of fun seeing the Vets tremble and kind of be afraid of the Rookies. But back to the episode... 

The thing that I was the most excited about this episode was the plan that the Vets had to trick the Rookies and... Well, it was kind of anticlimatic. It was interesting the whole lead up to it, though... 

So the Green Team won the daily challenge. It was surprising but, for once, they did what Wes thought was the best and, guess what?! They won! Actually, I would do the same. In that case, and having in mind that they had less weight to carry (and even if they had more players/weight, I think I would still do what they did) the smartest way to complete this challenge was to just skip the puzzles and power through till the finish line. Not only it was easier for them (because of what I stated before) but I also think that you can power through easily in a physical way than mentally - in a puzzle if you struggle you get really frustrated and it gets to a point where you just can't think anymore, while in a run/carrying stuff, if might hurt, but I think you can always find it in you to push a little further. Anyway, they powered through and they won the daily. And that's when Wes worked his magic. He was able to turn the game around and make the fight be Survivor against Big Brother instead of the Vets vs the Rookies, which is genious! With that, he was able to get both Chris and Cassidy in possible elimination - both from the Blue Team and both from Survivor. And next comes the great plan that the Vets had (that was fun, but it wasn't as big as I thought it would be).

Because they didn't want to get in between the two groups (Survivor and Big Brother) they decided to pick names out of a hat to pick who they would vote for, and they wouldn't tell each other either, that way no one could point fingers at anyone - smart. But of course, Bananas being Bananas (and even though he was the one to come up with this 'plan') he decided to not do what they set out to do and just voted for Fessy. I don't exactly know what his intent was, but it was fun either way. In the end it really didn't matter because the Hopper picked a girl, and guess what?! The only vote that Alyssa L had, Tori's vote, made her the one to go into elimination against Cassidy.

Honestly, I didn't care really who won this elimination. I was sort of rooting for Alyssa, just because Cassidy kind of got on my nerves this episode with the whole Wes thing (and also because of her little romance with Josh, which I just don't get).

Well, in the end Cassidy won and of course she stayed in the Blue Team.

Not much else happened and the preview for next episode wasn't that exciting either but it's Trivia week! And you know that's my favourite! So, only for that, I'm excited about the next episode. Also, it looks like they will make a move next episode (the Vets, I mean) so let's see whaat they cook this time.

But that's from me for this episode. Don't forget to let me know your thoughts on it and what are your predictions for the next episode? Tell me everything and I'll talk to you pretty soon!

Love,

Daniela.

The Challenge: USA | Season 2 Episode 4 - "Double Crossed and Sidewiped"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello people!

Back with a new The Challenge rant and this was a juicy episode! A lot happened so let's just jump straight to it!

First of all, to which Team did Bananas' switch to? Well, it was sort of anticlimatic but it was what everyone thought would happen - he switched with Cory to the Blue Team. Sort of made sense (after that whole 'fight' they had) and after how this episode ended (I'll get to that in a minute) it looks like the Blue Team is the one to make it to the final so... I believe we'll see a bunch of people switching to the Blue Team.

Anyway... Moving to the weekly challenge, it was a fun one (as you can see in the banner) and, surprisingly, the Green Team was getting ahead (they were pretty much tied with Red) and the Blue Team had no chance at winning, to the point that, in the funniest part of this episode, they decided to throw the last round (aka not having a chance at winning) in order to prevent the Green Team from winning. And when I say this was the funniest part of the episode I mean the part where Bananas just throws his disks to the ground and pretends he just accidentally dropped them. Bananas being Bananas.

In the end, they got what they wanted - Green Team lost and Red Team won - and of course, because the only reason they won was because the Blue Team decided to play defense, they decided to not send any of them into elimination and only focus on the Green Team, and that's when the big arguments started.

Because this was a double elimination week, they knew that both people they nominate will go into elimination, so there was no way to save a guy or a girl, and that just fired up Josh. I have to sort of give him props because he really fought for Wes and Amanda (when all the rookie girls wanted to send both of them into elimination) and he actually won! Can you believe that?! I mean, he was willing to go into Stalemate and possibly go into elimination, and Chanelle from the rookie alliance was willing to do the same but the remaining of her alliance wasn't so Josh ended up getting his way and so Desi and Luis went into elimination. From this point on the only thing left for Desi to do was control who she's going against so she went behing Wes' back and asked everyone on her Team to vote for Amanda - who ended up having 9 votes and yes, she went into elimination against Desi. As for the boys, it was pretty split but because Chris was the one to think of the defense strategy, the Green Team went with Chris and he was the one to go against Luis.

The elimination was a physical one, which is what we love, and it was a good fight. Chris and Luis were almost a good match but Chris was clearly stronger and he ended up winning, but the big even here was Amanda vs Desi which you don't need me to say who I was rooting for, right?! And here the match wasn't as even because you could tell Desi was stronger than Amanda but Amanda put a damn good fight that I almost thought she could be Desi, but that didn't happen. Desi ended up winning and now comes the 'switching teams' part. Obviously Chris stayed with the Blue Team and guess what?! Desi also went to the Blue Team and sent Alyssa S to the Green Team. 

And now the Blue Team looks stronger than never and Wes better hurry up and get to an elimination so he can switch to that team because otherwise he will keep loosing (just saying). Actually, from the preview for the next episode, it looks like the Vets will come up with a crazy plan (to do what I didn't understand) so I'm curious to find out what it is and if it is a way to get Wes to the Blue Team, I don't know... 

Well, this was episode 4 of The Challenge USA (season 2). Let me know what you thought of this episode - do you agree with Bananas going to the Blue Team? Should he have switched with someone else? What do you think is the crazy plan that they're trying to do in the next episode? Tell me everything and I guess I'll talk to you pretty soon!

Love,

Daniela.

The Challenge: USA | Season 2 Episode 3 - "Civil War"

Spoiler Alert!

Hello people!

Back again with another The Challenge rant and this one was so exciting! I mean, it was exciting because it ended well, because if it haven't gotten my way, I would probably be here complaining about it... But that's not the case so let's focus on the good things and let's talk about all the events that took place in this episode, because there were a lot!

First of all, let's talk about the weekly challenge. This was a mix of swimming, endurance and memory challenge, so it was perfect to see who's good at what and to find out a bit more about these rookies (because, let's be honest, there are a bunch of them that we still don't know a lot about). 

It was intense and, at the end, it was a pretty tight race but it all came down to Team Red and Team Blue. Both Teams got the same number of flag right so it all came down to time and, unfortunately, Blue Team won again. This was great dor Tori though, but wasn't great for Bananas who, spoiler alert, was nominated again by the Blue Team. And because the last two eliminations were female eliminations, they were pretty set on sending a guy home this time - perferably Bananas. And here's the situation - I'm loving that the Rookies are finally teaming up and being able to nominate and send some of these Vets home but, let's be honest, I'll always be a Bananas' girlie and I never want to see him sent home, so I'm in this weird spot where I'm so happy for the Rookies but let's not touch my boy Bananas. Well, that didn't happen this time... Tori tried to not get any Vets nominated but Alyssa really shut her up with one of the best parts of this episode, where Alyssa just told Tori that not everything was about her and that was priceless! The look on Tori's face and Fessy even giggled a bit! That was iconic! But moving to the nominations from the other Teams... Well, again, this is when you see who has been doing this for a long time... Although Bananas' was pissed at Cory and Fessy for voting him in, he also accepted the fact that he would be the one to go into elimination, so the only thing to do was get the best opponent and perferably someone from the other Team (Green Team) so all of Team Red decided to vote for a guy on Green Team (and even Amanda joining in because, obviously, she being the girl nominated from the Blue Team, she didn't want to go into elimination, so she basically decided to sabotage her own Team - classic Amanda).

So, moving to the actual elimination, we find out that one person did vote for a girl (which I'm so curious to see who voted for Chanelle and it would've been so shocking and funny if the only girl voted in was the one chosen by the Hopper) but all the other votes went towards guys - Josh, Paulie, Tyler and Monte. Bananas' sort of wanted Monte, to make a big statement but I figured that wasn't going to happen. As soon as I saw that ball come out I knew it was Paulie - he was just the center of this episode and I've been watching The Challenge long enough to know that who they focus on will most likely go into elimination - and that's what happened. Bananas vs Paulie, something that we've been wanting to see for a long time. And the actual elimination was down to Power of Will because it was a version of that game that Bananas' did before against Natalie where they had to keep their arm up for as long as possible.

Well, I guess you can guess who won - Bananas of course! It was a little bit of luck as well but I don't care, I'm just happy that Bananas' staying and cliffhanger - is he going to switch teams?! Of course he is, he said it right at the end of the episode and... That's it. The episode ends like that and we'll have to wait till Sunday/Monday to find out to which team he's going to and who is he switching places with. I'm excited!

Overall, I've been pretty pleased with this season. There was a change in the game with the Rookies finally doing something, the Vets are still showing them why they're vets and there's new games and eliminations that are pretty interesting so... Let's keep this going! In the meantime, let me know your thoughts on the season so far and I'll talk to you next week!

Love,

Daniela.