Episode 10 : Viking Quest 2

Johnny and Camila may be our champions (as was accurately predicated by The Sack), but this finale was not about them.   And it wasn't about Emily and Ty either.   Our tragic hero Christopher Tamburello stole the show and his journey through an Icelandic Glacier was heart wrenching.

I have a few issues with the show that I'd like to get out of the way right here.   First off, the first part of Viking Quest was a complete waste of time.  I don't even think TJ acknowledged the time difference between the three teams going into Day 2.  Why bother with that nonsense?  I know they needed to stretch it out into two parts, but they could have at least given us an actual component of the competition in Part 1.   My other issue is with the editing of the episode.   I just think it was very misleading and at times confusing as to which team was where and how big the leads were.

But with that out of the way I have to give MTV credit for putting together an extremely rigorous Final Challenge.  I can't believe 6 people were able to complete a 12 mile hike in sub -10 degree temperatures.   It seems almost impossible that no one would have been injured in the final episode.  I also couldn't help but think about the camera men following the competitors.  I mean how many people were out there in the wilderness facing the elements.  Pretty Unbelievable.

The Challenge began with seemingly each competitor starting at the same time and racing towards their Fourth Checkpoint, A Viking Meal.   At the meal there was a Cow's head, some blood and shark bitters.  What the F are shark bitters....

This provided some of the best visuals in Challenge history as CT slammed back a horn full of cow blood.   CT/Diem ripped through it, but didn't create a ton of separation.   They were maintaining a decent lead, but the other two teams were lurking.

They then had to retrieve Snowshoes and Poles and find a way to put them on and proceed up the mountain.   This was the first sign that CT was starting to slow down.  He had a real tough time putting on the shoes and allowed the other two competitors to pass them.

After that they had to solve  a puzzle involving 40 lb wood logs.   CT and Diem got to the puzzle third, but burned right through it.   Unbelievable job by Diem.  As good as CT was at downing cow blood, Diem was at solving this puzzle.    Most importantly here though, Ty and Emily were completely unable to solve the puzzle and had to wait for the 30 minute time limit to wind down.  This essentially ended Ty and Emily's game.

But this gives us an opportunity to look at two things.  First off, I think Emily and Johnny were the two MVP's of the Final Challenge.  I couldn't believe how dominant Emily was.   I think if you took the puzzles and partners out of the equation and Emily would have finished first.  I'm not ready to put all the Ty questions aside because I think Ty and Emily were further behind than was shown and he wasn't really tested.  But again if they lost 25 minutes on the puzzle and were still that close - either they are super human or the other two teams were going backwards.   I also would have liked to have seen how Johnny and Camila solved the puzzle.  Wish there was an unedited version of the Challenge somewhere.  How long were they really out there?  Because if Ty and Emily lost 30 minutes on the puzzle and were as close as they made it seem - it had to have been a 4-5 hour challenge.   And they told us last week that there is only like 4 hours of sunlight.

So it was now a 2 horse race and CT and Diem were surging ahead.  CT had a 40 lb log strapped to his back as they approached the next checkpoint.   Each team had to use ice picks to open up a burrowed tunnel and crawl through it. "CT was an animal digging into the snow" said Johnny.

I loved watching CT peer out of the hole.  Again - CT and Diem extended their lead, but it was ever so slight.  For all of the CT commendation, Johnny and Camila just hung right behind them and stayed on their tales.

They raced ahead to the next challenge which was a Jenga-esque puzzle that Diem did a nice job of solving. Again - CT and Diem maintained a decent lead as they trekked on to the last puzzle.   There seemed to be a little mystery as to whether or not this was it.

But at this point - you could tell CT had nothing in the tank.  He was struggling.  

Johnny and Camila were stalking their prey and it was only a matter of time before they passed them.

If you noticed on their packs - it did appear that each competitor had water and/or oxygen attached to them.   CT kept taking hits of it and it would certainly make sense that they'd have to have oxygen racing up a glacier that high.   It also did appear that the girls and lighter people had a distinct advantage with the snow.  I don't know if that was the producers trying to make excuses for CT, but he probably has 60-70 pounds on Johnny and the girls seemed to be having a much easier time.   When was the last time we saw 3 of the 4 top competitors on one of these things be female.  Emily destroyed it and Diem and Johnny were probably the next two best.   Was CT a bit of a dog?  Did his poor cardiovascular strength do him in?  Or was there an actual disadvantage to being heavier?

I think if we are being fair it has to be a combination of the two.   CT didn't seem to keep much in the tank.    I want to make an excuse for him, but I just think he wasn't prepared.   All season I said that it didn't look like he was in the best shape of his life and i think it came through on the Final Challenge.

CT and Diem raced to the last puzzle.  Johnny and Camila seemed to be closing in.   But again Diem was able to solve the puzzle in short order and give them a chance.

They made the final two climbs very dramatic, but it was never really in doubt.  CT had 0 in the tank and it was only a matter of time before they were passed.

Johnny and Camila eventually got to the top and sounded the Viking Horn.  TJ was there to greet them and if you listened carefully you could hear a helicopter above.

Congrats to Bananas and Camila.  But a sad day for CT, who becomes a modern day Charles Barkley looking for a ring.

Can't say enough about Emily who looks like one of the strongest female competitors of all time.   I particularly enjoyed when she asked Ty if he wanted her to carry the 40 lb log.

Not the best season of all time, but an enjoyable one and a satisfying if not gut wrenching conclusion.

More analysis to come tomorrow.... but feel free to chime in.  Thanks for reading all season.

A look ahead to the Season Finale

Absolutely nothing to be gained from the preview from the season finale.   We hear that there are three teams remaining and we see the same clip of them climbing up the glacier.   Worth noting that it appears they are wearing snowshoes up the glacier, so at some point they're going to acquire that piece of equipment.

It also looks like CT is in 2nd place, pretty high up the mountain when he says "This is do or die time".

I produced power rankings leading up to the first part of the season finale.  We did them assuming that Mark and Robin would be eliminated, but keeping them in it just to be safe.

I still think the favorites and underdogs remain the same.

So far it doesn't look like anybody has been affected by the cold anymore that anybody else.   But only time will tell if the sleeping conditions are a big advantage.  On the surface you'd think it would be a big difference sleeping with a heater vs without a heater.  But air mattress vs yoga mats is kind of silly.  Air mattresses can be very uncomfortable and a nice hard surface is great for your lumbar.  But I just can't imagine a situation where one of these teams is sleeping without a heater.  Its -30 degrees out there... I don't care what kind of clothes they put you in - if your skin is uncovered in -30 degree conditions you'll get frost bit within a few hours.

Here is a snippet from the National Weather Service:

How long it takes you to develop frostbite will depend on the conditions. For example, if it's 0 degrees F with a wind chill of -19 degrees F, you could be frostbitten in 30 minutes, but if its -15 degrees F with a wind chill of -55 degrees, you could get frostbite in as little as 5 minutes

Do we really think they are sleeping out in these conditions.   Come on.

My gut still tells me that Ty is the most likely to dog out, but I'm also going to put Diem up there as well.  Something tells me she isn't going to handle the cold very well.  With Emily being a Colorado native, she "loves the cold", but with Tyrie in tow - I still dont trust that duo.

Should be an interesting final.  Sackapotatoes is setting the odds thusly:

Johnny/Camila : -110 to win
CT/Diem: +120 to win
Ty/Emily: -+160 to win

Episode 9 : Viking Quest Part 1

Mixed bag of an episode for me as we wind down to crowning a champion.  The highlight of the episode and one of the highlights of the season was the X battle between Johnny and Mark.   But before we got to that battle of the titans, Camila was able to put away Robin in short order.  Robin with a pretty big size advantage displayed very little fight and even less veteran savvy in getting swept 2-0.   Credit needs to be given to Camila who is "absolutely fearless" and matches her partner Johnny in just having a knack for these things.  Also important to note that there is a 75% chance that Robin has some kind of mental deficiency.  I don't know a ton about Postpartum depression - but I feel like this is what it should look like.  Robin is just a mess of a human being and really needs to rethink her participation in the show.   I'm sure young Ethan will be overjoyed to watch re-runs of his mom in 20 years.

Then we got to the main entree - Johnny vs Mark.  A "David vs Goliath battle if we ever saw one" according to CT.   I really didn't understand that statement as I think Johnny had to go in as the prohibitive favorite.   But according to CT - Mark is 6'5", which if true would have to put Mark at something along the lines of 6'5" 240 with 1% body fat.   Personally I can't imagine, but I guess we can never truly know.   Johnny definitely was at a size deficit, but considering Mark had never been in a Challenge and Johnny is a multiple time champion and I liked Bananas chances.  I also think Robin put a tremendous amount of pressure on her teammate by not putting up much of a fight against Camila.  Not only did they go in already down 0-1, but he knew he needed to beat Johnny, win a coin toss and save enough energy to beat Johnny in the Tie Breaker.  

My favorite part of this Dome was the outside reaction.  Early in the game we see 15-20 people outside the Dome rooting on our heroes.   But being down to only 4 teams and having 2 of them in the Dome it was only 4 people's reactions we were gauging as each match roared on.   CT literally couldn't control his juices, bouncing back and forth and screaming non-sequiturs and sports cliches.   While Emily pulled out her hair muttering to herself, "I don't even know who I want to come back".    In the end, Johnny once again proved himself to be freakishly good at these things, getting the leverage on Mark 2 out of 3 times to bring home the win.  "If someone had to do it to him, I'm glad it was me" said Johnny as he vanquished his best friend in the game.

We got a very touching Mark montage as he once again announced this would be his last competition.  I'll believe it when I see it, but hopefully turning 40 does allow Mark to turn over a new leaf in his life.   Amazing to hear him talk about his journey on the 1995 Road Rules! That is insane.   And my personal favorite moment of the montage his punching the roof explosion on The Duel 2.

After our 6 finalists were named, TJ quickly announced that they would be heading to Iceland for the final challenge.   Johnny very cleverly decided to shower everyone in the room with ice.   If I was Ty I would have punched him in the face.  

Now the journey from the Dominican to Iceland is not a direct flight, so you have to assume there was at least a day of travel.  And then once they got to Iceland they were given 24 hours to enjoy the country.  It looked like that might have been creative editing and they may have actually given them 48 hours.  But needless to say between the jet lag, the travel and the temperature change this couldn't have been a terribly enjoyable journey.

We fast forward to the 6 teammates enjoying their time out in Iceland, followed by an unparalleled group dick ride.   Never in my life have I heard 6 people shower so much praise upon each other.  And of course we get the always necessary "these are the 3 teams that have grown the most in their relationship".... stop it.

Each team was given a massive amount of gear and you knew this was going to be an outrageous last competition.  When its -20 degrees out - you can barely breathe in the conditions let alone run in them.  So I was excited to see how the whole thing would play out.

As time wore down on our hour episode it was quite clear that this would not be the finale.   And when they showed there would be an overnight campout - we all had to know we were staring into the barrel of a to be continued.

So we begin to see the format of the Final Challenge, 2 challenges, an overnight campout, followed by 5 more challenges.  Each with a break in between and then we add up all the times and the team with the best time would be crowned our champions.  Look it makes sense on a variety of levels.  We couldn't have the competitors meandering far away from each other unsupervised on a ridiculous glacier.   And if they pushed themselves to hard for to long in those conditions, they could very likely die.  But lets be fair.  We can't feel the cold and it does seem like a very uninteresting challenge.   It doesn't seem terribly rigorous.   And so far it seems more like luck than anything else as to who is in first place.

The first challenge was a dog sled competition, where clearly the dogs were already trained and I don't think the competitors had too much impact.  Not to mention the fact that there was only a 9 second difference between first and last place, and it looked like Ty and Emily trailed by quite a margin.  And then the second challenge was a dip into what I'm sure was extremely cold water.   Yes its insane and it seemed like hypothermia was very much a real possibility.   But it was between 17 and 19 seconds of misery, followed by some time in a nice warm van.  I'd much rather do that then run 20 miles up a giant hill.  

The jury is still out as there are 5 challenge left to go, but when you break up the events and do a Tour De France esque timed deal - it takes some of the fun away for me.

The frozen dip was essentially a 3-way tie and it finished in the exact same order as the dog sled.  The dog sled, which appeared to be the easiest challenge in history had 25x more impact on the overall challenge then the frozen water dip.  A New York Jets / Tim Tebow esque stunt by The Challenge producers.

CT and Diem go into the overnight in first place and get to sleep on an air mattress and with a space heater. Ty and Emily (they must have some kind of heater, right?) go to bed with just a yoga mat separating them from the tundra.

Happy to have another episode, but the jury is still out for me on the Final.

What did everyone think? Are you disappointed with the format of the final?

Power Rankings : Final Episode Edition

We are 2 days away from the culmination of a season of challenges, domes and emotional breakdowns.   And coincidentally enough probably the two most emotionally unstable competitors (Camila and Robin) are still alive and kicking.

Mark and Johnny's teams should probably be 3 and 4 on the power rankings on the sheer fact that they still have to get past each other in a Dome.   But for the purposes of this exercise we are completely taking that out of the mix.  The goal here is to figure out which of these 4 teams have the best chance of winning the Final Challenge.

I think my personal power rankings will surprise you.   But I think its really apparent that any of the four teams can win and these were clearly the four most powerful teams throughout the season.

4) Ty and Emily - I know this is going to bother some people, but the final challenges usually involve extremely long runs.   They are very different than the rest of the game and I think the veteran competitors have figured that out.  I don't know if relative newcomers Ty and Emily really know what it takes to win one of these.   They are definitely the most physically imposing challengers, but this is going to be about running and solving puzzles. When the money is on the line - it still seems to me that Ty is the most likely of the 8 people remaining to dog out.  You are only as strong as your weakest link in these.

3) Robin and Mark - For all of Robin's shortcomings, she has shown the ability to run long distances in the past.   A lot of times these females have more lungs than the bigger stronger males.   I don't think Robin is going to be a huge liability if they get there.  She looks more fit to me, she has clearly lost weight and something tells me Robin is going to be able to run for days.  Obviously she is about as smart as a package of thumb tacks, but Mark should be able to solve the puzzles with relative ease.

2) CT and Diem - This team has really come on strong and seems to be getting along really well.  And while they are strong in most of the key areas - there are some question marks.  If the situation gets hairy are they going to be able to keep it together?   They've proven to be a fiery duo in the past and in one of these Final Challenges there is going to be some adversity.  Diem does appear to be someone who can run for a long period of time, but she is mentally weak.  CT is an awesome competitor, but he is a really big guy that doesn't appear to be in the greatest shape of his life.   And the biggest question for me - who is going to solve the puzzles for these two.  Neither are Robin-esque idiots - but neither are geniuses either.

1) Johnny and Camila - They've been really strong all season long and both are just athletic people with a knack for doing well in these things.   Camila's long distance running isn't a certainty, but there is no reason to think she isn't in the appropriate shape.   We've seen Johnny run these things in the past and he is always real strong and able to pick up the slack for his partner.   (Another reason I'm not huge on Ty and Emily - if they have to carry a 50 lb sack, Ty isn't going to be able to help out Emily the way the other guys will) And puzzle wise - outside of Mark - there is no one else I'd rather have than Johnny.  They just seem to be the most complete team to me.

Anything can happen in a final challenge.  I wish Easy E was here to have a heart-attack in the snowy mountains of wherever the heck they are going.

What do you guys think?  Who is your favorite to win the Final Challenge?

Episode 8 : Feel the Burn

Penultimate episode for the Challenge and I think it was a pretty entertaining one.   My suspicions have largely been confirmed that Aneesa/Rachel were the reason for the lack of physical competitions in this season's version.   I think they were one of the main reasons for the slow start, so once again I'd like to thank them for being eliminated.

We begin where we left off last week.  CT and Diem with a decision to make about who to throw into the DOME.   And what a shock, but Diem got her way and threw Paula and Dunbar in.  I don't know how I feel about TJ's editorial comments that it was the dumbest decision in Challenge history.  First off, it was most certainly not.   And second off, TJ has been doing a lot more of this the last few seasons.  He really injects himself and his commentary on to the game.  I guess when you've been hosting this thing for 10+ seasons you've earned that right.   Look if it was Dave Mirra doing it - I'd have a real problem, but TJ has earned the right.    Now as we went over at length I certainly didn't agree with the decision, but I thought CT had an interesting comment about it.  Basically saying he'd rather throw in another team, but it doesnt make a difference and keeping Diem happy was his number 1 goal.   A mature Christopher Tamburello.

The Dome event was a strong one and god only knows why they waited 8 episodes to get this bad boy in the rotation.  Far more entertaining then the 3 domes we had seen before.   Basically you run back and forth in a confined space retrieving balls from one end and putting them on the other.  A classic Challenge game, but one where if contact is made - its just fine.  I couldn't believe 300lb Dunbar decided to play the game straight up.  I'm equally amazed that he almost won.   But with your Challenge life hanging in the balance, knowing that Paula has no chance against Emily - how do you not use your biggest asset?  Your massive girth.   Dunbar was neck and neck, but as the 5th ball was being retrieved he realized he was a little bit behind.   He tried to lower his shoulder, but Ty essentially spun out of it and won it going away.   If I'm Dunbar - I'm steam rolling Ty every time I pass him.  Make him think twice about running as fast as he can.   Emily smoked Paula and bye bye Walnuts.   Can't say I'm sorry to see them go.   Can say I'm sorry to hear people refer to Paula and Dunbar as a "Great Endurance" team.  Did anyone else see Dunbar shirtless?  I thought they invited Vinny back into the house.

Not much doing in the house this week as everyone was pretty consumed with not going home this late in the game.   So lets dive right into the competition.  Basically they used a private jet to have the jet engines blow on the competitors as they tried to move items from one side of a field to another.

CT and Diem as the power couple were able to set the order and took full advantage by throwing a curveball.   They didn't show it, but if you are CT and Diem how are you not making a deal with Ty and Emily.  If either of us win we throw the other 2 guys in.  It wound up working that way, but I was disappointed they didn't come to a more ironclad agreement.

CT and Diem threw Johnny and Camila in first, followed by Mark, then Ty, then themselves.  Camila nearly started crying before the game over the idea of having to go first.  Don't really know what she was so unhappy about, but it really rattled them.   Johnny didn't seem to have much of a strategy so the ducking under the "jet-wash" (a term used at nauseam) that everyone else employed really did them in.  So they came in last place and are automatically in the Dome.

Mark and Robin were a little better and Ty and Emily a little bit better after that.   Ty seemed to be the only guy to lose an item, doing it twice, but he was able to easily recover.   CT and Diem absolutely eviscerated the competition (according to TJ, I thought Ty/Emily looked closer then they made it seem) and were the power couple on back to back days.  

Now the biggest decision of the game so far was whether to throw Mark and Robin or Ty and Emily.   Personally, I think it should have been a moot point and CT/Diem should have teamed up with Ty and Emily.  And maybe they did and we didn't see it.   But the show led us to believe there was no agreement and a huge decision was to be made.

Do they throw Ty and Emily and guarantee one of the two strongest teams going home?  Or do they throw Mark and Robin - the team that had done nothing since they had been there?

They wound up throwing in Mark and Robin and I'm not sure if that was the right decision.  I think if there is no alliance you have to throw Ty and Emily in.  This is about winning money and you have no moral obligation to do the right thing.  

The only other excuse would be to throw them in to try and get rid of Robin.   What in god's name is she talking about and why is she crying so much.  Stop it.

I also was wondering if Mark really had never been in an elimination challenge?  They made it seem like it was a fact, but I doubt that MTV has the Elias sports bureau people pouring over Stats back in MTV headquarters.

Thats the big question - Did CT and Diem do the right thing?  Do you take the moral high ground or try to win the fat cash.... take it away commenters.

A look ahead to Episode 8

We were left with a cliff hanger heading into Episode 8 and we will most certainly begin right there.   During the preview TJ says "Undoubtedly one of the dumbest decisions in Challenge history".   Now those are very strong words.    I know TJ gets offended when teams are being repeatedly picked on and I know I criticized the potential sending in of Paula / Dunbar - but I don't think any of these picks would constitute the dumbest decision in Challenge history.

For those Survivor fans in the readership, last week on the Show the winning team actually sent themselves into the elimination.   I don't think CT and Diem would do something like that - but I think it bears mentioning in this space.

My gut tells me that Diem got her way and Paula and Dunbar will head into the Dome to face Ty and Emily.   And TJ is right that it is a very stupid decision, but he is being a little over dramatic with that proclamation.   I think Paula and Dunbar are going to be very hard pressed to come out of the Dome.   Paula is completely psyched out by Emily and Dunbar is just not an elite guy that will put Ty to the test.

So lets go forward assuming we have 4 teams left in CT, Mark, Johnny and Ty's teams and we will be eliminating one more couple before the Final challenge.   Sadly, I think we are looking at another cliffhanger this week, but time will tell.  Rarely do they send home to 2 couples via 2 Domes in one episode.

It looks like this week's challenge is going to be a page out of Top Gun as Mark so succinctly put it in the preview.   Each team will have to run to retrieve some kind of outdoor patio set and then move each piece of the set from one side of a field to another.   The catch being that there will be a private jet blowing air at them as they try to do it.   It appears to be a pretty difficult task as the preview shows Camila being thrown about 10 feet as she tries to move a lounger.

Diem and CT should have choice of order.   So you'd think the winner of the Dome will go first, followed by  Johnny/Camila then Mark and Robin and finally CT and Diem.  We also see in the preview that Diem employs a crawling maneuver to try and mitigate the effect of the Jet wind.

My other perspective is that the heavier competitors should benefit from the event.  Girls like Camila and Diem could have issues being so light.  

I think Emily and Ty should do well in this, but if they're going first like I've projected they are going to be the guinea pigs and that's rarely a good recipe.   I don't think they will win, but I'd also be really surprised if they were the bottom couple.

There would be a measure of sweet irony if Diem and CT were the bottom couple and I think they are certainly a competitor for the spot.   Going last should help, but I just cant stop myself from picturing Diem getting thrown by the wind and completely mailing it in.  Johnny and Camila are the other couple I'm considering, but Camila just has more of a will to win.

The power couple I think could be Mark and Robin.  They are both pretty fast and they are both pretty big.  Thats a nice recipe for this.  I also think CT and Diem won't see them as a huge threat and will put them 2nd to last.

My projection is going to be Mark and Robin for the win and CT and Diem in the bottom.   Ty and Emily will be thrown in by any of the couples if they don't come in first.   You can bet on that.

Of course all this can be thrown off if Paula and Dunbar aren't thrown in or don't get eliminated.  Lots of balls in the air, which should make for a fun Wednesday night.

Agree with the assessment?  Think Ty and Emily's dream run finally comes to an end?  Disappointed in TJ for using such hyperbole?

Episode 7 : Race to the Altar

What happens when a Brazilian and a Cult Member put on a dramatic performance prominently featuring Black Face??  Race to the Altar happens, that's what happens!

Race relations is a topic that Real World has always been very happy to tackle.  Early on before the series became an excuse to watch drunken college kids live their lives, the show prominently tried to discuss social issues.   I think it climaxed in Real World Brooklyn when the Miz, Coral and the guy with the Fro (Malik?) tackled over race.   Miz thought it wasn't a big deal, Coral was incensed.... the dude with the Fro dated a white girl, Coral was incensed and on and on.   But outside of a few flare ups the issue of race never really became an issue on our beloved Challenge.

Now nearly every white person is either an overt racist, or feels obligated to walk on egg shells around the topic.   I'm no different - in fact, I don't even know if the picture above is appropriate.  So I'll take the CT tact here, "I can't pretend to know what you're going through - but I'll try and relate the best I can".

Now with all those caveats - I think we need to take everything with a grain of salt.   We need to take the source.  Emily should have been playing the "I grew up in a crazy religious sect / border-line cult" card until the cows came home.   And Camila comes from a place that is not the USA.  Brazil has very different race dynamics than we have here and its impossible for her to know what is appropriate behavior up here.

I found the scenes largely entertaining.  I think Johnny and CT both did a nice job of calming Ty down and I thought the moment with Ty and Emily outside was pretty nice.   It was clearly a mistake, there was no malice, but Emily offended Ty and at the end of the day that's really all that matters.

I particularly enjoyed multiple house members talking about Emily's jealousy towards Paula correctly predicted on KIWTJ.   But what I enjoyed the most?  The Dunbar/Emily friends by necessity portion of the program.   Highlighted by Dunbar holding a drink and Emily seductively taking a sip out of it.  Where did that come from?

The Challenge was an interesting one.   Clearly took some effort and planning by the producers which we here at KIWTJ applaud.   Each group would create a task.   After each task the last place finishing team would be eliminated.    I don't know if I liked the idea of it being a continuum rather than a re-start after each task was completed, but it certainly enabled the best team to win.  

Ty and Emily are the bottom couple because of Ty's inability to put on a tux.   Not exactly a huge black mark (no pun intended) on their resume.  After that Johnny and Camila were eliminated because they were the slowest to finish a massive amount of cake.   Mark and Robin were eliminated because of their inability to change a tire.   Then we were down to two teams Paula and Dunbar and CT and Diem.   CT's team had a big advantage going in, but he was able to carry Diem across the threshold faster than Paula and Diem.   Good job by CT on the changing of the tire and Diem destroying the cake.  A true team effort.

So our power couple was CT and Diem and we were left with a to be continued about who they were going to throw in.  Not my favorite thing, but we knew it was coming when all those couples were eliminated for off the field behavior early in the game.  

Leading up to the cliffhanger Diem wanted to throw in Paula and CT wanted to throw in Johnny.  Now here is where it gets confusing.   There are two possibilities:

1) I was able to read CT's body language and he was disappointed with who they were about to send in
2) The producers wanted me to think I read CT's body language and its a good ole' fashioned mis-direction.

I should probably re-watch and see how overt CT's signals were.   But I tend to think that Paula and Dunbar are going to be thrown in.

And this is a HORRENDOUS mistake by CT and Diem.  Diem's logic is insanely misguided.  She is scared of Paula?  She doesn't want to go against Paula or Emily?  Does that really matter.  Wouldn't you rather have CT eating Dunbar's dead carcass than struggling against Johnny who has proven to be a weirdly good competitor.   You have a chance to guarantee yourself getting rid of either Ty/Emily or Johnny/Camila.   You take it.  Everything else should go out the window.   You can't be scared of Paula, come on, stop it.

The last thing worthy of discussion was the Bachelor and Bachelorette party for CT and Diem.  I think they touched on it quite a bit during the episode, but Diem was waaaaaay too into it.  And frankly Diem has been looking like a troll this season.   Its like she got a nose job in the wrong direction.  (* Wife quote {and a good one})

Overall a pretty good episode.  Lot to like.

Who do you think CT and Diem are going to throw in?  Who should they  throw in?  Were you offended by Emily's behavior?  More upset about her choice of chocolate pudding on the face?

A Look Ahead to Episode 7

Well there are going to be two themes to this episode.

1) No one wants to go home this late in the game
2) An act so racist that we can't even show it!!

Now obviously the big take away from our episode preview is that it appears Emily inflicts an act of racism on Ty so severe that the MTV producers have decided they can't show it.   I'm desperately hoping that they can't show it on the preview, but WILL be able to show it 10pm on MTV.   The network that aired two seasons of the show SKINS, which was ACTUALLY child pornography and the network that aired Adam Lambert pretending to fellate another man.   So yes, unless Emily burned a cross on Ty's bed - I'm going to want to see this thing.

The big question is whether Ty actually goes home.   He is certainly pretending to do so, but with his muse Paula begging him to stay I find it hard to believe he'll walk away from the chance at 250K.   Emily and Ty are certainly one of the two top teams to beat, so them going home would have quite an impact on the game.

A quick look at the challenge for this week it appears each group will be participating in stereotypical "marriagey" activities with hilarity to ensue.   We see each girl member of the team in a wedding dress, having the man carry her across the beach, some kind of a tire changing challenge and even more carrying.   Needless to say I'm thinking there will be a lot of carrying.

They show Mark trying to change a tire and CT carrying Diem while vowing that he has got this.

It would be natural to assume that size disparity between teammates will actually be an asset for this game.   So guys with bigger girl teammates like Emily and Robin should be at a slight disadvantage.   (this assumes that Emily will not be carrying Ty)

Imagine if Rachel and Aneesa had to complete this challenge.

I think the favorites have to be CT and Johnny.  Both are solid competitors with smaller female competitors.    It'll be interesting to see if anyone has trouble changing the tire.   I could see Ty and Emily struggling in this event.

If CT and Diem become Power Couple for the first time it will be really interesting to see who they throw in. Conventional wisdom would say Johnny, but I've noticed a little bit of a bond growing between CT and Johnny.    That would be a complete wild card in my book.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Ty and Emily go in against Paula and Dunbar with Paula and Dunbar going home.   They are the weakest team left by a wide margin.   The only thing that could disrupt this prediction is the aforementioned racist act of doom.

Should be interesting.   Who do you predict will go home?  Will you swear off the Challenge if you dont get to see what happened?

Episode 6 : Lube Me Up

Oh Rachel's hair... how I will miss thee.   Strongest effort of the season thus far in my opinion in Lube Me Up and hopefully Battle of The Exes can finally start to find its groove.   I think my feelings for Paula are pretty well documented, so imagine my surprise when I found myself rooting for Paula in The Dome.  Let me explain my reasoning.

It is two fold.  First and foremost, I couldn't stand to look at Aneesa's ass and Rachel's hair any longer.   But more importantly I felt like including a girl/girl team was a mistake from minute 1.   All season we found ourselves catering to them, making less interesting challenges, less physical challenges and tip toeing around the fact.   Look I don't know if the producers were making a conscious effort to try and decrease the physical component to the show, but with Rachel and Aneesa there they became focal point of my anger about it.

Thankfully this week we did have a Challenge that had a little more jostling, but once again Rachel and Aneesa were a problem.  Luckily, they couldn't figure it out - but I really don't understand how the structure of the game was fair.  If Rachel and Aneesa were smart about it (amazingly it didn't seem Rachel wrapped her head around the dynamics of the game) they could have been teaming up on people all day long.   If Aneesa grabbed a ball, while they waited for the last person up the hill, they'd have had 2 people against 1 and could have easily taken both balls up the hill.  Luckily the sanctity of the competition never came into question, but once again the game was skewed because of Rachel and Aneesa.

But we don't have to worry about that any longer as Rachel and Aneesa were sent packing.   Johnny Bananas once again showed himself as a beast, consistently being the first up the hill in the male competition. I will echo Paula's sentiment from early in the game ... I don't know why Johnny is good at all these weird competitions, but he just seems to have a knack for them.   CT was close behind in the male category, but interestingly enough the power couple came down to the females.   Diem vs Camila and it was a really well fought match-up.  Camila emerged victorious, but that didn't stop Diem for patting herself on the back all the way to the silver medal.

Paula came in last place, falling at the hands of Emily - which put them in the Dome.   But for me the most relevant component of the Challenge was Ty dogging out once again.  First guy eliminated and he just didn't seem to be trying very hard.  Mark didn't have much juice, but pretty easily was able to wrestle the ball out of Ty's hands.  Once again - we have to question TY's ability to complete the final mission.  (I will say I'm extremely excited for Ty's calls of racism on the preview for next week).

Once again we had a repeat of the Dome with the rubber band game.  Not the most exciting competition and kudos to Paula for hanging in.   Also Dunbar came to play, but lets be fair if he loses in a one on one versus Aneesa he needs to kill himself.

Off the field of play - we had some good old fashioned fun in the Dominican Republic.   My thoughts on Diem were pretty well documented yesterday, but I was happy to hear CT echo my sentiments that she is a big time nag.  I also was maddened by Diem saying "I'm happy I broke up with you - I have no regrets" and then crying when CT answered with his family never liking her.  You can't talk shit and then cry when someone talks shit back.   You can't hit low blows and then complain when someone does it back.  Diem, stop it!

The continued romance of Ty and Paula, made me sick - but good job by  Ty really putting the pressure on Paula to put out or shut up.  I love the other housemates responses that after they hooked up "Paula's boyfriend is going to be pissed".  You think?? Really, they had made out on national tv, but he would have been fine until they went to bed together?

I also thought it was pretty telling that Emily seemed a wee bit jealous, dare I say?  There was just a tone there when talking about "them doing the things we used to do" that struck a chord.

Really enjoyed Johnny talking about walking that line between being a good, compassionate partner and not giving Camila the wrong idea as he  makes out with her.   I know Johnny is just protecting his livelihood, but last time I checked making out hasn't historically been a necessity in the partner relationship.

Lastly, really miss Abe.

Really strong effort this week, enjoyed the episode.

If you're a fan of the blog, please link to it in facebook and if you can do it early in the day. : )

Any thoughts on the episode?  Impressed that The Sack correctly predicted Rachel and Aneesa going home?  Was anyone happy that Rachel and Aneesa were in the game and are going to miss them?

Chime in!