It was only an hour-long episode, and it was only a small portion of the final — AND we didn’t even learn who didn’t make it to Day 2, as TJ teased in the beginning— but nonetheless, we still got 310 responses to this survey. Confusing but I’m not mad!
Filming for Season 37 starts today in Croatia. What we know is that it’ll start as 16 pairs for a cast of 32. Jay broke quarantine, so he was cut. At the end of the hotel sequester, Michelle S and Liv were also dropped. We still don’t know which newbie man didn’t make it overseas. But keep it locked to my Medium article for updates: Challenge 37 Cast Details & Insights
Now onto the survey. It’s a short write-up this week — but actually this time.
Player of the Week
- Bamber — 264
- CT — 33
- Kaycee — 6
- Kam — 3
- Fessy — 2
- Leroy & Nany — 1
Leaving no votes for Cory. Which makes no sense, as he and Kam are currently in second place and I don’t see them falling from there. Kaycee is hurt and Nany’s speed is inferior to the other women — so it should be a clear path to at least a silver medal (again) for Cory.
Fessy deserved zero votes but we have some contrarians up in here. K.
Amber more than doubled her PotW votes this episode, getting 264. That’s massive. I guess she really listened to Darrell’s tutelage, because she employed his exact strategy: lay low and coast to the end, never showing your true abilities until you absolutely need to, and then go all out in the final. It’s what got him 4 consecutive victories, and for Amber, it’s been working too. If the others knew how strong she’d be in a final situation, surely she would’ve been targeted just like Theresa was.
But instead, all season we had to suffer through the pure nothing Amber gave us. She never won a mission (Darrell won trivia, not her) and went into Hall Brawl against Amber M and Big T, both who are 5' tall and smallest women there, while Amber B is 5' 8" and “played rugby.” She underperformed during both mini-finals and never looked that capable in anything… And then all of a sudden she’s setting the pace for everyone in the final, AND she wins the dirt-mound-puzzle mission overall? What???? Colour me shocked.
CT won the guys’ heat, kept up with Amber, and housed the eating portion. Of course he would get votes. It really seems that these two are gonna win the whole thing and… I’m gonna blow chunks.
Kaycee got hurt but still muscled through the pain and started chowing down on the gruesome grub. Total hero moment, especially in contrast to her partner. Maybe people will finally give her some credit for the impressive games she’s played on Total Madness and Double Agents. Not holding my breath though.
Kam has been doing an admirable job in the final too — but I can’t help but feel she’s underperforming? Kam has been the dominant queen all season long, has run two finals before, but all of a sudden she can’t outpace rookie Amber? I’m disappointed. I’m REALLY hoping for a Day 2 surge for Kam/Cory to win the whole thing, but I’m emotionally preparing myself for CT/Amber. Literally the worst case scenario for me. Well, I guess I’d hate CT/Aneesa or CT/Nany winning more.
And then there’s Leroy & Nany… A comfortable fourth place if not for Kaycee’s knee. At least they‘re giving some inspiring confessionals?
Best Edit
- Bamber — 178
- CT — 65
- Leroy — 36
- Kaycee — 10
- Kam & Fessy — 6
7) Cory — 5
8) Nany — 1
Again, Amber & CT are leading here, and I’m not surprised. What I didn’t expect, though, is so many for Fessy (literally why?) and so few for Kaycee, who had the most OTTPP5 moment we’ve seen on The Challenge in a minute. It reminded me of Cirie on the balance beam in Game Changers… Just saccharine.
Lee is getting a great edit, but I credit that to it being his last season and MTV wanting to showcase the fan favourite in the best possible light. Plus, he’s being a great partner to Nany.
As for the rest —Kam was being a good motivator to Cory, especially in the eating portion. And for everything else, I can’t remember, not sorry.
Episode Rating & Fave Moments
This ep was rated 8.10 — the highest since episode seven, pretty much 3 months ago, when Leroy eliminated Jay after he and Kaycee won the cargo-net-suspended-from-helicopter-above-lake mission. I also enjoyed the episode a lot (despite what I view as the inevitability of CT winning another season). I didn’t feel any part of it dragged at all. Looking forward to tonight’s (and also the szn finally ending).
What were the fave moments? I’m expecting a lot of Fessy hate. And yup, I got it, because ~85% of the comments were about Leroy chirping Fessy by calling him a 🐈
Groundbreaking, insightful commentary 🙄🙄
Ok what else:
- Kaycee pushing through the pain of her injury to continue the final
- Amber B kicking ass
- 🤮 montage
- Leroy saying he’s most familiar with testes
- Fessy & CT wrestling over the puzzle capsule
- Lee tearing up before the final started 🥲
also omg: “Fessy looking down on Kaycee as if she was some random off the streets while she cried out for him ‘Fessyyyyy’” 💀
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That’s that on that. Google spreadsheet with results here 📊
Catch you next week for the final survey! (And I may do an end-of-season survey like was done for Total Madness. Jury’s still out on that, we’ll see)
🤓
