At last, the season is over, it’s done. Double Agents seemed interminable, and Total Madness also dragged on. I’m really hoping they dispense with the skull twist for 37 because it really desiccates the season of any voting or game drama — which is the optimal drama imo 😪
But in terms of PotW, we’re finishing off on a strong note! This week we got 317 responses, the second most since I took over hosting these surveys and write-ups. That’s wonderful 🌞 Thank you to all for contributing to this!
Let’s see what the results said — and I’ll give an update on who managed Top ~10 all season for the categories as well!
Player of the Week
- Amber — 156
- CT — 145
- Leroy — 6
- Kam — 4
- Fessy, Nany, & Cory — 2
and 0 votes for Kaycee
The only surprise here is that Fessy got votes, but we got some contrarians in our midst, so whatevs.
Amber & CT smashed the final. Amber came out of nowhere to be the pacesetter and the person to beat. She really slumbered all season then turned it out in the final, just like the protégée of Darrell she started the game as! CT won his fourth final, becoming one of only three people to win more than 3 seasons of The Challenge. He had some stiff competition on every season he won as well — this wasn’t a Rivals III situation. Congrats to both of them (even though I personally would’ve wanted any of the other teams to win 😐).
Worth noting though — in the ice cave at the end of the first day, Kam and Cory finished their math problem before Amber did (likely because of her dyscalculia). So…. Why did CT & Amber get the 5 minute head start on the second day? Shouldn’t it have been the team that finished their math problems the fastest would be in the lead? No trust, all sus.
[Edit: kshep said their times were averaged together and CT/Amber’s was faster than Kam/Cory’s, so that makes sense. I swear in other finals, the first pair to finish were the first to leave, which is why it’s all about the speed of the slower player. Think of how far Paulie/Natalie would be ahead after the first run on Final Reckoning if their time was averaged instead of simply being determined by Nat’s?]
Regardless, Kam under-performed all final except in the puzzles. After her dominant performance in the last mission, and killing the game all szn long, I was very optimistic for her, thinking she and Cory would be the biggest threats in the final. Yet she just… Didn’t live up to her potential. Kam was neck-and-neck with Nany right at the very end. Not a good look for someone with such a winner’s edgic all szn long. Still, I love her and can’t wait to see her back.
Cory put up another respectful final performance just like on Total Madness. He now has finished second, third, third, second (Bloodlines, Invasion, TM, DA). Hopefully he can get it together in the future and retire on a high note.
Leroy finishes his Challenge career on another finals loss 💔 5 finals without a win — 3rd (didn’t finish) then 2nd then purged out then purged out then 3rd. Not as close as Cory’s gotten, but regardless — Lee stays one of the best to never win. This might have been my favourite Leroy season ever, and I’m glad he had such an impressive showing (5 daily wins!) on his last appearance.
While Kam didn’t quite reach her expectations in the final, Nany surpassed hers. Only her second finals appearance in 10 seasons, but she performed admirably in both. Kudos to you.
Then there’s Kaycee, who likely would’ve flopped again in the final if she didn’t get hurt. It’s a blessing in disguise, if you think about it. But she injured her knee, pushed through the pain, and chowed down on the execrable fare before getting eliminated — and in the fans’ eyes, this is the best, most impressive thing Kaycee has ever done on The Challenge. She showed some actual vulnerability and humanity, crying out for Fessy, and then flexed her grit when she insisted on continuing. Definitely showed her in a heroic light.
And it made Fessy look even worse in comparison. Y’all hate him, but I actually find it entertaining to have this Big Bad who everybody hates and who nobody wants to see in elimination — because heads roll when he’s down there — but who is never a threat in the final. Zach on Free Agents vibes.
Get used to him because he’ll be around for a while yet. The fact he gets people talking — endlessly, incessantly, interminably whining about him — only guarantees he’ll get cast again and again. So if you want him gone, just shut up about it.
All szn long
the top point-getters for PotW were, in order: Big T, Devin, CT, Amber B, Kam, Kyle, Leroy, Aneesa, Theresa
Won PotW three times: Devin, Big T, Amber B
Won 2x: Kam
Won 1x: CT, Leroy, Nany, Kaycee, Cory, Kyle, Aneesa, Theresa
Best Social/Political Game All Szn
The only surprising thing here is how decisively these Black Queens dominated this category.
- Kam — 1291
- Big T — 1093
- Leroy — 395
- Nany — 363
- CT — 355
- Cory — 269
- Kyle — 262
- Kaycee — 227
- Devin — 191
- Darrell — 156
Congrats to all these players! Social game and politics matter, and the skull twist ruins that. The point of the game is to keep yourself out of elimination, so they better cut that skull sh!t out for 37 onwards.
Best Edit
- Leroy — 132
- Amber — 72
- CT — 57
- Cory — 31
- Fessy — 9
- Kam — 8
OMG do I even remember the edit?? Yikes I don’t think so.
Leroy had his last competitive episode ever, so production gave him a Golden Farewell. Amber is the first woman to win on her first season since Sam & Ashley K did, 13 seasons previously, so of course she’ll get that positive light. CT is a fan favourite who just earned a 4th (or 6th counting the Champs spin-offs) W. Cory is also MTV’s Golden Boy, starring on two shows, who managed a second consecutive final. Kaycee persisted through her injury to keep fighting. Nany is another fan fave who had her best season since War of the Worlds 1 (even if it was her most boring one ever), so she deserves praise as well.
And then Kam was highlighted all szn long — and I actually think she deserved more votes here. What I remember most from the episode is her confessional at the end, when she’s tearing up and talking about how she and Lee wanted to win so bad for the people that look like them. She may have even mentioned Black Lives Matter, or maybe I’m filling in the blank, but either way — a pair of two Black players winning The Challenge would have been monumental, especially considering the dearth of Black champs, and especially given the year we all just lived through. Alas, this didn’t happen, but we did get Amber Beast out of it — better than nothing.
And then Fessy got 9 votes because the edit murked him. I see you.
Best Edits All Szn:
Big T, CT, Kam, Leroy, Kyle, AmBer, Devin, Nany, Nam, Aneesa, Cory
Won 7x 🤯: Big T
Won 2x: Kam, Leroy, Kyle, Devin
Won 1x: Amber B, Nany, Aneesa, Theresa
Biggest Misplay
- Fessy — 269
- Nany — 17
- Kaycee — 10
- Leroy & Kam — 5
Fessy sat on a rock in the sun like a lazy lizard instead of helping his injured partner/ride-or-die Kaycee eat the barfy buffet. HUGE misplay omg. I’m surprised TJ didn’t crucify him for it.
Nany’s misplay was… What? Not having great endurance? Bimini voice: “Not a misplay, just a fact.”
Kaycee hurt her knee while running on a gravelly path in a hurricane. Also not a misplay. Leroy & Kam didn’t noticeably f*ck up anything I remember either, besides not hurrying from the last checkpoint to the finish line.
What we are not talking about enough is how Amber B just cannot do math. It’s gonna be her kryptonite going forward, just like Fessy’s eating, Jenna’s eating, Derrick K’s puzzles, Leroy’s swimming, and Tori’s arrogance. She’s lucky it didn’t preclude her winning this time, when I think it… Should’ve? I still don’t totally agree with how CT/Amber got the head start on Day 2 instead of Kam/Cory, when the order they finished the equation was: CT, Kam, Cory, Amber — with Nany thrown in somewhere. Anygay.
All szn
Fessy, Tori, Theresa, Jay, Gabby, CT, Josh, Devin, Nany, Aneesa
Fessy had 1113 total votes for Biggest Misplay all szn — whereas second place didn’t even get 500. Shocking disparity there.
“Won” 3x: Fessy
2x: Aneesa
1x: Tori, Theresa, Jay, Gabby, CT, Josh, Devin, Nany, Kyle, Amber B, [Ashley, if we had this question in the survey for Ep 1]
But it’s also interesting who had the least misplays this szn. For being in 19 episodes, Cory only received 22 votes for Biggest Misplay — fewer than Wes, who was only in 2 episodes where we voted on this. Kaycee similarly played a great game, with only 39 votes all szn. Kam managed fewer than 100 as well — only receiving 77 votes despite making it all the way to the final. Love this for them.
Episode Rating & Fave Momentz
Y’all voted this ep an astounding 8.78 — the highest rating this season! 🤯 Maybe that’s because Casual Fan Fave CT won and/or because the season finally ended? Who knows! 😝
Fave Momentz?
- CT getting his 4th W / CT & Amber winning
- the song choices, especially “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Karma Chameleon”
- karma the edit absolutely burying Fessy
- Leroy’s montage heartfelt last words 💙
- Cory’s quotes — clocking Fessy, checking his fake watch, “I don’t fuck with 6 7 8”
And then some that just got a vote or two that I want to include regardless:
- Amber not falling into the ice cold water from the kayak
- Lee telling Nany to go sleep so he can stay up talking to Kam 💙
- “Kam’s final confession on why it’s so important for her to win for people who look like her”
- [added by Nova] Nany sleep-talking and the subtitle saying “unintelligible” 😂
Also LMFAO at this one in particular: “Not a damn thing, CT won and ruined everything! Retire already!” I’m 100% with you, sis.
Back or Buh-Bye?
This is a mountain of info but essentially, people really want CT, Amber, Kam, & Cory back on 37. They def don’t want Fessy or Kaycee. And for the RW Las Vegas roommates, it’s mixed.
CT — 82.9% yes next szn, 6.7% no, 10.4% maybe on 38
Amber — 88.3%; 3.5%; 8.2%
Kam — 80.8%; 8.8%; 10.4%
Cory — 79.5%; 10.1%; 10.4%
Leroy — 66.3%; 26.5%; 7.3%
Nany — 40.4%; 38.2%; 21.5%
Fessy — 15.5%; 80.1%; 4.4%
Kaycee — 32.5%; 44.8%; 22.7%
—
And with that, we are DONE for the season!! ✨
All data here, thanks to my and Koda’s diligent work: Player of the Week Spreadsheet #employable
Thanks again to everyone who voted and (more so) who read this. Hope I made you laugh a bit, and don’t kill me because I’m not drinking the Kool-Aid. As Nia famously said, “I’m not going to lick [CT]’s dingleberries.” Or as Trishelle quipped, “I don’t give a fuck about [CT Tamburello].”
Catch you on the flip! 🖤
Nova
