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Post by storyteller on Sept 20, 2024 11:24:09 GMT -5
This is so impressive. I don't have all the backstory for the players since I haven't watched recent seasons. But it seemed like Michele had some people who really didn't like her (and based on Twitter she always seems to be in the middle of the drama in her seasons). I thought she'd be targeted early. Her social game is unmatched.
Side note: I forgot Jonna did The Challenge! I watched her on Endurance back on the day lol Yeah, Michele had some struggles in her earlier seasons, but that's largely the function of rookies getting targeted early and often on most seasons. On Ride or Dies, she had Jay (from Millennials v. Gen X) as her partner, and he made boneheaded mistakes that got both of them targeted by Jordan, who is just about the worst possible enemy to have. On USA 2, Michele had finally integrated herself with the vets and had good relationships with the Survivor players too. I think she got caught making too many promises, but she played really well otherwise. On Season 39, she controlled the house for the whole game but got purged right before the final. At this point, I'd say her only true enemy is Laurel, who is perhaps my least favorite player in Challenge history. Laurel really hasn't been in a position to target Michele, and I don't think anyone else really wants to. I just think she'll have to step up eventually with the way the season is going. Okay, I think the Jay stuff is where I saw things blowing up for Michele online. Ugh, Laurel. I've seen enough of the show to know I'm not a fan.
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Post by bbg95 on Sept 20, 2024 11:40:46 GMT -5
Elsewhere, Michele has yet to be targeted on The Challenge Season 40, though it seems like the format will demand that everyone be a target at least once. Right now, all four eras seem to have the mentality that if it's your time to step up, then you do it. And many players have raised their hand when it was time to do so. If you don't step up, and especially if you said that you would and then back out, then your team loses respect for you. I think Michele may actually be the only player in the game that has yet to be a target on the entire cast. I suspect that will change pretty soon due to the aforementioned mentality. Side note: I forgot Jonna did The Challenge! I watched her on Endurance back on the day lol I never know what to make of Jonna. I haven't seen the All Stars seasons that she did well in, but on the main show and the non-All Stars spin-offs (USA 2 and World Championship), I've never been a fan. She plays a very snaky game that I don't care for. Like when she voted KellyAnne in on World Championship (though that did lead to great drama due to KellyAnne's reaction). On her first Challenge season (Battle of the Seasons 2), she guilt tripped her teammate to go in even though it was Jonna's turn. And then on this episode, she whined that her team called a meeting to pressure her into self-nominating rather than to build team cohesion. But it's both. Nobody wants to be a target, but people are still raising their hand when it's their turn (or getting blowback if they don't). Jonna is the only person on her team that hadn't been a target or gone in yet, so it was hilarious when the winner of the elimination picked her anyway.
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Post by storyteller on Sept 26, 2024 15:48:32 GMT -5
I love Rachel for trying to take the rice. Other than that, the episode was kind of boring. I blame the 3 tribe format—it makes everything feel repetitive—and there's only so much drama that can happen at a 6 person tribal. Also, not having reward challenges makes these early episodes drag.
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Post by bbg95 on Sept 26, 2024 20:20:40 GMT -5
I love Rachel for trying to take the rice. Other than that, the episode was kind of boring. I blame the 3 tribe format—it makes everything feel repetitive—and there's only so much drama that can happen at a 6 person tribal. Also, not having reward challenges makes these early episodes drag. I actually liked this episode more than the premiere, but I was pretty low on that. I liked the immunity challenge. I feel like we got a better understanding of the tribes without some "famous" podcast host monopolizing the screen time. Gabe finding the Beware Advantage in the limited time he had to look but leaving it, only for Sam to find it afterward, was pretty entertaining. And TK's exit was fairly memorable. A guy like him should never go home first, but he just played himself out of the game by being too domineering. As for reward challenges, I really dislike them before the merge. They feel pointless.
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Post by bbg95 on Sept 26, 2024 20:27:42 GMT -5
Elsewhere, Michele has yet to be targeted on The Challenge Season 40, though it seems like the format will demand that everyone be a target at least once. Right now, all four eras seem to have the mentality that if it's your time to step up, then you do it. And many players have raised their hand when it was time to do so. If you don't step up, and especially if you said that you would and then back out, then your team loses respect for you. I think Michele may actually be the only player in the game that has yet to be a target on the entire cast. I suspect that will change pretty soon due to the aforementioned mentality. As I expected, Michele did step up to be a target at the end of this episode. So our girl could possibly be in an elimination next week. There's just too much internal team pressure for really anyone to try to avoid being a target forever. I like this format because everyone is at risk at some point. It's not really possible for a big alliance to just dominate the entire game the way that many of the most recent seasons have played out.
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Post by storyteller on Sept 26, 2024 21:12:57 GMT -5
I love Rachel for trying to take the rice. Other than that, the episode was kind of boring. I blame the 3 tribe format—it makes everything feel repetitive—and there's only so much drama that can happen at a 6 person tribal. Also, not having reward challenges makes these early episodes drag. I actually liked this episode more than the premiere, but I was pretty low on that. I liked the immunity challenge. I feel like we got a better understanding of the tribes without some "famous" podcast host monopolizing the screen time. Gabe finding the Beware Advantage in the limited time he had to look but leaving it, only for Sam to find it afterward, was pretty entertaining. And TK's exit was fairly memorable. A guy like him should never go home first, but he just played himself out of the game by being too domineering. As for reward challenges, I really dislike them before the merge. They feel pointless. The immunity challenge was cool. I liked the maze they had to do without looking.
Maybe reward challenges aren't the answer, but I feel like in need more short-term stakes in an episode. Recently, we get a lot of intra-tribe dynamics set up, but there's not always a payoff.
I guess I always feel this way at the beginning of the new era seasons unless there's a player who I think is a lot of fun, like Venus or Marianne or Financial Analyst Emily Flippen.
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