Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The Challenge: Rivals - Same Stuff Different Season

When I got back from vacation and checked my DVR I was ecstatic to find that the first episode of Rivals was waiting for me!  I had forgotten that the premiere was one while I was gone.  If you remember from my earlier post I LOVE this show.  I guess Real World/Road Rules Challenge was too much of a mouthful because for the past several years it has been shortened to simply "The Challenge" with some tag to designate the season: rivals, cutthroat, fresh meat, the gauntlet etc.

The first episode was all I had hoped for and more!  The contestants show up and immediately find out that  they will be in teams of two and that their partner will be none other than their biggest rival (hence the name of the show).  Host TJ Lavin then went on to explain the rules of the show, which, as I predicted, were confusing and complicated.

What is always baffling to me is how the same situations happen season after season even though the people keep changing.  It's as if none of the returning contestants remember what happened in previous seasons and none of the new players bothered to watch the show before coming on it.

Example #1: On the very first night everyone gets completely trashed.  This has never not happened.  One of the rookie players got pulled into an argument with another guy who was making fun of him.  Everyone in the house is holding the rookie back and telling him to just let it go, but does he listen?  No.  He punches the other guy and immediately gets sent home.  Dummy.  I have gone my entire life without punching anyone, he couldn't even make it 24 hours.  While running to punch the other guy he also manages to knock over one of the girls who lands on her head on the concrete floor.

Example #2: Mandi (who is relatively new to the show, I think this is her third season) starts talking to CT and flirting with him.  Then in her confessional segment, she starts talking about how CT is so hot and how she likes him a lot yada yada yada.  Obviously she has never seen CT on television before.  If they pieced together all of the MTV clips of CT when he was not drunk, or punching someone, or yelling at someone or being completely misogynistic, they would have about 5 minutes worth of material.  Should be interesting to see what happens there but I have a pretty good guess it isn't going to go well.

Example #3: Robin and Aneesa, who have to be in their sixties by now with all of the challenges they have done, are targeted to go into the jungle round.  The argument is that they are a strong team and are "the only ones who have a chance" of taking out powerhouse Evelyn who lost the challenge and has to go to elimination with her partner Paula.  (Are you still with me?)  Anyway, Robin and Aneesa are shocked that people are plotting against them instead volunteering to go into the elimination themselves.  Hello.  First of all, they have both done that about a hundred times to other people.  Also, when has anyone ever volunteered to go into the elimination especially on the first episode?  It's just silly.

So not a lot has changed from last season, or the season before that or the season before that.  I guess if you add alcohol to a house full of dummies you are always going to end up with a bunch of crazy people.

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