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Post by MFWalkoff on Sept 15, 2023 0:05:40 GMT
Premieres Thursday 9/14 at 9PM ET, after Big Brother. Available on CBS and Paramount+.
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Post by MFWalkoff on Sept 15, 2023 1:49:03 GMT
Some positive feedback for the first episode:  |
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Post by Navybelle on Oct 7, 2023 1:11:19 GMT
Josh Duhamel is cute but a little annoying (and since I just became familiar with TJ on The Challenge, he seems like he's copying TJ with the raucous laughing at the teams and their fails - he sounds exactly the same). His horn is just dumb.
But ... I like so many of the teams, and their friendships. I like how we get to see more of their downtime and socializing, to see their personalities and some of the bonding.
The sabotage twists really make it difficult, and definitely more interesting. The team who won this past week got to save one of the bottom teams but then had to replace them with another team. Their rationale seemed good, but breaking the news to both teams didn't go well. Different people told each team the same thing: we're hoping you win (which they then shared with each other and found out they'd been told the same). So, there were more hurt feelings than needed.
Some of the games are fun, some are silly, but I'm enjoying this show more than I thought I would.
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Post by Bearcata on Nov 5, 2023 20:27:31 GMT
I just started watching this is so much fun, it is so much like how MTV's The Challenge was when it started. I sincerely wish that some of these games were put back on the flagship show.
Ah....produced by Bunim/Murray that totally explains it. This is the production company that did The Real World, and Road Rules, and still does The Challenge.
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Post by Bearcata on Nov 5, 2023 20:40:44 GMT
Season 1 Episode 1 - "Let the Buddy Games Begin!" - September 14, 2023
Cash Prize is $200,000.
The opening is very reminiscent of older Challenge season with all the cast on the bus riding to the house in some exotic local and everyone getting to know each other. Immediately upon arrival the games begin a Curve Ball. Winners get an advantage by sabotaging a team in the next challenge. The process of deciding who to give the sabotage begins. The two teams that come in last on a Buddy Game automatically go into the Loser's Last Stand against each other. The team that loses has to vote out a team member to go home. Ooooooh...that is nasty. Chicago Finest comes in last on the first challenge and the second challenge. Just goes to show being fit doesn't mean you are good at the small stupid stuff that make up the games. Note: Challenge fans will recognize a certain phrase in the previous sentence.
Loser's Last Stand is Philly Forever vs Chicago's Finest playing Ring A Ding.
Poor Chicago's Finest looks as if they have the worst luck but they win the Last Stand. Philly Forever has to send one team member home. You can play with three people on a team but nothing less. If Philly Forever loses another Last Stand the entire team goes home.
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Post by Bearcata on Nov 5, 2023 20:43:16 GMT
Josh Duhamel is cute but a little annoying (and since I just became familiar with TJ on The Challenge, he seems like he's copying TJ with the raucous laughing at the teams and their fails - he sounds exactly the same). His horn is just dumb. But ... I like so many of the teams, and their friendships. I like how we get to see more of their downtime and socializing, to see their personalities and some of the bonding. The sabotage twists really make it difficult, and definitely more interesting. The team who won this past week got to save one of the bottom teams but then had to replace them with another team. Their rationale seemed good, but breaking the news to both teams didn't go well. Different people told each team the same thing: we're hoping you win (which they then shared with each other and found out they'd been told the same). So, there were more hurt feelings than needed. Some of the games are fun, some are silly, but I'm enjoying this show more than I thought I would. Josh comes across much more extroverted than TJ. Josh is like Bananas. TJ is more introverted. It took him a long time to get comfortable with the camera and was himself. |
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Post by Bearcata on Nov 5, 2023 21:32:04 GMT
Season 1 Episode 2 - "Cornholio" - September 21, 2023 Curve Ball: Find the flag - Team Pride wins a chance to sabotage a team for the Buddy Games. Alliances: Team Pride + Team Chicago's Finest
Sabotage: Team Pride sabotages Team OK, they will have only 3 bags instead of 5 for Cornholio (combination of Cornhole and Rope on a String)
Buddy Game: Two legs. Team Chicago wins, and Team Pride wins their legs. Final winner is Team Chicago. Losers are Team OK & Team Philly.
Loser's Last Stand: Team OK vs Team Philly - a race and a ball through a tower challenge and Team Philly wins, Team OK loses a member.
You are getting to know the teams, the Buddy Games are fun and messy with either falling into water or jumping into mud. The Curve Balls are fun so far, the most difficult decision being who do you sabotage. The rest is straight up competition. Picking the person to go home is emotional.
The teams have been bonding and alliances are being made. There looks as if there may be a crack with the Pageant Queens with one playing the strategic side too hard.
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Post by Bearcata on Nov 6, 2023 5:04:57 GMT
Season 1 Episode 3 - "It's Prom Night, Baby!" - September 28, 2023 Curveball: Whomever is voted the King or Queen of the Prom gets to sabotage a team in the next Buddy Game. The teams are voting in blocks. Team Derby votes for one of its own. The Pageant Queens vote for Summer of Team Pride. Team Pride wants Devi of Team Pageant Queens to win so their hands are clean in the sabotage. Team Pride gets Team Chicago's Finest to vote for Devi. Rumors go around the room that Devi wants the vote so she gets a lot of votes. Devi never planned this but her own team does not trust her and thinks she may have planned it behind their backs. Team PQ's is also upset that Devi might be making deals with other teams on Team PQ's behalf and not telling them. Buddy Game: Soccer in big bouncy suits. Devi sets up the teams: Chicago vs Pride, Derby vs OK, PQueen vs Philly. Chicago, Derby, & PQueens lose and go to the Loser's Last Stand. Loser's Last Stand: The teams must move a basketball through a fence with a shovel and another basketball between their legs. Then bounce the basketball into a cup, put another cup on top of cup 1, repeat, for a total of three cups. Team PQ loses and they vote of Devi. Lots of harsh words were exchanged.
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Post by Bearcata on Nov 6, 2023 6:56:47 GMT
Season 1 Episode 4 - "Buddy Betrayals" - October 5, 2023 Team Pride is allied with Chicago's Finest and Philly Forever, they notice that Team OK and Team Derby are close and that might be dangerous to them. At least one person really gets the strategy in this game. Curve Ball: none Buddy Game: lots of running, being dumped in cold water, smashing blocks of ice, wearing frozen clothes. First team to jump in the lake wins a sabotage. Run in two heats of three teams, the last team will automatically go into the Last Stand. It's Philly Forever and the Pageant Queens.
Sabotage: The winning team can save one of the teams that is in the Loser's Stand but must put in another team.
Team Pride decides to save Philly Forever with the promise that Philly will never sabotage them and will stay loyal to Pride. Team Pride also tells Pageant Queens they will not be saved and that they will be going against the Derby Girls. At least it is all girls vs girls ... but some of the games could be very equalizing if it was a male team vs female team.
Team Pride decides to tell Team Derby they are going in the next morning. As they did not want to blindside them.
A bit of advice to Team Pride get your story straight as to what you tell both Team Derby and PQ as they will compare notes.
Both teams meet and discuss what happened. I give you emotions are high as on a regular MTV Challenge but the way it was handled was like adults.
Loser's Last Stand: Run to a stand and use a slingshot to hit 4 targets. Each person on a team must take a turn. At most a person can only hit two targets. If a three person team loses the entire team leaves. If a 4 person team loses, they must vote off one person.
If Team PQ loses then an entire team is gone. If Team Derby loses then they become a 3 person team. This is a win win scenario for Team Pride.
The way Team Pride discussed and decided who they were going to save and to who sacrifice was a Master Class in how to strategize in the game that many Challengers from MTV's The Challenge should take. Calm and logical and done with surgical precision.
I do like that Team Pride states that they are here to win not necessarily make friends. They have some very good confessionals. It is so much better to watch two or three episodes in a row.
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Post by Bearcata on Nov 6, 2023 18:23:42 GMT
Season 1 Episode 5 - "Meaner Colada" - October 12, 2023 All the teams are back at the lodges after the Loser's Stand and they have team meeting and Derby let's Pride know that they felt Pride had not been transparent with them. Pride thinks it had been transparent, and Derby states you think you were but you weren't. Everyone hugs it out. That evening at a barbecue Josh shows up and it's a Curve Ball: Teams need to drink 3 Meana Coladas to get the sabotage. Jalapeno, wasabi, vinegar and other nasty stuff is mixed in the drinks. Team Chicago wins with Team Pride a close second. Team Derby is ok with it and thinks that they are safe and that Team Chicago will go after Team Pride. Team Pride has an alliance with Chicago and Philly, the only two teams on the outs are OK and Derby. Sorry ladies.
Buddy Game: It's trivia, one team member has their head in a box and stuff gets dumped on them when their answers don't match with their buddies. Team Chicago picks whose head is in the box. Team Chicago picks Melissa of Team Derby as she admitted to being afraid of snakes. To be honest the producers opted out of using bugs, worms, or snakes and instead used food items to pour on the boxed heads. The Sabotage had two parts, and the second part was giving a team and automatic X for the first question. Team Chicago did a fake Rock Paper Scissors to pick either Team Pride or Team Derby as they are 4 people teams. Team OK did not feel it was OK for Chicago to pick Melissa to be the box head. You can't please everybody, the game is designed to piss people off. Good for Team Chicago for doing the fake Rock Paper Scissors, and for telling Team Pride about it and for Team Pride with the fake acting showing how relieved their were for not being picked.
However there is some irony as Team Chicago and Team Derby were the two lowest scoring teams and they end up both going to the Loser's Last Stand.
Loser's Last Stand: Teams had to jump off a high beam into the lake and swim across and then put in exercise balls into big inflated cups using two wires. Two of the three on Chicago can't swim. That's a problem as all of Team Derby are good swimmers. However Rachel from Team Derby is afraid of heights. It looks as if Rachel will not jump and she finally does but Team Chicago has finished the Last Stand and has won.
Boy, Team Derby is going to be SO MAD when they watch the episode and realize how much they were manipulated by Team Pride and Chicago.
Team Pride is contemplating that they all go home, but Josh goes over and talks to them. Rachel volunteers to go home.
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Post by Bearcata on Nov 6, 2023 19:51:55 GMT
Season 1 Episode 6 - "The Buddy Lines Are Drawn" - October 19, 2023 Curve Ball: One person races to a chair to sit on a balloon and burst it. The remaining team members take turns to run to the person sitting on the chair and burst the balloon between their bodies. There are 10 balloons the first team to burst them all wins. It is neck and neck between Team Philly and OK. Team OK wins.
I think Team OK will target either Team Pride or Chicago, most likely Pride as Pride has yet to be sabotaged. Team OK mentions that they think there are alliances but they don't really know for sure and that Team OK and Derby are sticking together.
Buddy Game: It's a eating and drinking challenge. Eat graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows, spin around on a tire 40 times, get across a balance beam that spans a pit of mud, run to a table. On teams of three the last person across has to also chug 6 orange sodas. On teams of 4 the last person was helping with the spinning tire and did not have to eat the smore's, but has to cross the balance beam and chug the sodas. Team OK sabotages Team Chicago with the intention of getting them down to a 3 member team. Chicago has to drink hot sauce before eating the smore's and again drink hot sauce before chugging the orange soda. Team Derby and Chicago have the two slowest times.
Loser's Last Stand: Oh Wow another Challenge elimination great, balance of two towers and have a rope and use it to pull and tug and let go so your opponent loses their balance. Its 5 rounds. Team Derby loses and with only three team members left the entire team is eliminated from the game.
There are four teams left Pride+Chicago's Finest+Philly Forever+OK. This is were things can get nasty as two team have to go to the Last Stand. Will the alliance of Pride+Chicago+Philly stay strong or will they turn on each other?
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Post by Bearcata on Nov 6, 2023 21:23:59 GMT
Season 1 Episode 7 - "Balancing Act" - October 26, 2023 Curve Ball: There is no Curve Ball this episode it is straight to the Buddy Game. The two teams that finish first are safe and the two bottom teams will go to the Loser's Last Stand. The team that wins the Loser's Last Stand will come back into the game and the losers will ALL be eliminated from the game.
Buddy Game: Balancing Act - one person using a line and hook to grab a float on the lake and pull it in. Attached to the float is a bucket. The person fills the bucket will water and throws that water into a teammate's bucket. That teammate will go to the last teammate who is balanced on a teeter-totter and is holding a tray of glasses stacked into a pyramid. The teammate with the bucket has to fill the glasses with water but the water must be filled from the top most cup and cascade down. Once the glasses are full of water the person balancing on the teeter-totter must get down and walk to a table and take five glasses and stack them in tower. Team Chicago's Finest finishes first, then Team Pride. Team OK and Philly Forever are going to the Loser's Last Stand.
Loser's Last Stand:
I give Team Pride kudos for not panicking when their glasses all fell done when they were almost finished, but they started again completed the task and finished second saving themselves from elimination.
Both Team OK and Philly are having mental breakdowns after the Buddy Game. Can they rebound in time?
In the evening Josh shows up to chat with the remaining 3 teams. He asks who is the teams MVP or leaders? Those three folks, Adam, Sarge, and Huddy have to suit up and go with Josh. This is the final Curve Ball which ever team MVP comes in last, that team will be eliminated from the game and there will be a two team final. Josh tells the three men to get into the back of his truck, blindfolds them and drives off.
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Post by Bearcata on Nov 7, 2023 0:39:18 GMT
Season 1 Episode 8 - "Lodge's Last Hurrah" - November 2, 2023
Last Curve Ball: The three team leads are lead blindfolded down a ladder into a series of underground rooms. They have to find 3 marked keys and open a box with three locks on them. Whoever opens a box first wins and their team automatically goes into the final with the other two teams competing in the last Loser's Last Stand the following morning.
Sarge wins and Team Chicago's Finest is in the final. Team Pride and Team OK will battle it out in the Last Stand.
Last Loser's Last Stand: Pride vs OK. I give kudos to Team Pride for staying calm under pressure, using their brains, using their communication skills. So many times they were up against physically stronger teams yet they beat them. How? By staying calm and thinking before acting. All players were tethered together and had a chain with a ball attached to themselves. There was a series of barriers they had to get over. Team Pride calmly stayed in a row and walked over each fence/barrier and beat Team OK. Team OK went in a line one after the other but their chains with the balls attached would get caught on the fences while the next person was trying to get over. It was very interesting to watch how they did it. Tortoise vs Hare approach. Then they had to crawl through a tangle of rope and hay bales. Team Pride got on the ground and pushed the hay blades aside and got through first again. Team OK tried to walk through the tangle of ropes and while stepping over the hay bales. Team Pride made it look easy. Then there was the final part, a 3D puzzle. Only one person per team could work on it. 25 minutes later still working on it. I think by that point the actually had a better idea how to put the pieces together after trying for so long. Team OK wins.
Final Buddy Game: Chicago's Finest vs OK. Both teams start squeezed into a red cart and roll down a ramp into some hay bales. One team member must stay in the cart while the others pull it and run along a trail collecting 3 bags of puzzle pieces. Along the way there a wall of hay bales that Team OK is OK with letting Chicago's Finest expend energy tearing it down and clearing the way for both teams. Team OK has trouble pulling the ropes that hold some of the puzzle bags, and opening some of the carabiners that hold the bags. Once all the puzzle pieces have been collected the teams run to their fort building station. The bags hold pieces to build 3 walls of a fort. You can only build one wall at a time. The trouble figuring out the puzzle pieces. Team Chicago is ahead of Team OK and had 4 members vs Team OK's three members. Yu of Team OK realizes that the puzzle pieces are color coded and for each wall their is a specific cut. He also organizes the pieces by size and Team OK puts all the long pieces in the wall first making it easy for them to sort through all the short pieces to complete the wall. Team OK finishes all three wall first and puts the roof on, then they jump in their kayak and paddle across the lake to the tower, climb the tower and pull on a rope that has a bucket of beer attached. Team OK wins and they split it 4 ways. Craig who was eliminated earlier in the game will get an equal share.
Overall luv'ed this series, I did watch it over two days vs watching it week by week. It had a very nice vibe to it, and while it had physical games many "weaker" teams did well by using their brains, stayed calm and figured out good plans and game play. When there were beefs and there were beefs the players were able to talk to each other like adults and get them settled. What did shock me was that no one spied on anyone like they normally do in a Challenge House.
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Post by Navybelle on Nov 7, 2023 3:30:44 GMT
Good for Team OK for making a comeback to win. I have to say I found myself rooting for Chicago's Finest, but I'm okay with OK winning I guess.
It was a fun show! Only the pageant queens made it uncomfortable while they were there, fighting. There were lots of interesting personalities cast, so hopefully if there's another season they'll do as good of a job!
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Post by Bearcata on Nov 7, 2023 4:27:59 GMT
Good for Team OK for making a comeback to win. I have to say I found myself rooting for Chicago's Finest, but I'm okay with OK winning I guess. It was a fun show! Only the pageant queens made it uncomfortable while they were there, fighting. There were lots of interesting personalities cast, so hopefully if there's another season they'll do as good of a job! By the end I really was OK with any of the teams winning. I don't think Summer of Team Pride would have it easy with the running they had to do during the final but outside of that this was really a lot of fun.
Luv'ed the way the Team Pride ran it's alliances, but it may have helped that this was a team win and not an individual win.
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