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Caffeine Confessionals
A Podcast Covering Reality TV and Culture with a general focus on MTV's the Challenge
Caffeine Confessionals
The Challenge: Cutthroat Episode 10 Recap: Product Placement and a Big Return!
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Luke and Zoe are in person as they and Allan break down a product placement heavy episode of The Challenge with two big mercenaries showing up.
Welcome back to Caffeine Confessionals. We are here to talk about the challenge, cutthroat, episode 10. My name is Alan, and I'm joined by my lovely co-hosts who are together in person, Luke and Zoe. What's up, Alan? This is the closest to a like real human interaction type podcast we've had. And yet we got our most unreal episode of the challenge ever, I felt like. A shame.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I it felt like like a weird like bonus episode. You know how they do sometimes, or like they it felt like a fever dream, honestly.
SPEAKER_00It was so weird. It felt like a it just felt like a total product placement episode, which is what it was. Uh, Paramount Plus is now the home of the UFC pay-per-views and all these different shows. And so they decided to cross-promote their new content onto the challenge and brought in Valentina Shevchenko, who is a very accomplished and well-known fighter. And they're like, hey, make sure to watch the UFC on Paramount Plus. And we're now using like the challenges hour-long episode just to promote our bigger sports entertainment show.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like the UFC doesn't need the challenge at all. Like, not even a little bit. So, I mean, it felt like charity work, kind of.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, to me, it felt like, oh, we just lost several people back to back to back to back. We need some filler. Who can we call up? Paramount, do us a favor. Oh, this lady.
SPEAKER_02Valentina Chevchenko. So, like, unfortunately, I have a time in my life where I hated myself almost as much as the man I was dating. And I tried to convince him to love me by um learning about the UFC a lot. And but Valentina Chevchenko is the real deal. Like she's like legitimately one of the greatest female fighters ever. I call bullshit that Kara actually knew her name. And I would challenge her to be able to name one more female fighter from the UFC because I don't think she can do that. But um, Valentina Shevchenko is like I was following the UFC like 2019 to 2022. She was the champion the whole time then. As far as I understand, she lost her belt for like a short period of time. She now has it back, but she's like widely respected as like one of the most complete fighters in MMA, and she's like insane to watch. She's like not like the most like flashy or exciting fighter, but she the fact that some of these girls were shadow boxing, thinking that they were gonna be able to do anything to Valentina Shevchenko was I was like giggling and kicking my feet. The fact that they thought that they could do anything to her in any realm.
SPEAKER_01I mean, bananas was the trainer, so like you know, anything's possible with his expertise.
SPEAKER_02And then for Gray Team, it was Cara and Letty.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's but I mean, that is challenge sports hubris, where they think because they're like, because a lot of these women on the challenge are badasses, but they think, you know, because they can do certain things in the challenge, like, oh yeah, I can go fight UFC. I mean, the same thing happens with like WWE pro wrestlers, where like they start to, you know, feel themselves so well that they're like, oh no, yeah, I could face this actual boxer or MMA person. And some of them have backgrounds, but a lot of them don't.
SPEAKER_02Like 2% body fat, literally one of the most fit people on the planet. Just stop. Like, and would have been going up against, I think, arguably, the two strongest, fittest women in the house, maybe besides Letty. Yeah, and yeah, no.
SPEAKER_00I I was thinking to myself though, for a second, I was like, okay, but if they do the backpack elimination, if they do just the backpack, not like an actual fight, and I'm like, Valentina uh competes in flyweight, which is like 120 to 125. I'm like, Tori's about like 155. I'm like, Tori can that would actually be like a good fight.
SPEAKER_02Adrian, too. I mean, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, I mean, it worked because we're we're hyping up the UFC. We we we've had our whole UFC. This is more about the UFC than we've ever talked about on this podcast. So good job, Power Paramount Plus.
SPEAKER_02I just want to give Valentina Shipchenko her flowers and we can carry on.
SPEAKER_00And you got a dig in a car, like that's a that was a double dip for you.
SPEAKER_01Luke, what are your UFC thoughts? Um, I've never watched UFC ever in my life. And probably will not going forward either. But Paramount's trying their damnedest. Wow.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we're not missing anything.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I think given that like the uncertain times of the challenge, or we're not sure if we're gonna get another season, just getting the little bit of cross motion, maybe that was not the worst thing.
SPEAKER_02It would be more beneficial in the other direction.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's never gonna happen. It's in like in between UFC rounds or whatever goes on there.
SPEAKER_02Like have them be ring girls, right? They did they had Sophie Cunningham. Um try not to speak Voldemort's name, so sorry, can we edit that out?
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, the better option being Cara. But I mean, maybe Letty, she seems to do everything under the sun.
SPEAKER_02Um, Tori would do it.
SPEAKER_01Tori would do it.
SPEAKER_02She's a yes man.
SPEAKER_01Annalie would do it, her husband just couldn't come.
SPEAKER_02She'd be going home with somebody else.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Uh I do wonder with the 3D cues, with Corey and Sydney also DQing, um, was this always the plan to bring in the UFC people and the mercenaries at this point in the season? Or was this supposed to happen later on? I don't know what's going on.
SPEAKER_01Well, I think you're privy to this information. And if you keep up with spoilers at home, you know there were supposed to be two men mercenaries, one heavily rumored to be Zach Nichols, the other, I have no clue. But it's like we're gonna get into this like whole trial by whatever title they've given it. But yeah, I don't know what this was supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00Um just jump into that right now. So they called it trial by combat, which for anyone at home who doesn't know, trial by combat was a form of like, you know, if you're under a jury, under a court in the middle ages, you could call for trial by combat, which is a physical fight to solve any dispute if you're guilty or not. And you could even have, if you're if you're an older person, you could have someone younger or like more able fight for you. And so there was a lot of rich people who would just have champions be fighting for them. Um, Terry and Lannister in Game of Thrones famously would call for trial by combat and then have someone fight for him. Does that make sense in regards to anything that has happened that happened this episode?
SPEAKER_01To me, okay, the stakes, yes, because at first I thought that there was just gonna be these eliminations for money, but nobody would go home. But the fact that I'm gonna get ahead of myself, I apologize. But like the two people who went to elimination that were on the cast, the fact they ran the risk of going home, it was a trial by combat.
SPEAKER_00But why were they under trial though? Because they were the captains of their team, they were voted, they just needed a word, yeah, yeah. And it's like because like they were voted, like there was no dispute of whether they were captains. What would have been interesting is if they said, Hey, whoever wins this elimination and been like to any of the women on the show, hey, if you go into this elimination and you win, you're you're safe till the final. And if they said, like, and you get to become captain of your team. So if they had like led the floor open and been like, hey, all these women on gray, if any of you want to be the captain of your team and you want to go immediately to the final, risk your life in the game right now. It doesn't have to be Adrian, it doesn't have to be Tori, but it could be open to any of them, and maybe even hey, offer them would have been interesting, the option to switch teams or to switch a player on a different team.
SPEAKER_01I think that would be fun to see, but I'm curious who would actually do that. Michelle wouldn't.
SPEAKER_00Michelle wouldn't.
SPEAKER_01But Clara wouldn't, as much as she likes to say that she's I think she would have she saw Rachel.
SPEAKER_02I think Rachel would have scared her away, but I think she would be considering it. And I think if she had got I think she would have gone against Sarah if like things had been different.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's true. Because there they also did think at one point they would be facing Valentina as well, so that was that Valentina Shevchenko in a fucking pole wrestle.
SPEAKER_02Give me a goddamn break.
SPEAKER_00There's really not that much talk about this this episode, and I'm sorry, yo folks. We the there's the three of us, like right here right now. We have two people in person, and it's just there's there's not much talk about this episode. I think we have to jump straight into who the mercenaries were, yeah, which we've already said.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um the first being Rachel Robinson.
SPEAKER_02I saw that fuck ass Bob and I knew exactly who it was.
SPEAKER_01And I was so mad. I like their little like montages, but she was like, I have won three of the last nine challenges, and no other woman has stats like that. I immediately went on the challenge wiki and looked up Evelyn. Evelyn has better stats.
SPEAKER_02Also, I love Rachel, I think Rachel is amazing. That last win was bullshit, babe. We all know it. We watched it.
SPEAKER_00You were third place.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you were third place.
SPEAKER_00I like that Michelle said, like, oh yeah, and Rachel came and snuck up and took second place from me. Um, and it's like it was just robbed away from me. If I was Michelle, I would have been like, I beat her ass in a final, clean and square, and then for some karmic bullshit, you know, she got help to win. Yeah. Um, and the thing is though, I think also there's just I think Rachel is kind of a perfect mercenary, though, in a lot of ways, because she does have the resume. She is physically imposing, she is a legend. There's just fatigue from our part of like her social media behavior compared to what happened on 40.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I genuinely think she is a great mercenary, like in terms of what person is going to instill fear in the heart of someone looking to go against them. I was trying to think of like who could possibly show up for women. And she's definitely one that in those physical headbanger eliminations is is scary.
SPEAKER_01I was thinking Nicole Zanata. Maybe not. No, Rachel gets my nerves, mainly because, yes, the like photo shoot with the three-time champ, and it's like, you're really not though. Uh, but she's still in great shape. She's a she's a callback to older seasons, which obviously, with the name of the season, we're having a callback moment. So it made sense.
SPEAKER_00I also think it just gets lost that, like, hey, if even if we say like she came in third place on season 40, finishing third place on season 40 with that female cast was actually so impressive. And is it's probably more impressive than her actual dual two win because she faced way better girls, had to perform way better in the daily challenges, and it was a way more intense game, but it kind of gets buried because it just didn't feel like a deserving win. But like she was awesome on that season. Yeah. Yeah. And then our second mercenary, and it's the big shocker event, which didn't get fully played up to how it should have, or like it shouldn't have been on one of those fake episodes that that makes it feel unreal. Sarah Rice back on the challenge for the first time in 10 years since Giant Banana stole the money.
SPEAKER_02What could have been such a phenomenal moment? Because I was like giddy, like my jaw dropped. I had no idea because I'm spoiler-free, so I literally had no fucking clue. I'm like looking at this person, and I was just like, I can't figure out who this is. Like, I thought it was like maybe it's a weird angle, maybe it's Laurel, and they're just making her look shorter than she is. And for some reason, I like couldn't figure it out. And then when she took off her hood, I was like, no fucking way. And then they gave her a really physical elimination that she's famously not great at.
SPEAKER_00And I was like, oh, you're so close. So can I do my Sarah Rice field? Like my little so I want. Here's the thing, folks. In my opinion, Sarah Rice is a top five all-time female competitor. And here are the stats. She competed on nine seasons, she won two championships, she went to five finals. And people will say, Oh, but she won those titles with Johnny and Jordan. Those were the only two good partners she had her entire challenge career. She won the most dailies on those seasons. She won the finals and was the best female competitor on those seasons. Where if you give her a different partner, she likely still wins. Throughout her career, she was given so many bad partners from Vinny, Devin, JD. She won a daily challenge with Fat Vinny and then he got them DQ'd. He got she got DQ'd by Triselle another season. She carried Team Brooklyn through many daily challenge and elimination wins on battle seasons. Best girl in that season, too. Almost beat the men's team on the ruins. If Kellyanne had been able to walk across some pegs a little bit easier, they win that final together. Sarah is probably the best female puzzle competitor. If not, if she's not number one, she's number two. Might be the best female swimmer in challenge history, one of the best eaters, one of the best heights competitors, good communicator, knows how to lead during daily challenges, social, political, everything. And people will say, like, oh, her cardio isn't the best. Her cardio is still above average. And she's 5'7 and back in her prime, had some weight to her. So she would have beat. So like physical eliminations, not her thing, would have still probably wrecked any of the layups back in the day in any physical elimination. Was she ever going to be a Laurel or an Evelyn of physical elimination? No. But that is still something she'd be average at. At her worst, Sarah is average, and at so many different things, she's at the best this challenge has ever seen.
SPEAKER_01So question. Yes. Do you like Sarah Rice?
SPEAKER_00Honestly, there are times I think she's so annoying and she's a bit of a pick me. Like genuinely, like the way she still defends like the Kenny and the Evans and stuff like that, and the way she was honestly on Banana's side with the whole Cheyenne stuff at points on Rivals 3, kind of icky and stuff like that. But she always knew how to play the game socially and politically. And you know what? Everyone has their own issues. There, I for people who hate Sarah Rice, I completely understand. I get it. I'm gonna like hit thumbs up on why you hate her, but I think she's one of the best to ever play this game.
SPEAKER_01I asked facetiously, but that was honestly really impressive. Like your knowledge, because you did kind of convince me that she might be tough off with that rundown. And then Romani reasons why I don't like her, that makes a good challenger. They're so multifaceted.
SPEAKER_02Well, and what I appreciated when I was watching the montage back of her is like, and like you said, many reasons to not like her and many reasons to be bothered by her. But something that I can appreciate about her is you always got this sense of like gratitude from her, of like being in the present moment, being like, how cool is it that I get to do this? Like she you watch those clips of her, and it reminds me kind of like of why people get fatigued with Tori sometimes too, because it's like this like over-the-top excitement. But I think from Sarah, it really was genuine. I think she was like excited to do the shit they were doing on the challenge and was like, I can't wait to tell my family about this, or just like just there was like that little kid in her that was like, This is so fucking cool that this is my job. And I appreciate that level of like affected because it is so fucking cool. These people are lucky, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there was just like a level of like excitement and fearlessness with her that made her a good challenger because, like, some like okay, I hate to do this, but Kara, we see her still terrified of heights and stuff like that on this current season, and she's being an active detriment to her team. Sarah in these challenges is not only like excited to go out and do it, she's willing to like jump out on her ledge because it's a cool thrill-seeking moment. She's guiding her teammates and giving them tips on how to do well in certain challenges. And like to me, it's like I remember how you her and Camilla, I think, are very similar in terms of like their skill sets and what they bring to the show. But if you were competing with the two of them, and even though Camilla's a better athlete, you would much rather compete with Sarah because Camilla would yell at you and talk your ear off, whereas Sarah would give you tips and teach you how to do everything.
SPEAKER_02She's a dream partner in a lot of ways.
SPEAKER_00And it's crazy too because her skill set is so built for the modern challenge with so many puzzles and problem-solving things, and math, and word games, and she would do so well in so many of these eliminations. What's she not gonna do well in?
SPEAKER_01Anything physical?
SPEAKER_02I mean, especially being out of practice, yeah. Right?
SPEAKER_00Like Sarah doesn't strike me as someone that's like doing Muay Thai in her off time, yeah, and we'll kind of get into that more in a bit. Um we'll break down the elimination in a second, but we'll do it in order because it was Rachel versus Adrian first, which looking back, kind of wish that was the second elimination because that was the more exciting one to watch. Uh, it was a pull wrestle, and it was very interestingly a best of five, which I don't think they've ever have they ever done a best of five pull wrestle 1v1 before.
SPEAKER_02So I think they actually have, but it's usually edited to make it look like best of three.
SPEAKER_00I'm I was about to like, should I just immediately spoil the outcome or should I what should should we just work our way through it?
SPEAKER_01Well, I I will say I like the stakes. I mentioned that earlier, we haven't said them. I really thought this was just gonna be a UFC promo where Adrian and Tori could win or lose, but like, hey, and even when they said 25k for you or for whoever wins, I thought, okay, so if they lose, they just lose 25 or they lose to the person, whatever. I was thankful to hear that if they lost that elimination, they went home. Like that was it. That was a good way to like weed out some of these girls if they lost. I mean, think about it. If Adrian and Tori both went home, that changes the dynamics of the season greatly. We'd have new captains, teams would be smaller. What's this mean for Michelle? Like it could have been cool.
SPEAKER_02And the 25k ensures that the mercenary coming in is gonna give it everything they have.
SPEAKER_00100% too. Because I was thinking to myself, like, okay, what is the incentive for some of these mercenaries to even win it all? Um, especially if you have like no ill will against anyone. Um, and in that first round between Adrian and Rachel, um let me just say Rachel was playing the elimination like it was a best of one at first. Because she kept trying to rip the pole with like very like dramatic pulls in ways that like anyone who knows and has played pole wrestle before knows that like you anyone who has played pole wrestle before knows that you have to just hang in with the pole close to your chest and try to wear out your opponent, which she did for a lot of it.
SPEAKER_02So it's funny that like she had the instincts to try to like have like a dramatic win because she also had much, much stronger instincts in what to do with the pole to like outlast Adrian because she was trying to keep it close to her chest and was at times trying to get it away from her.
SPEAKER_01I was shocked it was so close, to be honest.
SPEAKER_02Me too.
SPEAKER_01I really thought that Rach was gonna dominate this, and not that I don't think Adrian is athletic, I think she's super athletic, super strong, but I just see Rachel as like this beast. And I thought with 25k on the line, if you flew out that long for like a 24 hour stay, I'd want to win at every single cost.
SPEAKER_02Well, and I think like she it's weird because it's like so Rachel ends up winning the first round, she outlasts her, but and a big part of that is she goes back to like her athletic background and does what you're supposed to do and it keeps the pole close to her chest and then engages her legs and really just ends up like working it away from Adrian. And I was like, oh, well, like Rachel, Adrienne's strong and fit and has weight on Rachel, but Rachel just understands the mechanics of like what an athlete should do in this elimination. And in round two, like, I don't know if she was just like feeling really cocky or like got ahead of herself, but seemed like she was just like thought it Adrienne was gonna give it to her. I don't know what was going on. On there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because when you do those dramatic pulls, you also leave yourself susceptible to get pulled back into it and lose grip very easily, which is what Adrian took advantage of in that second round. And it's crazy because I think everyone, I don't think it's fair to say that Rachel is more fit than Adrian, but there's a difference of Rachel's always been very thin. And Adrian used to be a much bigger girl. And she's in great shape these days, but like she used to be considerably bigger. But when you are kind of bigger like that, you kind of just develop a lot of leg and core strength just from like walking around. Um and so Adrian probably can like deadlift more than than Rachel has, even though Rachel's been working out her whole life.
SPEAKER_02Well, Adrian also clearly works really, really hard at lifting and being fit now, too. So like on top of like her just like muscle mass, yeah, being a bigger human, she also lifts. So she's very physically strong. I think she lifts pretty heavy.
SPEAKER_00Oh, she she does, but it's like even when she was like first getting started, just having that extra mass where she's basically rucking every day with the body she had to like get down. And like I'm I'm saying that as someone who's like lost a lot of weight myself and stuff like that, and there's stuff I can do with like a leg day that people can't do just because I was used to carrying around a couple hundred extra pounds. And because of that, like when it came down to like just putting their weight on him in those later rounds, Adrian was ground and pounding Rachel, she was just putting her weight consistently into her.
SPEAKER_01There were times that Adrian was being super rough.
SPEAKER_02I mean, and I'll spare hole onto her face, like putting her knee on her face. Amazing. And I want to say, like, both of these girls, actually, like Adrian and Tori, but especially Adrian, in a world full of fucking Ozempic ads, that elimination with Adrian specifically was like fuck you lift heavy. And I loved it.
SPEAKER_01I love Adrian. She just ran a marathon this past week, like crazy.
SPEAKER_02Fuck your GLP ones. Not if you need them, respectfully.
SPEAKER_00Like, but like if you're diabetic, please get your GLP ones, please.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but like I'm a millennial, grew up very much in the area, era of like heroin chic, and like everyone was a hundred pounds, and then you see a girl like Adrian on TV who is fit and healthy and beautiful, and like showing what taking care of yourself and fueling your body, and just like giving a fuck about lifting and eating well, like what that does for you, like so badass, so awesome.
SPEAKER_00And she got a stuff the three-time challenge champion whose resume can no one can ever stack up to. Which is, I mean, but though that's also an indicator as to why Rachel, because there could there are gonna be people out there who are gonna say online, oh, Rachel probably threw the elimination to Adrian. There, there are people who are gonna say that because they're just deluded to always thinking like the champ is like they're the best and the vets are the best. Rachel did a whole photo shoot after her after her win on season 40. She cares a lot about her reputation and how she looks on this show. And it probably killed her to give up because that's what she did at the end of that elimination. She just gave up as Adrian was on top of her and like she just couldn't hold on anymore.
SPEAKER_02Well, and like respectfully, too, like that's what being in your 40s. That's the difference between being in your 40s and being in your 30s, too. Like, you can be the most fit woman on the planet, but if you're against another one of a more fit woman, woman on the planet, and she's 10 years younger than you, and 40 pounds heavier than you, maybe, like that's what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01And I'm sure just like even the mental stakes of it, like Adrian's been filming for let's say seven weeks, maybe not that long. The season was shorter, but like a long time. She's had a vested interest in this show and making it to the final. Like, I'm sure she would maybe even give up 25k of whatever she might win in order to stay in this season.
SPEAKER_00Well, she won this elimination, she's going to her second straight final. She's five and oh in eliminations, she joins Sarah Grayson, Casey Cooper, Laurel Stuckey, and Cam Williams as women to win their first five challenge eliminations ever. Um hats off to Adrian. Killed it. And she's coming home with 25k regardless.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I think she just showed on top of all the physical stuff, incredible heart. Like she could have she could have pulled a Justin and gotten really in her head and really worked up and defeated, and she just dug in. And I think that says a lot for her in the future.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I don't like the commentary about her mom and her mom having MS and just movement being something to love and be thankful for, and it's not a punishment. That was a really cool sentiment. And I love them like echoing it in the background as she was going to elimination. So love Adrian.
SPEAKER_00Just a fight or two, like she was down 1-0, she was down two-one, she kept herself in there. And the crowd, I mean, because Rachel was close with a lot of people, there was a lot of the crowd on the other side cheering for Rachel, and like that has to also like motivate you a bit too.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Unfortunately, only two people I think really reacted properly to Sarah Rice coming out, one of which was Tori, who like Tori has been on Sarah's podcast and stuff like that. And when Tori first came on the challenge, people were comparing her to Sarah a lot. Um, and so Tori, like rightfully, had a loud reaction. And then the only other person who probably reacted properly was bananas.
SPEAKER_01So I knew because I spoiled every single thing that I possibly can for myself, but I still got chills because the moment was big. 10 years in the making. And I don't know, maybe I'm just like a big fan of production interference at times when it benefits me. Uh I just think you rig for, like, you know, this girl got screwed the last time she was here. Don't you want to see her win in front of the guy that screwed her so badly the last time, 10 years ago?
SPEAKER_02Don't you think production would do the opposite to Sarah, considering how outspoken she is about how screwed she got and how unethical and unfair and broken rules it was that the money got stolen from her? Like, I almost think production set her up.
SPEAKER_00That's really those claims about. I met Sarah Rice at a challenge mania two years ago. The first thing I said to her is like, don't ever come back. Please don't ever come back because they're gonna put you in a hall brawl with Tori immediately.
SPEAKER_02I think they set her up. So stupid because, like, if like people like you and I, like we like goosebumps watching it, so excited, so giddy, like, knew what a fucking huge moment this was. And if Sarah walks away from this feeling like she was set up, we are never ever gonna see her again. I never thought we were going to anyway. And man, it just feels like it was squandered.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's there's there has to be like a few factors at play. Like, one, I feel like she was probably lied to, or two, she either overestimated herself and underestimated the level of female competition on the show today. Because, like, look, the women on the challenge these days are just at a whole another level than they were a decade ago, they just are.
SPEAKER_01Um, and then three, she just really needed a fucking paycheck, and like that's well, some people don't care about their legacy, and at the end of the day, this is a reality TV show that was on MTV. Like, what legacy is there really? And also, it could have been that they didn't have to use Zach Nichols and the other guy. They had some DQs they didn't have to pay out because they found those people and kept their money. They might have said, Sarah, we're gonna sweeten this pot. And they might have even said, Listen, you're gonna lose. Like, or we can't guarantee you're gonna win even, but we'll give you this much money and we'll make it a big moment.
SPEAKER_02I really hope she got a lot of money out of them.
SPEAKER_00I doubt it. So it's kind of a this might have also been Sarah's last chance to ever come on the challenge because who knows if we're gonna get a season 43 um at this point. So this, if not, there might not have been another chance. And the reason I say that is because Wes keeps retweeting himself, like, or like tweeting about like, hey, remember when I said I was gonna retire and you guys didn't believe me? And it's like, dude, you haven't been on the show for like two, three years, you still can come back any day. I think you're gonna be back. But now that the show might end, I'm like, oh shit, he he might be right just because the show will end before he can come back.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, if this was if this is the last for all, like acute moment, I just felt like we were missing some substance to her return.
SPEAKER_00Well, it is like the bananas is like, oh, I'm not happy to see her. Tori reacts, but like, really, no one else there has a lot of history to Sarah or knows the show that well. I mean, maybe CT, but even CT was like CT and Sarah were never really interaction much, even throughout all their seasons.
SPEAKER_02So CT doesn't really respect women very much, so even ones who are top five all time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. What about Cara? Oh, wait.
SPEAKER_00The elimination is balls in, and Sarah has to face Tori. Um, for reference, as we said before, Sarah has not been on the show in 10 years. Uh, additionally, I don't know if you guys like keep track with Sarah on social media. She's like 20, 30 pounds lighter than when she was back on like back in the day. She's gotten super duper skinny.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. I I know it would never happen, but like you said it, you said it. I want to see her on a regular season. I want to see her brain have to work.
SPEAKER_02Or even an all-star season.
SPEAKER_00Which I mean, why why would it never happen now that she's been here? Why would it like just come back now? Just come back full. Like, if you're gonna come back and get let yourself get obliterated in front of Johnny Bananas while he gets to laugh at your loss, just come back for a full season. You ripped the band-aid.
SPEAKER_01Well, and I thought that too. I'm like, if you've truly not seen him since he took the money, I mean there was the reunion, like, this is a good exposure therapy. I will say when he yelled down there, she winced, and I'm like, oh my god, you still care. And I get it, no judgment. If someone took that much money from me, I'd be upset. But I'm like, you gotta put on a brave face because bullies love. I'm not saying he's a bully, but bullies love saying it.
SPEAKER_02I'll say it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, bullies love a reaction.
SPEAKER_02If you don't give one, it's like he did kind of shit his pants when she showed up, though. Like that little that like awkward smile he was doing. Like he was nervous, it was weird. Like, dude, like you talk about a photo shoot, like a lot of time has passed. Like, it was funny watching how uncomfortable he was.
SPEAKER_01And I would have loved if somehow she could have had like power to influence his game.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Cara tried to tell her true if you win, you're stealing his money.
SPEAKER_00The elimination happens, and it's so bad, it is so bad for Sarah, and like the worst part is that Tori is still kind of taking it easy on her because Tori's like, oh, I'm gonna try and use my speed, and she was just straight up juking Sarah points. But the worst part is that, like, yeah, she was juking her. If Sarah, if Tori wanted, she could have just ran straight through Sarah in a line anytime she wanted, but she really wasn't trying to do that much damage to Sarah, and it was still bad.
SPEAKER_01I think most, if not all, the women left could have gotten a win easily or squeaked out a win.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think the only interesting one might have been Cassidy against Sarah. And I I think she would have won, but I think it would have been maybe a little more interesting. Also, none of these girls know how to tackle. It actually pisses me off. Tori doesn't know how to tackle either, and I've stayed, I know she well, she can. I saw what she did to Jenny, but like she was like horse collaring her, and like maybe she was just like not trying very hard, but also like stop, get low, drive with your legs.
SPEAKER_00She got low on Jenny. It was like, I don't like I remember that. That's why I'm like, that's why I'm watching this elimination and been like, this could have been a thousand times worse if Tori like really went full force. But like Tor Tori knew this was gonna be a win, and I just felt so bad for I don't I don't feel bad for Sarah actually. She got all that money to be here, probably. I I just wish production had given Sarah an elimination she done she do well in, so that at least we get to see that legend compete in her element. Instead, we just got a really sad moment and one of the most disappointing returns ever.
SPEAKER_02Even if they'd done the like wall one where they have to like climb up it, like something like something, like that. That's not her bread and butter, but at least it would have like given her a fighting chance, maybe.
SPEAKER_01And I think this is a testament of what's been wrong with the show for several years. They didn't want to lose Tori. Just like they were so upset when CT and Bananas went out early on back-to-back seasons, like they put so much stock into like one or two people that the whole season would tank in their eyes if they weren't there. If Tori would have lost to Sarah Rice here, it would have been such a like boost in morale to the season. Not because I personally hate Tory because I don't really anymore, but like it would have been interesting. But instead, Tori now has more money, Adrian's team now has more money. The two mercenaries were cool to see, but they're gone.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and there's well, I was just gonna say the cast is so overloaded with women at this point, you can't even like create a scenario in which they could join the cast because we don't need more women right now. Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00When TJ first came in, I think Will said, Are we gonna redraft the teams again? Because, like, how are we gonna balance things out? Which I don't know. I mean, I have no clue what's gonna happen next week now, because we just I don't know, I have no clue at this point. Want to get a little bit inside baseball, Luke, because you mentioned the whole Tory thing. I remember seeing a spoiler at some point that apparently producers went up to Tori and Michelle and said, Hey, you're not doing enough.
SPEAKER_01Well, I did see that as well.
SPEAKER_02Is that why Michelle like popped off before that daily?
SPEAKER_01It could have been. My only thing is with production allegedly saying that it's like, what more could they do when their team's dominating? I don't know.
SPEAKER_02That's production's job to make things hard, make it so they have a reason for some friction and tension.
SPEAKER_01And I've said this to both of you, not in this podcast session, but like allegedly there were going to be some male mercenaries before all these, you know, DQs. At what point do you not just say, hey, we have some alts that are coming in? I know relating to the season, but just like for the integrity and fidelity of the game, here's two guys that we could pay 10K to show up and finish out the season. Like, I know some people would be so mad that's not fair. They'd probably be sent to every single elimination up until the final. They'd have to prove their way. Alan and I talked last week off camera, like you can make them battle their way into the game, at least something that could have also filled this hour-long episode aside from two eliminations.
SPEAKER_02And it also would have given someone like Chris a fighting chance and talk about fairness. He absolutely deserved to be there, like outside of that piss poor elimination performance. Like it was the format he got screwed by, really, in the scheme of things.
SPEAKER_00When the original mercenary showed up on Cutthroat, it's, I mean, the CT backpack is the greatest moment in challenge history. It just is. And if you try to say another moment, like it you could just post that clip on Twitter and you're gonna get 8,000 likes. It just you could you could say Ashley still in the money, you say banana seal no one, you could say all these things. It's but the banana's backpack, it just purely is, it just gets people going.
SPEAKER_02The Mercenaries this episode wasn't the backpack on an episode of Yellow Jackets.
SPEAKER_00It was, it was, it was one of the best episodes of Yellow Jackets of that season.
SPEAKER_01See, I think that is like number two most memorable. We cannot discount number one when Kenny Clark debuted on Ryder Dodge.
SPEAKER_00You can't, you can't take that away from I was trying to I was trying to come up with a quote, and there's no quote from Kenny and Clark I could even fathom.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you're right. It was iconic. I think well, I meant the CT thing was iconic, but I get where you're heading with this. That was so iconic, not that these moments are breeding anything even relative to that.
SPEAKER_00No, this is the worst episode of the season. It just it, I mean, it's that I mean comparison. I'm not it's not the worst episode in challenge history by far because there have been so many bad episodes, but this was the worst episode of the season, and the previous two episodes were lackluster compared to the first seven. But honestly, even the last two episodes, even when they didn't show the DQs, I still like that episode better than most of season 40.
SPEAKER_01Fair. And I will say my big takeaway from this episode: I knew there were two mercenary women. I thought it was gonna take two separate weeks, so it was gonna feel a lot like season 39 when we didn't have eliminations for several weeks.
SPEAKER_02At least there was a conclusion.
SPEAKER_00When they said there's no daily this episode, I was like, great, I don't have to pretend to care.
SPEAKER_02Wait, can I actually tell you guys my favorite part? Is this whole episode, which I forgot to mention? Um well, when it started with the gray team trauma dumping on each other as like a way to prove why they wanted the money, and Lenny was just like, get me the fuck out of here, you weird, weird bitches. And she just said, I just like to win. I just want to win. Like, I'm gonna re-watch that part probably a couple times because I just I like was sitting there being like, Why are we like in the um trauma Olympics on our team right now as a worst team bonding?
SPEAKER_00It is the 2020 survivorification of the challenge where everyone comes on Survivor nowadays and has some like deep trauma story, which is honestly the biggest reason I'm never going on survivor because I never I though if they find out my story, they'll cast me, but I'm like, I'm not revealing shit, I'm not revealing any of my trauma. I don't want the world to know. And Letty's like, my parents are dope, I'm tall, I'm athletic, I'm hot, it's pretty dope. Let's win this shit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, instead of comparing family deaths.
SPEAKER_02Oh, so weird. I hate it, and I love it now.
SPEAKER_00If any of you at home are going through any of that stuff, I mean seek help, but this is not the podcast you'll seek help for. But if you're Letty, let's just talk about how sick you are, like how how awesome it is. Like, yeah, and then I was a swimmer, and then I was a mermaid, and then I was in WWE, and now I'm here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Letty would be my rookie of the year if she hadn't been canoodling with bananas.
SPEAKER_02I also wish she'd like had the opportunity to show something. I feel like we're just like we look at her, we're like, wow, she must be great. And like, yes, she's shown, she can swim, but we really still haven't seen anything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, if there is a 43, it desperately needs to be an individual season. Actually, I don't know. I'll take whatever.
SPEAKER_00It just also tough to be rookie of the year when you get Annalie just putting up historic numbers every week, everywhere, every week.
SPEAKER_02Her her trauma was her infertility journey with her husband. And I was like, Read the room. What were you doing in the bathroom?
SPEAKER_00I'm editing that out. I'm editing that out. I didn't realize. Look, look, look, look, look, I'm editing that out. That's I rarely edit things out too. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Can you at least like just leave in the part where you said, I'm editing that out?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Annalie is the gift that keeps on giving, and especially like you go to social media and stuff like that, and it's her beefing with Cara, it's her beefing with Justin. It just goes on and on and on.
SPEAKER_01Her alleging that Letty ate bananas ass.
SPEAKER_02Oh God, so Letty ate dinner already.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, everyone, I hope you enjoyed this podcast more than we enjoyed this episode of the challenge. And I hope Sarah Rice enjoys season 43 because she has to be on after this bullshit. Like, come back. Rachel come back too. And Lee come back. Letty come back.
SPEAKER_02Leo.
SPEAKER_00Leo come back.
SPEAKER_02Anyway else?
SPEAKER_00Rachel can stay home. All right, everyone. Make sure to subscribe, like, Caffeine Confessionals. Have a great weekend.