Ep. 198 The Challenge 40 Episode 9 with Allan Aguirre

Episode 9 recap with Allan Aguirre!

-Rachel beasting this episode
-Secret alliances
-Breaking down Josh's gameplay
-And much more!

Twitter: @ChallengeFanPod

Instagram: @challenge_fanatics_podcast

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
What's going on everybody? And welcome back to another episode
of the Challenge Fanatics podcast. My name is Josh Green.
You can find us on all social media platforms at
Challenge van Pod. We are here to break down another
episode of the Challenge forty Battle of the eras an
era of one. We are nine for nine with episode
titles involving Era super Predictable. But that's okay. It's been

(00:26):
a wonderful season. I'm wrapping my og hat tonight in
honor of our girl Rachel Robinson and my Michelle Fitzgerald
shirt from Winners at War as I am very much
looking forward to both of their journeys the rest of
the season. But I cannot break this episode down alone.

(00:46):
I am very excited as I am talking to someone
who I always enjoy seeing their articles about the Challenge.
Their Twitter with all of the tweets that are always
blowing up throughout the week, takes the best things that
we need to see for every Challenge episode. The great
Alan and Geary Allen, how you doing.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
I'm doing good? And thank you?

Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, I mean Wednesday nights are like it's a big
part of my life, you know where I have to
live tweet this show, and it's one of those things
where like I've had to explain it to people like
who I've like.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Dated and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
Like Wednesdays for this two hour period, I'm locked in
and I got like i got six tabs open.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
I'm the guy at the computer.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
I'm like putting things together, and I'm glad people enjoy
enjoy the tweet like it's.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
I give you guys so much credit because, like I've
seen some of my friends who do it for like
Survivor and then the stuff for Big Brothers its own
crazy world doing the live tweeting and all that for
you know, the live feeds and everything, but it really
is work, you know, like multiple monitors, multiple tabs. So no,

(01:59):
I love it and the creative minds out there, especially
in the Challenge world, Like I feel like we have
our our niche world where everyone's just like relating things
to past seasons and making fun jokes and I just
love it. And I think it's been great, uh, a
great thing to have in these couple months of of

(02:20):
forty and man, overall, I think it's just been so fun.
Have you been enjoying it overall? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (02:28):
I really like forty and that we have cast members
that we know, which I think makes my job easier,
especially like I I can really carve into and make
fun of some of these cast members, but it's easier
to do so when like people know who they are
and there's a shared history and there's a lot of
stuff to draw behind, Like I'm made fun of Devin yesterday,
and like one of my jokes is like he doesn't

(02:49):
wear Yoda, But that's just like a known fact, Like
that's a known fact that we know from like his
are you the one season and like on whereas like
these more recent seasons, you get all these rookies. I'm
making fun of them, but it's not coming from a
place of love. It's coming from a place of like
just disdain, which I think is like less funny.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
It's disdain. And I've mentioned this so many times this season,
like thirty eight, well no, no, even before that, a
lot of these seasons felt like a job, like a
chore to do, like content and a podcast about forty
it's been like I'm so excited to get on the

(03:27):
mic and break all this down, and it makes it
a lot easier, you know, Oh.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
For sure, I mean I did the player previews, like
my blogs for the first time, like fully in a
long time, and this it's the last time.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
I'm ever doing them. I'm never doing them again.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
After forty because I put in so much work into them. Yeah,
but it's like it's because we know these people and
this feels like an important season and all. Yes, it's
kind of underwhelmed a little bit in these last few weeks,
last month or so, but it's still been It's still
just been a joy. And like there's so many like
dream matchups you've gone out of it, and I just
I like the familiarity and I like this the way

(04:03):
the show it feels kind of alive again.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yeah, yeah, I feel like it feels alive. And I
you know, I'm sure you know there's a few people
left in the game that I think this could be
true for. But I also think there's a couple of
people they brought back that I could see going on
and doing another flagship season at some point in their life.
So it's all been Yeah, I but I do agree

(04:30):
with you. The last couple episodes they've they've been dragging
a little bit, and I think we're gonna hit our
stride again. You know, with where the episode's taking us
at the end of this. But let's uh, let's get
into this. We we come in. Rachel and Corey are
coming off their wins in elimination, and Rachel's the target

(04:54):
again the lone wolf for Era one. But are our
guy on this podcast, Ryan Keho had volunteered to be
the target for Era two. I think this was a
great move for Ryan to protect Rachel if RA two
could get it done, especially since Laurel was a target. Also,

(05:18):
I was just so annoyed with Johnny last week and
in general about this season, so I'm kind of glad
Ryan just volunteered and was like, you know enough, you know,
talking shit about me.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
I'm I would say, historically I'm a Banana's hater, but
I've actually really enjoyed him this season because I'm.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Like, he's good. Because Rid dies he was just boring.
He just didn't do anything.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
He just played House and Maria the whole time and
coasted at the final. This season, we're seeing some vintage
Bananas where he's throwing Kurt balls. He's like kind of
manipulating people, he's kind of instigating a bit, and I
just this is the guy I love to hate, so
I this is he's a good character.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
And then Ryan smart move him because if.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
You're gonna nominate, nominate when Laurels also because you know
she's not gonna throw the daily challenge.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
Now, no, no, definitely will not do that. And you
know we we certainly have seen many people throw challenges,
but yeah, with this target twist, people are not going
to be throwing when they're the target. So it's nice

(06:26):
to be, you know, tied to a strong competitor from
the opposite sex. We get Tori talking about the Vacation Alliance.
You know what else is the new the success of
the Vacation Alliance. You know, every every member aside from Nannie,

(06:46):
Anissa and Fessi, which is almost half of it, has
been so dominant in their and not even dominant, but
they've all gotten a win here or there, and they're
they're talking about how Era three and Era four together.
It's obviously very clear. But I just I just have

(07:16):
said this for so long about Tori, and I don't
know if you feel the same way as someone who
covers the show. And you know, is you know, obviously
seeing a ton of Tory deal in these last seasons.
I think I would really really enjoy her if she
just owned that she was a villain, like, I think

(07:39):
I would enjoy it more instead of this like, oh,
I'm not a villain. I don't hurt anybody. I don't know.
And maybe that's not great of me, because I don't
know if i'd say the same thing if she were
a man. It's tough, but I've seen it with Tory
time and time again, and I would love her if

(08:03):
she owned her game moves. I would love it. Yeah,
I don't.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
I don't know if i'd even call her a villain
per se, because I don't. I don't see her as
a villain. I get annoyed by her on my TV,
but I don't. There's something about her where I just
if she just owned, just own her privilege. I guess
in the game, I guess that's that's the main thing.
And here's the thing. Nobody vacillates between Tory more than
I do, because I'll have seasons like World the Worlds too,

(08:31):
even write her dies. I was actually very invested in
Tory and ride her Dies USA two. I thought she
was great on that season, But then there are other
seasons where I'm just like, she like, just get her
off my TV screen. And this season it's I haven't
disliked her, but I haven't really cared for her either.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
She's just been kind of lost in the shuffle.

Speaker 3 (08:50):
I don't she's just afraid to make like big TV
moments anymore, or she just I don't know. I don't
think she gets a lot of TV time, but she
doesn't create storylines or drama, So I don't That's what's
annoying to me, because like, give that TV type of
people who are actually creating authentic moments, you.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
Know what it is. And I think I might have
just realized this. And I think she's seen the success
and some may argue the lack thereof and finals, but
she's seen one of her closest allies, Casey Clark, get

(09:30):
to multiple finals on this show. And there's always the
jokes of Casey being like ikea furniture on the show
and everything, but she really doesn't provide drama. But she'll
get to a final and she'll win one or two,
you know, So maybe she's finally realized, like, if I
got out of the drama, I'm not going to be

(09:50):
put in elimination and I have a higher chance of
winning these things, but as a viewer, it's more frustrating.
I think that, Yeah, so we head to the daily here.
I think there was an overall feeling that at least
I had as a viewer, because I'm like, there is

(10:13):
no way that they were running a challenge where Rachel
is by herself ERA three and well ERA two has
like seven people or something like. The numbers just don't
It didn't make sense. And I know there's obviously been
daily challenges in the past where it benefits to have

(10:34):
less people. I know that had been talked about in
the challenge streets, and of course that comes up here
today with this daily challenge called Bottoms Out and there's
this giant container above the water where there will be
a certain amount of footholds and pegs for the players

(10:59):
to hold on to and hang on to, and if
they drop, they fall into the water. I just like,
I know they liked that moment of the falling into
the water for the trailers and everything, but like they
see what it did to Cet and I don't know, like,

(11:20):
I'm I'm so over the like doing things for the
trailer and it puts the players in more risk. I
don't know, like, how do you feel about that whole
dichotomy and everything? Like did you like this set up here?

Speaker 2 (11:34):
I just think simpler is better sometimes and I don't.
I don't.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
I didn't mind actually the drop on this challenge at all,
but there are other challenges where it's completely unnecessary. This
one I didn't mind, but as a whole, I do
think there are a lot of challenges like that.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
I honestly just had much bigger issues with the Daily itself.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
Yeah, I didn't.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
I didn't hate it, actually, I think I think it
theoretically could have been an awesome daily.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah. Yeah, so well, I definitely want to know your
thoughts about like how it could have been better, but
let's walk through what it actually was. And I was
dying at a few of your tweets because you had
you screen grabbed them. One where one of the questions
is square root of thirty six And I'm sitting on
my couch, like you know, and I think you had

(12:18):
a tweet along the lines of like, these people act
like this math is impossible, but it's a square root
of thirty six. That's it. You're not adding it, you're
not multiplying it. You're not cubing it, you're not doing shit.
You were literally finding out the square root of thirty
six and that's it. I was floored. Honestly. I know

(12:39):
these people are bad at math, but this was a
whole other level of bad. That's crazy.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
You know, though, you meet people in your everyday life
and you do realize how bad people are in maths.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
A lot of people are just terrible. Look, I love math.
I work with numbers all.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
The time, Like it's one of those things that brings
me like math is my safe space, Like it's just
like numbers.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
They make me feel comfortable.

Speaker 3 (13:05):
Some people, though, they see numbers and they get anxiety
and it just they just get thrown to as like
they just they don't have it at all.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
I'm sitting there watching the episode. I'm taking my notes,
and my dad, who's a retired CPA, is like, you
gotta be kidding. This is not the equations that they're
doing in a show for a million dollars, Like, are
you serious right now? And I'm like, yeah, it is.
And they think, like five hundred plus seven oh two
is like impossible trigonometry. So it was. It was just

(13:38):
so good well at least in that aspect to laugh
at them doing terribly at the math. But yeah, I mean, look,
I don't know. I feel like this could have been
like a fun endurance thing if they had just put
the pegs up on the walls and been like whoever
lasts the longest wins, but having these equations, like I

(14:00):
just I don't know. I didn't like it either, but
I'm curious, like for you and like what was it?
I guess did you hate the whole thing or just
like a specific part could have been a lot better.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
Well, I do like to laugh of people being bad
at math.

Speaker 3 (14:16):
Yeah, there was just like the whole math part of
it just took up like five to eight minutes, and
that just like put the daily challenge at like a
standstill of like okay, how many did they get things?
And then the daily challenge itself. It's like its just
should have been a simple endurance thing where like they
all went one team at a time, and I think
if you just had them all up there together Survivor style,

(14:38):
Big Brother style, that would have been more fun.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
I mean that's a classic reality TV stake.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
Well, that way, whoever the person is like the last
person standing looks more impressive.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
I think that, Wow, that would have been awesome. I
love that.

Speaker 3 (14:54):
Yeah, I mean you think of like, you know, poverty,
shallow just standing on that pole and survivor just look
like a badass. Like if Richel looked like a badass
in as daily challenge as we saw, but if she
was like out there by herself with everyone else dropped,
that would just be a whole other level.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
Oh my god. Yeah, because even like everyone, like we
had a few people make comments about how Neamayah wasn't
even the target and he was still hanging on and
I obviously it was a great performance by him, Parra too,
But you're right, like if all twenty of them were
up at the same time, I didn't even think about that,
but man, that would have been so cool if they

(15:32):
just were like, you know, these are the pegs and
the footholds you have, like good luck, last person left
standing wins. I do feel like and I don't obviously,
you know, there is like some creative things that they
take from each show, but I feel like the shows
try to not take from each other for their challenges

(15:53):
as like an ego thing. But that would have been really,
really cool. I think that could have been really fun,
and especially to see Rachel beat like all of these
other people and all the egos of the other nineteen
left in the game, like and it was still great
how I mean that moment where we get told she wins,

(16:15):
but man, that would have been even better. That's true.
That's a good thought there. Yeah, I mean we do
get some good confessionals, like nia Is saying that her
seven year old niece had her help her with homework
and this year old niece corrected her on one of
the questions, and I mean everything else, Like here's the thing,

(16:39):
we know, like you said earlier, Alan, we know these people.
We know who sucks at math, we know who has
lost finals on you know, math equations and just like
very basic pemdas you know, like so.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
That's actually good to note. They don't do pennis on
the challenge.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
That is. I think I saw that from your tweet.
What was I forget which season now it was, but it.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
Was recently, but I found that out. I think it
was a total madness. Was when at first people started
coming around. Yeah, but like every season since it's like no, no, no,
you just do it straight in the line.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
So That's why I like I it hurts my massull.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
Especially because it's been such a popular meaning format for
like the last twenty years of like people posting equation,
people commenting what's the right answer, and like yet to
east pendas, and then the challenge just goes nope, just
let's right.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
The challenge says, Nope, We're not going to give you
the actual right answer. It's just go through it if
you if our pa, you know, thinks you got to
write you know you got the right answer. But yeah,
that was I now, now what's coming back to me?
That did aggrevate me too, you know, I just wish
it would have been the correct order, you know, but

(17:53):
I was I was pretty surprised. I got to say, bo,
it looks like he just lost his footing. But he
he's down, like immediately. Olivia is pretty much right behind him.
You know. They they're still together. He's in the US
a lot lately. Obviously THEO had a lot in that

(18:17):
first episode, in the second episode, but ever since then,
he's really faded to the background, and we haven't had
a ton of Olivia either, which I think surprises me
more because I think a lot of people thought that
we were gonna get more Olbya on this season. Have
you been surprised by that? I guess with either THEO

(18:38):
or Oliviya.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
THEO I'm definitely surprised by because you know, he's a potster,
so he'ses there's definitely something going on between him, and
we didn't see him kind of you know with Derek
last week and he was in the Daily Challenge. I'm
not surprised he like dropped out early in this challenge
because he's like sixty seven and two hundred and fifty pounds,
so like holding himself up when those tiny in the
tiny pegs.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
It's gonna be tough.

Speaker 3 (18:58):
Olivia, I'm not surprised at actually, because I I mean
last season when she made her move with Nourice, I
was just confounded. I was just because to me, what
was terrible about the move was.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
That she.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
I mean literally after Writer Dies, like I think I
called her the MVP of Writer Dies, because she was
like basically like the face of that season, like her
and Tory, and then Battle for New Champion was built
for her.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
She had built up so much good will with the fandom.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
Like her the ping pong golf ball hitting her in
the face was her car Maria like broken hand moment,
and people were gonna love her for the next decade,
and then she just completely sells out Maurice, but then
doesn't even lean into being a villain. So it's like,
if you're not gonna be a villain, we're never gonna
love you again like we did before. I don't know
what your role is on the show, and her role

(19:47):
is being Theo's showmance. But Theo's not getting screen time,
so I don't know what you do anymore here. And
she's not a bad player either, That's that's the worst part.
But I don't know what she does.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
That is a really interesting point because I you do
look at it right, And with with the Challenge, it
is so much like of course with players on Survivor
and Big Brother who play a few times, like you
talk about legacy, but with with the Challenge, like there
it's inevitable that they make moves, you know, for the

(20:20):
future to like not get screwed over by somebody who's
most likely going to get a call. And uh, you know,
you couldn't be more right. Like Olivia's popularity was at
a sky high, like people were like her and Harassio
or or her and Arassio are going to be back
for seasons and seasons, and you know, I just it

(20:44):
is interesting with Olivia because you're right, like, we we
want something in our our reality TV people. We don't
want nothing burgers like we want we want to either
love to hate you or you know, love to love
you type of thing. We don't want to feel in
different and it was it has been tough because she

(21:07):
was all over ride or dies and then she makes
that move and it it backfires in her face, and
then forty it gets settled so quick. Like I do
feel like if Nurice was still in the game, she
would have had more. But yeah, this is uh, it's
a tough spot for her because Michelle is getting all

(21:29):
the screen time for the Era four like New Girl
if you will.

Speaker 3 (21:34):
Yeah, people keep bringing up to Nurie's part, but that's
such a big thing too. Of like, well that that
continues on both of them surviving for eight episodes at
this point.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
But I don't think that was likely anyway. So I
just think Olivia.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
Just isn't that really interesting anymore. I actually really I
like her as a person. I think she's gonna hang
out with But I just she's not going to be
a villain, and like we talked about shared history at
the begin of this challenge, fans don't forget. So if
she's not gonna be a villain, all people are gonna
associate her with is that last moment where she sold
out Nourice, and like it's never gonna be anywhere near

(22:12):
what it was after write or does it just never is?
And I don't like for her to like ever be
as beloved again, she has to like win a final
end save a baby from a burning building while doing it.
Like that's like I don't even know, Like it's it's
crazy because I thought, like Jay winning that elimination on

(22:32):
total madness against et was gonna win him goodwill for
ten years too, and he's already squandered that away.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
So I gotta stop.

Speaker 3 (22:39):
I gotta stop saying people are gonna be like love
for ten years because goahata win an elimination against Wes
and he's still love today, So I thought that would
carry through now, But these new cage kids are squandering
that love fast.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yeah. I And it's interesting you bring up Jay because
like it's what so many of these people though like,
you stay on our TVs long enough without a break,
you live long enough to be the villain regardless of
what you're doing, right, And I think that's what that is. More. Yeah,

(23:14):
I'm gonna amend to what I said earlier about Tory.
I think that's what it is, right. I think if
Tory took a break, a full break, no mercenary, no appearance,
no nothing, then like a season or two break, then
things could change for her. But you are right about Olivia,
like she could have had her villain turn her heel
turn if you will, for our wrestling fans out there.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yeah, yeah, to your credit too, Like the most Toy
has ever been loved on this show. Yeah, I would
say is after I would say okay twice after thirty
thirty which was her rookie season, and then she.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
Was not on the next season, but she was a mercenary.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
And then I would say the biggest is War of
the World's two where she came up just sure, but
the season before she was not on the World World one.
So like, so that was like people, you know, we're
the talk yourself back.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
Into her a bit.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
Yeah, no, and yes, she had that that flop on
final reckoning. She's a mercenary on Vendettas. So yeah, we
just we've really have been saturated with a lot of
toy But I will say, you know, I don't want
to completely trash her. There's been there's been a few
solid moments with her, of course, you know, I in

(24:29):
my opinion, you know, I don't think it's all bad.
But let's let's get back a little bit because we
we still have Tori because this is this is a
big tory episode here on episode eight Eric two, I'm surprised,
Like we we mentioned Neamayah hangs on for a long time.

(24:50):
Laurel's a target here and she's She's talking about like constantly,
and every time I hear the prove word on the challenge,
especially in these like big time seasons, I get so
annoyed because it's like every person here has proved themselves
in some way, So like, can we just ban that word? Like,
can can all the editing team just edit that word out?

(25:13):
Because I'm so sick of hearing it. But Laurel thinks
that she has to prove herself even though she's the
most recent champion of anybody on the show. So yeah,
but you were right though, this was this was not
a good challenge for people that were like muscly and
you know, bigger built. So not surprised with Laurel either

(25:36):
falling here and the new schoolers, I think we all
kind of knew right away when we find out Rachel wins,
they're in a bad spot. Era four is going in
or our three is in last place, excuse me. Based

(25:58):
off of that like average time thing, and you we
see that people are leaning on Josh Martinez with his
social connection to Rachel. They're both Miami born or maybe
no excuse me, Miami based. And I agree with what

(26:26):
you had said on Twitter last night. They were blaming
Josh way too much for all these moves here, like yes,
he could have went to bat harder, but like, there's
no world where Rachel's gonna put Ryan in at the
end of the day, I really don't think there is.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
You know what, I do think there was a world,
not that she's gonna put Ryan, but that she's gonna
make a move against Laurel, and by proxy rights I
think Ryan even at the bar to Laurel, Yeah, we
could get thrown in, and I think Ryan understood that
just because like Rachel has been verything open in like
kind of the discourse against Laurel, like where she's like, no,
we're team car and that first elimination type thing, and

(27:08):
she just hasn't been a fan of the way Laurel's moved.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
So I do think that was a real possibility. But
do you want to talk about the whole Casey moment
at the bar right now?

Speaker 1 (27:17):
Actually, for please please, that was my next thing, so yes, please.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
Yeah, So I think that'll work back into Josh. And
here's what really frustrated me. Casey at the bar.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
She leans on that connection Josh has with Rachel, and
she says to Rachel at the bar, you know, because
your connection to Josh, we've kind of had an unspoken
alliance this entire game. And Rachel is just kind of
befuddled because like that's why we haven't talked.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
We've had an unspoken alliance.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
Our ara's been targeted this whole time, and yet you're
telling me we've been an alliance. And to me, this
was like Casey had a real chance to save herself
and make.

Speaker 2 (27:53):
A deal if she like went there.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
It was like, hey, we'll protect you to this point,
We'll do this we'll be allies here and you can
trust me because you can trust Josh type stuff. And
I think Rachel would have actually listened, because going after
Laurel is a significant move for her game, especially like Lord.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
Versatory, that's a big move, huge move.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
On top of that, Like, but just it was just
the fact that like Casey kind of insulted her that
I think Rachel kind of decided in that moment and
you see her, you know, go to Laurel after and
Laurel says all the right things, so like, I haven't
been the found Laurel of the season, but she said
all the right things here for sure. Casey, it was
it was just amateur gameplay and it was insulting. And

(28:37):
the worst part about it is knowing that like Casey's
level of gameplay would actually work on spies, lies and
allies when you're talking to like Emmanuel or Bettina or
whoever the people were on that season, but it's not
working when you're talking to Rachel.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
I'm sorry, I the way it is, said Bettina, and
I had to like think like pretty hard for a second.
But the only reason I remembered who that was is
that that clip of her laughing has gone viral on
like Instagram and TikTok and like every other social media

(29:16):
where Corey's just staring at her when she I think, Drake,
we posted that or followed her. Oh yeah, that sounds right.
But you this is the thing if you if you
were to write like a winner of the Challenge, a
winner of one of the best Big Brother seasons in

(29:38):
the history of the show, and is the same person,
and then you see how Casey Clark maneuvers in these games,
you would be like, no way, no way, Like she,
how how does this happen that you're gonna say this
to the woman who's been in elimination twice already her

(30:00):
era when constantly they could have made better strategic moves
to save Era one, they were like, Nope, we're gonna
throw an arrow one again. Even though we can beat
them in the final, we're gonna throw them in again.

Speaker 3 (30:16):
No player has broken my brain more than Casey when
it comes to like all time Challenge rankings, and like,
here's the thing, because like I hit a point too,
especially after her third season where she like won and
I was like looking at her stats and I'm looking
at Emily's scrum stats and Casey has like better stats,
like I think at one point, I don't think it's

(30:37):
true anymore, but there was like there's a way you
can wait. Daily challenge wins based on who's competing, and
Casey had the best percentage of any player by any women,
by like a gigantic percentage at one point, and she
was undefeated in elimination. She went to all these finals
in a row she won, and so like, based on
just pure stats and paper, like I had her ranked
third all time. But it's like I watched the show

(30:58):
and she's not a rink.

Speaker 2 (30:59):
She should not bring the third all the time. But
it's like.

Speaker 3 (31:02):
It's one of the weird things too, because she does
control a lot of power in these games typically too,
but like you watch, she's not even a this was
awful gameplay this episode.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
But it's not like she's historically awful either, Like she's controled,
like she's not gone.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
She's basically never gets voted into elimination besides the World Championships,
Like the only season she's gone in was because you
had to get a skull or her brother got eliminated
and she got thrown to redemption with him. But it
wasn't her getting voted in, Like Casey never gets voted
in on.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
This show never. And here's the thing, Like, I don't
know if it's because of what you just mentioned with
the dailies, Casey is incredible in these daily challenges, whether
it was her and Leroy on Double Agents or her
on that. I think it was the Green team on Spies,

(31:58):
Lies and Allies that just dominated, like in Casey, it
with the manual on whatever season that was, Like, she
is really really strong, So maybe they're just whoever it is,
whether it's a guy girl season or individual the girls
definitely don't want to go against her, and I for

(32:19):
the most part, I don't blame them, but you are right.
For someone who has won and been to multiple finals
and has on paper should be like a top five
female challenger, she is so indifferent politically and especially and
I can't believe I'm about to say this, but when

(32:40):
Nannie's not there, she just inherits all of it and
then doesn't do anything with it.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
You know, it's I don't need Casey on my TV
screen ever. Again, just straight up respect to her. I
actually actually do respect a big brother one a lot.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Yeah, I think it's I think it's very underrated. I
think I think Tyler I was like I was in
the moment.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
I thought Tyler deserved to win that season, but I
thought she also deserved to win, which I think. You know,
I think people lose that side of the argument sometimes
where it's like, you know what, two people can deserve
to win at the same time.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
But yeah, I just I don't need her on my
TV anymore.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
But she's gonna be back because they they had a
season where they could have had Josh or Fessi or
anyone as her partner, and they brought in her somehow,
like a million times less charismatic, less athletic brother Kenny.
So she has a grasp on this network that I
just can't explain.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
That's a good fucking mind there out And it's true.
It's true, right who because he seemed I'm sure he
is a wonderful man, like he seems like a wonderful
family man, right but that season he was so boring.
So you're right, she she either there is some she

(34:04):
has dirt on somebody, or there is some sort of
hold that she has that none of us know about.
Because this makes no sense because you're right. They could
have hired her with Josh, they could have pared her
with Vessel, they could have I mean a lot of
people were thinking maybe Tyler was going to finally make
his Challenge debut then, So yeah, I mean, and that

(34:30):
was that was actually my my biggest question from the
social media. So Alan and I were talking before and
I watched an incredible Survivor episode right after the Challenge
episode last night, so I didn't. I usually check social
media after the episode right after, but today on the
way home, I'm seeing all these tweets It is Casey

(34:51):
Actually did she go on TikTok and say she's retiring?
And before I know, people say they're retiring all the time,
but did she actually say that? And then we're going
to see her in three months?

Speaker 3 (35:06):
It's she said she's going for like a retreat type
like recovery type thing and she'll probably be back just
in time for filming. Like that's that's how these things go. Also,
Nanni was just in Thailand herself to get like cosmetic surgery,
so I think she's probably just hanging out on Thailand
with Nannie if anything, while time he recovers from her surgery.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
Yeah, look, I we have talked about this so much
where we see it on All Stars, we see it
on the Flagship, where people say like, oh, this is
my last one. I never believe it ever ever. I

(35:48):
mean CT has said it multiple times. We've seen him
back now, we've seen him on a different network and
won that show, So I I never believe it. With
the Challengers, when the all comes, especially for Casey, I'm
sure she will take it, and I'm sure Nanny's gonna
tell her to take it because like they said, you know,

(36:10):
starting a family is not cheap.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
I will say my favorite. I have a couple of
favorite retirements.

Speaker 3 (36:16):
One, after Camilla got kicked off Ribles three, she posted
an Instagram retirement and then was back literally the next season.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (36:26):
Wes announced his retirement after winning the Dual one and
was genuinely gone for three years, genuinely like he was
gone for multiple years and then came.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
Back on the Ruins. Which is why his return was
actually such a big deal because he was retired, and
I think if you're like a new especially newer fans
would never like realize that it was a serious retirement
where he was gone. So he was just gone for
like a chunk of years in era of the show
and then he came back. But those are probably my
two favorites.

Speaker 3 (36:56):
There's some other ones, like Kirassio said he was retired
and I saw him before the season even aired, and
I'm like, but you're not retired, and he was kind
of laughing it off too even.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
And look at what happened you were You were right
on with that. Yeah, man, that we can't even We'd
be on here for way too long about that one.
But uh, retirements in this show, God, they get me
every time. I mean, they don't get me. I see
right through it. I'm like, listen, if they call an

(37:30):
you're free, you're going because who won it? Right? Like
come on, I mean at.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
This point on the show too, you have people who
are coming back after fifteen sixteen years. So it's like
the conset of retirement. It's just you know, it's just ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (37:46):
Yeah yeah, yeah, So look, we were we we do
get to the chamber, and we we know about Rachel
Robins and Rachel fitness. It's very clear Rachel is not
somebody to mess around about, you know, making a deal

(38:14):
to benefit somebody else's game. Rachel is going to make
the decision that best benefits her game. I think she
had a great confessional where she says, if I put
Casey and Kyland in and they both lose, then Josh

(38:39):
and Tory come to me, and of course, you know,
she kind of highlights what ends up happening here. But
I mean, I've been enjoying the Chamber for the most part. Like,
I think we've had some fun chamber moments this season.
This episode was so incredibly like predictable, but after the

(39:01):
chamber was more fun, and that's what we had discussed
a little bit. Let's get into it a little bit
more here. Devin's upset at the indifference that Josh took
in the deliberation. They find out that it's our three
vers ERAAH four. They figure out pretty quick that Josh

(39:23):
didn't do a lot, at least in their eyes. But
I'm with you, Like I can't believe I'm saying this,
But like I like Josh on Big Brother nineteen. I
didn't like him for some seasons on the Challenge, but
I have been enjoying him on forty And I don't

(39:45):
know how much he could have done here, how much
else he could have done.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
Yeah, let me give some backstory.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
I've been blocked by Josh on Twitter, I think five
or six times. Oh there you go, which is like,
how does someone block you five or six cent?

Speaker 2 (40:04):
Well, here's the thing.

Speaker 3 (40:05):
I'll write a tweet and I'll hurt his feelings and
he'll block me, and then I'll write a nice tweet
about him, and people are just tagging him and giving
him love, and he's like, I want to I want
to see this tweet again. And so I think I've
been unblocked since USA two. So like he's either got
in thicker skin or I ever gotten less. Mean, one
of the two is true. And like I've made fun

(40:25):
of him this season. I think made fun of him
a couple of weeks ago. But this week, you know what,
Actually I did two things. I made fun of him
and I defend him both this week because I i
he really did not do much for his alliance in
that conversation with Rachel at all. But that's but that's
the thing though, It's like they're putting a lot of
blame on him. But Rachel has not liked Devin for weeks.

(40:46):
She's just she thinks he's egotistical in the way he's
like arrogant the way he's running the game, and then
Casey basically insulted her with the way she talks about
their unspoken alliance. On top of that, like Evan, Tory,
Casey Kyland, they all self nominated, and at the beginning
of the episode, Casey is like, well, I feel comfortable

(41:07):
self nominating because Devin and Tory are up, so when
they win the daily challenge, they'll save me. They didn't
consider the fact that, like, you could lose and you
could be pitted against each other, and that's kind of
just like, that's a lot of arrogance, that's a lot
of entitlement. But I also don't blame them because if
you watch Spies, Lies and Allies and double Agents and
writer Dies typically production, you know, things work out for

(41:30):
the for the Vacation Alliance whenever they.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
Needed to be.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
Huh huh. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
I mean I always think about how like Spies, Lize
and Allies was gaining so much momentum that week that
Corey and Bettina, bet Amber and Jeremiah and Elimination and
they were gonna steal partners, and the game was speeding up,
and we had a good potential partner format where people
could have could steal someone right before the final and

(41:59):
it was getting really interesting. Nope, all right, team format,
the Veteran Alliance gets to continue to vote in rookies
every week now and it's just boring and that ruined
that season.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
They could have had a lot of potential, I think.
And they did the same thing with wide our diyes.
Things are getting interesting.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
Boom team formats, slow it down to keep the Vacation
Alliance strong type stuff and keep our production favorite strong.

Speaker 2 (42:19):
And you know what, this time it didn't work out
for them. Rachel Team one.

Speaker 3 (42:26):
Throws all their assets in and they're blaming Josh when
it's like, you know what, maybe point the finger at
yourself in the game you're.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
Playing, play super games, win super prizes and look, you're right. Okay,
they have constantly been given the benefit of the doubt.
I was completely joking, audience. I know that production loves
the Vacation Alliance. I mean two of the Vacation Alliance

(42:53):
hosted the official Challenge podcast. Okay, uh, you know, I
know many I will listen here or there, but I
myself was not a fan for a while. But that's
not the point anyway, They definitely like them, you know,

(43:14):
and it benefited them for many seasons. But again, like
we have seen it in the challenge, where less amount
of people can really benefit you and do you well.
And like you said, Casey just didn't take into account.
There was no talk of oh what if Era two wins,

(43:34):
Like is Era two gonna save us? There's no thought
of that. And if Era two does save us, then
it's Rachel against Toy. That's not a guaranteed win for Toy.
And that's that's every one of the vacation alliants, like
that's a big number for them going home, so they're
they're totally discounting a team of beasts on Era two.

(43:57):
So yeah, I definitely clocked that with the arrogance, because
there's a difference between being confident and being arrogant. And
I think it was just it was like, oh, no,
or three or R four is gonna win or two?
No chance, Era one. Rachel can't beat all of us,
no way, So this was it was funny though, And

(44:25):
I do the one thing I'll say, and I think
Devon was right about this, was like, no one has
to fight my battles for me, but I'm sick and
tired of no one caring that Josh is just friends
with everyone. Like I'm I think it's a good game

(44:46):
from Josh, but I'm at least happy from Devon that
he's like reacting to it, whereas everyone else is just like,
you know, happy days, you know, sun shining rainbows, nothing's wrong.
Devon's like, if this keeps happening, we're all just gonna
get picked off one by one. So see it there,

(45:09):
and this elimination, I mean, we God, I before Bananas
even made the reference, I thought of that elimination that
Devin beat Bananas and Vendettas. That was the first thing
I thought of. Obviously it was a little bit different,
but it's very similar. They have these two giant signs

(45:32):
with all forty seasons on them. They have to light
up the signs with these tangled cables. The first person
to unscramble them all and light up the board with
the correct cables wins. It's just a total letdown. I mean,
you've got Casey and Tori, and I'm not saying it's
got to be a headbanger, but like we get no,

(45:56):
I don't know, like this could have been better, This
could have been so much better.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
There's just nothing fun about watching this. There's just there's
no entertainment factor.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
And I will say, like as someone with tangled headphones
right now, like it is like there's a relatability factor
to this elimination, but it's not something I want to
watch people do untangle them.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean I uh, you know, part of
me when it when it first happened, right like when
we open the season with all those classic eliminations. I
think we all enjoyed seeing that in episode two, but
now for this elimination, part of me was like, you know,

(46:40):
if we had saved one of those, even if it
was the one that uh, you know, Ryan and Brandon
did as opposed to like a haul brawl or a
pull wrestle or balls in, Like I don't need that now.
Granted Casey and Tory doing that, that would be pretty cool,

(47:00):
you know, like if we're going to see those two
an elimination, I'd enjoy being a headbanger and see like
who comes out on top type thing. But Devin was
lost from the start on this and there's really not
much analysis to even bring. I think he thought he

(47:24):
saw something to like break this elimination. He like had
an idea and he was sticking with it and it
just did not go his way at all at any point.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
Devin has improved a lot as competitor, like so much
over the years.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
Like if you ask me who's the favorite to win,
it'd be Jordan, but then probably Devin right after. Like
he's really built himself for those finals where he's gonna
go to the puzzles, the running part of stuff. Like
he's built himself up to the final, and I've been
impressed by the way he takes a part these daily challenges.
This one, though, was an all time a bad performance,
Like it was atrocious. I don't know why he thought

(48:04):
he could just grab the plug out of the right
part and has put it in. And then that first
time he tried to do it, he realized, oh, it's
not going to go far enough to even put in
the outlet, and then he didn't even still shade up anything.
There here a fewsed help from the crowd. It's it
was just pure arrogance and at a certain point he
just probably he gave up.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
He did not say he was giving.

Speaker 1 (48:24):
Up, but he gave up. Yeah, I mean, because like
we see Kyland get like all forty of them at
first and he's at like thirty four out of forty
on his first try, and I think at that point
Devon was like, there's no way I'm winning this, but
you're like the crowd. It blows my mind because like,

(48:47):
of course the crowd wants Devin to win. Kyland's really
been putting on and really is even is say what
you will about the woman season one. I know a
couple of them have been like very weird, including this one,
but the guy is just good when it counts, and

(49:09):
he I think he's what six and two or seven
and two something like that.

Speaker 3 (49:17):
Yeah, seven and two, and like it's not his fault
he's getting these eliminations, like yeah, he's It's like people
were like, oh him and Darrell that elimination they did
on last season. They're like, it's not fair that they
gave Driella's elimation. Like Darrell's been on ten twelve seasons.
It's not like Hyland tax has this is at home.
It's not like he has this contraption in his backyard.

(49:38):
He's a rookie playing a champ. He smoked rad last season,
like he was not even close. Like Kyland comes in here,
and he competes at a high level. And I wish
they gave him a headbanger, not even because I think
he do poorly in them, but because I think he
would do well, And I just think it would assure
people that he's a very strong competitor.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
But he just keeps dotting these weird carnival games because pounds,
He's got a pretty good build on him.

Speaker 3 (50:01):
He's like five, like five eleven, two hundred and fifteen pounds,
Like I bet him in person, he's got like a
white chests.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
He could he could definitely put on some hits on people.
I know he played football in high school.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
Yeah, I mean, oh and now now that he said
the Brad elimination, I'm thinking back to that and yeah,
he that wasn't even close. It's like there are certain
times where I'm like, what is it going to take
for you? And I say, you guys, like the the
the Challenge world to finally acknowledge that someone's solid competitor,

(50:32):
Like what do you want Kaylan to run over CT
in a hallbrow because that's not gonna happen, Like, you know,
he is a solid competitor, and you're right, Like he
doesn't pick the eliminations he gets.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
He's great. I want to say this, dude, Corey's great.

Speaker 3 (50:48):
Yeah, And people were all mad about Corey last week
o G fans trying to clown on him after beating Derek.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
And I almost want I took all the power in
the rules.

Speaker 3 (50:58):
I mean have to tweet this to like, Derek has
never won an individual season. Derek's been to He's He's
never won an individual or a pair season. Corey's only
competed in those. So really they're basically have the same stats,
like Corey Brad Like, they don't get clowned off because
they've never won, but they've never had the puzzle skills
that Corey's also never had, and Korys came close so

(51:20):
many times. They're basically they basically have the same stats.
Just the difference is Derek got to play some team formats.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
Yeah, And you're right, neither of them have the political
capital or the political skills. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:37):
And like, I just like, here's the thing, Like I
don't I'm not here to say like Corey is one
of the greatest ever and I don't even know if
we'll ever get the win because I mean, it's just
it's so hard to win on these shows, yep, but
he's up there with some.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
Of the best at least Grace never win and he's
on the same level as people who do have championships
in my mind because he's i mean, what like five
finals second place three times like in these pair slash
individual formats.

Speaker 1 (52:06):
He is. It has been so crazy to think about
the way that like he came on the scene just
this like hot head, just going crazy, and now it's
like every time he is a threat to win these things,

(52:27):
even in this one where he has nobody nobody.

Speaker 3 (52:32):
Yeah, I'm invested in the chorus storyline, like in terms
of like the edit, like I'm I'm fired up.

Speaker 2 (52:37):
I think this has been the most interesting he's been
in a long time.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
Yeah, And look like I do think that helps Corey
because like I think the Era one girls, the Era
two girls, you know, now that the game's opening up
to individual Corey's always and take this for what it
will because it certainly can be upon related or the truth,
Corey has always been good with the ladies, so I

(53:04):
he I do think that benefits him if this stays
as the girls are targeting the girl elimination winner puts
the targets on the guys and vice versa. Corey has
always had strong female allies in the game. You know,
he's had a title liance, I don't want to say alliance,

(53:25):
but him and a Niss have always had each other's backs.
They've been friends for a long time. He's had you know,
Amanda in certain seasons. Actually like it just and people.
I think people like him now that he's like grown
up dad and not like messing around getting him fights.

(53:46):
But I.

Speaker 2 (53:48):
Know I feel I feel bad because this How does
this aguate to Kylan eliminating Devin? I took us off the.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
Plot here and I was just like, that's fine. Look
we I've gotten off that too many times too, so
do not worry. How does it equate? Well, I don't know,
but but I tried to find a transition. I couldn't.
But it's look, I'll say for Devin, and I do

(54:17):
think Devon's time on this season has been very interesting,
and it's it's important to put a bow tie on
Devon being off the show because I've always been to
Michelle Fitzgerald been. I loved her own Survivor, love her
on the Challenge, and I think that this despite you know,

(54:39):
she loses her new her new man and Devon. They
it seems, you know, they're still dating off the show,
which is great. But I think for her game that
this is one of the best things that could have
happened for her now that it's going individual.

Speaker 2 (54:56):
I don't know about that.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
I mean, Dick, I think having Devin, I would rather
have Devon on your side and in the game because
he does control so much social capital throughout the house.
It does pantarget, but I think the target still didn't
exist with him gone, because it's already the stigma's there.
I love Michelle like she's one of the few people

(55:20):
on the show, like I'll say this like that I
actually do consider like a friend type thing. And I
always feel bad when I make fun of Devin because
they really are a very cute couple at this point,
and I'm very support of their relationship.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
But it's yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (55:38):
I think he's benefited her game a lot, because I
thought she was gonna have a massive target entering this season,
especially like last season where we had the mercenaries coming
in and like talking shit to her, and you know,
if she didn't win that first daily challenge, I wonder
if she would have been thrown into a hall role,
and then that probably would have entered her game right there.

Speaker 1 (55:58):
Yeah, yeah, no, that would have been that would have
been rough because that very easily could have been her
with that the way that all shuck out in that
first daily. But yeah, I really coming in same spot
as you. I was like, this is this is gonna
be a rough spot for Michelle. And of course, like

(56:20):
you know, you hear the whispers, but like I thought
that Devin was actually going to be in an okay
spot coming into this season.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
You know, I'd say Devin wasn't a great spot.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
I think he was.

Speaker 3 (56:32):
I'd say he's been in a great spot. The vacation
alliance helped her get to this point in the game.
It's just this one week self nominating. This is the
risk of self nominating, and then you lose the daily
challenge and then you find up an elimination against Thailand
and you stuck in the elimination, even though it's not
a physical game where he can rough you up, like

(56:53):
it's just they they gave Devin the opportunity to like
save himself in this elimination and he just couldn't And
had he survived, he would have had a lot of
women who had his back in the game. He would
have had women who were not going to had his back,
like Rachel, We're gonna go after him. But overall, I mean,
he would have had Michelle, he would have Tory, who
had case. Not one of them would have been gone,

(57:15):
but would have Michelle Tory. I think he's probably still
on decent term with Naya.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
He's probably on good terms with Olivia.

Speaker 3 (57:22):
You know, I think he would have been in a
no okay spot. Yeah, I could have maneuvered himself too,
you know, actually made some deals.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
He him and Corey there. They both would have been
and well Corey obviously didn't get eliminated here, but they
both have those solid relationships with the girls in the game.
So yeah, this is this tough spot for them to
go out because I if he's watching this, he's probably

(57:54):
got to be kicking himself because even like, I don't
see Kara if she wins, right, I don't see her
targeting Devon. No, now I do see Laurel targeting Devin,
you know, in an individual making him a target right on,
something like that. But there's there really weren't many people

(58:18):
that would have so a tough spot for Devin to
go out. Yeah, this was just really brutal. But Kyland,
this was the biggest one to win of the season.
And now we have Tory and Casey.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
Ah.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
I loved your tweet where it was the picture of
a hulk Cogan and Tory whenever Tory was saying brother.
I actually don't mind when Tory gets in that mode
of like the brother and all that, Like, yeah, maybe
it's just because I'm a wrestling fan. It'saw the Hogan comparison.

(58:58):
I don't know, but I don't know. It was Uh
they Torri admits, you know, they're not vacationing, they're clocking in.
Uh and uh. They keep going back and forth. This
was intense at least or close maybe not riveting television.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
It was. It was the most boring buzzer beater ever.

Speaker 3 (59:23):
It was just like, I there because it's like tailing
wires is dumb, and then you're gonna do it twice.

Speaker 2 (59:30):
You can do it twice in the same episode. I'm
just I don't care. I don't like do something.

Speaker 3 (59:34):
I just hit each other with the plugs or if anything,
I don't get I don't give a shit.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
At this point, undangled the plugs and then electrocute each other. Yeah,
that's the last one's standing wins. I mean, come on,
give us something. Yeah, no, because now I'm thinking about
it and with commercials. We watched this for about twenty
minutes yesterday. I mean come on, Yeah, it was too much.

(59:58):
It really was. And it's actually you're talking about two
new school winners of the show. You could have given
anything to display how they like, Hey, these are two
of our You know, if you have new people watching
the show because they're fans of Olivia or Michelle or
anybody from their previous show, and now they're watching the

(01:00:21):
challenge like, hey, these are two of our newer winners,
watch them untangle chords in an elimination like that's what
we're doing. Really? Yeah, like you said, the most boring
buzzer beater in a Game seven to ever happen on
the Challenge and someone in the editing room either A

(01:00:45):
has a vendetta to pick what Josh Martinez or B
just wanted to make everyone laugh at home, because wow,
did they do him dirty with that crying track. When
Casey loses the elimination, as someone who been on Josh's
good and bad side. What did you make of the
crying track?

Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
I just this is my production loves Josh because they
cast him on every show, and yet they're gonna make
fun of him like this. It's I hope he keeps
coming back. He takes this fear from them, and he
keeps coming back.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
He takes this check and he keeps coming back. And
I think for all of us, like every time his
name pops up, it's like, Okay, I'll make it to
like the final twelve or fourteen. We'll go into elimination
and lose. Like it's not even you know, it's not

(01:01:40):
even me like being like, oh, whoops, I peeped the spoiler. No,
it's been like this three seasons in a row, and
maybe it'll be that way this season. But I've seen
nothing to show me differently that Josh is going to
be able to like get over the hump or out
maneuver socially to get himself to that coveted first final.

(01:02:03):
I had said at the time and when we were
podcasting about it, when the cast came out, I thought
USA two was his at least to make the final,
And now that it didn't happen, like you say, with
Corey not winning, I don't know if Josh will make
a final. And maybe that's a hot take, but I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
Think it's a hot take. I mean like it's I
always I've meant everything this before.

Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
Josh always gets farther into seasons than you'd expect, because
if you power ranked all the players to the beginning
of season, he'd rank like seventeen sixteen.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
And he always gets much further than how you'd rank him.
But then it still doesn't make the final. I agree
with you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
USA two was the season and he was like one
rogue Tory rode away from there.

Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
It was it. And now I do I want to
take a quick aside because that's why I've been on
Josh's side that they had. I was on the side
for that, and he was one vote, like you just said,
he was one vote away from that final that he's
been in the gym for every day for three or

(01:03:12):
four years. And yeah, so I get it. But you know,
a tough one for Tory. Here. She loses Casey, she
loses Devin, her easily, her number one guy, her number
one girl, both gone and one foul swoop and Tory

(01:03:34):
has never been someone to to always branch out, if
you will, and make these other alliances. So this is
tough until we find out that it's an individual game
and the new targets are three men and three women,
and Tory picks Ryan Bananas and Derek Kyland picks Rachel

(01:03:58):
Leviev and Jenny. Jenny's not thrilled again being picked as
the target. It's been a lot of her content this season.
But I'm I'm happy Jenny West is here. I'm I'm
I've been liking this, like pist off Jenny. It's been fun.

Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
I like Jenny, especially when she's angry. She talks like
there's only seventeen letters in the English language. She does
seem like a delightful person though, And that week when
Casey was roasting her of like, oh all she does
is talk about her snacking, her gym and her pets.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
I'm like, that's all. I was so attacked because like
that's all I talk about.

Speaker 3 (01:04:39):
That's all I anyone who knows, He's like, I'm like,
I'm like, I woke up, I went to the gym,
and then I hate this.

Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
Yeah, I mean I talk about what I ate all
the time, Like what the fuck? And like.

Speaker 3 (01:04:51):
They showed the clip though of like Jenny saying the
exact amount of chocolate shape, that's exactly me.

Speaker 2 (01:04:57):
I'm like I had, I had twelve chicken nights perfect.

Speaker 1 (01:05:02):
It sounds amazing. I got a hit door dash after this,
now goddamn, but no I and then the oh, she's
a rookie, Like actually, if I hit the rewind button
five seasons she beat you in the final, but sure,
carry on. It was look an early exit for Casey Clark,

(01:05:26):
a very early exit, not often for her. But these
individual it's an individual game. Now, these targets are appealing.
We will see how it goes. Bananas is in there
with his h his Era two men, Rachel once again

(01:05:51):
being targeted. Just kind of pour one out and hope
Rachel survives us really do. And we didn't talk much
about Aviv, but I've been really happy with Aviv on
this season, Like every time I see her, I just smile,
and she has been like we're seeing a lot of

(01:06:12):
her about the social connections, and I hope she makes
it even further on this season. You know, go a Viv.

Speaker 2 (01:06:23):
Yeah, I've met her in person a couple of times.
She's a delightful lady, not really bringing much the show,
but there's.

Speaker 3 (01:06:31):
Really she's on Era two where you just got the
car on Laurel Show, and she's kind of just perfectly
hidden between them, and that's kind of gotten her this
far in the game. Now it's individual though, and I
don't like her chances because like Thailand is nominated, like
Kyler nominating her just like literally like it shows that
she kind of has the least connections and she's gonna
be the easy vote for a lot of people.

Speaker 1 (01:06:53):
I think, like the only way is if, like if
one of these Ara two guys. This nomination for the
guys was good for Aviv, because whoever wins, I don't
see them picking Aviv as a target next round, but
in general, definitely like Jordan would have no problem throwing

(01:07:15):
her in, you know, Corey, I don't see many people
being like, I'm saving Aviv, So I think I do
think and maybe it's just the hopeless challenge podcasting me,
but I am hoping that we get back on track

(01:07:36):
with an individual game now. I think we had a
fun episode here with Rachel getting the daily win. That
was great, but then the elimination obviously fell flat. But
I'm looking forward to seeing where this thing goes. I mean,
was there anything else you wanted to add to this episode?
Any thoughts you have as it moves to an individual game.

Speaker 3 (01:07:59):
Yeah, I think them letting Jordan get to Final nine
without seeing elimination it's just dumb.

Speaker 2 (01:08:05):
I mean, Jordan's the biggest threat to win. He on
the mal side, he's so good and now he has Tory, Naya,
and Laurel who will all.

Speaker 3 (01:08:13):
Take a bullet for him, So he's in a pretty
position to win. And I mean he's the I think
he's the greatest competitor in show history. Like that's like
my opinion. I think he's the biggest threat, and like
they're kind of letting him cakewalk, which is dumb because
if Jordan's in a game, you gotta go after him.
They've also made this format that where men can't take
shot it's to him, so maybe it's not their fault either,

(01:08:38):
you know. So, and Maia has been one of tho
people that quiet least like saying it a lot, Like
when he does come on Camray, he's like, man, why
are we just you know, Jordan's in the game, you
take a shot at him and me.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
Andmi is right, Like I I don't understand why these people,
especially Corey in that first episode, like Corey's been talking
about how the game hasn't been going his way. I
think his game looks completely different if they took a
shot at Jordan and he went home. But you at
least have to take the shot. Yeah, Jordan's the biggest
threat on the guy side. I do think the girl's

(01:09:11):
side is.

Speaker 2 (01:09:13):
That's ass up. I mean, like it's I can't there's five,
I think, very big contenders.

Speaker 1 (01:09:18):
I think there are so many like iterate or combinations
of how like iconic it could be on the girl's
side for a final. I'm stoked, honestly, I was stoked
about the girls coming into this game, and you know,
getting down to it, I mean the fact that we

(01:09:40):
could have like Rachel, Kara, Laurel Tory, you know, Jenny
Jenny all in the same final like that for a
challenge fan, that'd be pretty cool to see in twenty
twenty four. So you know, I'm rooting for Michelle, but
you know, I I've I just don't know if she'll

(01:10:01):
be able to compete with them. I would love to
see it, but I don't know if it'll happen, but
a lot of exciting stuff going on. We will continue
our way through this season. Alan, thank you so much
for coming on. Let our listeners know where they can
check you out and everything you're up to.

Speaker 2 (01:10:20):
Yeah, you follow me on Twitter at the Allen and Gary.

Speaker 3 (01:10:24):
If you just look at my name, blogs will come
up and you can follow my podcast on YouTube by
Caffeine Confessionals.

Speaker 1 (01:10:33):
Awesome, thank you for that. Everybody should check out everything
Alan's up to. We always like promoting our fellow Challenge
content creators out there because everybody's always so creative and
doing great work. We will be back this weekend with
another recap of the episode. Austin will be back and

(01:10:57):
we will break down everything going on. We'll probably more
also about last week since Austin was not able to
hop on, but we'll break it all down. Hoping to
have some more cast members as the season rolls along.
Hope you all enjoyed this episode and hope you all

(01:11:17):
have a great week.