Saturday, April 25, 2020

DC ExtraTime: An Expose of The Challenge Final Reckoning

BY DC CUEVA                        
■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

As we have written here before, you might say 2019 on The Challenge was a year of redemption. For a lot of us, just getting to see Jordan and CT win their third titles and Turbo, Dee and Rogan join them in the winners circle made us a bit more satisfied once the two installments of War of the Worlds came to an end just four months ago. Maybe those ladder three coming to us from outside the United States helped to bring some newfound blood to a show that's been around longer than most other MTV show on the schedule has helped to rejuvenate things, and it's certainly made the current season of Total Madness something you and us, and everyone else, enjoyable right now.

But coming into last winter's first installment of WOTW, there was a lot of fans like us feeling concerned about the state of where this show we love was heading. It took for what we saw in the last leg of the so-called "trilogy" to really take a deep dive into all of this: Final Reckoning in the summer of 2018 was supposed to be the season that settled things once & for all for everyone who came to South Africa... instead, what happened there became a season that, for a lot of you out there, was one that was hard to take in so many ways.

By the time Season 32 came to an end two years ago, those like you at home were calling it "the worst Challenge season ever," though fellow blogger Allan Aguirre has it #2 on his list of the ten worst behind only The Island. But then again, it introduced us to fan favorite Da'Vonne, an eventual Ex On The Beach couple Angela & Nelson starting to develop their relationship, and solidified Ashley as a true power player. And of course, this was the season that began the relationship that's divided us all in Challenge Nation: Paulie & Cara Maria. But it is what happened with most everything else there that had everyone questioning their loyalty to this franchise.

Prior to Episode 4 of Total Madness this past Wednesday, Twitter user Brian, @xSuicidalPanda, took the opportunity to provide a scathing Twitter thread offering his thoughts on everything that was wrong with Final Reckoning. Unlike the last time we featured one of these (in this case, it was a hater of Johnny Bananas exposing his bad behavior), this one involves an entire season, and it does sum up the thoughts a lot of you had of that season from the opening purge up until Ashley's steal. And as we did two years ago, we won't offer our own thoughts and comments in the tweets embedded below and let Brian speak on behalf.































By the time everyone got done reading that twelve-tweet thread, a few Twitter users pitched in their own thoughts on Final Reckoning...

● @KristinPropst1: "This twist/concept was complete garbage. If you lose the redemption challenge you should've absolutely gone home. Paulie and Natalie were like cockroaches that season skating through losing multiple redemption house losses."

● @tylervincentab1: "Joss and Sylvia were the only deserving ones to win and they definitely had the better time. Cara and Marie lost an elimination and were in redemption, Ashley and Hunter were only there half the season, and Paulie and Natalie spent half the time in redemption."

● @CallMeCap10: "This was by far my least favorite season. Solely on the fact that you didn’t get a chance to work your way out of redemption, and just got it based off of luck. Jenna and Jemmye never had a chance, and are two of the fan favorites. Ridiculous."

● @Iam_ChrisJ: "Horrible eliminations that season.  Tony/Bananas vs Joss/Sylvia was to build a floating object while in water.  The Bananas vs Natalie comp was trash.  Really MTV couldn’t come up with a better elimination to go into a final than who can hold their hands in air the longest"

● @RadMads_Makeup: "All of the finals lately have been trash. I’ve rewatched cutthroat and Rivals and miss how the finals where actually difficult. I hope they bring that back. As well as better eliminations. I feel like most of them are so dumb now."


It's because of what went down there that producers must've gotten to read all of the input from fans like yourselves, and what they have given you has been a two-part global battle that saw the toughest final ever contested, fellow international players from not just Britain who've made such a huge mark, the continuation of Big Brother being seamlessly integrated into this world, and everything else... not to mention the tabloid-friendly nature of some of this year's crop of competitors.
   The premiere and this week's episode of Total Madness has seen 1 million viewers tune there - and it's not just because it's the only "sport" that is in action... it's also that this show finally has the true respect it deserves. And it's because of the changes they've made since Season 32 that's made The Challenge more enjoyable. They can thank the flaws that were exposed on Final Reckoning for making this wholesale relaunch of this show in the first place.

- I AM DC
#DCBLOG
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Got something on your mind? Let us know! But please be mindful and do not post spam or negative comments (due to that, all comments are subject to blogger approval... and we reserve the right to disable these sections if things get way out of hand).

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)