Though the fifteen episodes we have been able to witness since premiere night on April 1st, we have had plenty of drama go down in Prague: some of the coolest and most well put-together challenges ever conceived, the unexpected alliance of two of this game's biggest names, stellar rookie seasons of a few players who haven't had the jitters of playing in this game for the first time get to them, and everything else too. And we are set for one final push to the end in this, the fifth $1 million final in the past four years on this show you and I love.
Yes, we here at DCBLOG thrive on bringing you all the social media reaction to the episodes and applying our own touch to the tried & true episode recap, and of course the stories behind the story. But, it's only when we get to this last stage of the entire season do we get to do what everybody else does on your favorite sources for Challenge talk on webcasts & elsewhere: take a look at where it all stands right now game-wise and see how those still left with us in this game have fared.
And that's where we get to unlock the keys to the Strategy Room... and we'll have the chance to dissect the roads that Bayleigh, Cory, Fessy, Jenny, Johnny Bananas, Kaycee, Kyle, Melissa and Rogan have all taken from when they were among the twenty-eight contestants that started this game on April 1st, to now taking dead aim at $1 million in the middle of July. We'll do that and give out our predictions of who will reign supreme, among other things, coming up just ahead...
THE FINAL NINE
HOW THEY GOT HERE
● BAYLEIGH: A small handful of us had one-half of the Swayleigh gang making it here, but after winning three dailies and taking down the season's longest-serving veteran Aneesa, Bayleigh now has some momentum going for her. She overcame the many times she has been put up for elimination consideration, her fight with Kaycee a few weeks ago, and seeing her biggest ally get eliminated. Proving what she has been able to do there in the purgatory is one thing, but after what we've seen from her all season the final is certainly a different animal - that will test how fully prepared she is.
● CORY: He took last year off to adjust to the daddy life, but knowing that another kid is headed his way Cory decided to return to compete for family. It's always a hodgepodge of what he can offer, but this season he has held up well, and like Bay he's also notched three dailies wins, gained his skull beating Swaggy, and received the goodwill of Nelson to get here to his third final. We all know that Cory and finals just don't mesh well together, but having something to play for should encourage the daddy to dig deep and exercise demons of past failures when the lights are brightest.
● FESSY: Given his size and physique, it is not a surprise at all that Fessy has made it all the way to the end: him being a footballer who went on Ninja Warrior and had a stint in the BB20 house saw him gain what's needed to excel mentally and physically in a Challenge environment. Him winning two dailies and taking down Jordan in pole wrestle saw him gain his skull, but he also had a big test on the political side with him, Cory and Jenny in the picture. He's got checkmarks next to just about everything he's been asked to do, and he has a good shot of winning this in his first go.
● JENNY: All of us pretty much expected her to make it to the end, and Jenny now is in her first final... of course, this would've been her second final had it not been for Tori rolling over her last fall. She has four dailies wins, along with bookmarking the whole season of female eliminations by winning both the first & last purgatories. It's as if they had her in mind in putting Hall Brawl last week to complete run over her opponent, and now she ranks as the bookmakers' favorite to take the whole thing on the women's side of things. Jenny is no doubt ready for a coronation.
● JOHNNY BANANAS: After what's transpired for him since what happened four years ago next month, just getting back into the final is certainly a win for Bananas. It's been a long while since a sentence like that featured those three words, but after five tribunals and the one elimination win to validate his GOAT status vs. Wes, he has taken this game into his own hands. This is his twentieth Challenge, and this is his ninth trip to the last dance - his first since the Rivals III steal... you pretty much cannot think of anything else to bring down the curtain on this with Johnny rolling a lucky 7.
● KAYCEE: Like it is for Fessy, if there was a candidate for the rookie to make it the farthest on the women's side at preseason it was Kaycee... and it's not a surprise that she's ready to add to that $500,000 paycheck of two years ago as the first Big Brother champ to make a Challenge final. She won three dailies this season, and she notched an impressive win over Kailah in the female double purgatory to gain her ticket here. Kaycee has proved that she's well adept to the rigors of this whole thing, and it would be no surprise if she notches another title.
● KYLE: Compared to everyone else here, Kyle is the only finalist to not notch a daily challenge win this season, and he was called into meeting the tribunal four times. But by way of him taking down Josh two weeks ago and joining Bananas & Melissa in the last tribunal despite his shortcomings last week, the Tyneside Pirate is now one of the first two Brits to make two finals. He was there as a rookie when the British Invasion began on Vendettas, and after last week's lucky Kyle can feel a bit relaxed that he's now in his second dash for the cash.
● MELISSA: It's safe to say that the one challenger who's safely in for Most Improved Player is our new mom, and in what amounts really to her second season after what happened last time out Melissa has proven what she can be capable of here. Other than being at odds with Nelson some way back, her dramatic side has stayed behind in Merseyside and she has notched one daily win & a skull after taking down Nany in Week 13. As we know now, Mel is competing during the early stages of her pregnancy and it may hamper her chances here... still, it's been an impressive comeback season.
● ROGAN: After what we saw last year, the finalist here who had the most to prove was no doubt Rogan after just skating into the WOTW2 final without an elimination trip. But after surviving last week's hardly-fought Hall Brawl tussle with Nelson, the Dreamboy joins Jenny as the only two to win two eliminations en route to the final. It's as if he has come into his own in not having to worry about being part of a joint storyline with a fellow champion, and now Rogan can shine on his own... he may shut down more doubters if he gets to impress tonight.
POWER RANKINGS
BEFORE THE FINAL...
So without further ado, the power rankings, and it's in this order that we here make our predictions of who's gonna win it all.
WOMEN
1. JENNY
2. KAYCEE
3. BAYLEIGH
4. MELISSA
MEN
1. BANANAS
2. FESSY
3. CORY
4. ROGAN
5. KYLE
With a golf themed analogy ahead of Tiger Woods aiming for a record-breaking 83rd PGA Tour win this weekend in Ohio, I always look to any Challenge final as sort of like the U.S. Open. The USGA thinks of it as a complete examination of the skills any player needs to win its national championship and the hardest of golf's four majors. For a Challenge final, it tests everyone's strength, endurance, physicality. puzzle capability, mentality and a bunch of other skills I can't possibly think of as I write this before the final tonight... but you get the totality if you've been following this for a long time.
If you got all or most of those skills, or can balance a weakness in one with strengths in others, then you got a good chance of finishing up the ladder. Experience of having done these will no doubt help, which is why the men's draw is more attractive us than the women's because the four girls left all are competing in their first final. But the ladies' curiosity should also bring us to how they fare there in a wide open affair thanks to the absence of a girl with red hair, though we feel Jenny and Kaycee should contend in a close battle that may be a toss-up depending upon the puzzle equalizer.
The guys' battle will no doubt be the main event because of what's at stake for the man at the top of the rankings, but we can't forget about the others. Cory has a lot on his table knowing that he's trailed last after the checkpoints of his two finals, but with this being his third and playing for Ryder & Taylor back home that should inspire him. It should be a close but friendly battle with him & Fessy which might favor the rookie with all of his skills... but this should be a coronation for the Banana Man, and at night's end he should stamp his place in history.
Knowing what went down during the 30-32 trilogy, those behind the scenes knew that they had to make the last act of succeeding Challenges that much more harder. They gave us a memorable final on War of the Worlds 1, then we nearly saw a man get left out on the ground last time out. And now, TJ has teased us with what he calls "the most brutal final we've ever had." If we're all lucky and we all see how hard it is to compete this last task... and if it is also a close one than we think or if a surprise happens out of nowhere, tonight should be something.
💣 💣 💣 💣 💣
Tonight, of course, is the season finale, and make sure to follow the interaction on DCNOW at Twitter @DC408DxNow. DCBLOG will be covering it all this weekend, and as is custom for the last act of any MTV Reality show we blog on, the SocialPulse of the Total Madness Final will be posted one day later than usual on Sunday rather than on Saturday. That will follow our recaps of last night's Siesta Key and tomorrow night's A Double Shot at Love starting on Friday night; our WRAP of last week's episode of the ladder from Vegas will be up tomorrow. And also, we'll join a past Challenger as he tries his luck on what's rapidly become the most treacherous course there is... and it's certainly a different cat than we're used to.
We'll leave you with this important message to all the award voters who have had the chance to sample this season "For Your Consideration," and for the rest of you out there for why this very DCBLOG site should be considered for your votes, for your respect and your clicks. For now, enjoy tonight Challenge Nation...
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