DC WRAP: Champs vs. Stars - Second Half Review

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

On this MLK Day, welcome back as we now bring you this week's WRAP before tomorrow's hour of The Challenge. Vendettas is just starting to heat up, and we'll recap last week's episode next week, as our policy dictates that any episode ending without resolution - the recap of that week's episode is carried into the post covering the following week's episode.
   But the entirety of this week's recap is devoted to the second spinoff season pitting the very best of The Challenge with those from the sports and entertainment worlds, after Champs vs. Pros early last summer. On that November night where a long regular season finally came to an end in Dirty 30, a newfound tradition continued along as Champs vs. Stars began, and saw the likes to Terrell Owens, Shawn Johnson and Lil' Romeo challenge Cory, Jenna, Zach and co. The Champions truly dominated this season despite some early exits and a replacement coming in, and it was no surprise that an almost perfect season ended in them being bathed in confetti.
   It's a custom for us that whenever a finale airs in any of the shows we cover, then that show is given the full focus of that week's WRAP. That's the case for Champs vs. Stars, and ahead Things to Know will recap the second half of Champs vs. Stars with our top 5 moments from the back end of the season, along with a final look at how the teams fared here. That's all ahead.

 THINGS TO KNOW 

CHAMPS VS. STARS: TOP 5 OF 2nd HALF

5. RIVALRY RENEWED: Even though it is an exhibition season of sorts, it won't mean that the item that begins this countdown won't back down a hit. Of course, it is the rivalry of Bananas and Wes, and after they met in their first elimination battle on Champs vs. Pros, one would figure that this show's most notable beef would add another chapter on Champs vs. Stars, and it did here. After their foosball match in Week 5, Wes is named Most Valuable Player while Johnny Bananas was not with the team in deliberating who had the better performance. Then after much talk among the Champs, Bananas volunteers himself into the Arena and blows away his opponent, Riff Raff, in that battle.

4. CAGE MATCH: For UFC fighter Michelle Waterson, 2017 wasn't a good year in the Octagon: two losses -- one by rear-naked choke, the other by decision on the 218 main card. But if there's one thing to cheer about for her, it has to be Champs vs. Stars: in what turned out to be the season's last Arena elimination, Michelle faces off against Aneesa in a cage match in not only her specialty but also to at least garner some control away from the Champs. She would do exactly that, then rides that momentum into the last pre-final challenge where Michelle then goes on to post the top time among the women left on the Stars to earn her way into the final.

3. CAUGHT IN BETWEEN: One thing that amazed a manipulator with ginger hair was the gameplay of during this season despite its relaxed nature. What happened with Wes and Bananas is only a pittance compared to what the Stars had to endure in not being fully ready for the politics of this game, which would eventually catch them cold. Alliances are formed that split the men & women in blue straight down the middle, and the man who cast the deciding vote in Week 4, Matt, finds himself stuck in the middle. In Week 6, he gets to meet both alliances of Josh & Kim and Justina, Ariane & Michelle about if they can work to gain his vote. When they are up for the vote that week, Matt votes to Kim, which tied the vote 3-3 with Michelle. And it's then left up to the Champs to choose the opponent, which in the end is Michelle and the cage match win above.

2. CHAMPS DOMINANCE: Compared to the first battle between them and pro athletes, this Champs vs. Stars season only added to the definition of dominance in The Challenge encyclopedia. When you look at it, it was simply no contest and almost a perfect season: six daily challenges, and six wins for the ones wearing the blue unis. They only lost two elimination battles, and conceded just one stage of the final when they got stumped over TO's charity. This was simply a Dream Team-like season for the Champs, even when you consider that they lost three girls by injury, a family emergency and one's potentially career-damaging behavior. Still, the strength of the guys, a beast of a competitor in Emily and someone destined for great things in replacement Tori all propelled them to the win. Despite this being an exhibition season, this might be one of the best seasons ever for any player or team here.

1. BANANAS' FRIEND: At the end of this 2nd spinoff season, just as it was with Champs vs. Pros we're reminded of why this season not only brought the big names of this show and the entertainment & sports worlds together: worthy causes that they competed for and, as we have written here many times, for which they are the true champions of this seaason. Last year, Lolo Jones paid the ultimate deed in that true Olympic spirit of lending a charitable hand to Ashley after their tough battle... and after she had to leave to tend to her dying dad back home, Zach did the same to donating money to her charity. Others followed in showing that there is something bigger than this show, and again a moment of this is our top Champs vs. Stars moment.
   This time around, it's the one who many see as this show's quinessential villain, but because of the work he devotes when not being this show's poster boy is of giving back. At that foosball match in Week 5, Johnny Bananas is joined at pitchside by a friend he got to meet a couple years back at the 2015 L.A. World Games: Matthew Gang, a 17-year-old kid who suffers from down syndrome and who is the representative of Bananas' charity, Special Olympics. Him being able to watch his hero score two goals and then meet all the competitors surely ranks as one of the best days of Matt's life. There is more to this inspirational young man and the bond he has not only with Johnny but also one of sports' current superstars... more on that later on a bonus ExtraTime.

 ENDGAME 

A FINAL REVIEW

As we look back on this Champs vs. Pros mini-season, here's our final evaluation...

● THE CHAMPS 

Was Champs vs. Stars the most dominant season a team has ever had on The Challenge? Sure, this is one that won't be counted towards the actual records of those who competed, but regardless this is one of the most strongest performances ever regardless of it being a regular or exhibition season. As this finale took place, it took ten years after the beginning of another dominant season by the Veterans side on Gauntlet III, but that ended with the same fate the 73-9 Warriors had of not having that ring. This performance here ended with the right team winning and them getting their reward: $150,000 split three ways to three worthy charities.
   For Bananas, this is at least some redemption of sorts for a dismal 2017, with one elimination win, winning the automatic spot in the last pre-final challenge and competing for a cause he has worked tirelessly for, which made this just as good a finals win as his six titles. CT made it into three of the four finals contested in twelve months and winning two of them in proving his experience on Champs vs. Stars and the beast he is on Invasion makes this year a good return. For Emily, we last saw her in another dominant season of her & Paula winning Rivals II... though this was her comeback season, it's as if she never left in being able to prove why she is as strong a competitor as any we've had, having made it to the end in all of her seasons.
   Zach bounced himself back from an early exit on Invasion and what we saw from him on Exes 2 to show off the new Thor, and after being the only player to be named MVP two times it should help him in seasons ahead as he tries to regain. Tori came in as the newcomer to the group after what happened to Ashley, Jenna and Camila, and fit in very nicely... she has a great future ahead of her. And we can't forget about Wes and Aneesa too, where the former added to his elimination mastery and the ladder proved her worth against an eventual finalist.

● THE STARS    
It's true that once Terrell Owens bolted from this season, the Stars were pretty much resigned to having to become front-row witnesses to this Champions dominance. But, one person who stood out for the Stars this season was Justina Valentine: her being able to hold up to the challenge of the Champs, especially in the foosball challenge where she channeled her own Tim Howard and kept that match from becoming a total rout will make a valid case that she could become the first of these Stars or Pros to potentially be chosen to become a Challenge regular and give her fans an extra reason to watch MTV aside from staying up late on Thursday nights for Wild 'N Out.
   It wasn't until late in the season that we saw the Josh Murray who everyone has touted for his athletic ability: him putting up a solid performance in the last two regular challenges, and treating Emily as his own dodgeball target surely made his charity and fans proud. Last month, Michelle Waterson lost in a UFC PPV card, but being able to prove her worth in the arena vs. Aneesa really saw her earn her way into the final by way of what we saw in the pool. And among the non-finalists, Matt Rife surely made his mark taking down Cory and if not for either Michelle or Justina making it in, he would've made a good case for the final and had it been it could've been a closer affair.

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And for now, that's will do it from here. There is much more to dissect from this Champs vs. Stars finale and from Week 2 of The Challenge Vendettas, and here's where you can find more discussion from the second week of 2018 in the MTV Trifecta...

● As it continues an impressive run to begin a new generation of podcasts by the one & only Bulldog, Challenge Mania with Derrick K. (@DerrickMTV) & Scott Yager (@AShotAtYeger) was joined by two big guests last week. First, Tori joined the guys to chat up her impressive rookie campaign on Dirty 30, her being one of Are You The One's most accomplished alums, and of course cleared the air on all that took place last year. And afterwards, TJ Lavin joined the duo to discuss this show as only the host knows. Check out those interviews, plus chats with Brad, Darrell, Kailah, Aneesa & Michelle Waterson, Tony, Jemmye, Hunter and more on Podbean and iTunes.
● After the Champs vs. Stars final, fellow blogger Allan Aguirre (@FebreezyFresh) landed the first exit interviews with all but one of the finalists. He talked first to Josh, Justina and Michelle about their experience having to witness the Champs' sure dominance, and then to Emily and CT about their finals win. Check out those two chats, plus episode recaps and more on Medium.
● Shortly after talking to Allan, Emily then joined fellow Challenge podcast You Killed It as she talked about again proving her dominance as an potential top-5 female competitor as part of hosts John Chidley-Hill and Sheldon Alexander's weekly discussions of the episodes. Check out that and more at PodTail, plus Tony talking to fellow Canadian podcast Popternative.
● For diehard Challenge fans and willing to put up a few dollars to get some juicy gossip, check out the premium offering of The Brain Candy Podcast with Susie and Sarah on Patreon, where last week they were joined by one of the four from Team San Diego who defeated Sarah in the Battle of the Seasons II final, Frank. As they say, check it out.
● Also check out Rob Has A Podcast and hosts Brian Cohen (@CohenBrian_) and Ali Lasher (@LashTweets) as they discussed last week's episode which you can check out on RHAP, plus extensive coverage on the site of The Bachelor and The Amazing Race in addition to wall-to-wall Survivor coverage and next month, Celebrity Big Brother.
● My fellow friend and podcast host Andrew Kirk (@CSUGradAKirk) was joined by Reality Radio as they discussed the first two episodes of Vendettas, which expanded their Twitter discussion as we featured on the Pulse on Saturday to their show. And a longtime friend from when he & I began our time covering the Trifecta, Marie, will join Andrew after this week's episode to dish, of course, on Kyle & Cara and other matters on his YouTube channel.
● And last but not least - after some time away in dealing with some personal matters, Ace Nichols (@AceNichols33) returned to what she does best of recapping the episodes on YouTube. A recap of the premiere is up on her YouTube channel, and of course videos for other seasons are up there for you to enjoy.

We are done for our weekly episode posts but not with this week's wave... as mentioned, a bonus ExtraTime on the bond between Johnny Bananas and his Special Olympics friend Matt will be featured on here at midweek after tomorrow night's Vendettas. Before it returns for its winter slate tonight - for which DCNOW is slated to have live tweets of then, check out our Look at the first half of Season 1 of MTV's addictive docu-series Siesta Key, including of which Challenger a couple of the cast got to meet.
   As for this site, if you're new to us be sure to bookmark DCBLOG for our distinctive and incisive look at the MTV Trifecta from our exclusive Pulse of the episodes to our ExtraTime stories and our usual reviews of the episodes like this one. And make sure to share our links on your favorite social media platforms to help spread the word to your fellow fans and let them sample our outstanding content and one-of-a-kind look at your favorite shows. And let yours truly know about my work by dropping a line at @DC408Dxtr, in the comment boxes here and via email.
   For now, that is how we see it Inside the MTV Trifecta. See you tonight for Siesta Key, tomorrow for Vendettas, and of course Thanks and see you then.

- I AM DC