Since this is a preview show I'm going to handle things a little differently. First I'll talk about the episode itself, then I'll break down the different teams in terms of entertainment value, quality of pairing, and chance of winning.
First off, the concept of this season should lead to about as much fun as Rivals should have been. As long as the pairs really have some real deep seeded issues with each other that they have to put aside so that they can work together and try and win, this will be a highly entertaining season.
The arena with the giant dome reminds me of a piece of playground equipment we had at my elementary school. There was a kid in my class who could curl up in a little ball in the center of it and the teacher couldn't reach him, so he would do that whenever recess was over and the teacher would have to crawl through one of the openings to get him out.
As always with these games the challenges are only a small portion of the actually game. Most of the actually playing is done on the political front. The rules for this challenge seem to be: The team that does worst in the challenge is put into the Duel and the team that does the best in the challenge gets to pick the team that goes against them. This hopefully will lead to some interesting back and forth momentum changes within the house.
The challenges themselves look like some of the most brutal that they have ever done. But MTV has a way of editing previews to make things look tougher than it really is.
Wait, in showing the seasons preview did they just give away the final 3. The part where they are wearing wedding clothes and shoving cake in each others mouths had the look of a final challenge. If so you can clearly tell at least two of the three teams that makes it to the end. That's poor editing, Boo MTV.
I like the idea of releasing the first ten minutes after they get 5,000 people to tweet using the hash tag for the show. That's a clever way to use new media.
Now as for the teams, I'm going to include pictures since when I was looking over my notes while writing this less than a day after watching it, I could not remember who a couple people were.
Paula is in with most of the powerhouses currently in the game. They should be safe politically until very close to the end. Neither are great at challenges so they might end up in trouble on that front. They never seem to be on the same page, so they could be a complete disaster trying to work as a team and it will be great to watch.
Pairing: ***
Chance to win: ***
Entertainment value: ****
CT & Diem:
A true real long term relationship that has ended, it would have been nice if all the teams were at this level. Between CT's strength and Diem's tenacity this should be the powerhouse team to beat. They are not in any alliances and CT is usually the number one target of any alliance, but even with no political support their strength and intelligence should take them far. That is if they can keep their emotions in check. They have the most history and that might make for the most problems.
Pairing: *****
Chance to win: *****
Entertainment value: ***
Is it possible to have a team where both members are the weakest link? Wes always seems to be on the outs with the political powerhouses and has a tendency to gas out in long endurance challenges (which the last one always is). Mandi has made her fair share of enemies with her abrasive attitude and is always a question mark in challenges, she seems to get cut some slack due to the time on Fresh Meat II where she outlasted Wes at The Exile elimination, but again that was a long endurance challenge where Wes gassed out. As far as their relationship, they only started fooling around on Rivals so they are a bit of a wildcard. They could hate each other, or be amicable and focused to win, we'll just have to wait and see. Oh...watch for Wes to try his cunning plan of telling the political leaders he's going to round up all the newbies and get them to overthrow the ruling group. He tries that cunning plan every single time.
Pairing: ?
Chance to win: ***
Entertainment value: ?
Leroy has only done one challenge, Naomi is a rookie so they have little power, but Leroy seems like a nice guy who's easy to get along with so who knows what friendships he formed during Rivals. He was also able to make it all the way to the end on his first challenge, that takes some power and the ability to stay out of the drama. Naomi seems to be a hot mess of drama and could be the downfall of this team.
Pairing: ***
Chance to win: ***
Entertainment value: ***
A complete rookie team who only know Leroy & Naomi. I believe Leroy's relationship with Mike puts him at odds with Dustin so while not enemies I don't believe their friends either. So they have no political power at all and will more than likely be one of the first teams to go. Their only saving grace is Dustin seems to have a horrible competitive streak which could benefit the team. On the other end of the spectrum his past will surely be brought up constantly by the other contestants and that has proven to be his kryptonite . As far as their relationship goes, she knew about the gay porn thing while they were still together, so that won't be a huge issue for her. Another where we'll have to wait and see what page they are on.
Pairing:***
Chance to win: Zero stars
Entertainment value: * in terms of in-fighting, ***** if he goes nuts from being picked on.
Nate & Priscilla:
If Real World: San Diego was not the worst cast to ever be on The Real World, I don't know what was. I hope we don't see much of any one from this cast in future shows because on a whole they were about as unlikeable as any seven stranger could be. Nate & Priscilla are complete rookies with no political support. They don't seem very fit or smart. And they hardly even fit the criteria for this challenge. It seems they were shoe horned in just to have someone for the most recent cast of RW on the show. If they are not the first to leave I will be shocked.
Pairing: Zero stars
Chance to win: Zero stars
Entertainment value: Zero stars
A team of true odd ball underdogs. There is no love loss between Cara Maria and Wes, or Paula. So from the get go they are on the outs with both sides of the major political struggle. Abram is a solid competitor and has been a proven leader. A good strategy might be to align themselves with CT & Diem another team that's outside of both side of the political game. They seem to have a long standing on-again-off-again relationship. Where ever they are in that cycle will determine how well they do in the game.
Pairing: *** if together, ***** if broken up
Chance to win: ****
Entertainment value ***, ***** if broken up
Tyrie & Jasmine:
For as much as I would rather see long-term exes working together, this paring of one time hook-upers is near perfect. When I was taking notes while watching this episode, I only wrote down one thing for them: Lazy & Crazy. Jasmine is a powder keg waiting to explode and Tyrie is such a sloth, I don't know why he keeps coming back. Especially since he always says the same thing. He's in the best shape of his life and wants to avenge his poor performance from last time, and then he always does the same thing: Lazily fail at the challenge.
Pairing: *****
Chance to win: *
Entertainment value: ** unless they get into it in-which case: *****
This might be the team that dislike each other the most. Ty has been known to fly completely off the handle when ever his buttons are pushed and has also never fared well in the duels. All his muscles seem completely for show. I don't see them being able to function as a team and feel this will lead to a early exit. Now they should be a train wreck of quality TV until they go, but I still think they will go sooner rather than later.
Pairing: *****
Chance to win: *
Entertainment value:*****
Both are proven competitors, but having seen previews of the challenges and knowing the history of the eliminations, I don't know how it is fair to have a team of two females. Don't get me wrong, I'm not discrediting either of their abilities, its just that I don't know how they could beat the likes of CT or about half the other guys at any physical grappling elimination challenge. And they don't have the political connection anymore to skate to the end without seeing an elimination. I think their relationship has been over for so long that they will be able to work well as a team, I just don't know how long that will take them.
Pairing: **
Chance to win: **
Entertainment value: *
Ahhh Johnny, the true evil puppet master. Always willing to let Kenny or Evan look like they were running the show while all the time pulling the strings from behind the curtain. Camila tends to be polarizing but unless this is the season where a new regime takes over, these two are almost certainly final three bound. As far as their relationship goes, Johnny is so sneaky that their relationship has only ever been hinted at in past seasons. Another couple where we'll just have to wait and see.
Pairing: ?
Chance to win: ****
Entertainment value: *** (would be higher, but Johnny is smart enough to keep his dirty laundry hidden)
Hasn't Mark "officially retired" from doing challenges like twice? By far the most veteran team, but will all that experience help them in the long run. Mark is over 40 and Robin has never been much of a competitor. Mark is almost universally liked, but will that be enough to get them far in the game? On the plus side their relationship was so long ago things should be relatively smooth sailing, as long as Robin can pull her weight in challenges.
Pairing: **
Chance to win: ***
Entertainment value: **
This guys been on two different challenges and I have almost no recollection of him at all, except I think he's a bit of a chump when it comes to the challenges. Sarah has been around enough that she has some political swing, but I don't know if it will be enough to make up for her teammates shortcomings.
Pairing: **
Chance to win: ***
Entertainment value: **
So that's the cast, like I said there is potential for this to be a pretty good season. I would have liked to see more teams that had longer relationships that have ended with animosity towards each other, instead of all the one time hook-ups, but maybe all the drama will come from the crazy one timers you never know.
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