The Challenge 40: Episode 1 Discussion

0:55 Welcome back to the Nullified Take, where we've got the TNT takes for you on The Challenge 40, episode 1. That is right. I am your host, Chris. Boy, I've missed saying that. And I'm here with my co-host, Kahuna. Kahuna, how have you Have you been? It's been a while. Chris, man, I'm doing good. It has been a while. It's like, you know, we've hardly seen each other. We From going multiple times a week to like podcasting, you know, once every couple weeks. It's a big difference, isn't it? Yeah, you know what it is? We're workmates. Like, you know, it's kind of like with The Challenge being challenge mates, they see each other in challenge seasons. We see each other as well when the challenge seasons kick off and we get to talk to each other on the podcast. But, we're going to change it. We've only caught up like once outside of the podcasting, and I'm hoping that with the next Australian Survivor season, we're going to get you down to Melbourne. Like, we have to get you down to Melbourne.

1:45 We've got to do something, I think, when that kicks off. but, the break's been good. I feel like the break's been good, personally. I don't know how you felt about that, because at one point, you and I went, I feel like, a year and a half without stopping. Do you agree to that? Like Yeah, it was well deserved, for sure. Like it's one of those things where like we were getting like when we were doing three or four episodes, sometimes four episodes a week, if not more. Like I was like, "Yeah, we need a break. We need a break. We need a break." But when you're on the break, you're like, "Can't wait for this season to start again, man." Cuz I miss it, you know what I mean? Like I'm excited to be back. Yeah, I totally agree. I think that sometimes you need that break just to come back full energy, you know, give fresh perspectives on everything. You say that like we did four seasons or four different shows at one point and we were talking about it, but it didn't feel like it.

2:37 Like we had a lot of fun doing it, but definitely towards the end of it I was like, "Wow, I feel tired. I don't know why I feel tired, but I'm tired right now." Yeah. Yeah. But it's been great, you know, I feel like with a lot of these challenges coming back from like the old eras and things like that. In some ways they were rusty on episode one, we're probably going to be rusty on episode one as well. Do you agree? Like with the podcasting? Look, there are there are times where yeah, like people are rusty and stuff, but then you have legends like Chris here, who no matter how much time he takes off, he's ready to go. He's game ready every single time. That's the mamba mentality and he comes in. CT's been gone for years now. Did you know it's 2021 was the last like when I thought I still That's a long time we haven't seen CT. It doesn't feel that long.

3:28 But he was straight out the gate and like on top of things, like Are you sure it's 2020? Surely not. Maybe 2022, but I was reading something about we haven't like there was an article that said 2021. I was like, "Wow, like it struck me as weird as well." chat Can we get chat calling Cohutta out for getting his facts wrong, please, on the very first episode? Because otherwise it just wouldn't feel like we're back, you know? Like if Chante doesn't keep going on us, then we are live at a different time slot than what we've done in previous times, which I know for the US is probably going to be horrible. But for my schedule at the moment, which is very busy, this is probably the only way I can make it work this season is doing lives at a very different time. So, throughout the season, if you hear Kahuna make these wrong calls, please still let us know in the chat below. If I'm making the wrong calls, I would appreciate if you don't call me out on it.

4:21 Okay? I don't know if I can take that right now. I need all the positive encouragement that I can coming back into this so that we can get through the season. But let's say hello to people who are on the live. We had Kiwi here very early on saying, "Haven't seen the show yet, so I'll watch it tomorrow once I have. Enjoy the live, Kiwi. We hope you come back and read this." and just know for future seasons, we're going to be we're going to probably be one of the first shows to actually talk about the episode because as soon as it hits, we'll be live on the same day here in Australia to actually cover it this season as well. Even though the time's not going to be perfect for a lot of people wanting to watch the lives, we will have some of the earliest coverage, I think, on the challenge for this season. Ari is here asking, "Late?" No, you're right on time. And yes, we have started.

5:11 Danica saying, "What? I'm getting everyone ready for work. I guess I'll be driving through the pod." Danica, we're going to be keeping you busy this season while you drive in the mornings cuz this should be our regular spot for most of the season. And do we have like a co-host there in the back, Kahuna? Yeah, I've been trying to get them to say hello. Hello. For those that can't see it, we've got we've got a co-host. Kahuna's got a co-host tonight. This is my youngest boy, Phoenix. So, I lock him out. Guys, trying to lock him out, but my wife is putting the other kids to bed and he's free range at the moment, so there's no stopping him. He's a freaking whirlwind. Yeah, it's like CT coming back into this season, right? There's no stopping him winning dailies immediately. People are trying their best, but you know, not Phoenix.

6:04 Phoenix has got the Mamba mentality as well. All right, let's have a look at bloody blood bloody money saying that your invitationals has begun. That's right. Also saying also Christian Kinner, this is off topic regarding the Challenge Traitors USA season got renewed for two more seasons. I did see that. I did see Traitors is coming back and I did see that they had some more legends playing. I mean, obviously I know Chris is in the live. she's going to love me saying this, but Tony Rain is coming back. So, I'm very happy about that. also saying Christian Kinner, did you watch the Challenge season 40 episode zero? I did. Did you watch it, Kinner? Yeah, I'm I'm really glad I did actually cuz first of all, it was really good. But episode one without episode zero would feel like a real jolt cuz they were straight in. Like they're not wasting any time. They're like everything that you need to know about the house, the intro stuff, that's episode zero.

6:59 Episode one, we're straight into it, man. Straight into it. There was like no easing us into the season at all. so yeah, I did watch episode zero as well. It was good to see everybody get together and have their conversations and everybody got their moment in the sun where they showed a little bit of their past history with the show, which was really good. and the one thing I did feel cheated out of Kinner was seeing the reaction to people when Jordan came in with that cowboy hat. I think he had the cowboy hat on when he came in, but he was really late coming into the game and we obviously hear him sort of allude to that here in the first episode, but we were kind of robbed of seeing people's reactions because, you know, Jordan's in the prime right now. He's in the top of his game where a of these other champs that have won many times I've got to be honest, some of them look out of shape. They don't look like they're going to be able to keep like I think Angel Cake made the right choice choosing him as his number one male pick for the season.

7:52 Like I don't know if anybody can stop Jordan this season. I know he didn't win the daily, but this is Jordan coming into the season. He was going to be my number I mean, he should be everyone's number one pick. He has the same pedigree and resume as the likes of a CT and Banana. But he's 15 years young or 10 years younger than them, you know what I mean? And in his peak, you're right. Like he's percentage his win percentage is crazy. If he's in a season, he can't he gets to the end. And if he gets to the end, more times than not, he wins. So for him to get this like grand entrance where he's fashionably late with his cowboy hat, it just felt so Jordan. Like just so epic of the guy who arguably like I know you've made the argument I still hold Bananas in number one spot just because seven rings talks a lot.

8:44 But arguably like Jordan, I know on a long enough time timeline, he's going to surpass everyone without question. got called out. We all got like called out for it in our draft for daring not giving Jordan enough props in that draft, right? Some people were saying that how can you say arguably one of the best ever he is the best. And I'm like okay, like I mean pound for pound I get it. Like he's one of the Yeah, but I would give it to him now. but I think yeah, like seven is seven's a lot. Like you know what I mean? 20 seasons Yeah. Yeah. And it's over time. arguing that people are arguing his strike rate when he gets to finals and how often he wins in the finals. He keeps that strike rate up for another X amount of years and it's undeniable. Mhm. Love the facial expressions there from Phoenix. He's got the game face.

9:35 Got like you know what? When ever Yeah, whenever Cory, you know, ever tries to hold brawl you just need to get Phoenix out there to give that those like looks. There we go. I love that. Talking about Jordan, and I want to say hello to more people. Chris, hello. Welcome back this season. This is going to be a fun season to dissect. Saying I'm about to head to work, so I won't be typing, but I'll be listening. Welcome. And Chris is also in her Danica era probably being in the car. We've got Erica here saying hello everyone, very excited for the season. Danica loves free range babies. And Blood Money saying, do you like when TJ says four male and four female getting cut heading into next week. Let's come back to that one. I wanted to explore something with you here. You know, Kahuna, we both acknowledge that Jordan is an absolute beast, and he is someone that we need to you know, if you're playing the game, you don't want to run a final against them.

10:34 You know, I think if there's ever somebody who came into the season with like the worst setup, it's Tony, right? Tony time. Because he did try and convince Cory to go after Jordan here in this first episode. He did try and say you don't want to run a final against him, but literally the guy's ex who's maybe still half in love with him. Like, I feel like there's still feelings there. Is sitting next to him as one of the two winners. And you know, Derrick who's also very close to Tori in this game. Like, could there have been anybody worse draw coming into this season than Tony? I mean, yeah, I mean, for Cory to be in the winner's seat especially because like you said, there's no choice there for Tori to be out of Devin, Jordan, or Tony, which she you know, she doesn't know. So, you're right. Her ride or die, her ride or die, or a rando.

11:26 And Tony, it's a it's a pretty easy choice there. And for Cory to make that choice as well, the last time these two saw each other, Tony was slamming him to the ground for the pasta. You know what I mean? Like Yeah. So Yeah. There's history there as well. So Tony Yeah, Tony did not draw a good card there as far as the men go. it's sad because between you and me, I kind of like I want to see this new Tony. I like Tony seems so much more mature. He seems like he's aged well, you know, like he would again didn't do really well in the puzzle pieces, which you know, if you had brains and you could do well in the puzzle side of things, maybe we would have had more of a competitive season. But I kind of want to see how Tony does after such a long hiatus. And having him on All Stars, having to leave so early because of family reasons and then again being in a bad spot here, I'm fearful that we're going to get another season where he does go home early and we don't see enough of him.

12:20 Now, Blood Money did go into what do we think about the four male and four males and four females getting cut so early on. Eight eliminations, I think is the way he sold it. for me personally, I kind of like it to be honest with you because it was actually kind of hard to follow all the storylines and everything that was going on because there's just such a gigantic group of people out there. I do feel like you kind of need some sort of a purge early on. Otherwise, it's going to be very like a lot of people are just not going to get airtime. And I just feel like we need to cut numbers right from the get-go. Yeah, like to be honest at the start I was a little bit not necessarily disappointed. I wanted to at least have time with the people like as a like not a purge straight away because I remember on season 30 they did the purge at the start and it kind of we lost Darrell straight away.

13:12 Like I think that was like the Rogan gone immediately. Like it kind of sucked that in that regard. but it does make sense. There's a lot of people. And even during the daily and when they bring them out they're all standing there and I'm like, "This is epic. Like, there's so many people here. It looks great. It's so grand. The scale, the budget, everything looks spectacular." And then I realized I'm like, "Yeah, that's a lot of people to track." Like, we didn't see any of some people at all and I'm like, "There's a reason why you have to purge them." Yeah, totally agree with that. And you know, we've got King Cash here. He's not going to let this one sleep, you know. he has to bring up and King Cash, thanks for keeping us honest. Yeah, saying that Jordan got a team with three. Not one of his exes, three of his exes to protect him because obviously, I don't know if him and Nia actually ever officially dated, but there was something between them and I believe Jonnae was the other one that he's hooked up with as well.

14:13 3 or whatever. Or what it whatever it is. They Nia and Jordan definitely exes. So a hookup classifies as an ex, like an official ex. No, it wasn't a hookup. They're like they're I think they're like they dated. Yeah. Because it was such a big deal off the back of their history and how there was so much animosity when they were on The Real World. and yeah, they squashed it and they actually did date for a while. All right, Chris calling you out saying not true. I thought you did say Cory slammed Tony into the ground. Yeah. Yeah, sorry. I didn't hear you say the other one. Yeah. Yeah, Cory obviously was the one who slammed Tony cuz Tony had pasta or something, right? And he was And he got slammed. I remember that. Blood Money saying Durrell, Devin, and Amanda got purged at Dirty 30. and then we've got also saying, "Yep, Jordan and Nia hookup of All Stars, Jonnae at Rivals 2." I remember that.

15:06 King Cash also saying, "It was also annoying we didn't get to see people re Yeah, exactly. I said the same thing, King Cash. I really wanted to see people's reaction cuz I think there would have been a big reaction to Jordan coming into the house so late where people may have thought, "We got away with it. We don't have one of the heavy hitters in this season. And They probably didn't show up cuz they all would have known. Like there's only I reckon there's probably three or four people, maybe three people. Jordan, Bananas, and CT that could pull off a late entrance and say, "Nah, I'm going to rock up when I'm ready cuz I'm doing a race." Like no one can just say to them, "Hey, I'll turn up when I'm like I'm not coming when you guys want me there. I'll come late because I'm Jordan." Like no one else can do that. They knew. Yeah. And from that era, I mean, who else did they really have? Now, obviously, this season, you know, we get everybody there.

16:00 There's a lot of talk about the past. And this is a big marquee season for The Challenge, right? Being season 40, they showed all of these past seasons. It's in the house as well. There's these memory walls. We even saw a little bit of that on episode zero as well. You know me, I love world building, Kona. Whenever they do like world building, they build on the legacy of the show. Those are the kind of things that get me really excited to watch the show. and the fact that we get these players coming back season after season after season. and they also had this really big firework display in the beginning. Do you feel like they really did, you know, go all in on this first episode? Or do you feel like there's even more to come? They didn't blow the budget immediately in this first episode. So, there's more to come in the future. I mean, they did go big. Like it looked phenomenal. Like everything about the production was gigantic.

16:51 I hope it's not a one episode thing. I hope it does carry on because like I don't know like even the number of cameras. Like there was so many different angles and shots and the editing Even in the water. Yeah, like there was so much. Like when they were doing the daily, they have the they do it at night and then make the boats glow. They have the light challenge. And then when they zoomed out and they had aerial shots or drones or whatever and you just see 40 different glowing rings out on like a dark I like this looks phenomenal. So, I really hope it's not a one and done because so far they've come out of the out of the gates like fast. Now, I know that there's a lot of people who watch The Challenge that do not care for Survivor and they're probably not going to care about the next observation that I'm going to make but you know, we came on to the live a couple of weeks ago to try and get some of the rid of some of the cobwebs you know, before the season and we spoke about Survivor and how the current Survivor US has just lost a lot of creativity.

17:54 They don't keep you know, they don't keep risking new things or exploring with new things. It feels like the creative thought of stopped. Again, here we come in The Challenge a completely new challenge something I haven't seen before. You know, we're in a location that I don't know if they've been to Vietnam before but they keep going to these different locations. They keep innovating the camera angles like you said, you know, this is what we're talking about when people are saying we're being haters of the Survivor US franchise versus the Australian franchise because the Australian franchise also keeps innovating but the US franchise have stopped innovating six seven seasons ago, right? And The Challenge keeps doing it. Is there flaws in The Challenge? 100%. Do they sometimes not maybe prove something out or stress test a challenge enough and there's like risky challenges and things like that? 100% but you've got to risk it to win the biscuit and at least that's what I love about The Challenge.

18:44 They're the like even though they said they're the longest running reality TV show, a lot of people will still look at The Challenge versus Survivor and say it doesn't get the same numbers. It's the smaller brother or you know, it's the one that's still trying to they're the underdog but they keep innovating and I just want to applaud that. I thought really solid episode from a challenge standpoint. And it really was. I mean, there's so I think looking across the cast to me there's some choices that I wouldn't have personally made. Like I know when I did my fantasy cast like when it was even a thing like last year whatever it was, like I was coming up with different scenarios and I thought of the errors theme like to have the different errors play each other. And some of the choices I wouldn't have done but for the most part this cast is so stacked. To have this level of quality across the board is just they had to bring everything else with it.

19:40 You couldn't have this cast, you couldn't have these appearances, these personalities, the nostalgia, the history, everything that goes along with it and then let it down on the production side. It's just really good to see that the money they saved on 39 when we were like it's the budget cutting season, they did use it. They were like, "Nah, we're putting it to use." You know, they didn't save it. Yeah. The season the wish the wish season of the challenge last season with the wish cast now we've got the proper cast coming back for this season. But really enjoying it so far. Also wanted to bring up you know King Kash here brings up King Kash is full of good comments like I feel like doing our job for us here in the live saying surprise season 40 didn't get a $2 million prize. You know, we've seen $1 million prizes before for a second when he said $1 million or prior to saying it I thought he was going to say $2 million.

20:32 To be honest with you I was like I'm expecting it to be like Survivor they're going to go all out on this one. What do you think about it being a $1 million prize? When your name's King Kash you could probably make it $2 million pretty easily. Making it rain. King Kash. Making it rain. Why isn't it $2 million? Yeah, you're right. They could have gone bigger but like they also he also said very specifically it's a $1 million prize pool. Right? So are they paying second and third out of that million as well? So it's 350. You know, it's not 500 for the winners. I don't know. So, that waters it down as well. They could have gone harder like a million dollars for each of the winners would have been So, they couldn't get Wes. How much of the budget like how much of what we're seeing when we're bragging not bragging but we're glazing about how awesome it looks, how much of those fireworks with the water fountains that had videos going behind it would we not have had if there was a million dollars extra for one of these people that are already very well off pretty much, you know.

21:40 Yeah, I feel like it had to have been a million dollar cash prize for one winner male winner for Wes to come back, right? Because he would be losing money if he was to play this season. That's why we don't see Wes out there this season. It's not worth his time. Yeah. now on this obviously first challenge we get them going out there. They had the puzzle that they had to do and we get CT's pro tips throughout this episode. What did you think of his pro tips? Do you feel like new challenges have got a whiteboard and they're starting to take note of some of these great tips that he's giving for free? I feel like now that CT is giving us these tips for free, it might be an indication that this truly may be his last season because he's finally sharing with us the magic source that got him his six titles, right? Is it six titles or what? It is, yeah. I'm loving it. I'm loving it.

22:31 He It's a lot of fun and they you know, when it's not that absolute Captain Obvious like they are kind of insightful. They're good. Like yeah, makes sense. Like they're not bad advice yet. so, I appreciate that but CT's such a character and I'm glad I'm going to do a thing I think I'm going to try to be conscious and remember and I probably won't. I'll forget and thing but I'm going to try to like cherish it while he's around and know that he's you're right. He's probably doesn't have that long left and just having pro tips from CT, you see how good of a TV character this man is, you know. Oh, he's brilliant. I mean, but we were lucky enough to see that recently. For those that didn't watch Traders USA, he was on season 2. And again, even on that show, it was great to have him there. It was a completely different show that he had to figure out. But, for those that have not watched, I won't spoil it, but go watch Traders USA season 2.

23:23 If you're a CT fan, I think you'll enjoy it. it's a good season. so, yeah. Seeing him come back, seeing him play this season, giving us the pro tips, that's the fun things that we want to see. But, very impressive here that the first person out of the gates. I'm not a fan of this person. I've been very open about not being a fan of this person. And I can tell this season, I'm again not going to enjoy them that much. But, I will give them credit. Laurel, once again, first person to finish the puzzle, first person onto the boat going out there to get the glow sticks. you know, you don't have to like her, but you got to respect her. Hey, Corina. She is a beast at this game. You know, I really kind of loved that. Like, again, not because I like her as a person, but coming off of All Stars, where there was so much drama between Cara and her, and I was like, are they going to make the season about the Laurel-Cara drama again?

24:18 And it didn't take kind of there. Yeah, it didn't take long at all. It got there very quickly. Which, you know, if you got a storyline like that, you go for it. But, the fact that it was those two that was so like far out ahead and like we and Cara was chasing her down. But, Cara was with her as well. It's not like Cara was dragging behind and Laurel that the fact that those two were the ones that were dominant shows how good these women are. that yeah, that battle that we saw on, you know, All Stars and what we've seen for the last 15 years is really one of the better battles we've we have possibly had. Like, there's rivalries and people hate each other, but for both of them to be such strong competitors, pushing each other, like, being friends, but frenemies, and driving each other, and motivating each other to be better, as well as like hating each other at the same time, it's such a weird dynamic.

25:11 But, to have that as the epitome of the these two women really dominating was really cool to see that like it All Stars is seen I'm sorry, I'm ranting, but All Stars is seen as like the lesser competition, right? Like, All Stars is like not as good as the main, but they win in All Stars, they won, and then they dominate on this to show how good they really are on All Stars as well. So, I like that. Yeah. There's not much between the two of them in my mind. Like I said, you know, obviously, not a big fan of Laurel. And like Chris, I thought you were driving. How do you have your hands free to give me sass and the life? Like, I don't appreciate this. Get your hands on the steering wheel. Make sure you keep your eyes on the road, okay? We don't want an accident to happen. saying, "Hmm, I wonder why Chris doesn't like Laurel." Obviously, I'm a big Cara fan, so King Cash has asked who is our Mount Rushmore for men and women.

26:03 And then said, "Cara, Laurel, Evelyn, and give Tori one more win, and she is there." that is music to Kahuna's ears, who's a big Tori fan as well. Yeah. I would probably I would probably agree Cara, Laurel, Evelyn, and Rachel maybe. Like, Rachel's up there if you had to go from the old years. She had a good season a good solid episode one as well. I'd put her up there above Tori at this stage. Yeah. Yeah, she had a really big episode. Yeah. You agree with that? who do you have for the men? The men should be the more obvious ones, right? Your CT, Bananas, Yes. Jordan, And then Wes. Wes there just for Yeah, just for impact? Yeah, impact and character and longevity and all that sort of thing as far as legacy goes. He's not up there with the other three. There's gap between the three and then Wes, but as overall persona, he's certainly on that Rushmore for me.

26:59 Yeah, I think longevity is what would tip him above some other fan favorites from earlier seasons potentially. Chris saying I'm at work now, not driving anymore. Okay, so I am not off the hook right now. She's going to be keeping tabs. She preempted the correction by the way. She knew you were going to call her out for it and she got that in there. Before you even mention it. Yeah, it was like pre-typed, pre-typed. She's in my mind, you know, she knows. Like that zombie song. But anyways, so where were we? We're talking about, you know, just I guess having Laurel absolutely dominate. We've got Cara Maria that keeps up with her. Both of them beating most of the men, right? Out there on this opening challenge. And then you also have people winning like CT. You've got Rachel winning. How much would this win have meant for Rachel specifically because she came back into All Stars after such a long break from the show.

27:55 There was a big aura around her as someone that is more fit than most women that are playing the game today. And there's such a big legacy and she ended up going pretty early in that season. Didn't do as well as she maybe wanted to do in All Stars. How much would this have meant for her coming into the season just being able to get this first W early on? Yeah, like off the back of All Stars it would be super important. Like it I don't think the All Stars going out that early was that big of a deal because it was Cara Maria, right? Like that was who she was eliminated by and it kind of says to her it shows how people thought of her that they wanted to put the two biggest threats against each other. So like I don't see it as a slight against her, but knowing that she did go out early it would have been eating at her, I'm sure, to come out with a big performance straight off the bat. She's pumped, man. Like I could she like you said, she had a big episode.

28:48 A lot of confessionals, a lot of like really positive sort of vibes from her. So, if there's an edit, she's episode one and CT looked really good on the men's side for episode one as well, I thought. Yeah. I listen, they I want to talk a little bit about Rachel before we move on to CT cuz CT gets a lot of the limelight in any season that he plays because he's CT, right? but one of the things I really thought Rachel did well in this episode specifically after having won and having so many close connections with some of the girls from the older the first generation, I guess, that played the game. She really did a good job in saying, "I'm not choosing any of the women. Like CT, you can take the heat and make the decision. That way I'm impartial." I thought that was a good game move from someone that hasn't actually played the game in such a long time.

29:39 And there's a few people in this era like CT has played with the new kids. He gets the strategy. He gets the fact that they need to keep the team strong. There's a lot of them that were still thinking in that mentality of All-Stars, like what we sometimes see in All-Stars. If you're the last one or second last one, you should automatically go in just based on that alone. Where CT is more looking into the future. Who does he want to run with type of thing, you know? And I thought both CT and Rachel, not only did they win when it came to the daily just felt they were a couple of steps ahead strategically here in the first episode as well. That's always going to be the case to CT. He see he got the game sort of the all the dials sort of tuned in and he knows what he's doing out there and has a feel for it really well, which is why, you know, he's on that Rushmore and has six rings. Rachel to have such a long gap and then come in and look like there's no like she had All-Stars, but again, it's a different vibe.

30:34 Like I don't think it's a smaller cast, it's a shorter season, the stakes don't feel quite as like big in there as far as I don't think the pressure would have gotten to her as much. Like yes, she had competition in that it was a season with Cara and Laurel and Nicole probably looked quite strong coming into the season as well, but this season would be even more intimidating after a loss to Cara Maria on a season after all that time off, 18 years or whatever insane number it is, to come into this season with the biggest and best in the history of the show. Many of who have not stopped playing and continue to play. Like that's intimidating. That's a lot to step into. And yeah, and she seems to be having the strategy there. She knows like I can't see any missteps from the way she kind of approaches the game and approaches people as well.

31:30 It's really interesting to watch. Yeah. she's very well connected with the newer kids. She's very well connected with all of the eras with the show that she's got with getting challenges to come on there. So I just like her position in this game. I think she's in a much better place right now compared to what she was in All Stars coming in into that season. So really interested to see how the season's going to play out. I do want to talk about Yeah, you go ahead. I was going to say the other side of the coin is on All Stars, if you're a big challenger like a Rachel, you become the biggest target. Like Cara Maria was constantly being but on a season like 40 where there's 40 people and many of them are very high level, like you can threaten manage your threat level a lot more. You can hide a lot more. There's so many bigger threats to sort of work around, you know? So that could work really well in her favor and for a lot of these people.

32:24 Yeah, totally agree. So on that point, you know, this is not the episode to you know, day one, elimination one. This is not the time to make any crazy or rash decisions about moves of throwing yourself in there into the arena. Can you try and help me because I'm doing some real mental gymnastics to try and figure out what Derrick was thinking throwing himself in so that he could help out his bud Mark in the specific position. Like what's going on here because it didn't feel like Derrick was being targeted by CT at any stage. There were conversations about sorry, I think it was Darrell that he was helping. There was There was times that CT was talking about throwing Darrell in there and then suddenly Derrick is taking a bullet for Darrell where Darrell is like we're tight but we ain't that tight. I would never have done the same thing for him. What's going on here? Like you know, with Derrick.

33:17 Ridiculous. You know what makes it worse? Why I'm so angry about it? This man runs the world's biggest challenge podcast. Right? Challenge Mania represents us. That's what I mean. Like where's the analysis? Where I know like I don't listen to Challenge Mania much at all but when I have I get really annoyed listening to Derrick specifically cuz he just does this scatter gun rattle off questions and they don't I can see why he made that decision now because when I think back to so I was like how can you run a podcast and you don't even know the basic fundamentals? Don't you talk about it? Don't you discuss it? Don't you break it down? Don't you know like how the works blah? And I was doing it and then I was like actually I remember his interviews. He There's not a lot there like he it's he's a he's an experienced guy. He's the vibes dude. You know what I mean? Like he's he's keeping real life and a very I guess the bond he has with his friend is way more important than million dollars I guess.

34:17 I don't know. Darrell he said like it was so vague too. It's like Darrell's done some stuff for me in the past. I don't know what he did for him. Like did he give him a kidney or like save his child from a burning building or something cuz holy crap. He was like I'm going to throw myself in for you, Darrell." Like, man. It's like King Kash this year. It's literally what King Kash did. Like, he must have done something for his kids to take that bullet. Dolores, welcome to the live, saying, "Volunteering. Does he think he is on Big Brother? Could he low-key want to leave?" And that was my thinking. It's like, he's fought for years and years. Like, he started this podcast, I think, to stay relevant, right? In the Challenge world, and so that he could get a callback one day to the main show. He finally gets a callback for the first time since season 30 to come back to the main show, and he's willing to leave on the very first episode.

35:07 I mean, going up against Mark, you know, if this is going to be a physical thing, which we think it is. We do think that it's, you know, a physical one. It looks like it's going to go down that way. I just don't see Derek getting past round one. Like, Mark, you know, the guy is the oldest guy out there, but he's not going to be easy to move. He's got the weight advantage on Derek. Even, you know, even Mark is as well. Even beyond the physical, like, he's a freaking mountain. Even though he's 52, he's like, "I'll win it." But this I think he's also What I remember, my memory's getting vague, but he's also pretty good at like the kind of cuz he's been doing it for so long, those carnival games and stuff. Like, that's in his wheelhouse as well. It's not like he was just muscle and nothing else. So, I think he like I mean, Derek's no slouch either, like, but that is dumb. Like, that's especially like you're sitting across a table from him.

36:03 And to have Mark literally sitting in front of you, like, the intimidating presence that is Mark, and then still volunteer. I'm like, "What is wrong with this man?" Like, it wasn't in secret or talking behind It was he's sitting right there, and he still did it. Like, dumb, but hats off to him, I guess. He's brave, at least. It was interesting to see all these different approaches by the different eras and how they handled the round table discussion, you know, for instance, I felt like old school were a lot more like, I'll throw myself in and it's the honorable thing or choose the low lowest person there. And then every single era looked at it very differently. Like for instance, if we had to go to the opposite side of the spectrum, you know, to the latest era, we had Horacio win obviously, who was the other person who I was Michelle.

36:55 To shock of all shock, Michelle won that first one with Horacio, which was very interesting because, you know, there was strategy talk from the start. Like, where's Paulie? If Paulie ends up in the game, I go with the likes of Horacio and Nany and there will be some sort of an alliance there. very much Josh coming in hot with the strategy Big Brother side of it. you can actually see the contrasting playing styles of these new eras, which is quite fascinating to watch, in a season, right? First of all, this new era group, man, I love them. Like they're hot mess. Yeah, hot mess. And it was so great. Like to know like one of the things that we've said for the longest time about the challenge and what we love about the challenge is because they use recurring cast members, we get history. We get like nostalgia, we get these people. Like at one point, Bananas said, you know, Mark and Derrick and they have known each other for like literally they've been OGs for like 20 plus years, like decades and decades.

37:55 They've grown old men together. and then you've got So, there's all that and all along the way TJ said, era three became the era of rivalries and relationships. And then era four, and we're looking at as far as history goes, it doesn't have the same length of history, but already just playing out in this episode, the Olivia, Nany, Michelle, Kaycee, and then Horacio, all that drama from last season has made that season worth it now cuz it's already paying off everything coming forward. Seeing Michelle in tears for doing the exact for being put in the exact same position that they were put in last season. I'm like, "What is going on here?" Like it's insane to see in front of us. So, I agree with you. And you forgot you forgot the Paulie Theo drama that's now coming back.

38:45 Now suddenly War of the Worlds 2 means something. Like I'm actually very interested to see Paulie and Theo finally go head-to-head. And when they were looking each other in the eyes, they were ready to jump across the It was real beef. This is not the fake beef that some challengers have. Like I feel like someone's going to get injured on that arena when they go up against each other. I think is on Paulie being injured. I mean, Theo's 6'5 or something. Like he's a monster of a man as well. Like I One thing that I am really annoyed about how good that was is because I was like, "Oh my god, we missed out on this for like Imagine if Paulie hadn't had the break, we would have had Cara Maria that whole time. If Theo hadn't unfortunately had the eye incident, what could we have had for multiple seasons of that building the new version of a of a Bananas and Eggs something to you?

39:43 All those years ago? I actually think it's perfect. Sometimes you need lead needed something marinate. Like these guys have been marinated on this for years now and they won't have the ability to go by now. Nah. Like these are two hot-blooded men that are both Yeah, their testosterone is running high. They're going to go at each other. There's some real beef here. I'm excited. I'm really excited to see them go. I think I think Paulie's not he's not ready for it. Like, you know, he's not he doesn't have the physicality to go up in a banger a headbanger against Theo. It's not going to happen. Theo had a very bad start being last, which was shocking to see in this episode. Like in what world does Theo come in last for the first challenge? Like I don't think he's ever been last.

40:34 I wasn't going to go there. I was I was not going to go there. One of us is going there, it's you, it's not me. I don't Well, those coconut boats, I think would have thrown any like there's no front direct I think they would have stuffed a lot of people up. Like I mean Katie put on one of the worst performances I think I've ever seen on the challenge. Like it looked it looked difficult to make a perfect circle going one direction. I don't know but yeah, I can see why Theo isn't used to that. And he also looked really big in it, too. Like he's I'm going to say he's so tall. but Paulie, man, like I really was not a fan when he first like his first run. But the USA I was like, "Oh, I kind of like him." And then seeing him here, I was like that's what we missed out on that heel that at the time.

41:25 I Yeah, at the time I bought into the he's a dick, I hate him. But now I'm like, "He's a dick, I hate him. That's awesome." Like that's what You know, that's the right thing to have. You need those heels on TV and he went at Theo. I loved it. That's why you got to ask yourself, do you like Paulie as a heel or do you like Jay as a heel? You know, this is why Jay is the new heel, you know? And you could have had Paulie as that heel. But any case I'd rather have Paulie. Yeah, so King Kash says, "I forgot about the Theo Paulie beef that got me hyped." Chris is saying, "Did you all notice the one era four member that didn't get a single confessional?" LOL, so there is one person there with not much to give. who was it? Who the person with no hype? That's got me thinking now, because we saw Michelle, we saw we saw Nany, I think like maybe Casey was I thought Casey was fun on her own like talking about her fiancé and I mean everything's linked to Josh?

42:27 Was it Josh? Josh didn't get a confessional I don't think. That's the only reason why I picked him. Don't tell me he's not getting confessionals now. Josh, I'm pretty sure Josh did not get a confessional. And I heard it was Josh. Chris was saying it was Josh. I heard about this Chris. I heard that Josh went off on some social and said that the editor didn't like him or something like that. That there was like a meltdown online or something. Like he was calling the editor out because apparently he also got second just behind Horacio and that wasn't shown. Oh. So did he finally Did he finally piss someone off in production? That's the question, Corinna. We don't know the tea. He only He's made himself look bad for so many years that like now he's finally performing we're still going to do it to him. Yeah, he's We still need him to be the goof.

43:17 Like even if he's become good, he's going to be the goof. I thought I thought Casey was fun this episode again. I want to see her in an underdog position which I do think she's going to be there at some stage this season. She feels less protected to me this season compared to other seasons where she's come in before, especially if she stays in her era. And if she doesn't get to mingle like How do you feel about the fact that they had these eras compete with each other and voted each other out? Did you like that? Were you a fan of that? I mean, the whole thing of eras is that you want to see the eras go head-to-head, right? You want to see the eras go against each other and not internally, but I don't mind it if it's like the purge. Like just to work out who gets into the team. Like you know You know Like if it's the initial cut, but I'm hoping once the teams are set to the eight like they have to go against each other.

44:11 I don't want them taking each other their own team out even especially in the eliminations as well. That would be a There's no era against era then. Dailies you get that, but even that doesn't feel like the same head-to-head of this versus this. Like when it comes to era versus era in an elimination is where I want to see it. Yeah, that's fair. before we move away from the newest era out of all of them, we had Nany Race in a really bad spot here. Like I mean, it's crazy to think that Nany Race was the MVP of last season. She got second from memory and was by far the one that surprised most people in the in the very first challenge. She is the last woman coming back. Obviously has a bit of a reaction at first. I thought she was annoyed with Horacio who was coming over to her, but obviously she was just really upset about herself not performing.

45:03 And we also saw that with Olivia the season before. Olivia had expectations on her because she was the MVP. Everybody loved her from the season before and she had a very big fall coming into that season. Now we've got Nany Race with that pressure not necessarily delivering and it's not looking good for Nany Race at this stage. You have to say because no matter who she's going in like if she gets Olivia, which I don't know if she will Olivia still probably has a bit of a weight advantage against her in a physical one. I just don't see her in a very good spot getting out of this one if it's a headbanger, which I think it is. And then the other one possibility is a Jenny West like -oh like Or a Kaycee. Kaycee -oh. Like yeah, that's not a good You look at a team like that and same as like the women in era two and you go ah my team is really strong as far as the women go.

45:59 Like that's actually really strong to have Olivia, Casey, Jenny West, to have Michelle, to have Michelle and Nerissa kind of be the weak links is pretty good. but then you go, "Oh, no, they have to go against each other sometimes as well." You're like, "That throws it out completely." Now you don't necessarily want the strongest women there because they might be your competition as well and it's such a weird dynamic that you have to navigate. Yeah. King Cassius says Josh is lucky that they don't get that tug-of-war flashback on repeat. Who knows? He might still go up against Jordan again this season and it would be the Johnny Bananas backpack flashback that will come back to haunt him. but I agree. It's one of my favorite eliminations for all the wrong reasons for Josh. Dolores says, "I don't care for Josh, but I low-key kind of sort of support him working." I do as well. I've got mad respect for the changes he's been able to do in regards to his fitness and getting in shape and all of that.

46:55 We've spoken about him many a times on the podcast. The only problem is even if you do all of that, if you're just an uncomfortable person, you don't have sports balance or you know, you just don't have that little bit of extra, doesn't matter how fit you are. You We talk about popcorn muscles all the time, but I do respect that it takes a lot of hard work and he's really trying to win, but this would be the most difficult season for someone like Josh to win. Like, he should have won USA or something like that. That should have been the season for him to go out and really do it. King Cassius saying she needs an endurance elimination. I totally agree. I just don't think we're getting it though this early on. but I am to move on from this era and I want to talk a little bit about era three because era three, I famously chose most of them in my draft and didn't realize it until about 80% in and then proceeded to make the same mistake after that.

47:46 So, I don't know how much that tells me about my chances for if I was even to go and play one of these games and I had to do a puzzle or something mental, right? Because I definitely did the bed to say it politely in regards to my draft, but you know, really interesting performance here from a couple of people in this one. Corey continues to prove you wrong, Cohutta. You famously said You famously said that, you know, statistically he's the worst challenger to ever play the game, and he continues to show up, put in the work, to put to basically embarrass you in front of all of us that watch this podcast, that is a part of this podcast, and that loves to see Corey succeed. How does it feel to eat humble pie with Corey getting this win so early on? I know this is why Chris stayed in the live for me to ask this question.

48:37 I'm team Corey now. No. Look, he did well, man. The fact that it's a puzzle and a boat and all that sort of thing, like that's not his That's not He said it. Puzzles are not my forte. And he They even showed, flashback footage of him sucking at puzzles. so for him to do that is pretty phenomenal. I'm Look, I'm not unreasonable. When someone does something good, I'm going to call them out like give them praise for it. And when someone sucks, I'll call them out for it as well. Like I'm down the line and he did really well. Is he going to win? No, I think I've said in the past that I don't think Corey will ever win a challenge. I'm going to take that back now. I think he can win the challenge. He definitely can. I don't think a season like 40 with the monsters that are on this season is the one where he's going to break out. If he did, it would be phenomenal first win, like the biggest first win ever, but he's got some like Will you be a bit emotional when he finally gets it done, Cohutta?

49:34 Be honest. Would you Yeah, like a little bit teary-eyed when it happens? Yeah. Not crying because he proved you wrong, but a little bit proud, you know, that he did. Yeah, I Look, I don't dislike Corey at all. Like I'm not like against the man. I think he's a good bloke. I do like him as a as a character and as a person. I just think he's overrated. His results are less than what his status should be, I think, considering his physical gifts. Yeah, I mean, listen, he's famous for getting second place. and definitely one of the things as well that I will agree with King Cash on here. Cory is definitely top five to never win. Leroy mentioning that he's probably the best to never win, but Leroy has faded. Like, if you look at All-Stars in the final look. Yeah. Like, off the back of All-Stars as well. Oh, that's not a good start for Leroy, man.

50:27 Yeah, Dolores is saying, "Can I have your pie with chips and whipped cream, babe?" Chris is saying, "I laughed out loud at Cory and have whipped cream." Our pies have like meat and some and ketchup on them. different. Yeah. the American pie is more like dessert over here. Chris says, "I laughed out loud at Cory not caring that Amanda brought up Nelson in the deliberation. You can't manipulate him." And he was like, "Yeah, you've got to give him more than that." How about Amanda's performance though in that? I kind of, to be honest, I sometimes go hot and cold on Amanda a little bit, but it's similar to your, like, I remember my first ever season that I watched of The Challenge was Final Reckoning, right? And I had to, like, I famously said I had to go back and watch the older seasons and then watch it back forward. But I really didn't like Amanda on that season. she was like everything that I would stay away from in real life.

51:18 If I saw it would be red flags all over the place. But now I'm similar to you with how you are with Paulie. She's great TV. She's entertaining. She's a good heel. She brings some entertainment. And I love the fact that she was like, "Tori, I'm going to keep it real. You've got all the power. I still hate your face. But here's the reasons why you shouldn't get rid of me. I We just so happen to have the same people's back. So, if I keep the people that want to keep you safe, I'm a good person to keep in the game for now." I loved it. Cuz she knew she couldn't fake it. She couldn't be like Tori, I love you suddenly. Tori would call her out for it. So, I applause to Amanda. What a what a great showing at that first round table. If she goes too hard that you like so much that you can't walk there's no way of walking it back. You can't smooth over what she's put out on Twitter in black and white for years now. She's been talking Tori for so long and she hates her.

52:11 If she were to even attempt to pretend, it would have been just things. So, I like that approach to be honest with you and say and I think with someone like Tori, it might be the right approach cuz even though Tori obviously has gotten to spats and beefs with people has had a lot of love you know relationship issues on the show and all like she's not shying away from drama at all, but I do think competitively she would be like yeah, I we need to win like I'll do whatever will protect me which will get me further blah. I think she can separate Tori can, but having said that I think Amanda is the weak link on the team despite her performing pretty good this episode. She wasn't last, you know, so I wouldn't have a problem getting rid of her. I don't know. I don't know if I agree with you on that one.

53:02 I listen, I think Amanda has got her strengths when it comes to the mental side of things rather than the puzzles and that. I would still argue that Amanda, Avery, and Nany are in that same bracket when it comes to probably any of them at this stage, but I love the fact let's talk about Janelle all day calling it out like listen, I'm a two-time champ. You know, I've played so many seasons. I love the fact that she's saying it with a chat with her chest out you know, out and proud when she's saying it. She's really owning that space. I know there's always been the question can she perform outside of All Stars? And even if she's got that doubt in the back of her head, we wouldn't know it by the way that she said that. I'm a two-time champion. I bring a lot of value to the team. Like, she said it with conviction, which, you know, I think was needed at that point for her not to be a target in the game so early on, as well. I'm always a little bit worried for her.

53:52 I don't know if she's got the same level of connections that some of these other players have, but there are others like Avery out there that I just feel like Avery to me doesn't fit into the season. Like, I don't I don't see where she fits. She came from All-Stars. She was fun in All-Stars, but probably similar to how people said Brad was not fitting into that first era, I think Avery's probably going to stand out in this game. Yeah, Avery was one of those ones that doesn't make a lot of sense in the grand scheme of her Challenge history. Like, she doesn't have the resume and the seasons and the longevity and the relationship with the audience that other people had. She is that, but she was on All-Stars and maybe she worked well with the production. They've got the recency thing there. They like doing that. I don't know. Adam now, currently? Yeah, the daily Adam.

54:42 Look, Avery probably Yeah, you're right. And I don't know how big a gap that is between Amanda, Avery, and Nia. Nia's like daily record. I was I heard someone say this today, like, her daily record on The Challenge is atrocious. She's like real Eliminations different, cuz she's very tall. She's a She's a big I think people forget about it because she's likable. You know what I mean? Like, she's one of those ones where people don't want to talk about the stats because they like her, which she is likable. But, when you talk about the stats, I don't think Amanda is as Like, Amanda's had some decent seasons before. she's just not the biggest girl. She's not the most physical girl. Yeah, I think that's probably a big part of it. with the next She certainly is not an effort thing. It's I don't I wouldn't put Amanda in the same sort of vein as like Katie.

55:34 Katie does seem very small, like Amanda, but way more like inept as well, not athletic at all. Yeah, Katie is like Amanda People are going to hate me for saying this. People are going to hate but Amanda's like the improved version of Katie cuz she's entertaining like Katie. She's drama like Katie but she can also deliver. The next era of like the improved version, yeah. A couple of versions later like the version 3.0 or something but I do want to talk a little bit about Devon, you know, I obviously made a very shocking decision in the draft picking him as my first male pick and got called out for a numerous of times in the comment section afterwards. so you know, did I have I Have I stayed up at night, you know, contemplating my decisions in life since the draft? Maybe a little bit, you know, some of those comments have haunted me and you know, that's why you know, I still don't know why I did it, right?

56:27 So but he gave me some faith. Like the guy had his boat capsized. Yeah, his boat capsized. Yeah, his boat capsized and he still completed it. He swam the distance and it was a really funny segment with where everybody was like, "Where the hell is Devon at? Like where's he at?" And they're panning the camera around and the next minute he's popping out like a submarine or from the bottom with everything. With lights on him and stuff like an alien like he looked And Tori's wanting to have like a full-on "Hey BFF, what's happened since we last spoke?" conversation with him while he's gasping for air and he's like, "Just let me like get my get my bearings back here, you know?" It's hilarious. This is just these little funny moments that we saw on camera but hats off to Devon for completing it cuz I think a lot of people would have probably failed if their boats capsized at that point.

57:22 And he still got third. Yeah, it's a big it's a big deal. Look, Devon, now that I'm thinking about it, like he's not going to be a heavy hitter to potentially win. I don't think he can win this season. But as far as the pick, you were picking fourth and you know he's going to go far just because of his connections and he's always going to be getting confessionals and bringing, you know, that side of it. It's not a bad pick, man. I like Devin a lot. He's grown on me so much over the years. He was one of those guys I did not like early on either at all. but he's grown a lot on me, too. Yeah, I feel like I needed that tonight so that I can go to bed sleeping soundly afterwards, you know, to know that it wasn't that bad of a decision picking him. Jordan Bananas and CT were gone. Right? Yeah. Yeah. As far as the men goes, after that, like there's no one that's a sure fire potential winner.

58:15 So you go for those intangibles, you know? Like I don't mind it. Yeah. Delores says, "Apparently he got sick from the water. Obviously being in Vietnam, I'm not sure if it was like a lake or a pool or how hygienic it would have been being in there, but that's not good. knowing that he's still in the game and I need him to be winning some dailies for me." Lockland's land is back in the life. It's been a while, Lockland, since I've seen you. he says, "I feel like the iconicness and treatment is just as important as skill stats when it comes to main figureheads of the eras." Totally agree. And that's why we chose Wes. Like it's not just Like he won three championships if we're counting All-Stars in that, right? But still, compared to some of the others, it's just he's iconic. He's been And I cuz I know Chris called us out for not saying Landon. And Landon's obviously a beast, but he just didn't stay with the franchise long enough for newer people who are watching the show now to even know him, I feel like.

59:09 But yeah, obviously a great player as well. Chris also says, "I have exact opposite feelings on Devin. I liked him a lot early on, but I have soured on him." Wow. But I think Chris, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, you follow the online stuff a lot more than me and I know Devin is like not the greatest person when it comes to like social media and some of the drama that happens in between seasons. Where Kahuna and I we're like blissfully ignorant when it comes to that stuff. We just follow the seasons and what they bring from a like a character standpoint. I'm not judging them as human beings outside of the game. I'm just judging them as this TV character in front of me basically. And I could be wrong if it's beyond that. You can correct me. King says King Cash says can Devin beat any of his teammates in a physical elimination? King bringing out the big questions.

1:00:01 Who's there? Corey? No. Corey. Jordan? No. Leroy maybe Leroy. no he won't. Leroy no well Leroy maybe because Leroy is not he's not looking good right now. What do you mean by physical? Like a headbanger he's Devin's losing to everyone there. Mhm. But Devin's beat bananas. Exactly. He's been like huge challenge. Yeah he's beat Wes as well. Yeah. Oh yeah he's taken some of the big ones out. Yeah. Okay let's see that is not why I don't like Devin. Social media presence means nothing to me. Okay I didn't know like it's to me as a TV character I don't think he's that offensive to be honest. Like yeah he makes jokes. There's worse people out there is what I'm trying to say than Devin.

1:00:53 He tries he tries to be entertaining and sometimes he fails and sometimes he hits. Like I thought it was really funny when Devin said the whole can we get Amanda a coexist badge that she can get along with Tori in the game. Like I didn't say anyone know where to catch the first three seasons can't find them anywhere and is it worth it? Sad we didn't get any Jody screen time in the first episode not that surprised. It is very difficult, I think, to get those early seasons on Locklan's land, but I don't know if you're somebody that loves Patreon at all. If you and I do a free plug here for Angel Cake, if you join Angel Cake's Patreon from the Angel Cake Entertainment channel, I think they would be able to help you out in there. They watch old seasons, season 1, 2, and 3 all the time. I watched season 1 and it was a very different show.

1:01:44 I think season 2 was very different as well compared to what you're seeing now. So, but yeah, I'm sure there's some people who would be able to help you. Chris is a part of that Patreon as well. Saying, "Yeah, Jodi and Josh were the only two without confessionals." Yeah. I'm working on that. Jodi got nothing in the episode zero as well, you know. All the partying, all the red carpet, all the interview like Jodi had zero. I was like, "Oh, no, that doesn't look good." there's too many big personalities, I feel like, in this season and she's just too nice. You know, it's like even when the salad thing happened. Like, I mean, part of that was not her. It was like she was just like, "What's happening? I'm too I'm too normal for these people to be out here, right?" let's talk about Era 2. We haven't spoken about Era 2 much as of yet. What did you think of the sh- like the I know Cara didn't mean it as shade, but it kind of felt like a little bit of shade being thrown at Kelly Anne for being the only non-champion.

1:02:40 And then she does end up in last place here in the first round. not looking good for Ker- Kelly Anne at this point. Do you think she can beat anybody in that group if you know, it's looking like Cara might get thrown in for instance? That group as far as the women go is so strong. Like really to me it feels like really lopsided. Like the women are going to carry this team, man. Like they're stronger than the men across the board. Like it looks so ridiculous in that regard, but Kelly Anne is you know, okay. She's never been the best performer. She's not a bad performer. She had a really good season in USA 2, which I think got her here cuz she was so good on that, but she's outgunned. Yeah. But she's a queen yeah. She Kellyanne is a queen.

1:03:33 I know I picked her. I'm just going to try and see where in the draft that I ended up picking her. So, she was the second last female that I picked on my team, but I do like Kellyanne as well. I think that Kellyanne has a lot of fighting spirit and I especially enjoyed it in the Challenge World Championship. I thought that was a good season where she was trying to go up World Championship, yeah. Yeah, that's the season where she was going up against the powers that be and didn't want to play their game. I really enjoyed that from her. But yes, I think she's in a she's in a tight spot here and I don't know. I mean, there was also a bit of focus on Aveeb only playing one season, winning that season with Darrell, coming back. Potentially, if Cara Maria can talk herself out of a really sticky situation here, Aveeb could be the other person that will go up against Kellyanne and I don't know how Aveeb will do in that scenario because she hasn't been in the Challenge for such a long time and Kellyanne is kind of battle-hardened and she's played recent seasons.

1:04:28 Maybe that's something that Kellyanne, an angle that could favor her if it is a headbanger. But it is a stretch. We don't know where it's going to go. I do want to talk about Yeah. I just want to say Aveeb like she's one of those she's the only one in here I had zero memory like I don't remember her at all. Like she's a complete newbie to me. and I think that's why she got a lot of confessionals because they know that history is not there for her at all, so they're trying to build her up. But I liked her. Like for a complete stranger to come into a season like this and actually stand out to me was pretty impressive. Like she looks she looks jacked first of all. She's got arms that are like I don't know if Kelly's Kellyanne's going to be up for a good time here with anyone she goes up against, but for someone that I had zero experience with, Aviva is pretty cool.

1:05:19 I like her. Yeah, no, that's very true. Chris here says Aviva and Cara Maria were both Fresh Meat partners of Darrell. They may have connection over that. So obviously with Aviva being Fresh Meat one and then Cara Maria being Fresh Meat two partners with Darrell. definitely could be a connection. The only problem for Aviva is Cara Maria has got zero power in this game right now and can't really save Aviva in the spot even if there is a connection. so the best thing that could happen here for either of them is to go in and win and fight in the sand, but there was a lot of focus on Cara Maria, you know, Johnny Bananas, Laurel, they've got history with Cara Maria. They've been rivals, frenemies, working together sometimes when it's needed for a long time here. I really liked and I mean this shouldn't be a surprise coming from me cuz I'm a Cara Maria fan, but I like Cara's approach to it where she's like, "You know what?

1:06:11 For once, I'm going to keep it real. You're two of the best to play the game. I'm not going to come in here and think that I'm smart enough or can manipulate you with my words to not throw me in there, but should we do this whole thing again? Should we do the same song and dance? You throw me in, I keep coming back, I go after you, or should we try something different? Really like that approach from her because it's kind of threatening and they know that if they throw her in, she's most likely coming back. That is what normally happens and she most likely will take a shot at them. So I kind of like that approach from her. What did you think about this very different approach from Cara Maria and the way that she handled the pressure obviously being under the microscope in this early episode? Mhm. Yeah, I mean, that's the right approach to take because especially in a season like this, so far anyway, at least as far as they know, it's a team's base season. It's error versus error.

1:07:02 And if you want your team to go further and not go into elimination, like Jordan said at one point during this, you have to get there. Like you have to get there. So, why would a team, if you're if you're worried about running against her in the end like on All Stars where they said there's one winner only, like I get it, take her out early. But right now, you need your team to get to the end. So, Cara is going to benefit your team. Like she will help because she is an incredibly strong performer. Yes, on a team of incredibly strong women as well, but she is one of the best ever, you want her on your team. And that's coupled with the argument like you said, like we can go through this whole rigmarole or just recognize this is a team game this season. I'm going to help you. Let's do it, you know? Like that's pretty simple in that regard. Yeah. And again, King Tasha, isn't this the banana speech every time he's in trouble pulling it's way too early card a million times to go after the big hitters?

1:08:00 But yeah, but it's still this truth in this because in the challenge when you vote someone out, they can come back. So, that intimidation factor of knowing like that's I think something that has kept CT safe for many seasons because there's just this whole thing, people are too afraid to go after CT because he most likely he's got that intimidation factor that Chantal from Reality Realmness has spoken about so many times. You throw CT in, he's most likely going to come back, and now you've got him coming after you. So, that's what I love about the challenge. You have to timing is everything when it comes to throwing these people in. Lachlan's Land is asking, "Which guy do you think will be cut if Wes said yes to playing?" I think it would have been Ryan, Derrick, or Brandon. Any of those three would have been cut most likely in that team. we spoke about era two being light on the men's side. They really needed Wes to be honest to come into the season. I think it would have been a bit of a more balanced team. I don't feel good for Bananas' chances, especially if he's going to go after someone like Cara Maria.

1:08:55 And you know, let's say it is an absolute carnival trick circus thing that they have to go do in the arena, and they lose a good competitor like Cara Maria early, that's not smart, either. Losing a strong team member so early on in the season that could help you get further on, and especially if these eras are going to go head-to-head at some stage, Kam. Yeah. I think he recognizes that, though. It's all like what I said, Bananas sees all the angles. He knows that it's important that Cara Maria will help him get further. I think Bananas also would probably rightly recognize that if the men on his team are weak, he looks even more golden. His team won't throw him down into cuz he's obviously a very big benefit to his team. So, if the team has to pick their own, he could probably feel pretty safe that he won't be thrown down unless he comes last, but he wouldn't be thrown down against the other guys because the women are going to need him as well.

1:09:52 Like, as much as he needs them to carry him, the rest of the men looking a lot weaker makes Bananas look a lot stronger in comparison. Yeah, totally agree with Lockland's land here saying they should have paid Wes the big ones. He was needed big time on this season. So, I'm sure Bananas would have, you know, gotten in touch with his old pal Wes after the season and would have been like, "Where the hell were you, mate? I needed you this season to help me get to the final." Cuz I just think it's going to be a tough road for him. But, how interesting is it that they chose, you know, we spoke about Rachel getting a really good edit in the first episode as someone that they wanted us to focus on. How interesting was it that, you know, we knew Laurel was going to get a big edit. We knew Cara Maria was going to get a big edit. There was going to be this rivalry between them. But, you know, they really put a lot of work in reintroducing Emily to us this episode.

1:10:45 I felt like we constantly went back to her. You know, she was like kind of the voice of reason at times saying like these people didn't really It's the same. It's kind of jarring being back after so many years. The same rivalries are still there. It feels like nothing has actually changed. So, she's almost like that voice of reason, the person that's been away for a while. She looks a lot more hippie and just in touch with nature and like it's not the same Emily. I know she had mistakes in her past, which is well documented, but this seems to be a very different person that came back to play this season. It's quite fascinating to see how she's fitting into this group at the moment. Yeah, I mean despite not picking her because of the thing, I've always had a pretty soft spot for Emily. I don't think some of the stuff that she's did in the past was from malice, but more like ignorance. Like, you know, like it wasn't I think it's a fair call.

1:11:38 Yeah. Yeah, I think that's what it was. So, I have Not condoning it, but yeah, I agree with you. Yeah. When someone sort of changes and gets older and, you know, matures and all that, it makes a big difference. but she was always a physical beast. I don't think that's necessarily going away and she always had the calmness to her. Like she wasn't like, you know, a very big character in that regard. She's She was a big character Jenny West before Jenny West before Jenny. She's the Jenny West before Jenny. Yeah, absolutely. And both of them had very similar like limited returnability as far as product I don't know Emily is the same as Jenny in that it was on production side that Jenny West wasn't brought back as far as I know. I've always heard that Jenny was always like in the alternates and she was always willing, but never got called up or whatever. I don't know if Emily's like that, but it does feel like a shame and a waste that there's this what if career for some of these people that could have been much bigger in the challenge and Emily I feel like falls into that category for me.

1:12:41 Yeah, 100%. I totally agree with you. It's interesting. I just thought they really focused on her a lot. I know Chris is saying too much of her and enough of develop my life to whichever of these women take out Emily. I'm off the boat like let's see where let's see where the season goes. Like we haven't seen her for a long time. I haven't followed her in her personal life, but again just watching the show she hasn't done anything yet. So, I'll let it play out see where it goes. who didn't we talk about so far Khun as we you know approach we've approached you probably closer towards the end here of this podcast. We unfortunately didn't get to see an elimination which is always the kind of episodes I don't like but I can forgive the challenge this episode because there was just so much that they had to get there was no way. Like I mean the next episode could literally be the eight eliminations Khun. That could literally be what we watched in episode two. I'm wondering if it's going to be that like elimination loser and it's just going to be back-to-back and we're going to be like just blown away by how much we're and they might even do it where we see like hall brawl and then like you know, a pole wrestle and they'll just do these big iconic physical like drag down battles to like that would be my dream like they're like we left you on a cliffhanger no elimination.

1:13:51 We know you hate that. Take this and just go elimination crazy on it. It would be it would be pretty great to kick off the season that way I think. Yeah, totally agree. yeah, I totally agree. I think that would be very exciting and yes at least we started really early today. we went through a lot already. So, if you want to go back at some stage in your own convenience go have a look at it. Comment below let us know what you agree with what you disagree with. My favorite part of the podcast so far that you have missed out on is you know, Khun as we eating humble pie having to admit that Corey in fact is not the worst competitor of all time on the challenge. he committed it. I can't remember what the time stamp was but it is forever going to be on the nullified take now. he has corrected his stance in regards to that but go check it out there's some good stuff earlier on as well.

1:14:42 I do want to talk about this as well. Chris says even beyond the Nutella stuff she is weird. This is where my knowledge of social media really gives me some insights. and like I'm saying, do we know how many we're going to get called from the first elimination? There's going to be eight four people, right? Is it four eight? No, it's eight. It's eight eliminations, so Yeah, men and women from each team. Which means they end up with eight per team, which is kind of what they've you know, makes sense. Yeah. At least enjoyed that. So, definitely going to watch it. Like I was saying, who is the worst? who is the worst out of this cast? Worst in terms of what? Like personality I guess because Cory's not the worst So, Cory's not the worst statistically anymore, who would now be the worst statistically, Kam? After really been the worst statistically. I just I was specifically told I have to justify this so Final performances?

1:15:36 Finals appearances to winning percentage. He gets to the finals a lot and never ever wins. That's what I'm saying. He's you know, daily he's winning You know what, Kam? You changed your mind on that, so we're going to leave on a on a good note on Cory. But that's what I've been saying. It's specifically final. But anyway, I mean, I think in this cast Katie is by far the weakest and statistically and resume performance-wise, Josh is pretty bad like elimination-wise and all that things like he based on results should not be on this cast. Like based on personality and you know, drama and confessionals and all that Yeah, based on results down the Ryan I was going to go down the Ryan path cuz I still don't know what Ryan's fully doing here as well.

1:16:26 I know there's going to be some drama between him and Laurel at some stage that will probably play out, which I'm interested to see what happened there. It sounds like he's an a Cole fan rather than a Laurel fan. so, we might see we might see some drama. But yeah, who did we not talk about? Like is there anybody that the live wanted us to get into before we start looking at ending this live? I feel like we spoke about all the people that we kind of featured predominantly. I just want to give CT, right? He's always CT. Like, we know that he's, you know, he's CT. But, if you look at his team, cuz when I said before that we were potentially doing the errors, and I'd come up with a fantasy cast. In my head when I did it, even though CT's first season was nine, he's really era two was the bulk of his career like when he really started get going, you know what I mean?

1:17:16 Like, people would associate him more with the era two people. He was very late on era one and doesn't have that bond with these guys. They know each other OG from day one. They've He's not in that group. a good call. You know, so he's kind of looking like he's on the outskirts of which is weird to say for CT because he's always so safe because of his intimidation, not necessarily because of his relationships. But, this is one where it might actually work against him, you know what I mean? Mhm. Danica saying Cara has CT Boston strong. I just don't I'm fearful of Cara especially Yeah, especially looking at way things are going with Paulie going in, and I think he's going to lose to Theo. I just don't see him beating Theo. Then, Cara's on her own. She's got CT, but like who do they have? I don't know. Yeah, it's going to be it's going to be an interesting season.

1:18:07 But, CT probably has like more of a connection with some of the newer school players like from era three. Yeah. And maybe a little bit before, but definitely era three cuz he's played a lot of seasons with them. So, yeah, it he's an interesting one cuz he kind of transcends all these eras. And that's also why they went to him to talk about like how the challenge is home and he's coming back to it. He kind of got Like, you know how What's a funny thing for me? Like, I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but my dad like growing up, he was like very much like a we shook hands. Like, he's not a hugger, you know, like in South Africa the culture isn't really a hugging culture between men. You shake hands and you know, it's very prim and proper. And as he's getting older he's getting more emotional. Like I could tell. Like he's just more emotionally aware and that's part of getting older. Like CT is kind of going through I feel like that same evolution. Like you know, seeing him get a little bit emotional about being back on season 40 and things like that.

1:18:58 You know, this is not the CT that wanted to rip people's heads off shouting while he was out there. This is a very different CT, right? I mean it's very real, man. The emotional side. Like as you get older and you have kids like it hits you differently, you know, like having Phoenix here before like the amount of times I've cried over like a stupid cute video that featured a baby or some sort of you know, dad and their kid in the last however many years because of my children would have eclipsed the previous 35 years I was alive before that. You know what I mean? Like it brings out a lot and I can see why CT's had a tough couple of years as well. You know what I mean? Like we said he hasn't been around since 2021 and the reason for that was because of a lot of turmoil in his personal life and a lot of changes in his personal life.

1:19:49 So to have somewhere be safe and that thing that's been with him for his entire adult life is kind of you know, like I can see why he got emotional about that. No talks about Josh and Michelle still being besties. I mean Michelle said that the same way that Horacio and Nerice are for each other, Olivia is like that for her. I don't know how they could make that stretch for it to be the same kind of connection, but that's Michelle's love and there is going to be Olivia and she's going to stretch her game for Olivia out there. and then Danica said here even if they're competing against each other emotionally, she has them in the house and that is something that does count for something, right? You need someone you can just rely on or trust where you maybe just it's not about the game, it's about something beyond the game and I do think CT and Cara have that kind of connection between the two of them.

1:20:43 Chris is saying, Chris you will need to enter the game to defend Cara and be her number one. Why do you think I keep competing in the Spartan races? Chris, you just never know when the call may come where I have to go out there and do fresh meats free, you know? By the time that they finally call me, I'll be it will be stale meat. Stale meat one I'll probably be like 50. You know, so I keep training. You know, you got to you got to stay ready to be ready when it comes to these things. Lochlin's land saying hoping Paulie and Cara can stick in there. I same. I think it'll be fun to see them go deeper. It's kind of weird we haven't spoken about this yet at all Kona, but it's kind of weird seeing Paulie and Cara Maria and their relationship and how Paulie is like I'm so in love with her and I'm you know, I see my future with her and all that kind of stuff and Yeah, correct me if I'm wrong, but they broke up after the season, right?

1:21:33 Like they're not together at the moment, are they? I don't know if it's ever been fully confirmed, but the social media thing is like she didn't she stopped following him, you know, that kind of thing. So it looked like they were broken up, but I don't think they've come out with a statement to say they're broken up, but all signs point to yes kind of thing. Right. That's it's so it's so strange. I think they may be back together. I wonder if it was something where it was for the drama before the season to get people like interested or Yeah, it's very interested. they were in Paris together. Okay, that's good. See, we've got people who follow them on social. This is why we don't have to do it because these people are across it. Chris saying, I think they're still together. See, you're saying Chris I've got no shot. It's basically what you're saying. Way to dash my dreams. No, just joking. I'm actually I haven't said this on the podcast, but I'm a taken man now, so I've got to stop making these jokes about you know, Cara Maria.

1:22:26 I might get in trouble for making these jokes. You guys are going to get me in trouble. especially with Cara Maria being Cara Maria Cara Maria Sorbello, nice Italian name there. That's going I did not even think I did not even think of that. Most of them make it even worse, Chris. Yeah, that does actually I didn't not even think of that until you just brought that up. So, but I've got to stop making these jokes. Live chat's going to get me in trouble. Chris said, "Oh my god, new Chris law has dropped." have a shove of Paulie. Have a shove of Paulie. yeah, I'll pass on that one, like you know, Paulie isn't a handsome guy, but he's not my type. And like I said, I will get in trouble. Let's see what else is happening on here. as we you know, try and try and change the topic. King Cash is saying, "What was the main character that hooked you to the show?" I like that question, Kena.

1:23:20 Who hooked you to the show? My guy's Bananas. Like as far as like a heel or whatever goes, but that streak he had and leading up to Rivals 2 and all that, like Bananas is the challenge to me and that he represented when I came in and really got obsessed with it. He was the character at the time and still he is very much, but he's obviously was so much more dominant at the time when I came into it really strong. Yeah. I feel like I should say someone different now after all of that, but it was Cara Maria, funny enough. Like I really enjoyed Fresh Meat 2, seeing her start, her early seasons, getting bullied, being the outcast, constantly coming back, fighting through it. I mean, even with the broken hand, where she was hitting through the you know, the cardboard on that specific elimination, and seeing the evolution from Cara Maria as being this person that was getting picked on and bullied to being one of the best to ever play the game, to go to so many different finals, you know, to later on strategically even dominate the game and constantly get there, but also win a final on her own, see her become a two-time champion, watching her win with her cousin.

1:24:29 Like, just the whole story arc of Cara has been a pleasure to watch. So, Cara for me, and then probably CT, I'd say is the other person. Again, for the very same reasons, the evolution of CT on the show, from being this meathead in the beginning, but knowing that there was more there because he had this relationship with Diem that you knew he had a softer side to him. But, you know, didn't really show that in the beginning, and then evolved as well as a character on the show to be dad bod CT, you know, and still win as dad bod. In fact, be like more successful as a dad bod than what he was ever Yeah. Yeah, it was insane. So, those would probably be the two people for me that I really enjoyed, but I kind of started not from the start, so I can't relate Danica to Mark Long being that person, which I know for a lot of people Mark Long is the godfather of The Challenge, right? King Kesh is saying, "Rewatching The Island is wild seeing how far we came." Lucky Nance is a love Cara, but I feel like if I knew her in the game, she'd annoy me.

1:25:25 I don't know, I don't know. maybe. May maybe, I don't know. A lot of people say she plays the victim a lot. I feel like she's got a right to doing it, the way she's been treated sometimes and continues to be treated on the show, but we're not there, so we don't get to see the in between. I think you know, Cohutta made that observation in All Stars. Right? And then a lot of people came for you for saying that. Like that there's maybe more of that happens in between here besides. And you know, you There's a lot of people didn't like that. Dolores is saying, "For me it was For me it was I mean, you go ahead." I know, I'm not going to say anything about like Yeah, you're better to stay away. I don't want to I don't want to get you in trouble. Dolores is saying, "For me it was Tori. I could not understand why people gave her shade, so went back to watch earlier. I didn't care for CT at first, but I changed my mind." Yeah. Yeah, totally agree. See CT when you see his evolution.

1:26:19 Yeah, CT is great. Like the thing about CT as well, that the earliest CT, which is you know, I'm going to smash your head and eat it, that the rage monster, also happened to have like an engineer's degree and is like really good at maths and stuff that you wouldn't have picked as the 24-year-old or whatever it is, but you know, as a 44-year-old, it hits different. You go, yeah, like he's got everything, whereas before it was just all like I don't know if it was just like hormones driving this rage monster the entire time, but once that settled down, we got a much more complete competitor, which is good to see. Yeah, totally agree. okay, so I think that is the end here of this recap for the show. Went on a bit longer than what I thought, Kena, because the live audience was so great. We had so many people join us here at a very different time slot from what we normally do.

1:27:09 I apologize, but this will be Yeah, this will be our normal. This will be our normal live slot for this season, at least, unless we can get one or two spots to get some guests like Angel Cake on the channel, but I don't want to promise and under-deliver in regards to that, but just keep an eye on it. We will communicate in advance if the schedule changes. But for everybody that jumped on earlier in the US, for those that are in Australia, I know there's a few as well that jumped on, really appreciated you taking part in the conversation. We will be back next week. So, if you like this, subscribe, hit a like. For those that are watching this later on, put some comments below. Tell us what you agree and disagree with. but for now, ciao, and see you next time. Bye.