Lurker > Inviso

Kronk
Scar
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You can post your final ranking at least.
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If FFX was the best we could muster, then it must've been a shitty decade.
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My top four are all still in.
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PrinceKaro posted...

Monkeys in Malibu the best of the sequel movies?

ew

Easily. Very, very easily.
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Just waiting for all of darkx's write-ups.
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SexThaNemesis posted...

Woolie seems like a good guy. Honestly if I had to guess (and I feel like I know these guys pretty well by now) I would put a lot of money on Matt being the catalyst behind the breakup.

I have to agree with this. Not out of malice. But Matt got married and Matt's been taking all those breaks, and I feel like his heart's just not entirely into it anymore.
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GenesisSaga posted...

My apologies for not communicating earlier

No round today

Char and I have a rare weekend off together so we're going to spend it otherwise

*holds up thumb and index finger in a circle*

*slowly moves my opposite index finger towards the circle*
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Bump.
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Oh God...

HOW WILL LINKMARIOSAMUS DECIDE WHAT GAMES ARE OR ARE NOT GOOD ANYMORE?!
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Kasumi
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Starfire
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Dejah
Luna
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Shireen
Vanellope
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Azula
Sally
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Those averages correspond to a season ranking pretty well, but I'd probably put BB20 above GI because even though I hated the dominant alliance, at least it had SOME interesting sections. GI just felt flat and bland all season long.
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The Amazing Race 30:

1. Kristi & Jen (4)
2. Cody & Jessica (5)
3. Alex & Conor (8)
4. Lucas & Brittany (11)
5. April & Sarah (16)
6. Cedric & Shawn (20)
7. Henry & Evan (24)
8. Eric & Daniel (41)
9. Joey & Tim (49)
10. Trevor & Chris (50)
11. Dessie & Kayla (57)

Average Placement: 25.91

Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers:

1. Lauren Rimmer (1)
2. Alan Ball (10)
3. Cole Medders (13)
4. Devon Pinto (14)
5. Simone Nguyen (17)
6. Chrissy Hofbeck (18)
7. Jessica Johnston (21)
8. Ashley Nolan (23)
9. Mike Zahalsky (25)
10. Joe Mena (26)
11. Patrick Bolton (35)
12. Ali Elliott (42)
13. Desi Williams (43)
14. JP Hilsabeck (51)
15. Roark Luskin (52)
16. Katrina Radke (59)
17. Ryan Ulrich (73)
18. Ben Driebergen (75)

Average Placement: 33.22

Celebrity Big Brother 1:

1. Metta World Peace (7)
2. Omarosa Manigault (9)
3. Ariadna Gutierrez (19)
4. Brandi Glanville (22)
5. Shannon Elizabeth (29)
6. Keshia Knight Pulliam (37)
7. Chuck Liddell (58)
8. Marissa Janey Winokur (62)
9. Mark McGrath (66)
10. Ross Mathews (69)
11. James Maslow (72)

Average Placement: 40.73

Survivor: Ghost Island:

1. Chris Noble (3)
2. Stephanie Johnson (12)
3. Kellyn Bechtold (30)
4. Desiree Afuye (31)
5. Wendell Holland, Jr. (32)
6. James Lim (33)
7. Jacob Derwin (34)
8. Domenick Abbate (38)
9. Donathan Hurley (40)
10. Angela Perkins (45)
11. Chelsea Townsend (46)
12. Morgan Ricke (47)
13. Stephanie Gonzalez (48)
14. Libby Vincek (53)
15. Sebastian Noel (54)
16. Brendan Shapiro (55)
17. Bradley Kleihege (63)
18. Jenna Bowman (65)
19. Laurel Johnson (67)
20. Michael Yerger (68)

Average Placement: 43.2

Big Brother 20:

1. Sam Bledsoe (2)
2. Kaitlyn Herman (6)
3. Angie "Rockstar" Layton (15)
4. Bayleigh Dayton (27)
5. Rachel Swindler (28)
6. Haleigh Broucher (36)
7. Winston Hines (39)
8. Kaycee Clarke (44)
9. Steve Arienta (56)
10. Scottie Salton (60)
11. Chris "Swaggy C" Williams (61)
12. Faysal Shafaat (64)
13. Tyler Crispen (70)
14. Angela Rummans (71)
15. Brett Robinson (74)
16. JC Mounduix (76)

Average Placement: 45.56
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51. JP Hilsabeck (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 9th Place)
52. Roark Luskin (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 14th Place)
53. Libby Vincek (Survivor: Ghost Island, 12th Place)
54. Sebastian Noel (Survivor: Ghost Island, 6th Place)
55. Brendan Shapiro (Survivor: Ghost Island, 17th Place)
56. Steve Arienta (Big Brother 20, 16th Place)
57. Dessie & Kayla (The Amazing Race 30, 11th Place)
58. Chuck Liddell (Celebrity Big Brother 1, 11th Place)
59. Katrina Radke (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 18th Place)
60. Scottie Salton (Big Brother 20, 8th Place)
61. Chris "Swaggy C" Williams (Big Brother 20, 15th Place)
62. Marissa Janet Winokur (Celebrity Big Brother 1, 1st Place)
63. Bradley Kleihege (Survivor: Ghost Island, 14th Place)
64. Faysal Shafaat (Big Brother 20, 9th Place)
65. Jenna Bowman (Survivor: Ghost Island, 10th Place)
66. Mark McGrath (Celebrity Big Brother 1, 4th Place)
67. Laurel Johnson (Survivor: Ghost Island, 3rd Place)
68. Michael Yerger (Survivor: Ghost Island, 9th Place)
69. Ross Mathews (Celebrity Big Brother 1, 2nd Place)
70. Tyler Crispen (Big Brother 20, 2nd Place)
71. Angela Rummans (Big Brother 20, 4th Place)
72. James Maslow (Celebrity Big Brother 1, 6th Place)
73. Ryan Ulrich (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 3rd Place)
74. Brett Robinson (Big Brother 20, 6th Place)
75. Ben Driebergen (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 1st Place)
76. JC Mounduix (Big Brother 20, 3rd Place)
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1. Lauren Rimmer (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 7th Place)
2. Sam Bledsoe (Big Brother 20, 5th Place)
3. Chris Noble (Survivor: Ghost Island, 13th Place)
4. Kristi & Jen (The Amazing Race 30, 3rd Place)
5. Cody & Jessica (The Amazing Race 30, 1st Place)
6. Kaitlyn Herman (Big Brother 20, 13th Place)
7. Metta World Peace (Celebrity Big Brother, 8th Place)
8. Alex & Conor (The Amazing Race 30, 4th Place)
9. Omarosa Manigault (Celebrity Big Brother 1, 5th Place)
10. Alan Ball (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 15th Place)
11. Lucas & Brittany (The Amazing Race 30, 5th Place)
12. Stephanie Johnson (Survivor: Ghost Island, 16th Place)
13. Cole Medders (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 10th Place)
14. Devon Pinto (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 4th Place)
15. Angie "Rockstar" Lantry (Big Brother 20, 10th Place)
16. April & Sarah (The Amazing Race 30, 10th Place)
17. Simone Nguyen (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 17th Place)
18. Chrissy Hofbeck (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 2nd Place)
19. Ariadna Gutierrez (Celebrity Big Brother 1, 3rd Place)
20. Cedric & Shawn (The Amazing Race 30, 9th Place)
21. Jessica Johnston (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 12th Place)
22. Brandi Glanville (Celebrity Big Brother 1, 7th Place)
23. Ashley Nolan (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 6th Place)
24. Henry & Evan (The Amazing Race 30, 2nd Place)
25. Mike Zahalsky (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 5th Place)
26. Joe Mena (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 8th Place)
27. Bayleigh Dayton (Big Brother 20, 11th Place)
28. Rachel Swindler (Big Brother 20, 12th Place)
29. Shannon Elizabeth (Celebrity Big Brother 1, 9th Place)
30. Kellyn Bechtold (Survivor: Ghost Island, 7th Place)
31. Desiree Afuye (Survivor: Ghost Island, 11th Place)
32. Wendall Holland, Jr. (Survivor: Ghost Island, 1st Place)
33. James Lim (Survivor: Ghost Island, 15th Place)
34. Jacob Derwin (Survivor: Ghost Island, 19th Place)
35. Patrick Bolton (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 16th Place)
36. Haleigh Broucher (Big Brother 20, 7th Place)
37. Keshia Knight Pulliam (Celebrity Big Brother 1, 10th Place)
38. Domenick Abbate (Survivor: Ghost Island, 2nd Place)
39. Winston Hines (Big Brother 20, 14th Place)
40. Donathan Hurley (Survivor: Ghost Island, 5th Place)
41. Eric & Daniel (The Amazing Race 30, 6th Place)
42. Ali Elliott (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 13th Place)
43. Desi Williams (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 11th Place)
44. Kaycee Clark (Big Brother 20, 1st Place)
45. Angela Perkins (Survivor: Ghost Island, 4th Place)
46. Chelsea Townsend (Survivor: Ghost Island, 8th Place)
47. Morgan Ricke (Survivor: Ghost Island, 18th Place)
48. Stephanie Gonzalez (Survivor: Ghost Island, 20th Place)
49. Joey & Tim (The Amazing Race 30, 8th Place)
50. Trevor & Chris (The Amazing Race 30, 7th Place)
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If this was all we got from Lauren, shed still be an enjoyable character, but shed rank about fifteen to twenty spots lower just on the basis of being an average character. A Zoe Zanidakis, if you will, who served to be gruff and grumpy a lot, mainly filling out the numbers for the more strategic members of her alliance. But then we got to the final nine, and suddenly Lauren bucked all trends of her archetype by flipping into game mode and shaking things up. Winning reward, she pulled Ashley/Devon/Ben together and formed a new alliance against Chrissy/Ryan/JP (the Soko trio), and with a group effort, they blindsided JP out of the game, only to flip back and take Joe out in the very next vote.

I should also note that it was at that final eight round that we got some more Lauren the badass moments (single-handedly, or double-boobedly pushing logs through a challenge, followed by telling Chrissy off for being a soulless gamebot.) And then she found a hidden immunity idol! Well, HALF of an idol. She got the other half at a challenge, but still, it counts. Lauren is the ONLY female player since CAMBODIA to find one of the 32 hidden immunity idols found over the course of those seasons (up through episode 11 of DvG, and not counting Ryans from episode one, because that was a unique situation.) AND Lauren had a double vote advantage as well! It looked like things were going great for her, and she couldve been the first real fan-favorite female winner weve gotten in a LONG time.

Unfortunately, Ben had an idol himself, and Laurens managed to shoot herself in the foot multiple times over in her boot episode. It wouldve been funny if it wasnt so self-destructive on the part of a player I really liked. She found the idol alongside Ben, thus he knew about it. Then she got caught by Ben in a conversation about blindsiding Ben, thus putting him on notice. Then when Ben started scrambling and throwing her name out, Lauren gave Mike half her idol as a sign of trustwhich he threw in the fire because hes kind of a dick like that. And then Lauren got idoled out with Ben as the sole vote to eliminate her. Like I said, it was sad to see her blow up so quickly, but it still made for a memorable exit from the game. Ultimately, she was the most enjoyable member of the HHH cast, and she made enough of an impression to warrant the top spot on this ranking.
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1. Lauren Rimmer (Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, 7th Place)

Its difficult for me to look back on Laurens time in the game and not marvel at the fact that she got seventh place, and it took a hidden immunity idol to get her out. If you looked at the cast before the season started (particularly the breakdown of the tribes), youd be hard-pressed to envision her as anything other than a first boot. Seriously, I know shes not super old, but compared to the rest of the Hustlers tribe (whose ages average out to around 24 years old), crusty, hard-working, 37-year-old, mother Lauren certainly stood out.

And after Simone proved to somehow be an even bigger outsider than Lauren, it seemed inevitable that a tribe consisting of two buff guys, a girl who knew one of said buff guys pre-show, and a scrawny nerd who wedged himself in good with the OTHER buff guy, would choose to boot the obvious outsider from their group. But nope! After griping and bitching about Patrick (she doesnt trust redheads, dontchaknow), Lauren managed to do the impossible and survive a second tribal council against one of the tribes biggest physical assets.

For the next portion of the season, Lauren wound up in a 3-1-1 minority, so she got relatively downplayed, but still, she was always great for a cutting remark via her take-no-prisoners attitude. And though she wanted to keep her options open with the Healers, it became apparent that it would do her no good to side with a five-person alliance as number six or seven, so she joined forces with her fellow Hustlers and the Heroes to Pagong the Healers for a few rounds.
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And I also have to mention early-to-mid season Sam, where she went stir crazy and threatened to escape the house on several occasions. The funniest part of that little subplot was the fact that, due to her robot exile, she knew the exact hallway layout of the houses fire escape, so she actually COULD plan to run the fuck outta there if need be. She just had this constant stream of emotions running through her veins, and I lived for it. I was heartbroken when she came one question shy of winning at the final five. That wouldve been amazing (and probably wouldve gotten JC out earlier than the fucking FINALE.) Im glad we had a character like Sam around, because BB20 need it BADLY towards the end.
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Week four is that week I mentioned in the first paragraph though. YES, I stand by the fact that Sam is a sweetheart and an extremely genuine person, and I think for the most part, she struggled with some of the meaner thoughts she had in the house. But at the end of the day, Sam is a guys girl, and I dont think she connected with a lot of the prettier mactresses in the house. When she won HoH, she didnt really take that much input from her semi-alliance, and she just targeted Kaitlyn/Haleigh, citing their flirtations (essentially slut-shaming them both) as her rationale, and absolving the guys for leaning into those flirtations in the first place. It wasnt a good look, but honestly, it was the last time I really had a negative though regarding Sam, so thats pretty good.

Once Kaitlyn was gone, sure, Sam had some lingering issues with Haleigh and Angela, but she mainly retreated into the background, serving as a much more adorable character than the constant scenes of JC not knowing how to pronounce words correctly. She was just such a wacky wild card, and I loved how often she got under Level 6s skin because she actually had emotions and didnt always vote in lockstep with their plans. If I recall correctly, she nearly flipped on Tyler in week five, purely because he withheld his power app from herbut the other option was voting to keep Rachel, and lolno.

Honestly though, it felt like Sam was the only person on her side of the house (I use quotation marks because she and JC were never REALLY in the Level 6 alliance that they didnt realize existed) that I think developed genuine bonds with FOUTTE. I feel like, if it werent for Tyler putting the work in to be her friend in those early weeks, Sam wouldve felt much more comfortable with the hodgepodge collection of players in FOUTTE. She threw a stray vote to Bayleigh to ensure she didnt go home unanimously, she was Rockstars workout buddy during her exercise punishment, she loved Scottie and Faysal (again, guys girl), and she just felt like the sole beam of light while Level 6/5/4 sucked the personality from the season week after week.

More than just her affiliation (and the fact that, as FOUTTE got Pagonged, pickings were increasingly dire in terms of quality cast members to root for), Sam was just cute to watch. She spent a good portion of the season just doing little craft projects, even while everyone else socialized. And thats fine. Sometimes youre a loner who wants to be alone with your thoughts. There was that scene where she decided to plunk a plate down on the spiral staircase and just sit backwards while she ate dinner. Or how horrified she was after the hide-and-go-veto competition, when she couldnt even help clean up the massive mess. Or how, after Brett got evicted, she felt so bad about having said negative things about Angela in private that she apologized to Angelas face. So adorable.

Sam had a bizarre grasp of strategy that was so earnest and sweet in the face of gamebottery too. Everyone should throw the hacker competition to me because I promise I wont use it and mess up anyones plans. If you nominate Hayleigh next to Scottie, Ill give up smoking. Pinky swear! Oh, and of coursevoting for Kaycee to win, giving her that fifth vote she needed after Haleigh flipped on FOUTTE and voted for Tyler. God bless you for ruining the fanbases dreams there, Sam. Its what they deserve after they turned on you so fast when you dared to consider not working to Lord Tylers benefit.
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2. Sam Bledsoe (Big Brother 20, 5th Place)

There was exactly ONE week in Big Brother 20 where I dipped in my love and appreciation for Sam, and ultimately, that week is what cost her the top spot for this ranking. But yeah, one of the reasons why Big Brother tends to flop for me more often than not is its live runtime. Because the editors cant properly craft a winners story in advance, and because they have to fill three hours of screen time every week, this leads to some sloppy and outright irritating storytelling. We typically get a bunch of generic archetypes who may or may not play passively while one or two players talk non-stop of strategy, and the rest are typically background noise until they become targets and start talking about how much they need to win the veto to control their own fate.

However, if were lucky, theres usually one or maybe two people who get scooped up by the net that casting throws out when putting together the new set of summer housemates. These people are not strategists (or at least not intentionally strategists), and theyre also not your typical brand of mactor, cast solely for their looks (but they dont fit the mold of a superfan that DEFINITELY doesnt get cast for their looks.) Usually these players are older, which emphasizes the disparity between their world view and that of their much younger opposition. But regardless of age, this archetype stands out because of how damn WEIRD they are. In Big Brother 20s case, it wasnt the token older player (Steve) that filled this role. No, instead we got Sam Bledsoe.

From week one, Sam was an absolute star. She comes into the house as this tomboy advertised as a welder who lives in a very masculine world back home (I say advertised because shes a waitress in reality.) But because shes from a more backwoods lifestyle, its difficult for her to be surrounded by all these outgoing, attractive people who either come from California/Florida, or have aspirations of moving to California/Florida.

It didnt help that she lost the first challenge of the season and received one of the most unfair punishments Ive ever seen (second only to Sylvia Kwan getting shunted off to Exile Island in episode one of Survivor: Fiji). Suddenly, this already-shy girl finds herself forced to spend half of her time in the house remote controlling a robot. That sort of punishment was guaranteed to further distance her from the rest of the house, and it made that first week extremely painful to watch as a result. I felt awful every time we got a tearful confessional about how lonely and isolated she felt, because shes already thousands of miles away from her family and the people who care for her, but suddenly she cant even make new friends among her housemates due to the whole robot thing.

Thankfully, that first week had a happy ending. America felt the same as me and rewarded Sam with the first power app of the season, which gave her a second chance if she happened to get booted in week one. Thanks to Tyler, she managed to parlay this into surviving the block outright, and she managed to avoid those nomination chairs from there on out, until much later in the season. For the next few weeks, Sam was basically an appendage to Tyler, but it wasnt obnoxious the way it was with, say, Kaitlyn. Mainly because Sam is a genuine sweetheart who just wanted to cook and clean and be nice to everyone, and even felt bad about Swaggy and Winston going home to the point of considering using her app to save both at one point or another.
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Dejah
Sally
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Luna
Vanellope
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Azula
Shireen
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Kronk
Sadness
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Slowly but surely, we got scenes from people like Laurel, trashing him for his arrogance and outright idiocy, and this storyline culminated at the merge. First, Chris outright rejected Wendells attempt to mend fences between the two sides of the game, locking that target onto his back without any chance of moving it. But wait! By sheer coincidence, Chris got to go back to Ghost Island and receive a free immunity idol! He gave up his vote to get it, but still, Chris Noble had a hidden immunity idol and could play it at either the final 13 or the final 12. SURELY he was destined for greatness, right?

Yeahabout that. Despite Chris KNOWING he had a massive target on his back, he led a caravan of eleven people to the water well, plotting a split vote blindside between Domenick and Wendell. Not only was a group meeting that large unprecedented, but it was even funnier because almost NONE of the tribe actually wanted to go along with the plan. They instead wound up blindsiding Chris in a 10-2 vote (against Libby, not Dom OR Wendell btw) when he didnt play his idol. The idol was only good for two tribal councils, and he KNEW his name was getting written downwhat POSSIBLE reason did he think he was safe at 13 but might NOT be at 12?

Anyway, Chris sucked a little at the final tribal council, standing up alongside Michael as one of the jury foremen in favor of gamebottery and rewarding Domenick for being more vocal in his #BIGMOVEZ. But Im willing to forgive him, if only because his Ponderosa video is one of the greatest things ever. After his rapping was apparently a prominent enough trait for Wendell to shit-talk it in his voting confessional, the producers went all out in allowing Chris to produce a shitty, SHITTY rap video at Ponderosa. It was truly amazing, and it just encapsulates the brilliance of the Noble One as a character overall. Best of Ghost Island by a LARGE margin.
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3. Chris Noble (Survivor: Ghost Island, 13th Place)

Yeah, generally you can tell how good a season is by how early my favorite character or team was eliminated. While sometimes a BAD season may have some high-tier characters, there really isnt a truly GOOD season where I look at the cast and say this double-digit boot is the best this cast had to offer. All-Stars, Cook Islands, Micronesia, Samoa, Redemption Island, Caramoan, Millennials vs. Gen X, Game Changersat BEST these seasons are okay. Ghost Island? Doesnt even reach that level, and thats evident by the Noble One reigning supreme at thirteenth place.

So first off, going into this season, I didnt have a lot of reason to be excited for Chris. Ghost Island had an EXTREMELY young cast, and Chris felt like the kind of generic mactor typically thrown into a bloated season to fill up space. And maybe he wouldve been exactly the kind of character his archetype suggests, if not for the seemingly-random decision his tribe made to appoint him leader in that initial challenge. Fearing that his team would lose EVERYTHING if he didnt act quickly, Chris forfeited the first reward challenge of the season in order to win some basic supplies. This didnt sit well with fellow alpha male Domenick, who quickly voiced his displeasure with Chris decision, and sparked the rivalry that would dominate the first half of the season.

Naviti was the FAR more interesting tribe of the two starters in Ghost Island, in large part because of the war waged between Chris and Dom. Both gathered their troops and divided the tribe squarely down the middle (Dom/Wendell/Morgan/Kellyn/Bradley vs. Chris/Angela/Seabass/Chelsea/Des), and it became clear that Chris was the inferior general of the two. Sure, he was awesome in challenges and dominated on more than one occasion (only losing one immunity all season), but he lacked the social skills and strategic know-how to parlay his strengths into an actual advantage. As a result, the first two episodes were mainly about him and Domenick hating each other.

From episode three onward though, Chris burgeoned into a favorite for me. Yes, he got a miraculous send-off to Ghost Island, sparing him from the most volatile tribal council of the season. But once there, he got to give us a touching story about how he was playing for his mother, to win the money and help her with her disease. This was touching, surebut it also came in stark contrast to the downfall of his edit. From episode three onward, Chris was this Captain Ahab figure, desperate to take out his rival in Domenick, but everyone else in the game saw him as a complete buffoon. Even his ALLIES thought he was an idiot and didnt want to go along with his cockamamie plans.
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imgtc is down right now, so my next write-up is delayed.
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Naye745 posted...

that's interesting because while i agree that seems to be the trend, i feel this season in particular has gone to extra lengths to explain stuff up front, multiple episodes in advance (see elizabeth's plotline on vuku a week before the merge boot episode)

and for what its worth, the season and its characterization as a whole have been a lot better for it

I was actually thinking the opposite, strangely enough. Elizabeth had a little ripple prior to her boot, but then she goes. Then John goes completely out of nowhere. Then Dan had a ripple of screentime before he's targeted and out. Then Alec goes in one episode. Then Carl goes after showing up as a target only two hours prior. And then Gabby's story arc concludes rather abruptly. Christian is the only long-term arc I feel that has reached its conclusion since the merge.
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I still think The Grand is a fun movie.
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Dejah
Tess
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Luna
Vanellope
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Yeah, I'm not gonna trash it or anything, because it's still a marked improvement over the past few seasons, but it feels like GC/HHH ran out of steam right near the end too. I feel like the show really needs to have some more double boots to whittle the numbers down earlier than they do.
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Shireen
Sally
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Why's Tidus' head still on his body?
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Azula
Faris
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Mewtwo59 posted...

I really don't know what you saw in Cody and Jess. Maybe it's because I didn't watch Big Brother, but Cody was totally bland and Jess was a weak version of a trope we've had many times. Even the "one teammate carries another to a win" thing was done better last season with Brooke and Scott. I just didn't care for them at all.

Honestly, I like Kristi and Jen more since they lost. They were getting the most obvious winner's edit ever, and it was really annoying. Would've liked them even more if they ended up in 4th, because that's just a hilarious end to their storyline (Finish in the top 3 every leg except the one they need to). Still would've been better winners than Cody and Jess, though.

I think you really need the watch BB19 (this is the ONLY circumstance in which I will use that sequence of words) to appreciate Jess & Cody. 'cause you get SOME moments from them on TAR (Jess being unnecessarily cutthroat, to her own detriment, or Cody being unwilling to condone the tomfoolery of the dancing task), but it's hard to see them on their first time alone. It's like how Natalie Anderson is even MORE amazing as a Survivor winner when you know she was on TAR twice.
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Peridiam posted...

Why do people dislike Tyler & Korey again?

korey messaged me on twitter

Because Tyler (I think it was Tyler...the more famous one) was just an obnoxious camerawhore that was emblematic of the stupidity of casting a "social media" season, plus he was just an arrogant dick all season long. How DARE Bernie & Ashley not go along with his plan to screw over two other teams for no reason.
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4. Kristi & Jen (The Amazing Race 30, 3rd Place)

Yeah, somehow TAR30 winds up as the second season out of my ranking, despite being far and away the best season of CBS reality produced in FY18. I think in terms of ranking CHARACTERS, it hurts the season as a whole that the cast was so good. While EVERYONE was great (with only a few teams Id consider mediocre), that also means that there was no single team that really stood out as markedly superior to the others. The three characters I rank above Kristi & Jen all stand out in casts that range from decent to good (HHH) to extremely problematic (BB20) to boring as fuck (Ghost Island), so sadly, TAR30 doesnt land a team in my top three.

For the first half of the season, Kristi & Jen were enjoyable from the perspective of having a dominant female team on the race again. I mean, you know me, Im always big on the female empowerment, and The Amazing Race tends to cast weaker representation in terms of F/F teams. I dont know if its because theyre looking for the wrong archetypes or what, but the point is that, prior to Kristi & Jen, only ONE all-female team had ever managed to average a placement higher than third. So having an all-female team manage to stay third or higher all race long (outside of a small hiccup, which was a unique situation) was impressive.

Still, female dominance can only carry a team so far. Kym & Ally were fun to watch in TAR25, but Nat & Kat were kinda bland and disappointing compared to Brook & Claire coming up just short in TAR17. Up until the halfway point, Kristi & Jen fell closer to the Nat & Kat end of the spectrum. However, much like Conor and Jessica and Henry, Jen soon proved to be far less competent than her high-strung partner. While this never hurt their placement outright, it DID lead to several instances of the team getting VERY lost and causing some frustration. It was a minor storyline, but it kept them from being one-note and dominant at least.

Around the midpoint of the race though, this dynamic inverted. Suddenly, Kristi was the one struggling in tasks (particularly the dance task at the final six, and everything she did with Jessica at the TBC leg), and this led to Jens bitchier side coming out to clash with Kristis ice queen persona. They were still friendly of course, unlike April & Sarah, but having an intrateam dynamic where the two team members arent generic and interchangeable is always appreciated. Of course, after a season of girl power! and you could be our fourth ever F/F winners!, the dynamic inverted again, and Jen fell apart at the final task. She overthought the challenge and blew it, going from first to last and ultimately losing to both Jody AND Yale. It was heartbreaking, and even worse was seeing how hard Jen blamed herself. She should be proud though. 2.65 is an amazing average, given that the previous best was 2.92, and if it werent for*gag*Tyler & Korey, theyd be the strongest third placers ever as well! Good for them!
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Enter TAR30. Its wonderful and amazing to me that, after Paul made their lives hell and treated them like absolute shit all season long, it took them about a month to WIN as much money as Paul LOST over the course of two summers. But more than that, they were extremely interesting characters on The Amazing Race. See, with their backs up against the wall in BB19, we never REALLY got a feel for their personalities beyond their underdog status. For me, I kinda expected a villainous, mean girl attitude from Jess, in a situation where she didnt have Paul asserting his dominance over the rest of the house. Lo and behold, thats exactly what she brought to TAR30, and I loved it.

See, Jess had this one-sided rivalry with Lucas & Brittany that included her not telling Brittany about a forgotten gnome, or faking a wrong answer to get a slight advantage leaving a roadblock. And all this did was infuriate the lifeguards, while ultimately not benefitting Jody that much. In fact, they got U-Turned as a result, during a crucial F6 leg where they started out way behind. It didnt help that Jess spent most of the season serving as her teams incompetent partner (a lot of the teams in the final four had that dynamic, now that I think about it), which led to some struggles in the mid-to-late portion of the season.

Meanwhile, Cody proved why he was a feared comp beast in BB19. Every time he got to do a roadblock, he absolutely beasted it (and some non-roadblocks as well.) The only time he had any real sense of failure was during the final 6 dance task, which was just comedy gold if you know Codys personality at all. Hes very stiff and stoic, so whoever though to put his race on the line via a lively, African dance deserves a fucking raise, thats for sure. In the end though, it was JESS who won the season for her team though. In a massive turnaround, she managed to piece together her puzzle before the Skibots or Yale, and I bet that million dollars feels great when combined with Codys proposal soon after. I just loved their two-season story arc, ALMOST enough to give them the top spot for TAR30but not quite.
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5. Cody & Jessica (The Amazing Race 30, 1st Place)

To really discuss Cody & Jessica, its first important to know their overall storyline from Big Brother 19. See, this wasnt a rehash of Jordeff or Brenchel or Keithney, where you had a showmance between two characters who were, for all intents and purposes, just characters in a larger season of the show. Sure, thats an understatement for Brenchel in BB12, where they were pretty much the sole source of entertainmentbut they were also the VILLAINS of that season. And sure, Jordeff were fan favorites, but they were surrounded by large casts of complex characters. And Keithneywere contestants on Survivor: South Pacific. Its a slightly different story for Cody & Jessica.

In Jodys case, their lives were absolute HELL for the first half of the season, until both were mercifully eliminated from the game. Paul, in his quest to win without learning from his initial loss or maybe toning down his awful behavior, instead opted to foster a cultlike mindset where EVERYONE in the house had to be as awful as he was in order to temper the bitterness people might feel towards him in particular. And when Cody tried (rightfully so) to take Paul out in week one, that set Jody apart from the rest of the house for the rest of their time in the season. Other players werent even allowed to SPEAK to them without falling under intense scrutiny, and anyone who befriended Jody soon found themselves headed out the door on their heels.

Of course, Jody won in the end, with Cody casting the vote that cost Paul his second attempt at Big Brother glory, and Cody winning the fan favorite award for his opposition to the awful people in the house. Now, were Jody great people in their own rights? They definitely had their flaws: Cody had some backwards views, and Jess seemed like the kind of person who, if not for Cody blowing up her game, wouldve gladly become a Paul toadie. But whatever my opinions, these were genuine fan favorites who managed to maintain a showmance that I thought would fall apart the second they regained their support systems in the outside world.
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GTM posted...

I read the tribal all wrong, thought it was allison going home

but jeez 3-2-2 this is crazy

3-2-0* (just for accuracy's sake).
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Mewtwo59 posted...

The Mana Sword posted...

Yeah, arent there currently zero advantages in play now?

Yeah, because that totally stopped Ben from finding an idol in the finale.

Honestly? I'll take Ben's bullshit idol finds (since he only won on the bullshit fire-making twist) over Dom and Wendell both having idols going into the finale, and Sebastian having an extra vote, and most of the strategy revolving around whether or not they planned on playing those advantages because there was nothing else to fucking show.
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I think so.
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Flash
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Gothel
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Underleveled posted...

Hmm, I gotta say, as much as I love this season, I am a bit disappointed that two of the three most electric characters got eliminated in the two episodes leading up to the finale.

I thought the same thing. I had Angelina/Christian/Gabby as my favorites left at the final eight, and now two of them are gone. Plus side, we just burned more idols, so the finale will hopefully not be a huge idol-fest.
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