LogFAQs > #975229391

Just watched the premiere. My thoughts:

I hate Cameron. Everyone else is mild okay to okay, but Cameron stands out as especially annoying. It's especially prominent when you compare him to Red. Red comes across as like...authentic redneck in his mannerisms. Cameron comes across as like a hipster trying to do redneck COSplay, and it's all attention-whoring to me.

Two...the challenges they chose are hilarious for multiple reasons. One, the very first challenge, one of your major stuntcasting choices winds up losing out, which is made even more funny by the fact that the big twist of the night was his mom joining the cast alongside him. But then, as the night went on, the episode got really dumb with super short challenges, then commercial break between each one...and I know they couldn't have planned for it, but it was a REAL bad look to see the first three losing nominees standing beside one another, and you realize...there's something they all share in common, in a way that probably doesn't reflect well on CBS. And the comps themselves...they need to stop doing these live premiere comps, because the show isn't prepared to deal with them. At least they had the decency to show the butt-kicking challenge in four windows, rather than solely panning from player to player (but that was also the most obviously blowout loss of the night). And the scramble puzzle was decently-edited. But the wire puzzle was confusing to the point where I didn't realize Cameron was close to safety until he suddenly popped up on-screen.

And then the final challenge...who greenlit that disaster? First off, on a live show...maybe don't do an endurance competition? Maybe? But more than that, if you're going to do an endurance competition, you need to make it visually appealing. Don't have the competitors lying flat on the ground while a "zombie hand" supposedly yanks on their legs. The comp didn't look difficult, to the point where they could focus the camera on Luke casually removing one hand from his handhold. And because the camera was doing that, it completely missed Cory losing his grip and getting eliminated. P.S...if your whole thing is "the loser is dragged off to the netherverse", maybe don't have him lose his grip and then just lay there on the mat for a few moments for Julie to announce his elimination, before slowly dragging him backstage. That whole comp sapped whatever energy the premiere had, and I have to wonder if they even tested it out with people who weren't completely useless at competitions.

Finally, the big twist: Cirie Fields is back, trying to win another reality show and best Boston Rob in fewerer attempts than he took. Just need to get her and Jared on Amazing Race to complete the trifecta!