Episode 3 is in the books and I decided to focus on the 10 Biggest moments/takeaways from the third episode. These will be integral storylines that the third episode focused on. I’ll breakdown why they matter for the season.

Honorable Mentions:

Paulie and Josh’s relationship

Zach being a voice of reason?

Lack of exposure for the UK females

Nany not getting any story-lines

Potential Turncoats

And now to the 10 that made the cut:

10 CT and the Bad News Bear(s)

Watching CT talk to his team at the nomination ceremony reminded me of Walter Matthau telling the Bad News Bears to look on the positive side. Even though CT is frustrated being on the losing side, he probably has an easier go of things on Team UK. He has a good relationship with Team USA, is allowed to be a mouthpiece for the UK, and does not have to worry about all the males trying to assert themselves on Team USA.

Him getting frustrated with Bear while attempting to remain political was one of my favorite moments. It was a total dad move.

9 Leroy is playing the game

As a long-time Leroy fan, nothing is more disappointing than watching him lose season after season due to his passive gameplay. Seeing him play the game politically and forging relationships to further himself is almost like watching a clumsy kid pour a glass of soda from a full 2-liter bottle without spilling. After all this time he’s finally learned and is playing the game!

I’ve always thought Leroy would be a fantastic Big Brother player because he’s an incredibly good friend to have in the house. He is kind, social, the house barber, and can mesh with almost anyone. The skill of listening is the most underrated ability in our society today. Paulie, Bananas, Wes, and many others are trying to hype themselves up and use their mouths to win, while Leroy can easily use them by being a good listener by their side.

8 The US Women are Superstars turned into background characters

Laurel is maybe the most dominant competitor in Challenge history. Ashley is a two time Champion and all-time money winner. Cara has the most Final appearances ever (tied). Ninja essentially won her rookie season. Tori, Kam, and Nany are all finalists who have earned their stripes. Sadly, the story-lines all seem to revolve around the male competitors, and those female story-lines are always adjacent to which male these women are hooking up with.

It’s a bit annoying to watch a kick-ass bunch of women play second fiddle to a group of males we’ve seen over and over again.

7 Johnny Bananas is still grumpy

Last week, I noted that Bananas had lost his charm a bit as a personality. As he’s lost his power in the game, he has become increasingly negative without any of the positives he used to have. Even though I disliked Bananas, he was able to make me laugh consistently; and he made solid game observations. In 2019, he’s just angry and has become a person cosplaying as Johnny Bananas. He is over the moon about Wes getting eliminated; however, it hurt his team, and in the grand scheme of things, only put Bananas lower on the totem pole.

His team will expect him to be involved in the blind-side. The male side is so strong that he’s not looked at as a top contributor either. He needs to think about the bigger picture and play the social game.

6 Idris is not backing down