the challenge: invasion of the champions was a shockingly entertaining season. although MTV definitely fell short on the format end of things, I believe that they picked a fun mix of new and old players alike, in addition to bringing back people like Laurel, CT, and Darrell. the pre-champions part of the season felt like a fun, older Challenge season where new things were developing instead of the series falling back on older rivalries. we got a very natural split in the house that didn’t revolve around Johnny Bananas and it all felt very fun to watch. the Champions entered and played a more fun role, letting the Underdogs yell and bitch at each other for a majority of the season. there is something to be said about everyone that was in this cast

Bruno- Bruno was obviously subpar on his real world season and created a shitstorm over absolutely nothing numerous times throughout the show. he was a very vile, awful cast member and I didn’t expect much out of him on the Challenge. we got a very short narrative about how he used to be homeless and we then proceeded to watch him completely give up on the mission and lose the elimination. I hope we never see Bruno again because I don’t believe he has the physical strength or personality to be worthy of a consistent spot on the show.

Marie- ever since St. Thomas and Battle of the Seasons, Marie is someone that I thought would have longevity in the series. she’s a quirky, fun personality and while she isn’t necessarily the best at challenges, some of the most fun characters from the series were mediocre at challenges (Casey, Shauvon, even Devyn?) so I figured she had something. she provided some level of narrative through her short-lived relationship with Anthony but she was out of her league in the elimination. I’m glad that we are going to get a chance to see her again in 30 because I think given the correct circumstances, she could be a star.

Theo- i’m unclear on how to feel about Theo. I was disappointed with the way that his journey on Bad Blood ended and I always thought (pre-Kassius) he was a fun personality and brought a good energy to the show. unfortunately, he came onto Invasion with an unwarranted ego and was generally pretty terrible in his interactions, only to end up with him quitting in an elimination that wasn’t particularly difficult. I hope that Theo viewed the season and realized that he made himself look like a complete shithead and maybe returns again later on down the line.

Anika- Anika was part of the awful majority alliance that temporarily dominated, but she was one of the quieter, less polarizing members, much like in her Real World season. much like Bruno, I don’t think Anika has the physical strength or the personality to shine on The Challenge, especially after she provided next to nothing of value during Bad Blood.

Anthony- the thing about Anthony is that he’s just… there. it’s pretty difficult to dislike him, because the guy always has a smile on his face and is always giving it his all. the way that he went out was pretty tragic and terrible, and he definitely showed hints of a personality in terms of his Marie relationship, but I just don’t think he has a whole lot to offer in any aspect of the series.

Latoya- i genuinely enjoyed Latoya during St. Thomas and Free Agents but I thought she fell relatively short here? i think that she was also a big egotistical figure in the majority that ruled the earlier portion of the game and she had a very mediocre, annoying relationship with Nelson. Latoya was a much more rootable character when she went into the elimination against Jemmye in Free Agents and was a complete underdog. putting her in a scenario where she had the upper hand made her impossible to enjoy so I’m hoping that in 30 she is down on the numbers because that would make her better to watch. I’m also hoping the Nelson/Latoya thing goes absolutely nowhere because what a nightmare relationship

Tony- Tony was a very different person from all of his other showings on the Challenge. Tony clearly has what it takes to be entertaining and have longevity in the franchise, and I believe that MTV is trying to push him as the new golden boy. the difficult thing with Tony is that he’s stuck in a catch 22. when he drinks and causes shit, he’s relatively entertaining, but it puts him in situations like the Bloodlines situation with Shane or the Rivals 3 situation with Camila where he eventually ends up getting kicked off of the show. when he doesn’t drink, he seems to have a better grasp on the competition and can perform better, but he’s not entertaining in the slightest. I think that Tony was eliminated at a shitty time in a shitty elimination and I am of the belief that Tony could have won most other eliminations vs. Shane. we will see if the Tony being a father narrative continues and we will see how long his sobriety lasts.

Kailah- Kailah comes from a Real World season that I have completely avoided based on the warnings of others, but she was genuinely a breath of fresh air to this cast. I did not expect her to be as decent at competitions as she was, but from the jump she was backed against the wall and I found myself rooting for her pretty early on. Kailah definitely can provide a lot to the series and I hope we get to see a lot more of her in the future.

Zach- at this point, I’m completely over Zach appearances on the show. I think that he has run his course with the franchise. he started out in Seasons having his weird little tension with Frank and his previous relationship with Ashley Kelsey. he continued to create relationships with other cast members but eventually became an annoying presence to have on the show. I believe that when Zach went on his super misogynistic rant about how women were swamp creatures, he needed one more showing to somewhat defend himself, and then he should be removed from the narrative as a whole. there is no reason for him to continue on in the series because as much of a meathead and a good competitor as he is, he’s awful to watch.

Ashley K.- Ashley Kelsey strikes me as the member of the Champions team who was an alternate and ended up needing to be used. she clearly was not on the same level as the rest of the champions, both entertainment wise and competition wise. she didn’t do anything to shock me or blow my mind this season and I doubt that she ever will in the event that she returns. also, Dario is absolutely a sleazeball and I am disappointed in her for even entertaining that.

Dario- speak of the devil, Dario is someone who, despite the fact that I just spoke negatively of him, has consistently grown on me since the beginning. when he came onto Bloodlines, he was very obviously an attention hungry Are You the One? kid looking for some way into the canon of The Challenge. he forged a rivalry with Nicole Ramos and Johnny Bananas and he found his way in. after all of those issues, he seemed to mellow out a little bit and focus more on the competition aspect of the show. he was an entertaining presence to have around this season and I think he’s slowly grasping the strategy part of the show after his horrible fuck-ups in Rivals 3.

Sylvia- Sylvia has to be the shocker of the season for me. throughout Skeletons, Sylvia/Violetta were pretty awful and vile to watch, so I couldn’t say I was particularly thrilled to see Sylvia in the cast for this season. she ended up being incredibly self-aware and a big part of the story of the season. even though I wanted Tony to do better than he did, I had a lot of respect for Sylvia’s move to switch things up and vote with a group of people who were on her level in terms of physical strength. Sylvia was the first to call herself out for not performing and throw herself into an elimination, and I think if she had ended up beating Jenna, her performance on this season would have been regarded a lot higher, but I hope we see more of her later on.

Bananas- it’s been discussed a little bit, but I believe that this season was very out of character for Bananas. we obviously got a little bit of the Bananas that we’ve become used to (throwing Cara Maria into an elimination, stirring up drama with Hunter for absolutely no reason) but I think that he was a bit more laid back this season? we’re moving into an era of the Challenge where Bananas is regarded as the Godfather of the show. his presence comes with a lot of history and his name alone forces him to be a target. he has more wins under his belt than anyone in the history of the series so I see Bananas in the future taking a bit more of a backseat role and letting these new, more attention starved kids (like the Underdog team) completely blow up and fight one another. say what you will about Bananas’ personality, but he has proven time and time again that he is at least a halfway decent competitor, and I know that the hardcore fanbase of the show is over him, but I think that we are entering a new era of Bananas.

Cara Maria- coming into the season, I was of the belief that Cara Maria’s narrative in the series was over. let’s exclude Fresh Meat 2, because she didn’t get enough time to even exist in that season. she came into Cutthroat and immediately developed two longstanding storylines: her relationship with Abram and her frenemy existence with Laurel. these things continued to develop throughout the show. Laurel/Cara returned as rivals and we got the incredibly memorable moment where Laurel went to bat for Cara when the whole house was treating her shitty. they became friends, only to have their friendship seemingly tumble down on Free Agents. Abram/Cara were cast for Exes 1 as… still a couple? then Cara had her weird cheating scandal with Thomas. Abram shows up, shit hits the fan, that horrible, uncomfortable aftershow episode happened, and that should have been that. I believe that was it for Cara. I think having Cara continue to return is dragging things out at this point. I don’t think she was super entertaining for this season and the only thing she was really a part of was the Nicole storyline, which she really had zero say in. I enjoy Cara as a person and it’s taken me a while to come around to her but I think it’s time for her to hang her jersey in the rafters and move on.

Hunter- ugh… Hunter. Hunter did exactly what I expected him to do when I saw him in the cast list for this season. he came in like a steroid-filled country boy and treated this like it was a very old school game. the thing about Hunter is that he didn’t really play the politics well. how could you when you’re clearly that dumb? he was an incredibly strong competitor, but that’s all there was to him. his drama with Smashley was meaningless and disappeared as soon as it started, and he had several small tiffs with people, but at the end of the day, all he was to the show was a meathead. with some of our veteran meatheads aging and moving on from the series, I suppose it’s not bad to have another one in the mix, but I don’t believe Hunter has the personality to back it up.

Jenna- Jenna is someone who has made fantastic progress since her first appearance on the show. Jenna’s overall storyline as a whole is pretty great. the fact that Jay was cast for the show and Jenna was brought in as an ex, but she has made an entire legacy for herself and Jay is nowhere to be found is very interesting to watch. seeing Jenna evolve from the girl who was considered a layup in Exes 2 to this competitor who people have come to fear is entertaining, and I always find myself rooting for her. I didn’t love the Zach storyline because I think Jenna is out of Zach’s league, both physically and mentally, but it was something that had to happen. Jenna is definitely one of the frontrunners of the new school of Challengers.

Shane- umm…….. I still haven’t decided how to feel about Shane? Shane brings an old school energy combined with new school strategy and I think his old school association gave him somewhat of a leg up on the competition. he was a cast member back when things were more like casual party games and he’s seen the show turn into this complete physical competition paired with intense strategy and I think he adapted really well. I didn’t always love the way he went about things and I thought he was a bit slimy unnecessarily but I think it worked for him to an extent.

Amanda- Amanda is fun to watch and is a decent competitor, which I think is what this series is looking for to fill a slot. as someone moving forward, I think Amanda will always get a high priority call for future seasons because love her or hate her, the girl is going to cause some sort of shit to fill the episode. I thought her drama with Camila was overblown and I thought the aftermath with the weird Camila twerking scene and all of that was a lot, and I also was not too fond of the gross Amanda/Smashley/Shane/Sylvia clique that naturally formed. Amanda plays the villain role well and it’s been a little bit since we’ve had a prominent girl villain.

Darrell- Darrell is very old school. he doesn’t play all the theatrics (except the time when he punched Brad, but that was a different time!) and he comes to compete. he might not be the most interesting to watch, but he’s crucial for MTV to continue calling because people like him and CT (and in terms of 30, Derrick and Veronica) help MTV reel back in the old school audience and get them re-hooked on the show. Darrell being a figure on the show is going to get these old heads into the series and they’ll continue watching which will give the show more longevity. Darrell is an incredible competitor and not much of a personality.

Laurel- it was actually truly shocking to see Laurel lose. the thing that I love and always have appreciated about Laurel is she never comes to a show and doesn’t provide some sort of storyline. every time that she has appeared on this show, when the season ends, you can pinpoint something that she added to the narrative of the show. the Nicole/Laurel/Cara drama and the following Nicole/Laurel relationship was a very central part of the overall season and I respect Laurel for being good at creating a story. it goes without saying that Laurel competes like almost no one the series has ever seen and I think Laurel could have a few more seasons in her to defend why she’s 9–1.

the finalists

Ashley M.- I just don’t know what to think about Ashley. I enjoyed her a lot more when she was a one-off mess of a human being on Explosion and I think I had a lot of hope for her when she came to Rivals 3 and seemed to perform pretty well alongside Cory. this version of Ashley, however, was not anything to behold. I absolutely hate the cast members who cry wolf too many times about leaving the show, and Nelson definitely pegged her for needing all the camera time. I think she overreacted to situations like the toilet seat situation and her drama with Hunter which is why I believe she’s perfect to continue returning. she is bound to cause a lot of shit and she already has rivals/exes to return with when they inevitably use the format again. I hope that in the future she gets over her “i wanna leaaaaaaaaaave” bullshit because everyone knows it would neeeeever happen.

Camila- over the past few seasons, I completely hopped off the Camila train. I thought that she had become an overblown attention seeker and somebody who was pandering to the cameras just to get more airtime and to continue to return and make money off of the show. the Camilanator was a fun bit when it seemed a bit more… natural? maybe that’s not the right word, but the Exes 1 chair scene was definitely very real. but in past seasons it’s felt like she was just playing to the camera. Invasion was the first time in a while where I felt like she was being herself and standing alone. in a similar way to Bananas, I think that these bigger personalities somewhat overshadowed her and she was able to be more chill and compete rather than being a theatrical performance. we definitely still got hints of Camila being crazy (with the tiff with Laurel or the big Amanda drama) but I think that I will leave this season with a better taste in my mouth in regards to her.

Cory- much like I said Tony is one of the people that MTV is trying to push as the new star, I believe Cory falls into this boat as well. Cory has everything that MTV looks for in a recurring Challenge cast member: he can provide hookup drama, he’s a physical competitor, he doesn’t back down from a fight, and he’s charismatic. some people may not love Cory and I definitely don’t think he’s the most intelligent person on the planet, but I expect to continue seeing him on future season, especially with the rivalries/exes that he has created. do I think he’ll win the final? probably not. he’s outmatched by CT in all aspects, but I think that getting to another final shows that Cory definitely has what it takes to eventually pull out a win.

CT- CT is half of the reason that I wanted to write this entire post. I’m so intrigued by CT’s legacy and the development in his character. most of the reason I love the show is for the continuing storylines and the ability to watch someone grow up on television and I think CT is the best example of that. I think the earliest form of CT was a very fun-loving guy who was just there to compete. we saw this in seasons like Duel 1 when he started his relationship with Diem. the progression with CT was that he was a meathead who lashed out for no reason. he punched Davis in the face (which like, what did Davis ever do to anybody?) and had the whole unforgettable thing with Adam. once he returned (with Adam) for Rivals 1, I believe we saw hints of the new CT. the old CT was obviously still apparent in his drama with Wes (where he gave us the “I’ll smash your head and eat it” quote, which will live forever) and in Rivals 2 where he bickered with Bananas, but I believe that in Exes 2 and more specifically in Invasion, CT is becoming more like a father figure to the competitors. he has seen so much through this show and he’s gone through a lot of changes in his life, and I think this was most apparent in his pep talk to Smashley. CT is this figure in the show that it is impossible not to respect and I think that he has a few more seasons in him. I didn’t love that his entire storyline was about his son (it was very Rivals 1 Robin reminiscent) but I think that’s probably most of what he had to talk about, so I understand it to an extent.

Nelson- like most viewers, I started out this season not being too fond of Nelson. he was annoying during Are You the One? season 3 and he was pretty much irrelevant during Rivals 3. this season, he got a lot more camera time and attention than I would have liked for him too. early season Nelson seemed to be this parody of himself. he was stone faced in eliminations and talked about how he needed to win the show to bring the pride home to his family. it was all very exaggerated and he was treating the Challenge like the olympics and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. his celebration when he beat Anthony was… a lot to take in? as the season progressed he definitely chilled out and became more fun to watch. I believe that when he lost the hardcore “I AM HERE TO WIN AND MAKE EVERYONE WHO EVER CARED ABOUT ME PROUD” roboticism that he started with, I enjoyed him more. getting to see the more human side of Nelson made me realize that he’s probably going to stick around for a long while.

Nicole- Nicole is someone who I always looked forward to seeing on their first season of the Challenge. I know that it’s a bold comparison to make after one season, but I can see Nicole playing somewhat of an Evelyn role in the series. I don’t believe that Nicole could ever reach Evelyn’s caliber or match what she did for the show but I think that Nicole is someone who is very physically strong and willing to go against the grain and oppose people who wouldn’t normally get opposed. I think Nicole provided exactly what she was supposed to provide: she charmed Laurel and got a good storyline out of it, she played an underdog role, and she did well in competitions. Nicole will definitely continue to return and I think she will be one of the new physical forces of the show/