At last, the second part of the trilogy that you totally knew was a trilogy the whole time has come to an end.

Was the sequel better than the original? The Challenge: Vendettas was similar to its predecessor Dirty 30 in several ways, both in its positives and its negatives.

The biggest success of Vendettas was the infusion of characters from other non-MTV shows. With Real World on hiatus (there were only 11 original RW cast members on Vendettas), the cast sorely needed a jump start. And that’s exactly what it got with new faces both from the U.S. and abroad.

There will always be purists who want only people from the BMP world on The Challenge (some people are still getting used to the Are You the One people being on the show), but it’s hard to argue against the contributions that the rookies made this season.

The season definitely had its moments — I loved Tony Time and almost all of the newbies. But to me, the negatives outweighed the positives this season. Like Dirty 30, Vendettas featured a convoluted game format. At times it almost felt like the producers were making the rules up as they went. The things I didn’t like about the format include:

The troika was a decent concept, but horrible execution, with just 8/30 women being in the power position. In every female elimination, it was the guys who had the majority to send in the female of their choice, while the girls could only decide which guy to send in once the entire season. The troika also often got to choose the teams of the next challenge, which caused a cycle of the same people staying in power for most of the season. Just 12 players made the troika in the entire season, with Tony being safe six times, Zach and Bananas making it four times, and Kyle and Natalie making it three times.

I also liked the concept of grenades, but again they weren’t executed as well as they should have been. They couldn’t be used against the members of the troika, which is logically who the elimination winner would have the biggest vendettas against. I would have liked to have seen the grenades able to be used either in the following mission or the one after so it could be used against someone who threw them in.

The individual bank accounts just didn’t have that big of a payoff. I enjoyed how it was implemented in The Ruins much more, where the winner of an elimination got to take the money of the competitor they beat. Even making the final didn’t guarantee the competitor the money they earned, as the people who didn’t make it to stage two lost all their money.

Both the missions and the eliminations this season were more pathetic than watching Cory and Nelson trying to kick a soccer ball. Oh yeah, that was a real elimination. I guess our simple minds were supposed to think it was awesome because the ball was on fire. Other eliminations this season included splashing water out of a tank and escaping a basket. Other than the Oil and Water elimination between Sylvia and Melissa and the Crazy 8 eliminations during the first mercenary twist, nothing stood out. For the missions, Car Crash was unnecessarily dangerous, Puppet Master and Spanish Treasure were some of the most anticlimactic missions in recent memory and somehow they even fucked up the trivia challenge (although Tony saved it with his heroic eating performance).

Mercenaries- It produced one of the highlights of the season in the Joss vs. Derrick battle, but I’m just never a fan of people not even in the game being able to eliminate players. And although it was great to see Laurel and Frank again, the other six mercenaries were on Dirty 30, so that took away some of the excitement of seeing an old face like in Cutthroat when CT and Tina came in. I’m sorry but bringing Aneesa in to compete just doesn’t get me hyped.

The final- I don’t care about how epic a final is, but I do expect it to be somewhat logical. I liked the overall castle/knights theme, but it was a big mistake to have just one winner. There had to be an equalizer to make things fair, so after a fairly difficult first stage to get down to four competitors, the entire season came down to one mind puzzle. They also randomly brought back Bananas and Melissa for a rousing game of high/low, and they were given the power to hand out arbitrary punishments. Making the competitors wait for another person to arrive during the sword game was a huge mistake made on The Duel 2, yet it was used once again. It was the worst final challenge since The Gauntlet 2, and even that could be rationalized since it was put together last minute due to weather. There were no excuses for how bad the Vendettas final was.

I understand and appreciate that MTV is putting more resources into the franchise, and while Vendettas didn’t feel quite as drawn out as Dirty 30 was (in large part because there were three less episodes and no Redemption House), the show’s format continues to get more convoluted and arbitrary each season. The show would be much better if they cut out some of the twists and gimmicks, but from the little I know about Final Reckoning it seems like MTV is just doubling down.

FINAL POWER RANKINGS

Now, enough of me complaining about MTV because I did enjoy the cast this season. I loved the UK invasion and watching a few competitors turning into full-fledged stars.

These rankings are based on the overall impact the competitor made this season, with challenge performance, political game and house drama all factored in. Basically, when I think of this season, who am I going to remember from it?

Some cast spoilers for Final Reckoning below.

28. Eddie- I’ve never seen a reality television show just outright pretend someone was never on it before. It would be like if Survivor didn’t show a person get voted off, or if Big Brother didn’t show someone get evicted.

Eddie boarded a plane to Spain with his fellow cast members, took part in cast photos, competed in the purge, and yet all traces of him were wiped away from the audience’s mind, Men in Black style.

It’s like he never existed, and yet I still liked him on this season more than Kailah.

27. Rogan- His biggest contribution to the season was getting hurt on the Rock of Gibraltar, saving Bananas the embarrassment of being the first guy eliminated and the producers from having to scramble and put a redemption house together.

26. Nicole R- I fear this might have been the last time we have seen our beloved Nicole on The Challenge. She had an incredible season, almost making it through the first episode. Nicole came close to earning the major achievement of getting to move into the house, but it’s hard to be disappointed in her when she was racing such stiff competition like Marie, Kayleigh and Jemmye.

If this truly is the end for Nicole, it will be a career that goes down in the history books, not only of The Challenge but also of mankind. The Many-Faced God will always be remembered for her incredible makeup skills, getting screamed at by Ashley M when she drunkenly imagined that Nicole had made out with Jamie, and of course, her passionate love affair with fellow icon Nate Siebenmark.

Long after we’re gone, the legend of Nicole Ramos will live on.

25. Alicia- It’s never a bad strategy for a new female on the show to get into a showmance with a power player — it worked well for Natalie. Alicia, however, literally couldn’t have picked a worse person to tie herself to.

After Cory went home, Alicia was easy pickings. The only reason why she’d be asked back would be to solve the mystery of how to pronounce her name.

24. Victor- It’s mind-boggling to me that Victor was on half this season, because I barely remember him doing anything this season besides serenading Shane. Victor was considered a challenge beast on Big Brother, but on The Challenge he was just another dude. Victor’s legacy on The Challenge will likely be nothing more than being the first Big Brother male to be on the show, and looking like someone who would try to sell you on a pyramid scheme.

23. Cory- After looking like a future star of the show in his first couple of seasons, the Cory hype train came to a screeching halt on Vendettas. There was nothing he could do to avoid being sent in to elimination against fellow Young Buck Nelson when his archenemy Bananas got in the troika on the first mission.

Despite making two finals early in his career, it’s hard to see a scenario where Cory ever truly becomes a power player in the game. He’s a mid-level competitor and a bad social player. I think it’s more likely for him to go out early in future appearances than make a final like he did in Bloodlines and Invasion.

22. Veronica- The return of this Challenge Hall of Famer has been less than stellar. While she made some waves on the political front on Dirty 30, Veronica was barely visible on Vendettas.

She was set up for a grudge match against jilted lover Aneesa when the mercenaries came in, but she broke her finger and couldn’t continue. I still think there’s still a place for Veronica on the show, but with her, Marie and Jemmye together it’s a bit redundant.

21. Shane- After a huge comeback season on Invasion, Shane did not have nearly the same impact on Vendettas. He went out with a whimper, getting easily handled by Jordan during the first mercenary twist.

I think the cat’s out of the bag for how Shane plays the game. Other than Veronica (and maybe Marie and Devin) he doesn’t have any loyalties to anyone in the house, and he blew up his alliance’s plan to get out Bananas in a failed attempt to save himself from going into the ring.

Shane is almost the female version of Marie (albeit a much better competitor, but average compared to the rest of the guys). He’s basically on the show to be shady and stir shit up, which is perfectly fine. I’m all for Shane continuing to be brought back.

20. Kayleigh- She was quiet for most of the season, but Kayleigh encountered a hornet’s nest at the end of her time on the season. After hooking up with Nelson for most of the season, she betrayed him by throwing in his good pal Devin into the ring instead of Bananas.

When Devin gossiped that Bananas and Kayleigh made out at the beginning of the season, Kailah and her goons took it upon themselves to inject themselves into the drama by throwing her belongings. Kayleigh lost any sympathy when she outed Natalie on Twitter, but it was hard to blame her for quitting on Vendettas.

19. Jemmye- I love Jemmye. She’s only on this show to give witty confessionals and start drama, and there’s nothing wrong with that to me. But I think it’s fair to ask the question: Has she successfully established herself as a character without Knight?

Almost all of Jemmye’s storylines on Real World: New Orleans and her first four seasons of The Challenge involved Knight. Since returning after his death, Jemmye has made deep runs in consecutive seasons.

Her Dirty 30 appearance was much more memorable than Vendettas, as she caused controversy by throwing in Jenna against her best friend Kailah. Although she made it all the way to the final episode on Vendettas, we didn’t see much of Jemmye this season other than in confessionals.

She continues to go deep because she’s friends with many of the power players and because she gets left in the game as a layup.

Jemmye is the queen of confessionals. Her commentary is so good, she doesn’t even need to be the show on anymore. They could just record her thoughts on the season after taping and there almost wouldn’t be any difference.

I’d rather have Jemmye on a season than Marie, but there’s really no need to have both of them on a season. Yet we’re getting it three seasons in a row.

18. Britni- Despite being in a somewhat controversial showmance with Brad that got some early screentime, Britni was almost invisible for most of the season.

She paraded around naked for the first couple of episode and had a pizza thrown on her mid-coitus by Marie, but it felt like she disappeared until her elimination. Hooking up with Brad put an early target on her back, but she was able to slip under the radar for most of the game.

Until, of course, Tony and Zach went back on their promise to her and threw her into the ring, where she had to face the most frightening woman in the history of the show (and possibly on planet Earth), Laurel. TJ put it best about Britni’s prospects in that matchup: “Britni, I’m sorry.”

17. Sylvia- She’s probably never going to be a big character on this show, but Sylvia continues to prove people wrong as a competitor. After taking out LaToya and Kailah on Invasions, she beat Melissa in one of the best female eliminations of all time before having to leave due to illness.

Sylvia (like every other girl in the house) had googly eyes for Joss, but was devastated when her crush threw her into the ring. Luckily for her, that betrayal helped her get back on Final Reckoning.

16. Joss- Although he was less wild than his fellow UK castmates, Joss made a small but significant impact on Vendettas. He won the Rock of Gibraltar purge, he made a vendetta with Sylvia and he had every girl in the house drooling.

Joss could make a straight man question his sexuality, but he made his biggest contribution with his elimination round against Derrick. It was a knock down, drag out war, and though Joss lost to a much smaller competitor, there’s never any shame losing to Derrick (unless it’s something that involves using your brain.)

I would have liked to see Joss provide more entertainment in the house, but he went out relatively early and I have high hopes for him becoming a mainstay on the show.

15. Marie- This was arguably Marie’s biggest season out of the four challenges she has done, and yet I’d be happy if she never returned. Unfortunately I don’t get my wish, as she will be on Final Reckoning. It’s not that I dislike Marie, it’s just that I’m apathetic about her. She clearly brought more to the table than the other non-athletic girls who are strictly on the show to bring drama like Veronica and Jemmye, but Veronica is a legend and Jemmye is hilarious.

I like that Marie creates drama and seems to actively try to keep her spot on the show — making out with Kyle, the pizza fight with Brad and her ongoing feud with Cara Maria helped her get invited back.

Maybe I was soured by the girl with a self-proclaimed “zero fucks attitude” coming on r/MtvChallenge and whining about people not liking her, but I’ve never been a fan of Marie going back to Real World: St. Thomas (to be fair, I didn’t like anyone on that season), and I probably never will be.

14. Melissa- I might have Melissa too high, but I don’t think I’ve been more excited for the prospects of a new cast member since Tony arrived on Bloodlines. She was only on five episodes of Vendettas, but she played the playa in Nicole, got in a big (albeit stupid) fight with Kam and got dirty in her elimination round with Sylvia.

It was a short but strong debut for Melissa, and hopefully it was a preview of what’s to come in her career. I believe this vixen can become one of the new faces of the franchise.

13. Zach (Male Competitor of the Year, Political Player of the Year) - This might be crazy low to to place the person who placed second, but seriously…are you going to remember anything Zach did this season? He and Tony basically ran the second half of the game, but it was always Tony getting the spotlight with Zach in the background.

And for Zach, staying in the background isn’t a bad thing. The guy has said and done some terrible things on these shows, so only opening his mouth to send someone into the ring or give a funny confessional is arguably an improvement for him.

This season somewhat proved that winner edits do count on The Challenge. Zach was by far the best competitor of the season, which should have made him the favorite to win. But I really didn’t think he would win, because for the first half of the season there were times when I legitimately forgot he was on the show.

12. Kailah- I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I have come to the conclusion that Kailah is my least favorite person to ever be on this show. There’s always been people I’ve disliked on The Challenge — Wes, Frank Sweeney, Jordan — but they were villains that I loved to hate. They created compelling drama.

Kailah doesn’t even make good drama. On Vendettas, she needlessly inserted herself into other people’s fights — both in the Kam vs. Melissa showdown and when Natalie found out Kayleigh made out with Bananas. She’s always talked herself up to be a way better competitor than she really is, and I can’t imagine how big of a head she’ll get now after making the finals.

It’s weird because I could see Kailah being cool to hang out with, but I just haven’t liked her since the first episode of Real World: Go Big or Go Home.

I think production sees her as the new Nany — Kailah’s first season on Invasion was directly after Nany’s last. She’ll continue to be on the show, and she deserves to me more than several of the girls they keep bringing back. But chances are I’ll never like Kailah.

11. Nicole Z- Nicole continued to prove she’s one of the best female competitors that still comes on this show. She also showed that she can still sling that poon, as she once again got a girl way out her league in Melissa.

I’m probably in the minority but I’m a fan of Nicole — I think she’s hilarious. But I’d like to see her start bringing more to the table than getting in showmances. After Melissa went home, Nicole’s storylines pretty much disappeared. She’s a great competitor and I hope she continues to come back, but I’d like to see the player change up her game a bit next time.

10. Leroy- Leroy is one of my favorite Real World cast members of all time. But as much as it pains me to say this, I don’t know if there’s really any reason for Leroy to come back.

The only thing Leroy really does anymore is get mad whenever he’s thrown into elimination. If the troika had thrown Kyle into the final elimination instead of Leroy, there would have been almost nothing to mention about Leroy’s season other than him making the finals. But they did, and once again Leroy acted like an entitled vet.

Honestly, as crazy as it sounds, the biggest reason to bring Leroy back is that he’s a number for Bananas. This would have been ridiculous to say a few years ago, but Bananas doesn’t really have any other loyal allies at this point. Bringing back his number one lapdog might be in the best interest of the show, especially if Bananas has an early exit on Final Reckoning.

9. Nelson- Nelson continues to prove himself as one of the best competitors the show has brought on in recent years. It looked like he would have to claw his way like in Dirty 30 after he was pitted against Cory in the first elimination, but Nelson was only thrown in one more time, where he earned a draw against Darrell.

Nelson was eliminated in the dumbest fashion of anyone on Vendettas, randomly getting ousted for finishing last in the truck challenge. Not to put my tin foil hat on, but it’s hard to envision someone like Bananas or CT being sent off so unceremoniously.

Nelson formed an alliance with Devin on Vendettas. It’ll be interesting to see if Devin becomes a new member of the Young Buck alliance in the future, or if Nelson’s loyalty will always like with Cory over Devin.

I may be off base, but I feel like Nelson is corruptable. He’s had beefs with Tony and Bananas in the past, but I could see him joining up with one of them in the future. And I wouldn’t fault him for it — Nelson has been on the wrong side of the numbers the last couple of seasons. If you can’t beat them, sometimes you have to join them.

8. Natalie- Unlike Alicia, Natalie picked the right person to align with right off the bat. It paid off for her in the first half of the game, as she made the troika twice with Bananas on a girls elimination day and effectively got to choose who was going in. She made the troika a third time with Zach and Tony, and correctly chose not to cause waves by sending in Nelson despite having a friendship with him. Of course, at the very next elimination Natalie was sent in by Zach and Tony, where she was taken out by Kam.

Natalie had an impressive rookie season, both from a physical and political standpoint. Though she didn’t seem to have close ties with many of the girls in the house, she was the last rookie girl to have to go into an elimination. I’m not a big fan of Natalie as a character on the show — her personality seems fake to me and her voice is a combination of nails on a chalkboard and nails being hammered into my eardrums.

But I’d bet on Natalie to come back for several more seasons — she seems to know how to make herself relevant and get storylines. After all, she did learn from the best on Vendettas.

7. Brad (Comeback Player of the Year)- When it was announced that Brad would be returning to The Challenge after a 10-season absence, the question was what type of an impact the legend would have. Would he have an explosive re-emergence, similar to Wes on The Ruins or CT on Rivals?

Or would it be a ho-hum comeback like Veronica and Derrick on Dirty 30? I think it’s fair to say Brad landed somewhere in the middle.

After a prominent first few episodes that included copious amounts of coitus with Britini, plenty of crazy eyes and the greatest speech of all time regarding the respect of pizza consumption (thanks, Dad), Brad sort of disappeared.

Used to almost always being in a dominant alliance, Brad was a lone wolf on Vendettas and had to go into elimination three times. He proved that he is still a top-tier competitor, beating Victor and Frank before ultimately falling to Leroy in the janky final elimination.

I’ve always loved Brad, and I’m happy to have him back in my life. Whether he’s having a mid-life crisis like others have suggested or he’s just doing what makes him happy, I’m glad that he is once again a part of this franchise.

6. Cara Maria (Female Competitor of the Year)- Reunion aside, this was a pretty quiet season for Cara. She mostly stayed out of the drama, and instead stayed in bed fucking Kyle.

And the strategy paid off for her, as she stayed out of the ring for the entire season, reaching her sixth final and picking up her second win. Cara came into the season as the unquestionable top dog among the females, and though the competition wasn’t the fiercest she proved once again that she’s an elite competitor and easily top-10 of all time.

For whatever reason, it seems like Cara will always rub some of her castmates the wrong way, but unlike in the past it doesn’t really seem like she wants to get involved in the drama anymore. Cara Maria, the girl who had a meltdown and was eliminated on the first episode of Fresh Meat 2, is now one of just 12 women to have multiple wins, has the most finals appearance of any woman ever and is indisputably a Challenge Hall of Famer.

5. Kam- It says a lot about this rookie class that Kam isn’t the top ranked rookie on my list. The girl won three tough eliminations — taking out Tori, Ashley and Natalie. Of the women who have been coming on the show recently, it’s hard to see Killah Kam ever losing a physical elimination. Kam also seemed to be the leader of her alliance, rallying Kailah and Marie to her side.

After a slow start in bringing in cast members from Are You the One, it’s safe to say that experiment was a success. With Devin, Nelson, Hunter, Amanda, Dario, Tori, Britni and now Kam, the Are You the Oners are slowly starting to take over the game. Now if we could just convince icon Nate Siebebmark to come back.

4. Kyle (Rookie of the Year)- Despite being a rookie, Kyle navigated the social game like a seasoned vet. He had to go back on his word and throw in Cory into the first elimination, but he was able to settle into the Tony/Zach/Bananas/Leroy alliance and sneak into the finals without ever seeing an elimination.

Of course, it helped that he was seen as one of the weakest guys in the house, but Kyle proved he was a solid competitor despite consuming enough alcohol to intoxicate a whale.

For someone who has a worse hairline than Lebron James, Kyle had no trouble picking up women in his rookie season. He made out with Marie and Nicole, and was in a season-long showmance with Cara.

Kyle is hilarious, a smart strategic player and has heart. I can’t wait to see him on future seasons.

3. Devin (Shit Stirrer of the Year)- Another young star blossomed on Vendettas, as Devin built off a strong rookie season on Rivals III and shrugged off a brief stint on Dirty 30.

The entire season built toward a Devin vs. Bananas showdown, and Devin got his wish when Tony threw Johnny into the ring.

Devin capitalized on getting a memory elimination (the only way the elimination would have been more tailor made for him is if it were a competition to see who could yell “Let’s go” the most), and he knocked out the six-time champ.

Devin continued his role as shit stirrer, telling Nelson that Kayleigh had hooked up with Bananas, which sent the entire house into disarray. He called out Natalie for being fake, and he genuinely seemed like he was able to get under Bananas’ skin. But like Tony, I think the question has to be asked: Is he a good enough competitor to really be a star?

Devin said he was in the best shape of his life coming into Vendettas, yet he couldn’t beat a drunken Irishman (or Brit, or whatever Kyle is) in a race and was sent home. Devin lasted as long as he did on Vendettas because he was seen as a layup.

He rarely had allies in the troika, and if Bananas had truly viewed Devin as a threat he could have sent him into the ring against Nelson or Brad, where he would have been the heavy underdog (even though I couldn’t see him being worse than Nelson in the soccer elimination).

Devin is an important person to have on the show because it always needs someone who’s willing to go toe to toe against Bananas. But he’s still probably the worst competitor of any guy who consistently comes on the show, so there’s always a chance that he has early exits in future seasons, which is what happened to him on Dirty 30.

It’s fair to call Devin a new star of the show, but he’ll have to improve as a competitor to remain a star.

2. Bananas- I can already hear you complaining for putting Bananas this high. He didn’t even finish in the top half of the guys, he hasn’t made a final in four seasons, he lost to freaking Devin. I get it.

But in terms of overall impact of the season, I just can’t see much of an argument for anyone else to be ahead of him.

After quiet seasons on Invasions and Dirty 30, Johnny (along with Tony) owned the first 10 episodes of Vendettas. He got in a showmance with Natalie, he concocted the note prank that drove a wedge between the girls, he had his feud with Devin and he was in the troika four times.

Bananas is at an interesting point in his career. Other than Leroy, he really has no other loyal allies left. Sure, CT and Zach will work with him up to a certain point, and his relationship with Tony will probably be repaired at some point.

But it seems like Vendettas was a shift in how he is perceived. Maybe after losing to Devin, the rest of the house won’t be afraid to go against him anymore. His numbers have dwindled so much that I could see someone like Derrick or even Mark Long coming back just so that Bananas has another number in his pocket.

Bananas still has the most wins of all time, and it’s hard to see anyone ever surpassing his record. What’s less certain is whether he’ll ever get a seventh victory.

1. Tony (MVP)- There was never any doubt Tony had the personality to be a star on The Challenge, but the question was always if he was a good enough competitor to truly become one of the faces of the franchise.

In a stacked cast of males, Tony was able to hold his own, as Tony Two Kids became Tony Troika. Though he sometimes made the troika for reasons other than performance, he dominated the Gasping for Air challenge, won the Outside the Box mission for the males and his performance in Food Wars was arguably the highlight of the season.

But Tony was the MVP of the season for his cutthroat political game. After throwing in Bananas against Devin, he and Zach flat out broke agreements with Britni and Natalie by sending them into elimination. Luckily for him, the moves never came back to bite him, as all three were eliminated.

But after all his backstabbing, he finished in sixth place (fourth among the guys).

Tony played one of the most devious games in the history of The Challenge.

He played almost as if it were his last season and he wouldn’t have to deal with the repercussions in future seasons.

But of course, he will be back.

I’ll make a cross-show compassion, and a cross-Tony comparison. Tony’s Vendettas game reminded me a bit of Tony Vlachos’ game in Survivor: Cagayan. Vlachos turned on nearly every ally he had to win Survivor. It was a not a repeatable style to play the game — when he came back in Survivor: Game Changers, he was voted out second.

It’s hard to see how Tony doesn’t have a massive target on his back the next time he comes back. It seems like he’s not planning on changing the way he plays the game — in just one episode of Champs vs. Stars he pissed off Arian Foster and Casper Smart.

This was clearly the best version of Tony we’ve ever seen — he wasn’t a drunken mess (at least from what we saw on the show), he was in the best shape of his career and he was at his most entertaining.

The Challenge has sorely needed a new male star for years, as the triumvirate of Bananas, CT and Wes have dominated for years.

When Tony called himself the Scottie Pippen to Bananas’ Michael Jordan, it seemed like a ridiculous comparison.

But while Tony will likely never be on Bananas’ level as a competitor, Vendettas proved that he could be the future of The Challenge.