One and Done or Second Chance for the rookies of The Challenge: Spies, Lies and Allies
For Double Agents I also broke down all of the rookies saying who I thought should be one and done with The Challenge and who MTV should bring back. With only three rookies remaining in the game I figured it was a good time to do the same for Spies, Lies & Allies.
For a couple of reasons I choose to be a bit more generous about how many of these rookies I think should get a second chance since I feel that the show really needs to expand the core cast of veterans. First, the show has felt very repetitive to me the past three seasons in particular with the majority of the veteran cast being on all three. Secondly the show needs them since several of the long term stars like CaraMaria, Johnny Bananas, Leroy, Zach & Jenna retired or at least stepped away from the show and many people the show seemed to be building around for the future are now (formally or allegedly) banned like Bear, Dee, Mattie, Georgia (maybe)& Turbo(maybe), had a freak accident like Theo or have seemingly fallen out of favor like Rogan, Ninja & Paulie. With that in mind lets dive in with
Renan-
Being the rookie first boot is not ideal but it is also not always a death sentence for someone’s chances to be brought back (look at Johnny Bananas, CaraMaria or more recently Rogan). However I will be honest I barely remember anything about Renan. He was simply not ready for the kind of show that The Challenge is apparently thinking that it was more similar to a dating show. From the little we got it seems like he was a nice guy and did well in the first daily challenge but he got absolutely destroyed in the elimination by Corey and Renan did not make up for that by being entertaining.
Decision: One & Done
Michaela-
Michaela was somebody I was really looking forward to coming into the season knowing her from survivor but unfortunately she got knocked out episode one. During that one episode though she did not disappoint. Michaela was a part of the drama with “the list” which completely blew up and became the focus of the first deliberation with her turning on her fellow survivor rookie Michelle. Michaela also showed herself to be strong physically finishing second during the first daily challenge and holding her own in the elimination where it was very clear that she would have beat Michelle one on one and that Renan was the weak link against Corey.
Decision: Second Chance
Tracy-
There were a couple of rookies this season who really seemed like they did not know what they were getting themselves into and Tracy was one of them. She appears to be a pretty nice girl but she was really not a strong competitor and majorly panicked during the elimination. I think Tracy was probably physically the weakest woman (at best in the bottom two with Lauren) and did not show herself to bring anything else across her two episodes. She did not get in any drama, was not in a showmance and did not bring entertainment by being good for confessionals or super messy in the house.
Decision: One and Done
Kelz-
Although he was only in the first two episodes I thought Kelz showed a lot of promise to be someone who can be entertaining and a strong competitor. He is an athletic beast and is one of the few guys that looks like he could compete against a CT or Fessy in something like a hall brawl. While there Kelz was a big flirt with Tori and he has the potential for a future showmance if he were brought back. He also didn’t back down from drama calling Josh out for being. full of shit in the deliberation and I expect he would not take other people’s BS either. I am not overly confident MTV will bring Kelz back with him being an early boot and the sheer number of rookies from this season but I would be happy to see him back.
Decision: Second Chance
Lauren-
The Challenge has found some success this far casting from Love Island UK and for this season brought in some people from the US version. Lauren was one of those people and ended up being barely even on the season. The rumor is that she said something racially insensitive about Aneesa and was therefore deactivated. Nobody has come out to officially confirm that was what happened but she was edited out of this season. Considering that situation and that it does not look like she will be bringing much to the show physically either I severely doubt that she will ever be back.
Decision: One and Done
Tommy-
I am a big Survivor fan and discussed the types of players from Survivor I would like to see on The Challenge and although Tommy was a really good survivor player he definitely seemed out of place on The Challenge. Tommy is in good shape and performed pretty well in the daily challenges this season. He also seemed like he was really well liked in the challenge house. However Tommy is at a different place in his life than the majority of people on The Challenge, he is engaged and has a full career outside reality tv as an elementary school teacher.
Decision: One and Done
Tacha-
I knew absolutely nothing about Tacha prior to this season but she is apparently a big deal for people who watched her on Big Brother Nigeria and she has nearly 2 million Instagram followers. She was a bit quiet on this season but put up a really hard fight in the elimination and then gave us a great moment tearing into Tori for being two faced. I also really like how universal the show has become and her representation as an African woman matters. I’d be happy to have her back for another season but there were a lot of great women this season and she seems to have a lot going on outside reality tv so just barely and bracing for the hate from the Tacha stans…
Decision: One and Done
Corey-
Corey is somebody that I really enjoyed this season particularly since he was a strong competitor and entertaining. He was really great at throwing shade in confessionals and did not back down from a fight when people got in his face. He was also a really good competitor winning an elimination and doing well in several dailies. Another strength was that Corey was playing a pretty solid political game like with avoiding elimination in the second episode and talking with Fessy and in the deliberation to go against Hughie who he perceived as his best match up. Also he importantly brings great representation as a black gay man. He is a bit messy on twitter which I am happy to see like with Amanda. My only hesitation with Corey is that he got in that fight with Hughie in the elimination so that might hurt his chances since MTV has gotten a lot more strict about violence.
Decision: Second Chance
Michelle-
As I have talked about I am also a big survivor fan so I absolutely came in excited and with expectations for Michelle. I feel in like in this season where the rookies were all eliminated one after another she met those expectations. She was a strong physical competitor winning an elimination and doing well in all the daily challenges. Michelle was good entertainment with both her brief showmance with Emanuel and the implosion between her and Michaela. She played a good political game with Corey in the fourth episode she accepted that she was definitely going in the elimination and did her best to get her best match up. Michelle socially built some relationships with veterans by playing into the the veteran rhetoric of “earn your stripes.”
Decision: Second Chance
Gabo-
Gabo was in quite good shape but definitely proved to be somewhat lacking in the brain power department. One positive is that he was really well liked by his cast mates and had some funny moments this season. However I thought most of his humor was situational and more at his expense such as him misunderstanding the show or when he put cologne on going into an elimination. He seemingly had no clue what was going on in the game and The amount of references to Jersey Shore was quite excessive considering that it has been off the air for nearly a decade.
Decision: One and Done
Esther-
Esther really showed up this season both physically as she won two daily challenges and with the drama fighting with Amber notably and others. She was in a brief odd showmance with Josh that was interesting particularly since she got pulled into the middle of the Big Brother war between Josh & Amber and Kaycee & Fessy. She is on the edge for me right now as to whether or not bring her back but assuming that she is a good fit for example being paired with Amber for a Rivals season, or representing as a part of a team Africa/ Nigeria or paired with Josh on a future Exes.
Decision: Second Chance
Berna-
Berna is someone tough for me to evaluate considering I was not rooting for her this season but I do think she brought positives to the show. She is a quite strong competitor winning the elimination over Tacha and a daily challenge with CT. Berna also got embroiled in a bunch of drama first with Ashley because she was involved in a messy showmance with Nelson and later when she inserted herself in the drama with Amber and Esther. She was also really divisive with several of the other rookies not getting along with her and even CT activity wanted to get rid of her as a partner in spite of being a strong competitor. What it comes down to is does her competitive skills and the drama she brought outweigh her generally being disliked?
Decision: Second Chance
Hughie-
Hughie was definitely somebody I was pretty sure I wanted to see back up until recently with some really insensitive social media posts about race as recently as this summer and his incredibly lackluster “apology” for those. He was messy this season and a significantly better competitor than I initially thought keeping up well in competitions and even winning the elimination with Amber over Corey. He got in several fights throughout the season including the crazy instance of getting into it with Corey during the elimination. He sometimes felt like too much with his crying and making everything about him. Overall I would be cautious considering posting nasty things on social media has gotten other people not invited back so we will have to see how it potentially impacts Hughie’s chance’s at coming back but for now…
Decision: One and Done
Jeremiah-
Jeremiah was a complete snooze for most of the season though he was in a showmance and a bit more involved in his last two episodes where we were shown his relationship with Cory and he did perform well physically winning the elimination with Priscilla over Berna & Hughie and competing well in the elimination against Cory & Bettina. Another thing that is out of his control but did effect how much I enjoyed Jeremiah this season was that it was difficult to understand him the rare times when he was featured both due to his accent and how soft spoken he is. The only way I see him being brought back is if he is the only choice for an Ex in order to bring Amber back on a season of Exes but apart from that…
Decision: One and Done
Priscilla-
Unlike the majority of rookies this season Priscilla did not cave to the vets and took the shot to break up the vet alliance. In addition, she was a pretty strong competitor winning the elimination with Jeremiah and she was fine during the dailies.Priscilla was also pretty entertaining once MTV started giving her more screen time about halfway through this season. She also earned a lot of respect by making the move against the veteran alliance and if TJ has any sway it seems very likely we will see her back on The Challenge
Decision: Second Chance
Ed-
Ed is a good guy but he needs to play a more selfish game throwing himself down for Logan was incredibly dumb. He was a quite good competitor this season winning multiple daily challenges and an early elimination with Emy. Ed was also really hilarious in the house and gave some really goofy moments like where he was having a strategy talk with himself in the mirror & I often liked his confessionals. He also has the potential to be in future showmances which I always consider a positive for casting someone more. After watching him on The Circle I was not completely sold on him but now I do not understand why he ended up as an alternate compared with people like Jeremiah & Tommy.
Decision: Second Chance
Bettina-
Bettina was incredibly forgettable to me during the early part of the season with the most memorable thing about her across the first 8 episodes being her absurd laugh. She was noticeably more visible since then with a strong physical performance in the elimination with Cory over Amber & Jeremiah. Bettina also showed up more socially talking about her motivation growing up in a small town and wanting something bigger and her confusing pitch during the deliberation to stay over Priscilla. She also got in that drama with Emy which carried last episode for me. Even though she has been a bit more visible, This past episode. Bettina was terrible in both the daily challenge giving up and not helping her team mate and giving a pathetic performance in the elimination against Emy.
Decision: One and Done
Emy-
Emy has been an absolute star this season. She has done well in several daily challenges including a win and has now won three eliminations so far. She has gotten into blow ups with people all season like her fight with Bettina this past episode, her argument with Berna over CT or all the way back to blowing up the survivor players episode one by exposing “the list.” She has been chaotic at times freaking out in challenges but has been a lot of fun in confessionals. I have really enjoyed her personality a lot particularly since it has still felt genuine like with her calling them “Uncle CT” and “Mister TJ.” I think the show found an unexpected diamond in the rough with Emy this season and I would certainly expect to see more of her in the future.
Decision: Second Chance
Logan-
Logan has been a really good competitor this whole season winning two daily challenges and an elimination. He also has shown himself to be a really smart strategist by making the deal with Nelson & Ed to win the Bombshell Battle daily. Logan showed a strong understanding of where other players loyalties were when talking with Big T and showed that he knew the other player’s strengths while talking Ed through exactly how he should go about picking his opponent for the elimination (even if Ed didn’t listen). He had a showmance with Big T which I was behind until they ended that. I think he has earned another shot but he is lower on my priority list because he has definitely been wall paper at points this season.
Decision: Second Chance
Emanuel-
Emanuel has been one of the break out rookies this season and like his friend Emy brought a lot of fun with his quirky personality. He has socially done really well building bonds in the house letting him stay out of eliminations. He was in 2 different showmances first with Michelle and then with Tori. Emanuel has also proven himself to be one of the best competitors regularly being in the top few pairs with Kaycee and doing being one of the best competitors on the emerald team so far. If things go how I hope it looks like Romania will have two mainstays on The Challenge going forward.
Decision: Second Chance
