The Challenge 36 Double Agents Midseason Grade & Awards
Now that we are almost halfway through this season of the challenge, Double Agents, I think it is an appropriate point for a midseason review including a midseason grade and awards.
Season grade (as of Episode9): B-
This season has been good so far despite having some clear flaws some they could control while others like the number of challengers leaving outside of The Crater and COVID restrictions were out of production’s hands.
As the preseason began and the cast was released for Double Agents I was not sure how to feel particularly because of how lackluster War of the Worlds 2 and Total Madness were. I had concerns with the return of the red/gold “skulls twist” and how it created stagnant gameplay last season. In Total Madness players were regularly able to go into eliminations against who they wanted to when they wanted to and the consequences was that political play was limited.
The choice to limit the number of skulls in Double Agents to 5 per gender was a great decision. This gave viewers and the contestants more clear information. For viewers it has made the season easier to follow and for the challengers providing more information is better for them when making decisions within the game. When cast members have more information they are able to make more strategic moves and these usually result in more drama.
An additional concern I had leading up to this season was the cast. During the “offseason” we heard about the (alleged*/confirmed) banning of several cast members (Dee Nguyen, Mattie Lynn Breaux, Stephen Bear, Jordan Wisely*, Rogan O’Connor*) some are permanently banned while others for a few seasons similar to what production did when Cory, Kailah and Melissa were ejected for violence. Numerous of these potentially banned contestants have been regulars for the past few seasons and I had concerns the cast would not have the right mix of character types to keep the audience entertained.
I was encouraged to see the return of fan favorite veterans like Theresa and Darrell as well as what appeared to be a strong crop of rookie competitors headlined by Nam, Lio, Natalie and Lolo. But with some people banned and mainstays like Johnny Bananas and CaraMaria missing it was not a sure thing. To this point, the cast has been adequate but not incredible and evens out to be a neutral for Double Agents.
A strength for this season has been the eliminations. Leroy killing “fire escape” was incredible to watch and reaffirms that he is ready to finally take one of these home. Fessy’s betrayal of Nelson was a great moment of villainy leading to Nelson getting knocked out in a hall brawl again for a second straight season. Aneesa proved there is still fight in her by upsetting an overconfident Tori, who has now lost eliminations twice in a row when she was the heavy favorite. Finally, Josh looked possibly as bad as someone has ever looked while winning an elimination was amazing, it is something I see myself looking back and laughing at for years to come.
Another positive this season has been the storytelling. The storyline of CT regretting not teaming up with Kam has been a good one that the show has followed. Theresa making the power move throwing in Kam against Ashley was great to watch especially with showing how messy moves have consequences falling on both her this episode and Jay.
The fallout from Fessy making a move to betray Nelson was great to watch. Devin has been a good antagonist throughout the season happy to make moves like screwing his own partner in Tori and get into fights with Josh and the rest of the Big Brother Alliance.
Following the disarray of the Nam and Lolo partnership has been very fun starting with them having the hots for eachother and now we are at the point where I am dumbfounded by two people who are both this physically intimidating failing to win a single challenge or really even come that close.
What hasn’t been the best this season has been the daily challenges. Ice Spy, Drone Control and Aerial Takedown were all bad. Watching people waiting around to be told what to do and who to let win in Ice Spy was boring and simply became a popularity contest. Drone Control was a mess first because watching people fly drones is not at all exciting and when a single team completes the challenge challenge it should have been better thought out. Aerial takedown was a missed opportunity both because the men didn’t participate and because the show went for style over substance with a helicopter instead of having them attached to a fixed point where people would have been more able to pull eachother off not just hang on for dear life.
Interrogation was decent because seeing TJ at wrong answers is great. However making the questions true or false makes it way less likely to get the really funny wrong answers and having them not all compete at once lead it to come down to a seemingly arbitrary tiebreaker. Roadkill was also disappointing since it came down to times instead of being tournament style and since it caused 2 injuries eliminating competitors outside of the Crater.
All Brawl was a missed opportunity due to the rules changing each round instead of committing to one good idea. Agent Down was a good concept however the fact that some of the women were tall enough that they could wedge their feet in to support themselves when others could not was wildly unfair. A hit rate of 2 out of 9 challenges is not good.
Another weak point of thus far has been the amount of cast members who you practically forget are on the show. Not everyone needs to be a start but still. Out of the girls Nicole, Liv, Kaycee, Gabby, and Amber B have gotten very few confessionals and screen time. Nicole got injured early and is hard to understand owing to her accent so that makes some sense. Liv was also pulled for injury and overshadowed by her alliancee member Big T. I don’t know how Kaycee keeps getting cast though she is so boring. I know she is a good competitor but I’d rather watch paint dry. Gabby and Amber B’s visibility has spiked recently with their feud but we saw nearly nothing beforehand.
This problem has not been limited to the ladies since for the men Lio, Leroy, Mechie, Nam and Darrell have had really limited visibility. Mechie and Lio were both rookies and it is not necessary for them to be stars but I was hopeful they would provide more. Darrell has great one liners but he keeps his head down and rarely makes waves in the game. Leroy has his moments but is best as a second banana to Johnny and others. Nam has had some storylines mostly centered on his team turmoil with Lolo but not much else. Having a third of the cast being invisible isn’t great.
Midseason Awards:
MidSeason MVP:
“Killa” Kam Williams
HM: Big T, Leroy, Devin
Kam has been one of the main narrators throughout the season. She has gotten people that she wanted out, made strong alliances and is one of the strongest competitors in the house.
Rookie of the season:
Nam Vo
HM: Amber M, Natalie Anderson
The rookies this season have been pretty weak even though Nam has disappeared for stretches of the season he has still had some strong challenge performances and has been somebody you can root for.
Most Surprising Challenger:
Kyle Christie
HM: Devin, Amber B
Kyle has been on six straight seasons and generally is considered by some to be one of the weaker men but again this seasonhe has been doing well in the daily challenges and he demolished an elimination (I know it was against arguably the weakest guy but a win is still a win especially when it wasn’t close)
Most Disappointing Challenger:
Tori Deal
People have considered Tori one of the best women on the challenge but she has really disappointed. She went out early for a second straight season and didn’t look great losing to Aneesa. Also she came across as pretty unlikable with how she treated Big T and the rookie girls.
HM: Wes Bergmann, Nicole Zanatta, Ashley Mitchell
Best Daily Challenge:
Smuggle Run
HM: Mission Decryption, All Brawl, Agent Down
Mini finals are usually really good. This one was particularly strong with the lead changing several times and being close all the way to the finish line. Additionally having the drama between teams like Nam & Lolo and Aneesa & Fessy was entertaining.
Best Elimination:
Fire Escape (Leroy vs Jay)
HM: Asset Destruction (Josh vs Mechie) for the pure comedy, Hall Brawl (Nelson vs Fessy)
Jay is a rock climber through that he has strong grip strength and good body control. Against most people this would be the kind of elimination he would be glad to see however Leroy is not most people. Long term fans will remember how Leroy killed a similar elimination in Battle of the Exes 2 but watching him this time taking on Jay took things to another level. It was one of the most incredible performances ever in an elimination.
Best Fight:
Devin vs Josh episode 3
HM: Cory vs Fessy episode 5, Amber M vs Devin episode 4
Devin shouting 4th grade multiplication tables at Josh was instantly iconic. As well as shouting Big Brother sucks and inadvertently echoing the feelings of most big brother fans as of late. Both Devin and Josh are hotheads and it’s not surprising to see them go at it but still the entertainment was there.
Best Hook-up:
Nam & Lolo
HM: Fessy & Tori (disputed), Fessy & Gabby
The hook-ups haven’t been standing out this season. I guess it’s Nam and Lolo. They started out with being two very attractive people both liking eachother and mostly likable but has devolved into a messy partnership and not so fun.
