The Challenge: Seasons Synopsis

Just going to say that Invasion's format clearly is not the best format in the world but it is giving us some great elimination rounds and the season has one of the better casts in quite sometime. It is a season that is a step in the right direction.

Reading through the thread, great stuff dylan. I wanted to give some thoughts on the seasons that I've seen enough to judge. I want to rewatch Seasons 1 and The Gauntlet especially. Battle of the Sexes: I can see why this is the greatest challenge for many, it really gave us everything. It was fun, it was dramatic, and the cast was great. Plus that intro really kicked ***. The Inferno: Still my favorite challenge. Or at least will be in my top 3. Battle of the Sexes 2: Good challenge, but not great. The weakest season in the golden era, imo. Still very memorable though.Inferno 2: The season where I really became a true fan. Loved the concept and the teams. Great competition and drama. The Gauntlet 2: Didn't care much for this challenge then but it's aged very well and is the last true RW vs RR challenge so that makes it special.Fresh Meat: Hated the concept, but this season was actually pretty good and I even enjoyed it then. But at this point, the tone of the challenges were different.The Duel: Okay season. Had some memorable moments but I wouldn't say it was really good. I would have actually liked to see better competitors on the male side (Abe, Darrell, Landon, Timmy) to name a few. The Inferno 3: Okay season as well. I got pretty bored with this season after the first couple of episodes and I didn't like Susie and the season was very focused on her. The Gauntlet 3: So terrible. Not worthy of being rewatched. The finale and the reunion were good though. The Island: See Gauntlet 3 but no memorable episodes at all. The Duel 2: Watch the premiere episode and the shit they should have shown. And that's it. This shouldn't have even been considered a duel challenge either.The Ruins: Had a lot of potential with the comeback of Darrell, Wes, Veronica, Syrus, and Ibis but it fell flat. The drama was entertaining for a bit but this was the first challenge where it started to look like a miserable experience being on the challenges. Also a JEK win season so blehhh.Fresh Meat 2: The Kenny vs Wes show but it was so boring. Only saving grace was Landon winning it all. Was especially pissed off Darrell got booted so early.Cutthroat: Refreshing challenge and gave us fresh competitors to see. I can say it's top 3 in challenges post Gauntlet 2. Rivals: Interesting concept but it was just average. CT/Adam and Evan/Nehemiah was really the only true rivalry. Exes 1: Boring. Didn't even care for most of the Exes pairs.Seasons 2: Best season of that era because we got to see new competitors and they actually provided drama and a memorable season. San Diego 2 winning it all tainted it a bit though. Rivals 2: Was good in some parts, but mostly average. The rivalries were becoming really stretched though. Liked Jordan and Marlon as a team.Free Agents: Good concept but just average too. Like the Duel 1, could have benefited from better competition. Exes 2: Pretty good season. Focused mostly on game play and it was sad but nice seeing Diem and Knight one last time. Top 2 in this era of challenges, imo.Bloodlines: Pretty boring and we got no backstory on most of the Bloodlines so they were just background characters. Rivals 3: Awful. The competition was lacking, the players were uninteresting. I ended up hating mostly everyone this season.

The golden era of the challenge for me was BOTS1, Gauntlet 1, Inferno 1, BOTS2, and Inferno 2.  

BOTS1-GREAT SEASON!!!!

Gauntlet 1 & Inferno were great! 

I thought Battle of the Sexes 2 was a GREAT season. Great drama, good storylines, (the missions were fair in some instances), and the casting was great. The cast was a variation of veterans, regulars, and fresh faces. 

Inferno 2 & Gauntlet 2 were great seasons IMO because it carried over past drama from previous seasons, like how Inferno had unresolved issues from Gauntlet 1. I

The golden era of the challenge for me was BOTS1-BOTS2.

FreshMeat I thought had an ok concept, would have been better if they had the freshmeat vs alumni; The Duel 1 was a new concept, I liked. oversaturated with the Freshmeat cast IMO. I think they should have worked harder in getting more veteran girls and boys. 

Just going to say that Invasion's format clearly is not the best format in the world but it is giving us some great elimination rounds and the season has one of the better casts in quite sometime. It is a season that is a step in the right direction.

yeah, i agree. Production could have done a better job of casting more champions. 

I dont think they could get more female champions though. I think they had very few to choose from which is a big issue this season. Because when I think of dominating female champions, Cryer maria, meek camilly, and ashley k are not that. Same with Zach.

I dont think they could get more female champions though. I think they had very few to choose from which is a big issue this season. Because when I think of dominating female champions, Cryer maria, meek camilly, and ashley k are not that. Same with Zach.

rachel, sara, susie,?

Diamonds are Forever wrote:

I dont think they could get more female champions though. I think they had very few to choose from which is a big issue this season. Because when I think of dominating female champions, Cryer maria, meek camilly, and ashley k are not that. Same with Zach.

rachel, sara, susie,?

sara and susie are done with the show and rachel is busy running her own gym i think

The Invasion format is pretty wonky, but expect a high grade for this season regardless.  I've loved it so far.

Invasion has been great. It's the best season since Exes 2 honestly.

Yeah this season is fantastic. It could have been perfect if it had a good format

great cast goes a long way

Rachel would come back in a second if given the chance. Sounds like Ibis and a few others would as well. These are the girls they wanted. They should have bumped Zach for Derrick but we were luck y to even get Darrell

Lol Ibis

❤️❤️❤️ Ibis

Invasion

Newcomers abound with the much-anticipated debuts of Sylvia, Bruno & Nicole from the Skeletons crew, troublemaker Kailah from Go Big/Go Home & Theo & Anika representing the Bad Blood.  A much-needed shot of creativity & fun is injected with this refreshing entry that brings back long-lost favorites Shane & Darrell along with a clever new concept that finds the non-winners battling their way out of a beachfront slum called The Shelter for a spot in the comfy Oasis. The “underdogs” think they’re simply fighting other hungry newbies for the prize, but early on, a squad of hulking, cocky “champs” enter the fray & aim to teach the youngsters a lesson.  Kailah’s sassiness rubs the underdogs the wrong way, but she manages to charm Cory into her pee-soaked bed on more than one occasion before he moves on to Camila.  Ashley M. finds time to cozy up with Hunter while not neglecting her usual freak-out-at nothing responsibilities.  Marie’s long awaited return is cut tragically short when Kailah steamrolls past her in the first elimination.  Nicole involves herself in a sticky situation & she flirts shamelessly with newfound lesbians Cara Maria & Laurel simultaneously.  Jenna’s lucky streak ends when she is mercifully sent home pre-finals.  Shane, Ashley, Sylvia & Amanda form a new millennium Mean Girls.  Diem is given a special tribute on the anniversary of her death.  CT is in full dad-mode as he dishes out sage advice & steers clear of any drama on his way to his second victory.  Ashely wins for the females, making the quickest ascension from rookie to champ in quite some time.  Low Points-A topsy-turvy format that seems to change week to week makes for a confusing set up & lopsided teams.  An overabundance of  “to be continued…” episode conclusions are unnecessary & useless.  A 3-day final sounds fine, but to drag it out over 3 episodes is dullsville.  Camila once again gets drunk, yells in people’s faces, looks disgusting & makes a fool out of herself in a tiresome cycle that Never.  Seems.  To.  End.  High Points-Shane returns with tenacity, determination & a newfound feistiness that makes him this season’s MVP.  CT’s evolution from wild child to responsible adult is genuinely touching. Historical Moment-Laurel’s 9-0 elimination streak is finally broken when Camila defeats her in a grueling elimination before the finals.                                                                                                                                                 B+

Thanks for the grades, Dylan. I totally agree. This season was pretty good, considering the show looked like it was reaching its deathbed after Rivals 3. The cast is what made it really good for me, especially with the return of Shane and Darrell and bringing in actual RWers as rookies. The format did hold it back from being a great season and some tired storylines like Camilanator, Zach/Jenna. But the challenges seem to have life and substance to them again. The eliminations this season were great too minus some duds like the Theo/Anika elimination. 

Also this was the first season for me since Fresh Meat 2 when Landon and Carley won that I have been 100% satisfied with the Challenge winners.

I think it would have gotten an A- if  either camila had been eliminated  early on' Shane & Amanda had made the finals, the finals didn't drag on or maybe if Marie & Bruno lasted longer.  Totally happy with the winners though  myself.

I really liked the daily missions on this season. They were simple for the most part and not over the top. Similar to how they were on older challenges. 

I really liked the daily missions on this season. They were simple for the most part and not over the top. Similar to how they were on older challenges. 

The underdog eliminations were great too.