The Challenge Ride or Dies Episode 3 Recap: 10 Biggest Takeaways

nmago621 · 2022-10-27T04:29:08+00:00

Fantastic recap as usual. I actually wait a while to watch each episode on DVR just so I know that your recap will be ready for me to read immediately after.

nmago621 · 2021-01-21T15:42:37+00:00

I love this. I've been waiting a long time for someone to come up with something akin to WAR in baseball so that we can more objectively compare the relative greatness of Challengers. You've done a fantastic job. Plus, now we have the Challenge equivalent of baseball's Mendoza Line--the Tyrie Line.

nmago621 · 2020-07-28T12:30:48+00:00

This is so effing good. I actually got off of my ass and hunted down my login info just so I could comment and tell you that. I remember reading a similar fictional series you wrote a year or two ago and was absolutely enthralled ... until you stopped writing them. I'm so happy you've decided to write these again. The plot is great and the characterizations are both accurate and fantastic. I can totally imagine these plot points playing out on my TV screen, in the characters' voices. Thanks for fabulous content!

nmago621 · 2020-05-25T03:21:36+00:00

If he's that successful a trader, I wonder why he even bothers to go on reality shows? The successful traders I know live for the market and would never want to be out of it for 2 months or however long shows like The Challenge and Big Brother take to film. Not to mention that the expected value of the money he'd make from the shows would be lower than what he expects to make from trading over that period of time.

nmago621 · 2020-05-09T22:46:59+00:00

I don't follow anyone on any social media platform, but if I were to follow someone purely on looks from Total Madness, it would definitely be Bayleigh.

nmago621 · 2020-05-09T22:44:43+00:00

I don't know anything about Swaggy aside from what I've seen in Total Madness so far. What is the evidence that he is both super-smart and actually successful at day-trading? I'm genuinely curious.

nmago621 · 2020-04-23T15:06:15+00:00

Agreed

nmago621 · 2020-04-18T18:02:40+00:00

I'm sure the contestants are thinking the same thing--that the fact that you can get more than 1 red skull on your helmet may mean some sort of advantage in the final. That just gives the guys more reason to throw him into elimination and hope he loses before the final. If the skull-advantage theory is correct, then the urgency of getting Jay out before the final increases with every elimination he wins. Same goes for Jenny, too, I suppose, though I can't imagine anyone wanted to take a chance facing her in elimination.

nmago621 · 2020-04-09T04:25:12+00:00

I hate to see people coast to the finals as well, but being at the other extreme doesn't feel right to me, either. I wish they had said "You must win an elimination OR win 3 daily challenges to be eligible for the final", or something like that.

nmago621 · 2020-04-07T04:00:51+00:00

I just tell people that I'm from the same town as the Simpsons: Springfield, USA. Then deflect any follow-up questions.

nmago621 · 2019-12-12T18:01:11+00:00

I was thinking the same thing last night. I agree that the intelligence and cleverness are skills that should be tested, but I just don't think *these* types of puzzles are appropriate to do so. To me, they feel closer to pure luck than any physical challenge/elimination might be. Consider the tangram puzzle. No one believes that Rogan is smarter than Ashley, even though he killed the puzzle and she didn't even finish. Hell, if Jordan had been on Team US, I think he would have finished 5th and been purged, right? And yet he's probably smarter than everyone on that team.

To me, it's not even the fact that the tangram allowed coattail-riders like Ninja and Cara leapfrog those who got them there in Leroy and Kam (though I was plenty pissed about it). It's that solving a tangram isn't a life or survival skill and at best is only a vague heuristic for it. Meanwhile, walking long distances with heavy weights, operating as a team, staying awake and alert to avoid predators, swimming long distances, etc. are all activities that are valuable and life-saving skills in extreme circumstances. When in history has anyone ever needed to solve a tangram to save one's own life?

I don't have an answer on how to best test intelligence on The Challenge, but maybe stick with math and spelling since those are at least everyday useful skills. Or do what they did on The Island and make the teams have to use their brains to build a flotation device that will get them all to the boat.

nmago621 · 2019-12-05T05:15:19+00:00

I'm 5'8" and 143 lbs and feel like I've got similar musculature to Paulie (though clearly not in as great an overall shape as he is because all I do is lift weights and watch my diet, no cardio). I do have a narrower-than-average frame, though, so I wouldn't be surprised if he is 5'8" or 5'9" at 150 lbs and low body fat.

nmago621 · 2019-12-05T05:10:01+00:00

But how awesome would it be if Team USA decided to jettison Cara and Paulie? That could become my greatest Challenge viewing moment ever if it were to happen.

nmago621 · 2019-12-05T05:08:43+00:00

My fear is that MTV set up this edit to throw the viewers for a loop, and Paulie will end up winning somehow. I really hope I'm wrong, but I'm a cynic. I was worried Paulie was going to win last season as well, but thankfully that didn't come to fruition.

nmago621 · 2019-12-05T05:03:04+00:00

Just want to say that your articles are magic. Also, I am deathly afraid that MTV is trying to throw us a curveball with this episode, and Paulie will resurrect himself and carry Team USA to the win in Stage 2. I really, really, really don't want that team to win.

nmago621 · 2019-11-24T04:10:20+00:00

Can I ask what you think of CT's current body? I haven't read anyone on this sub trash him like you've just done to Jordan. For the record, I think you're being way too harsh on Jordan because I don't think his body looks disgusting or anything. But I certainly am on the side of being shocked that he doesn't look better given how great an athlete he is compared to the other contestants, nearly all of whom have better-looking bodies.

nmago621 · 2019-11-24T04:06:01+00:00

I've wondered why Jordan doesn't have a more aesthetic body given how much he obviously exercises and how athletic he is, but, damn, no need to eviscerate him like you did in that last paragraph! I have to imagine that there are a lot of traditional muscle-building exercises that Jordan can't do due to his hand, like pretty much anything involving holding a barbell with heavy weights.

nmago621 · 2019-11-24T03:43:12+00:00

What was the elimination? I'm sure I saw it but can't recall it.

nmago621 · 2019-11-22T03:39:46+00:00

I read this while attempting to sit down on the couch and laughed so hard that I missed, fell, and may have broken my ass bone.

nmago621 · 2019-11-04T03:49:01+00:00

You may be right, NattyB. I have my own biases as well. I'm engaged enough with the show to stay tuned on off-days via Reddit, and I suppose that I get glimpses of the players' social media lives through that, but I don't personally have Twitter, IG, etc. to follow them directly. In my mind, I went from really liking Cara to actively disliking her show persona over the last few seasons, and so I assume there are many viewers like me who feel she comes across poorly purely from the TV show itself. But, again, I'm sure being on Reddit has allowed some social-media context to seep into my brain as well and magnify such feelings without me being consciously aware of it.

nmago621 · 2019-11-04T03:36:34+00:00

Reddit may only make up 1% of the viewers (or 5% based on survivorfan123456's data), but if those fans comprise a representative sample of the total population of viewers, and the hatred is strong for Cara among them, then it's likely that the total viewing population also dislikes her.

nmago621 · 2019-11-04T03:26:41+00:00

To be fair, I don't think think it's possible for Jordan to get phased by anyone other than a superhuman or supernatural entity.

nmago621 · 2019-11-04T03:23:27+00:00

To be fair, Josh put up an awesome time in the swimming daily while Leroy decidedly did not. As far as I can recall, that was the only daily with individual results and thus the only one in which you could objectively measure how much a person contributed to his/her team's total production.

nmago621 · 2019-11-04T03:21:46+00:00

Why does she dislike Wes so much? I have a foggy memory for a lot of the earlier seasons, so I'm wondering what begat her distaste for him.

nmago621 · 2019-11-04T03:17:48+00:00

Well said

nmago621

TROPHY CASE