I am intrigued. I think that’s the best word to use for how I feel about the upcoming season of the Challenge. It’s a testament to the creative people at MTV for creating a trailer that includes a lot of unbleeped cursing and naming the season “Cutthroat.” Immediately, questions start running through my brain. Why did the first trailer released contain lots of profanity, and why wasn’t it bleeped? Why is the show called Cutthroat and not simply a sequel of other Challenges, such as The Gauntlet 4? Why have there now been two clips with no actual footage shown? And why is this taking place in Prague, a populated tourist city, instead of some remote tropical location?
Are you intrigued yet?
No one knows the format, which could be awesome or awful. It seems they are going back to the Male/Female formula, which I love. Two winners, one male and one female. At least I think that’s how they are doing it. I could be way off. If it is so, I love it because you really have to earn the win on this one. It won’t be one of these final challenges where 10 people wind up winning. That format has single handedly skewed some research I am doing. The format could wind up being awful, however. Remember the Island? They kept changing the rules of the game to inject some drama in the season. If I was a contestant, I would have been supremely pissed.
But ultimately, this will come down to the talent the producers have assembled, and that is where I am getting worried. I don’t think the talent was that great on the last Challenge, Fresh Meat 2. It was pretty much the Kenny and Wes show. On the male side, the only two real alpha male rabble rousers are Abram and Johnny. And Abram is really just Wes-light. Surprisingly, the female side may have the real drama starters with Tori, Laurel, Katie, Jenn, Melinda, and newcomer Ayiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiia. But enough generalities, let’s get into some specifics here:
The Male Side:
This may go down as the least athletic male Challenge season ever. We have Abram, Derrick, Brad, Johnny, and Vinny has proven beasts in the Challenge. Ty is a rookie but physically seems to be imposing. Plus, get him drunk and he might hit a woman. Should he and Johnny “Domestic Violence” be on the same show together? Hopefully, the women will be separated by a fence or something.
Then there is a huge drop off from Ty onwards. Dunbar is awful at the Challenges, and Dan is a drunk. Brandon is not strong, just husky. And then it really gets bad. Tyler is a good swimmer and runner, which is helpful. But he does not do well in these Challenges and physically is nowhere near as strong as the other top tier male competitors. Eric “Big Easy” is a fat mess and is only a threat because he’s too fat to push out of a circle or drag across the sand. So he probably won’t be called into a man to man elimination challenge. Unless it’s running or breathing comfortably. J.D. is an iffy one. He could be athletic like Tyler or a complete dud like the rest of the guys. Ah, the rest of the guys. Has there been a worse bottom 3 in the history of the show? Derek from Cancun is a very little guy who doesn’t seem to have an athletic bone in his body. Chet from Brooklyn was on a Challenge before, and was about as good as you’d expect a purple shirt and Buddy-Holly glasses wearing, Mormon who weighs 120 pounds soaking wet. And then there is Luke, the little engine that doesn’t really care so long as there is weed. This is just awful. You should not have more than 1 guy who could legitimate get beat on a Challenge by a female, let alone potentially 5. To further illustrate how bad this male lineup is, here is the male competitors on The Gauntlet 3 stacked up against the upcoming cast (order based on how good I think they are.
Cutthroat: Gauntlet 3:
Derrick (RR: X-Treme) Evan (Fresh Meat)
Abram (South Pacific) Frank (Las Vegas)
Johnny (Key West) CT (Paris)
Brad (RW: San Diego) Kenny (Fresh Meat)
Vinny (Fresh Meat 2) Johnny (Key West)
Ty (DC) Brad (San Diego)
Dunbar (Sydney) MJ (Philadelphia)
Tyler (Key West) Nehemiah (Austin)
Eric (Fresh Meat) Derek (Viewer’s Revenge)
Dan (Viewer’s Revenge) Danny (Austin)
Brandon (Fresh Meat 2) Tyler (Key West)
J.D. (Brooklyn) Eric (Fresh Meat)
Luke (Fresh Meat 2) Ryan (Fresh Meat)
Derek (Cancun) Zach (Key West)
Chett (Brooklyn) Adam (Paris)
Alex (Denver)
It’s not even close here. Top to bottom the Gauntlet 3 had better competitors. I mean, Evan, Frank, CT, Kenny, Johnny, and Brad?!!! Good lord that’s a good lineup.
The only chance we have of this season being redeemable is if the personalities of the male competitors come into play. We know Johnny and Abram will cause some drama as they vie for Alpha Dog status. And anytime Dunbar enters the mix, you know he has the chance to act really psychotic. Tyler loves to stir up drama, as long as he can stay in the game long enough. But again, I think the problem is there are not enough big personalities on the male side. Vinnie, Eric, Dan, Brandon, JD, and especially Luke are not likely to stir up trouble for the Alpha Dogs (although, if you remember my gripes about alliance building in Fresh Meat 2, all of those guys should form an alliance right away).
Now, all this could wind up being moot because of the ever present X-factor: alcohol. Alcohol has been proven to bring out the animal in a lot of people on this season’s show. So while Chett and JD seem like cool mellow guys, adding alcohol could end up with one of them in the hospital. You just never know.
Coming up later today…The Female Side. This could be the headliner.
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