(Not) Killing Them Softly

I've figured out why the Champions win and the Challengers don't. Aside from physical mismatches, a distinct lack of teamwork, and just general suckiness, the Challengers are missing a crucial ingredient: None of them have taken the "all's fair in love and war" ethos to heart. Instead they are all nice people and would rather "do the right thing" than win. How do I know this? Because Casey is still on the team. Brad finally got upset this week about Casey's underperformances but really, it's been a long time coming.

The Challengers haven't been cutthroat enough to eliminate Casey because they're too nice. Brad should have led the charge to dump Casey much earlier, but he's not exactly the brightest tool in the shed and can't strategize worth shit (as evidenced by him looking at the board and getting all confused and bothered by the five permutations). That's actually another problem with the Challengers, they lack a leader. I haven't been able to figure out how Evan and Kenny are running this game but I realized during this week's episode that sometimes people just like being told what to do.

Kenny and Evan say to their followers: "We'll protect you" and "In exchange, you do this..." Of course, both are willing to betray just about anyone else on their way to the top, but nobody really raises a finger. It's ridiculous that they've never even been close to entering the Ruins. But sometimes people would rather be led around than try to strategize for themselves.

For example, Susie and Johanna were prime targets for an infiltration by the Challengers. Both of them would rather face Casey and stick around rather than facing Kelly Anne (or Sarah, to a lesser extent). There was even open talk of them throwing a challenge. Someone on the Challengers should have pushed hard for this option. Everyone knows the only chance the Challengers have of winning is to dump Casey. I mean, even if they have to stage another implant poppage, they have to do it. They really have no other choice.

But they won't. Because they're too nice. "And Casey is a nice girl, and I don't want to hurt her feelings." They're more willing to finish last than to win. For all their talk about wanting to win a challenge or to get that money, everyone on the Challengers team is too passive (Kelly Anne, Kim), too laid back (Sarah, Cohutta), too dumb (Brad), or too distracted (Dunbar) to organize and take out Casey.

I mean, it's ridiculous that Casey is going to Evan to talk about her status in the game. That's a sure sign of a lack of leadership, when your team is turning to the other team's general to get some insight on game strategy. I can't wait for these Challengers to be defeated. They deserve it. No wonder they've never won anything. Losers.

I've been watching some of the Challenge Dailies, which are three minute long form clips of conversations that are deemed too boring for the regular show. But I find them fascinating. For example, this clip showing Darrell actually doing something fun. Or Susie and Kim talking about how cool Sarah is and how she should just jump Kenny. This is the stuff that is non-challenge related and don't feature the Douchebag brothers, so thus a behind-the-scenes of the other contestants. And sometimes they have things like Kelly Anne and Casey pretending to have sex -- for truth and dare purposes, of course.

Also, I've learned that if someone was pissing me off because their living area was too messy, I'd just put them in the Ruins so that they have to clean up. I didn't realize you had to pack up each time you were going into the Ruins. How annoying would that be?

Oh and I'm pretty excited to watch next week's episode because somehow Darrell gets so fired up he puts his huge bankroll and free walk into the finals on the line (not to mention a sure fire challenge win) by punching someone. That could have been a $100,000 punch.