Final Episode Grades

This final challenge was insane. This was some military shit. I mean, from Grantland, this is what the teams had to do: "Get pulled under water by a boat, kayak for miles, jog for miles while holding a ball and chain, stop and memorize every detail of a campsite, shovel a huge pile of manure, slosh across a swamp, build a perfect replica of the aforementioned campsite, jog uphill (still carrying the ball and chain), eat a large meal, puke a lot, jog uphill again, and then rest — for the day. Then, sleep in 10-minute shifts through the entire night, jog to the top of a real mountain, find a homing device, find a key, then sprint all the way back up the mountain to a trophy."

Seriously?

Grades
Jenn / Mandi: We'd like to give them some scores for making it to the finals, but since we're looking strictly at finals performances, it's safe to say they both graded out poorly. I mean, Jenn gets a bonus for effort but the two of them together were pretty pathetic. Grade: D

Laurel / CM: They were about as expected. Sure they probably should have won, and after rewatching the episode I'm still not quite sure what happened there. Did Cara Maria hold Laurel back? They somehow entered the lodge for eating first but made it up to the mountain after Evelyn and Paula. Poor form. And they really just collapsed at the end, as they were looking for the homing device. I really feel like they were the big favorites here and should have won. It's a real shame this screwed up their camp site challenge, that should have been their strong suit. (Bonus points for CM as she called out Wes!) Grade: C+

Paula / Evelyn: It's hard to give them anything but high marks for a minor upset. Evelyn is the equal of Laurel but who knew Paula had this much fight in her? From what I could tell, Paula didn't hold Evelyn back one bit and was just as responsible for the victory. Grade: A+ for Paula, A for Evelyn.

Mike / Leroy: How proud are we of Mike for continuing on? Oh wait, he didn't. Mike has to be given somewhat of a pass though, as he clearly was the least prepared for this entire Challenge and showed up without any training. Taking that into consideration, he was an all star and really gave it his all. I think Leroy performed quite well and if he didn't have Mike handcuffing him, he might have put up a good fight. Just grading on their performance challenge though, it's a C+ for Mike and B- for Leroy. Learn how to paddle boys.

Wes / Kenny: What a pathetic showing...by Wes. I know they wouldn't even be here if not for him but Wes made every wrong decision on this finals. Sure he got dehyrdrated, but that's his fault. His genius plan to put rocks IN his socks? Fail. His inability to eat while Kenny munched on? Ridiculous. And how about when Kenny carried Wes, the ball, and walked up a mountain? I was very impressed with Kenny this Challenge, and his only "bad" move was bad mouthing Wes. Still, wouldn't you have considering the situation? Wes cost his team the win, it's that simple. Grades: A for Kenny, F for Wes.

Johnny / Tyler: It was pretty impressive that Tyler could fight through his food poisoning to perform. I mean, I've had food poisoning before and could barely make it back and forth to the bathroom. For that effort alone, Tyler gets the best grades. Johnny did his part too and throughout the Challenge proved that he's just a strong of a competitor as any of the other males. I also think Tyler and Johnny truly were the best partners through the Rivals format, and thus they deserved to win. Grades: A+ for Tyler, A for Johnny.