Team: Femme Fatales

I don’t know what happened but somehow I ended up with an all female team in a Challenge that will insure only one winner. Whoops. Basically I just cut off 50% of my chance at getting final winner points. Stupid! Maybe this is why I haven’t won one of these seasons yet. So Kim, don’t feel bad! George and I haven’t won this before either, and we’ve been playing waaaaaay longer than you. Wait, that’s so sad…

Fine, it’s been a bad run for me. However, this just re-doubles my enthusiasm as each new season gives me another chance to win! And this year I feel great because I have the strongest female competitor in the history of the Challenge back.

Yes, after three inexplicable seasons away, Laurel is back! I’m pretty sure Ms. Stucky has never lost a challenge, and this season with a free-for-all format, she’s not going to be stuck with a crappy partner or undermined by a weak team. I had thought about trading down from the #2 overall pick but when Susan took Jordan, I just couldn't pass up grabbing Laurel. I mean, aside from being the strongest female, she’s also good for drinking, making out, tirades, and really, everything. Laurel, I love you!

Obviously, my hope was to pair up Laurel with Cara Maria for the best one-two combination ever. Okay, not competitively but in life. "It's apple time!" I follow both of their Twitters and stuff, and I love how their relationship has evolved from rivals to outright best friends. It’s a touching story. Except that Victor stole Cara Maria away from me (again). If I were savvier, I would camouflage my love for CM more, but I just can’t. My emotional tie to CM is too strong!

Deflated and hopeless, I just took the best player on the board left with my second rounder: Camila. The feisty Brazilian is perpetually underrated and almost always scores super high. Plus, the “crazy tirade” points should just be re-named "a Camila.” There were a few interesting new names I wanted to grab -- like the delicious upside potential of Hurricane Nia -- but I knew getting Camila at the bottom of round two would be a fantastic value.

For my next pick, I was very happy to get Emilee Fitzpatrick, mainly on the strength of the displayed photo. Yes, Emilee is from Massachusetts and a Celtics fan! I literally know nothing about how good or bad she is in anything -- she was cut first from Cutthroat way back when -- but anybody who is a Celtics fan must have the heart of a champion, right? Sure she's wearing that traitor Ray Allen's number but this was before he left Boston for Miami. Uh oh, is that bad karma?

It was getting near scrub city for my final selection and with a lot of newbies were on the list, I wavered and went with a familiar name: Jasmine. I don’t know why I took her -- I've had Jasmine many times in the past already. Yes she’s good for a few bonus points here or there but she’s tiny and pretty much always going to get tossed at her first elimination. In retrospect, the wise move would have just been to gamble on one of the new guys, Swift or Isaac, but I was pretty sure with such a stacked men’s lineup, the new dudes would be constantly thrown into the fray. I wish I could dump Jasmine and replace her with somebody right now! My only hope is that with our new mini-draft after WK2 rules, Jasmine gets booted during one of the first episodes. C'mon Jasmine, get tossed!

Overall, I'm pretty confident about this team because Laurel is basically going to end up in the finals no matter what. I mean, her only physical competition, Emily from DC, isn't on this season (a matchup we still have yet to see) so Laurel is going to cruiiiiise. And Camila has proven time and time again that she’s a winner. Plus, Emilee might have some potential to complete my Big Three. I guess that means Jasmine will have to be my version of 2008 Rajon Rondo. Let's go get that first title ladies!

This season's theme song for Team Femme Fatale is obviously Glee's "Run The World (Girls)."