Standings: WK8-10

STANDINGS
Yasmine +20 (74)
Victor +11 (55)
Susan +4 (48)
Kim +9 (46)
Jon +17 (45)
George +4 (30)

We're nearing the homestretch and um, it looks like Yasmine will win in a walk. But lots of things have changed up the game during the past three weeks and it deserves a quick dive! Victor made a big leap up the charts, overtaking Susan for second place. How are these two past champions always on top, arrrgh!

Susan's team was hobbled by having only Zach and Jenna left, and as it turned out, Zach doesn't understand the physics of swinging hammer so he was eliminated. And in a shocker, Jenna is still alive, and the highest scoring player for Susan! However, Susan's team is destined to be passed by Kim and probably Jon, since they both still have strong players around.

Jon racked up +17 in the past three weeks, behind a huge run by Jordan and Nia, but that +17 won't make up any ground on the front runners -- and especially not Yasmine, who extended her lead with a +20. Kim and George are both happy to have players back from Exile, Nany and Bananas respectively, and at least they will now have someone alive to cheer for.

For these last two or three weeks, it's basically a victory lap for Yasmine, and a possible fight between Victor and Jon to see who can place second. It's Jordan and Nia versus Leroy! But really we're all Team Sarah right, just so she can get a Challenge win and retire?

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Quick Scores: WK10

Sorry, I haven't seen the last two episodes due to MTV behaving weird overseas and them shutting down past episodes until a future date. So please take these scores below with a grain of salt and correct me if needed. Here are the Exes 2 rules and our league's scoring sheet.

COMPETITION POINTS:

• Challenge (+1): Jordan, Sarah
• Elimination (+1): Wes, Theresa, Leroy, Nia, Bananas, Nany
• Survival (+1): Leroy, Nia
• OUT (+0): Wes, Theresa
• Exile Win (+1): none

BONUS POINTS:

• Cry (+2): Theresa
• Medical (+2): Wes
• Tirade (+2): Nia
• Clue (+1): Nany

Scoring Notes: We're still ruling on if Nia's outburst was a tirade but for now we are giving her points for it And note the many Elimination contestants, but Bananas and Nany will resolve WK11.

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Quick Scores: WK9

Alright, this might be a bit confusing because of the Exiles return. But see below for scoring. How excited was Nany to be back, I loved seeing her skip into the Dome all giddy! Here are the Exes 2 rules and our league's scoring sheet.

COMPETITION POINTS:

• Challenge (+1): Sarah, Jordan
• Elimination (+1): none
• Survival (+1): none
• OUT (+0): Zach, Jonna
• Exile Win (+1): Bananas, Nany

BONUS POINTS:

• Cry (+2): Theresa, Nia
• Clue (+1): Jay

Scoring Notes: Just to clarify, there was no normal elimination this week, and it was just an Exile face off that resulted in Johnny and Nany winning, and re-entering the main competition meaning from this week on, they are re-eligible for normal points again!

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Quick Scores: WK8

Basically Wes is an evil genius and he played Leroy out! Haha. MTV covers some of Wes' greatest political moves, "A Case For Capitol Hill: These Are Wes’ Biggest ‘Challenge’ Political Power Plays." Here are the Exes 2 rules and our league's scoring sheet.

COMPETITION POINTS:

• Challenge (+1): Nia, Leroy
• Elimination (+1): Sarah, Jordan, Zach, Jonna
• Survival (+1): Sarah, Jordan
• OUT (+0): Zach, Jonna
• Exile Win (+1): Bananas, Nany

BONUS POINTS:

• Cry (+2): Sarah, Jonna

Scoring Notes: Again, what's with the no drama! Maybe with too many exes there's just not enough action to go around? I dunon. It's getting pretty lame that we've had only two hookups and one of them is basically a revenge hookup!

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Standings: WK4-7

STANDINGS
Yasmine +29 (54)
Susan +22 (44)
Victor +24 (44)
Kim +22 (37)
Jon +16 (28)
George +11 (26)

It's really incredible how the twins keep on coming up at the bottom of the standings. George and Jon are just really bad at MTV Challenge! How else to explain their consistently poor showings year after year? And the weird thing is they are both fully obsessed with reality shows! Sigh.

At the top of the standings sit Yasmine, and over four weeks she's opened up her lead even more, gaining +29 points, as she racked up huge showings from Adam. Victor had Brittany and she's been throwing up nice value too, but now both are gone and our two former champs could slow a little. Sophomore owner Susan is still staying strong with +22 and the nice combo of Zach and Jenna, but she's going to need the two of them to smooch a lot more if she wants to keep pace post-Johnny Riley.

And let's not forget Kim, who lost Dustin and Hailey early but has been having great weeks from Jonna and even Nany, who could still come back to win the whole thing from Exile. About the only thing settled so far this season is that neither of the Yangs will win Exes 2, so they might as well start cheering for an underdog!

Let's do a "who's left" count. Yasmine still has three players after losing Adam in WK7, Victor has Wes and Leroy left, while Susan has Zach and Jenna. Jon still has Jordan and Nia alive but they don't seem to be doing much for him. Kim has two players left also, Jonna and Nany, but Nany is in Exile. George, well, George has all her players already eliminated from the main event, but there's a good chance Johnny Bananas will return to the Final after racking up Exile win after Exile win!

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Quick Scores: WK7

And "to be continued" continued! And then MTV hit us with the great trivia episode, which was legitimately hard, am I right? Who else is asking all their friends if they can spell "diaphragm?" Here are the Exes 2 rules and our league's scoring sheet.

COMPETITION POINTS:

• Challenge (+1): Jay, Jenna
• Elimination (+1): Johnny, Averey, Johnny, Averery (again), Leroy, Nia
• Survival (+1): Johnny, Averey, Leroy, Nia
• OUT (+0): Adam, Brittany, Johnny, Averey
• Exile Win (+1): Bananas, Nany

BONUS POINTS:

• Kissing (+2): Jay/Jonna
• Cry (+2): Brittany

Scoring Notes: Nothing too hard to figure, except to be aware that Johnny and Averey went back-to-back into the Dome. Much to their demise. And how quick was Nany's win over Brittany in Exile? Haha! I'm totally watching Exile episodes now that Bananas is in there!

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Quick Scores: WK6

Damn, the dreaded "to be continued..." episode! There's one more lurking at least! I don't recall MTV stuffing one in mid-season like this though. Oh well, more points for everybody! Here are the Exes 2 rules and our league's scoring sheet.

COMPETITION POINTS:

• Challenge (+1): Theresa, Wes
• Elimination (+1): Adam, Brittany
• Survival (+1): none
• OUT (+0): none
• Exile Win (+1): none

BONUS POINTS:

• Puke (+2): Sarah
• Cry (+2): Jonna

Scoring Notes: No real questions here. It's been a slow season for hookups yeah?

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Quick Scores: WK5

Here are the Exes 2 rules and our league's scoring sheet.

COMPETITION POINTS:

• Challenge (+1): Wes, Theresa
• Elimination (+1): Bananas, Nany, Nia, Leroy
• Survival (+1): Nia, Leroy
• OUT (+0): Bananas, Nany
• Exile Win (+1): Bananas, Nany

BONUS POINTS:

• Puke (+2): Nia
• Cry (+2): Nany
• Clue (+1): Jordan

Scoring Notes: Okay we corrected the Exile win categories. For the record, WK2 went to Dustin/Jessica, WK3+4 to Simone/John, and WK5 to Bananas/Nany.

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Quick Scores: WK4

Here are the Exes 2 rules and our league's scoring sheet.

COMPETITION POINTS:

• Challenge (+1): Zach, Jonna
• Elimination (+1): Brittany, Adam, Knight, Jemmye
• Survival (+1): Brittany, Adam
• OUT (+0): Knight, Jemmye
• Exile Win (+1): Simone, John

BONUS POINTS:

• Kiss (+2): Brittany/Adam, Jonna/Jay, Jenna/Zach
• Cry (+2): Jonna, Nany

Scoring Notes: WI haven't seen this week so I have no idea what happened but these scores seem pretty cut and dry. Although I'm not sure who won Exile this week. And last week's scoring could be wrong about Dustin and Jessica's Exile win/loss over John and Simone.

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Standings: WK1-3

STANDINGS
Yasmine +9 (25)
Susan +4 (21)
Victor +9 (21)
George +4 (16)
Kim +4 (16)
Jon +4 (12)

I don't know how Yasmine does it, but she once again is proving to be the cream of the crop, even if we're only 1/4th of the way through the season. I guess the cream just rises doesn't it? It looks Yasmine is right on track to go back-to-back again. (She did it in 2010-11 with Cutthroat and Rivals.)

EP1 saw past fantasy champions Yasmine and Victor take an early lead on the backs of Adam and Brittany’s Dome win. EP2 was all about Susan as she came roaring to life in her second fantasy Challenge season with 13 points. She even got an elusive hookup bonus from the Zach and Jenna pairing! If that romance stays strong (which it looks like it will), Susan can expect more freebies!

And speaking of freebies, Kim and George both almost hit double digits in EP2, with a little boost from Dustin and Jessica in Exile. The twist this season looks like it could be a gift for these two as they pick off the other losing teams. (Be careful when scoring for Dustin/Jessica though, as they can’t receive any bonus points, or the weekly +1 for sticking around.)

By EP3, we were getting into the swing of the season even as we saw Diem and CT go. It was a bold move of Victor and George to draft these two, and it looks like they may regret those picks, with Diem’s exit coming so early. So far the hookups and bonuses have been pretty light, but I think MTV will start editing those in now with the Diem storyline gone.

After three weeks, Yasmine is the only owner left with a full roster. That’s bad news for the rest of us. Victor lost Diem, Kim is out Hailey and sort of Dustin, Jon lost Thomas, Susan saw Simone leave last week, and George has Jessica in Exile and second round pick CT gone after tallying only two points.

So yeah, it looks like it’s the field versus Yasmine, just like last year...

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Quick Scores: WK3

Are people actually watching the Exiled webisodes? So far I have been but who knows if that'll continue. I wish there was just more additional footage online of the main cast! Here are the Exes 2 rules and our league's scoring sheet.

COMPETITION POINTS:

• Challenge (+1): Jordan, Sarah
• Elimination (+1): Adam, Brittany, Simone, John
• Survival (+1): Adam, Brittany
• OUT (+0): Simone, John, CT
• Exile Win (+1): Dustin, Jessica

BONUS POINTS:

• Kiss (+2): Adam, Brittany
• Hospital (+2): Diem

Scoring Notes: Well, this was the week Diem leaves I guess. Let's talk about the Adam and Brrittany kissing though, that sure looked like real passion to me!

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Quick Scores: WK2

A little late on updating WK1 scores for our league but Episode 2 is already here! And thanks to the efforts of George, we have our quick scores.

We are going to give +1 for surviving the weekly Exile elimination, but it looks like all of that action will be taking place off-screen, on the Internet. Scoring may still shift for this Exile twist, so we'll see! Again, here are the Exes 2 rules and our league's scoring sheet.

COMPETITION POINTS:

• Challenge (+1): Bananas, Nany
• Elimination (+1): Johnny, Averey, Tom, Hailey
• Survival (+1): Johnny, Averey
• OUT (+0): Tom, Hailey
• Exile Win (+1): Dustin, Jessica

BONUS POINTS:

• Kiss (+2): Zach/Jenna, Jay/Jonna
• Crying (+2): Nany, Theresa, Averey
• Puke (+2): Jenna

Scoring Notes: The cries weren't super obvious save Nany's, but she referenced Theresa's, so we'll take it. Same with Jenna's puking. Jay said she was, and there was enough on-screen action for that. Still looking into Averey's tears!

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Quick Scores: WK1

In an effort to provide speedier scores, we'll be splitting up our scoring posts into the "quick" scores asap after the episode and then a full scoring breakdown -- as well as our league's personal scoring -- when there's more time. Aka when we've fully digested the episode and argued out all the points. In general, these scores are 90% official but little details could change. For example, what do we do with the contestants in Exile this season?

I'm leaning toward giving these players +1 bonus for surviving an Exile elimination, but with no chance to score bonus or other competition points. Without knowing how Exile will work though, it's hard to say if this is a viable scoring method. For now, here are the Exes 2 rules and our league's scoring sheet.

COMPETITION POINTS:

• Challenge (+1): Wes, Theresa
• Elimination (+1): Adam, Brittany, Dustin, Jessica
• Survival (+1): Adam, Brittany
• OUT (+0): Dustin, Jessica

BONUS POINTS:

• Clue (+1): Sarah

Scoring Notes: Pretty straightforward, with no real bonus points to speak of. The only debate is what to do with the Exiles!

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Rules and Scoring: Battle of the Exes 2

Oh no, it looks like the twist happened real fast in Exes 2, and while we're not sure how Exile will work, but we're gonna be quick to respond! From what we can tell from the Wiki after EP1, this is how Exile will be:

"Battle of the Exes II follows the same format as the original Battle of the Exes challenge, with the following differences: After each Dome game, a losing team will have a chance to re-join the competition in Battle of the Ex-iled, which will pit a newly-eliminated couple against the winner of the previous week's Ex-iled winner."

So it looks like contestants can come back?! How scoring will work we're not sure, but other than that twist, the rules are as follows below... Edit (1/16): So we're going to give +1 for an Exile win, but those participating in Exile are ineligible for any Bonus Points.

DRAFT

• Six team owners will each select four players each, in a snake style draft. (Two players will be "leftovers."
• Leftovers are left undrafted for the entire season, and unscored.

SCORING and POINTS
Weekly challenges, bonus points, almost all the same stuff as last year, but with the new Exile Win competition point. See below.

Competition Points (awarded per episode)

• Weekly (+1): Awarded for each week a player stays on the show
• Challenge (+1): Awarded for winning weekly challenge (If team game, each individual on the winning team receives a point)
• Elimination (+1): Awarded for being tossed into an elimination challenge
• Survival (+1): Awarded for winning the elimination challenge 
• Exile Win (+1): Awarded for winning the Exile challenge (Note: Exile participants are ineligible for Bonus Points.)

Bonus Points (awarded per episode and per instance)

• Kissing (+2): Romantic, carnal, or via dare, not for congratulatory or "hello" pecks
• Sex (+2): Must be shown on-camera, or acknowledged by both parties (with no doubt)
• Hookup Bonus (+1): Extra point for owning both contestants who either kissed or had sex together. (Only awarded once per couple per episode)
• Fight (+2): Must be a physical fight, including some intent to do harm
• Tirade (+2): Key phrase is a "crazy ass tirade," including throwing or breaking things
• Medical (+2): Awarded for going to the hospital, or if player needs treatment from a medical professional
• Puke (+2): Awarded for throwing up from drinking, exhaustion, food poisoning, etc. (Has to be shown on camera, not just gagging sounds)
• Crying (+2): Must be a very clear case of crying, not just red face, puffy eyes, watery eyes, but actual real tears
• Booted (+3): Getting booted off the show by producers, be it physical altercation, safety reasons, injuries, etc. Does not apply if the person chooses to leave the show voluntarily aka quits
• Blurcle (+1): Having a body part blurcled (Only awarded once per episode, and for nudity versus logo blocking out, or flicking someone off, etc.)
• Clue (+1): Awarded for reading the clue from TJ Lavin

Finals Points (awarded once at end of season)

• Finals (+5): Awarded to everyone who makes the finals
• Winner: (+7): Awarded to the overall winners (or to all members of the winning team)

Any subjective calls will be cleared up by voting. See old version of rules for examples of past subjective rulings.

ARBITRATION DETAILS
Majority wins the vote-offs (which must be done before the next episode). If there are five owners voting, that should be easy. However, if two separate owners have to abstain because it's their contestants involved, then it's four voters. Ideally a 3-1 majority would take it but if there is a tie, then no points are rewarded. Try to be objective if you can, when voting. And we can cite previous precedent or whatever in our arguments. No bribing though!

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Exes 2: Rosters & Draft

George: Johnny Bananas, CT, Averey, Jessica
Victor: Wes, Leroy, Brittany, Diem
Jon: Jordan, Nia, Jemmye, Thomas
Kim: Nany, Jonna, Hailey, Dustin
Yasmine: Sarah, Theresa, Adam, Jay
Susan: Johnny R, Zach, Jenna, Simone

Undrafted: Knight, JJ

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New Season: Battle of the Exes 2

A new season of MTV Challenge is upon us with a return to the Exes format! And that means many of our favorite couples are back -- last time, Johnny and Camila won. As always, Juliet and Jacoby covered a preview in podcast form, and of course, we can't talk about this season without the heavy hearts that accompany Diem and Knight's untimely passing.

• Battle of the Exes 2 Trailer
• The Right Reasons Podcast: The Challenge: Battle of the Exes 2 Preview Special
• Grantland Reality TV Fantasy League: A Real World: Skeletons Premiere for the Ages
• Vevmo Fantasy Draft League

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