The Challenge Vets & New Threats: Official Cast Reaction Part 1 (Vets)

 

Yesterday we got the official cast reveal for season 41 of The Challenge. Full disclosure, I have known this cast for months, as Challenge casts are always leaked, so my thoughts will be less raw than they were for my Traitors cast reaction. Regardless, I still wanted to make a blog post and give my thoughts, since this blog did not exist when the cast was leaked, and I'm completely unspoiled on everything else about the season. Like Traitors, this cast has a few Survivor players, so this is a Survivor adjacent post, though I still would have made. This post will be dedicated to the vets, while the next blog post will be about the "new threats."

Vets: General Thoughts

I think it's a decent selection of vets, but I would have preferred if they went back a bit further. Of the 16 vets, there are only two that weren't on either season 40 or All Stars 5. I would have preferred more people that we haven't seen in a bit, but I guess it could have been worse. Now for my specific thoughts.

Aneesa Ferreira (The Real World: Chicago): STOP CASTING ANEESA!!! I am so sick of seeing Aneesa on this show. She is a terrible competitor who will never win. If she was walking through the final on the Duel II, and still walking through the final in Ride or Dies, she is not meant for this show. Additionally, she has the same storyline every season about how everyone else sucks for not taking her seriously because she was good at eliminations in the early 2000s. Maybe it's because you're a terrible competitor, just a thought. I'm sure she's a fine person, but I'm so sick of seeing her on the show.

Ashley Mitchell (Real World: Ex-Plosion): I'm happy to see Ashley back on the flagship. It's been a couple seasons, but feels like even longer with all the spinoffs. Her brief appearance on All Stars 5 was fun (despite her and Aneesa's "rivalry" making no sense coming into the season), so I'm happy she's returning to the flagship.

Aviv Melmed (The Challenge: Fresh Meat): I don't need Aviv back. The novelty of having her on 40 after never coming back after Fresh Meat was neat, but she was kind of boring on that season, so I didn't really need to see her again. Not expecting a super deep run, I'm sure she'll get sniped out as one of Johnny's minions.

Cara Maria Sorbello (The Challenge: Fresh Meat II): I am not happy with Cara's inclusion on this season. If you asked me right after 40, I would have been very happy that Cara was being reintroduced to the series. However, a little bit before the cast flew out, she was in hot water online for comments that came off as transphobic. I don't believe she should have been rewarded with a spot on TV after that.

CT Tamburello (The Real World: Paris): I'll pretty much always be happy to see CT. He's always super entertaining, and I'm expecting more of that. After 40, however, I'm wondering what kind of shape he's in. That wasn't his best competitive season (his elimination loss was a bit fluky due to the nature of the challenge, but that aside he just didn't seem to be at his best competitively). Still, I won't count him out, he did win Invasion in his "dad bod" era.

Derek Chavez (The Real World: Cancun): I'm happy to see Derek back. For a while I was super anti-Derek because I thought he was terrible competitively from his original run on the show (which, to be fair, he was), but he came on to All Stars 4 and surprised me with his competitive ability, and was even more of a surprise on 40 with his final performance (while no one was ever beating Jordan in that final, him beating Bananas was impressive. Still wish Kyland had a shot, but that final sucked so everyone was easily beating Kyland). I'm excited to see how he does without Ryan this time around. He has an ally in Olivia, and likely Theo and Nia because of that, if that group is able to win over the rookies, I could see another deep run (depending on the format, of course).

Derrick Kosinski (Road Rules: X-Treme): I'm fine with Derrick coming back. He was fun on 40, and had a more notable run than most of era 1. It reminds me of how he took a big hiatus after Cutthroat, came back for 30 and 31, took another hiatus (from the flagship at least), and is now coming back for 40 and 41.

Johnny Bananas (The Real World: Key West): I've always had a love/hate relationship with Bananas, but right now he's in a similar situation as Cara. I enjoyed him on 40, but right before the cast flew out he made a comment towards Taylor Hale that came off as racist. He should not have been rewarded with a spot on TV, but of course he was.

Leroy Garrett (The Real World: Las Vegas 2011): I like Leroy, but his return to the show is a bit odd. The ENTIRE storyline of Double Agents was that Leroy is retiring and that was his last season. Couple years later he's on All Stars 4, Battle of the Eras, All Stars Rivals, and now Vets & New Threats all in a row. I know that the context is that he retired due to how he was treated on Dirty 30, but came back because he saw production making an effort to improve conditions for black contestants. That all makes sense, and I'm happy that Leroy feels comfortable enough to compete again, and I'm sure he'll be fun (probably won't win), but I feel like Double Agents is now a season that would be so weird to rewatch. Leroy hasn't just come back for All Stars and the big milestone season, he just seems to be back in the rotation. Hopefully he does better than 40 and AS5, but as a rare Double Agents fan, it's just kind of weird.

Michaela Bradshaw (Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X): I'm very happy to have Michaela back. She was super fun on both of her seasons of Survivor, and had an unfortunate early exit on SLA. I was so happy to see her not only return for USA 2, but make the final. I kind of thought that would be the last we saw of Michaela on The Challenge, but am very happy I was wrong. I worry that she won't go as far without the numbers she had on USA 2 (this group of vets is a VERY MTV heavy group, and while there are a few CBS rookies, rookies aren't known for doing well), but am happy to have her for however long we do.

Nany González (The Real World: Las Vegas 2011): I'm fine with Nany coming back, especially in a post-Kaycee world. I'm interested to see her dynamic with Turbo now that they've mended fences, but don't expect her to win. I enjoyed her on All Stars Rivals, and am expecting more of the same.

Nia Moore (The Real World: Portland): I'm happy to have Nia back. I'm certain she won't win, but she's an entertaining personality. I don't really have much else to say about Nia, but I swear I'm happy she's on the season.

Olivia Kaiser (Love Island USA 3): I'm very happy to see Olivia here. I enjoyed her on her season of Love Island, and have really enjoyed her on all of her Challenge appearances, so I'm glad she's becoming a regular. Would have liked to see Nurys and Horacio here to see how those relationships evolved, as well as Michele to be here with her and Nia, but I'm still good with Olivia. I'm a bit worried her and Theo will be off cuddling in snoozeville for most of the season, but I have faith that Olivia will be fun.

Rogan O'Connor (Ex on the Beach UK 2): I'm very happy that Rogan is finally coming back. He hasn't been on the show since Total Madness, which is somehow longer than any other vet on this cast. While he did terribly in Vendettas, he completely ran WOTW2 and had a very good showing in Total Madness. I'm looking forward to seeing how he performs this season.

Theo Campbell (Love Island UK 3): I could've done without Theo. I was happy to see him return on World Championship after his eye injury that kept him off the show for a while, but then he was kind of boring. Maybe a bad edit? He came back for 40 and was boring again. Could have been another bad edit, but if production insists on giving him a bad edit then I don't need him, which is a shame because he was one of the stars of WOTW2.

Turbo Çamkıran (Survivor Turkey 8): I'm always happy to see Turbo. Turbo is an insane character who isn't afraid of confrontation. "YOU CANNOT COPY MY WALK" still lives rent free in my head. Wonder if any new pussy chickens will take the place of Jordan and Devin, since neither of them are here.