With last post covering the vets on The Challenge 41, this post will cover the rookies, or "new threats." Like last time, I will start by giving my general thoughts, before giving specifics.
New Threats: General Thoughts
I'm happy with this group of rookies. Truthfully, I'd be happy with any group of rookies because I've been missing rookies on The Challenge. With 39 and 40 having no rookies, and having two All-Stars seasons, it feels like so long since we've had rookies on the show. Hopefully some of them actually stick around for future seasons (and more of the rookies from the 30s come back to join them). Either way though, this feels like a younger group of rookies, which is good, as a lot of the usual suspects are getting older, and we need some younger faces in the mix when they start to retire (and I mean retire for good, not Leroy retire). Anyway, now for my specific thoughts.
Adrienne Naylor (Married at First Sights UK 8): I don't know anything about Adrienne, but I'm good with her inclusion. She's in her (late) 20s, so is younger than most of the vets. Maybe she'll get into some drama? I have no idea if her marriage on her show worked out, but maybe she'll get into some hookups? It's not like production likes to show us when that happens anyway, but would still be nice.
America Lopez (Big Brother 25): I'm very happy with America's inclusion on the cast, as I loved her on BB25. Her and Cory were some of my favorites on that season, only behind Cirie and Felicia. With that being said, America didn't win a single competition, so her inclusion is a bit strange. Regardless of that, America isn't afraid of confrontation, and I think she'll be fun on the season, though I'm not exactly expecting a deep run.
Ben Davis (Boxer): Ben is one of the few rookies that I am actively unhappy about being on the cast. Nothing against the guy personally, I know nothing about him, but I hate when they cast people outside of reality TV (with the exception of Fresh Meat seasons). Production tries so hard to push the "sport" narrative and it's so annoying. This is not a sport, it's a TV show. Stop casting athletes, and give us reality stars.
Blue Kim (Big Brother 25): Surprisingly, I'm happy with Blue's inclusion on the show. I thought she was extremely annoying on BB25, but I'm weird and after a season ends, I look back fondly on players I didn't like. For example, I HATED Robb Zbbacnik on Survivor Thailand, but now I look at him as one of the highlights of that season. While I didn't dislike Blue nearly as much, she falls into a similar boat to where looking back all the "kitty kitty purr boots down" stuff was kind of funny. Her and America had a bit of a rivalry, but I'm actually expecting them to work together, since they didn't outright despise each other. Will Blue do well? I don't know, because a player this good has to be a target eventually, right?
Cedric Hodges (Big Brother 26): Cedric is an interesting choice. While I would ultimately say I'm happy with his inclusion, I'm left with one question: why Cedric? BB26 was such a good season, with a really strong cast, and the sole representative is the 4th boot? I mean, I assume the reason is because the bigger names were in the casting process for Amazing Race 38, but like... Cedric? I'm acting like a hater, but I did like Cedric during his time on BB26, and am happy to be getting BB26 representation, but I can't help thinking about what could have been (Tucker, I'm talking about Tucker. Love him or hate him, he would have been great on this show).
Dee Valladares (Survivor 45): I am so happy that Dee is on this cast. She was great on Survivor, and I'm sure she'll be great here. I really hope we have a deep run from her because, not to spoil my eventual Survivor 50 Dee blog post, I don't see her going super far on Survivor 50. Dee winning Survivor 45 will be a much bigger deal on Survivor 50 than The Challenge. Bananas has won this show 7 times, but Dee would be a bigger threat because she won a different show once? I really hope that Dee becomes a regular on this show, because I really like her and think she has the potential to do very well.
Gabe Wai (Former WWE Wrestler): My thoughts on Gabe are pretty much the same as they are on Ben. Just read that section again, but change athlete to performer (yes I know WWE does take genuine athleticism, I just like clowning on it).
Izzy Fairthorne (Too Hot to Handle 3): I haven't actually seen Izzy's season of THTH, but I did see her on Perfect Match, so she is a known entity to me. I thought Izzy was fun there, so I'm good with her inclusion. Despite getting sick of THTH and only watching a couple seasons, Kelz' brief run on SLA has made me want more THTH rep on this show (and Ed's appearances in addition to that have made me want more Netflix representation in general), and we're getting that with Izzy. I don't know how she'll do competitively, dating show contestants seem to be pretty hit or miss, but either way I'm happy with her inclusion.
Jake Cornish (Love Island UK 7): Jake is a weird inclusion to me. While I have not seen him either of his Love Island seasons, there is one thing that I've heard about him: he quit both times he was on the show. If you ask any Challenge fan to tell you one thing about TJ Lavin, they will probably tell you that TJ hates quitters. The guy has basically made a personality out of hating quitters, so much so that his hatred of quitters has caused me to soften my view of quitters and turned me into someone who does not hate quitters (for the most part, Brandon was still lame for quitting Rivals III and TJ's "don't take care, hope to see you never" was iconic). Because of that, I find it so strange that they brought on a guy who has quit both times he's been on TV, though I guess I shouldn't question it too much considering that Beth still gets brought back on All-Stars. Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know how involved TJ is in production. I don't think he's an executive producer like Jeff is for Survivor. He may not have a say in things like casting, in which case, it's kind of funny if they cast a quitter just to annoy TJ.
Justin Hinsley (Cheer): I don't know anything about Justin, but at least he comes from a TV show. I believe Cheer was more of a docu-series than a reality show (though this is just from my very basic understanding of it, I could be incredibly wrong), but if Battle Camp is willing to pull from it and consider it a reality show, then sure, The Challenge can too. Welcome aboard Justin, I'm sure that you can compete since you have history as an athlete, but I hope you're entertaining too.
Leka Sodade (Canada's Ultimate Challenge 2): I don't know anything about Leka, but based on the show she comes from, I'm sure she'll be able to keep up competitively. Seems like she could be the second coming of Jenny West, but that's just vibes. Looking forward to seeing her compete, and I hope she makes good TV while she's at it, because I get the feeling she'll be around for a bit.
Leonardo Dionicio (Love Island USA 5): I haven't seen Leonardo's season of Love Island, so I don't really know much about him. I saw he was getting messy on Instagram a couple of days ago with his LI ex, so bring some of that messy energy to this show and I'm happy.
Sydney Segal (Survivor 41): Sydney is such a weird choice. The mergatry boot from a 4 year old season of Survivor, and one that isn't that popular as well (though I personally am a 41 defender). Cedric was a weird choice too, but he's from the most recent season of his show. There have been several (shoutout Jelinsky) seasons of Survivor since then, but we're going all the way back for Sydney Segal? I guess she's messy and confrontational, but she just didn't really leave an impact on her season. At the end of the day, I'm always happy with Survivor representation, but Sydney is just such a weird choice to me.
Tay Wilcoxson (Big Brother Australia 15): I don't watch BBAU, so I don't have any rapport on Tay, though I have heard a bit about her. I know she won alongside her sister, though I'm not sure if it was like the Paqs Bros from BBCAN (speaking of BBCAN, the fact that no one from that show has crossed over to The Challenge is a crime), or something else entirely. However, another thing I've heard is that her sister was more entertaining than her. Maybe they asked and she said no? I'm open to Tay's inclusion on the show though, and I hope she proves everyone who said she was the boring sister wrong.
Will Gagnon (Are You the One? 9): I don't know anything about Will, but he looks like he can compete. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised that production still goes back to that show, since it no longer releases episodes, but Will appears to be an athletic enough dude. Granted, he could have popcorn muscles like Tyri or Danny, but that would be kind of funny, so I'm good with his inclusion.
Yeremi Hykel (The Amazing Race 35): I haven't gotten to Yeremi's season of TAR, I'm only on season 4, but I'm happy to see him on this cast, despite hearing that he had a pretty underwhelming run on TAR. TAR has always been criminally underrepresented on The Challenge compared to the other two members of the CBS Big Three, so I'm glad it's getting more representation, even if Yeremi himself wasn't sure notable.
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