“The Ruins” Blog: One Expensive Punch

November 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Wow!

Last night’s episode was pretty epic.

Let’s begin with the fight between Brad and Darrell: It was all Casey’s (and KellyAnne’s) fault.

You have to realize that these people have been in this house for many days and they can’t watch TV or listen to music. I don’t even think they’re allowed to use the Internet. All they have is each other and it’s easy to develop Cabin Fever.

Brad had every right to be upset with Casey and her shenanigans. Her value is nil. I’m completely baffled why she doesn’t just bow out of the game. She does realize that even if she makes the Finals, she’s so inept that her team will lose – decisively.

I was pretty shocked by the Brad/Darrell fight for a few reasons:

  1. Brad and Darrell was two of the more level-headed males in the house. They were there to win the money, flat out.
  2. Brad usually doesn’t ruffle people’s feathers. I thought that if someone were to fight him it would be one where someone provoked him or one of the guys was on a rampage and hitting whoever was in the vicinity and Brad just happened to be standing a few feet away.
  3. Darrell had the most money banked, by far. He had nothing to lose. He was going to the Finals and even if the Champions lost, he still would have been handsomely rewarded.

Well, that all changes when Brad gets really drunk and for some reason I forgot that on “RW: San Diego” Brad was arrested for Public Intoxication. Go figure. Brad and Darrell both eliminated from “The Ruins” was a lose/lose for all parties involved. The Challengers are down to one male, Dunbar, who could possibly be eliminated before the final challenge since he will have to go into the elimination. The Champions lose a proven winner in Darrell. Brad received one of the worst black eyes I have ever seen in the history of television and Darrell lost over $30,000 – he punched Brad about three times, so that equals $10,000 per punch. Ouch!

With the Challengers  squad in shambles, KellyAnne adds insult to injury and drunkenly accuses Dunbar of telling people that they slept together. For the rest of the episode she basically campaigns for Dunbar to get eliminated from the show, so there will only be the girls left on the Challengers team. What an idiot.

Susie, being the only girl left on the Champions, tried to convince the boys to let her choose Casey to go into the elimination with her. The boys shut her down and basically made her pick Kimberly as her opponent.

The episode ended in a “To Be Continued…” with Susie and Kim duking it out in the elimination.

So the next episode will feature the end of the elimination between Susie and Kim and the elimination between Dunbar and Johnny Bananas.

I really want the the Challengers to win, but without Brad and them still having Casey, there’s no shot for them to come out as the victors. Which means that the three stooges – Evan, Kenny and fill in the blank – will win again without having to show any real strength.

Stay tuned.

Filed Under: Blogs, Kamari Stevens, The Schoolboy's Musings Tagged With: , , , ,

“The Ruins” Blog: The Final Straw

November 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Are you ready for another dose of “The Ruins” talk?
Well last week’s episode was more of a set up for what is going to happen on tonight’s show.

With both squads having seven players on each side, the Champions dominance over the Challengers was a lot of more visible. With a 5:3 ratio of men, favoring the Champions and the Challengers still having Casey on their squad, the Champions were at a clear advantage.

The Champions won another challenge, which basically meant that Casey was sticking around.

I feel like Casey should just leave. She’s not bringing anything to the table and even if she makes it to the final challenge, her presence almost guarantees that the Challengers will lose. She has no positive qualities that help the Challengers.

The Million Dollar Man, Cohutta, was finally taken down. He lost to Darrell, who is arguably the best man left on the show. Johanna was also sent home after losing the elimination to Sarah.

This is where things get juicy.

On the sneak preview at the end of the episode, they showed a lot of arguing going on in the house. Then, they show Darrell punching the crap out of someone. The guy who he’s punching is hard to see because Darrell is standing over him, but it is most likely Brad.

My question is what would provoke Darrell to fight anyone, let alone Brad. I’m not saying that Darrell is a pacifist, but at this point of the game – he has the most money banked – fighting someone should be last on his agenda. But, it looks like Darrell is definitely going home, which means he loses all the money he had won. Hopefully Brad didn’t fight back, because if he did the Challengers should just throw in the towel. Dunbar would be their only male and Casey is still on the squad which leaves them is a disarray.

This episode is sure to be one for the ages.

Stay tuned

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“The Ruins” Blog: Boom! Pow! Surprise!

November 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Well, like I promised this post would be ridiculously huge. So huge, in fact, that I will probably post it into two separate parts.

Let’s start with last week’s episode. I think this episode should be dubbed “Surprise, surprise.” This episode was filled with so many shock-and-awe moments that I decided to just leave my jaw hanging on the floor instead of wasting energy picking it up over and over again.

The non-shocking parts were when Ibis, Johanna and Susie were plotting to get Veronica sent into the elimination. The surprise: Veronica sitting underneath the balcony hearing the girls’ entire conversation. Another no-brainer was Wes telling KellyAnne that he was planning to go into the elimination to take out Cohutta. The surprise: Cohutta defeated Wes, pretty handily in the elimination. Last but not least, no one was surprised when Susie and Ibis decided to gang up against Veronica.

But the biggest shocker of all time was when the Champions were forced to come up with a decision about who to send in the elimination for the girls, since they had used up the allotted 30 minutes discussing the matter. What happened next will be forever ingrained in my memory.

Veronica filibustered her way out of an elimination and it was magnificent. When the Champions were deliberating who was going to be sent into the elimination, going into it I can’t see how anybody watching thought that Veronica had a chance of avoiding the elimination, but she pulled it off. I don’t know if she did it on purpose, but regardless it saved her tail for another episode.

She talked and talked, and continued talking until the 30 minutes ran out. “The Ruins” host TJ Lavin told the six representatives to make a decision by voting. Derek, Susie and Ibis voted for Veronica to go in against KellyAnne, while Wes, Evan and Veronica voted for her to go against Kimberly.

Stalemate.

What happened next was anyone’s guess, because this was a first.

TJ then pulled out the trump card and said the entire Champions team would have to come in to vote. I still can’t believe it, but somehow it went from Veronica definitely going into the elimination to Ibis going into the elimination against Kimberly. WHOA!

(Had to take a breather)

It made for great television. With Ibis getting the proverbial kick in the tail, I knew for sure that nothing else would top it. I was proven wrong.

In a elimination that relied less on strength and more on agility and patience, Cohutta demolished Wes in the elimination and the Challengers went for the sweep by having Kim defeat Ibis, as well.

It was one helluva an episode.

Last night’s episode didn’t disappoint either. With the Champions down to nine players to the Challengers seven, tension was simmering. Veronica was still on the outs with most of her team, even after her surprising avoidance of last week’s elimination.

After defeating one of the strongest competitors to ever grace the show, Cohutta and the Challengers had a newfound swagger, but were still looking to win another challenge, so they could have some power as to who would going into the elimination.

This brings me to Casey, my least favorite person on the show. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear she was throwing the challenges. There’s no way she’s just this bad. And, if that is the case, why come to “The Ruins?”

I won’t lie, I’m rooting for the Challengers and she’s worthless. If you were to look up dead weight in the dictionary, Casey would be smiling ear to ear as she ruined another mission for the Challengers.

She’s so inept, that the Champions feel that they have the final challenge locked up. I believe they’re thinking since practically every man on their team is a behemoth – naturally and unnaturally, if you know what I’m sayin’ – they should be able to dominate the rest of the challenges from this point on. And, regardless how strong they are, as long as Casey is on the Challengers, she is their biggest asset.

Man, I hate you Casey.

Part II will be posted tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Filed Under: Blogs, Kamari Stevens, The Schoolboy's Musings Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

“The Ruins” Blog: Pushed Back

November 4, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Sorry, I couldn’t get a post up Tuesday or today, but tomorrow expect a massive post on the past two episodes.  For a sneak preview I’ll let you all know to be ready for a very explicit analysis of the Veronica/Ibis debacle and how it affects the game. Plus, I will dole out some more predictions for things to come.

See ya tomorrow and remember “you killed it.”

Filed Under: Blogs, Entertainment, Kamari Stevens, The Schoolboy's Musings Tagged With: , , , ,

“The Ruins” Blog: A Tanya-plosion

October 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Whoa Nelly!

This week’s episode featured all the makings of classic: Drama, tension, fighting, backstabbing and despair.

I’ll start with Tanya, who I said in my first post is the wildcard on this challenge. Well she went from wildcard to sympathetic figure. On this challenge I feel like a lot of personal relationships have merged onto the actual. Usually what’s going on in one of the castmates personal life is left to the unknown, but on “The Ruins” I’ve heard about Johanna and Wes owning a house, Tanya being separated and basically living an unfulfilling life, rumored steroid use by KellyAnne and much more.

As far as the way Tanya was treated on the last week’s episode, I thought it was very immature. Evan, Johnny and Kenny – who I disliked after I heard him open his mouth on the first episode of “The Ruins” – are plain jerks. Yes, they are likable for the most part, but to exploit Tanya while she was very drunk was across the line.

It was just the boiling point for Tanya. Later on in the episode, she slapped the s dot-dot-dot out of Veronica. I’m not a violent person, but I wished they wouldn’t have broken up the fight. Veronica deserved everything she got and it’s hard to believe that majority of these people are nearing 30 with the way the bicker and talk behind each other’s backs. The fighting incident led to Tanya’s immediate dismissal from the show, but the entertainment never waned.

Katie had one helluva episode. First, she goes on a tirade after someone leaves a plunger in her bed. Most of the words were directed at “Challenger” rookie Sarah. Katie also declared that “The Ruins” would be her last challenge, seeing as she wants to settle down with her fiancée and have kids – yeah, right.

This week’s challenge featured a dominating performance from the “Champions.” The “Challengers” had a great chance of winning until Casey had to step up. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m starting to believe that Casey made a deal with the “Champions” to throw every mission if they would give her a cut of their winnings. She’s ABYSMAL. If Katie, a 4’ 11” chain-smoking drunkard with no kind of athleticism, is able to compete decently in the challenges, why can’t you Casey? I seriously hope she get’s voted off next week but that would require the “Challengers” to win a challenge and with Casey on the team, those chances are slim.

Danny and Sarah were sent into the elimination from the “Challengers” squad against Darrell and Katie. In my opinion, this was the best elimination in a long time. The competitors were suspended in the air while they were force to hold onto a wooden hula-hoop. The first to let go twice was sent home. Both Katie and Danny fought hard, but took a L. I had an idea that Sarah was strong competitor, but after her performance in the challenge and in the elimination she has reached the official status of a strong player in this game. The “Challengers” are down to seven people and they definitely can’t afford to lose another male player, with only Brad, Dunbar and Cohutta remaining.

Moment of the week: Two moments make up this special portion of “The Ruins.” After Evan and a few others had pulled Tanya off of Veronica, they consoled her and told her how she was a part of their “family.” I’m assuming this the RW/RR family. Well, earlier in the episode, during the challenge, some of the “Champions” called out to Darrell, pronouncing it “Dare –ull.” Darrell’s name is actually pronounced “Da – rell.”

So much for family.

Filed Under: Blogs, Kamari Stevens, The Schoolboy's Musings Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

“The Ruins” Blog: Less is more

October 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Last week’s episode of “The Ruins” was a bit of a letdown, after the exciting drama from the second episode involving Wes and Evelyn.

Tonya continued to maintain her wildcard status by attempting to climb the mast of a boat and hooking up with local Thai girl while on the same boat.

The Challengers won their first mission, but the win was bittersweet because both Adam and Brianna, both of who were sent to the elimination, lost against Syrus and Susie, respectively, and were sent home.

I was shocked when Brianna was chosen over Casey to be sent to elimination because I feel like Casey is the weakest girl on the show and I hate people who try to be manipulative on the show, but have no other skills that would allow them to stay.

The Challengers seemed downtrodden after losing two more teammates, but in the past challenges that featured teams, it seems that the team with the less amount of people usually have the advantage during the final challenge, which in this case is worth $120,000. Plus less people, means more money pocketed for each player.

So, while the Champions squad is decidedly better than the Challengers, I think that as long as they have three or four strong competitors – I would consider Dunbar, Brad and KellyAnne to make up that category – then in the long run, they will be fine.

My predictions for today’s show are that the Challengers will win another challenge and they will be able to take out one of the main players on the Champions squad. I thought that Brianna, though a rookie, would’ve been able to take Susie out of the game, but she came up short. Wes will most likely end up in the elimination and take out another one of the Challengers, probably Cohutta. KellyAnne and maybe Kimberly are the only girls that I know can beat one of the top girls on the Champions side.

Today’s show will be one of sacrifice because with the numbers dwindling down, the weak players are being weeded out.

That should make for some great upcoming eliminations, which with the exception of last week’s, has been very entertaining.

Filed Under: Blogs, Kamari Stevens, The Schoolboy's Musings Tagged With: , , , , ,
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