[6.2/10] This season was the finale of a trilogy of the 2 preceding seasons, XXX: Dirty 30 and Vendettas.
What works against this season is its length and format. At 20 episodes (not including the 2 part reunion), this is the longest season that The Challenge has ever produced.
The format combined elements of Dirty 30, Vendettas, and previous Rivals seasons. The Redemption House returned after taking a season off, and it really over stayed its welcome this time.
Instead of having full blown Redemption challenges, the Double Cross Draw returned from Dirty 30 which would decide what 2 pairs in Redemption would compete to reenter the game. But it had a flaw. Whichever pair that would then lose that elimination would return back to the Redemption House. If a pair was not chosen by the Double Cross at all, they would be eliminated from the game.
The issue with the twist is that Purges would happen throughout the season that would send a pair directly to the Redemption House. There were a few pairs that would lose a daily, be sent directly to Redemption, not be chosen for the Double Cross, and then be eliminated.
On the contrast, a pair like Paulie and Natalie would sit in Redemption for half the season and proceed to make a run for the final because they got lucky with the Double Cross.
Like Bloodlines, production decided to do a season with mixed gender pairings. However, they didn’t do male only or female only eliminations, and instead had both players compete. This led to “equalizers” being introduced to the elimination rounds which led to mixed results and some controversy in episode 13.
Mercenaries also made a return, but they had a chance to enter the game which angered a lot of fans. It did, however, lead to the greatest German suplex due to pasta. Fun fact: Cory and Darrell were supposed to be one of the mercenary pairs, but after Devin’s father died (he was the original partner of Bananas), plans changed.
The final was boring even though it has one of the most vicious, and at the same time hilarious, moment about sneakers in the history of the show. I won’t spoil it.
The season just had way too many twists and went on for far too long which wasn’t helped by the way the show was being edited.
Review by Whitney TrevonBlockedParentSpoilers2021-05-04T18:59:59Z
[6.2/10] This season was the finale of a trilogy of the 2 preceding seasons, XXX: Dirty 30 and Vendettas.
What works against this season is its length and format. At 20 episodes (not including the 2 part reunion), this is the longest season that The Challenge has ever produced.
The format combined elements of Dirty 30, Vendettas, and previous Rivals seasons. The Redemption House returned after taking a season off, and it really over stayed its welcome this time.
Instead of having full blown Redemption challenges, the Double Cross Draw returned from Dirty 30 which would decide what 2 pairs in Redemption would compete to reenter the game. But it had a flaw. Whichever pair that would then lose that elimination would return back to the Redemption House. If a pair was not chosen by the Double Cross at all, they would be eliminated from the game.
The issue with the twist is that Purges would happen throughout the season that would send a pair directly to the Redemption House. There were a few pairs that would lose a daily, be sent directly to Redemption, not be chosen for the Double Cross, and then be eliminated.
On the contrast, a pair like Paulie and Natalie would sit in Redemption for half the season and proceed to make a run for the final because they got lucky with the Double Cross.
Like Bloodlines, production decided to do a season with mixed gender pairings. However, they didn’t do male only or female only eliminations, and instead had both players compete. This led to “equalizers” being introduced to the elimination rounds which led to mixed results and some controversy in episode 13.
Mercenaries also made a return, but they had a chance to enter the game which angered a lot of fans. It did, however, lead to the greatest German suplex due to pasta. Fun fact: Cory and Darrell were supposed to be one of the mercenary pairs, but after Devin’s father died (he was the original partner of Bananas), plans changed.
The final was boring even though it has one of the most vicious, and at the same time hilarious, moment about sneakers in the history of the show. I won’t spoil it.
The season just had way too many twists and went on for far too long which wasn’t helped by the way the show was being edited.