“No one’s falling, no one’s fighting. This is boring,” Amber B. said in last week’s episode of The Challenge: Double Agents, echoing the sentiments of viewers across the board. Fans of the long-running MTV competition show are accustomed to epic battles during challenges and eliminations. But during a recent challenge, the men were a big let-down, and one of the show’s high-profile fans has put them on blast.
Last week’s challenge, dubbed Aerial Takedown, had contestants hold onto a net dangling from a helicopter flying over a body of freezing cold water. Beyond that, the players also tried to knock their opponents off the net to be the last (wo)man standing. The contestants were separated into four groups — two groups of women and two groups of men. When the women were up to bat, it was a battle royale, a mad scrambling to pry fellow contestants off the netting, sending them hurtling into the cold water below. But when it was the men’s turn...nothing happened. The first group of men made zero attempts to compete and were all disqualified after a few minutes. The second group of men did slightly better, as Jay and Leroy battled it out, but the group was ultimately disqualified as well. The Challenge host T.J. Lavin was not pleased with the men’s performance, and upon their return said, “You guys f****** sucked.”
Fans saw the lack of effort as a travesty because, as T.J. says, “You don’t win a million dollars coasting through this game.” Some of the men were quick to admit they failed. Kyle commented that the women had proven themselves that day, while the men didn’t. CT, considering T.J. as a sort of father to The Challenge, said, “I just feel like we let Dad down.” But other competitors have been throwing out excuses. Fessy took to Twitter to claim the lack of effort was strategic (was it though?), that they didn’t know there was a time limit (did he think the show would leave them dangling forever?), and that you couldn’t pull someone off the net while hanging on at the same time (though the women proved that it was extremely possible).
Fans have been calling out the men’s shameful performance on social media, including former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky. “Man, all the dudes on @ChallengeMTV soft as heck on tonight challenges...weak weak weak weak weak,” he said, echoing the sentiments of fans. Fessy got into a bit of a back-and-forth with the ESPN host, claiming “I came on the show to compete!!” But fellow contestant Nam was quick to admit to his failure. "I want to apologize to everyone,” he said on Twitter, “Cause this was not ME, feeling ashamed to do not compete. My competing heart felt like it was broken #sorry.”
The travesty that was last week’s challenge could prove to be a major turning point in the game, as this could be the point where the women take the lead. Nany pointed out that the men on The Challenge like to strut around like they’re big and bad, but this challenge proved that, “We’re actually braver. We’re stronger. And we’re actually here to compete.” Only time will tell if the men will step it up and rise to the occasion on the next episode of The Challenge: Double Agents, but for now, sisters are doin' it for themselves.
The Challenge: Double Agents airs Wednesdays at 8 pm ET on MTV.
Source: Dan Orlovsky, Fessy Shafaat, Nam Vo