Challenge Final Reckoning Team Preview: Jenna Compono and Jemmye Carroll
Final Reckoning has many fresh teams with players still only a few seasons into their Challenge careers, and then you have a team like this one which has two girls who are now approaching the leader-boards for most seasons ever done by a female competitor. Final Reckoning will be the seventh season for Jemmye and the sixth for Jenna. Jenna has racked up her season total by appearing in six out of seven seasons in the past four years, where Jemmye has been a mainstay over the decade, taking a three season break between Exes 2 (Jenna’s first season) and Dirty 30 (where this rivalry began). The duo on paper seems to make up for one another’s weaknesses in theory, though they might actually just bring the other person’s strength’s down.
Introducing the Rivalry: They seemed to be friends going into Dirty 30. Jenna competed on Exes 2 with Jemmye and was friends with Knight, so one would assume she had decent rapport with Jemmye at the least. When the first purge of Dirty 30 occurred, Jenna won the final heat guaranteeing herself and one other person safety. She chose to save Jemmye. How did Jemmye repay the favor? Well, the first chance she got to put Jenna into elimination, she did it. To put the cherry on top, it was against Kailah, Jenna’s best friend in the house. The tension between the two was not healed on Vendettas as Jenna was recovering from a broken ankle injury she sustained on Champs vs Stars 2. Jenna is back again and we get to see how the two work together.
Player Vitals:
Jemmye Carroll: 29 years old, 5'5, 6 seasons, 1 final, Highest Finish: 3rd Place Rivals 2, 2–4 elimination record
Jenna Compono: 25 years old, 5'9, 5 seasons, 3 finals, Highest Finish: 2nd Place Rivals 3, 5–1 elimination record
Team Skills and Physical Strength: From a pure size standpoint, this duo has a bit of weight on the other dual female pairs. Can they lift the most? Probably not. Can they get physical in a headbanger type competition? Jenna is a bit timid and Jemmye has lost all of her physical eliminations in the past. Jemmye’s main strength is she is a strong swimmer, while Jenna is an above average swimmer. Their best chance to win a challenge is in a swimming challenge. They could also finish at the top of a heights related challenge. Jemmye has volunteered herself in heights challenges in the past, though she is becoming increasingly more fearful over the years after seeing some of the injuries players have taken on during them. The two individual/pair daily challenges win for Jenna on both Rivals 3 and Vendettas were heights related.
Jenna has great cardio and can physically run the final. Jemmye’s cardio has improved significantly from Dirty 30, though even when she was on Rivals 2, she could not keep up in the final daily challenge with the remaining female competitors. The biggest question mark is whether Jenna’s ankle is fully healed. I would say yes her ankle is mostly healed. She will still have to ice when it swells on off days. The difference is she is not at full strength. Jenna worked out daily before the injury as her body was her money maker. She has lost muscle and is not in her peak shape.
SSMP (Social, Strategic, Mental, and Political) Game: The social game is the key to Jenna and Jemmye making a final. Jenna is number one girl for both Zach and Bananas, she is the number one ally of Kailah, and is friendly with mostly everyone other than Amanda who is Zach’s partner. Jemmye is uber close with Veronica, and additionally close to Nelson and some others. This is the perfect team of two people who can literally float through the entire game. They have so many connections and are such a non-threat, they can find themselves getting far rather easily. Then again, with Purges and Twists, that can all end very quickly. Jenna has been eliminated her past two seasons via Purges and Jemmye lost on Vendettas via a last second Purge.
Jenna cannot eat gross food, it is her Achilles heel, however, Jemmye has escaped eating during gross food challenges her entire career somehow. Ironically, Jenna has won trivia in the past, and Jemmye has finished in last place twice in trivia. Jemmye must step up and prove she can hold her own mentally; she calls herself one of the smartest people, we need to see it in something tangible. Politically, this team should lean on Jenna, strategically it should lean on Jemmye. Jemmye is more able to make big moves, however, she always finds herself getting thrown in when the game enters its later stages. People like Jemmye, but they are not afraid to throw her under the bus if it means their own safety or an easy move. Jenna has real connections with people who will make poor choices in their own game in order to keep the alliance safe.
Eliminations & Winning Potential: Jenna is lacking success in daily challenges and finals. Her bread and butter has been the elimination arena, showing quite a bit of skill in what are known as Carnival Game eliminations. Eliminations where anyone can win and the skill-set necessary is quite random. On the other side of the coin, Jemmye has never won an elimination other than her Rivals 2 run with Camila. Her losses are not the best either. Jemmye needs to step up her fight in eliminations for them to be able to make the final.
Can this team win? No. Not with Jemmye’s lack of experience running a final, and not with Jenna being at full-strength. Can they make the final? There is a great chance this team floats their way the to final. If they can slide through and let the better teams fight one another, they have a free extra paycheck coming their way. Jenna has never done worse than 6th on a season, whenever she is around, she is a threat to make the final.
Jenna’s Rating: 80/100 (ankle accounted for)
Jemmye’s Rating: 67/100
