Challenge Retrospective: Bloodlines Awards
While we have the objective history of the Challenge in the wikias, and the show intact to look back on to see how great the olden days were, we are missing some big things: AWARDS. As a major basketball fan, my friends and I spend hours on discussing who the league MVP is, who the rookie of the year is, and who are the top players per position are. I began with Fresh Meat 1, and now done the Duel 1,Inferno 3, Gauntlet 3, the Island, the Duel 2, the Ruins, Fresh Meat 2, Cutthroat, Rivals 1, Exes 1, Battle of the Seasons, Rivals 2, Free Agents, Exes 2, and now Bloodlines If you want links to them, they’ll be at the bottom of this article.
Bloodlines was a bad season. The gems of the season: Cara Maria winning, Abram’s bloody nose during his brother’s elimination, and KellyAnne’s yoga sessions.
The Rules: I will be giving out an MVP award for both male and female competitors on the season. MVP does not just go out to the pair that won the season, but the individual competitor who brought the most to the show: physically, socially, mentally, entertainment wise, hook ups, arguments, circumstances, etc. I will be naming First Team All Challenge, and Second Team All Challenge. These will be 5 person lineups consisting of the best/most important competitors from that season using the MVP criteria, and it can be 5 guys and 0 girls, or 5 girls and 0 guys, or just 3 guys and 2 girls. It will consist of 5 competitors regardless of gender.
Rookie of the Year awards will be given to both genders, and I will also be giving awards out for Most Disappointing Players of the Season(both genders), Top Physical Competitors, and Underdog of the Season. Here we go:
MVPs
Male: Abram Boise Female: Cara Maria Sorbello
Like Sarah on Exes 2, Cara was hellbent on winning Bloodlines after showing up for her for her 8th season, and after 3 previous final losses. Three second place finishes usually sets the pace for an eventual win, ask Paula, Brad, and Laurel.
She dominated the season physically. Her and Jaime won the second mission, assisted Cohutta in winning the first mission, was part of the terrible red team that won every mission due to her, John, and Abram. She saw the final two elimination, besting her arch-nemesis Bananas in a puzzle, and stomping on Aneesa on her path to the final after Aneesa had been trashing her all week.
Winning 3/5 portions of the final, and never finishing worse than second, she proved what a veteran does in a final by winning.
Abram missed the first 3 episodes and didn’t even make top 5! Why did he make it? Because this season was utterly boring besides the short time he was on it. The episode where he screams the entire time his brother was in elimination was frightening.
Rookie of the Year
Male: Mitch Reid Female: Briana Julig
There are multiple good options for guys. Jaime Banks won the season and won 2 eliminations to get to there. He was a great competitor. Cory had a hookup, led a rookie alliance for a bit, and finished second in the final.
In the end, it had to go Mitch. The puzzle god and UC Berkeley kid was able to destroy every puzzle to get his cousin to the final with him. He won an elimination, did well in the final, and always kept them in contention. Sarah Rice is known as the puzzle expert, but I think Mitch might actually be better. A chill dude who brought no drama and was happy to be there.
The girls did not have good options. Briana made the final at least.
First Team All Challenge
Cara Maria Sorbello, Abram Boise, Johnny Bananas, Jenna Compono, Mitch Reid
Johnny was a little devil on this season, messing around with Cara’s relationship, being an asshole, and performing well all season. Too bad his cousin was terrible. Jenna won 3 eliminations to make it to the final. After an embarrassing finish on the Exes 2 final, Jenna surprised a ton of people by winning elimination after elimination. While it wasn’t against top competitors, they were still wins.
Second Team All Challenge
Cory Wharton, KellyAnne Judd, Jamie Banks, Aneesa Ferreira, Thomas Buell
Cory destroyed all the sprinting and short distance challenges on his first season. His struggles were swimming, endurance, lifting, and puzzle. Jaime won the Challenge, so congrats to him. KellyAnne was on this season, which is shocking, considering she didn’t do a Challenge for years (though she was supposed to do BOTS and Free Agents). She had the hilarious scene where she’s crying in the house after her fight with Aneesa; Mitch consoles her by calling her a fan favorite.
Aneesa’s season is rough, she hooks up with Cory, and he keeps toying with her. Then she doesn’t even treat her cousin properly. Loses to Cara Maria in elimination after instigating a fight with her. Made useless drama all season.
Without Thomas’s game of Rock/Paper/Scissors with Cara Maria, what season conflict do we get?
Best Physical Players
Male: Johnny Bananas Female: Cara Maria Sorbello
Cara had more muscle in her arms than all the other girls in the cast put together. Johnny could have destroyed any of the guys on the season physically, except for Abram, and then I think Jaime would have put up a fight. His conditioning was great for Bloodlines.
Most Disappointing Players
Male: Cohutta Grindstaff Female: Camila Nakagawa
Before Abram had entered the game, only two people on the entire Bloodlines cast had ever won a final before. Bananas, who had five, and Camila who won on Exes 1. While it was her sister who lost the elimination for her, the lack of respect in the game for the only female Champion was hilarious.
Cohutta lost due to the bullshit female/male elimination days that put his team in danger due to the eating bugs game. He got an elimination that was purely size based, which was also tough. It makes mad, as they were a possible power team in the game. However, still disappointing to watch him lose to dad bod, Thomas.
