Regardless if you’re team Laurel or team Ninja, we can all agree production is the major culprit in this week’s elimination blunder. The truth is MTV’s The Challenge has a long history of production controversies and cover ups. Reality TV was designed to be entertaining not fair. Contestants sign away their lives in intricate contracts that grant production the ability to make any decision with full impunity. Laurel’s elimination had me feeling nostalgic for the days of Svetlana VS Beth so here’s a list of 5 other elimination fails.
The Duel
1. Svetlana VS Beth: Push Me
Sources claim production took at least 30 minutes after Beth ripped the flag from the carabiner to decide on the disqualification. Production knew the fans would be devastated if Svetlana lost. Sadly setting this precedent also meant CT would be DQ’d in the same elimination against Brad right before the final.
Final Reckoning
Final Reckoning was riddled with scandals… Non gendered comps added to rushed production timetables made for a very sloppy season.
2. Kam & Kayleigh VS Paulie & Natalie: Think Outside the Box
The bungee cords connected to Kam had significantly more give than the cords connected to Paulie. It was apparent to anyone with eyes. This may not have been nearly as intentional or controversial an error as the rest. Production thought they were creating a fair compromise for allowing genders to compete against each other.
3. Brad & Kyle VS Kam & Kayleigh: I Got You Pegged
An anonymous source claims that Brad and Kyle didn’t lose. They got the math right the first time but the referee got it wrong. If you think about it, unlike pretty much every single other math challenge, there was never a clear camera shot of either board to show the correct math.
4. Bananas & Tony VS Natalie & Paulie: Milk and Cookies
Tony and Bananas beat Paulie and Natalie in the first elimination they competed in. Due to an equipment failure, they had to redo the elimination giving Paulie and Natalie a second chance. According to Marie’s recap as well as a few other sources, the first elimination favoured Tony and Bananas’ skill sets, whereas the second had a more level playing field. You can see the different structures behind TJ showing two different elimination setups.
War of the Worlds
5. Amanda & Josh VS Ashley & Kam
Production told the contestants they could not go back to back when climbing up the slanted latter. Amanda said she was screaming at production when Kam and Ashley starting going back to back but they let it play out. It’s clear this elimination was rigged by production.
