Dueling Idiots: The Finale

The Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Duel 2 was a very entertaining if uneven challenge and brought the show back from the boredom that was The Island. Last night’s finale certainly continued that theme as overall it was a great hour of schlock TV.

First up we had to resolve the cliffhanger from last week and see the results of the previous two duels. Aneesa (RW: Chicago) held on to defeat Tori (RR: Viewer’s Revenge) but it was ever so close. Tori still took the opportunity to declare her inner beauty on the way out and completely ignored the previous 48 hours worth of bitching, whining, and all around drama. Meanwhile her grounded better half Brad (RW: San Diego) surprisingly sent MJ (RW: Philly) packing. I thought for sure we’d see Brad and Tori flying home together but was happy to see Brad stick around.

Uber-host TJ Lavin then threw the remaining 8 contestants a giant curve ball in that he absolutely did not. First he congratulates the final 8 on being in the final 8 and the ladies go crazy. Then TJ reminds that this competition gets down to the final 6 and then the light bulbs all went on again. Instead of a challenge though, this time they had to choose the first player into The Duel. On the ladies side Diem (Fresh Meat) was the quick choice and she did not take it well. Meanwhile Evan (Fresh Meat) rounded up Mark (RR: Season 1) and Brad to take out Landon (RW: Philly). Landon was shocked by this because he was the best performer all season. Honey, you may have been bitten by a radioactive spider that gave you super strength but you don’t have Peter Parker level smarts. The two chosen ones then got to pick their opponents at The Duel. Diem called out rookie Brittney (RW: Hollywood) and I was finally thinking we’d see the rook go home but Diem went for the same trick twice in Push Over and it cost her. Meanwhile Landon inexplicably called out Brad. I’ve got two problems with this. Number 1, if you’re all upset about the honor of the game being ruined by the other guys choosing you, then where’s your honor in picking on the guy that was in The Duel less than 24 hours ago. Second, how do you not pick out mentally fragile man-child Evan? Sure he may be a bit stronger then Brad but the guy has more cracks in his psyche then the U.S. banking system. Landon paid for his choice dearly but not before treating us to the best Duel of the season. These two guys played Back Off which was the first time the guys played it all season. Landon suplexed Brad and threw him into walls but in the end Brad once again showed why he’s too smart to be on this show and beat Landon by essentially batting a string in front of him like a cat. In disgust Landon threw his helmet into the New Zealand countryside and my partner couldn’t help but think that somewhere in the Shire, little Frodo just got a present.

The final challenge itself was a bit of a letdown. While some of the tasks were interesting and demanding it became clear early on that Rachel (RR: Campus Crawl) was going to take it for the ladies. Even better she beat all the guys. Sadly it was also clear once the players had to team up in girl/boy squads that Mark was going to finish last for the guys. The only drama came in the form of Brad and Evan competing for the top male spot. Brad finally crumbled and let that slimy bastard Evan sneak by him for the win but $35k is still not bad for a guy who’s unemployed. Evan basked in his win Evan style and made me pray that CT (RW: Paris) comes back for the next challenge and that Evan looks at him funny. In the meantime we’ve got a fresh group of drunk, diseased riddled folks in two weeks on Real World: Cancun.