Challenges are Made for Quitters

This week we saw Eric quit Battle of the Seasons. Perhaps it was his constant appearances in The Arena, perhaps he didn’t want to defeat his lover Devyn, or perhaps he thought it would be funny. Regardless of the reasoning, he’s gone, and his teammate Camila reluctantly left with him. Let’s look at some of the people people that have quit the challenge for no good reason.

On Battle of the Sexes 1, Emily quit on the same night that the mens’ team was going to eliminate her boyfriend James. She tried to justify her quitting by saying she had a sick sister at home, but she fooled no one. She was two missions away from the final, and she could have quit earlier if her sister really needed her. But she left with her boyfriend, who is now her ex boyfriend. Bet she feels stupid now.

Emily wasn’t the only quitter that season. Puck memorably left the house after his wife and son (who came on the show for a Jamaican wedding!) were detained in Jamaica. I guess that’s more reasonable, because no one wants to be stranded on a foreign island alone.

During Battle of the Sexes 2, Chris volunteered to leave early because he got married. During the season he flew home to attend the ceremony, then flew back to continue competing. Now, I understand that he wanted to be with his new wife, but why the fuck would he double book himself? To be quite honest, he should have never shown up for the challenge if he knew he was going to leave early.

Beth’s bad reputation exists for a reason. On The Inferno 2, she left after Tonya threw all of her clothes into the pool and she got into a fight with pretty much everyone on her team. She then appeared on the next season, The Gauntlet 2, and was performing well. She defeated Ruthie in a Gauntlet and became team captain. However, she refused to wrestle Aneesa in the second to last female Gauntlet and was sent home.

The Inferno 2 andGauntlet 2 had other quitters. Karamo had to quit The Inferno because he was scheduled for an appearance during filming. Jisela was so bad in the Gauntlet that it’s obvious that she threw it. Cameran decided not to compete against Kina is the season’s first female Gauntlet, she was cause for TJ Lavin’s first quitter speech.

The Gauntlet 3 also had its share of quitters. Some people were terribly bad in The Gauntlet (Alex), Tyrie left because his girlfriend was having heart problems at home. The most memorable quitter was Coral. I love her, but it looks kind of fishy that she quit when she was slated to compete against Evelyn. She claims it was because her team was shady (which they were), but she could have stuck around longer.

On the following season, Abram quit The Island for what he claimed to be business reasons. Many fans speculate that he left to be with his then-girlfriend Coral, but no one knows for sure. Personally, I doubt Abe would quit without a good reason.

Dave quit The Island because he wanted pizza.

Evelyn quit The Ruins because she had to compete in a Ruins against Kellyanne. After criticizing Coral for quitting The Gauntlet 3 for shady gameplay, she quit The Ruins because of shady gameplay. Plus, Kellyanne was her best friend and she didn’t want to send her home.

On Cutthroat Shauvon wasted no time in proving to her team that she sucked. Once the team had the option to send her into The Gulag, they jumped on the opportunity. Sarah told Shauvon that she was selfish for continuing to compete on the challenge because she was bringing the team down. Discouraged, Shauvon quit before ever competing in The Gulag.

…and that brings us to Eric. Quitting on Battle of the Season may not have been his finest moment in TJ’s eyes, but it was his finest moment in the viewers eyes.