The Team of Three Won: Was This Unfair?

On Episode 9 of Battle for a New Champion, the Doom Sticks challenge was played in teams of two. But, there were 15 people on the cast. So production decided to make one team of three.

Unsurprisingly, the trio won.

Asaf, Zara, and Ravyn were all able to work together during each stage of the game. There were no efforts to level the playing field, and during the heat where the teams had to pull a sled, all three players were allowed to pull. As winners, they were also given the power to knock teams out of the competition — four total — and they got to advance to the end. During the final heat, the three players were behind their opponents, Emanuel & Berna, but ended up winning because they solved the puzzle quickly, which tends to happen when you have more minds working together.

You can’t really blame Asaf, Zara, or Ravyn for this. They were given an advantage and they seized the opportunity. Rather, the game’s design was flawed. And no, it wasn’t fair at all. It was predictable, which is boring to watch, and overpowered, which destroys the merits of the competition.

Some people have speculated that the pairings weren’t very random. Friends and allies seemed to magically get put together — like Horacio & Nurys or Emanual & Berna. Production could have been trying to force storylines, and one of those stories could have been Ravyn’s revenge.

This is not confirmed, but we did see Melissa throw a drink at Ravyn last week, and production knew this elimination was going to be a girl’s Arena. So, by Ravyn winning, she’d be able to take shots at Melissa and Zara would be trying to defend Melissa. Meanwhile, Asaf (who apparently had an agreement with Melissa) would become the swing vote.

If you look at all the pieces of this puzzle, the narrative seems to fit, but this is just a theory. What we know for certain: The game wasn’t balanced. Production made no attempt to hide the fact that Asaf, Zara, and Ravyn had an easier time, and it was obvious that they’d win.