Episode 5 of Battle of the Eras introduced casual viewers to a term they may not have heard before: the Vacation Alliance. It’s a term used to describe a group of Challenge regulars who habitually hang out with each other off the show, but when they play the game together, they tend to work as a unit and do well.
Specifically, this group includes Tori, Devin, Aneesa, Kaycee, Josh, Nany, and Faysal. There are also members who aren’t quite in the group, but routinely find themselves aligning with the Vacation Alliance (like Jordan for example).
How Did the Vacation Alliance Form?
The Vacation Alliance really emerged during the COVID-era Challenge seasons. On Double Agents, it wasn’t a cohesive unit — Devin was a notable outsider then. However, it does seem this group is derivative of the Big Brother Alliance that was prominent on Double Agents.
The group was really solidified on Spies, Lies and Allies. On that season, Devin had put his issues with Josh behind him, Nany and Kaycee officially became an item, and there were notably fewer veterans in the house. So, this group did their best to protect each other, and it worked. Devin, Tori, and Kaycee made it to the final with Kaycee being crowned as a champion.
The name “Vacation Alliance” seemingly started after photos of this group (without Josh) were posted online after Spies, Lies and Allies wrapped. That season had a long filming window, so anyone who was able to take a trip after filming it must have unlimited vacation time (aka no job).
Why Do People Hate the Vacation Alliance?
If you browse online Challenge forums, the “Vacation Alliance” is a dirty word. Many fans dislike people in the group, but more likely, they’re just sick of seeing the same people on every season. If we look at Double Agents; Spies, Lies and Allies; and Ride or Dies six members of the Vacation Alliance did all three of those seasons (Josh didn’t appear on Ride or Dies).
Not only do these players routinely appear on back-to-back seasons, but their group is so solid that they often make it to the final — sometimes they avoid elimination all together. This is a sign that there is a lot of trust in the alliance and they have figured out a major social aspect of the game, but for the viewers, it’s boring. People are afraid to target members of the Vacation Alliance because the rest of the group will try to retaliate.
The Vacation Alliance tends to be really good at playing the meta game, in a way that former alliances weren’t as vocal about. The competitors will deliberately come in second place because they don’t want the power (and therefore the target) that winners of the daily challenges get. They’ll also discuss the fact that people have reputations that carry over from one season to the next. So, a move made on season 37 could have impacted a player on season 38.
They also don’t contribute a lot in terms of drama. For the most part, they offer the same story lines that are drawn out over the course of multiple seasons. We routinely see Tori argue with Jordan, Kaycee and Nany’s relationship, or Aneesa’s fight for respect. Ultimately, these plot lines go nowhere. It’s like they’re intentionally left open-ended so production can fill dead space with the stories.
Does the Vacation Alliance Even Make Sense?
Sadly, an alliance like the Vacation Alliance was inevitable. Most of the people in the group don’t have regular 9-5 jobs because they can’t. Challenge seasons take 3+ months to film, assuming you make it to the final. Plus, most of the cast members have done at least one spinoff. This means a significant portion of their time is dedicated to the show — and that’s ignoring press and outside appearances.
Beyond that, many of them have left the game with injuries. People like Aneesa and Kaycee had to take more time out of their lives to recover from surgeries.
The best thing about this group: They are playing to win. At its core, you want people on The Challenge that want to walk away victorious. If we look at Tori, she really struggled with the skull twist on Total Madness and Double Agents, and since twists are inevitable on The Challenge, it’s not ridiculous that she’d try to find a trusted group to make navigating unexpected parts of the game easier.
From a logic standpoint, this makes sense. From a television standpoint, it gets really redundant. It’s not surprising that a group of Challenge regulars would want to work together. What’s more surprising is that production doesn’t try very hard to split up the group. So, we see the same people making it to the final quarter of the game season-after-season… and perhaps that’s the intent after all.
There are some fans that have entertained a theory that the Vacation Alliance exists because it’s comprised of fairly diverse people. They believe that these competitors are repeatedly invited on the show because they fulfill specific casting requirements. This idea isn’t too far-fetched considering that in late 2020 — when this alliance was starting to form — ViacomCBS introduced a guideline for all of its unscripted shows to have at least 50% people of color.
However, that is just a theory pieced together by fans, and every member of the Vacation Alliance appeared on The Challenge before the policy’s introduction. And, it’s not like this is the only alliance that has been cast season-after-season… but it just might be the most boring one.
Stop Being Polite 