Since her debut on Dirty Thirty, Tori has become quite a polarizing Challenger. There’s no doubt she’s a tough competitor, but we also saw her personality change during her quest for a Challenge championship.
This is not a bad thing, it happens to everyone. But when her journey includes eliminating fan-favorite competitors, making cutthroat decisions, entering various relationships, and a little bit of desperation, it’s bound to change some perceptions of her. Then, she got her first victory on Ride or Dies.
Just like people can develop negative opinions of Tori, she can also reenter their good graces. Now that she’s playing the game more aggressively on Battle of the Eras, people are starting to see Tori in a different light.
There’s no doubt that Tori has a lot of fans who have stuck by her side throughout her time on the show, but it felt like people started to have a more divided opinion of her on War of the Worlds 2. That season, her alliance actively opposed Cara Maria and Paulie — who had their own fan base — and her relationship with Jordan wasn’t the most palatable story line for some folks. Then, people seemed to view her less favorably on Total Madness and Double Agents. On those seasons, it seemed the skull twists made her very anxious. She wanted to put herself in the best position to earn a skull, but in the process, her badass reputation was becoming tarnished.
Her later seasons would be defined by the Vacation Alliance, protecting her “ex-fiance” Jordan, feuding with Amanda, veganism, and her eventual victory with Devin.
To be clear, Tori has done nothing awful, but on a competition show, people pick sides. When she aligns herself with groups of people who want to win by taking the path of least resistance, viewers won’t always root for her or perceive her to be a hero. Then, on Battle of the Eras, she outlasted her Vacation allies.
Suddenly, we’re seeing Tori in a different light. She won the Fire Away and Duned challenges, and she came painfully close to winning Building Bridges. Quickly, she proved that she doesn’t need the Vacation Alliance to excel. In reality, they probably need her.
With Tori’s power, she’s made it clear that she won’t support Bananas. Of course, Bananas is an incredibly popular competitor, so this will make some people view her less favorably. However, she’s also choosing to play the game aggressively and without fear. There’s a competitive spark in Tori on season 40 that seemed to be missing on her appearances before this.
Even though Tori is opposing Bananas this season, the feud hasn’t really painted either player in a terrible light. Instead, fans are realizing that competition are valuable aspects of this game, and it’s entertaining to see two titans compete against each other. On seasons like Double Agents; Spies, Lies and Allies; and Ride or Dies, there was a clear pecking order. Both Bananas and Tori took advantage of this so they could skate through the competition for weeks without having to make a decisive move. Generally, this worked, but from a viewers’ perspective, it was boring.
It’s hard to deny Tori’s success this season, and as a result, long-term fans have developed a new (or returned) appreciation for her. She eliminated Kaycee and outperformed all of the other girls on multiple occasions. She’s not playing a scared game, and if nothing else, people appreciate this for making the show less predictable.
Stop Being Polite 