Paulie Calls for the OGs to Stay Home: Is He Right?

Season 41 is made up of Veterans & New Threats, but one thing seems to be missing: old threats.

Many of the older veterans, the people who debuted in Eras 1 and 2, are performing poorly. Fans have started to take notice, and so has Era 4 cast member Paulie.

On Snapchat, Paulie explained that there are OGs who appear on the show unhealthy, out of shape, and are just there to collect a paycheck. In his opinion, these people aren’t entertaining, and they’re taking spots from better Challengers.

This is a continuation of a discussion Paulie had on Twitter earlier in the season. In his tweet, he mentioned the OG men can’t keep up with the younger competitors any more, and it shows. While he didn’t name anyone, he did say it was clear on War of the Worlds 2. By this logic, his comments would apply to CT, Leroy, Rogan, and possibly Theo (though Theo debuted on The Challenge after Paulie). He deliberately omits Bananas from his assessment, probably because Bananas is still on the show causing drama for entertainment.

However, we can’t forget that Paulie wasn’t cast to be on Vets & New Threats, so there might be a bitter bone in his body, but it’s hard to ignore that many of the older veterans are underperforming this season. If we look at the Day Zero challenge, CT, Nia, and Aneesa finished in last. Meanwhile, the top performers were Yeremi and Izzy.

In fact, we saw the controversy around underperforming veterans become a plot point on episode 6 when CT wouldn’t complete the Runes My Life challenge. Turbo confronted him, and CT admitted he was old and out of shape… basically confirming he’s just on the show for the paycheck. This irritated Turbo, who told CT to stay home, and it indirectly led to Leka going home.

In this regard, it’s kind of hard to disagree with Paulie. Even CT’s biggest fans can see this is an “off season” for him, and his chance of winning is nearly 0%.

The Vets & New Threats cast also has super losers Aneesa, Leroy, and Nany — all of whom have competed on 10+ seasons without a win. These three aren’t doing too well in terms of points this season (though Aneesa is doing alright), while Era 4 competitors like Michaela and Olivia are dominating the scoreboard.

This isn’t to say all veterans are washed up, and some are still in good shape. In the past, we’ve seen people return to the show after 10+ years away (someone like Shane comes to mind), and they put a solid effort into the game. Even if they don’t win, they’re competitive and trying to get to the final. In doing this, the old school players remain interesting and certainly aren’t wasted spots on the cast.

This is likely why Paulie omits Bananas from his statements. Bananas hasn’t come onto a season seriously injured, he’ll hook up with people, and he seldom flies under the radar. In doing this, he’s making the show interesting. While he went home early on Vets & new Threats, he also won the Mud Ball Madness challenge, so he still posed a threat in the game.

It seems unlikely that the super veterans will stop receiving invitations to do The Challenge, but Paulie does have a point. It’s kind of sad to see older competitors show up on seasons, get smoked by rookies, and tally up appearances without coming close to a win. This tarnishes their reputation in the game, and it will even leave die-hard fans disappointed.

It’s hard knowing there are a lot of Challengers eager to do the show, but they’re not getting cast because super veterans are taking their spots to collect an appearance fee. Fans definitely want to see the veterans on the show, but when those players are in no position to succeed, those viewers are just going to be disappointed. And watching Vets & New Threats, there are probably about five spots on the cast the could have gone to newer Challengers from Eras 3 and 4.