We’re seven episodes into Vets & New Threats, and TJ finally revealed what the point system is being used for. After the eighth daily challenge, competitors will get to pick their permanent partner who they’ll work with for the rest of the season.
For seven weeks, competitors were supposed to be working to collect points, and in the end, it does seem there’s a real benefit to being a front runner.
Throughout Challenge history there have been a few types of point systems. Old school fans may have been excited by this twist because it’s reminiscent of the scoreboards on Battle of the Seasons and Battle of the Sexes. On those seasons, it was necessary to ascend to the top of the board, otherwise, you’d be eliminated before the final.
We’ve also seen scoring systems like the stars on All Stars 3. Those culminated in small advantages in the final, which was certainly underwhelming.
The point system on Vets & New Threats lies somewhere in the middle, but the reward of picking your partner is pretty significant. That’s the person you’ll (hypothetically) be running the final with, so there’s a clear benefit to having an early pick.
Of course, this mostly renders the Day Zero competition insignificant, but we already knew that wasn’t a big deal when the teams switched after the first daily challenge.
The real problem with the point system: No one knew what was going on, therefore, no one was following it.
It’s been hard to keep track of which competitors have the most points and which ones are at the bottom of the ranking. But, if you have been following along, you’d know that Michaela is already in the top spot. After episode 7, she has 38 points. Based on the current system, the only person that could maybe catch her is Will, who has 30 points. However, Will will be the Hangnail on episode 8, so he can’t surpass Michaela.
There’s also Jonna, who entered the game on episode 5. She missed half of the opportunities to score points, so she’ll definitely be the lowest-scoring female.
Like any twist, this point system isn’t perfect, but it’s far from the worst twist we’ve seen. The competitors who aimed to float under the radar are likely kicking themselves in the behind for letting other people rise to the top. Hopefully, this sends a message to the competitors that they should take daily challenges seriously, even if they’re not in a vulnerable position that week.
Stop Being Polite 