Bad news: Cutthroat has finished airing. There’s no reunion, and we’re “between seasons” right now. Many fans are upset with Cutthroat’s finale, and there are many reasons to be skeptical, but did it ruin the season?
In my opinion, Cutthroat was still enjoyable, flaws and all — and here are five positives from the season.
1. The casting mix. This season had a decent number of veterans, about a fourth of the cast were rookies, and another quarter were “New Threats.” This is a better blend than we’ve seen in a long time, but the season also had a few unexpected returns, like Nelson, Chris, and Cassidy. I won’t say the casting was perfect, but this is a step in the right direction compared to other recent seasons.
2. The rookies. Ever since The Real World and Are You the One? ended, it feels like production has had a hard time finding its stride with casting. This season, the casting mostly made sense: We saw faces from familiar Paramount properties (and Lete). We also saw rookies who made a splash on the season. Specifically, Lete was a strong opponent, and Anna Leigh was pure messy entertainment.
3. The length. Vets & New Threats was a good season, but it was long. In fact, many seasons in recent years have felt bloated, but Cutthroat picked up the pace. The season had 14 episodes, each 45-50 minutes. This length felt comfortable, which helped Cutthroat feel closer to Challenge seasons from the 2010s.
4. It was a true team season. We’ve seen a few Challenge seasons in recent years with “teams.” Spies, Lies and Allies and Ride or Dies had team portions, but the teams eventually disbanded. Battle of the Eras and USA 2 started with teams, but closer to the end, the format became individual. So it was nice to see a final where the teams remained intact; it was the first time we’ve seen it since War of the Worlds 2 in 2019, and we didn’t even have a purge in the end.
5. We got new winners. This might be polarizing, but I like that we have a couple of new faces in the Challenge winner circle: Will and Michele. Many of the more recent seasons have made the “champion” title a badge of honor, but the same faces are popping up to represent the champs. I appreciate that there was an opportunity for other people to get the title, even if they allowed some of the super veterans to beef up their resumes.
