"That Diomedes guy knows his way around a sword. It's a good thing Brandon is a bit of a pyro, or else I'd probably be fertilizer in the woods." - Arthur Morse

General Info:

• Current age: 19
  
• Birthday: 4/6/2016
  
• Name: Brandon Davenport
  
• Aliases: N/A
  

Alignment: Chaotic Good
Affiliation: Camp Half-Blood, Cabin #9, Boom Bros, Bunker #9, Cult of Phlegethon

• Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia (presumed)
  
• Demigod-Related Conundrums:
  

ADHD- Brandon tends to fidget. His fingers seem to have a mind of their own and if he isn’t focused on a problem. They are often writing, tapping, or fiddling with scraps. His ADHD isn’t nearly as bad as most demigods and he tends to keep it under control

Appearance:

Faceclaim	Height	Weight	Hair color	Eye color	Body type
Credit to ShiningBright	5’11”	180	Dark Brown	Left: Orange Right: Hazel	Well-Muscled Triangular

Likes and Dislikes

• Foods: Brandon’s all-time favorite food is steak. He has taken Deklyn on several dates to steakhouses since the food conjured up by the plates doesn’t taste nearly as good. It should also be noticed he despises the taste and smell of chocolate to the point he may leave the room if it is too strong.
  
• Drinks: Energy drinks, tea, soda… If it’s sweet and has caffeine in it, there’s a good chance Brandon likes it. He tends to drink a lot of the stuff when he is stressed or cramming extra hours on a project. Otherwise, chances are he’s just drinking water.
  
• Media: Brandon was a nerd growing up. Things like Pokemon, Harry Potter, Cult classic movies, superheroes, and the like used to provide him with tons of entertainment as he bounced around foster homes. While he has less time for these things nowadays, he still will make several references to them as he speaks.
  

Family:

Member	Name	Age	Relationship
Mother	Mary Davenport	Deceased	Brandon never met his mother. From a demigod dream, he knows she was a mortal inventor who died in a house fire that she accidentally started when Brandon was a baby. Beyond that, he knows nothing about her, how she met Hephaestus, or her life before the gods. He found a few patents attributed to her in the field of robotics but that doesn’t exactly give you a mother to look up to
Father	Hephaestus	???	For a while, Brandon’s driving motivation was meeting and impressing his father. He had no family and wanted to be recognized by that which he did. This led him to find one of Hephaestus’s forges underneath Kīlauea. During the Opening Ceremony, he met his father and was praised for his work and skill in the forge. That said, Hephaestus wasn’t exactly the fatherly figure he hoped for. Brandon still greatly respects his father though he was not a fan of his father’s indulgence in his Mycenaean form. This dirty air was cleared during the Olympic Closing Ceremony.
Aunt	Veronica Davenport	44	The older step-sister of Mary Davenport and the daughter of Eris. Brandon recently learned that no person has had a bigger effect on his life than Veronica Davenport. He ended up in foster care due to her faking her death. So yeah, Brandon doesn’t like his aunt very much. During the short time that he was with her, he openly made fun of her. That said, he did agree to keep a secret from Cassie.
Cousin	Cassandra Davenport	16	Brandon recently learned Cassie is his cousin. Family is important to him and that extends to her. That said, he hasn’t bothered to work through all of the thoughts on her. It’s complicated, to say the least. On the one hand, she had the family Brandon never got to. On the other, her mother is kinda a bitch...

Powers

Passive Power	Additional Notes
Building/Forging/Crafting Expertise	Over the past two years at camp, Brandon has had a hand in making most of the weapons campers use. Beyond that, he’s created defenses for his cabin and the forge, helped to make a ballista, made countless automatons, and more. That is to say, Brandon is quite good at building, forging, and crafting and has used these skills for the benefit of Camp Half-Blood time and time again

Active Power	Additional Notes
“Fireproof”	Brandon has an exceptionally high resistance to fire and heat. Whether it be inside an active volcano, the River Phlegethon, or the insane heat of Camp Half-Blood, he can comfortably survive all of these temperatures without issue or discomfort. Fuck the cold though.
“Enchantment Expert”	Brandon learned the basics of enchantments from a book he found in his father’s forge. From there, he’s dedicated himself to understanding the intricacies of how they work. The most common enchantment he does for campers is storing weapons and items as mundane objects though he has made more impressive enchantments. Items he enchants generally have a cost associated with the ability, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Brandon can also examine magical items to know their effects if he has uninterrupted time to study them. He has shown the ability to replicate godly enchantments on a lesser scale with severe drawbacks.
“Machine-Minded”	Brandon can activate this power to sense nearby technology, what it is doing, and how it works. If such machines are magical (automatons especially) he can communicate with and possibly control them as extensions of his body. Controlling usually only happens for things he has made or his allies. Enemy automatons recognize him as hostile and ignore his commands though he can often still use their senses as his own. His eyes give a distinct bronze glow when he does this as a tell of this power. Expanding the range and controlling many things at once gives massive splitting headaches.

Friends:

Name	Description
Deklyn Hayes	Brandon’s girlfriend for the past long while. Brandon is hopelessly in love with the daughter of Iris and she knows it. Of course, that doesn’t stop the constant teasing, pranks, and sarcasm. Brandon is also fiercely protective of her to the point he’s taught her how to fight, made her weapons, made her horse armor, and more. When Deklyn leaves camp, Brandon will be at her side to move on with their lives together.
Lukas Kleiner	Brandon’s first friend upon coming to Camp Half-Blood. Lukas gave him the welcoming tour when he arrived and soon after they became partners in crime. Their penchant for explosions blew shut a hole to Asphodel during a zombie invasion of camp and since then, the Boom Bros have been a force to be reckoned with.
Matthew Thompson	The other member of Boom Bros who has since moved on to chase the latest monster. Matthew was right there with Lukas and Brandon when they blew shut the hole to Asphodel. He also was the face of the ballista building He was the voice of reason for Boom Bros, though in his absence such a role falls back to Brandon Gods save you all
Arthur Morse	One of Brandon’s quest mates on a quest to retrieve Achilles from his hiding spot in the woods before the Mycenaeans found him. Since then, Arthur has been Brandon’s biggest hype man. He talks up Brandon’s intelligence and mechanical ability and is very appreciated. Arthur is also one hell of a person to have to back you between his fear manipulation, brawling, and heart. Brandon believes Arthur needs to stop claiming to be dumb.
Milly Beaufort	Brandon’s other questmate and the one most likely to break his ribs by accident. The daughter of Heracles is a force to be reckoned with in combat. Brandon enjoys giving her a hard time and she gives it right back to him. He’s seriously glad they’re on the same team though. You do not want to see her with a club. He wishes her the best in her future endeavors.
Jay Jones	One of the oldest campers and hands-down the most qualified. Brandon respects Jay’s combat calls immensely though he thinks the son of Ares would do well with learning when to quit. He’s concerned for Jay’s long-term life even if he isn’t. Brandon’s also rather proud that Jay wears armor that he made. Brandon hasn’t quite processed that the lovable meat shield will not be around for the next fight. He especially hasn’t processed that the role of Camp Tank probably is going to fall to him.
Barry Callahan	The younger son of Morpheus is one of the few younger campers that Brandon has taken under his wing with the help of Deklyn. Brandon wants to squash his hero complex before it gets Barry hurt and has taken to teaching him forging in his free time.
Johanna Herrero	Brandon’s sister and the person he considers the most like family in all of camp. He knows she looks up to him and he appreciates her more than she knows. Johanna takes over the forge duties he doesn’t like doing (like inventory), is always there to bounce ideas off of, and matches his humor. When she went out to call her family during a worldwide monster attack, Brandon stood guard and provided the phone.
Blake Yang	Yang and Brandon had an interesting relationship. As a brand new demigod, Brandon got under her skin and irked her due to his excitement to be at camp and wonder at everything. As he mellowed out and gained experience, the two became reliable friends. When Blake left to go hunt monsters with her boyfriend, she left Brandon a letter telling him to keep his head on straight and occasionally stays in touch.
Winnie Holmes	Another person who didn’t like Brandon when they first met. Over time, interaction with him became unavoidable as he took over as the Hephaestus Counselor and Forgemaster. From there, they worked closely and designed defenses for the forge as well as the fast-acting concrete glitter bombs Brandon keeps on his person for restraining people. She has since left and though he’d never admit it, he misses finding her pink glitter around the forge.
Cosette Hahli	The daughter of Poseidon was one of Brandon’s oldest friends. Back when he was a new demigod, she taught him the basics of swordplay. After Brandon had spent a little over four months at camp, he left to try to find his father, and Cosette accompanied him. While his father ended up not being present, the two remained close friends. It took Brandon a while to get over the fact she didn’t come back from the Mycenaean Reset.
Saul Kaufmann	Saul and Brandon arrived at Camp Half-Blood around the same time. Though, while Brandon was claimed right away, Saul had to wait for his mother to recognize him. During this time, the two became friends. Brandon made Saul’s polearm before he vanished on a quest. When Saul is at camp, the two demigods tend to bounce ideas off of each other. When Saul was struck with amnesia, Brandon did his best to help his friend recover. Brandon thinks the gods need to give the son of Athena a break.
Diana Scarlet	Another one of Brandon’s early friends. Diana and Brandon even went on a date at one point though nothing came of it. The two remained good friends though Diana disappearing into her work in the medic cabin is something Brandon warns her against. He understands the appeal of burying yourself in where you feel important. He also understands that you should be present around camp.
Mina Grey	The gremlin of the Melinoe Cabin and Brandon’s friend that shares his sense of humor. Brandon and Mina bonded over a particularly problematic brother of Brandon’s hitting on Mina and plotting how to get back at him so he would stop hitting on every vaguely female-shaped object in camp. Since then, if Brandon ever needs a good laugh or a hot take, Mina’s the person to go to.
Mara Lyones	Brandon views Mara as reckless, headstrong, and without an ounce of common sense. She’s entirely book smart and tends to neglect personal needs and common sense in pursuing her goals. While Brandon thinks of her as a friend, he has been rather harsh on her lately for not taking care of herself. As of now, she is banned from his forge and hasn’t talked to him since.
Andrew Vethos	While the son of Athena was hard to read, Brandon considered him a friend. Of course, that manifested as several blind jokes. Andrew knew his stuff, Brandon was happy to help with ideas, and even offered to fix the Paralos II after Andrew sacrificed it to destroy Nestor. The two likely would have been a bit closer if Andrew was a bit more sociable and didn't run off to hunt monsters in England.

OOC: Brandon has a lot of friends, this is by no means a comprehensive list of all of them. These are just a few that I felt were significant enough to shout out. I could write more, but this is already getting pretty long.

Usually on Hand

Name	Description
Greek Xiphos of Fire	Brandon’s primary weapon is a Celestial Bronze Xiphos that he made and enchanted to be able to ignite the blade and shoot out a cone of flames from the tip. Maintaining the fire and using the blast raises his internal body temperature. Overuse may lead to heat stroke and other heat-related conundrums. Unfortunately, while Brandon is immune to external heat, the same can’t be said for internal temperature spikes. When it is not in use, it is stored as part of his watch.
Shield of Nestor	Looted from the body of Nestor by Matthew Thompson and given to Brandon for his role in defeating the King of Pylos and the Mycenaean defense as a whole. The Shield of Nestor is a near-indestructible golden shield forged by the Mycenaean Form of Hephaestus. It has been enchanted to absorb all blows aimed at it and it can then release the energy back at a later time. If Brandon is using it, he believes the enemy is a genuine threat. When it is not in use, it is also stored in his watch.
Plate Armor	Brandon made himself a set of full-plate armor that he stores in a bracelet at all times. He trained tirelessly to get used to the weight and the protection it provides has served him well on countless occasions.
Gauntlets of Strength	Brandon’s chosen reward from the Olympics of Camp Half-Blood. In recognition of his aptitude, while slaying the Nemean Lion, he was presented the gauntlets by his father. The Gauntlets when activated make Brandon twice as strong, though it does not last forever and tires him out much faster. When they are not in use, Brandon has them take the form of rings on his pinkies.
Blessing of Phlegethon	Brandon briefly served as the host of the River Phlegethon when he and Lukas found themselves in Tartarus. Upon leaving, he was left with a power and a threat. So long as he continues to pay sacrifice to Phlegethon, he will be able to control those waters. Should he not sacrifice, he will burn from the inside out. His orange eye is a reminder of his time as a vessel and the Potamoi’s overwhelming power.
Pouch of Phlegethon	In conjunction with the Blessing, Lukas brought a source of the River of Fire above ground. Brandon has enchanted a pouch to contain the waters. The Phlegethon is known for being fire so hot it overwhelms the senses and appears cold. In addition to that, it can be used as a painful form of healing. Brandon controls which effect it has. It should be noted that he can not summon the waters and instead controls the waters of the River of Fire that he stores on his person.
Greek Fire Vials	While Brandon does not walk around everywhere with them, he has enchanted bags to hold the vials without the risk of explosion. Should he ever need a boom, he’s got more than enough.
Concrete Glitter Bombs	Lethality isn’t always necessary. If he wishes to restrain his opponent, Brandon, and a daughter of Hermes, Winnie Holmes devised a fast-acting goop that expands and hardens into concrete trapping those it hits in place. These are stored as pink marbles.
Assorted Automatons	Brandon tinkers non-stop and has over time amassed quite the collection. He has created many animal-shaped automatons for utility. He has also repurposed previously derelict combat automatons from the arena into his elite guard through reforging and heavily enchanting them.
Crossbow	Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to get close to the enemy, Brandon is prepared for that with his crossbow. He practiced heavily with Diana to be a good shot with it. He’s also engineered several types of custom crossbow bolts depending on the situation he finds himself in. It is capable of shrinking down to be stored on his toolbelt.
Toolbelt	Brandon has a walking armory and tends to be able to come up with band-aid fixes on the fly. Of course, carrying all this around without help would be impossible. The son of Hephaestus has a tool-belt to make his job a little easier even if it may be a bit stereotypical.

Pets

Name	Type	Description
Misty	Pegasus	One of the unowned Pegasi that took a shining to Brandon when Deklyn was teaching him how to fly. Misty has no sense of smell and as such is not frightened by the smell of smoke that often accompanies Brandon from forge work.
Sparky	Automaton Puppy	The automaton Brandon poured the most personality into. Sparky is a perpetual puppy that Brandon and Deklyn have joint custody of. He likes oil, destroying celestial bronze, and begging. Deklyn taught him that last one and it exasperates Brandon to no end. He has no combat capabilities.
Blaze	Orange Tabby Cat	Deklyn’s birthday gift to Brandon. This kitten is rarely seen during the day as it spends most of its time killing mice in the passageways underneath the Hephaestus cabin. It should be noted that it sleeps on Brandon’s bed and will seek him out for head-scratches.
Deklyn’s “Nightmares”	Spider Automatons	After Deklyn made fun of how messy his cabin was one cabin inspection, Brandon created a swarm of spider automatons to release in the Iris cabin. They mostly just serve to scare Deklyn and occasionally rearrange her things. She’s taken to painting them and refused when Brandon offered to remove them.

Unused Trophies

Name	Description/ Status
Trident of Poseidon’s Strength	When the Avatar of Poseidon was defeated, the trident he used was left behind. Brandon, Lukas, and Johanna recovered it and after sufficient study, Brandon concluded only Poseidon or his descendants could use it. The trident could generate water proportional to the user’s strength. With his study complete, Brandon destroyed the enchantments on the trident, though he keeps it hidden in a locked chest beneath his bed.
Book of Enchantments	Taken from his father’s forge, Brandon learned the basics of enchantment from it. For a while, the book was as close as he could get to his father. Now though, it sits on his bookshelf gathering dust.
Dragon Blueprints	Another item he took from his father’s forge. Brandon was intrigued by the item and grabbed it. Unfortunately, the bronze it would take to build such a thing means he likely will never make it. The blueprints hang above his head in his counselor room regardless.

Personality:

Trait	Description
Protective	Nowadays, Brandon is one of the oldest campers at Camp Half-Blood and while he hasn’t been involved in as many battles as Jay Jones, he’s done his part ever since arriving. Camp Half-Blood is Brandon’s home and his family’s. You can bet your bottom dollar he’ll protect it with his full firepower.
Prepared	Brandon kept the forge going through a celestial bronze shortage and adapted to fight an avatar of Poseidon and some of the greatest heroes of the Trojan War. Plans, backup plans, and adapting on the fly are all things he’s good at.
Sarcastic	When things aren’t in danger, the son of Hephaestus is rather sarcastic. He is no stranger to making jokes at his expense as well as others. If you’re not good at picking up on sarcasm, chances are he will offend you when you come into the forge and ask for something stupid.
Realistic	Brandon knows what he’s capable of and has a pretty good gauge of what others are. He won’t hesitate to call someone out for idiotic hero fantasies, viewing weapons as toys, wanting magical superpower weapons, or other things that just don’t work. He lives a rather grounded life.
Stubborn	Not exactly a positive trait but something true of Brandon. He sets his mind to something, be it an idea, a task, or a goal, and will not let anybody veer him off it. While he’s more than willing to change his methods to get there, he will arrive at the intended destination.
Innovator	How things are done around Camp Half-Blood can always be improved. Brandon was part of the group that designed a ballista for camp defenses. He’s constantly trying to figure out new ways to use technology both for his benefit and the defense of the camp. Friends like Lukas Kleiner help him out with this.

Stomping Grounds

Location	Description
Hephaestus Cabin	If Brandon is here, he’s either tinkering in the common area or the counselor room. If he’s in his counselor room, he’s powering down for the day and watching TV, playing video games, or otherwise occupied. He doesn’t want to be disturbed and the security system will guarantee that. If he’s in the common area, he won’t mind taking a break from whatever project he is working on to catch up, talk shop, help with weapons, or whatever you might need from him.
The Forge	Brandon has joked several times that he’s the only camper with a job. From how often he’s in the forge, you might believe that to be the case. Brandon’s created the weapons that most campers use nowadays. He also keeps the armory stocked, takes requests, fixes combat automatons, and the like. There’s a good chance if you visit the forge, Brandon’s working in the back or writing away designs he’s thought up in a notebook. Treat the forge with respect and Brandon won’t have any issue with you. Currently, Brandon is once again rationing celestial bronze in case the Olympians stop shipments without warning, again.
Bunker Nine	Brandon keeps Bunker Nine under lock and key to stop average campers from getting into a rather dangerous area. He’s aware of everybody that goes in and out of the Bunker. Right now, the people he allows in are Johanna Herrero, Albireo Albright, Matthew Thompson, Tristan Macmillan, and Lukas Kleiner. The Bunker also is the home of the Fountain of Phlegethon these days, but that like the Bunker itself is a secret.
Stables	A less common area to find Brandon. If he’s here he’s either visiting his pegasus Misty, getting ready to fly or hanging out with Deklyn. Brandon doesn’t like the smell of the stables and pegasi don’t like the smell of him. He never stays there for long.
Iris Cabin	Brandon is no stranger to hanging out in the colorful mess of the Iris Cabin with Deklyn. He’s also gone over quite a few times when she isn’t there to release spider automatons in her counselor room for the sake of giving her a good scare. He likes the Iris Cabin a lot less when Deklyn invites her pegasus inside.

OOC: This is a reintroduction, but Brandon isn't anywhere particular at the moment. It just is helpful to write all this stuff down. As such, I don’t have a Now Section for you all to interact. If you want to interact at one of the places Brandon usually is, be my guest. Thanks for reading! Also, I realize now this really isn’t mobile friendly, so sorry about that!

I've been going through the seasons since they've been added to CBS all access. I'm a long time Big Brother and Survivor fan that has more recently lapsed on Big Brother. With the season being shit I decided to use All Access to finally dive in to The Challenge. These posts are mostly stream of conscious as I watch the episodes, some times with little context. Check out my posts for past seasons and a TLDR at the end. Thanks for checking these out!
I apologize a head of time if some comments go a little off base, these are purely just assumptions and first impressions a lot of times.
EP 1:
Laurel!
Oh shit, Laurel and Camila fighting. Ready for that!
CT! I love this season already!
Is this like Ruins 2? Contenders vs Champs or old school vs new school
Smashley looks less meth-ey
Jenna jokes starting out of the jump
A new Theo? Got a lot to live up to with that name rookie.
Fucking Shane? God damn, that’s a blast from the past.
I was wrong, it’s Island 2 lol
I’m...kind of shocked to see Tony again?
Actually happy to see Amanda again, hope see more out of her this time around than just starting drama. I’d like to remember her for more than just being the freckle girl.
“Hardest challenge ever.” I’ve heard that before…
I take it back, confessional Smashley looks just as Meth-ey as ever.
Aww, the clapping when TJ says the old dogs aren’t there. The naivety.
Fucking Johnny again. Give me some alliance between Laurel, Cara, CT and Darrel to get Johnny out and it will be my dream come true.
Is this the beginning of dad bod CT?
This Hunter fucker looks like he’s built like a damn foosball player
Oh, a Miz wannabe…
There are multiple people I’m seeing “2nd Challenge” on their name card and I have no damn clue who they are.
“She said it was the challenge or her, and I chose the challenge.” Chick….you chose wrong. I don’t care if the girlfriend is shit for giving you the ultimatum, but you still chose wrong lmao
Shane getting naked, yeah it’s really Shane.
In a broken ass hut, but they’re still getting catering and copious amounts of alcohol lol
Zach….You act like you’ve been away forever lol you were off for like 2 seasons dude. Also “Make the challenge great again” Fucking really? You would be the furthest thing from Challenge in its heyday. You were in like 2 of its worst seasons.
Fucking Dario, I really can’t take him.
I’m sad to see no Devin from last season. Wanted to see more of him.
This seriously feels like Island 2 lol I contend that Island 2 had an interesting concept but Kenny/Johnny and their alliance just ruined it. The survivor elements really just put a damper on it too.
“It’s a clue!” Bitch, just call it treemail!
Early impressions of Theo is I like him.
Finally, multiple color jerseys.
I have to assume very shortly everyone will be in the oasis, they won’t want to run two full crews.
Hopefully Bruno is coming in with that homeless hungry energy.
Saying there’s two teams when people are just piling dirt on a collective pile? Lol
Ashley going for herself?! Somewhere Johnny is using this to validate him taking the money from Sarah.
Hahaha Ashley just climbing through after people helping her dig haha She looks like she’s the one bringing the homeless hungry energy.
Damn, how did Cory go from dead last to second finish?
I swear Ashley was shown as being in first place multiple times, but now she’s in the middle of a huge pack.
Nelson is coming in to these confessionals like he has some kind of vendetta lol Like he’s building a case against someone. First it was how he views Cory as his boy and he wasn’t going to leave him hanging, and now he’s complaining about Tony leaving Bruno behind.
Bruno, disappointing with the lack of homeless hungry energy.
Why is Nelson so damn angry? Lol Everyone is yelling at Bruno and Tony’s the only one like “No, leave him alone.” and Nelson wants to bitch about Tony not talking to him? Everyone is, what is one more voice?
Eww, you got mud all over your face, don’t sit there and lick your lips.
Why such a short first episode?! Only 40 minutes? What is this Gauntlet 3?!
EP 2:
They’re even getting laundry service?! Lol What a weak ass Island rip-off!
Why is Nelson so damn angry?! He was seriously not this way at all last season lol
Jenna getting in on the trash talk! “We forgot you were here like 3 times!” lol I can’t tell if it’s a dig or if Jenna just literally forgot someone existed
Nelson seriously seems like a completely different person to last season.
“I’m just going to be there for Kailah to vent” proceeds to tell her how to play and what she did was wrong lol not alot of venting going on.
If this whole Oasis twist is just whittling down the amount of contenders to go against the Champions I will be pissed. If it’s just like a contingency so the rookies don’t out number and gang up on the old school players or something.
There’s something about the out and out team aspect going on that I’m liking, but not liking at the same time lol Everyone just ganging up and telling Sylvia how to vote is just weird. I’m all for sides, but once the vote comes the talking should end.
Latoya with the hypocrisy calling someone else a camera whore lol bitch you called yourself “THE Latoya” like you’re ohio state or some shit.
“It’s your vote, you can decide who you want to vote for.” Provided it’s the vote that 4 other girls are yelling at you to make…yeah, your vote.
I’m happy to see Darrel back.
Who is this Ashley chick?! Oh, from Seasons, ugh.
Ah Kenny, not gonna lie I’m starting to miss Evan and Kenny. Yeah, they’re shit bags, but they’re entertaining. These last couple groups of rookies have been trash.
Cara looking even more ripped.
CT’s baby! Awwwwwwwww
Is Laurel coming in being like the third ranked girl in athleticism of these champs?
Exile style elimination with no arena with people watching? Mixed emotions on this.
Kailah looks like she talks a big game, but won’t be able to back it up. Marie looks like she’s got some crazy in her.
With these two girls, this elim looks like shit. With some strong guys fighting the whole time it could be interesting, but this was bleh.
Bruno, back to being homeless.
This hut is going to be angry with the people returning and having earned their way into the actual game.
I hope the alliance realizes they literally just screwed like half their numbers out of their chance at the real game lol
You can tell these people are dumb rookies, or they’d realize the object is to get their alliance in the elim vs shitty people to win their ticket.
EP 3:
“I want to start a talk show. There is no millennial Oprah.” Because they don’t watch them, they listen to podcasts. You’re the worst millennial.
Of course the Foosball guy would like meth hulk Smashley.
They don’t even have to compete, this seriously is just a play-in game.
Yeah, my money’s on Jenna/Cory
CT and Darrell with their kids is absolutely adorable.
Amanda has a weird trashy quality to her, but god damn is she pretty as hell.
“I don’t care if I lose my teeth, I’m getting this bag open!” spoken like a true methhead!
I was really hoping to not see more of foosball boy.
These people still aren’t understanding the game is getting the tickets. You either win or win an elimination. Half these people are going to be real disappointed.
I feel like Cory has realized it, and wanting to go in to elim.
I’m with Theo, we’ve seen Cory’s fake muscles at work plenty of times. We saw him lose to 80 pound Christina and weird punk hipster kid in a competition purely based on pushing and holding on to a bar lol
Not gonna lie, I’m kind of liking the feel of this cast developing naturally without a bunch of vets around to control the game.
The suspense is kinda dead on this girl elim, because it showed Jenna in the oasis in the previews.
I’m interested in this guy elim though.
Slip of the tongue? “I’m going to go against her and she’s going to come back limping!” so...you’re saying she’s the one coming back but you’re going to hurt her? Lol the object is to come back, not just hurt the person. Not sure if you know this, but Jenna is an elimination god.
It’s...it’s just holding balls?
Fucking Theo. Dude… I was actually hoping to see more of you. What a bitch.
With the object of the challenge being to hold on to balls, I was expecting some kind of bounce or jarring of the person to have them possibly drop them.
I have come around on Jenna so damn much. She literally approaches every challenge like it’s absolutely nothing. Everything is easy for her when she doesn’t even think about it lol
Hahahaha they really just slowly let Theo down to be laughed at! Haha I love it!
I would love if Theo still had to jump to get down lol
Well at least it isn’t 8 vs 8, there’s one more challenge so it will at least be 10 or 12 vs 8, not like Cory and Jenna aren’t basically vets at this point.
EP 4:
Fingers crossed on Amanda being the next ticket holder and not Smashley.
The weird open beach macking is weird.
Please, of all people please don’t let Latoya get this ticket.
Ok, my money is on Amanda and Shane being the two winners here to get their tickets. This is one of the random elimination style challenges that Shane and Amanda have experience in.
Man, Nelson bothers me this season. I don’t get it, but his confessionals are annoying.
https://i.imgur.com/VvcJWiB.png Can we talk about the like 30 people standing in the background during this challenge? Lol there was more than this screenshot, but this was the best shot. The amount of people just standing around is kind of hilarious.
Shane is halfway gone and Nelson and the other dude have barely moved.
Nelson is another fucking “fustrated” guy. Dammit! What is it with this show and people who can’t pronounce frustrated. Is that the second question after “are you an angry drunk” when casting?
How the hell did this dude come back out of nowhere? Lol
Wow, that was an awesome finish.
First time I’ve seen a challenge sponsored in a while. Burger King! Jenna’s just hoping there’s chicken nuggets.
No onion rings? No deal!
Nelson with the pity party. I thought I liked the small bits of Nelson last season, but apparently Nelson in small doses is easier to take.
Darrel, don’t talk up your game. Bananas is already targeting you as number one. Don’t even joke.
Laurel doesn’t look like she’s coming in at her fittest. But I’d still bet on her in most cases.
Looks like the last pre-game elim is a mini final kinda? Sylvia already basically crawling on hands and knees lol
Sylvia got to the top, I’m honestly shocked.
I would literally jump off a plane, jump over a cliff, anything to do with heights, but running down some steep stone stairs in the rain? That shit would scare the hell out of me. There’s not the safety lines there, I’ve broken too many limbs.
All the people watching this like “Is my culture a joke to you?”
Yes! Sylvia! Shocked, and happy! I just hope she realizes her alliance she made is not only not in the Oasis, but didn’t help her get there lol
Can we just introduce a new rule and neither of these guys go in the house?
Did we really need to watch Nicole lick peanut butter off of a giant spoon?
I forgot Dario was here.
“To Jenna, not having an ex here.” Oh buddy…
Fuck, I also forgot this dumb foosball fuck
I wish I could have TJ telling me he’s proud of me each day. He looks like he means it.
Dad-bod CT!!
I know Paulie from Big Brother is eventually on this show, but it’s hilarious to me that Johnny in this last confessional before the episode ends looks so damn much like Paulie. The tufted hair, the short beard.
EP 5:
I’m tired of seeing god awful commercials trying to hype up a god awful Big Brother all-stars.
Underdogs vs Champions, nice
I literally don’t recognize this Ashley chick at all.
Does battling against your own team kind of defeat the purpose of teams?
Camila with the completely see thru shirt in confessional lol
Surprised they’re actually making it seem fair. 4 v 6 in challenges.
Ugh, I don’t want Nicole to talk anymore.
Speaking of mean laurel, can we get an update on the Cara/Laurel friendship?
Oh fuck yeah, this is the type of challenges I want to see.
I keep forgetting Champ Ashley even exists. Has she had a confessional?
Laurel and Camila look like the only ones coming in to this challenge like they want to kill people. Cara and Ashley just seem to get tackled and sit on the ground.
Darrel looks entirely unintimidated lol the other guys are hunched down ready to run and Darrel is standing casually like he’s waiting for an uber lmao
I’m here for dad-bod CT tackling people.
I’m with Tony, take the chance to knock the fuck out of Bananas.
“I think I’m known for being the most physical dominating person from the challenge” hahahahahaha Zach I don’t even think you’d be in the conversation.
I am weirded out by this casual chill CT. In confessional’s with his leg up and just chilling.
The ollyoop to Darrel!!
This may be one of the best challenges. This is an amazing way to start the actual game.
Well the last point was kind of anticlimactic.
Nicole coming on STRONG right out of the gate for Cara, Damn girl.
Zach just casually walking by Jenna saying “Hey, whats up” just feels so fucked.
I forgot how coked out Shane looks all the time. Something about his eyes.
Nicole looks like Andy Dick hahahahahahaha oh shit!
I love that the vets are just sitting by laughing at everyone scrambling knowing god damn well that they will be doing the same thing the next day lol
Ass, ass, ass for days. Maybe the assiest cast so far.
Kailah literally needing to be put in pants and in bed. Oh my god she pisses her bed! God damn.
Pissing the bed is a deal breaker? That’s kinda weak though.
CT yelling at Johnny to fix it lmao
Dude, Zach trying to talk shit about CT?! Lmao Saying he didn’t tackle anyone? Zach of all people shouldn’t be talking shit.
“I’m not drinking anymore.” “Well I’ve heard that since day one…”
You’re in the challenge house and going to throw stones at people getting black out drunk?? Lol What show are you on? This guy has a pattern of trashing on girls in an instant.
Oh god, I can’t unsee Andy Dick after Bananas mentioned it. Nicole is now forever Andy Dick.
EP 6:
This Andy Dick crush. Cara is definitely leaning in to it.
I oddly have a defensiveness for Jenna. She’s too stupid. Leave her alone Zach. She’s too sweet and dumb!
I am 100% Laurel in the background giving weird confused looks to Jenna and Zach talking.
Kailah just saying she basically rapes people…
What is this weird Nelson insanity? I already said his confessionals come off like he’s angry lol
I feel like all these mentions of Tony being sober is just leading up to the point that he breaks.
Camila trying to be a Don boss or something lol “It’s invasion sister, I could invade your game.”
Sweet Dad-bod CT is the best. Just don’t let him go out too early!
Jenna! Get out of Zach’s bed!!!!
I really can’t see Shane going this early. To bring him back after this long and he goes out like 5 episodes in right when the actual game starts?
Oh no, the foosball guy doesn’t like Kailah lol He likes Ashley though, I’m not sure what that says.
This shelter alliance is kinda dumb…
The Fortress lol Cool place, weird name.
Holy shit, this Tuk Tuk challenge would be exhausting.
Sylvia’s got more weight to throw in to it, but she’ll probably gas out way faster.
Camila is coming in to this season looking great.
Damn, Sylvia way ahead. She killed it.
Yelling boo, is maybe the dumbest thing to do lol
Really thought something was going to come of the sober Tony story.
If I look at the alliance of Smashley, Amanda, Shane and Foosball, except for Nelson I’d say this is some weird white trash or druggy alliance lmao
“There’s onlly a divide because people like you say there’s a divide.” lol You guys got upset because a few people piled fucking dirt together lol
I can’t take confessional Johnny looking like a weird knockoff Paulie Califiori… Why does he look so different in his confessionals? Did he only come in to do his confessionals after the season?
Shane is on some weird ass shit with his “Why do I care about a strong team, if I’m not here to win” or whatever he’s on lol Are you just saying you want to go as far as possible and not care about winning? I feel like his mentality is stuck back in the olden days where winning wasn’t all that much money.
What the fuck kind of high school rumor mill bullshit is this? Lol
Why does Jenna give a shit for even a second what Zach things. Girl, stop this now. Be mad about the girls rumor mongering for no reason, don’t give a shit about Zach the dude that literally cheated on you and didn’t even break up with you but just ghosted you while you were on a damn season.
Stop caring about Zach!!!!
EP 7:
Laurel, Camil and Ashley, just swimmin naked in the morning. All normal.
This fuckin’ foosball guy…
Smashley really about to get mad at Cara for randomly joking with Foosball?
Smashley is so damn insane. “Piss in your pants bitch!”
I stan Laurel. “It’s not fucking about him! It’s about you!” Thank you Laurel!
Oh, this is cool.
Wait, why is only the champs winners safe from elim? Why only them?! I don’t like this arbitrary bullshit.
I feel like Camila is giving strong winner vibes off in her confessionals. She seems so like a godfather or some shit. It’s not her normal schtick. Are all the champs just getting more care and time in the makeup room for confessionals? Also, why has Ashley and Darrel been so absent from confessionals? They’ve each had like 2 when Camila has had 20 to talk about the most basic stuff.
Good god, Nelson and Amanda looked godawful, down in seconds lmao
Why does Johnny somehow always get the best teammates?
CT stirring the pot between Cara and Bananas lol I love this new CT
Cara out immediately, so much for that.
I think I’m confused on how the points and times are handled on this lol
Sure, just go ahead and sit back and let Johnny win immunity. Sure. Perfect.
Please show the flashback of Laurel saying “How do you think Sam felt!?” to Zach.
“I’m not really a douchebag.” says the douchebag
Literally will only be happy if Zach and Ashley go home.
I literally just remembered the CT and Cara friendship that came out of Free Agents. He had a cute older brother type thing going.
“Why?” “Cause you’re making me.” Darrel is still a threat
I will not be happy if Darrel or Cara leave right now. This season will be on a sudden trend down.
Pole wrestle!!!!!! Oh Shittttttttttttttt Wasn’t Darrel in an epic bar wrestle in one of the old seasons?
Oh shit, the champ elims are all classic! That’s awesome.
Oh, guess I was thinking of Wes and Derrick in Duel. I for some reason associated Darrel with that.
“I’m here to win the money.” “Why?” “Because I like winning money.” Darrell just not dealing with TJ’s questions lol
Yeah, Pole wrestling gives me hope for Cara and Darrell.
Ashley looks like she’s barely even there. Did they give her some pain killers after the last challenge or something?
I swear if Darrell leaves I will be angry. It’s been too long without Darrell for him to go this soon.
It starts and Darrell barely even moves to what looks like Zachs full force.
Lets go Darrell!!! 1 down, let’s go.
Darrell got it! Let’s fuckin’ go!
Jenna, you’re better off. Please wise up.
Don’t you dare call Darrel ‘David’ and Zach ‘Goliath’, CT you’re better than that.
Ya’ll remember Zach saying he was probably the most physical dominating challenger? Lol
Literally the best possible outcome. I love this.
EP 8:
“In a perfect world; we go head to head in the end.” I would love to watch Darrell beat Johnny.
Camila and bathrooms…
The rumor mongers being paranoid is a funny turn. Shane is a vet, how would you think he wouldn’t hang around some of the other vets? What does him hanging with vets even affect?!
Laurel hasn’t done an eating challenge? Wasn’t there an eating part of the final on Rivals? The one Kenny had to carry Wes up the mountain after eating?
God damn they do LOVE showing copious amounts of vomiting.
Camila is excited to see some puking…
I like how they put buckets there, like anyone is gonna aim for the bucket lmao
CT and Darrell talking about it being good, the Underdogs instantly puking.
Shane talking mad shit. About to see himself get voted in the fortress.
Shane bitching at all is hypocritical. He was the one that said it made no sense for a strong team if he’s not there for the money or some dumb shit.
Fuckin Foosball is booking. Damn.
Did foosball just say he has immunity he’s not helping with the puzzle?
“It’s just curry bruh.” I love Darrell. I am so happy he’s back on The Challenge.
Hey what do you know, Johnny wanting to cause disruption and outrage.
These Underdogs continue to be hilarious. It’s like some kind of weird cult where if you say anything that everyone doesn't know about or agree with you’re instantly cut out.
Johnny continues the run of bullshit. Taking a toilet seat? What kind of weird frat house hazing is this?
Say it loud, say it proud, JOHNNY IS A BULLY!
Either you’re quitting Sylvia or you’re severely underestimating Jenna.
Dario looks like a joke like he did on Bloodlines lol Anything involving thought in an elimination and the dude is just screwed.
Jenna is a comp beast. Period lol How did Jenna come in with the best technique and just blow through it? Lol
Cara is right, they just made the underdogs stronger losing Sylvia and Dario.
Quit calling bullying, pranks! If you’re doing it consistently and to the same people repeatedly it’s just bullying. If it was reversed Camila and Laurel would be the first two people too lose their fucking minds. It’s like they forget back to FM1+2 when they were bullied and now they’re in the upperclassmens role and have to continue the bullying.
EP 9:
Well, that’s certainly a start to the episode.
Ok, Camila is at least bi-curious.
Now Andy Dick is trying to hit on Laurel? Damn, get it girl.
Wait, didn’t we just have like 2 episodes of Cara saying she wasn’t in to girls? Literally because of the same chick?
“It’s good seeing you two get along.” I love dad CT!!!
Oh, I see what it’s doing…Love triangle!!!!! Look, just cut out the middle person. Cara, Laurel, hook up!
“Amanda!....It’s funny!” I always enjoy when bitch Laurel comes out.
Camila is back with “Freckle motherfucker!!”
“It’s initiation! Get fucking used to it!” Bitch Laurel is the BEEEEESSSSSST She’s still wrong though. It’s bullying and dumb. Just because you can look at something and rationalize it as everyone goes through it doesn’t mean it’s right or ok. It’s still bullshit and bullying.
It’s so weird that they have full blown security at this point lol
CT calling Johnny out! Haha I love Dad CT. “When did I start fires and walk away?” “Are you serious? That’s all you do!” haha CT ain’t having none of this Johnny bullshit.
Andy Dick is really coming off as in love with herself. Geesh
This is a cool Challenge. Yeah, Laurel if everyone is hanging on you you just fall and take out all the Underdogs.
Aw, I thought Camila was being smart lol They talk her to unwind herself.
I like that the underdogs came in to the comp being smart and the vet guys are upset about it lol
One foot between determining the guys? What? Darrell and Johnny seemed to be taken down and then CT with the rest of the guys? Didn’t even seem close. Oh I guess Johnny and CT were both brought down by Shane.
Bummed to be losing Laurel or Cara.
So much for Johnny vs Darrell in the final lol
It seems weird that they basically have the underdogs whittled down before bringing in the Champs but then to lose two at a time. I’m not against it, it just seems like they’d make one decision and then go on to make the other decision.
Andy Dicks “Flirt” sounds like “Flick”
Laurel basically sees the situation as more serious because it’s basically her first encounter with these feelings and Andy Dick views it differently because it’s not new or special for her. Understandable on both ends.
Darrell, kick Johnny’s ASS!
Johnny, you didn’t have to wait to become the villain.
This whole weird “Who/what/why are you doing it thing of TJ’s is not it.”
Is a call back to Free Agents really all that classic? It’s an awesome battle to see these matchups.
I always wondered why no one else tried to shoot it. This barrel hole at least seems smaller than it did in Free Agents.
“I don’t think Bananas has ever been tested like this.” He was, he just got turned into a backpack and made into one of the most hilarious moments.
EP 10:
Happy to see Bananas go. Thank you Challenge gods!
Cara stopping it with her foot!
Laurel with the brutal headlock. God damn!
I think the only thing about Cara that annoys me is the socks she wears. I hate the ugly knee socks with shamrocks and shit on em.
Andy Dick smiling while Laurel and Cara 69 basically.
Laurel continues to dominate. She had the reach and size though.
“It’s hard to celebrate the win.” Laurel says as she runs away after her point and puffs up her chest lol
4 champs left and 8 underdogs seems like a shit unbalance. I continue to just be surprised by the weird decisions of production.
Andy DIck about to get a taste of Bitch Laurel. Good luck!
Side note: When did Andy Dick kind of like blend in with the underdog alliance? She was always just as hated as Tony, Cory, Kailah and them, but somehow Andy Dick never gets lumped in with them anymore.
“It doesn’t bother me!” She says repeatedly, showing it definitely bothers her.
I don’t know what’s the worst look. Shane with his shirt off at all times, or Nelson in this weird ass fucking black cowboy hat haha
Oh my god. Laurel and CT are the loves of my life. Foosball yelling about who can beat him and Laurel makes an ugly face in the background and CT waves his hand and points to himself. CT has a dad bod, but he isn’t any less of a monster.
You can tell Shane thought he had gold with that “America’s Dirtbag” line because he uses it probably 5 times.
I don’t know where the line is on going too mean or too past certain lines, but Shane really seems to me like a coke head at the absolute end of his rope that will be desperate as he has to be and would literally shiv some motherfuckers if he had to.
I am really thinking Camila is the winner of this season. I don’t know if I’m way off, but this is the first time I’ve felt this strong of a winners edit from this show the whole time. Camila hasn’t had this many confessionals and stories even on the past seasons she has won.
I wish I cared about Andy Dick and Laurel. I love Laurel, but Dick is kind of annoying.
Wait...Of all the times to not have an elimination? Seems odd.
Make pairs. CT instantly “Guys, I don’t care.”
Why is there so much of this personal cam stuff this season? People keep having these selfie videos, I thought it was just a Bananas thing at first, but it’s persisted.
I think this is one of those comps that is way harder than they make it look. Just hanging on the tubes is going to tire you out, climbing across them and then having to pull yourself up a rope?
I need closed captioning for Foosball and Smashley way too often.
Camila looks like she’s halfway to just standing the hell up and running across these tubes.
That round of CT and Camila seemed like the waves were suddenly teen times worse when they got to the flag?
Cory completely in the water and pulling himself back up? That’s tough.
“It all comes down to Jenna.” Ohhhh it comes down to the time. I had complete faith in Jenna.
TJ throwing a house party instead of an elim? Bah, get these shitty Underdogs out of here.
“Something fishy’s going on.”
Camila calling Laurel humble lmao
Underdog BLOODBATH. YES YES YES YES!!!!!
EP 11:
I don’t give a fuck where you’re from foosball! Go back home!
Holy Hell Camila is looking hot as hell this season.
Finally, they just kiss and get it over with!
Was hoping for another kind of mini final for the bloodbath.
Everyone is going to the fortress? Damn, they’re cuttin down in half quick.
Jenna: “I’m just here for the final” Damn straight, that’s what you do! Lol
Laurel not pulling punches, thinking Andy Dick is going home.
Nelson and Foosball out here seriously not understanding rows and columbs lmao
45 fucking minutes!!! An hour and a fucking half and no one is done lmao Wow people
TJ getting tired and telling people to add them up before asking for a check.
Almost two hours for the first one to complete. Good god.
Goodbye Foosball!
I literally have zero doubt that Jenna will be in this final lol
“Ashley looks like she’s in an argument with a split personality right now.” When did CT become the best narrator?
Jenna, eliminated for the first time ever!!!! Shit, that’s a bummer.
“I never went home before, so it’s a little upsetting!”
Amanda and Smashley are huge fucking shit talkers this season lol jesus.
Looks like a 3 way elim?
Seeing everyone run and then bounce back once they hit the wall will never get old.
They just aren’t realizing what the Gauntlet 3(I think? Maybe Duel?) guys did and just team up against Nicole?
Good god, it took 40 minutes and Shane telling them how to do it to realize they could get an easy win.
I didn’t realize it was a restart. Ashley fucked over Amanda for sure lmao
Looks like Amanda actually got the first one. Nicole’s so wrapped up in powering over Amanda she’s not worrying about actually being quick.
Ohhh, Nicole by technicality.
Damn, Nelson just played them both. He had that shit in seconds.
Don’t tell me Nelson gets the win and then is the first to throw a punch. Lmao I’ve said all season his confessionals look like he’s angry and has a vendetta.
EP 12:
Oh, he goes to punch and misses. Lucky idiot.
What was Shane even doing?
Nelson is absolutely terrible at confrontation, or conversations starting with a disagreement. He just kind of quietly yells the same things over and over.
Don’t show her lick the peanut butter spoon again! Dammit!
She ate moldy peanut butter!
CT trying to stir the pot between Laurel and Andy Dick lol
I feel like everyone is joking and finding this funny except for Andy Dick. She’s so mad about an almost empty thing of peanut butter from weeks ago lol
This looks like a cool ass challenge. Like an escape room, but literally.
Camila:“No yelling! CT...” “Me? You gotta lot of nerve.”
I feel like forcefully kicking the door in is kind of breaking the challenge… lol Literally the door isn’t even supposed to go that way! I feel like this would have been a DQ in the old days lol
How did CT realize the coconuts were going to fall when they opened the door? Had the underdogs already opened theirs and it just didn’t show that in editing?
At least Camila noticed it. They literally forced a door the wrong way to not have to dig in the sand. I’m usually against vets getting treatment or anything by default, but that feels like a DQ.
Fucking “Fustrated” rears it’s damn head again.
There is not a chance in hell this Laurel/Andy Dick relationship goes anywhere.
Bug in broccoli being a glimpse at Smashley in the final?
TJ tells the Champs they’re in the final, but didn’t say that to the Underdogs.
I can’t tell if Camila is being smart or dumb carrying the whole bundle of rope.
Laurel’s taken almost 5 minutes just to get all the rope over the top?
Both of these look like nothing compared to any of these tangles in the past.
I feel like these knot elims are just all over the place with editing. It’s felt like Camila was so far behind the entire time, but then she’s near done and then Laurel looks way behind. It looks like Laurel just gives up. I feel like I just want to see a standing still camera time lapse of both progress.
“Ugh, get the fuck out of here. I don’t give hugs!” TJ <3
EP 13:
In todays saga of CBS all access being complete shit: The thumbnail spoils the winner of the guys elim. :/ So much for that cliffhanger...
I’ll be interested to see how this shakes out though. Darrell really seemed to come in looking strong as hell throughout this whole thing.
Uh...I think CT is breaking this challenge lmao This looks impossible to untangle.
Looks like Darrell tried to start copying CT’s method at one point.
TJ’s laugh at CT just hanging at the end lol
Will Darrel even be able to begin to unravel CT’s mess? Lol I can kind of see why the thumbnail spoils it because once you see it it’s kind of a forgone conclusion lol
CT looks pretty gassed though, I think Darrell would win this if CT didn’t outsmart the elim.
Yeah, CT broke that shit lol
“See that, little fatso! Dadda still kick your little ass!” Dad CT is the best.
I will really be shocked to see any of these underdogs winning over Camila and CT.
Besides Cory, I hate all the Underdogs left.
I especially hate Nelson and Andy Dick now that we’re sitting here having this inspirational team chat.
Smashley has just been a series of wanting to leave. Please, god, let her go.
I love watching CT love watching this drama that he’s no longer a part of lol He just loves sitting back and smiling at the chaos.
Don’t puff up Smashley’s damn head. Don’t encourage her!
The beds look better, but the outside of the normal house they left literally can’t be beat. They had an amazing pool, a beautiful deck area and pond? This place is lame compared to that.
I’m watching the challenge, I don’t need the spiritual self reflection bullshit.
Diem :(
OK, CT talking about his son giving him a reason to live and a reason to move on is really about to make me cry.
Three damn days? Really? Can we go the opposite way? Make it shorter, not longer? Lol Length doesn’t necessarily mean difficulty.
100k each? Bananas laughs with 275k...
Predictions: CT > Cory > Nelson Camila > Smashley > Andy Dick
EP 14:
Do you want to just take the puzzle with us? It’s not that heavy. Holy shit, this chick is dumb hahaha
“Is there a triangle in the sign?” How are the camera crews not sitting there dying laughing?
How to they get the right number of triangles from the damn sign?!?! Hahaha They’re just trying to break the combo lock. These dumbass people. They get the right number of triangles and still fail.
They can’t even beat it when given the answer. Jesus christ. The producers are literally saying “Just go. Go.”
I don’t think I could understand the dumbness of Andy Dick and Cory.
TJ looks disappointed in having to tell them they’re correct lol
That’s all of day one?!?! Seriously? I don’t care what they say, these finals have become weak.
A different stray dog? Lol
I like the idea of the time buster. If you’re going to make these finals about combined times you might as well do more with that.
Horse urine fermented eggs...Really? Lol
Some times I feel like their safety restraints give them too much support when doing some of these balance type things. It’s like they can half rely on their support. Nelson is barely holding any ropes to keep reaching.
No, I don’t want to see CT struggle!
How the hell is the ASL chick the only one in the history of this show to say frustrated correctly lol
Nelson doesn’t seem to do well under pressure.
I think Smashley being able to gloat about anything is the worst possible outcome.
They solved it on the wrong post haha
“Hashtag Dad-bod” CT owning it.
Cory is a baby. He is like one hardship away from quitting.
The fear on Cory’s face when CT says he thinks it will be all night lmao He’s already miserable.
This chick and peanut butter…
Hahahaha TJ coming in saying “What the fuck?” and CT instantly running back to the beads is fucking hilarious. Calling them eating cans “partying” hahaha
“Tomorrows a new day” he says as the sky lightens behind him.
Andy Dick really seems like the worst partner on just about every leg of this final.
Camila makes all these guys look like bitch mode lol She’s constantly angry and she probably doesn’t make working with her easy, but every partner with her looks like the weak link.
The final solo segment is holding on to a bar and then swimming? I’m sorry, am I crazy? This final just seems weak.
If you would have put a puzzle at the bottom of those long ass stairs from the last underdog elim and the key to the puzzle at the top, it alone would have been harder than this final.
This last segment seems like it’s just a time to have each individual running so they can run back footage of their journey. It’s the torch walk of survivor lol
Two entire segments of the episode are dedicated to this individual montage and segment of the final. Ugh.
Cory is kind of a bum when it comes to these finals. Surprised Nelson beat him.
CT WIN!!! Dad Bod still has it!
I love CT laughing! “It’s going to be his new favorite toy, whether he likes it or not.”
I’m so tired of Nelson and Andy Dick and sad we will no doubt get more of them.
HOLY SHIT. SMASHLEY BEAT CAMILA. HOLY FUCK. That is the biggest shock in Challenge history for me. Wow, I’m speechless.
TJ trying to say they have to stay in the hut another night. Lol
EP 15:
“The toughest final I have ever seen.” Oh shush
Miz looking a bit older.
Why does Cara look pissed with Andy Dick showing up? Lol
Damn, Laurel is possessive lol
CT and Johnny loving the drama haha
Laurel really seems to be making more of this than really should be. I feel like she’s always just looking for a reason to be mad at Cara.
CT doesn’t like “Finger banged” as a term lmao
Camila’s weird dancing in intimidation is a weird new thing…
Oh god, why did they bring Foosball on the reunion?!
Camila really has a thing for see-thru
Camila’s dancing does look really stupid lmao
Nelson is fucking annoying.
Nelson you have the blessing of Johnny fucking Bananas, sit down it doesn’t mean much.
Nelson is a dolt. Cory wouldn’t even be there without him haha
Nelson is really going to sit here and let second place go to his head this much? Fucker acts like he’s a king for getting second once! Lmao
Does Miz really have to relate everything to himself and being a WWE Superstar?
So wait, Johnny actually had something to do with Smashley first possible quit rant and it didn’t show Johnny’s involvement?
Is this like the third time Cara has worn these weird Deadpool tights on the reunions?
I kind of want to watch this Champs vs Stars spin off thing. Doesn’t seem like any of the spin-offs made it to CBS all access though.
Kailah definitely had the ugliest cry.
Overall thoughts and TL/DR:
I actually liked this season. It at least had a decent level of competition, mostly due to splitting the strong vs the weak, and the challenges themselves were pretty good. I am not completely sure I understand the reasoning behind the breakdown of how the season was handled and how the format was decided, but I was fine cutting out a lot of rookies before getting to the actual game. The thing that I didn’t like and what the format did to the game, was that there was very little politics or strategizing. The votes didn’t really matter too much too often because the selection was so limited and the two teams never really intermingled in anything. It seemed about as purely challenge focused as you could get which made for it’s own kind of boring season. It was nice having a lot of these people back, but it was a bummer with the season not really feeling like a true challenge? If that makes sense. Also, as I've said: I feel like these finals have sucked. These finals just aren't the same things that they used to be. Sure they're longer, they have multiple days and grueling elements. But they're no longer a nightmare test of endurance and will. It's multiple sprints spread out through multiple days.
Please don’t bring back Foosball and Nelson.

title correction: Black Ops Story Speculation (Tape #6, 1981)
Previous threads:
Tape 1 (1962-63)
Tape 2 (1968-69)
Tape 3 (1972-73)
Tape 4 (1977-78)
Tape 5 (1979)
​
So….the teaser came out :D .
Obviously it’s Black Ops: Cold War, but I’m excited to see more little details revealed in this trailer. I might break it down in a different thread, but expect to see some details here too.

1. I should’ve figured it’s a year closer to 1979. If the flashback narrative being hinted is legit, we would have more events closer to our ‘present’ day. I guess we won't get links to the SDI project OR the Challenger, but then we've got a lot of other interesting events already.

Before we dive in, a correction: I mentioned the chess pieces in the previous thread might link to characters dying in the story. Turns out they were just linked with the ciphers and puzzles, with one coming down each time a day’s cipher was solved (all of the pieces are currently down). It could still be a representation of lives being lost every era of the Cold War, but I’ll admit, I wasn’t paying complete attention to the cipher hunt besides the bunker discoveries.
Anyways, let's get into the final tape. Apologies if this thread comes later than before, but there's a LOT I had to unpack in this one.
So here we go. Again, we’re looking at common themes and individual stand-up clips, for any hints to the story. The full tape for reference.
And for one last time: If something glitches, pay attention!
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• Talk Show Footage: First clip is a woman talking about baseball player Pete Rose, and then introducing country musician Ronnie Milsap. Again, the first clips of the VHS tapes point to an important event or theme; something that is guaranteed to appear in-game.
  • Pete Rose was a baseball player and manager for the Cincinnati Reds. He was accused of gambling on games he was involved with, and was permanently barred from the Baseball Hall of Fame. Seems like a parallel to Nixon and the U.S. presidents featuring in this game, who all broke the rules in secret (except Carter).
  • Ronnie Milsap is a country singer, who had two of his biggest hits from his 1981 album: ‘There’s No Getting Over Me’ and ‘I Wouldn’t Have Missed It For The World’. He also sang the song ‘Any Day Now’, a cover song that was ALSO sung by Elvis Presley, though Ronnie’s version didn’t come out till 1982. Elvis’s death was featured in the previous tape. I doubt this is a coincidence.
  • We’re gonna hear ‘Any Day Now’ in this game, or one of Milsap’s other songs. Seems like perfect credits music to contrast the game’s events.
  • Baseball and Country Music are two hallmarks of American culture. Later on in this tape, we get clips of baseball players going on strike, and the introduction of MTV. Cultural traditions being disrupted (more on that later).
  • Also, Ronnie’s songs are now stuck in my head. God damn it.
• Ronald Reagan. President Reagan was a conservative Republican who went into office in 1981. He was more confrontational against communism, and was credited for reducing inflation and stabilizing the economy, but he was also accused of allowing corruption, and for funding armed groups in South America like the Contras. Reagan was the very last U.S. president of the Cold War, and oversaw the fall of the Berlin Wall (he was the 'tear down this wall' guy).
  • We’ve got glitching after the oath, again. Reagan was accused of allowing the sale of weapons to Iran in order to fund the Contras.
  • Looks like this game will feature every U.S. president since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Lyndon B Johnson and Gerald Ford have the least presence in these tapes, so the focus will be on Kennedy, Nixon, Carter and Reagan. Three of them will be shown approving actions that go against the U.S. constitution (except good boi Carter.)
  • We also got heavy glitching during Reagan’s inspection of troops during his inauguration. Is this implying the troops will somehow turn against Reagan? Or is it hinting that Reagan will be the most military president of the bunch?
  • Tying with the teaser trailer, Ronald Reagan might be the ‘strongman’ that Yuri Beznemov is warning about, at least in BO:CW’s context. Will Ronald Reagan turn out to be an antagonist in this game? Or a lesser but still negative force?
• Test tube baby: One-off clip. Maybe this is hinting at the theme of psuedoscience in this game? It could make the MKUltra stuff more of a possibility.
• Space Shuttle launch: The Space Shuttle Columbia (and the Shuttle program in general) had its first launch on April 12, 1981, which happened on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight to space. We then get glitching during clips of the the shuttle’s re-entry.
  • I still stand by my ‘Space Shuttle Endgame’ theory from my previous thread; we’re probably getting a climax involving the Space Shuttle. Looks like it’ll be the Columbia, which makes sense (it’s a lot more tasteful than featuring the Challenger, which had its first launch in 1983) .
• Release of the Iranian Embassy Hostages: Reagan’s presidency saw the return of the Iranian hostages, who were kept in Iran for over 400 days.
  • The last clip of Tape 5 involved the failed rescue of the Iranian hostages (Operation Eagle Claw); one of the main reasons Carter lost to Reagan in the election. If Eagle Claw is referenced in-game, it’ll be to paint Carter as a ‘weaker’ president compared to Reagan, while Reagan was the one who got the hostages home. Not that Reagan will be shown all positively in BO:CW.
• Pershing Missiles standoff: We got a news broadcast of the Pershing ballistic Missiles, which the U.S. tried to deploy in Europe. There’s specific glitching over mention of the missiles, and also mention of nuclear forces in Britain and France. Seems like we'll hear of the Pershing missiles in-game.
• Horse riding: Several horse riders doing circles in 05:21.This comes after the clip about the Pershing missiles. I’m still unsure about this one, maybe it’s a metaphor for ‘going in circles?’ Or we’re getting a horse riding sequence in the game?
• Attempted Assassination of Ronald Reagan: On March 30, Reagan was shot in Washington DC outside the Washington Hotel. Three other people were shot, including White House press secretary James Brady (who suffered brain damage and died in 2014 because of his wound), a secret service agent and a police officer. All of them survived, but Brady was left brain damaged.
  • The shooter, John Hinckley Jr, was declared not guilty for reasons of insanity, even though he had a hand in James Brady’s death (he died from his wound in 2014) . The guy was stalking actress Jodie Foster, and thought that he’d only win her heart if he killed the U.S president. He was obsessed with the protagonist of Taxi Driver, and wanted to copy how he shot a U.S. politician in the film. Also, he was released from psychiatric care in 2016.
  • We have another specific newsclip in 16:45, saying it ‘appears he was acting alone’. This is one of the last clips of the entire VHS tape. I think we’re going to see MKUltra (or some other Soviet mind control) influencing JHJ into doing the shooting.
  • A curious fact: two of the people who pinned down the shooter, Alfred Antenucci and Frank. J. McNamara, died of illness right after the shooting. Antenucci died just months later, while McNamara died in 1984. I wonder if BO:CW will bring this up?
  • Reagan’s shooting happened less than two weeks before the launch of the Space Shuttle (April 12). If my theory on the Space endgame is right (maybe?), Reagan’s shooting will kick off the climax of the story, with things capping off on the launch day of the Columbia. But then, I wonder how in-universe the tapes in this video are? Will this be an alternate history game, where the Columbia launch is interrupted? What would that mean for the clips of the Columbia in 2003, and all the other 1981 events that took place after the shuttle launch? (like Muhammad Ali's match) . It could mean the 'present day' of the game will be after 1981, maybe 1984 or 86 like I predicted.
  • Slight visual glitching during news broadcast of Reagan’s wounds. I don’t know if it was in the original footage, but it’s a similar kind of glitch as a later clip, during Reagan’s speech about the Pershing missiles. Could be further sign that something's off about this shooting.
• Alexander Haig: We have secretary of state Alexander Haig, talking about the line of succession in a White House press conference after Reagan's shooting. He infamously stated that 'he'll be in control' until the Vice President returned.
  • Oh man, Haig. Haig, Haig, Haig, Haiiiiiiiiiiiiig. Never even knew about this guy till now, but I think we're looking at a recurring character in Black Ops: Cold War. There is NO way Treyarch is glossing over this guy.
  • For starters: Haig was a Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the 1st Infantry Battalion in Vietnam, and won a Distinguished Service Cross for beating a larger Vietcong force in Ap Gu, 1967, right outside Saigon. He faced around 900 Vietcong soldiers, and under his command he took down 609, with only 17 U.S. casualties. At one point, he went on a helicopter to survey the field, flying up close until he was shot down. After the crash, he fought his way out, and led his battalion to victory under enemy fire.
  • He was the White House Chief of Staff during Nixon's term, and ran things while Nixon was occupied with Watergate (he was pretty much acting president). Some say he was the one who pushed Nixon into firing staff, which caused an outcry that made a bigger push for his impeachment. Haig was the one who encouraged Nixon to resign, and he might've ensured Nixon's pardoning by Gerald Ford after Ford's presidency. This was 1972.
  • Haig became supreme allied commander of NATO in 1974. During his drive to the NATO headquarters in Brussels, a bomb exploded under the bridge he was crossing. He barely escaped, though several of his bodyguards were hurt. Later, it turned out the attack was by the Red Army Faction. This was 1979.
  • The same year, Haig retired from the military, and became president and director for the United Technologies Corporation, which made aerospace engines and parts, and a bunch of other tech. Then in 1981 (seeing a pattern here?) he became Secretary of State for Ronald Reagan.
  • Haig was known to be incredibly brash and would make frequent outbursts. He was a fierce fighter and general, but as a political aide, he was incompetent and was disliked by many people in the White House staff. People gave him the nickname of 'Al Haig', and noted his authoritarian, narcissistic personality. Also, he had a weird way of speaking (nicknamed 'Haigisms') where he'd keep repeating the same words in a pompous tone. Sound familiar?
  • I'll shut up now. Treyarch worked hard on this game, and I do want to be surprised by the story campaign, so lets settle on this: you're going to meet Alexander Haig in Black Ops: Cold War. And oh my god, I wonder how much Treyarch will ham this guy up.
• Giraffes: We got two giraffes in a zoo, with one of them a baby. This might tie in with the clips about youth and the young. A hint to a child-parent relationship in this game’s story, like the Mason family in Black Ops 2? Or a division between the old and young? Note that the younger giraffe is straying away from the older giraffe at one point.
• Strikes: There are WAY too many clips about strikes to be a coincidence. We’ve got everything from an air controllers strike to a baseball strike, and a strike in Poland. For the news report for air controller strike, there’s emphasis on the words ‘havoc’ and confusion’. More on this later (along with the Giraffes); we have one clip that’ll explain all of this.
  • We have a clip of Reagan talking about the strikes, saying that all the striking air traffic controllers were in violation of the law, and they'll be fired if they don't stop the strike. But then, there’s a later clip of Reagan criticizing Russia for suppressing workers strikes in Poland. Right...
• Air Raid on Iraqi Nuclear facility: On June 7th, Israel launched an air raid on an Iraqi nuclear reactor being constructed outside Baghdad. The clip reports Reagan suspending delivery of more fighter jets to Israel in response. More stuff linking with nuclear power?
  • I don't think Israel has been mentioned in any CoD games at all. This could be a first? It may just be a slight reference.
• Princess Diana’s marriage: Princess Diana was infamously killed during a car crash while avoiding paparazzi. Does this link with all the car-safety clips in Tape 5? Maybe we’ll have an in-game assassination involving a car crash after all. I don't think we'll see Princess Diana's crash, maybe a mild reference......maybe.
• MTV: MTV came out in August, 1981. We've got heavy glitching during a news report on MTV, which came out on August 1st. There's talk of mood and emotion, making people ‘feel a certain way' rather than giving them with any knowledge.
  • Obviously we're getting MKUltra links here. Whatever mind control is in this game, part of it will come from television broadcasts. It'd link to the other suspicious commercials we've had in the other tapes.
• Sandra Day O'Connor : Sandra Connor O'Day was the first supreme court judge in U.S. history, serving from 1981 until her 2006 retirement. Though she was conservative, she sought compromise in many of her cases. She was fair with cases relating to race, and even protected abortion rights. Surprising, since she was also picked by Ronald Reagan.
  • Maybe this is a reference to this Cold War era being more liberal in some ways? Or it could be another hint to a female character in this game. Maybe we'll even meet her.
• Rubix cube: We have someone solving a Rubix Cube, with lots of cuts and close ups. This could be a sly metaphor for the ciphers, and how much work the CoD community is doing. OR it could be a metaphor for the intricate puzzle our characters are solving in this game.
• Reagan Speech: At 11:52, we have Reagan's speech to the National Press Club on arms reduction, from November 18th (our release date? Here's hoping). He talks about NATO's response to the Soviets being responsible and restrained. There is some heavy glitching throughout this entire speech; I half-expected Reagan to get cut up like SCP-1981.
  • Some glitches come up when he talks of NATO's restrained response. Screen blacks out completely when he talks about the Soviets threatening the 'nuclear balance'. Will part of the game's endgame crisis be over this arms standoff?
  • Glitchiest part was when he's saying this line: "War depends on the perceived ability of our forces to perform effectively. The more effective our forces are, the less likely it is that we'll have to use them.". This could imply a Soviet attempt to cripple the U.S. military in-game.
  • The last clip about Reagan had him encouraging Russia to disarm its nuclear weapons, and make a giant leap for mankind like the men on the moon. More references to the moon landings, like so many other clips in these VHS tapes. The moon's going to be an extremely important plot point, along with the Space Shuttle.
• Soviet Spies/Defectors: We’ve got several interviews with soviet spies and double agents, including Adrich Ames, the dickbag who sold American agents out to the Soviets. We also have mention of Soviet sleeper cells, and explanations on how they infiltrated the United States.
  • Sleeper cells were featured in Black Ops 1, though they're only said to be deploying the Nova 6 weapons in the United States. We might have to fight them in this game.
  • Maybe it's also hinting we'll have a defector from the Soviet side helping us. Maybe he turns out to be a double/triple agent? It'll fit with this kind of story.
  • Glitches during this bit. Ames mentions himself being among 'other illegals' (not sure about the meaning of this word. Illegal immigrants?), and that it's the only way the Soviet Union could get in the military intelligence. "Because all their open means would be cut off."
  • I do know about the mention of Perseus in the teaser trailer. I might cover more of him in another thread.
• Trivia Pursuit: A group of people playing Trivia Pursuit: Towards the end of the clip, there's a glitch, sudden freeze on the last frame, then cut.
  • Maybe this is Treyarch's way of saying the ARG is over? Or it could be a metaphor for the whole CoD community searching over the ciphers.
  • Someone in another thread said it might be Treyarch telling us we're just chasing after trivia, and we've been missing something big this whole time.
• Muhammad Ali: Muhammad Ali had his final match in 1981 (Drama in Bahama) where he lost to Canadian Trevor Berbick. Afterwards, he decided to end his boxing career
  • Ali had stopped fighting in 1980 after his match with Larry Holmes, when he lost with crippling injuries (which might've sped up his Parkinsons). Because of this, he was unable to get a boxing license in the States, and had to go fight in the Bahamas. Less than 7500 people watched the match, and only one TV broadcaster bothered to bid for airing rights. It was an ugly final match to go out on, especially as Ali's opponent wasn't that powerful to begin with.
  • Also, the fight's promoter was James Cornelius, a former felon and member of the Nation of Islam, who had goons beating up boxing promotor Don King over this fight (money issues).
  • An American champ quitting his career after a heavy beating. Signalling some plot point in the game? Maybe with a character giving up after some long-fought failure. Or a representation of either the U.S. or Soviets, giving up the Cold War?
  • It could relate to the clips about racial issues in these tapes. Assuming my guesses about a black main character in-game are right, maybe this ties with him? Is this a hint to his fate in the story?
  • A quote from Ali after the match: "The money ain't important. I did this for me. I did it for the people who are too old or too whupped or too tired."
• Christmas broadcast of Reagan. Reagan's broadcast on December 23rd, during the Soilidarity unrest in Poland. He starts by talking about the long history of the white house and all it’s gone through (as we've seen through all the tapes). He then starts criticizing the imposing of Martial Law over Poland, as enforced by the Soviets.
  • Glitch when Reagan talks about the right to strike and protest in Poland being violated (yep, what a hypocrite).
  • Another glitch when he mentions the Soviet Union and Afghanistan invasion. Are we getting Afghanistan in-game after all? Or something else? Maybe this is Treyarch pointing out a similarity between the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and America's invasion?
  • There's a subtle glitching through Reagan's entire last line, and an abrupt cut off in : "I want emphatically to state tonight that if the outrages in Poland do not cease, we cannot and will not conduct ``business as usual'' with the perpetrators and those who aid and abet them. Make no mistake, their crime will cost them dearly in their future dealings with America and free peoples everywhere. I do not make this statement lightly or without serious reflection. We have been measured and deliberate in our reaction to the tragic events in Poland. We have not acted in haste, and the steps I will outline tonight and others we may take in the days ahead are firm, just-". Is this hinting that Reagan will do some
  • We've got comparisons between the Soviets clamp-down on protestors and unions, and the unrest in the United States. Maybe we're being signaled that martial law will be imposed on America too? By who, Reagan? Or someone else?
• Walter Cronkite Final Broadcast: CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite's last broadcast on March, the same month as Reagan's shooting. Pretty much a signal that this is the last tape.

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Finally, let’s get into one clip I skipped. One that's tied directly with our teaser trailer:
Yuri Bezmenov, our Soviet spy boy. Bezmenov was a Russian spy who was planted in India, until he found he disliked the Soviet’s suppression of intellectuals, and defected. He appears in Tape #6 at 15:40, during the series of clips of other Russian defectors and double-agents. His words speak for itself:

“The highest art of warfare is not to fight at all. But to subvert anything of value in your enemy’s country. Be it moral traditions, religions, respect towards authority and leaders, cultural traditions, anything. Put white against black, old against young, wealth against poor, doesn’t matter. As long as it disturbs society, as long as it cuts the moral fiber of the nation, it’s good.’

This is the context for so many of the clips. The strikes, the racial conflict, the protests, young people and economic problems. Maybe not ALL of them are directly caused by Soviets, but they must've nudged something to make them happen.
Coupled with other info in the trailer, I think our game's conflict is obvious: We have a Russian plot to destabilize the United States and its allies. The Russian agents are doing it through assassinations, sabotage, sleeper cells, and quite possibly mind control. We might even have American collaborators to allow this to happen.
Knowing Treyarch's games, this plot's going to be capped off with something explosive; something that could allow for a climatic battle with our characters. Black Ops 1 had the impending launch of Nova 6, Black Ops 2 had Raul Menendez taking over the drones, and Black Ops 3 had Corvus trying to spread a digital-mental computer virus.
Expect Russia attempting a knockout strike on America, and our characters trying to stop it.
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Now, u/ParagonFury made a good thread about Yuri Beznemov. He has some legitimate criticism about Beznemov and his appearance in the trailer (mostly about how Beznemov isn’t as knowledgable as people make him out to be). But I want to highlight one statement:

The things Beznemov talks about and suggests the Soviets do to the US don't work in a country where people like Romney and Trump exist in the same party, or where someone like AOC and Biden can peacefully co-exist in the same party. The US is simply too massive, too diverse for that kind of strategy to work - you can sow chaos by following some basic psychology tricks, sure. But you'd need willing accomplices, AND another method of attack if you actually wanted to destroy a country like the United States.

I agree. You’ll need more than a few Soviet agents in order to do the stuff that Beznemov described. There’s a chance Treyarch will just handwave this for the sake of an exciting action thriller, but I think they’ll actually explain all these points.
The key words here are accomplices, and a method of attack.
1. MKUltra
This is the big one. In Tape 4, we’ve got a LOT of clips about the CIA’s mind control program, and in other tapes we’ve got a focus on emotional manipulation in the media, aggressive impulses, and mob behavior.
I’m certain we’re getting mind-control in this game. After all, it can make people follow orders en-mass (willing accomplices), and it’s a powerful weapon against any state (a method of attack). It also falls in line with Beznemov’s quote in the VHS tape: the highest art of warfare is to not fight at all. Why fight the enemy when you can just control them?
Now, this could just be a red herring. Maybe the CIA did try to experiment in mind control, but the experiments never panned out. But why the emphasis on a Truth Drug? Why the other mentions of Soviets trying to manipulate what Americans are saying, or their actions?
And this is a Black Ops game. We’ve had brainwashing in BO1, drone armies and future tech in BO2, and A.I.s stealing people’s bodies in BO3. Would it be that out of place to put in more mind control?
I guess it depends on how grounded in reality this game is. Treyarch might pull a Modern Warfare, with a more realistic game featuring less implausible tech or events. But will they really tone things down?
2. American Collaborators
Exactly what it says.
if Russia has a hand in mind control (maybe through co-opting MKUltra), I doubt they’ll rely on only mind-controlled Americans. There’s plenty of Americans in the Cold War who willingly helped Russia, like double agent Adrich Ames (who appeared in this tape).
We won’t just face Russians. We’ll be facing willing American collaborators, working with Soviets to create a hardline U.S. government, or just overthrow it altogether. It’ll be standard coup stuff, with either army battalions being co-opted, or we have armed rebels in the middle of cities (like the L.A. level in Black Ops 2.). Or it could be agents infiltrating government institutions, taking things over in silence.
And remember: Call of Duty is a game built on shooting waves of enemies coming at you. If we’re getting combat levels in America, it’ll be a little ridiculous to have a whole army of Soviets in the middle of the United States. If Treyarch wants the game to be more grounded (and seems like they’re doing that), they might have some Americans working with the Soviets.
Though I can think of ways they’d go around this. They could do raids like Modern Warfare 2019, where you have less Russians opposing you, but the gunplay is more tense and dramatic. It could add a stealth element that'll help the game’s covert tone.
…or they could just not care, like how MW3 has an army of terrorists setting up shop in London, or Black Ops 1 having a whole battalion of KGB guys in Hong Kong (without any political consequences).
I’m betting Treyarch’s will find a compromise. It’ll be an interesting change of pace, as the Russian enemies in CoD are getting a little stale. Not that Russia wasn’t a totalitarian government at the time (and now), but it'll spice things up.
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That's all for now. I'll be making one more thread summarizing the possible contents of the game, but it's been a blast. Some people liked the ciphers, but this was the highlight of the teaser for me. Half the time, I felt like I'm uncovering an actual conspiracy, like I'm just a step away from morphing into Mailroom-Conspiracy-Charlie from It's Always Sunny. I think that's the excitement Treyarch meant to spark with this whole teaser campaign.
Thanks for all the support! I'm happy people were so interested in my analysis of these tapes. Also, thanks to u/Sageburner712 for his own threads, he put up some interesting details I missed. Look out for at least one more thread!
Any thoughts and speculation of your own? Let me know in the comments!
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(Also, thank you to Activision and Treyarch for the message! I hope this game turns out amazing; I'm definitely getting it when it comes out.
Also, if you're reading this: please make the game less than a bazillion Gigabytes. I'm saving disk space for Cyberpunk 2077, the only other game I can uninstall is Modern Warfare 2019, and I don't want Infinity Ward devs haunting me in my sleep. )

"NO ONE GETS PARDONED FOR LIVING," is such a fantastic quote that I wanted to include it in the title, but the one in the title is just so much more iconic.
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The idea of Death eating and drinking is a pretty massive part of what's going on here. Death is experiencing what everyone experiences eventually when working a dead end 9 to 5. Or even just going into middle age. He's gotten pretty good at his dead end job and he's bored and he's experiencing an existential crisis. Is collecting the souls of the dead and sending them off into the afterlife (or reincarnating them) really all there is to life? And in the case of Death... yes. Yes it is. And Death is not ok with that. He wants something different. Something more... something he can't quite grasp, but he knows there's more out there for him and he's searching. Exactly like, as I said, everyone who's ever worked a 9 to 5. His job feels like a miserable grind.
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And this is one of the reasons I'm a socialist. I think this existential dread fundamentally comes from capitalism. The grand majority of us in society have no choice but to sell our labor to survive and thus work to make some rich asshole even richer just to live. We don't get to eat or have healthcare or live under a roof unless we do this. That's why we end up with this feeling like there must be more to life. Because our lives are not really our own. We don't get to spend our time doing what we want with our lives. We are slaves to someone else.
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But why does Death do what he does? Is there some reason for his harvesting the souls of the dead? Does he do it for fun? Does he have some rich asshole boss forcing him to work or die like the rest of us? Because that would be a fantastic topic for a Discworld book: Death's rich asshole boss. From the description on the back of the book, I bet we're going to get some more answers to these questions in the next Death book: Reaper Man. So we'll save these kinds of things for the next book. But I think these questions are fundamental to Death as a character. We're only starting to get an idea of who he is in this book.
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Like the first book I read, Pratchet takes a fun premise and just runs with it to its logical conclusion. What if Death had an existential crisis and didn't want to do his job anymore? Well he would get an apprentice to replace him of course! And that apprentice is Mort. Like Brutha, Mort is a simple minded boy who doesn't have a lot going on in his brain, but has a big heart. So we see the type of heroes Pratchet likes.
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So I have to say, I loved the description of the types of grapes Mort's family grows. The backwards grapes. You have to harvest them first and then plant them the next year. There's a fantastic quote that if you fail to plant your normal harvest, you just end up with no harvest. If you fail to plant the backwards grapes, you risk upsetting the very fabric of causality not to mention being supremely embarrassed. Also, you get the hangover in the morning and THEN the next night you get drunk. Which is fantastic. What if you've never gotten drunk before and then you suddenly feel awful in the morning? "Goddamn it future me, why are you starting now?"
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Because Mort is so bad at running the farm, his father takes him to an apprenticeship faire. And naturally, nobody chooses him except Death who shows up at literally the last second with his horse named Binky. And promptly trips on ice on the ground showing exactly what version of Death we're getting into here. I love how when Mort's father is questioning Death, he's not at all seeing Death as he is or hearing what Death is actually saying, which shows us how the muggles see Death. Not at all. We learn later that all magic users: witches and wizards can see Death. As well as cats. But Mort can also see Death as can his adopted daughter, Ysabell. Which is curious. I don't think that either of them are magic users (or cats) yet they can see Death and hear him as he is. Perhaps this is related to the simplemindedness of Mort, much like the simplemindedness of Brutha led him to be the only one who actually believed in Om.
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Death takes him for a night on the town to celebrate before going back to his realm outside of normal time and space where Mort meets Albert, the caretaker, and Ysabell, his adopted daughter. He also sees the hourglasses. An hourglass for every person that signals when their time is up.
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What ensues is a series of deaths as Death takes Mort around to see how he does his job. And so we get to see a variety of different locations, which is definitely fun. Getting a nice tour of the Disc before we really go to these places is nice. I particularly liked the man who gets reincarnated. He has a "season pass," which is pretty fantastic. And I love that his cult is built around his reincarnation, finding the person born the second he died. Which probably gets rather tedious for him.
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In this sequence as Mort is collecting souls as Death, he's supposed to collect the soul of Princess Keli, the daughter of a king that was assassinated while Mort was apprenticing and watching Death collect souls. Instead of killing her like he's supposed to, he kills her assassin that was supposed to kill her, because he's infatuated with this princess. Leading to the creation of alternate universe that is collapsing in on itself into the original universe killing the princess anyway. Oopsie poopsies.
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But because she's "supposed" to be dead, people start not really recognizing her and act as if she doesn't exist. Which is terribly frustrating, I would imagine. So she employs a wizard, who can of course see her because wizards can see Death it makes sense, to be her "royal recognizer."
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Meanwhile, Death is out having his aforementioned existential crisis and this is all pretty fantastically hilarious stuff. Trying to get drunk and getting kicked out of a bar at 5 AM, gambling, getting a job as a fry cook. I love the picture from the comic of Death in a kitchen surrounded by cats. Because the idea of Death working as a fry cook is just hilarious. At the same time that Death is becoming more human, Mort is becoming more like Death, culminating in him eventually TALKING IN ALL CAPS LIKE DEATH HIMSELF.
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I have to mention, there's also a running joke where people don't actually call Mort by his name. They call him boy or "hey you" but never "Mort." Which is really interesting to me, I don't know exactly what this is supposed to mean. Perhaps it means nobody takes him seriously and it annoys him?
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History Monks meet Death's library. It has a book for every single person who's ever lived and is currently living and they write themselves as lives happen. Mort and Ysabell go into this library because, while in the princess' palace, he saw a portrait of the founder of Unseen University, and it looked suspiciously like Albert. Well, as they discover, that's because it was Albert. I like the dark library as they go further and further down because of the millions of books that exist. But they eventually find Albert's because it's the only one still writing in the dark. Indeed, that's how they realize that Albert followed them, because they see it being written in his book.
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It turned out that Albert, in an attempt to avoid Death, performed the exact opposite of the Rite of AshkEnte, which summons Death. But it made him go to Death's side and be his servant. So instead of summoning Death to him, it summoned him to Death. Still, living in Death's realm makes him effectively immortal, but Death's realm is so dull it might not be worth living in it. So Albert manages to get back into the realm of the living, emerging from the statue of him in the middle of the grounds of Unseen University. And this sequence is also fantastic, particularly not having known who Rincewind was yet or, indeed, that the librarian was an orangutan. It just fit the wacky nature of the books so far and made perfect sense to me.
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I love how scared the wizards are of Albert and the description. "As scared as pigeons who saw Lord Nelson stand up from his column with gun in hand."
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Albert has the wizards perform the Rite of AshkEnte, thinking it will free him from being Death's servant, since performing the opposite of the Rite bound him to Death. There's an amazing description here that I just have to quote because it's too perfect:
"The Rite of AshkEnte, quite simply, summons and binds Death. Students of the occult will be aware that it can be performed with a simple incantation, three small bits of wood and 4cc of mouse blood, but no wizard worth his pointy hat would dream of doing anything so unimpressive; they knew in their hearts that if a spell didn’t involve big yellow candles, lots of rare incense, circles drawn on the floor in eight different colors of chalk and a few cauldrons around the place then it simply wasn’t worth contemplating."
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Unfortunately, the ritual starts to summon Mort instead of Death, because Mort is becoming more and more like Death as Death is giving himself over to Mort. But there is still part of Death that gets summoned, and the summoning puts them both together, restoring Death to how he was before Mort. Death doesn't actually know about what Albert has done, and takes him back, Albert screaming as he's pulled back into Death's realm and a bunch of wizards standing around, looking at each other, shuffling their feet, and promising to be good boys from now on.
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Meanwhile, there's a pretty fantastic and hasty coronation going on for Princess Keli before she pops out of existence complete with sacrificial animal for the priest. In a last ditch effort to save Keli and Cutwell the wizard, Mort and Ysabell take them back to Death's domain where Death is furious. He wants to take Keli and Cutwell's lives, but Mort duels him for them, which is pretty fantastic. Of course, Mort loses, but Death spares Mort's life by turning his hourglass over and letting the sand run again, a completely unprecedented move, and agrees to spare Keli and Cutwell anyway.
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The original universe where Keli was supposed to die is now an alternate universe as Death alters reality to keep her alive. Was that a good decision for the people of Sto Helit? Who knows! She could be an awful tyrant for all we know. We just know Mort had a crush on her. So that's fun. Good reason to change the fate of nations. Yuuuuppppp. It's definitely a real world reason why the fate of nations change all the time and throughout history.
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Mort and Ysabell get married and become a Duke and Duchess under Keli. In the last scene, Death attends their wedding reception and gives Mort the alternate universe in which the Duke who assassinated the King rules instead of Keli, the universe now having shrunk down to the size of a marble. ONE DAY IT WILL BE THE SEED OF A NEW UNIVERSE, says Death. THE PRESSURE OF THIS REALITY KEEPS IT COMPRESSED. THERE MAY COME A TIME WHEN THE UNIVERSE ENDS AND REALITY DIES, AND THEN THIS ONE WILL EXPLODE AND... WHO KNOWS? KEEP IT SAFE. IT'S A FUTURE AS WELL AS A PRESENT. It makes me wonder whether this will come back at some point. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if, at some point, this series has the entire universe collapse and then Mort brings it back through this marble universe.
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Death also gives him his own life book, which is absolutely fascinating. So if you sit there reading your life book, does the book write what you're reading? So the book repeats itself over and over again? That would be kind of hilarious.
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Death and Mort then part on good terms with each other and I find I'm looking forward to the next Death book. I don't think Death can ever go back, now, to the time before his existential crisis. He's seen that there's more out there to life than harvesting souls and he can't go back. But that remains to be seen. In the meantime, this book was fantastic. It humanized Death so perfectly that it's hard to put into words how much I love this character and identify with him just from this one book. My favorite quote about him is probably this one:
"He remembered being summoned into reluctant existence at the moment the first creature lived, in the certain knowledge he would outlive life until the last being in the universe passed to its reward, when it would then be his job, figuratively speaking, to put the chairs on the tables and turn all the lights off."
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Why was Death summoned this way and why must he do this? The only reason he wasn't able to transfer the power of Death completely to Mort was because of the Rite of Ashk'Ente. Surly if he had completely transferred power into Mort before the Rite had been performed, he could have escaped this existence and no longer have been Death. Perhaps. I feel bad for him then.
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At this point I've only read two books in this series and I'm completely and utterly hooked. I was hooked after the first book really, but Death as a character just solidified it. Next post, we push much further into the series and brave the mountains and mountains of old undelivered mail in Going Postal.

40. Go Down Gamblin’ - Blood Sweat and Tears

Released in 1971, Go Down Gamblin’ by Blood Sweat and Tears is a song describing a gambler who is “born a natural loser.” He never wins, no matter what game he plays, but, he doesn’t feel like a loser. As the song goes – “Cause I've been called a natural lover by that lady over there, Honey, I'm just a natural gambler but I try to do my share.”

39. Gambler - Madonna

Gambler is a song written and played by Madonna, made for the film Vision Quest. Although the song reached the top 10 in the charts of the UK, Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, and Norway, Madonna performed it only once on her 1985 The Virgin Tour. It’s a catchy song, we suggest you play it as you spin the reels of some of your favourite retro online slots.

38. The House of the Rising Sun - The Animals

Our list wouldn’t be complete without the 1964 hit song - The House of the Rising Sun by The Animals. Everybody knows the famous lines ”My mother, she was a tailor, sewed these new blue jeans, my father was a gamblin' man way down in New Orleans.” This single had a major success and made it to the top 10 songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the USA. Likewise, the hit was featured in the video game Guitar Hero Live.

37. The Winner Takes It All - ABBA

Whether we admit it or not, we all love at least some songs played by the very well-known Swedish pop group, ABBA. According to some sources, Bjorn Ulvaeus wrote the 1980 hit song The Winner Takes It All which was inspired by his divorce to his fellow band member, Agnetha Fältskog. The winner takes it all is a sort of a comparison to a divorce (especially the part ”I've played all my cards and that's what you've done too, nothing more to say, no more ace to play”), where one of them is the winner and the other one is left with nothing. And things are just the same when it comes to gambling, so we’ve decided to put the song on our list.

36. Shape of my Heart - Sting

We’re all aware of the fact that our gambling behaviour can be influenced by certain types of music and that's because online gambling and music go hand in hand. So, we suggest you start playing your preferred games with one of everyone’s favourite songs by Sting called The Shape of my Heart. It was released in 1993 and used for the end credits of the film Léon. In one of his interviews, Sting explained that the lyrics of the song tell the story of a card player who places bets not in order to win but to figure out something that’s been bothering him - “some kind of scientific, almost religious law.”

35. All I Wanna Do Is Play Cards - Corb Lund

“Well, I guess I really oughta be makin up songs but all I wanna do is play cards. I know it's dumb and sick and wrong but all I wanna do is play cards. Got the studio booked in Tennessee, and my record producer's callin me, the tape will roll in just three weeks and all I wanna do is play cards.” Does it sound familiar? It’s a 2005 hit by Corb Lund called All I Wanna Do Is Play Cards, once you hear it you’ll be playing it on repeat.

34. Gambling Man - The Overtones

When you’re falling in love, it’s perfectly normal to feel like you want to gamble everything just to attract that person’s attention to notice you and love you back. Well, Gambling Man is a lively 2010 song that tells a story of a guy fascinated with his love, so he places all his bets on her, as the song goes - “I played my hand, I rolled the dice, now I'm paying for my sins, I got some bad addiction.” This time, he feels that this love affair is different from any other – “Baby, it's you, yeah, yeah, that's right.” The song was released in 2010 and has been popular ever since.

33. Poker Face - Lady Gaga

Although the Poker Face song is more about the game of romance rather than the game of poker, the catchy refrain that starts with “Can't read my, no he can't read my poker face” kinda reminds us of winning at the tables, so we couldn’t skip it this time. Released in 2008, the song achieved worldwide success, topping the charts in the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada and several European countries.

32. Little Queen of Spades - Robert Johnson

Moving on to the Little Queen of Spades, a song title by the American blues musician Robert Johnson who recorded the song in 1937 and first released it in 1938. The first version of this gambling-themed song has a playing time of 2:11, whereas the second one lasts 4s longer (2:15), and is considered an alternate take and first appeared on Johnson's album The Complete Recordings, in 1990.

31. Train of Consequences - Megadeth

Another great song Train of Consequences is the title created by Megadeth, released as the first single from their sixth studio album Youthanasia in 1994. The song was later included on their compilation albums and its music video was the 26th most played video on MTV. There’s this part of the song “No horse ever ran as fast as the money that you bet, I'm blowing on my cards and I play them to my chest” – which is about a person’s gambling problem, who realises something’s wrong with this lifestyle, but it still hunts him down. Could be just the thrill, but he just can’t stop playing.
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30. Gambler - Whitesnake

Released on the album Slide It In (1984) and appearing on the compilation album Gold (2006), Gambler is the song by the British hard rock band Whitesnake. These words may sound familiar - “No fame or fortune, no luck of the draw, when I dance with the Queen of Hearts, a jack of all trades, a loser in love, it's tearing my soul apart”. And in case you’ve never heard it, we think you should give it a shot, the chances are you’re going to love it!

29. Gambling Man - Woody Guthrie

Now here’s one single from 1957 - Gamblin' Man. The song was taped live at the London Palladium and published as a double A side, with Puttin' On the Style. Reaching #1 in the UK Singles Chart in the summer 1957, it was “the last UK number 1 to be released on 78 rpm format only, as 7' vinyl had become the norm by this time.” Written by Woody Guthrie and Donegan, this gambling themed song was produced by Alan Freeman and Michael Barclay.

28. Roll of the Dice - Bruce Springsteen

According to Songfacts, Roll of the Dice was the first Springsteen’s song he didn’t write by himself. In fact, E Street Band’s pianist Roy Bittan helped with the music, while Springsteen was in charge of the lyrics, starting with – “Well I've been a losin' gambler, just throwin' snake eyes, Love ain't got me downhearted. I know up around the corner lies, My fool's paradise in just another roll of the dice.” After he broke up the E Street Band in October 1989, Springsteen wrote lyrics for the Roll of the Dice (with two other songs) and liked them to the point where he began writing and recording more songs.

27. Queen of Diamonds - Tom Odell

Here’s one song about a gambling fanatic who’s trying to satisfy his own addiction but also someone else, hoping it’s going to save him. Released in 2018, Queen of Diamonds is Tom Odell’s song from the album Jubilee Road, based on the local characters that inspired this British songwriter to include the whisky-soaked gamblers who regularly visited one betting shop.

26. The Angel and the Gambler - Iron Maiden

Now, this song may divide Iron Maiden fans and it’s most probably because of its repetitive lyrics that can be a bit annoying. The release we’re talking about is The Angel and the Gambler. Truth be told, the melody in general is very catchy and, even a bit similar to The Who in some moments. As the song was released in 1998 while Blaze Bayley was its frontmen, it’s missing the well-known high-pitch vocals from Bruce Dickinson.

25. Ramblin' Gamblin Man - Bob Seger

We’re moving on to a rock single from 1978 - Ramblin' Gamblin Man by Bob Seger. The author meets an old acquaintance, a professional gambler who happens to be a swagger. As such, he attracts people’s attention whenever he bets. Putting so much of his faith in the cards (rather than in people), he walks away every time, just before avoiding loss. Along the way, the narrator realises that, if you scratch beneath the surface, you’ll find he’s a very cynical man, who will never change.
Another gambling-themed song worth mentioning by Bob Seger is Still The Same.

24. Blow Up The Pokies - The Whitlams

Blow up the Pokies is the next song on our list, played by The Whitlams. It is the second single by the group from their 4th studio album, Love This City. Released in the year 2000, the song became a hit and made it to number 21 on the ARIA Singles Chart. According to several resources, the lyrics written by singer Tim Freedman were inspired by the destruction he saw in original Whitlams bassist Andy Lewis's life, due to his gambling addiction.

23. A Good Run of Bad Luck - Clint Black

Now here’s one 1994-song packed with gambling-related terms. As you listen to A Good Run of Bad Luck, recorded by American music artist Clint Black, you'll have a bit of fun as you try identifying what all these gambling terms mean. The song is a bit fast and is about falling in love by using gambling metaphors. The main character is willing to spend a lot of money to win his special lady over and, although he has had a period of bad luck, he is not giving up – “I've been to the table, and I've lost it all before, I'm willin' and able, always comin' back for more.”

22. When You’re Hot, You’re Hot - Jerry Reed

Jerry Reed won a Grammy for the song When You’re Hot, You’re Hot which was released in 1971. Most people remember it as it was a major hit, ranked as number 1 in the country charts, also making its way up the Pop Top 40. It’s an enjoyable novelty song about the ups and downs of the gambling life, about one’s winning streak caught in an illegal game of Crap.
Country star Jerry Reed also came up with a version The Uptown Poker Club in 1973.

21. Lawyers, Guns and Money - Warren Zevon

Next one up - Lawyers, Guns and Money is a song by Warren Zevon, the closing track on his album Excitable Boy, released in 1978. An edited version of this song was distributed as a single and found itself on the A Quiet Normal Life best of compilation on the CD and LP. The song goes like this - “I went home with a waitress the way I always do, how was I to know she was with the russians, too? I was gambling in Havana, I took a little risk Send lawyers, guns, and money Dad, get me out of this, hiyah!”
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20. The Lottery Song - Harry Nilsson

According to the man in the 1972 pop-rock song The Lottery Song by Harry Nilsson, there's more than one way to get to Vegas. Addressing his lover, the narrator mentions a few different options for buying a ticket and going to Sin City – “We could win the lottery we could go to Vegas,” and “We could wait till summer, we could save our money” as well as “We could make a record, sell a lot of copies, we could play Las Vegas.”

19. Casino Queen - Wilco

Now here’s one black-humoured gambling-themed song, released in 1995 and titled after a casino. Featuring a dirty electric guitar, Casino Queen was composed by an American songwriter, Jeff Tweedy, who wrote this song after playing a game in a riverboat casino accompanied by his dad. Inspired by the event, the author wrote: “Casino Queen my lord you're mean, I've been gambling like a fiend on your tables so green.”

18. Have a Lucky Day - Morphine

Another song on our list that you simply must check out starts like this: “I feel lucky, I just feel that way, I'm on a bus to Atlantic City later on today. Now I'm sitting at a blackjack table and swear to God the dealer has a tag says, "Mabel." Hit me, hit me! I smile at Mabel, soon they're bringing complimentary drinks to the table.” Check it out yourself - it’s called Have a Lucky Day by Morphine.

17. Kentucky Gambler - Merle Haggard

Written by Dolly Parton and released in 1974, Merle Haggard’s Kentucky Gambler is another song on our ultimate gambling playlist that you should pay attention to. It’s about a miner from Kentucky who leaves his family to gamble, under the bright lights of Reno. Unsurprisingly, his winning streak comes to an end, and he loses all his winnings. All broke, he decided to return back home only when he arrived, he found out his wife was involved with someone else.

16. The Jack - AC/DC

The next song on our list will give you some adrenaline boost, for sure. It goes like this - “She gave me the queen, she gave me the king, she was wheelin' and dealin', just doin' her thing, she was holdin' a pair, but I had to try…” Sounds familiar? This song from the 1975s is called The Jack and is played by AC/DC and there’s no way you can skip it.

15. Blackjack - Ray Charles

Moving on to something a bit different - a melody that blackjack lovers can listen to as they play is Ray Charles’ Blackjack. Apart from being a good quality song from 1955, it carries an important message with an emphasis on how brutal the game of blackjack can be. Some sources say that Ray Charles wrote it after beating T-Bone Walker at a blackjack game session.
Yet another Ray Charles’ famous song about gambling is called a Losing Hand.

14. Ooh Las Vegas - Gram Parson

“Ooh, Las Vegas, ain't no place for a poor boy like me”... is a song-into for Ooh Las Vegas which was written by Gram Parsons and Ric Grech. It was first released by Gram Parsons with Emmylou Harris in 1974. Playing this song would be perfect for the beginning of the road trip (i.e. to Las Vegas), especially if you have the energy to sing along.

13. The Stranger - Leonard Cohen

Published in 1968 and performed by Leonard Cohen, The Stranger appears in the The Ernie Game movie about a man released from a mental asylum. More appropriately, it is the perfect opening song in the 1971 Western McCabe & Mrs Miller, in which Warren Beatty plays a gambler. As you listen to this song (without watching the movie), it makes you see fascinating images of card games, smoky dreams, and concepts of risk versus safety.

12. Desperado - Eagles

Written by Glen Frey and Don Henley, Desperado song is one of The Eagles’ greatest hits from their 1973 album of the same name. The song features a classic tune while the ballad tells the story of a lone wolf imprisoned by his loneliness. As for the lyrics, they have loads of card references mentioning the queen of diamonds, the queen of hearts, and so on.

11. Huck's Tune - Bob Dylan

The next song on our list is about the risks of poker, money, and relationships, which are precisely what the movie Lucky You is all about. Does it ring a bell? That’s right, this 2007 song is called Huck’s Tune and is performed by Bob Dylan. Each of us can all relate to lines "You push it all in, and you've no chance to win, you play 'em on down to the end." Play the song and you’ll enjoy more than 4 amazing minutes of Bob Dylan.
Likewise, Bob Dylan recorded Rambling, Gambling Willie and Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts, both excellent and both inspired by gambling.
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10. Four Little Diamonds - Electric Light Orchestra

A song by the British rock band Electric Light Orchestra Four Little Diamonds was released in 1983 and found itself on the album Secret Messages. The single wasn’t so popular in the US, being only 2 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, at number 86, and number 84 in the UK. This song refers to the singer’s cheating lover who tricked him out of a ring which had 'four little diamonds' on it.

9. You Can't Beat The House - Mark Knopfler

Moving on to our next choice for the day, You Can’t Beat the House. It’s the third song on the Get Lucky studio album released in 2009 by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler. The album and the songs received favorable reviews with the album reaching the top three positions on album charts in Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Poland. The singer’s divine voice combined with beautiful music and lyrics goes like this – “You can't bear the house, you can't bear the house, tell the man somebody, you can't beat the house.”

8. Deck of Cards - Don Williams

Deck of Cards is a recitation song that tells the story of a soldier who gets caught while playing cards in church and then faces a sentence from a superior officer. The soldier defends his case, explaining he wasn't about to deal a hand of poker, but was rather confirming his faith with the cards. Performed by T. Texas Tyler, the song managed to become a major hit in the 1940s and 1950s. Also, Wink Martindale had an even bigger hit with his 1959 cover, with a successful version by Don Williams featuring Tex Ritter and Buddy Cole.

7. Gambler’s Blues - B.B. King

First recording of the song Gambler’s Blues by B.B. King was in 1966, and it was released in 1967. The song appears on the album Back in the Alley (1970). Some say gambling and blues go hand in hand, so if you (gambling fans) haven’t heard it, listen and see for yourself.

6. Tumbling Dice - Rolling Stones

One of our favourite songs on the list is Tumbling Dice, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. It tells the story of a gambler who can’t remain faithful to any woman. Being released in the 1970s and featuring a blues boogie-woogie rhythm, the song was and still is one of the greatest singles of all time.
Rolling Stones also recorded Casino Boogie, and it’s from their 1972 album, Exile on Main St.

5. Luck Be A Lady - Frank Sinatra

The next song on our list is about a gambler who hopes that he will win a bet, the outcome of which will decide whether he is able to save his relationship with the girl of his dreams. You probably know what song we’re talking about; it’s called Luck be a Lady released in 1965 and performed by one of the most popular musical artists - Frank Sinatra.

4. Deal - Grateful Dead

Next one up is the song Deal. It was first performed by the Grateful Dead in 1971, as a regular part of the repertoire through their 1970's tour. Although being less common to the fans during the 1990s, the band continued to perform it. The singer opens with the message: “Since it cost a lot to win and even more to lose you and me bound to spend some time wondering what to choose,” that later kicks off with a chorus: “Don't let your deal go down...”
Loser is another song first performed by the Grateful Dead in 1971 as well, heavily played during 1971 and 1972.

3. Ace of Spades - Motörhead

Ok, the next song is loaded with some great gambling verses like "The pleasure is to play, makes no difference what you say, I don't share your greed, the only card I need is the Ace of Spades" will definitely set you in the right mood for hitting some winning combinations. Released in 1980, the song was inspired by slot machines that the lead singer Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister played in London pubs.

2. Viva Las Vegas - Elvis

As soon as you start playing the second song from our playlist “Viva Las Vegas,” you’ll probably picture a huge casino and a great gaming atmosphere. Performed by the legendary Elvis Presley, the 1964-released song brings the glamour of the city, and its beat will get you in the mood for some serious gameplay. This song was written for the movie of the same name starring Elvis Presley, in which he plays a race car driver waiting tables at a hotel to pay off a debt. There’s this famous scene when he performs this song at the talent competition alongside many showgirls.

1. The Gambler - Kenny Rogers

Performed by the legendary country singer Kenny Rogers, The Gambler song is our number 1 - it's full of some betting advice that are relevant today, even though it was released more than 40 years ago, in 1978. Here’s how it goes… “If you're gonna play the game, boy you gotta learn to play it right, you've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.” These classic chorus lines were told from the first-person perspective inspired by a conversation the author had with an experienced poker player on a train. Written in the form of poker metaphors, Schlitz wrote the tune in honor of his late father.
Johnny Cash is also among other musicians who recorded The Gambler in 1978, on Gone Girl.

What do you think? Which one is your favourite?