#131 Trash Talk Roundtable_The Challenge USA2 EP8: Mid-Season Recap w/ Special Guest Alex Brizard

Hey Fandom! Welcome back to another episode of Trash Talk Roundtable with your hosts Rick, Corrina, Josh and Tony! This week we are back to single episodes and marking the halfway point of the season with our special mid-season guest, Alex Brizard of Netflix's The Circle and Two Dudes Watch Cartoons podcast. We are also celebrating our official 2 year anniversary with a very special upgrade to our podcast... we are officially a FULL VIDEO PODCAST! That's right, if you prefer to stare at our faces while we talk about The Challenge, you can go to YouTube the day after our audio podcast releases to watch the full version FOR FREE anytime you'd like! This will apply to our Unplugged episodes as well so make sure you come follow us on YouTube and check out the new podcast upgrade! Please remember to be patient with us. We've always said we are going to learn as we go with you guys, so we ask for grace while we figure out video editing, proper cameras etc. Anyway... we kick off this recap by discussing our new attempt at video (plus, have a laugh at the green alien versions of Rick and Corrina in the first 10 minutes). Then we break into our overall feelings on the season format, debate The Hopper VS Skulls and discuss the entertainment level of this season (0:00 - 17:10). In the first part of the recap, we discuss whether we like teams or individual more, how Amazing Race is always done dirty, Big Brother numbers dwindling and why we love The Survivor girls. Then we begin breaking down the Bananas and Michaela agreement, the different strategies for the daily challenge, whether or not it would have been better to work as a team or individuals for the daily and even point out that this is the same cave some of these Challengers have already competed in! We also discuss post production issues we are having along with our thoughts on this old version of Tori that seems to be resurfacing on this episode (17:10 - 1:11:55). After the break, we dive into the Survivor and Challenge Veteran alliance, who we'd like to see go over to the flagship, who we are missing from the cast this season, our evidence that taking a break is a positive for these Challengers, and the dangers VS benefits of burning votes, especially in this type of format. Next we break down Tori and Bananas nominations, why we're upset Tori and Sebastian got to stay behind from the club, why club scenes are so important, Alyssa Snider targeting Tori's boo, what we think would have happened had Alyssa succeeded in getting Sebastian voted in, whether or not production actually listens to fan's gripes about the show, how in the world Bananas and Tori had completely matching outfits for the elimination and the different strategies used for this elimination by Tyler and Monte. We close out by discussing TJ's varying goodbyes and what they mean, whether or not we think this season is set up for Faysal to win, TJ's "get ready" comment at the end of the episode, MVP's for the episode and our final picks for this season (1:11:55 - 2:42:00). We had such a great time with this mid season recap with Alex Brizard and we hope you all enjoy this episode! Remember to go check out our YouTube and support our new move to full video! Links below!

Alex Brizard IG: https://www.instagram.com/awildbriz/

Two Dudes Watch Cartoons IG: https://www.instagram.com/twodudeswatchcartoons/

Two Dudes Watch Cartoons Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1lsvI7DbHMlvpXEpVMg4T7?si=3e1dda841b2440ea

Two Dudes Watch Cartoons Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/two-dudes-watch-cartoons/id1279059389

Challenge Fandom Podcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thechallengefandompodcast8423

Challenge Fandom Podcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@challengefandompod

Challenge Fandom Podcast IG: https://www.instagram.com/challengefandompodcast/

The Official Challenge Fandom FB Fan Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thechallengefandom