For the past few years on the Challenge, there has been a hatred for Johnny, Evan and Kenny, to some extent Derrick is added because he usually wins with them. People call It the JEK alliance or the JEKD. They say the 3 of them come on Challenges, dominate or are afraid to get in elimination rounds and throw everyone they can under the bus. These are all lies. The truth is all 4 have been on 2 Challenges together (Duel 1 and Ruins) and only on one did they actually work together (Ruins). To help out here’s a timeline of Challenges and how “JEKD” performed or what not on them.
-FM 1 – Evan and Kenny’s first appearance, Evan was taken out due to to injury, and Kenny got 2nd in the final no alliance there.
-Duel 1 – Johnny’s first Challenge appearance was eliminated first, Kenny went home 3rd, Derrick went 5th and Evan was 3rd to last eliminated. On screen they barely talked, once again no alliance.
-Inferno 3. Johnny was on the blue team, Derrick/Kenny red team. Kenny was sent into elimination, but saved himself via life shield. He and Derrick won their first Challenge together, but no alliance involved.
-Gauntlet 3. Johnny, Evan and Kenny on this one. Johnny was the first veteran male sent home, by Evan. He was thrown under the bus by CT. There were few chances for Evan or Kenny to throw people into elimination as the vets dominated. Once again no alliance.
-The Island. The first time a true alliance was formed with Johnny and Kenny, with Derrick working behind the scenes but fair. They never did throw anyone under the bus, as the whole Paula business was just clever editing. Kenny has gone on record saying multiple times that he did his part with Paula by getting her a key, but his main alliance was Johnny and the only way to save Johnny was to get Evelyn on the boat.
-Duel 2, Evan won by himself.
-The Ruins. The one Challenge all 4 where on working together. Some say they screwed Wes over but truth is Wes screwed himself. He was picking fights, he tried to throw a Challenge, so what were they supposed to do? Let him keep doing his shit? If Wes had been calm I can imagine them not throwing Wes so many times into the Ruins as they did, but truth is Wes did it to himself. The Evelyn-Kelly Anne situation, it was a smart play get rid of the toughest girl on the other team and the only two girls on the vets team who could do it were Evelyn and Susie, but Susie hadn’t made waves with these guys before. They controlled the game they kept themselves out of the elimination round bar Johnny, who owed these guys from the island and won, and you know what they did what they had to. (More on this later)
-FM 2, the first Challenge that Kenny’s dominance was threatened when he was outnumbered by Wes’s alliance but truth is this Challenge proved who the real asshole was. Wes instead of throwing in people from Kenny’s alliance against themselves or giving his best friend an easy elimination, he sacrificed those around him to keep himself safe. Kenny played the game as fair as he could, did he have an alliance? Sure, but he didn’t screw them when it came to it like Wes did with CJ or Danny.
Can you honestly blame them? It’s a game show, many times they say “I came to win money not make friends” and it is true. Why go into an elimination round when they don’t have too? If any of us would be in a Challenge we’d play it the exact same way. Eric on Cutthroat for example, he screwed it up on Gauntlet 3 for the vets he and Derrick didn’t wanna risk it so why not sacrifice Big Easy. If he survived the Gulags then he earned his spot, if he didn’t tough loss but Eric had to prove himself. This famed alliance while it does exist, it doesn’t dominate and ruin every single challenge. The Ruins is the one Challenge they where all on, and Wes asked for what he got. As for the Island, Johnny did what he had to do to win, was he gonna stand back and let it all slip away? No, people go on these Challenges to win not let it all up to chance if not, they wouldn’t even go. They just know how to play the physical and social game, and honestly you can’t blame them. As for Derrick who’s been a part of it..can you blame him? Before joining up with the guys he always fell a bit short, always deserving but never got to win since then he’s won 3 straight, but he also plays it fair. These guy are just doing what they can to play the game they go on and they do a damn good job at it.
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You did a good job of breaking down their alliance season from season, but i do think there definitely is an allaince between these guys.. it's called friendship. Their friends! of course their going to ahve each others back over these other people that they can barely stand for 2 months at a time. Most of the people on this show are idiots, or as Kenny likes to put it "shlubs," So obviously their going to try to stick together and win money together whenever they get the chance to. The real issue is that there isn't another strong alliance like them that can keep up. Wes and his band of losers are the closest threat, and frankly, they aren't a threat. I think the producers should make an extra effort to get competitors that have a good balance of chemistry and competitiveness in order to compete with these guys. They're just beast and their fun to watch even with people that can't match up with them. Could you imagine how interesting it would be to have competition for this alliance that have dominated the last 4 years? I want to see a challenge that coordinates with alliances and tries to form new ones, i.e.: Team 1-Johnny, Evan, Kenny, Derrick, Laurel and shlubs vs Team 2: Landon, Brad, C.T., Wes, Evelyn and shlubs.
ReplyDeleteFriends help each other...it's the way it is. If I was on one of these things with my friends you bet I would save them before someone else. I don't like the hate on these guys from the viewers. If you hear what people say about them almost every cast member when they're off the show says that they're all good guys in real life. They aren't there to be nice to each other...they're there to win. If you want to play a low stakes game and not hurt peoples' feelings play Candy Land. Go JEKD.
ReplyDeleteOh there is an alliance but its only affected two challenges, ruins and the island.
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