If all it took to be worse than Heather was rage, nobody would ever surpass Eva as an antagonist. I think being a good antagonist requires brains and tons of self-serving behavior rather than just being snappy. Playing dirty is also a key ingredient. Courtney seems to be bringing all that now, though I'd say she's still not as good an antagonist as Heather was in TDI. Heather's subtlety helped her fly under the other camper's radar for a long time so she could manipulate them without their knowledge, and she was extremely effective at getting what she wanted. Courtney making everyone offer to split the prize with her or else she'd leave them to explode was the best touch we've seen all season, but I have to deduct villain points for her going back on it so easily at the end of the episode. She wasn't very effective in that regard, but she's got great villain potential... despite lacking the subtlety that made Heather so great. I'd love it if she'd planned to let everyone see the clips of LeShawna on her PDA. That would be a great twist if it played into LeShawna getting eliminated later on, and it would add more machiavellian subtlety to the character.

Also, Courtney wasn't leading the Grips from an unfair advantage. She was leading the Grips because she was the most dominant personality on that team and had the most motivation--not to mention that the Grips weren't all that smart on their own. Now that the teams are disolved it's going to be interesting to see which alliances she'll make and use.

I'm rather glad that Courtney's stepping up as the antagonist. I love a good baddie, and we really needed to step up the antagonism in the show for the drama at this point in the season. She still seems to have a real weakness for "Dunkie", and that adds a nice juxtaposition to her other role in the plot.

I'm not really saying that rage is all that it takes to be worse than someone else, but anger sort of has it's evil prospects. Sometimes the ability to intimidate is all that makes a good villain, which was a defining trait for Heather, however comparing the two, Courtney is probably more severly enraged and therefore could intimidate better. I agree, being a good antagonist mostly requires brains and cunning skill, and needless to say, Heather played to her strengths in those departments. Of course it goes unsaid that Courtney has great potential to be as sneaky as Heather, but she has potential to do more a lot more damage on her own, with the given time. Perhaps the reason she lacked the villain trait may be due to the exposure everyone else got from Heather. I assume that all of the tricks that were pulled on her comeptiton has made them more aware, Courtney realizes this and won't do anything. It's pretty evident that she backs down on some of the challenges is also due to her feelings for Duncan. Much like Duncan, Courtney is preoccupied by her own emotions, which prevents her from doing the damage that she wishes to do.

I can't wait for Leshawna to be eliminated. She's so obnoxious. I've always despised her starting up her rivalry with Heather from the first season, but I've lost all respect towards her for her trash talking about Beth. I'm actually relieved to see Beth find that footage on Courtney's PDA. Leshawna's a crook and a fraud!

[/QUOTE="KarmaGoddess11"]Also, Courtney wasn't leading the Grips from an unfair advantage. She was leading the Grips because she was the most dominant personality on that team and had the most motivation--not to mention that the Grips weren't all that smart on their own. Now that the teams are disolved it's going to be interesting to see which alliances she'll make and use.[/QUOTE]

I don't think so. She may be the best prospect for the Grips, but it's pretty much a given that Courtney's lawsuit is what's giving the Grips a miraculous winning streak. Without it, the Grips would probably lose every challenge. Don't get me wrong, Courtney is a good player under some circumstances, But without her threat to sue, she couldn't possibly make it much further as she did the last time… unless she cheats. Since there's a no elimination clause in her contract, that gives her an unfair lead over the other players.

Unless she's able to convince Duncan and some of the players to team up with her, I can't see Courtney in an alliance. At least not a good one.

The no elimination clause was only for the first elimination after she returned, and it wasn't so unfair logically speaking. Any contestant returning that late in the season would be at a disadvantage initially. The other players have had time to form bonds together, so they would naturally vote off the new addition over the people they've already formed alliances with. By not allowing Courtney to be voted off in the first elimination after her return, it technically was leveling the playing field for her to have time to make alliances or prove herself useful to the team.

Courtney's lawsuit didn't do anything to help Lindsay make fire or diffuse her bomb, nor did it help Beth beat Heather at Badminton and throw Heather into the tar pit, nor did it contribute to their group Chris cheer. It has a lot less to do with Courtney's multiple defeats of Duncan than his feelings for Courtney as well. It was his soft spot for Courtney that gave her the opening to hit him in the coconuts in the prehistoric challenge, and she was playing far dirtier in that ball pit than he was. He was forcibly reminding himself of Trent and Gwen to motivate himself into wrestling her, while she had no compunctions about shoving dirty diapers into his mouth. So I disagree that her lawsuit was the cause of their winning streak. It sells the rest of the team short when they contributed a good 2/3 of the victory in each case.

I think her perks are going to be giving her a lot more help now that the teams are disolved than they did during the few challenges she faced as a Grip. For possible alliances, Duncan and Harold were both shouting advice to her about how to steal the spy bag in the laser room. Courtney could take LeShawna's place in that alliance. Interestingly, both Duncan and Harold have also cheated at one time or another on the show (stolen lighter and ballot switch), so as an alliance it would be very interesting to see what they would be capable of together. Cheating always gets its karmic payback on the show though, so it'll be fun to see what else happens to Courtney in terms of retribution.

I didn't say that Courtney's lawsuit helped Lindsay make fire or help Beth beat Heather at Badminton (sorry, I communicate better by speaking, rather than writing.) I was trying to say that Courtney wouldn't have been able to knock Duncan off without Lindsay winning the first part of the challenge. Duncan had a very hard time keeping up with Courtney during the fight. He had to remind himself of Trent and Gwen to motivate himself to fight Courtney. It back fired, which goes to show that Duncan was off his game. Had it been another player, he would have finished him off in no time flat. Not to mention that Courtney's bone was twice the size of his in the prehistoric challenge.

The other perks that she's getting, only proves Courtney to be at an unfair advantage, which Chris also happened to say himself. The no elimination clause didn't apply in the prehistoric episode because no one got eliminated. For the sports challenge, the Gaffers lost and Heather was eliminated, so Courtney still survives. I didn't happen to catch episode 16, but it was rumored that Leshawna is the next to go (please tell me that's not a rumor, that that's the truth) so again, Courtney's safe. The Grips would have to lose another challenge for the clause to work.

You'd originally said that Courtney's lawsuit was responsible for the Grips' miraculous winning streak, and I was just pointing out how little the lawsuit applied when you look at their latest wins and how much the other Grips really contributed once they got their act together. Grips had the big bones from Lindsay making fire (completely unrelated to the lawsuit), but it wasn't the size of the bone that allowed Courtney to defeat Duncan either. She pretended that she was going to kiss him again after the accidental kiss, and then she hit him in the groin. They were on the same platform, so she could have done that with the small bone. Her real advantage was Duncan's feelings for her. She's willing to hurt him so far a lot more than he's willing to hurt her. Duncan seems to have a bit of a masochistic side to him when it comes to Courtney, imo, and as you said it's left him off his game around her.

From the end of Ocean's Eight or Nine, this is what Chris said about eliminating Courtney:

"But not like always, and this is important to remember... THIS WEEK according to our lawyers none of you are allowed to vote off Courtney. You got that, dudes? This show can't afford any more lawsuits."

Chris stressed THIS WEEK. He didn't say that she could never be eliminated. He said she couldn't be eliminated that week, the week she returned. Her unfair advantages are having her PDA, eating gourmet food with the producers, having expensive fluffy bedding (goose down pillow, lofty comforter, 700 thread count sheets), and having her own private bathroom. They are very unfair advantages, but so far all they've contributed to is distancing her from the other players. In the coming challenges they'll probably contribute more though. Or they could start to backfire on her one by one, and that would be pretty funny.

16 was a no elimination challenge. I think the Lame-o-game was right though. I expect LeShawna to next.

The perks that she's getting are probably contributing to her physically. She's being fed, she's being taken care of, she's being kept. Those alone could help her stay better focused compared to the other players who have to settle for Chef's food. The reason I said about her lawsuit being responsible for the win was because of the perks she was getting-- somewhat irrelevant, but those were the conditions in the lawsuit. And havng a good lawyer that could provide you with a good diet and comfortable living contributes to better success in competition.

I don't understand how Courtney could have knocked Duncan off without the big bone. Even though she got closer to him, she couldn't have knocked him off with a smaller bone. It wouldn't have had nearly the same power as a larger bone. She could have hit Duncan in the groin and it would have hurt, but she would probably have to punch him or kick him there in order to knock him off. The purpose of the challenge was to use the bone and Courtney had a large bone, so there wasn't much to worry about because the bone alone was enough to knock him in. I'm sure that if she would have hit him on the head or in the stomache hard enough, he would have fell in. Hitting him in the groin with a smaller bone would require effort. She could of hit him, but it would come from her own brute strength, not so much of the bones. With a larger bone, it would require less effort because even if she wouldn't have hurt him, the odds of knocking him off the platform with a larger bone would have been greater than with a smaller bone. She just hit him in the groin for the sake of revenge.

Those challenges did throw him off his game. When Chris called him out for his loss against Courtney at the Gilded Chris Ceremony: "Seeing as that Duncan lost to a girl..." Duncan replies with "she's not a girl, she's Courtney. It's a whole different thing." That's symbolic, saying that he was trying to avoid admitting the truth. He even said the boy who called him mama threw him off his game, which wasn't the truth. It was Courtney. He even said "just compete, just compete, just compete." He was afraid to fight her. The only way that he could avoid admitting that to anyone was to remind himself of what happened with Trent and Gwen to help him during the fight.

Courtney came back to the game fully refreshed from being at the Playa Des Losers (or whatever resort the Losers are at this season). Physically she's already in a peak state over the other contestants. She doesn't need the extra perks for an initial physical advantage, but they will have a cumulative effect for keeping her at the top of her game. One Million Bucks BC seems to be the morning after her return, for example. It's less then 24 hours. She wasn't going to go downhill in that amount of time without the pampering.

Duncan was already off balance after trying to smack each other at the same time, and he was leaning over the edge of the pillar balanced on the heels of his feet. The only thing that was keeping Duncan up there was that Courtney was holding his wrist. She let go after she hit him, and that's how he fell down. She didn't knock him off with the force of her blow, but she hit him hard enough that it would have hurt like heck with either bone as a weapon. With that pain Duncan wouldn't be able to recover his balance when she dropped him. She could probably have given him just a little push when she let go, and he'd never have recovered even without the shot to the eggs. On seperate pillars big bones were potentially a huge advantage. Being on the same pillar, she'd have a long enough reach with the small bone to get him in the crotch. Her real weapon was surprise. Duncan had his eyes closed and his guard down expecting her to kiss him again. He never thought about correcting his balance. I don't think it was just revenge. She knew it would guarantee her the win. Revenge was just icing on the cake. How well any contestant used their bone wasn't the deciding factor in winning. Lindsay fell off from the sound of the horn. Heather fell because a pteradon tried to eat her wig, and Beth let go of her. In neither round did the winner use their bone at all.

Totally agree about Duncan trying to hide that she throws him so badly.

The pampering that she got from the 'Playa De Losers' episode was such a long time ago, though. The rest of the players all came from the same place, but Courtney started competing later into the season, and with her shouting and exerting her energy on lashing out at Gwen made the pampering wear off quicker. Under a certain circumstance, if she wouldn't have threatened to sue, she probably wouldn't have been able to compete as well, seeing as the pampering worn off. Her getting the extra pampering is a major factor for her defeats. It helps her stay better focused and come up with more cunning ways to get her through the contest.

That makes sense. Although I think the grotch thing was just the tip of the iceberg for her. Like you said, she could have just pushed him and that would have been enough to knock him in. I still think that with a smaller bone, it wouldn't have much of an effect, even if she was closer to him. Duncan being off balance was an advantage for her, unless it was something that she planned from the start. But how was she able to turn the tables on him, seeing as how he was holding her first?

She's been at a resort the entire time that the other characters have been competing this season. During the weeks that they were eating Chef's food, she was already eating better with the other eliminated contestants and sleeping in nice quarters. The losers weren't just at a resort for one episode, they were staying there. The little yelling that Courtney has done isn't going to cause Courtney to be in the same shape as people who've been eating Chef's slop for weeks (with a little relief courtesy of DJ), have been kept up all night to study medical texts or unceremonious awakened early, and have been competing in physically exhausting tasks while she's been getting good treatment elsewhere. She had that extra time while she was off the show to get herself ready to compete while her lawyers worked to get her back in the game. She really hasn't been lashing out any more than usual either. We never saw her chasing Gwen down with lamposts the way she attacked Harold, so she might actually have been lashing out less than usual. While we both agree her perks are an unfair advantage, I just don't think enough time has elapsed for them to have really started to kick in. She'd been back less than 24 hours during One Million Bucks BC, and there is no way that one night of sleep on a goose down pillow would refresh someone back to peak physical condition if Courtney were as worn down as everyone else. It's helping her keep a lead she already has, and the more time passes the better the cumulative benefit will be. One night at the spa wasn't enough to give LeShawna a big advantage, so one night shouldn't give Courtney an uber advantage either.

I think the bones were good at extending her reach, but a hard hit to the groin would be incapacitating regardless. It's one of the targets they teach in women's self defense for a reason. Duncan wasn't holding her first. She grabbed his wrist when they fell backwards, and that pulled them into the kiss. She had the advantage; if he'd tried to knock her off they'd have both gone because she was the only holding onto him. He never had a grip on her. What I really want to know is why Heather has a bigger bone than the rest of the Gaffers. It's about twice the size of the rest of her team's, though still smaller than the Grip bones.