Endurance 2 Retrospective: An Overlooked Masterpiece

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Hello everybody!

I was thinking of writing a retrospective for Endurance 2, as it was that season's 20th anniversary. This was originally published on Reddit, which grew so long that I split it into parts.

Endurance 2 had basically a little bit of everything, and amplified the stakes from Endurance 1. From the location to the twists, it really pushed the boundaries of Endurance as well. The contestants are also quite strong, though it hardly got into the petty levels we'd see later, the conflicts between the alliances were quite strong. So, why is it so overlooked, twenty years later?

Feel free to comment on here!

"If you thought Endurance 1 was rough, E2 is going to blow you away."

So begins Endurance 2, as J.D. walks onto a desert near La Paz, a resort town in Mexico. Endurance started off on a strong note, thanks to a compelling cast and a strong game. With the choice of location, Endurance 2 already pushes the envelope in terms of extremes, switching the maritime beaches of Catalina Island for 108 degree days south of the border.

For the contestants, it began with a burro ride across the sands to their new (temporary) home. They all made it to their huts, but the journey had mixed results. Wayne fell off his donkey, Michelle and Trey had problems with their donkeys, and Scooter notably complained how the pain got to his groin. Trey and Mike took the time to survey the contestants for competition, and the 20 teens wondered when will this end.

Like on Endurance 1, six of them were eliminated from the right to stay, leaving behind fourteen to form the teams. The journey they would take within the two weeks in the Mexican desert would be worth its while; however, it's one that's also overlooked when looking at Endurance as a whole.

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The Baja California in Mexico is notably dry and arid, with the flattest regions reaching up to the 100s during the day. It marked for a distinct contrast with Catalina Island, and provided a strong visual identity for Endurance 2 to stand on. The contestants not only dealt with the heat, but they also had to deal with some of the wildlife.

One day, Scooter found a scorpion nest on his bed, and everybody got so scared that they refused to sleep in the huts, instead preferring to sleep outside on the beach. During the night, the contestants would talk about anything and everything under the stars, which allowed them to bond together further. The next day, they would make it look like they slept in the beds for the adults.

The variety of animals led to some of the funnier moments in the show. When the Red Team got eliminated, they hoped Keetin would "get bit by a chicken" in their goodbye letter. The remaining contestants would find a variety of animals, from spiders to goats, all across the desert. In contrast, the E1 contestants followed a wild buffalo's journey.

Finally, the Temple of Fate, rather than being on land, was out on the Sea of Cortez. This was an anomaly as the contestants would row canoes in order to get there, but would not get the traditional "standing by the fire" elimination sequence which would be iconic amongst Endurance at large. Instead, two Temple ceremonies took place during rough weather, which indicated the high intensity of the game at hand.

Endurance 1's location was notably noted when it started raining in "Waterlogged", to the point where Ashley's sleeping bag was soaked to the bone and Skyler simply wanted the sun to come out. In addition, the final six contestants went scuba diving on a day off, showcasing the multitude of wildlife there. These were more focused on a couple of episodes, whereas for Endurance 2, the location defined the entire season. It set the stage for what challenges the teams would face off in...

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Both Endurance 1 and Endurance 2 played with different forms of challenges, with a notably high quality throughout. The first Endurance mission ever, "Tilt", already set the stage with how the girls would cling on to their teammates' hands for dear life, as they swung above the Pacific Ocean. Endurance 2 wouldn't go as far, but would have a notable variety of challenges.

One thing I like to talk about is the Tide Pull/On the Ropes/Face to Face trifecta, which have a bunch of strengths for each of them. Tide Pull sets a high bar for targeting challenges, which are usually derided for how they play out. The overall strength of the competition, as well as the challenge itself, subvert that. On the Ropes is a trust challenge to the extreme, with a climactic end to it. And Face to Face, while not as frightening, also lifted the contestants in an Endurance mission with notable stakes.

However, there were just as notable missions, especially with brain-based ones. "Aqueduct", for example, had the teams play with differently-sized pipes in order to form an aqueduct, with un unexpected outcome. And "Pathfinder", the final Temple Mission, was a puzzle which had the contestants lose their way multiple times (Tyler: "There's obviously something wrong with blue..."). The commercial edit, in which one team seems to have cracked the code, was a definite false flag!

Endurance 2's missions were quite notable, to the point where "Fireball" was voted back on by the fans for Endurance: Tehachapi. However, only "Pathfinder" and "Face to Face" were voted as two of the Top Ten Games from the first four seasons afterwards, indicated the fans might have forgotten some of them in the meantime. This would happen with the rest of the season, including the characters...

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Endurance 2 was notable for being the first season with commercials promoting auditions for the following season. This allowed kids without connections in the entertainment industry to hopefully get their day in the limelight. While some contestants from E1 would happen to stumble on these auditions, like Lana and Ashley, most of the original twenty dealt with acting or agents before. As a result, we had contestants from seven new states, and a bunch of new stories to tell.

However, the biggest catch from Endurance 2 was from...Endurance 1 itself.

Shortly after Endurance 1 ended, there was a reunion amongst the seven teams of that season, and J.D. announced they would be voting for one girl and one boy each to return for Endurance 2. The audience would collectively vote for a "tie-breaking" fifteenth vote to determine it. After going through all the votes...J.D. announced amongst the seven teams of Endurance 2, that Max and Jenna would be returning to compete with them as the Brown Team.

Right there, the storylines were written for the rest of the season. When the shock settled down amongst the seven other teams, they split into two camps--those which wanted Max and Jenna gone from the get go, and those who were willing to make an alliance with them. The overwhelming impact Max and Jenna's return made it the biggest twist of the series, but it also underwhelmed the other stories which involved Endurance 2.

From Endurance 1, we knew a little bit of Max. He notably screwed up the list in "Partner Game" because he believed it wouldn't work. "If everybody gets what they want, it could pose problems for the other teams" he claimed, after pairing Trevor with Lana, rather than Chelsea. He also let Jenna go early in "Tilt" so that the Gray Team wouldn't be a threat, and wrote a d**ning letter to Jonna after they got eliminated. Upon his return, he made his mark by negotiating alliances with the other players, which unfortunately crossed with each other. One example was how he promised Scooter the Blue Team wouldn't win the Samadhi in "Tide Pull", only to break that right away, setting up a famed confrontation in the following episode. He also was on and off about his alliance with Purple, which made Annie in particular distrust him. His confessionals frequently focused on his game plans, which went all over the place at times.

Jenna, while more in the background throughout the season, had a more stabilizing force for the Brown Team. She befriended Keetin and Calley almost immediately, and anchored one of the strongest alliances the season had seen. Jenna was more down-to-earth and tried to keep the peace between the other teams, which wasn't fully focused on throughout the season. Any targeting was focused on stopping Max, because Jenna was pretty well-liked across the group.

Together, they did something they didn't do on E1, and that was win challenges. Max managed to pull Jeff closer to shore than Annie with Jenna in "Tide Pull", and Jenna guided Max past Scooter in "On the Ropes". While their tactics varied, they never clashed with each other; instead, they worked to keep Brown in the game. And Brown survived two trips to the Temple of Fate--something they failed on E1.

So, what for the other teams?

Gray (Wayne and Maryelle): I feel like E2 Gray's biggest contributions to E2 is the continuation of Curse of the Gray Team, and Maryelle being Cruise meerkat Youssy's ultimate bias on Endurance. They were marginally in the anti-Brown alliance with the others, and we have Wayne being somewhat upset about not being Jacquelynn's partner (then again, who wasn't?) Their challenge performance in "Tower of Power" wasn't fully enough to judge their capabilities, especially with that being the first elimination. They were ultimately sent by Green to eliminate Orange, which...didn't work.

Red (Phil and Jacquelynn): Despite the overwhelming desire for Jacquelynn for a partner, Red was ultimately one of the most under-edited teams of this season. This honestly surprised me because they've not only had their moments, but also because E2 keeps the consistent confessional counts which Endurance 1 had, with 12 of the 22 overall contestants speaking to the audience at least ten times. Phil had the joint least confessionals of anybody who made it past the Right to Stay, and didn't seem to get much about the show.

As a team, they has fleeting sparks of potential. Larger sparks came in "Fireball", where J.D. asked about Jacquelynn's liking for Phil, and they seemed to work well with each other. They're probably best known for their elimination in "Rollerball", where Jacquelynn claimed that everybody better pray they don't come back, which they didn't, and gave one of the harshest goodbye letters in reality TV history.

Blue (Scooter and Christa): Theoretically, Scooter and Christa should've been a stronger team than they were. Both were strong in challenges (both were the first to catch a ball in "Wash Out"), and Christa playing tackle football on the boys' team. However, if there was a team which alliances split apart, it was this team.

Scooter was only "in it to win it", and it was shown when he made it through "Drop Out" despite having his plank drop off. He hoped Trey would get offed because of him stealing the room, and hoped the Brown Team would leave soon, saying, "this is Endurance 2, not Endurance 1 reincarnated". He played the dominant role on his team, telling Christa whom to eliminate in "Fireball" and pulling out the canoes frantically in "Tide Pull". Paradoxically, it isolated people away from him, because of how strong he played the game.

In contrast, Christa allied herself with Brown, Green, and Yellow; and seemed to garner their trust a bit. None of the other teams wanted to target Christa, but because they thought of Scooter as a threat, they needed to get Blue out. One thing which interested me was how Christa wasn't a big player, despite her desire (at the time) to become a lawyer and know how to debate. She could've been that bridge that brings Blue closer to the end of the game. Ironically, they mirrored Max and Jenna's dynamics, but with much less success.

Yellow (Shep and Calley): One thing that made Endurance 2 special was how most of the conflicts was more on the game, rather than petty drama. There were mismatched teams, sure, but with one exception, their struggles didn't really make the spotlight. Targeting teams were done based on strategy rather than just picking out a team, and it's hardly personal.

One exception was Annie vs. Calley, which ended up being a major arc in the middle of the season.

Calley allied herself quickly with Jenna and Keetin, which put them in opposition with the Purple Team. Initially, Calley proved to be a strong social player, not only with that, but knowing that Annie and Jeff would be a strong team. However, in the following episodes, it appeared Calley had a vendetta against Annie, which she claimed to be from "low self-esteem" in "Tide Pull". It climaxed with a confrontation an episode later, where she believed that Annie hated her and stormed off.

This took part at a pivotal time for the Yellow Team. They didn't win challenges, but were decent in them. In "Tide Pull", though, Yellow was yanked out first, which led to a series of losses as time went on. It irritated her partner, Shep, who was more on the sidelines of the game, because they seemed to be carried by their alliance members. It would come into head in the end, when they had to win Cherry Picker or be sent to Temple. After leading for basically the entire game, Purple managed to catch up, and ended up winning.

(While the subsequent Temple of Fate sealed the Yellow Team's fate, I can't help but feel bad for them. They had potential, but never really fulfilled on that.)

Purple Team (Jeff and Annie): E2 Purple has to be one of the most interesting teams the series had. They were one of the strongest teams in terms of missions, but had to strategize to get ahead in a tumultuous social game. They were part of the anti-Brown alliance in the beginning, but when teams started getting eliminated, they found their position in a flux. Like with Shep and Calley, their dynamics are quite interesting to look at.

Annie stood out for being the tomboy of the bunch, hanging out of the guys and strategizing with them. This would freak out the girls of Brown-Yellow-Green, who thought she was trying to get into her heads (a theory, because of how Sabrina played Aaron on Endurance 1). She was aloof and only let a select few come closer, which also put them off. Arguably, Annie not speaking to the audience in "Tide Pull" didn't help, compared to Calley. Nevertheless, she was one of the strongest girls in the game, which helped Purple.

Jeff was far more low-key; he rarely spoke up about things and remained chill for the most part. This didn't mean he wasn't observant or part of the game--he knew how the girls acted with Annie, which made him worry for their social standing. He also knew the stakes of losing two particular missions, which would end up determining their fate in the game.

Just coming out of the Temple of Fate after "On the Ropes", they had the GYB alliance against them, and Orange was a non-factor in it. Face to Face was a challenge which required teamwork, and Jeff and Annie barely managed to win against the Brown Team and took the opportunity to handicap them. Despite that, Purple still faced off against Yellow in the following mission, with some embers of the Annie-Calley rivalry aflame. They succeeded.



Orange Team (Tyler and Michelle): I already wrote a piece about their journey as the underdog team, which I sample here:

"One of the most important traits to have on Endurance is determination—to be able to work together and to get things done. And Michelle delivered this in spades through how she played the game.

She persisted in getting to work with Tyler, despite his initial shortcomings on wanting to be in Mexico at all. Instead of blowing it out on him, she still tried, though more in the challenges than outside of them. Michelle also kept an optimistic attitude throughout Endurance 2, always believing she would come out on top and win. While they didn’t make it to the end, it got Orange further than they could’ve imagined.

The game also has a way of changing people’s minds with time, and it showed with Tyler. He was homesick at the beginning of the game and tried to find a way out. When Orange returned from Temple for the second time, he tried harder in challenges and pulled out one of the cleverest maneuvers in the show. By the final three, he wanted to win for Michelle’s sake—a total 180 from when they were first partnered up."

Ultimately, Orange wasn't a major part of the Max and Jenna arc, except with Michelle commenting about Max "writing checks his mouth can't cash". After their second Temple of Fate run, they were more in the background as the rival alliances ate each other up, and that ultimately helped with their survival. Michelle also had a friend in Annie--the only girl to really break her shell, and that benefited Orange somewhat as they were not targeted afterwards. Ultimately, it paid off as Orange received all of Purple's pieces after they got eliminated, despite them initially promising them to Brown.

Green Team (Mike and Keetin): While J.D, said that the friendships made on Endurance were meant to last for a lifetime, Mike and Keetin proved to be the embodiment of that. They had only one piece before the final two--Teamwork--but it embodied the team in all the ways. They did well in missions, and were mostly on the same page in terms of strategy.

Keetin was a huge part of the GYB alliance, but it was Mike who was the brains of the operation. In his introduction, he said, "there are other contestants who are stronger than my physically, but there's nobody stronger than me mentally", which showed in how he approached strategy. He befriended Annie on a rival alliance, which gave them a sense of safety on the other side. Unlike Max, who would flip between alliances in a snap, Mike was more deliberate on his social moves

This didn't mean Mike and Keetin were entirely nice though. They received the brunt of Red's wrath after they got eliminated, as Phil believed that they were friends. When it came down to the final four teams, after a bit of deliberating, they chose to send both their allies, Brown and Purple, to the Temple of Fate, because they were the strongest teams left. It left Annie shook for a while after Purple was eventually eliminated, and showed how Green could make these moves when need be.

Overall , Green represented the rare team who was strong, but still nice overall. They were able to laugh at themselves at times, such as with them losing Face to Face quite early, and kept up positive attitudes throughout. They knew how to play the game, and did it well. And they still keep in touch to this day.

What's interesting looking at these contestants was that, there was no stand-out villain. There were antagonistic contestants, but they never stooped to the point of evil. Max proved himself as a two-timer who would do anything to win, but those plans eventually ground out to dust, and their original alliance remained. Annie had her rivalry with Calley, but it's still debatable on who started the fire; in addition to Annie being iced out by the remaining girls. Scooter was outspoken on whom he wanted to do and wanted to win, but he was eventually proven right as the results came out. A number of interlocking story arcs lay hidden underneath the main one, but it remained Brown and their allies against the world.

In addition, Mike, Max, and Keetin have the most confessionals of all the contestants (with 48, 40, and 31 across all the episodes, respectively). Mike has the fourth most confessionals of all six seasons, but he has more of a thoughtful take on what's going on in the game. In contrast, Calley, Annie, and Michelle, who all have 25 confessionals each (as many as Jenna, who was part of the winning team), had more of a personality through which they conveyed. While E2 had a notable cast of characters, a lot of the stronger ones were eliminated in the middle.

(Honorable mention to Trey and Simone, who got a lot of characterization in the beginning)

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Conclusions:

Scooter famously said upon Max and Jenna's return, "this is Endurance 2, not Endurance 1 reincarnated". Outcome aside, Endurance 2 did amplify the competition, both amongst the challenges and the teams. There was less actual bullying going on in the beach, but it was made up for in how competitive the two rival alliances were. They made deals, they voiced their opinions on each other, and even clashed on a race course when they needed a result. However, the contestants had notably close bonds, to the point where they flew across the country to meet each other on the show.

The challenges themselves were incredibly strong too, and tested everybody on many levels. From the straining Face to Face to the puzzling Pathfinder, Endurance 2 managed to balance brains, body, and strategy in many forms. The fact several of them are still remembered fondly, and one even came back for another season, should say wonders.

However, Endurance 2 is still overlooked, even amongst the fandom. While Max and Jenna's return permeated the season, it also insured almost everything would go through the lens of their comeback. Annie and Calley's conflict was partially because they worked for different sides of the alliance, and Scooter's ambition was tempered by Max's strategies. In addition, the other events surrounding Endurance 2 paled in comparison, so there was one major arc, and several others, but the didn't have their shining moments.

Most notably, Endurance: Hawaii followed this season, which turned up everything about Endurance to eleven. The main characters had their idiosyncrasies, and seemed to stretch right out the TV screen. It rained a lot, to the point where the contestants were deeply affected by it physically and mentally. Rivalries formed there would stretch out to the end of the season, which led to many multiple clashes. Compared to the main characters of E3, Mike, Max, and Keetin fall a bit flat.

But in the end, Endurance 2 continues Endurance in a great way, and irons some parts of the first season.