I don't know why I'm always surprised when the Real World/Road Rules Challenge features people I want to stab repeatedly with a fork, but seriously, every season I think they couldn't possibly find worse people and then - TA DA - they pull a douchebag out of a hat and outdo themselves once again.

The funny thing about The Island is that you can see how the MTV producers thought this was a good idea. (In fact, they're probably still thinking that.) They took a look at past challenges and thought, hey, the most tense parts of the show is when people are fighting and bitching with each other. However, we have to spend valuable minutes focusing on each week's competition, which means a big chunk of our show is spent on something with less drama. So, clearly, we should do away with 90 per cent of the challenges. In fact, we'll do away with regular food and showers. And we'll up the alcohol available.

So, basically, we're watching Survivor meets Big Brother meets Rock of Love. Or something.

Every few days, army planes drop a little bit of food and a few supplies. On an island quite far from the beach on which all these stupid kids are staying is a chest full of money. It needs four keys to be opened; also, to get there, you need to build a boat using supplies that are given every few days.

Now, there is one challenge every week, but only three people compete and the whole group has to agree on who those three people are. If you win the competition, you get a key; the two remaining players plead their cases to everyone else, who then decide which of the two goes home. If someone with a key gets sent home, then they give their key to someone remaining. However, there are only eight keys total, meaning that, starting a couple of weeks ago, whoever won the challenge took someone else's key.

In theory, very interesting. In practice, these are horrible people.

Now, I was aware of this. I've watched several past challenges and it's not a secret that everyone cast on The Real World and Road Rules are idiotic, temperamental alcoholics who love to fight and love to be on TV. But I've realized that the idiocy, the downright offensive behaviour of these people was only barely tolerable on past challenges, when a good chunk on the show was spent on the actual, physical challenges. This time, almost everything is mental, which is a problem when the combined IQ of everyone on The Island would struggle to outsmart a platter of yams.

And what's worse - they're not just stupid. They're entitled. Again, something I knew beforehand, but I still wasn't prepared to sit through an entire hour of it.

What depresses me more is the antagonistic relationship between Johnny Bananas and Ev. Now, in previous challenges, Johnny actually seemed like one of the nicer, saner people there. He seemed like a rational guy who realized how ridiculous the show was and, while he wanted to win the money, he wasn't going to take anything super personally or purposely try to piss anyone off.

This time, however, Johnny is a sexist bastard who refers to every single girl as a bitch. He and his tight alliance of Kenny, Paula and... some other stupid people I can't be bothered to look up - they all are furious whenever someone tries to cross their alliance. And, naturally, when this person is a woman, she's a "stupid bitch" who doesn't know her place and should get back in the kitchen. As if everyone else on the show should just sit back and allow them to control what's happening.

Now, with Ev, a girl who determination I admire even if I find her personality annoying - she had a great moment a few weeks ago. She won the week's competition and thus was allowed to take someone's key. And she gave a great speech about Johnny's stupid alliance and how everyone else is just sitting by. "F*ck their alliance," she said, before taking Johnny's key.

I'd like to believe that the Johnny of past challenges would have at least grudgingly admired her move - because, really, if she wanted a shot at winning the money, the only way to do it was to go on the offensive against their alliance. Instead, Johnny, Kenny and Paula (who is so obviously so happy to be part of the in crowd that she has no problems disparaging the other women on the show, which is disgusting) all talk about how terrible and stupid Ev is and how all her friends are stupid and how all the women have no place in the game.

(A lesser of this actually happened with The Gauntlet III earlier this year - I'd previous loved Evan Starkman, and even wrote a ridiculously positive article about him and gush about him before the season began and... then he was a total and complete butt. And I use the word "butt" in place of a much harsher word that would probably get me fired if I actually used it here. Evan specifically targeted all the "weak, useless" girls and got rid of them, only to have his team lose because of one of the guys. Which was awesome, don't get me wrong, but good lord, I can't believe I ever liked that guy. I thought by my age, I'd stop getting crushes on buttheads only to be humiliated by it later. Anyway, moving on.)

MTV, I know your heart was in the right place with The Island - you wanted to give us more of the ridiculous, drunken fights and hookups that have made the past challenges so lovely. But - and this is coming from me, so you know it's gotten bad when I say this - it's just too much. As stupid as so many of the team competitions were, and as much as I may have disliked them at the time, I realize now that they are necessary. You need them in the show to make the show palatable. There's only so much of these people that I can take, and it is far less than The Island is giving me.