That was the question.

Or, more specifically, the question was actually “Where is the world’s biggest party?”

But in the back of everyone’s minds, the real question was: Will they choke?

Schadenfreude has had to make a tough go of it lately.  Seems they’re always in the mix, and often leading heading into the Final Challenge Round, but some combination of factors has lately been holding them back. Whether it be too-small-wagers, or too-often-picking-the-more-difficult-category, or too-often-unnecessarily-hyphenating-long-run-on-sentences (okay, that last one is just me), they’ve often had to settle for 2nd or 3rd as teams like Rake of Blood, The Green & White Army, and others have vaulted to the podium.

This week Schadenfreude wasn’t even at full strength, missing multiple team members.  Realizing their likely fate, they opted for a name change so as to not stain their full team’s stellar reputation.

Sort of…

Chokenfreude isn’t a far cry away, and seemed like a fitting proclamation. So after they nailed the Bingo Round Bonus, you could feel the tension mount.  They had acted as if the expectations weren’t there, like this was going to be an off week and there was no pressure. But once they got ahead, well, you just knew that they would find some spectacular way of imploding, as if choking was inevitable.

It was just a matter of when, and how.

And then the most ironic thing happened.

Big partyers, the ‘enfreudes. They showed no fear, bet right, and knew that Carnivale in Rio was the biggest party of the year.

Apparently after many an evening spent downing beers at Biddy’s, it made perfect sense for them to go home and watch late night Travel Channel reruns about exotic foreign party destinations, often hosted by witless but gorgeous models.

(Okay, maybe that’s just me again).

Regardless, the Choke has been lifted, and the throttle pushed back in.

I guess we’ll see how that works out for them when they get back to full strength next week. After all, what’s in a name?

Chokenfreude (NOT Schadenfreude! I repeat: these are different teams... ish)