Yeah, it was getting boring indeed. It was also stupid that several times it seemed like only a handful of tougher ones were left, but then the next episode, like this one, dryly announced there are still plenty of people left. It's like this last block had fricking 1000 people in.
I thought it was Sabo who was wondering with Bartolomeo the sudden change. So, I don't think it was Sabo.