The Challenge All Stars 2 Episode 6 Recap & 10 Biggest Takeaways
Episode 6 of Challenge All Stars S2 is in the books. You probably have some thoughts, so let’s compare. Instead of giving a simple summary, I decided to focus on the 10 Biggest moments/takeaways from the 6th episode.
10 I Love The King’s Palace
While I don’t know if The King’s Palace will be a successful alliance, the players have a genuine comradery and bond that would make me want to ride with them. Watching them dance together after Teck and Melinda’s elimination wins was infectious; I also have to give props to the editing team for the musical addition of Genius of Love. Everyone in the alliance has chips on their shoulder from feeling like they have been underappreciated or underrated as competitors in the house, and they are not going to let that be the case any longer. As Nehemiah said, they aren’t going down without a fight and are putting fate in their hands.
9 Diving In
This type of daily challenge checks multiple boxes. It has a fear/extreme element (taking a big dive into water), a physical component (swimming), and a mental portion (a puzzle). To win, you needed to be well-rounded in all three elements. The dive players took into the water for this challenge was way higher than I expected. Kudos to everyone who jumped, especially Kendal, who injured her ribs in the process. Teck accidentally almost killing Ayanna was a wild moment as well, definitely not how Ayanna expected Teck to jump on top of her for the first time.
As a whole, you’re not going to find me complaining about a simple daily challenge where first place gets power, and last place goes directly into elimination. It forces you to care about each team’s performance. Not going to lie; some of the men and women looked damn good coming out of the water.
8 Winners & Losers
Brad & Jodi take the win with a dominant performance. My favorite moment was Darrell saying: “Jodi’s beating all the boys again, huh?” Jodi is so fucking good, and this season is showing maybe she should be in the conversation as one of the Top 3–5 Female Competitors in the franchise history. Darrell & Janelle come in 2nd, another top placement for Darrell, who is sneakily having his best daily challenge season thus far.
Tyler & Jasmine come in last place due to Jasmine’s swimming and their combined ineptitude in the puzzle.
7 Partners for Life
After the daily, TJ drops the bomb on them that their partnerships for the daily challenge will be their partners for the season. Brad and MJ were probably doing somersaults in their head, knowing their partners are the strongest women in the game. Not sure how I feel about this twist; it doesn’t feel fair, yet, I enjoy most of these pairs from a chemistry standpoint.
6 Go Watch Spider-Man No Way Home
I went to see the new Spider-Man on Thursday and it was fantastic. It was easily the most serious movie of the Tom Holland trilogy while still retaining some of the charm and quirkiness of the original two. The movie is filled with actions, laughs, nostalgia, cheers, and exciting moments that will have you grinning from ear to ear. 9.6 out of 10.
5 Nominations
Brad and Jodi nominate Melinda/Nehemiah and Teck/Ayanna initially, knowing they’ll take themselves off the board with their lifeshields, losing their votes in the process. The lost votes matter as it assures no funny business could happen with the voting as Brad/Jodi went after their targets, Laterrian & Kendal. I felt terrible for Kendal as she couldn’t even worry about politicking as she went to the hospital to get her ribs checked out. The votes go 3–1 in Laterrian & Kendal’s direction, and there is no ill-will, only a hungry LT ready to fight in elimination.
4 Damn, Kendal is out
Kendal is a damn good competitor and a genuinely lovely person, so to watch her go out due to injury hurt. I think she probably would have beat Jasmine in a Pole Wrestle, she and Laterrian would have had the lifeshield, and from there, it would only be another elimination or two before the Final. We saw the two of them win the mini-final on All-Stars 1 together; there’s no reason to think they couldn’t pull off an actual Final win. We got to see Kendal facetime her kids during the episode, to which they are rightfully her biggest fans, and it is the cutest shit ever. If you follow Kendal on Social Media, she live-tweets updates of the first time she watches with her kids, and it is so hilarious and adorable. I hope Kendal can win an All-Stars season one day because she is a beast, and her kids will simply be over the moon.
Edit: I was informed that Kendal’s DQ was related to a Crew Member testing positive for COVID, to which they tested all the cast members, Kendal caught it… and from there… yeah. I don’t know if this is 100% true, though keep your eyes peeled for any social media posts/news from Kendal in the upcoming days.
3 LT vs. Tyler
Talk about a great match-up. While we had seen Laterrian murder Ace in Pole Wrestle last season, Ace is historically a lay-up competitor. Tyler is a 2x Champion who came into this headbanger weighing over 230 lbs. I couldn’t tell Tyler was 230 lbs from the way Laterrian was rag dolling and ground-pounding him at times. Tyler played the elimination smartly; he kept the pole close to his body, held a tight grip, and used his weight/gravity to his advantage for leverage. What he didn’t anticipate was the brute and unyielding force of Laterrian. The way Laterrian was able to relentlessly go for power move after power move on Tyler without ever having a momentary lapse of grip was ridiculous. Laterrian puts up a dominant 2–0 win and officially makes himself the Pole Wrestle King of Challenge All-Stars.
I’ve ranked every Pole Wrestle in Challenge history (two different times), and what I’ll say based on past Pole Wrestles, Tyler played the right way, and Laterrian played the wrong way. Except, the strategy doesn’t matter when you’re just a fucking beast like Laterrian.
2 Jasmine’s Lucky Day
Jasmine gets a Golden Parachute by not having to face Kendal in elimination, getting Laterrian as a partner, and then receiving a lifeshield in the process. Doesn’t get much luckier than that.
1 Power Ranking The Pairs
7th Cohutta & Casey
Casey’s political and social game has been on point, except we are hitting a point where you need to perform physically to stay out of elimination. Cohutta is a good competitor, he just isn’t an elite one, and even though he’s part of an alliance, he is at the bottom of that totem pole. Regardless of performance in the dailies, Casey and Cohutta will get targeted due to being the smallest team others could face in elimination. This duo would need a few lucky swings in the game to make the Final.
6th Laterrian & Jasmine
Shout-out to Jasmine for showing so much heart in these daily challenges by battling her fear of water/heights. Unfortunately, Jasmine ranks below-average in each category when it comes to size, athleticism, cardio, puzzles, swimming, and balance. Charisma and feistiness have carried Jasmine to this point; can it take her farther? While Laterrian is a beast on land, not every elimination is a pole wrestle, and being part of the King’s Palace makes him an easy target.
5th Teck & Ayanna
Probably the most entertaining duo on the board. The best male and female confessionalists left on the cast getting paired together will lead to some hilarious moments, especially if they make it to a Final. Technically speaking, Teck has already been nominated 3 times for elimination (twice life shielded), and Ayanna has 3 times too (twice life shielded). People in the game are very comfortable throwing them in, and thus, it will be an uphill battle for the two of them from here on out.
The reason they rank 5th on top of the gigantic target they have on their backs is the simple fact that I don’t think their cardio is up to snuff for a Final if they were to get there.
4th Nehemiah & Melinda
A sneaky fun duo. Nehemiah has a spark to him — the guy has a genuine desire to win and make big moves. Melinda is the most vibrant and confident I’ve ever seen her on the Challenge. Add-in they have the chemistry of being friends for over a decade, and most importantly, both have something they want to prove. As much as I enjoy these two together, you have to remember, Melinda had a career 0–4 elimination record before All-Stars and is statistically not great in daily challenges either. Suddenly expecting her to contend to make a Final and do well in it is a massive leap of faith.
3rd MJ & Jonna
Not much to say. Both are strong players with great social games. They don’t have any outward weaknesses, yet no dominant strengths either. MJ & Jonna are too solid to come in last in a daily challenge and too connected/respected to be a House Vote.
2nd Darrell & Janelle
I’d put money on this duo in a Final. Darrell is an excellent partner who knows how to push his partners healthily and is very willing to take on extra tasks/weight if it means his partners can go at the pace he wants. Janelle has looked good in every daily challenge they’ve competed in, and although she has not won anything, she’s looked competent. What keeps me from putting them #1, is we don’t know how Janelle handles herself in elimination. Janelle’s only been in one before back on the Gauntlet 3, and she took the loss against a strong player in Jill Zoboroski. That’s the question mark keeping this duo from being my #1 team.
1st Brad & Jodi
Jodi is clearly the most athletic and fit female, and Brad is a beast. The key to eliminating this pair is throwing them into elimination and hoping it’s a puzzle or an eating competition. It’s hard to envision this duo getting eliminated in anything physical. To me, they are a lock for the Final, with their chances of winning hinging on their puzzle prowess. Then again, if they can set a running pace no other duo can touch, they have a margin for error other teams don’t.
