The Challenge All Stars 3 Episode 3 Recap: 10 Biggest Takeaways
Episode 3 of Challenge All Stars S3 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 3rd episode.
10 Up Atop The Treehouse
There’s nothing I unironically love more than when MTV has someone cut a confessional where a graphic pops up as they outline their alliance with an official name.
The Treehouse consists of people living in the same room: Kailah, Sylvia, Veronica, Tina, Jemmye, Roni, and Derrick. The new-gen girls link up with OG Mean Girls, and Jemmye acts as the tether between the two generations. Roni and Derrick are wild cards. I’m happy to see Roni included, although I feel she’ll be the first one thrown in. Derrick feels like the character in a heist movie who accidentally walked in on the theft’s secret plan, and now he’s cut in on the deal. We also learn this alliance will be targeting Kendal & KellyAnne as two of the strongest players in the game. Another point of interest is Jonna and Nia are a bit on the outside — Jonna is friendly with most of the Treehouse, and Nia hasn’t made any enemies thus far.
We see other political details: MJ & Jonna being extremely buddy-buddy talking about a temporary alliance with Wes and Nehemiah struggling after losing his two most loyal allies. Nehemiah knows that even though he has Wes’s back, Wes puts a target on them, so much so that they are actively not talking in the house together much.
9 Yes & Wes’s Fucking Date
The scene between Wes and Yes didn’t quite live up to the hype from the trailer last week; still, there was more to Yes than I saw coming. It felt as though Yes was trying to poke some plans and names out of Wes so that Yes could have the ammunition to throw Wes in with a clean conscious. Essentially, Yes wanted to say that Wes shot at him first. Wes was shockingly throwing some sound logic back at Yes’s direction; part of it is Wes knew he was getting sabotaged, so he might as well try to poke holes in Yes’s moral reasons. Wes’s pitfall was the threat at the end, up until that point, I think Wes was winning the interaction.
There is part of me who believes if Yes truly did not want the sabotage in the game, he would have used it on himself and made a stance. At the same time, if Yes had done that and failed, he would have looked idiotic, and inevitably, he’s made his disdain for Wes known, so he goes for the sabotage. Undeniably the best part about their interaction is all the cursing, from the shits to the fucks and so on. There are many interactions we don’t get on the MTV show because they would be too censored.
8 Oh, Kendal…
Kendal is an absolute beast of a physical competitor. However, watching her try to navigate the game socially and politically is becoming increasingly difficult. All the nerves get to her, and since she’s such a good person, I get second-hand angst as a viewer. Her good nature got taken advantage of in this episode. Kendal wanted to unite all the women; the problem is half the women were already aligned against her irrelevant of whether she used the sabotage on them. Not using the sabotage on Kailah or Sylvia was a critical error because they’ll take a mile when you give them an inch. Definitely don’t give them your suitcase either. Even worse was the bedroom scene with them where Kendal just didn’t have a clear grasp of the game landscape — as much as I love Kendal, people owe you nothing in a Challenge house.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Kendal’s decision to sabotage MJ was an all-time blunder, not due to MJ being some mega-power, but because she gains the ire of Jonna, a legit power player who holds a lot of influence in the game politically and socially. Jonna was one of the only women not targeting Kendal, and now Kendal’s put herself even farther down the bottom of the barrel. From here on out, it’s win or go into an elimination for Kendal in every daily challenge.
7 Wild Wild Women’s Heat (Look, this is a bad headline, but I guarantee you it’s much more PG than what I originally had).
Usually, I love these musical chair-type challenges where players have to grab a ball and run/wrestle to a goal line. Except I had an issue with the editing where you didn’t get to see too many tussles, or they were anticlimactic.
The first heat was all about not coming in last. It came down to Veronica & Kendal, the two shortest women in the house, which makes sense as going through the mud pit with little legs must be difficult. In the end, Kendal outworks Veronica, meaning Veronica will be seeing elimination, a bummer for the Treehouse alliance as it means they can’t force Kendal vs. KellyAnne.
During the second heat, we see the Treehouse come into full form as they play the daily strategically to where they begin passing and handing off balls to another, tackling and pinning down other women to lift up their own. The casualties of the second heat are Kendal, Roni, Jemmye, and Nia.
Heat three ends up being Kailah winning on a hand-off from Sylvia, Jonna managing to get the second spot, and Sylvia getting the third after Tina held down KellyAnne. KellyAnne rightfully breaks in this moment; she can clearly see that she and Kendal are on the outside. It’s the second authority for all three (Kailah, Sylvia, Jonna), and Kailah will have the power to sabotage next week.
6 Muddy Men
We find out MJ has a bad knee right before the challenge, and with the weighted vest, he immediately sinks into mud during the men’s heat. Wes doesn’t do great either, yet holds up slightly better and manages to earn safety when an errant ball rolls his way. MJ goes down and ends up directly in elimination.
The second heat gets a bit wild between Nehemiah and Yes, where Yes chooses to go after Nehemiah even after neither was close to a ball anymore, in a way that looked like Yes was trying to help Darrell win. Nehemiah takes great offense as Yes mentioned wanting to play straight up and hating the sabotage; meanwhile, his actions in the pit felt otherwise. And then also, Nehemiah had stayed out of the Yes/Wes drama to this point. So the fact that Yes went after his friend and now him, Nehemiah, got set off. Nehemiah went way too far when he talked about beating Yes’s ass, especially since I don’t know if he is ready for everything that Yes has up his sleeve; regardless, it’s good to see Nehemiah back in the fold. I was afraid Nehemiah would take a backseat to Wes this season. Hilariously, Darrell, Wes, Yes, and Nehemiah all get taken out in the second.
I have to note that Brad killed every heat; he sprinted up and down the mud pit with ease and, in the third heat, took home 1st Place. Derrick and Jordan were quick on their feet and rounded out the authority. It is Brad and Jordan’s second time in power and Derrick’s first.
5 Kailah & Sylvia Know Their Roles
When Kailah and Sylvia got cast for this season, fans were upset about their inclusion as they were new-generation kids invading OG land. Instead of pretending as though they are like everyone else, they are hamming up the fact that they are younger than everyone else. These two ladies, especially Kailah, are playing the game cutthroat and then acting a little rude in their confessionals to twist the knife deeper into OG fans’ hearts who despise they are on the show. I am fucking loving it because they are forcing you to care — either you are going to cheer for Kailah/Sylvia, or you’re going to root for their demise. Either way, it’s damn good television
4 That 70’s Show
If you read these recaps, you will know I am a simple man who appreciates a good house party. Themed parties are even better.
Although, we didn’t get much partying as Wes instantly got to politicking. What I found fascinating about all the whispers in the episode is that even though Wes is looking like a villain for going after Yes, he’s not the only person in the house behind the idea. Brad, Mark, and even Jordan all say they would like to see Yes go into elimination. All three men imply that Yes deserves to go into elimination because he’s never been in and is beatable. I think the real reason they want him in is that he’s a massive Finals and daily challenge threat, not because he hasn’t earned it.
3 Fake Deliberation
I call it a fake deliberation as any discussion was for the cameras only. The Treehouse + Jonna had control of the numbers, so whatever they chose as an alliance, what would happen. MJ wanted Syrus in elimination as he saw him as the oldest/weakest guy in the house, and the women would rather keep Yes in the game as he would be a massive asset as a partner later in the game for any of the women. They chose Kendal for elimination as she was already public enemy #1 and probably the best match-up for Veronica of non-Treehouse members.
Jordan going to bat in support of Syrus wasn’t something I expected yet enjoyed.
2 Double Departure
It sucked watching Melinda leave the game last week due to injury. Now multiply it by double as we saw Tina’s game end due to a broken hand and Jemmye have to leave due to a family emergency.
Let’s start with Jemmye. I’m of the mind that as long as Jemmye never finished in last place during a daily challenge, she was going to the Final this season as she had so many strong social and political connections. Her leaving the game has significant implications on the Treehouse alliance as it could create a gap between Sylvia/Kailah and Veronica. Tina leaving this way is heartbreaking as she’s one of the most consistently funny characters on the show, and it’s a pity to watch her go down this way. It must also get mentioned that Tina had three stars, which means three potential stars another woman could have absorbed in elimination are now gone. We still don’t know what the stars do other than you want to have them.
Their exits lead to the female elimination getting canceled once again. On the one hand, Veronica lost her two closest allies; on the other, she probably loses to Kendal in the elimination arena if they didn’t leave the game.
1 Hammering Away
The MJ/Syrus elimination was a fun match-up. Somehow MJ was better at shooting hoops than the former college basketball player, and somehow Syrus was doing a better job hammering than the actual contractor. MJ took a big lead early, and Syrus did his best, almost pulling off the comeback and upset. Ultimately, MJ took the win, and Syrus looked good. It was likely the best possible outcome the episode could have because now the male side of the house is stacked, and there are no more easy votes. Importantly, Syrus gained a ton of respect from his fellow competitors and went out on a good note.
The show has been good to this point, and it will get a lot more intense coming up.
