The Challenge All Stars 3 Episode 8 Recap: 10 Biggest Takeaways
Episode 8 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 8th episode
10 Stairs are dangerous
After all the crazy challenges, Veronica’s season is done in by a broken toe taking a misstep down the stairs. It’s such a bummer as Veronica was coming off a big solo trivia win and has played a stellar political/strategic topped off by the fact she’s been in 3 Authorities. Knowing how strong of a mental player Veronica is, she probably would have had a good shot of winning the last daily challenge to punch her ticket to the Final. She probably puts Jonna in elimination, and Jonna against any of Kailah, Nia, or KellyAnne in a Pole Wrestle is a thrilling match-up.
Shout-out to Veronica for a killer season. While I had doubts about how she’d do in a Final, I wish she had at least gotten the opportunity to compete in one again (it’s been 18 years since her last Final).
9 Nia Fell Off The Rails (Not Literally, She Literally Stayed On The Helicopter)
Everyone was excited and expecting the return of Hurricane Nia on All-Stars 3. That’s just not her anymore. You can tell the aftermath of Exes 2 and how it affected Nia’s life have made The Challenge an environment of chaos for her. Nia had trouble getting jobs after Exes 2, and when it comes to competing, she doesn’t have the drive she used to. While Nia’s always been afraid of heights, at least before, she would quickly carry herself like a top competitor after taking a DQ. We see glimpses of that person when she gets pushed, like in her elimination with Sylvia and when she saw the Pole in the middle of the elimination arena, top player Nia came out.
As a whole, Nia’s heart is just not in the game. She came to play with Jordan, and now that he’s not there, she wants to check out. I’m not going to say Nia thinking about quitting is weak because you can tell that being in the house gives her a lot of anxiety, and she took the plunge for the sake of a friend she loves. Do I like that she didn’t even attempt the final daily of the season? Nope. Regardless, I commend her for being a good friend to Jordan, and I am happy she returned. Also, a lot of love goes out to Nehemiah for being a good friend to Nia in the absence of Jordan.
8 The Daily Challenge Had Great Music. That’s About It
Memorizing a pattern that can only be seen from an aerial view atop a helicopter to which you jump off at the right moment and then swim to a section where you recreate with puzzle pieces sounds like a great daily challenge and looks epic in a trailer. It was boring to watch in practice, and there felt like little rhyme or reason as to why a player might win or lose. At the least, the song choices during this slog of a daily challenge were fantastic.
Big ups to Jonna and Mark for winning this challenge to clinch their spot in the Final. The fact Jonna still had the pattern memorized after her daunting swim is crazy impressive.
7 Star Boys and Girls
The Stars have been a subplot the entire season, and with the Final approaching, the assumption is that players will be able to use their Stars as a means to sabotage their opponents or give themselves an advantage. Tina’s DQ on the female side was critical as it meant 3 Stars on the female side got wiped entirely off the board. Jonna picking up Veronica’s Star is massive as she’ll be walking into the Final with 5 Stars, whereas no other female will have more than 2 Stars (the other three women will only 4 Stars between).
On the men’s side, Brad dominated the dailies during the season and never had to go into elimination, and now he might get punished for it as he has only 1 Star. Meanwhile, Mark has 4, Wes has 2, and Nehemiah or Derrick will walk into the Final with 5. I did get a laugh at Wes telling his best friends Brad and Nehemiah that he will be fucking them up in the Final if he gets to go into with 6 Stars. As douche-y as Wes looked in that scene, it was the most real moment of the episode because it reminded of how me and my friends would talk about how we were going to kick each other’s asses when we play video games.
Looking back, there should have been other ways to earn Stars; It seems like Kailah and Brad might get punished in the Final for being too good in the regular season.
6 All The Women Want To Control Their Fate
Nia, KellyAnne, and Kailah gave Jonna the okay to throw them into elimination because they realized that if there’s a 66% chance they are going into elimination anyway, you’d rather be able to get a glimpse at the elimination and pick your opponent accordingly.
5 Rotten Banana
The video call interaction between Wes and Bananas was so fucking fake and unnecessary. People loved the first two All-Stars seasons because they felt authentic. Their video call felt so overproduced, which makes the fact that Bananas’ audio was so atrocious that it made me wonder whether my WiFi was bugging out even more ridiculous.
Bad television.
4 The Final Authority
Once Mark realizes Wes wants to go in and get Derrick’s Stars for the Final — he pitches to Derrick that maybe Derrick should go in and choose between Wes and Nehemiah, depending on the game. I secretly think part of Mark’s ideology in convincing Derrick to do so is that Wes is way too dangerous in a Final with 6 Stars, whereas Nehemiah, with 5 Stars, is something Mark can manage against in a Final.
Jonna throws in Kailah as she views Kailah as the more significant threat in the Final, so she might as well guarantee she’ll be playing in the arena.
3 Derrick Chickens Out
I love Derrick. He’s someone who has championed my content and me for a long time, but I got to call him out here. Ever since their Pole Wrestle on the Duel 1, there’s been a lot of bad blood between Wes and Derrick. Back in the late 00s/early 10s, Derrick accused Wes of doing steroids, Wes accused Derrick of cheating on his wife at the time, and the two have always gone at it. After Derrick’s triumphant mercenary win against Joss on Vendettas, Wes took a dig at Derrick, saying Joss physically dominated him, and the two went back and forth again. They’ve mended the fences a bit recently with Wes going on Challenge Mania and doing live events; however, those battle scars still exist.
Derrick’s choice not to call Wes out for the Pole Wrestle rematch after all these years and instead opting for the *weaker* opponent in Nehemiah… It’s staggering… a bit of a weak look for a guy known for being fearless. Unless Derrick pulls out the elimination and wins the Final, the fact he didn’t call out Wes will haunt him and his Challenge legacy for years to come. By picking Nehemiah, Derrick told Wes he was their rivalry’s winner.
Other notes: Kailah picked KellyAnne because she has some size on her, and also, you don’t want to face 6’ tall Nia in a headbanger. Nehemiah’s stealth game is over. He got this far into the game without making it into a single authority or going into elimination. Now he’s going one-on-one in the first proper headbanger elimination of his career with an opportunity at the Final and to have the most Stars of any male player.
2 Fucking Dumb Cliffhanger
The daily challenge felt monotonous. Then we had 5–10 minutes of the episode dedicated to Wes pondering whether or not he should throw himself into face Derrick in elimination — which was made irrelevant by the fact he didn’t get thrown in by Mark or even called out by Derrick. I’ve loved All-Stars 3 for the most part. Sadly, this episode felt like a waste of time.
Ending on a cliffhanger in an episode that didn’t have much content to begin with is absurd. It looks like Nehemiah is putting in some work from what we got to see. With Derrick, you never know; he is willing to take a beating and make his move when the right time strikes. I don’t think we are getting a female elimination next week as it looks like they are running parts of the Final in pairs, to which you would need the same amount of men and women.
1 Who is the Favorite To Win?
On the women’s side, Jonna will have more Stars than all the other women combined. Considering she’s been the first-place female the last two seasons, one has to view her as the favorite. I do think Kailah/KellyAnne are physically more ready for the rigors of the Final; the Stars just might play too big of a factor. Nia seems too checked out at this point to view as a threat in the Final.
Odds:
Jonna (-140)
Kailah (+170)
KellyAnne (+170)
Nia (+500)
For the men, Bionic Brad has been cruising the entire way, except he only has 1 Star. Wes has the most experience with modern Finals and is the most well-rounded player left. Mark has a lot of Stars, and the last time he was in a Final, he was 3rd among men, only trailing beasts in Yes and Darrell.
Derrick isn’t particularly strong with eating or puzzles; if he makes the Final, he will have 5 Stars to compensate for those weaknesses. Meanwhile, Nehemiah won Part 1 of the All-Stars 2 Final despite Melinda’s ankle injury, and this time around, he might have the most Stars to burn. Nehemiah might suddenly become the biggest threat in the game.
Odds if Derricks wins the Elimination:
Wes (+150)
Brad (+150)
Mark (+160)
Derrick (+165)
Odds if Nehemiah wins the Elimination:
Nehemiah (+120)
Wes (+145)
Brad (+145)
Mark (+200)
ALSO. If you haven’t seen the news about Anastasia from Rivals 2, here is a link to her GoFundMe explaining the entire situation:
Anastasia has gone through a lot in recent years and right now she and her family are struggling financially following the birth of her child. If you have the money to spare it would be nice to donate. If there’s any extra incentive, it’s that Paige from the MostLikelyTwoPod is currently selling Challenge-related merchandise where proceeds will get donated to Anastasia and her family. It’s a win-win for everyone. If you use the Promo Code: Gamer , you get a discount as well.
