The Challenge All Stars 5: Rivals Episode 10 Recap: 9 Biggest Takeaways
The 10th episode of The Challenge All Stars 5 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 9 Biggest moments/takeaways from Episode 10.
If you prefer audio/video, my podcast recap can be found above/below:
9 Shane Was An Asshole
Let me be transparent and say that Shane is probably one of my Top 3 favorite male Challenge competitors. His return on Invasion added a spark to the franchise that I genuinely believe saved the show, and because of how much of an impact he had, we also saw so many OGs come back in seasons after. Of which, Shane was prompting and messaging so many OG’s to get back out there. Obviously, All-Star was Mark Long’s brainchild, but if Shane had not gotten some names back in the fold, maybe we wouldn’t have All-Stars.
Part of why I love Shane is because he gives 110% to the show. He plays the game hard strategically and socially, and in the daily challenges, the guy has a creative mind. So when Shane is yelling, I’m usually of the opinion that you should listen because he’s typically right. Last week, he was emotive about being properly positioned in his inner tube, and while it was dramatic , they ended up winning. This week, though, Shane was being a chaotic asshole, plain & simple.
Credit to Da’Vonne for keeping her cool in a way she would not have 5–7 years ago. From a TV perspective, this version of Da’Vonne is not as entertaining because I’d love to see her and Shane both going at it. From a human perspective, Da’Vonne has clearly grown so much. I also loved the Facetime call between her and her daughter in this episode. It was a bit surreal to watch because when Da’Vonne debuted on her reality TV, her daughter was a baby, and now she’s like a 10-year-old talking human. Time flies.
8 Team San Diego
Everyone assumed this daily challenge would come down to Adam & Steve and Turbo & Nany. Instead, Frank & Sam took it all as they won physically and mentally. Sam was excellent during this daily challenge because she was a steady base. Frank pivoted himself to whatever Sam needed, and they worked like an actual team. They’ve come a long way from Battle of the Seasons and even the beginning of this season. On their original BOTS run, Frank aggressively pushed Sam to be what he wanted. Now, they’re doing much better in this scenario, where Frank is accommodating her skills because he can physically do anything. If Frank needs to run 10 miles li, ft 200 lbs, or hold a yoga pose for 5 minutes — he can do it all.
Frank & Sam getting the win was easily the most exciting outcome because it meant we were getting two of the stronger teams in elimination. Or, Frank was gonna pay off a personal vendetta and take a shot at Shane.
7 Volunteers
Turbo & Nany requested to be the House Vote so that they could have a shot at a Star. Everyone acquiesced. For a minute, there was the interesting idea of them getting iced out of the vote so they’d have no shot at a Star. In theory, the house could’ve made Adam & Steve the House Vote, and Frank & Sam could’ve put Shane & Da’Vonne in against them. If Steve tore his ACL and Adam broke his clavicle during the elimination, then we could be living in a world where the two biggest final threats (Steve/Adam & Turbo/Nany) both don’t make the Final.
Theory & reality are two different things, though. If you tell three teams that another team is volunteering to go into the last elimination, you’re letting them go in regardless because you’re scared about going home.
6 A Platonic Workout
I wonder if production told Melissa & Nicole to pretend to worry that they might be getting voted into elimination because those two truly had nothing to sweat. The two of them have consistently been the worst team in the daily challenges, and their only highlight as competitors was barely beating Katie & Veronica in an elimination. Melissa & Nicole are the lay-ups of this season.
They’ve also been laid up together in some of these scenes that look straight out of soft-core. Them “stretching” each other out in the workout room was beyond the boundaries of any two pals hanging out. The fact that they then called Nicole’s girlfriend Kim together made it all crazier. Listening to Nicole talk about IVF and a life with Kim, as we can see she’s basically inches away from cheating on her with Melissa (with cameras on them), is absurd. My podcast co-host Zoe said it last week: “Nicole needs to stop pretending like monogamy is for her”. It’s that simple. Nicole keeps getting into these serious relationships & engagements, only to cheat on every partner she has. And she’s not the only one. Melissa’s dating history on and off Reality TV isn’t great either. Maybe Melissa & Nicole are meant for each other in a way.
5 Adam’s Naivete
Shane & Adam have been aligned all season. They have a relationship that dates back over 20 years, and they appeared on Road Rules: Viewers Revenge together. Seeing them at odds after the daily challenge & back in the house arguing over Shane’s treatment of Da’Vonne was interesting. Shane showed a total lack of self-reflection. Instead of acknowledging his freakouts, he was more upset that there was a narrative getting painted by Da’Vonne that he’s the bad guy, and now even his friend Adam is “propelling” that idea. So that’s why Shane took offense. Except there’s a chance it could be a reality rather than a narrative. Shoutout to Adam because sometimes you do have to call your friends out on their actions. There may be more we aren’t seeing. From what I can see, it was a real lack of accountability from Shane and, at the same time, too much of a hypersensitivity in terms of TV edit awareness. Shane could feel he was becoming the bad guy and you either embrace it or you panic like Shane did.
I did find it funny that at the bar, we saw Shane instantly slip back into messy strategic game mode for a minute. Shane was sharing food with Adam — which is a sweet way to butter someone up. As they’re eating, Shane “innocently” asks Adam why Steve stole a Star from him and whether anyone else was available. At this point in the game, Shane knew when & how Adam’s Star was stolen from Steve — they’d be in the house for six weeks. Shane asked because he wanted to bring some emotions out of Adam. In due process, Adam then approached Steve and asked for an apology. Steve gave Adam an “apology,” but not the one Adam wanted. Adam will never get it because, as Steve said, he has no regrets about the move. It was smart to take Adam’s Star because he would’ve been a big threat in the Final, and Adam played a part in voting him into elimination.
The apology request was a great reflection of Adam & Steve’s game awareness. It was preposterous that Adam thought Frank would keep them out of elimination even for a minute. Frank’s a cutthroat player and was the driving force behind getting them thrown into four eliminations. Steve knew that and was ready.
4 Shane’s Meltdown
“I think the problem is my partner, EVEN AT HIS AGE, seems to think that being a villain on television is a cool thing…” That was the quote from Da’Vonne to Frank while sitting not even more than 5 feet behind Shane. It set him off, and I think the “villain” word is what upset him. For most of Shane’s Challenge career, he was trying to prove that even though he’s gay, he can hang with the top competitors, play the game, etc. When we last saw him on Final Reckoning, Shane was polarizing, but he was going at Bananas, who is the biggest villain in some people’s minds. In Shane’s brain, he’s David taking down Goliath, and in his confessionals, you could see him being upset that he’s not getting portrayed that way right now. The cherry on top of the meltdown was Shane saying he’s never talked down or yelled at her, only for them to show a montage of Shane yelling during the daily challenge.
Shane threatening to quit right before his first career Final would’ve been insane. And yet, I could’ve seen it happening because that’s a Lavender Lady move. The Lavender Ladies will threaten to quit one day; the next day, they’re crushing a daily, an elimination, a political blindside, or a Final. Ashley threatened to quit right before the Final on Invasion, and then she won it all. Luckily, Shane didn’t quit. He & Da’Vonne hashed things out somewhat after in the morning. I did chuckle at Da’Vonne saying that if she & Shane aren’t friends after the show, it’s fine.
3 Frank’s Masterful Game
Frank & Sam won two daily challenges, earned a Star & held it, and got to the Final without ever seeing an elimination. These two have never been eliminated on a season where they were full-time cast members! On top of all that, Frank has been the driving force for almost every elimination vote this season. Frank got the entire house behind making big moves consistently, he extinguished the Lavender Lady alliance before they could get momentum, and he was able to manipulate strong players into making power moves for him.
All the strongest teams from this season are out except Steve & Adam. You can’t fault Frank for that because he got them sent into 5 out of the 7 eliminations they were eligible for — including this last one.
2 A Record Tying Elimination
To quote Brad Pitt in Seven: “WHAT’S IN THE BOX? WHAT’S IN THE BOX? WHAT’S IN THE BOX?”. If Nicole’s fiance asked that question, the answer would be Nicole in Melissa.
If you enjoyed the goofy guessing game between Adam & Steve and Turbo & Nany, that’s good for you! I got a couple of grins out of it. However, I thought it was unnecessary, and the fact that a team would be at a disadvantage due to what was a 50/50 coin flip didn’t sit right with me.
I also didn’t like the elimination because it was essentially the same thing as the daily challenge — just two players balancing objects together. As a general rule of thumb — I typically want the elimination & the daily challenge to be polar opposites from one another because I don’t want to see someone suck (or succeed) at the same thing twice in a row.
Regarding the actual elimination, Steve & Adam stayed composed, worked at a quick pace, and killed it. Nany & Turbo’s adrenaline got the best of them, where they slipped up multiple times and fell behind fast. At one point, Nany & Turbo tried going hyper speed, which I appreciated because if they had to continue to take it slow & steady, there was no way they would beat Adam & Steve. Ultimately, Adam & Steve won by a 3-ball margin, which relieved me that the box twist at the beginning did not play a factor in the outcome.
Nany had made it to three straight Finals prior to All-Stars 5, so she did have a bit of a hot streak — unfortunately, this loss adds to the pile of many Challenge failures for Nany. Maybe one day, Nany will get a strong partner who can help her win. It is surreal that Nany’s never won while she’s had Bananas (2x), Wes, and Turbo as partners. She also had Jonna as a partner, and Jonna later became a 2x Champ. At this point, we have to see what Nany can do with Jordan & CT. While I’ve never been the biggest fan of Turbo, he was much more tolerable this season than on Ride or Dies.
Adam & Steve got their 5th elimination win of the season. Tying them with Horacio, Wes & Casey, and Sarah Greyson for the single-season elimination win record. Coincidentally, both men were on The Gauntlet, the season where Sarah Greyson set the record. As an individual, this is now 8 straight wins for Steve, which ties him with Wes for the elimination win streak record by a male competitor. If he ever gets one more, he’ll tie Laurel for the all-time record, which is a record I never thought would be touched.
1 Projecting The Final
Adam & Steve are the clear favorites, and something needs to go completely sideways for them to lose. After them, Shane & Da’Vonne are probably the second-best team due to a mix of fitness & puzzle skills — even then, they’re not in the same league as Adam & Steve. From there, the battle for 4th is between Frank & Sam and Melissa & Nicole. The question is: what’s worse, Sam’s cardio or Melissa & Nicole’s puzzle skills? Based on everything I’ve seen from this season, they’re equally terrible. Between them, Frank is the X-factor because he’s an elite competitor, and I could see him elevating their pair to as high as 2nd. If the Final gets super funky like All-Stars 2 & 4 did, then I could see Frank & Sam competing with Adam & Steve and Shane & Da’Vonne.
