The Challenge All Stars 5: Rivals Episode 6 Recap: 10 Biggest Takeaways
The 6th 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 10 Biggest moments/takeaways from Episode 6.
If you prefer audio/video, my podcast recap can be found above/below:
10 Shane & Da’Vonne Are In Their Wallpaper Era
So many people, myself included, were so excited about Shane & Da’Vonne’s return to The Challenge. When Shane was on Final Reckoning & Da’Vonne was on The War of the Worlds 1, they were the most prominent characters on the show aside from the male/female faces of the show (Bananas & Cara). On those seasons, they dominated confessionals and were magnets for storylines — this season, you might as well call them Kaycee & Kenny Clark Jr.
We did get a scene at the beginning of the episode where we got to watch them discuss the struggle between their teams as the two of them are in different alliances. Shane is siding with his Road Rules OG’s in Veronica & Adam, while Da’Vonne is with her Big Brother people, Fessy, Amber, and Nany (Big Brother by proxy). I don’t know which alliance is better to side with. The Big Brother players are stronger and more reliable to win daily challenges & have a stronghold on the game, but the OG’s are more beatable in the Final, and if you want your team to be in the best position to win, that might be the route you take.
Truthfully, all I want to see is Shane & Da’Vonne blow up on some people and get into the same drama. Right now, they feel like two action figures stuck in a box.
9 A Star Is Up For Grabs
For five weeks, I’ve been complaining about the fact that Adam & Steve have not been given the ability to move Stars around after their elimination wins, and the fact they couldn’t even do it after beating a Star team confused me. Well, we finally found out what happens in the scenario in which a Star team gets taken out by another Star team. That Star is simply up for grabs in the next daily, where the top non-Star team will get awarded.
You don’t have to come in 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd in the daily challenge — you just have to be the best of the rest. Does this format make the most sense? No. Did we get our most competitive daily challenge of the season? Absolutely. Even Veronica & Katie were trying during this daily challenge because it was a golden opportunity for all these teams to steal a Star. Also, besides Fessy & Amber, if any of these teams had won a Star, they would be sitting pretty because Adam & Steve, Turbo & Nany, and even Dario & Ashley all look like more significant threats in the Final.
8 Sam Cannot Stop Winning
Last week, I jokingly pondered the question of whether Sam McGinn is a Top 10-All Time Challenge competitor. Well, after this week, we have to talk about her being in the Top 5 because, once again, Sam stays winning as she & Frank earned a Star. During the daily, Sam used the sliding down sideways strategy, and it looked super efficient, as so much mud came off the wall. Now, I noticed more teams did not adopt this method, and my assumption is that they didn’t do it because it was far more scary/dangerous. By sliding sideways, you don’t have full control of your body going down and seem more likely to fall face-first into the water.
In her classic superstar form, Sam also decoded the word for their team to complete the daily challenge. Ultimately, though, Frank was the MVP for their team. One of the teams mentioned that Sam took only two trips down the slide; meanwhile, Frank went UP and DOWN 7 TIMES. Frank was an absolute cardio machine — he saw this daily challenge as a golden opportunity for him & Sam, and they took advantage. Now that they have a Star, it’s hard to imagine someone wanting to vote them into elimination because Sam is not a threat in the Final, so for any team who gets there, it’s a team you know can beat. Then again, who am I to say Sam McGinn isn’t gonna win another Final when she literally cannot stop winning on this show.
7 Veronica is a Killer
There’s a vocal group of Challenge fans who often question why Veronica is still on the show and wonder what she brings to it. Every now and then, we get an episode like this one, where Veronica proves she still has some tricks in her bag. Veronica has always been an adept political & strategic player; this week, we saw it in full effect. She could smell weakness, and Veronica knew the right players to spread rumors with were Amber & Melissa because they were new school players. One of the big differences between most of the OG cast members and the new school players is that the new school players are not fans of The Challenge. Amber is a Champion, and Melissa is a former Finalist, yet they’re highly unaware of the history of this show. I say that because we watched Veronica completely scramble their games with simple manipulation & rumors. Amber said she couldn’t imagine Veronica would ever lie to her — which is a laughable concept to any real Challenge fan. Not because Veronica is a liar but because she’s a game player.
Once Veronica got Amber & Melissa scrambling, their alliance then tilted. Initially, Veronica was going to make Melissa & Nicole the targets; once Melissa & Nicole got the numbers to flip to Dario & Ashley, Veronica & Katie let the log keep rolling because that was an even better move than they had planned. Considering that Veronica & Katie have been outside of the major alliance this entire season, the fact they were able to shift the most crucial vote so far this season on their own is just insane and a testament to their political abilities. Now, are they going to be able to do this again? Likely not. However, it should not have happened in the first fucking place.
Veronica is like the old guy at the pickup basketball who can’t really guard anyone anymore, doesn’t want the ball much, but will pull off a trick play that nobody else sees coming or can pull off their own. If you’ve watched Veronica’s confessionals, she’s consistently stolen the screen this season for two reasons, so it was nice for a third reason this week.
6 Katie’s Master Class
As much credit as I gave Veronica, Katie was the one who took Veronica’s momentum and used it to get Melissa to redirect the target to Dario & Ashley. It was such a good move that I’m looking into taking out a student loan to pay for Katie’s Master Class.
5 Nany & Fessy Are Bad At The Game
As much credit as I gave Veronica for targetting Melissa & Amber for her rumor spreading, I also have to criticize Fessy & Nany for being such weak heads of their alliance. Fessy & Nany are veteran players with the numbers in their alliance to guarantee that the vote could go in any direction they wanted. Instead, they let the paranoia of others get to them and then played into Veronica’s hand. The game is set up so well for Fessy & Nany, and they’ve been given partners to where they’re the odds-on favorites in the Finals (besides Steve & Adam). They put themselves in a situation where their teams could have been pitted against a solid duo in Dario & Ashley.
Luckily for them, Steve & Adam might be as bad or worse at the game than they are.
4 Steve & Adam’s Mild Move
Having seen what Veronica was able to pull off, the fact that Steve & Adam used their temporary to take a shot at Big T & Corey is frustrating. It’s a vote that makes because Adam & Corey already got into a fight during last week’s House vote, and they’ve been voting for another all season. Still, this was a golden opportunity for Adam & Steve to make the gap between them and the rest of the teams even bigger. If either Dario & Ashley or Fessy & Amber are off the table, Steve & Adam’s chances of winning any physical daily challenge becomes close to 50%. Additionally, knowing that Steve & Adam will likely go into elimination again, you don’t want to face those teams once you’re back in there.
Now, they did cut a “deal” with Fessy & Nany, where the two agreed to owe Adam & Steve one in the future. My issue is that the deal lacks specifics, so those two teams can easily go back on the agreement whenever they want. It’s naive to expect a team that has been actively working against you the entire season to hold up their part of a deal to look out for you in the future.
3 A Balancing Act
Shoutout to production; this was a fair elimination that I felt any team could win. The only real advantage I could imagine there being is that taller players could grab the puzzle pieces — but even then, you’d assume most taller players also weigh more, and someone being heavier than their partner may make balancing a bit more difficult.
Now, this elimination was much better to watch than to write about. It was a close battle where it felt like either team could. The edit led me to believe that Dario & Ashley would lose in part because of the way Dario “betrayed” Leroy last week. Then, after the elimination loss, Dario & Ashley would have their heart-to-heart. Instead, they pulled together and got their second career elimination win each. Dario smashing their puzzle the millisecond after TJ blew the horn had me worried that we were going to have a repeat of Raphy’s Bloodlines loss.
Corey & Big T’s exit made little noise and impact. I’d personally like to see Corey on another flagship show because he can get messy, and he’s not a bad competitor. Their team did not make sense for All-Stars or this season, though. They were basically already friends again from Day 1, so we didn’t get to see any funny dysfunction between them. Most notably, though, Corey & Big T were too new school and didn’t fit with the vibes of All-Stars. Their confessionals had a different & more contrived energy from the OG’s. Corey & Big T can bring something to The Challenge. All-Stars is not the avenue for them, though.
Also, shoutout to Frank for bringing back wearing your friend’s Challenge jersey to the arena to support them.
2 Dario & Ashley Should Run It Back
Dario & Ashley had their cute moment where he apologized for walking out on her, and honestly, they seemed so attracted to each other. I’m rooting for Dario & Ashley to get back together because they’re the prettiest wallpaper duo I’ve ever seen. Now, I did chuckle when Dario said he & Ashley proved that they’re not a team that people want to see eliminated. In reality, now that they’ve been the house vote, they will get the Steve & Adam treatment from here on out. Once your name gets said, it’s so easy for everyone to say it again. So next week, expect Steve & Adam or Dario & Ashley to be in elimination.
1 Ranking The Final 8
We’re down to 8 teams, so we only have 3–4 more eliminations before the Final. The endgame is quickly approaching. Hopefully, this season ends strong. Here is how I tier the remaining teams based on their chances to win:
Top Contenders
Fessy & Amber
Adam & Steve
A Step Below
Turbo & Nany
An Ever Bigger Step Down
Shane & Da’Vonne
Not Enough Puzze Skills
Dario & Ashley
Nicole & Melissa
Not Enough Cardio:
Frank & Sam***
Veronica & Katie
