The Challenge All Stars Season 3 Trailer Breakdown
I will be breaking down the Trailer of the Challenge All Stars Season 3 as I do every season. There are no spoilers in this article that you won’t figure out by watching the trailer super slowly. YES, there are spoilers, but they are spoilers via inference and analysis. Essentially, if I see something with my eyes, I’m going to point it out. Above is the trailer in video form.
WARNING: Of all the trailer breakdowns I’ve done over the years, this one reveals egregious spoilers that basically spell out who gets eliminated at certain points and so on. So tread lightly.
The trailer opens with Jonna Mannion anxiously sitting in a helicopter followed by a dramatic cut to black and then a side view of her preparing to jump, likely for a swimming challenge. We see a player jumping a second later, though, it looks like a male competitor. I love opening the trailer with Jonna as she’s become the female face of these All Star seasons.
We get a logo screen with a basic TJ sound byte saying: “now we’re talking!”
After this, there is a couple zoomed out shots, one being a scenic shot of a Panamanian beach shore and then of TJ and the players walking out of a daily challenge (I think I count 20 people?).
The action starts at the 9-second mark as there is a zoomed-out vertical shot of a mud pit/pool and players with the Paramount Plus logo cleverly placed over the players. We hear Brad say: “Till my last breath, I will fight tooth and nail.” As he says this, you can see Brad, Derrick, Mark, and Jordan racing through a mud pit, likely chasing after a ball, as we have seen in past daily challenges, like on War of the Worlds 1. Headbanger challenges are always fun.
PRETTY DECENT SIZED SPOILER COMING.
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It is a blink, and you’ll miss it moment…however, I think it’s decently clear what is going on.
I don’t know about you guys, but this looks like a Pole Wrestle between Nehemiah and, I believe…Derrick. Considering these two have had a rivalry going the past two All Stars seasons, getting to watch them go toe-to-toe is going to be epic. Derrick’s become a legend through wins and losses in Pole Wrestle; meanwhile, Nehemiah has never even seen a true headbanger elimination after 16 years of competing.
KellyAnne is having a jolly old time until she realizes she forgot to cancel her Apple TV subscription when she only signed up for a free trial to watch Ted Lasso.
Also, she’s probably getting sent flying in a trivia challenge.
We see an intense shot of Jonna putting on a helmet and looking like she’s ready to battle in elimination. It is significant as Jonna famously did not see an elimination in either of her first two All Stars seasons. Her career record in eliminations is a not-so-great 2–5; then again, she’s only lost to quality players.
I forgot to mention that the editors once again use a cover of Smash Mouth’s All Star throughout the trailer.
More elimination spoilers coming thru.
They flash three different eliminations with a Wes sound byte saying: “this is is the most cutthroat game that’s ever been invented.”
First, you get a clear shot of Derrick’s helmet as he competes in the Pole Wrestle mentioned above.
Second, you see Mark Long on the verge of winning what looks like a reverse tug-of-war, and his opponent looks to be someone of tan/caramel complexion. It looks a bit like Laterrian, though you could convince me it’s someone else.
Mark has only been voted into elimination one time in his entire Challenge career, so I wonder how he got to this moment.
Third, you see two women pushing weighted poles between walls. My guess is this is a cardio-based elimination where players have to get the poles pushed or pulled more to one side after an allotted time to win. There was a similar elimination between Cara & Laurel and Theresa & Camila on Rivals 1. Tori vs. Georgia on War of the Worlds 2 is a comparable elimination as well.
Following the elimination glimpses, TJ and some graphics announce this season is historic as the cast only includes players who have been to a Challenge Final before… which, for reference, Nia Moore has never been to a Final, so it’s technically not true…still… it’s a pretty strong cast.
They proceed to give us close-up shots of key competitors.
We see Nia, Jordan, Wes, Veronica, KellyAnne, Nehemiah, Syrus, and others walking out of the house as they prep to face a daily challenge. Sidenote: I think the jerseys look ugly and basic.
There is a serious shot of Kailah Casillas-Bird. She looks good.
Nehemiah has a cheeky smirk while looking wet and lightly covered in dirt; my guess is he just completed the mud pit challenge we saw earlier in the trailer. Veronica looks stoic.
Brad is giving us a free ticket to the guns show, and Derrick points to the camera as he’s hyping himself up before going into elimination. Behind Derrick, you can see Brad and Wes in the audience based on their crazy beards.
When TJ specifically mentions every competitor has seen a Final before, the two players they show shots of are Jordan & Darrell, probably two of the biggest contenders to win.
Shout-out to the camera conductor who got this view of Sylvia swimming in the ocean as I feel like I’m struggling in the water with her for better or worse.
It’s a shift in the trailer there. One of the most badass moments is watching OG Roni Martin shove Nia Moore’s arm out of her way in the mud pit as the two try to get physical over a ball. Man, how fucking nuts is that sentence. Roni Martin, who we haven’t seen on the Challenge in close to two decades, and Nia Moore, someone everyone thought was banned from the franchise, are fighting in a mud pit in 2022! What a great world we live in as Challenge Fans.
You can see KellyAnne, Tina, Veronica, Jonna, Kendal, Sylvia, and others in the pit as well.
The mud pit gets super physical as we see Tina clothesline KellyAnne as we hear a confessional from her saying, “I am determined to right this wrong!” My guess is she is trying to prove herself after the way she essentially quit All Stars 2. We then see her ring a bell in an elimination arena with the crowd clapping, leading me to assume that Tina gets an elimination win! Good for her.
There is then a heavy Wes segment. We get a close look at his dirty beard, then him coming out of the water during a daily challenge where he seems to be incredibly jacked. All the while, he drops a confessional, stating he’s not here to play a safe game; he’s here to play the messiest game you’ve ever seen.
After tough losses in recent seasons and the stacked state of this cast, Wes is doubling down on everything about himself.
We see TJ watching the players pile into the elimination arena audience. Notice that most players have casual clothes on, except for four players, two men and women at the bottom of the steps on each side; my assumption is they are the elimination competitors. I believe MJ is one of the men in his competition gear, and Syrus could be the other. On the female side, one of the competitors is caked up.
Scrambling the order here a bit. There seems to be a quick math/heights challenge where players receive specific figures, and if they can’t figure out the equation, they get dropped/eliminated from the challenge.
Based on the body types seen and the footage, I believe Nehemiah, Wes, and Brad are all competing in the same heat. As you can see, Nehemiah and Wes both get dropped to their impending doom. Wes’s equation says 57 + 25 = 81, which is wrong, as the correct answer would be 82. Except Wes is decent at math, so there has to be an extra twist that we don’t know about in this challenge, making it more complicated.
Whoever edits these trailers absolutely loves Sylvia because her eyes are so expressive in terms of conveying fear and agony. We see her get dropped in what is likely the same math challenge.
Then we get a couple more scenes of players falling from heights over water. KellyAnne seems to be leaping out of a swing towards some water (Roni Martin is in the shot too). Derrick looks like he is about to hit the water, potentially after jumping out of a helicopter, as we saw at the beginning of the trailer.
We get an action shot of Syrus breaking down a wall in the elimination arena. I’m a simple man; I enjoy watching people smash and break stuff.
There is a chaotic image of Jordan and Brad watching an elimination looking like two guys invited to an orgy by their mutual friend who is in a Guns N Roses cover band.
There is a decently big spoiler coming.
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We see players running and racing off in a potential mini-final. I say spoiler because there are 8 podiums/pillars that seem to have players’ names on them, and in the shot, you can clearly see who those 8 players are.
From left to right, it’s Nehemiah, Brad, MJ, Yes, Wes, Jordan, Mark, and Derrick. Which means… Tyler, Laterrian, Syrus, and Darrell are likely the first four eliminated. If Darrell is one of the first four out, that would be insane.
Mark Long drops a confessional saying: “I have never seen such savages.” Jordan gives out a war cry as he’s about head into elimination.
Here comes a big egregious spoiler…
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They give us another look at the Nehemiah/Derrick Pole Wrestle elimination — this time zoomed out. It is a mega spoiler because there are only five people in the upstairs audience, three men and two women. Based on the earlier image of Derrick, Brad and Wes consist of two of those people in the audience. There are also two women watching from the elimination floor. We are most likely watching the last elimination of the season in the trailer.
Straight up, I am not a fan of this trailer and how many blatant spoilers it gives away. I’m aware that most fans aren’t psychopaths like me who will be dissecting the trailer second by second, but your trailer should not give away the entire elimination order.
Moving on from the men, they drop a Sylvia sound byte saying: “gone are the days of men running the game.”
We then see Roni leading the pack in the mud pit challenge and dropping her own sound byte: “I want us to fucking dominate.” She is an actual icon.
Incoming elimination match-up spoiler:
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Jordan Wiseley vs. Mark Long in an elimination where I have no clue what the fuck they are doing. They are pulling something by a chain; I just have zero clue what the objective or goal of this elimination is.
Something that caught my eye is the shot of two players paddle boarding in the ocean. I don’t remember the last time we saw paddle boarding on the Challenge and if we were to see it, I’d assume it would be in the Final.
Potentially another spoiler coming up…
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Six female players line up for what looks like the trivia challenge. I believe the player getting shot off the platform is KellyAnne, and it’s a different view of her from earlier in the trailer. Going from right to left based on body types and identifying characteristics, there is Veronica (short), Nia (tall), Kailah (tats), KellyAnne (thin), Roni (short), and the sixth person… I can’t tell who that is.
Either these are the final six women… or this is the opening challenge of the season, and it’s getting played in two heats (it’s a 12 women cast).
Nehemiah is sent flying during a challenge.
Holy shit, another decent Wes segment. Wes gets a bit physical with Yes at the onset of a challenge. To be honest, Wes & Yes is a dynamic/rivalry I’d love to see because they are both cerebral players with such polar opposite personalities, tactics, and demeanors. There is a scene with Wes telling a group of people: “I’m going to fuck you guys up. I’m going to win.” If I had to guess, this is what Wes is telling a tribunal or troika to try to keep himself out of elimination. My guess is these words get him sent directly in.
God, Wes seems cockier than ever. I fucking love it.
They give us some shots to portray the anxiety of competing on the Challenge. Darrell looks distressed over a heights challenge. Nia and KellyAnne are in tears over something. As these images pop up, a holding back tears sound byte says, “this whole thing is just stressing me out.” It’s difficult to determine the voice; if I had to guess, it would be Kailah.
The tone of the trailer shifts from anxious to cutthroat. You get an intense shot of KellyAnne covered in mud. Following it is a scene with Sylvia saying she is coming for some bitches head, and she wants it off! Sylvia is likely going into elimination, the area of competition she’s arguably most comfortable in.
The trailer concludes with the same shot of Jonna in the helicopter the trailer opened with and a Mark Long sound byte saying: “it’s going to be a wild fucking ride, baby.” The trailer comes full circle, and it’s a nice touch that Mark gets to be the last voice of this trailer as he’s the person who talked this show into existence.
QUICK NOTES
The people we see most prominently in this trailer are:
- Wes
- Mark
- Sylvia
- Roni
- KellyAnne
People We See a Decent Amount:
- Brad
- Derrick
- Nehemiah
- Jordan
- Jonna
- Veronica
- Tina
People We See Here and There:
- Syrus
- MJ
- Yes
- Darrell
- Nia
- Kailah
People We Basically Don’t See:
- Tyler
- Laterrian
- Cynthia
- Melinda
- Kendal
- Jemmye
