The Challenge: All Stars midseason review and superlatives
By: Henry L Dimaria
Tags: All Star, The Challenge, Reality, MTV, TV

I have been a fan of The Challenge for a longtime so I absolutely felt the nostalgia for bringing back cast members from classic seasons but sometimes you get your hopes up for things and they do not live up to expectations. However, this is not one of those times, through five episodes The Challenge: All Stars has lived up to the high expectations built for months since Mark Long started floating the #WeWantOGs campaign last summer and many fans were on board long before anything was off the ground.

So far every episode has been very good. The only thing I wish we got more of is the politics in the game. The edit has not yet really shown a full view of where the alliances in the house stand. They have done well showing how certain people are paired and looking out for each other like Derrick & Mark, Syrus & Beth, Beth & Jemmye, Jemmye & Nehemiah, Darrell & Kendal and Aneesa & Jisela but it’s different from Double Agents where we knew large alliances like Josh, Fessy, Kaycee, Leroy, Kam & Nany all working together, The Rookie girls all working together with Big T and CT, Wes, Kyle & Devin all aligned. Also politically since so many people have been volunteering to go into eliminations we have been denied the opportunity to see loyalties tested when voting.

Apart from that though, The Challenge: All Stars has been great, in particular the cast has shined. Catching up with cast members who used to be staples like Beth, Katie, Ruthie, Alton, Mark & Syrus has been an awesome hit of nostalgia seeing the ways they have stayed the same and the ways they have changed. Additionally some of the more out of the box casting choices have been awesome like Jisela, Kendal & Teck who have been entertaining throughout. Even people like Arissa and Laterrian had their moments like LT’s dominant win in pole wrestle and Arissa’s blow up after getting thrown in the elimination.

Another big positive throughout the first five episodes has been the challenges. They have had a good mix of challenges reminiscent of old school challenges, like the ice melting challenge and the On the ropes challenge climbing across ropes from platform to platform, and also challenges to the level of competition the show is today like the mini final and the challenge in the premiere which was called one of the most difficult things they’ve done by people like Darrell, Derrick & Aneesa who still do challenges today. Additionally, the elimination rounds have been strong bringing in classics like knot so fast and pole wrestle as well as the new eliminations going out of tile and over and under.

The twists I think have played out pretty well this far which is particularly promising since twists made a number of seasons with a lot of potential much worse. The lifesaver was a nice callback to an aspect from the games early days made to work more on the modern show by voting for a replacement and much less overpowered. Also, I like the way they chose to do these team eliminations where politics play a big roll that can both help you stay out but also hurt you because you may get called down as a partner if everybody thinks you are their ally.

Finally, the drama this season has been outstanding. The arguments have felt more real and being on Paramount+ giving us the ability to watch everything happen uncensored instead of being taken out of the show by the constant bleeping during some of the best scenes has been great. The primary example being getting to hear Arissa’s quit exactly as it should be. Another factor that has made the drama more real is that there is a lot of history behind the relationships. Trishelle and Katie’s fight had so much more depth since they had been friends for nearly twenty years. The Ruthie/ Aneesa drama also dates back nearly twenty years since they first were on Battle of the Sexes together in 2002 and have clashed occasionally over the years like when Ruthie got thrown in on The Duel II.

Season Grade: A

Season Superlatives

Season MVP:

Jisela Delgado

(Honorable Mentions: Kendal, Beth & Nehemiah)

Jisela has been a huge surprise after not being a huge character and being unimpressive going out early in all of her previous seasons. But this season has been a completely different story she killed it in the first challenge and has also performed well in other challenges. Also, she has been an excellent narrator throughout the season to this point.

Best Daily Challenge:

On the Ropes

I have seriously missed these kind of challenges. They used to be a staple on every challenge season getting from one platform to another either with a bridge, ropes, or jumping. Last time we saw something like this was on War of the Worlds 1 with Fallout and I am hoping to see these kind of challenges be used more again. This version was good even if the teams were not the most balanced.

Best Elimination:

Going out of Tile (Nehemiah v. Teck)

The peppers part of the Challenge was kind of pointless in terms of the actual competition but damn the glee TJ had with it made it worthwhile. The actual competition portion was a good combination of climbing and speed that was incredibly close with Nehemiah barely beating Teck by seconds.

Most Impressive:

Laterrian Wallace

(Honorable Mention- Kendal, Teck & Jisela)

Laterrian appeared on three seasons back in the day and was a precursor for the term popcorn muscles used to describe people who come in looking like they are going to dominate and flame out like Derek McCray on Gauntlet 3 & Duel II, Vinny Foti from Fresh Meat II, Exes & Cutthroat and Idris from War of the Worlds II. He was on a team that lost 12 out of 17 missions and the final before eliminations happened and was knocked out early on both Battle of the Sexes and The Gauntlet. However he has killed it on All Stars with a dominant pole wrestle win and taking home first in the mini final. Laterrian has been a great redemption story and finally lived up to the hype from 20 years ago.

Most Disappointing:

Trishelle Cannatella

(Honorable Mention: Ace)

Trishelle was never known for her athleticism back in the day but she was not an anchor. However she got smoked by Kendal in Knot so Fast and didn’t impress in either daily challenge she was in. Also, Trishelle came off looking bad in the way she went after Katie for getting dinner before coming to talk to her about how the deliberation vote went. Trishelle underperformed physically and came off as still holding on to stupid things from 15–20 years ago. I was hoping we would get more from her on All Stars.

Best Hook up:

Alton & Jisela

(Honorable Mention: Jemmye & Nehemiah)

It’s absurd to me that we are getting been more coverage of hook ups on the Challenge: All Stars than the original show but I digress, Alton and Jisela are a bit an out of left field pairing but both are good looking people who seem to have a genuine connection. Good for them, if Alton keeps bringing drama like he did on episode 5 maybe this could have more consequences but now they seem happy so cool.

Best Fight:

Katie v Trishelle

Katie versus Trishelle was crazy both in the fact that there is so much history and the fact that when it appeared over and it flared back up in the middle of the night. Trishelle overreacted to something stupid and came for Katie bringing up stuff that happened decades ago and people should know not to go after Katie who can dish words with the best of them. Apparently to this day Katie has moved on and outgrown Trishelle as a friend. When a fight on the show has those kind of consequences there is no way it’s not number one.

Best Moment:

Arissa’s meltdown quit at the elimination.

I understand she felt betrayed and Mark didn’t know how the lifesaver was going to work so Arissa ended up getting screwed unintentionally. However I will not complain about that because what it lead to was instantly iconic from her asking if they could box instead, to her getting in all of the gear other than the helmet than deciding not to compete, to then going off and calling everybody out and straight up leaving, to TJ’s “Don’t take care hope to see you never.” The whole season was great and I’ve already rewatched it at least ten times.