Ep. 214 The Challenge All Stars 5 Second Half Szn Recap

We have Drew Angelman on to recap the second half of the szn and preview the final of All Stars!!!


-Shane's shenaginans throughout this back half
-Katie and V playing a masterful political game
-Davonne showing great patience
-Turbo fight showing us old school challenge
-The preview of the 4 teams in the final!
-And more!!

Twitter: @ChallengeFanPod

Instagram: @challenge_fanatics_podcast

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
What's going on everybody, and welcome back to another episode
of the Challenge Fanatics podcast where we break down everything
Challenge related. My name is Josh Green. You can find
us on all social media platforms at Challenge fan Pod.
Please rate, review, subscribe wherever it is you listen to
your podcasts at the Challenge Fanatics. We are here to

(00:23):
break down a few episodes life got in the light
of these last couple of weeks we were not able
to record, but we're very excited to do you a
last third, a last half of a recap here of
the Challenge All Stars five. I've been very happy with
this season and I'm excited to break it all down.

(00:45):
Of course, I couldn't break down all of this by myself.
A returning guest, a man who has his own Patreon
gooing a lot of fun content over on angel Cake Entertainment,
the Great Drew jelmn Drew, how you doing.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
I'm doing well and I'm happy to be here, ready
to talk about the better half of the Challenge All
Stars rivals. In my opinion, I definitely agree there.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
I think like the beginning, we were definitely you know,
in a little bit of a bit of a like
boring phase. You know, when Steven Adam kept getting called in,
you know, episode after episode, it was hard to enjoy.
But you know, when they started to win dailies and

(01:33):
like get political power. You know, even though they may
be a boring pair for the fandom, the fact that
they were safe is when this season started taking off.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
In my opinion, I'll be honest, though, there is a
little bit of a piece of me because as we're
going to be talking about it, I just feel Adam
and Steve are just an overpowered team that I actually
believe that the first four episodes are the smarter gameplay,
and I kind of wish that in my opinion, just

(02:06):
just from a just from a very like experimental standpoint,
I kind of wish that every time that they were
available to go in that they would have and just
seeing how many elimination wins they could have gotten instead
of tying the record, which so many people have tied
it so like recently, I want them to just knock
it out of the park. If Adam and Steve are
gonna go on to the final, let's rank, let's rack

(02:29):
up eight elimination wins over the course of the season.
Blow it out of the water. Nobody would ever break it.
Then nobody would ever win eight elimination in one season
and one Yeah, so it's like, come on, let's just
and I think overall it would have been the much
smarter gameplay to do it, because it just feels, it
feels inevitable at this moment, but it definitely started to

(02:52):
pick up halfway through, and uh yeah, I'm happy to
talk about it.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
You know, you brought up the keyword in all of this,
which is the smarter move, right, I'm saying that word smarter,
and like, sure for the competitors who are competing for
three hundred grand to like, yeah, probably would have been
smarter to keep throwing in Adam and Steve until they're
out of the game. You know, we see over these

(03:16):
three episodes, Nonnie's constantly saying like this is who you
want next to you in a final, Like this is
what we're doing. So yeah, it probably would have been
the best move for these teams to you know, throw
them in more frequently. But over the episodes we're going

(03:36):
to recap, of course, we start with seven teams in
this episode eight, and we get down to four at
the end of the most recent episode. You know, we're
seeing the Shane and Veronica, uh you know storyline kind
of develop more here. Of course, they've been friends for
over twenty years. I kind of know on the fanatics,

(04:02):
we've been so happy to see Frank back here.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
On All Stars.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
I really had a fun season thus far, and I
think Frank is honestly right about how Shane has felt
threatened with you know, Frank, you know, aligning himself with
Veronica because I thought Shane should have played things alongside Frank.

(04:28):
You know, I really do so very weird through line
that we're getting throughout these episodes with Frank and Shane.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
Honestly, I want to say that I do like Frank
a lot more than I liked him when he first
started on the scene, which was season twenty three, which
highly unlikable in my opinion. I think he showed his
strategic prowess, he showed his political prowess. Yeah, But like

(05:00):
I'll be honest, this season I think showed just how
good of a player that he can be, because if
you think about his first two seasons, he's Battle of
the Seasons. He's on the most physically dominating team with Zach,
with him with Ashley, and then you have Sam also
being there that I don't think we were able to

(05:21):
see how good of a player Sam and really Ashley
was because of how much the storyline revolved around Frank
and Zach and how big and physical and how much
puppet manipulation that Frank has. But he's part of a
four person team that is the most dominating physically amongst
a lot of rookies, mind you. And then in his

(05:41):
second season he's paired up with Johnny Bananas, one of
the best players, if not the best player in Challenge history,
and then he gets medically dequed in free agents, so
we really weren't able to see how good of a
player he is solo wise. So him coming onto an
All Star season not being connected very well and then
being able to make so many friendships and even having

(06:02):
the reputation that he does, it's actually really interesting and
very kind of like on inspiring to see how well
of a competitor he is on this season.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
And I really enjoyed, you know, throughout, like they're they're
gonna make moves that benefit them, you know, they yes,
they made that deal with Devin and Leroy, but they
threw them in and you know they do the same
thing here in this last episode before the final and
I really think that they they were a strong team,

(06:36):
and I just I find it hysterical when Adam and
I think it was this episode, Adam's asking Frank if he'll,
you know, support their move and like vote you know,
Ashley and Dario in, and Frank's like, babes, you think
I'm going to vote in my friends that I have

(06:59):
been friends with over a decade, you know, for you
Like that's crazy, and you know it's it's very just
a wild, wild scene here before the Daily that I
kind of, you know, have a bone to pick with
TJ about here in this one Steven Turbo a wild

(07:24):
friendship here, two guys that just get along. But then
Adam just rips into him in one of our bigger
fights of the season about how Turbo is pretty much
moved into the living room of the All Starts five house,
something that I don't think we're surprised to hear. But

(07:47):
it's also like you're living with twenty five or thirty people,
like and you're barely I mean like Turbo. Also, like
from all reports from War of the World's two people
were genuinely threatened of their well being and you know,
so like he's barely getting the call back and now

(08:08):
he's living in the living room. Just like very odd
behavior here from Turbo. But it kind of reminded me
of old school challenge of like we're gonna get in
fights over like dumb shit.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
So I enjoyed it.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, it was kind of surprising to hear, and yeah,
it just I don't know, I think every I think
there was like this weird tension in that Adam he
just wants Adam to clean up after himself, because it
sounds like Adam is kind of leaving plates around and
kind of being a slob. So I think it's not
what Turbo said, it's how he said it. And then

(08:45):
in the moment people are kind of pressured they're about
to go to a daily challenge, is everybody's pretty much
waiting for production to tell tell them to get in
line and let's walk to the bus and stuff. So
I think it was the timing. I think it was
the way it was. And then Nannie gets involved and
is yelling at Turbo that's too early in the morning,

(09:05):
and Melissa then gets involved and it's like, what the
heck is happening, everybody. Let's just calm down.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
Let's calm down, Let's take a beat.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
Yeah, very wild fight here. What I had a bone
to pick with TJ lab And you know, of course
we do. We enjoy TJ. I love him as a host,
But when he was saying that they were trying to
find a location to do this shooting for the Star
Challenge when they're driving the quads off the cliff, I'm

(09:37):
just like, I know, you know, Battle of the Eras
was not that long ago, and if memory serves me right,
even though that season lasted like nine and a half months,
I know it wasn't that long, so don't know, but
it certainly felt like it was that long, if memory
serves me right. Like they had a challenge very similar
to this all that season, and we've already been hearing that,

(10:02):
like the confessionals on All Stars five were being filmed
in the same spot that they were for forty, and
they used a lot of locations that were similar on forty.
I get it that it saves money, but like, just
don't tell the audience like, oh, we're looking to do
a challenge we've never done before, when like you did
it a couple months ago.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
That's strikingly similar. Instead of a giant hot rod, it
is ATVs just being dumped in the water and then
you're just hitting a star after doing a pipe puzzle. Yeah,
definitely it. I'll be honest, I'm glad that they actually
had a puzzle for this one because the one in
season forty seemed like you're just guessing at plugging in

(10:46):
all these auxiliary cables and just praying for the light
to go on, which is not beneficial to anybody. It
just feels like a random look of the draw depends
on where you go from, which why you start with.
There's just nothing too except for plugging it in and
hoping and praying. So luckily there was a puzzle, but yeah,
it's still not one of my favorites.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
Uh it's wild here and you know with the puzzle,
Like again you you mentioned her earlier, but I think
this has been a very nice return to the challenge
for Ashley uh in this season, her and Dario really
you know, of course Dario has like the betrayal that

(11:31):
a lot of people didn't see coming where he turns
his back on Leroy, you know, their close friends off
the show. Ashley's you know, not taking offense to anything
and just going down there and you know, playing well.
This season, they were competitive throughout, But in this episode

(11:52):
we finally get the answer to the question what happens
in this game when Steve and Adam are safe? They
win the daily here they finished the puzzle the fastest,
and now the house is in a lot of panic
because nobody knows. You know, we can't even the winners

(12:14):
of the daily camp throw in Steven Adam. They can't
be the house vote like they were for four episodes
in a row. Yeah, what are we going to do
now that you know we're we're down to seven teams
at this point.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
The one we want to get out is Safe.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
Truly truly wild times here and when we get to
the house vote on this one, Ashley and Dario are
are going in here as the house vote.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
But again, I.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
Agree with Frank here and Nonny it throughout the season
as well, and it would have been fun to see
them go in again. But Adam and Steve should have
won in again or they do go in here, right. No,

(13:19):
I'm sorry, but to be honest, with all these eliminations,
it gets confusing.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
It was.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
I think it was, uh, you know, the the only
play that was available. When not and Steve, or excuse me,
when Adam and Steve are safe, you gotta throw in Turbo.
He you know, even if people hate him that performance
in the World the World's One Final, you gotta get
rid of him. At least that's how I saw it.

Speaker 2 (13:48):
The only thing that kind of got me in my
mind was at this point, Ashley can Dario get voted in?
And the idea is, will Adam and Steve want to
be petty and want to throw in Frank and Sam
to kind of be like pit friends against each other.
But it's like cooler heads prevail. And it's also the

(14:08):
bigger strategy of who is your biggest threat in the game.
Amber and Fessel were just eliminated not too long ago,
and Turbo and Nanni are great individually, but together I
think they're incredible. I mean, Nanni's coming off of getting
second place and Rider dies with Johnny Bananas not too
long ago, and then you have Turbo with his great

(14:32):
performance in the season thirty three final. Like you said,
put those two together in an All Stars final and
I'm sorry, but they're doing laps. It's just not gonna
be even close if they're doing carnival games or anything.
I mean, they're gonna be great. So Adam and Steve,
I think, did the right decision here, Make us make

(14:52):
a deal with Frank, hope he keeps his word into
the future, and then throw in the next threatening team
to you personally, and hope that maybe Ashley and Dario,
who you don't think is that big of a threat,
maybe pulls off a win. Here an upset quote unquote.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
While I see why people, you know, wanted Adam and
Steven repeatedly. The more that this season has played out,
I have been sitting here wondering why weren't people trying
to vote in Adam or excuse me, Nanni and Turbo
because you're right, like they may argue, and you know,

(15:34):
they may get crazy at one another, but with those two,
when Nanni and Turbo compete together, we saw on thirty
three and all those dailies that they did so well together,
and I know people thought that that was Nanni's that
was finally going to be her season. You know, of course,

(15:55):
they make it an individual game and things go, you know,
a different plan there. But excuse me, I really think
that that Nanny. You know they if they had made it,

(16:17):
I do agree with you, Like we saw Turbo in
those different different checkpoints in thirty three, whether it was
food puzzles.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
Like the guy was doing it all. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
The one thing that you cannot knock Nanny for. She's
not gonna stop running, Like she may not be the
fastest and endurance, but she's not going to stop. And
it would have been wild to see. But it makes
me wonder, like, why weren't they targeted before this episode.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
I have a theory that she was a lot more
connected in the earlier part of the game, and then
by this point all of her friends left. I mean,
you got Devin and Leroy. Leroy is always going to
ride for Nanni. Devin is really close with the Vacation Alliance,
which also holds Nanni as well. Anissa is very close

(17:11):
with Nannie, and I think Ashley has done more seasons
with Nanni recently than everybody else on this cast. And
then you have Vessel, who is very close with Casey,
and then that's gonna in turn make him closer to Nannie.
So once those three teams went out one after another
after another, Nanni's whole alliance kind of crumbles around her,
and the only person she really has left is Frank,

(17:34):
who's mainly looking out for himself, and then Ashley and
then the best Nanni can be his third. And then
you have who is that Melissa who is not truly
looking out for Nannie, as we will see in a
future elimination that we'll talk about. And then Davon, who
is tied to Shane, who is playing with players who

(17:56):
are actively wanting Turbo and Nanni gone. So I mean,
I just think that her walls kind of crashed around
her in a very quick amount of time to where
her time ran up, and now everybody's looking at her
her team as well as Adam and Steve as the
two toughest teams that they're going to have to target.
So that's what my theory is.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
I think it's, you know, that's why they pay you
the big bucks, but you're light man. This elimination was
definitely back and forth here. You know, Ultimately, Nanni and
Turbo got it done, and with Ashley and Dario going
home now and we have six teams left, TJ tells

(18:41):
us the next challenge is going to be a Star Challenge, Mellisa, Nicole,
Katie and v Davon and Shane. One of them is
going to guarantee get a star in the next episode.
Of course, before we start episode nine, we're getting a
lot of people said, you know, to Dario and Ashley,

(19:03):
like this is karma for sending home Lee Roy. We
get flashbacks of Turbo and Nannie. You know, of course
Nannie's you know, one of LeRoy's best friends, and we
see Turbo had gotten along with Lee Roy this season.
Lee Roy really doesn't have many enemies. But you know,
they say it was karma, uh for for Dario turning

(19:26):
on Lee and they go home here in episode eight.
But you know, as somebody who's been tapped into this
All Stars world from the jump, you know, in my opinion,
I'm much more keen to see and Ashley Kay returned
to All Stars. I don't know, like I don't see

(19:53):
the Dario story like turning where like Lee Roy's coming
for him in a future All Star season, And I
don't see it benefiting Leroy to do that. I think
there's more there's more possibilities of a developing character with
Ashley than there is with Dario. That's just my opinion

(20:14):
on it. What have you kind of thought about that
as far as like a possible return for either of them.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
I think that Ashley. I think Ashley is really interesting
here because I think that she was more confident than
she's ever been. I think she was able to play
a little bit more free because the really the well
she's been on three seasons, but the spinoff didn't really
help out there. But you had season twenty well, she well,

(20:44):
she played all right. Anyways, she played in a battle
of the seasons where she gets overshadowed and plays pretty
much third fiddle. Really, she didn't want to be too
into the limelight in season twenty three behind Zach and
Zach and Frank, so she's not really playing her own
game there. And then Invasion she comes in a third

(21:06):
of the third of the way, two thirds of the way.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
And.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
She has to go up against she can only face
off against like either Kara or Laurel, and it's not
a great situation. All Camilla is also there, so it's
not a great situation there. Also, there's a ton of
big personalities between underdogs and the champions, and so I
think that she was able to play a bit freer here.
She seemed more confident. She was taking charge in daily

(21:34):
challenges and eliminations, which I thought was really interesting to see,
and it was really great to talk to her in
the exit interviews. So I would love to see her back.
I would love to see Dario back too. I don't
think that there's any storyline here. I've heard that him
and Leroy have talked plenty of times after the season.
There's no ill will or hard feelings between them as

(21:54):
well as it really isn't. It really wasn't Dario's fault really,
because he was just the messenger of what Frank and
Sam were going to do. Realistically, it's not like Devin
and Leroy where the House vote they were sent in
directly by Frank and Sam. So for Dario just to

(22:16):
say what Frank was gonna do anyways really played nothing.
I agree with Frank on the Giant Bananas podcast this
past week that really what did him in was the
conversation that happened between him, Devin and Leroy, where he
could have just said, look, it's not my decision, it's
all Frank. Frank is the one in power. You got

(22:36):
to go talk to him kind of vibe, but instead
he kind of just leans into it, being like, well,
if you guys go in and you leave, it's better
for me. It's like, why would you say that? Like
that just makes it sound really bad, like you were
like totally in on this. But ultimately, I think it
was painted in a weird light just to make it
seem a lot more intense than I think it truly was.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Now, Yeah, that conversation was played so terribly there.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
It's crazy. I really did not understand it, you know.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
So we we move on to this next episode. We
get the Star Crossed Rivals episode nine. You know, we're
seeing a.

Speaker 3 (23:22):
Little bit of.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
You know, this has been a little bit of her,
even though Nicole says it in confessional that that's not
who she is, you know. Unfortunately episodes yeah, you know,
we we have the receipts and uh, we're getting these
flirty vibes of Melissa and Nicole.

Speaker 3 (23:46):
You know, Shane.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
Is having of course, his his partner in Daveon and
then his rider die Veronica not seeing eye to eye
in the game. But I gotta say I really appreciated
how Davon was like handling this. She says like, look,
be like I think you're a great person, but like

(24:11):
you're getting my partner's mind all torpedo and I thought
that was a good A good way to put it
by Davon.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, I think it was really good. I I want
to really get we got to talk about the Daily Challenge,
but I really really want to talk about, well you
talked about earlier this smarter move, and there was a
much smarter move to do here than what ultimately plays out,
and I desperately want to talk about it so badly.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
Yeah, so we you know, we are at the daily
now and it's a Star challenge, like I mentioned a
couple of minutes.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
Ago, and this one.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
You know what, I enjoyed this here, this is something
where I don't need every challenge and this this is
a or picture All Stars statement that I'm about to
deliver it here. I don't need every challenge on All
Stars to be as physically demanding and grueling as the

(25:13):
main challenge. You know, I think we are starting, especially
when this cast came out before we we knew anything
or any of the spoilers started getting out there. You know,
we don't tune into them either, But of course, you know,
I saw people like tweeting you know about it, and I,

(25:33):
you know, mute accounts before the spoilers come out. But
when we saw the cast list, you know, I always
liked seeing that in advance, and when I saw that,
I was like, oh, we are really getting further away
from what the mission of all startles originally. So I'm
glad that some of these challenges are not like every

(25:58):
single one on the five ship there. They're more like, hey,
we're going back to daily challenges from back in the day,
you know, And that's exactly what Bubble Bullseye was, you know,
pushing your your partner into you know, the higher zone,

(26:19):
each team getting eliminated after each round and if you
fell out, you know, you lost ten points. I loved
the editing here, Like I thought this was a real
fun daily that they had here.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Honestly, this episode rocked in the sense that I love
the daily challenge, I love the elimination, loved the alliteration,
and I just really enjoyed it because, yeah, everybody could
have won this one daily challenge. Everybody could have won
the elimination, anybody could have won it. It's just they
were fun games. They were just so that the editing

(26:53):
was great. I thought the the I want to give
the production design of the giant board in the middle
of the field, and they really put a lot of
time and effort, the bubbles in it, the just the
apparatus that people were sledding down in the inner tubes,
and I just thought it was really really well done.
And yeah, I loved that it was like a shuffle board.

(27:13):
You didn't need to put too much pressure on it.
But there was still a lot of strategy that could
have been used. I love the the elimination of each round.
I think we could have elongated the first couple of
rounds a little bit, like we could have done two
test rounds where each team member could have sat in
the thing and then combine the first round scores to

(27:34):
see who would get eliminated first, and then everybody could
do a single round elimination kind of vibe. But that's
a very little nitpick because I just really enjoyed this
daily challenge overall.

Speaker 1 (27:47):
It did, and I, you know, I feel like we
can always you know, Nippick and I agree that they
could have done the test runs and everything. You know,
Nonnie and Turbo are feeling the heat.

Speaker 3 (28:05):
They're they're cooked first.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
You know, we don't need to go through this beat
by beat, but just to go back to the editing.
I loved the when Steve falls out of the uh
the tube, how they like did the slow motion, you know,
waiting for someone to come get Steve out of the tube.
I thought it was great, you know, just like these

(28:31):
small things this season. The music has been great on
All Stars. I know a lot of fans have been
enjoying that all season. You know, if you would have
told me at the beginning of the season that Ryan
and Dirty by Chamelionaire would have been like perfect song
choice too. As everybody's sliding through, Like, I loved it.

(28:52):
I was so happy to see these small changes you
know here on All Stars five.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
It was awesome.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
It was fantastic. That's my favorite music drop in a
long long time. It was incredible.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
Yeah, I it was awesome.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
It was just I'm I had to rewind it because
I'm like, wait a minute, this is the perfect song choice,
but this is this actually being played right now?

Speaker 3 (29:19):
Yeah, it was just great. It was awesome.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
What a what a fun challenge, and uh, you know,
with it being a star challenge, we we do see that,
you know, Shane and Devon become the last star holders.
And not only do they become the last star holders,
they win the daily They everybody they're safe from elimination,

(29:47):
their stars safe, and they control what is going to
happen now going forward into this elimination. And of course,
right before they head back, Devon is catching Frank whispering
to the other teams, uh, you know, saying that you know,

(30:09):
they want Nicole and Mel to go in against Katie
and v to get a star. They want to leave
Nanni and Turbo because at this point, Nanni and Turbo
don't have right or they.

Speaker 3 (30:24):
Do have a star.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
Yeah, Nannie and Turbo do have a star.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
At this point.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Yes, my apologies, Yes, but everyone knows that their star
is going to get stolen regardless of who wins this elimination.
And uh, of course Davon's been friends with Nannie and Turbo.
And you know that big brother connection that you mentioned
with Fessel, I think is similar to Davon.

Speaker 3 (30:51):
Of course it's not as strong, but.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
I think she feels some sense of loyalty to Nanni,
who at the time of filming was engaged to Casey
and I knew they got along back on thirty three. Yeah,
that was and they like Turbo was always telling, you know,
rooting for Devon when she would go into elimination. So

(31:18):
it makes sense, but to protect that strong of a
team that long, I thought Davon was going a little
too strong at this point in the game.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
This is where I feel like the strategy is all
over the place. Now. I give it to Frank for
worrying about Shane being in power, because he's thinking, if
Veronica and Katie get voted in by the house vote,
then it didn't matter what or who Devon and Chane

(31:52):
threw in there, because technically, whoever they threw in there,
they're giving Veronica and Katie a chance of winning a
star you know, and if they threw another star holder.
So the plan is throwing Nicole and Melissa, forcing Shane's
hand into having descend in Veronica and Katie because somehow
everybody believes that this what if this is the final

(32:13):
Daily Challenge and elimination and the they're gonna purge whoever
the fifth place team is, right. The problem is is
that the strategy is all off because now, in hindsight
is twenty twenty, but we should all know that the
Challenge is always gonna give everybody a chance to go
in again, it does not matter. Let's just be real,

(32:35):
it did not matter. The stars didn't matter this season. Honestly,
the stars did not matter because it was gonna come
down to the four teams anyways. It seems like they
were never going to do this purge of two teams
or one team. At the end. It just mattered who
was the four teams that were left. So if that
is the case, the idea is you vote in Turbo
and Nanni, you send in Adam and Steve, and then

(32:58):
you ensure one of those team goes with one more elimination.
You have a Star Challenge at the next Daily Challenge,
and then whoever wins that great you get your Star
and then you throw in Adam and Steve and hope
and pray that whoever you threw in against them will
they'll win, They'll lose to the next one, and then
you have four semi whatever team's going into the final.

(33:24):
But because everybody's freaking out, and then you put the
two teams of Veronica and Katie and Nicole and Melissa
in there and they're all praying that it's the next
thing TJ said, is welcome to my final. Now you
have Turbo and Nanni and Adam and Steve still in
the game, and you're ensuring that one of them goes
to the final, and you're basically saying, well, hopefully I

(33:46):
can get second place against whoever, like you're praying that
you can send both of them in against each other.
This could have been terrible in the sense that what
if Adam and Steve win and then they send it
Turbo and Nanni against Melissa and Nicole, and then Turbo
and Nanni make the final, Adam and Steve make the final,
and then you're sitting there going, well, now I'm hoping

(34:09):
for third place. And it's all because the non smarter
move was made this episode that throw in two non
star holders that would have been incredible to run in
the final. Instead, everybody just like play cakes to their paranoia.
And it's unfortunate because it could have been a way
smarter move to send in them to this pin Pop Challenge,

(34:32):
which could have been anybody's game. I think actually Turbo
and Nanni could have won this one because Turbo has
I think more experience, but Adam and Steve have just
been on an incredible tear of doing weird stuff, like
fessel says that Bananas is great at all this weird stuff.
I give it to Adam and Steve for doing well
in all this weird stuff. I mean that one that

(34:55):
they won against Devin and Leroy. Nobody should be as
good as Adam and Steve in that elimination. It's it's wild,
but that's a random I need to get that off
my chest because it's just that that to me. I
think everybody's gonna look back whoever is in the final,
and if Adam and Steve win this thing and all
the other teams are looking around, it's gonna be because

(35:17):
teams fell into this. We gotta throw into what if?
What if it was the last elimination to get who cares?

Speaker 3 (35:25):
You know?

Speaker 2 (35:25):
Who cares you gotta? At this point, friendship should not
matter at this point, uh Nicole should not be sitting
there being like, well, Adam and Steve got us here,
who cares? Guess what you now? You can lose to them.
You know you're you're barely hanging on by a thread
carrying these other puzzle pieces and pressure sandwich. You're not
gonna do well in the final against them. So, yeah,

(35:48):
well they got us here. We gotta keep. No, you
don't have to, you gotta start. There has to be
a line in the sand. That's like Frank being like,
I'll shake your hand, Sure, I'll keep you say if
if we ever win one final elimination, guess what, I
don't care. You've got to go in. I want to
get you out of here. It's it's ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
You feel lighter now, Drew.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
You feel a little bit stress, a little sweaty.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
But yeah, so here's the thing, and a couple of
things to what you just said, which I couldn't agree
more with how you laid that out. But let's say
that that all goes to plan right, and we get
First of all, if you would have said at the
beginning of this season the stars don't matter, I wouldn't

(36:36):
even about it. Than I I would have said, oh, really,
what else is the sky blue? Or like, tell me
tell me something else that I'm shocked by, but not
actually shocked by. We knew I had a feeling, you
know that they weren't going to purge five. It would
have been nice because they caught TJ constantly and I

(36:56):
know this isn't TJ. This is production in TJ's ear,
but they were constantly reminding them about the stars, and
you're right, it didn't mean shit this season. That being said,
if they have played it right where Nannie and Turbo
go in and lose and somehow Adam and Steve lose,
it would not It would have been a long shot
for Adam and Steve to lose. But if it happened,

(37:18):
you're talking about a final of Melissa, Nicole, Frank and Sam,
Devon and Shane and Katie and v. Yeah that's a
pretty even final.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
Yeah, it is when you.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
Average it all out between those pairs. We're all of
a sudden, the fans, including myself, who want to see
you know, Shane and Devon get that win because they've
contributed so much to the show. MM, there's not a
world where they there's a world where they win that final.

(37:51):
If those are the four teams, you know, we know
how Frank can show up and compete in a final,
but we also know how Sam is with endurance, and
these finals have been it has been a gigantic component
of endurance. So if you can't run a couple miles

(38:11):
at a time, you're you're cooked. Whether it's All Stars
or in the main show. So but you know, of course,
this balloon elimination that you're bringing up here, the closest
most entertaining elimination of the season. We get here when
Melissa and Nicole go up against Kat and V. We

(38:33):
have no disruption of the stars. Everybody who was a
star holder coming in keeps their star. Know, one has
to go in the stand and defend it. I think
the house kind of agreed, like, let's give everybody a
shot at least of getting a star. I really thought
Kat and V were going to win this, and holy shit,
was it close. Oh yeah, and again like when when

(38:57):
the cast came out and I keep going back to this,
but still, you know, we saw all these different pairs.
We saw some girl girl pairs, we saw some guy
guy pairs. And I see people on the internet saying, oh,
where's hall brawl, where's Paul Russell, where's balls in?

Speaker 3 (39:13):
Guys? That was never gonna happen this season.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
Now you have when you have Devin and Leroy, you
really think they're gonna do We're gonna have them going
down the hall against the hole. Melissa, Like, that's not
gonna happen. It's Leroy would put Melissa in a like
I don't even want to think about the injuries that
would happen from that. We were gonna have unique eliminations

(39:37):
like this, and frankly, I thought that it made the
season better And this was awesome, a great elimination.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
Yeah, the only thing I got goosebumps when we were talking,
when you were talking about it. I really enjoyed it.
It was very close. I would love this to be
a mainstay in a lot of the seasons, because if
you have doubles or anything, I think it could be
a lot of fun and entertaining. I would love this
to be a regular. The only thing I will say

(40:06):
is I agree with you that we would never get
a hall brawl or pole wrestle or anything because of
the differences in the teams and everything. But when you
have like two, if you have a team with two
women on it, or a team with two men on it,
or even an elimination between one man and one woman

(40:27):
on each team, I think that there could have been
a chance where maybe the production team goes, Okay, we
got Adam and Steve and Devin Leroy in here, let's
just scrap what we were going to do and just
put a pole in the middle and then have a
two v two not two v two, but like a
one v one for two rounds, and then do a

(40:48):
tiebreaker at the end, where it could have been interesting,
you know, and we could have had a fun elimination.
We could have had a fun elimination between Turbo, Nanni,
Dario and Ashley, both teams I feel are very similar
and comparable to each other. I think the challenge is
a little too rigid in some of their planning and stuff,

(41:08):
and not to say like they should scrap a huge
elimination that they plan months for and everything, but I
think there could be ones where it's like, Okay, we
can have a little bit of wiggle room to have
a little bit more interesting dynamics here, when we feel
like the teams are going to be a little bit
closer with each other. Granted, they would have to get

(41:28):
no ahead of time, like have production talk to whoever
is the winning team prior to coming to the elimination
to know, so there's no real way of knowing. And
what if they put a poll in the middle of
the thing, and then Frank and Sam decided to switch
it up and not throw in Devin and Lee roy
in against Adam and Steve, so that would throw a

(41:49):
whole wrench into it. But then again, just have them
pick at the house vote and let's just have a
fun time. Not They do the eliminations pretty much the
very next day, right off the bat, so it's like
or that that night. So it's pretty much you're not
you're not wasting too much time if you're sitting there
already knowing what you're gonna do. But that's just been

(42:11):
my kind of like right for years that it's like
you could just have a little bit more variance or
a little bit more wiggle room in you in your
production team. But also I'm not also a part of
the production crew, so I'm sure it would take heaven
and Earth to move stuff that you've been planning for
months to sit there and be like, oh well just
throw a pole in the middle of it, like, oh, easier,
send that done. A hole is probably somebody who would

(42:33):
be listening to this who was actually on the production team.

Speaker 1 (42:36):
Some of them, I feel like it may be easier
to you know, swing and change and everything. But of course,
like the ones where they have like a much bigger
set and all like, obviously they can't just like, oh
we have two guy guy teams, like let's just throw
a poll in and yeah, you know we're on our way.

(42:58):
But I do think that would have been fun, of course.
You know, I really again, like you talk about future
All Star seasons, I think for Katie and V, both
of them, i'd love to see both of them come back.
I really enjoyed their their run here on All Stars five.
I you know, I do enjoy them both. But I

(43:21):
thought they were both going to be cooked early in
this season. I figured they were going to be easy
vote early and they were going to be gone. But
you know, they really have a phenomenal season here. They
are the sixth place team here on All Stars five.
Would have never thought they would have lasted this long.

(43:43):
You know, they they lose on the last Balloon to
Nicole Melissa, was a lot of back and forth in
the elimination on that last balloon itself, and a great
season in in my opinion for Katie and V.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
Did you get to talk to them on the exit interview?

Speaker 2 (43:59):
Unfortunately now they neither one of them were available, and
I would have I would have loved to have gotten
to talk to them because I think that they had
played an incredible game, went farther than I think a
lot of people would give them credit for. I think
a lot of people thought, kind of like with Beth
and john A going out super early, that Katie and

(44:20):
Veronica would be the next one to go, whereas they
held out for a long long time and showed prowess
in the way that they handled the politics when they
were in power and Shane was trying to overtake them
and cause the House vote to be Frank and Sam,
and how they took the reins when how they got
Amber and fessel in instead of them going in, I

(44:43):
thought was really really incredible. I just I just really
enjoyed what they were able to accomplish on this season,
and they did an incredible job.

Speaker 1 (44:51):
And let me just say another thing, to go back
to the hypothetical that you beautifully laid out a few
minutes ago. Let's say that this final, you know, they
get rid of Nanty and Turbo, they get rid of
Steven Adam, which would have benefited you know, everybody in
the house. If it's Katie and v it's Davon and Shane,
Frank and Sam Melan Nicole, tell me the team that

(45:15):
argues the least of those four by a country mile,
it's Katie and V.

Speaker 2 (45:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
And of those teams, you know, the's got more eliminations
or excuse me, more challenge wins than everybody else combined.
Now do I think they would have won? Probably not,
But there there's a world with these All Star Finals.

(45:43):
They have been different, like they're they are not the
cookie cutter final that we're used to. And I'm obviously
Katie and v were like prepping to run a couple
of miles in a row, like I think they could
have got it done. A great season for them. You know,
we see Mel and Nicole. It's tough on Mel. You

(46:07):
know she she's friends with Nanny, but they steal the
star from Nannie and Turbo. And right before we go
into this episode that we had this most recent week,
Nanni's starting to break. She's pissed at the rest of
the house. You know, her and Turbo fought to get
their star. They don't have it anymore, and now they

(46:33):
wonder what happens and TJ says, I'll see you at
the next challenge. Yeah, but I think we all knew
that was gonna happen, and.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Yeah, it's just one of those things where, I mean,
Melissa says in the confessional, what what if we made
a mistake about stealing Turbo and Nannie star now thinking
that they may have would have gotten purge. But it's like,
I don't think the idea is what have we made
mistake by which star we stole? You made a mistake
at the house vote not voting in the two strongest

(47:06):
teams against each other, because realistically you have Katie, Veronica,
Melissa and Nicole. If you would have sent in the
two star holders, you make this next one pressure sandwich
a Star Challenge, and there's only two teams that can
win a Star at the end of the day, and
that's Melissa and Nicole having a good chance. I mean,
they's stunk in it as we're gonna talk about it.

(47:29):
But if only two teams can win a Star, even
if you're gonna be getting in third place or fourth
place at this point, you just got to beat one
other team in that daily challenge to get a star.
And that's way better than having to go up against
this elimination that you could have lost, and I think
you had to lose lose way now looking at looking
at it, on which star they would have decided to choose,

(47:51):
and it really didn't matter. I mean, turbon Nini went
up against Adam and Steve regardless, they go up.

Speaker 1 (47:59):
Against them in the end either way. And like you said,
this pressure Sandwich Daily that we have here in episode ten,
I mean, we had a barbecue at the beginning of
the episode, but that was boring and shit, honestly.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
Yeah, nothing happens, nothing happens.

Speaker 3 (48:22):
Yeah, this pressure Sandwich, excuse me.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
Was four puzzles and all the pairs are really feeling
the pressure here. We're seeing so many rivals just go
in on their partner. Everybody's just feeling the heat. They
know that they're at the end.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
And just insanity ensues everywhere. But somehow, some.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
Way, by Heller high Water, Frank Sweeney, Fox and Sam McGinnis,
when the Daily safe from elimination, Yeah, I mean what
a Daily What?

Speaker 2 (49:21):
It just proves that Frank has a three final streak.
I mean, if you take everything like him actually being
able to compete on a season, he's never lost an elimination,
and then he makes a final when he's able to
play out the whole season, taking away the medical DQ

(49:44):
in season twenty five. I mean, it's pretty incredible. And
then Sam getting her second final in a row that
she's able to make. Granted the row is just seasons played,
whereas there's a huge gap in between her last season.
So congratulations to Freak Exam, just showing that they've come
a long way and they can actually work together comparatively

(50:06):
to everybody else with the same game mechanics.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
You know, I don't have a ton of notes for
episode ten because we really got a big chunk here
at the end of the daily, and then on the
night out.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
Shane really loses it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
I understand he likes to make TV and all of that,
but like Davon really did not deserve this. This was
a tough daily, having to hold the four puzzle pieces
and get everything back to your podium and all that.
He is losing his mind, and then he gets mad

(50:45):
at Adam for just saying to be nicer to Davon
and you know, giving Devon credit to not you know,
absolutely lose it on her partner. And then I mean,
I don't know how serious she was, if this was
more stunt for TV, or if he really was thinking

(51:05):
about quitting. But when he goes down the steps with
that pa on the night out and saying like he's done,
he doesn't want anything to do with Davon. I mean,
what did you We have so many different of course
we have it right after the challenge, we have it
at the night out, and then the conversation that Davon

(51:25):
and Shane have the next morning. I mean, let's hear
your thoughts about you know, Davon and Shane.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
Quite a bit of thoughts. So just interrupt me if
you want to jump in or anything. But what my
my feeling is with Shane is that he has done
so many seasons. I think he is kind of either
he's either surpassed or tied Amanda for the most seasons
without reaching the finals.

Speaker 3 (51:53):
And I just want to add one quick thing to
that and then I'll let you cook.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
Yeah, he is one of the few, one of the
few in the history of the show that has been
on a season from zero to ten, eleven to twenty
twenty one to thirty thirty one to forty like in
those and then of course his All Star appearance now too.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
So yeah, no, and that's a and that's a great
point because he has made it deep within seasons. I mean,
he was in the last episode of Invasion at the
Champions and then he had to go he had to
face off against Corey and Nelson in the final elimination.
It's like, great, I played this great game, and now
I have to go up against these two hulking behemoths,

(52:41):
and how how do I win when they're much younger,
bigger muscles and in the spry of their lives. He's he's,
he's He's tied up with Nelson in Final Reckoning and
they have to go up against Bananas and Tony, and
that seems like and so it's it's always something, It's
always something.

Speaker 1 (53:02):
I really thought Final Reckoning was the one that Shane
was going to get the win.

Speaker 3 (53:05):
I really did.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
Yeah, him and Nelson seemed like a really solid parent
in my opinion. But it's always something. So knowing that
this is, without a doubt, the final Daily Challenge, I
think the pressure Shane has always had paranoia, but I
think the pressure of all those seasons, this one lining

(53:26):
up perfectly. He got it, they got their star in
last episode, and now it's just all mounting that this
Daily Challenge isn't coming natural to them, and I think
it's just the preat not to trying to excuse whatever
Shane's stuff is. But I think that's what's building, and
I think this is where it finally explodes, and it's

(53:47):
unfortunate that it's against it. It comes out to the
detriment of their partnership as well as Devon, the person
who I think was very patient in this moment. I
think she could have done. She could have gone off
on Shane, she could have walked off, she could have
just given up on him, but she was actually really,
really responsive and helpful, and it's unfortunate that Shane decided

(54:10):
to be a massive a hole like he was in
this moment. So it's unfortunate not trying to excuse anything,
but I think that's where the frustrations and the level
of anger comes from in this episode. Now, I did
listen to the Challenge Official doc with a Challenge Official
podcast with Davon, and she said that she did it

(54:33):
on purpose, knowing that Shane was in earshot going to
talk to Frank, whom Shane hates, and she wanted to
kind of get under Shane's skin and everything. She didn't
know that he was going to want to pack up
his bags, but just laying out the information that I
just did and that you just did about Shane's record

(54:54):
of making it deep within seasons, doing a ton of seasons,
in multitudes of eras, and then being eliminated right before
the final, earlier than the final, always being a great
competitor but not making the final. There's no way in
my mind that he was going to walk off this season,
this close to the final, after this type of season

(55:16):
with a partner like Davon, there was just no way.
And it kind of plays into the whole thing of
we didn't talk about it, but when Davon and Shane
were in power and then they nominated Katie and Veronica,
Davon raises her hand and goes, what if we don't agree?
And then in the next second she goes, I'm just kidding,
And it's like, Okay, that was played off as a

(55:37):
joke as TV not that big of a deal. But
when you leave it for a cliffhanger going into a commercial,
you kind of have these expectations built up of like
what is TJ going to say? Is this for real?
And then it's kind of funny but kind of disappointing.
As a fan being like, oh, it would have been
fun to see what would have been said or if
it was for real. And the same thing here where

(55:58):
Shane does say at a moment's notice of like, well
it makes for good TV if I pack my bags
and then laughs and has it they needed this conversation,
But at the same time I just sit there and
go like, chalk it up, of well, this was just
a puff piece, you know. I'm sure they both were
frustrated with each other. I'm sure that that talk with
production was real and in the heat of the moment,

(56:19):
But there's no way he would have just packed up
his bags and would have left on the verge of
making his first final in his challenge career. The same
thing with Davon.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
I was already feeling so bad for Davon when Shane
was threatening to quit and all that. You know, I
guess I don't ever know what's for DV and what's
the actual feelings, Like I obviously get that the games
of Pressure Cooker and when you're down to this few teams, like,

(56:56):
your feelings are like on an all time high. So
someone probably ate Shane's omelet He may have been like
I'm out you know, yeah, but I'm also like that
with my food, So I would get that if it
happened with food. But the way it happened here, I
was just a little I was kind of surprised. But

(57:18):
you know, they do talk it out. They have their
like code word of like we need to, you know, down,
get back to each other. You know, Nannie is really
trying to get people to say, hey, come on, let
us go in. Put in anybody you want, whoever you
want to not be in that final Adam and Steve

(57:41):
throw them into the fire or throw them into this elimination.
We have to go in and get a star. You
might as want to try and knock someone out who's
going to be a big threat. If you put them
in against us, you're guaranteeing. Granted, the House should have
done this a couple episodes ago, like we've discussed the
number of times, but at least they got it done

(58:02):
here where Nanny and Turbo are in again, Stadham and
Steve in a wacky elimination. In my eyes, I thought
this was pretty.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
This was goofy. This was goofy on top of goofy.
Inl I I understand the whole thing of like other
reality TV shows, some on Netflix. I know Anonymous does
this one a lot with the whole like what's on
What's in your box kind of vibe. Yeah, and it's
it was good there for a time, and then they
did it so many times and I'm like, all right,

(58:41):
I need to but my question is, why did we
do only five rounds?

Speaker 3 (58:47):
Like that?

Speaker 2 (58:49):
Seemed so like dis So, first of all, the first
part is already a fifty to fifty guests before even
asking questions or whatever. It's a fifty to fifty guess.
Your odds of finding the star or hitting the star
is pretty much a coin flip, and you have great
odds of hitting the star, which I mean, come on now,

(59:10):
in this game they play five rounds. The guessing team
got it right every single time. So by the end
of this, because Adam and Steve somehow were able to
guess first on where the star was, they were able
to knock out three balls, And because Turbo and Nani
only had two rounds to guess and they got them

(59:30):
both right, they only knocked off two balls. So just
because they did an odd number, and I get it
that their whole point was to deceive the other team
and they didn't do enough to deceive the other team.
But it's still one of those things where it's a
fifty to fifty chance. They could have not had asked questions.
They could have put giant cups in the arena and

(59:53):
then just had them choose. They should have had maybe
a third box and then had a three really like
thirty three percent chance of getting it or whatever they
should or they could have had six rounds and then
it would have been whatever, and then each team would
have just had the same amount of balls to do
in the chop six, which I think is a lot better.

(01:00:14):
Because Turbo and Nanni had so much pressure, they got
frantic because they already were at a disadvantage for something
that they couldn't They didn't have it. They didn't guess wrong,
they didn't do anything wrong in that scenario. It was
just the luck of the draw of who got to
guess first in this scenario, and I just think it

(01:00:36):
was unfortunate, you know. So, I don't know. I didn't
like this elimination. The two parts felt disjointed. I understood
what they were trying to do. I didn't come off
very fun. I think the whole thing that I think
the editing team was confused on how to put this
together because Adam and Steve were just so goofy and
everybody was laughing. There was the strategy was that seemed

(01:00:59):
like there was no strategy, and so they just said,
we're just gonna talk nonsense and gibberish the entire time,
which is a strategy, and it worked out for them,
but at the same time, it just the whole thing
just did not line up, I think in the way
that they thought it would. Oh, this is gonna be
so intense, it's gonna be like an interrogation scene, going
back and forth. We're gonna be able to make it

(01:01:19):
seem like high intensity and everything, and come to find
out they're just like singing Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star and
like giggling, like like their school children having a secret,
going back and forth. And granted some people probably found
it funny and everything, but after a certain time, I'm like,
this is just nonsense. You know. Even Nonni was like,
we don't even have to ask questions. Why are we

(01:01:41):
asking questions? I don't need five minutes to ask them
what their middle names are, and then like asking about
where the star is. I mean, it's a fifty to
fifty chance. You know. I think that this could have
been handled a lot better. Either just do the chopsticks
thing or just do the star in the box thing,
but you didn't need both of them. Or you could

(01:02:02):
have done what they did in the World Championships with
Kiki and Darrell versus Chris, Kristin, Tristan and Kelly Ann.
You could have just had done that and that would
have been fun because you have to move the pieces
from one side of the other using the chopsticks, using
the obstacle course, and then you put the puzzle together

(01:02:23):
like it flows with each other. This did not flow.
It just made no sense. And to me, for this
being the final elimination of the season, it was pretty
uneventful in my opinion.

Speaker 1 (01:02:35):
Doesn't flow at least give each team the same number
of chances to get it right.

Speaker 3 (01:02:42):
You know, Like you said, very weird.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
I will say, you know, I don't know if this
would have changed things, but Nanni and Turbo are really
going fast trying to get these yoga balls across. Yeah,
I don't I'm wondering if they had the same number,
I think Turbos would have tried to do that. Strategy
because that's just how he has been recently in elimination,

(01:03:07):
like he he just goes, goes, goes, and look, Adam
and Steve win. They are five and zero in elimination.
Nanni and Turbo seemed to reconcile here, and Turbo really
wants Nannie to get that win. You know, he has
his win, but he wants Nanni to get that win

(01:03:27):
because she comes so close so many seasons and doesn't
get it done. And now we've got our final four teams.
Everybody is a little bit on edge, but I think
they kind of knew that this was this was it,
you know, production, good job, you said it was four

(01:03:48):
star holders from the beginning, so obviously there wasn't going
to be any you know, pretense of like, oh, are
they going to go down to three like some other seasons.
We go to the final, Frank and Sam, Devon and Shane, Melissa,
Nicole and Adam and Steve are our four teams going

(01:04:08):
into the final. Looks like we got a lot of
checkpoints running all that kind of stuff. But I think
this is Adam and Steve still lose.

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
With already going into the final. I would say that
Adam and Steve had a huge advantage with how many
competitions that they won. But seeing as though the previews
as well as the trailer, which I just went over
in my Patreon again, the trailer before the season came out,
they showed a lot of the final, unknowingly to us

(01:04:41):
at the time, but they showed a lot of the
final in that trailer, and it feels like it's going
to be a lot in the desert, and it's going
to be a lot more physical than just All Stars
Fours final, where they started in a warehouse. You're just
walking from place to place. You're going for task the task,
and then the very end was this like long thing,

(01:05:04):
but you still had scooters and then you had a
jog at the end kind of vibe, and when you
did the puzzles and everything, they were all in one
closed area and then it was the longest run you
had was get to TJ and that was it. This
one seems to be a lot more physical. So already
I felt like Adam and Steve had an advantage, but

(01:05:25):
then add in that this is going to be a
lot more running, a lot more physical in the heat,
I just feel like it's tipping the scales even more
for Adam and Steve. I don't know if you want
to get into any more of the teams, but Melissa
Nicole I feel are the biggest underdogs in this one,
and I think that the closest race is going to

(01:05:47):
be between second and third, which to a challenge fan
I'm not a huge fan of. I've made this comparison
a lot of times, but it's like when I'm watching
NASCAR and the leader is like fifty seconds ahead of
second place, and so then the camera cuts to whoever
is in eleventh and twelfth and they're like really close

(01:06:07):
with each other and once and it's like, that's not
fun for me. I don't care who's like competing for
eleventh and twelfth place. But now it feels like that's
what it's gonna be. It's gonna be hotly contested of
who's gonna get second and third at this point. I
hope I'm wrong. I hope it's gonna be a lot closer,
but it just feels like that's gonna be the hotly
contested one, whereas we know possibly who's gonna get fourth

(01:06:31):
and who's gonna get first at this moment, and I
think we can all assume, but hopefully it's not gonna
be that easy and that predictable.

Speaker 1 (01:06:39):
Look you give a phenomenal lay out there. I think
if they had done the hypothetical that we laid out
in the beginning of this podcast or sorry, rather like
you know some minutes ago, this final is it could
be anybody getting last, anybody getting first, anybody getting second.

(01:07:03):
I do agree, it gets kind of boring knowing where
everyone's gonna finish.

Speaker 3 (01:07:09):
I'm hoping for myself. I'm a big.

Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
Davon fan, have been for a while, so I'd love
to see her get it done. We had Adam on
the podcast and he's really kind, so I would not
be upset with them getting it done either. Nicole like
an impressive record on paper, she gets to another final,

(01:07:34):
I just don't think her and Mell are going to
be able to get it done.

Speaker 3 (01:07:38):
And then how who am I? Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
Frank and Sam. I think it's going to be a
compelling story to see them run another final together thirteen
years later. But with this being kind of like I
did see the clip where they're running in the sand.
It very much reminded me of all the seasons where

(01:08:01):
Frank's like berating Sam when they're running and everything. I
think this is going to be an uphill battle for
Frank and Sam. I could see them getting the last
place to be frank about it, no pun intended, but
you know, I'm excited to see this final shakeout. Overall,

(01:08:22):
I think the final would have to be absolutely terrible
for me to hate the second half of the season.
I'm still positive on All Stars five overall.

Speaker 2 (01:08:34):
Yeah, I definitely agree, and I'm not saying, like, if
Adam and Steve win, it's the worst thing in the world.
They competed the hardest out of everybody. They had the hardest,
they had the hardest layout, they had to go into
force rate eliminations, then they had to go in right
before then. They won two daily challenges. I think they've

(01:08:54):
they're They're tied with Frank and Sam for winning the
most daily challenges out of all the finalists. They definitely
one of the most eliminations. Like, they deserve the win
if they win. You know, I'm not saying that I'm
gonna be rooting for Franken Sam personally and Davon and Shane,
But but I don't think you can like deny or

(01:09:17):
say that it's a terrible thing if they were to
go on and win. I mean, it's not their fault
of who the cast is, who the finalists are, or
how the season played out, or what the games were
in the in the seasons or whatever.

Speaker 3 (01:09:30):
Like.

Speaker 2 (01:09:30):
You can't take away anybody anybody's win or how they win.
You know, I'm not saying that. I'm I'm just hoping
for a fun, compelling game. I'm gonna be happy with
the journey and whatever happens happens. I'm just saying that
it would be nice to have gotten a lot closer
to a final if it plays out the way I'm
worried it could. But either way, I think you have

(01:09:53):
to just look at the game as a whole, and
I have to say that I don't I'm not frustrated
about this season. I'm not like I didn't care about
the four times throwing in Adam and Steve. I think
you had to do it, and I like this season.
I like this cast. It's unfortunate that Mark seems to
be kind of nervous about the possibilities of if there

(01:10:16):
could be an All Stars six or not in the future,
and it sounds like Paramount is kind of juggling on
making a decision on whether continuing the series or not.
I think it's unfortunate because I think All Stars four
and All Stars five are a lot more compelling than
even the most recent couple of seasons of the flagship show.
So I don't know. We'll just have to wait and

(01:10:38):
see how that all plays out.

Speaker 1 (01:10:39):
We will have to wait and see they did the thing.
Though I've been enjoying All Stars five. I'm looking forward
to watching the final Drew. Thank you so much for
coming on and recapping what we've had these last couple
of weeks. Let our listeners know where they can check
you out and everything you've got going on.

Speaker 2 (01:10:57):
You can check me out on YouTube dot com, angel
Cakevids over at angel Cake Entertainment. I'm putting up challenge
videos very soon. Actually April eighth, I'll be putting up
the YouTube friendly version of the CT documentary Part one
onto the YouTube channel. I have the first two parts

(01:11:18):
right now on Patreon dot com unedited, uncensored, a lot
of clips and a lot more of the vision I
wanted to do for that, so especially Part two. My gosh,
I don't know what I'm going to do to make
that YouTube friendly, advertiser friendly, but I'll try my artists.
So but I'm working on that one specifically right now,

(01:11:42):
and then I got a lot of great projects, bigger
projects coming in on May where I'm going to be
dropping the Best Challengers, the fifty best Challengers as voted
on by Challenger fans and my own opinions. Now that
we've wrapped up season forty five seasons of All Stars,

(01:12:03):
a ton of the spinoffs, I think it's time to
start crowning up these players and seeing who are the
best from the past forty plus seasons. And I want
to get a ton of people's thoughts from creators, redditors,
my own YouTube community, my Patreon community, and just seeing
where everybody and who everybody thinks are the top competitors

(01:12:28):
out of the whole series. So I'm looking forward to
putting that together, as well as a Catfish video, other
challenge videos, as well as so many things that I
can't put up on YouTube on my Patreon, and yeah,
I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:42):
Look at this guy, he doesn't stop. I'm excited for
the ct video this Tuesday as one of my all
time favorites. That'll be real fun to tune into and
have a walk down memory lane. Looking forward to that
and of course all the other content you have. Again,
thanks so much for coming on. We will be back
to break down the finale of All Stars five is

(01:13:06):
wind a little bit quicker than some of these other
seasons that go like five.

Speaker 3 (01:13:10):
Ye uh, you know, we'll be here to wrap it
up and then you know.

Speaker 1 (01:13:17):
We'll see where things go after that. Thank you all
for listening and hope you all have a great week.