MTV’s The Challenge: All-Stars Episode 2 Recap

MTV’s The Challenge: All-Stars Episode 2 “All That You Can’t Leave Behind”

The title of this episode is 1. nonsensical. I want to leave it behind but I can’t? Why can’t I? And 2. Dramatic for no reason. I thought this episode might dig a little deeper into some background issues, but nope. It didn’t. There was a 30-second interaction between Trishelle and Aneesa where Trishelle was apologizing for something racially insensitive she said 10 years ago. Aneesa seemed as dumbfounded as the rest of the world as to why she felt the need to bring this up. Trishelle goes on to say in a confessional that she has come a long way and learned a lot about race in the last decade. I mean, good for her? I like this I guess, but it seemed a little contrived on MTV’s part. Like they wanted to include this moment to be “woke” and inclusive and “look how racially sensitive and aware we are and just forget all of our other problematic moments!”

The episode starts off with Kendal talking to Derrick and wondering why she’s doing this show. Did she have something to prove to herself? If she’s not here for the money, then she wants to find her deeper purpose. Um, this feels like a question she should have answered BEFORE packing her bags and signing this contract, but I can see they’re setting her up to be a big part of this episode.

The Challenge

It is TJ’s favorite challenge! Let’s say it all together: TRIVIA! They are on a contraption 30 feet above the water. If they get a question wrong, they have to take a step forward and the flooring gets progressively thinner and thinner. Thus, they fall into the water and they’re out. Right off the bat, I can see the problem with this challenge: people like Mark who are 800 lbs of solid muscle are out right away, and Kendal had to actually jump on the floor to break it.

The questions are all about the old Challenge’s and at first, I thought I would rock this, but I didn’t know any of the answers. It was questions like “Name the 2 Team Names from The Inferno” and “Which season did TJ first start hosting?” Those are tricky questions! All of the seasons blend together for me and I honestly couldn’t tell you the difference between Duel 1 or the Gauntlet 2.

It’s a female elimination day so the last male standing will get The Lifesaver, where they can choose to keep someone out of elimination or not. The last female standing is automatically safe and the first female out is going straight into elimination aka The Arena.

Nehemiah wins for the guys and Aneesa for the women. I’m not that impressed by her knowledge of Challenge trivia considering she’s been on the last 25 seasons. Trishelle will be going to elimination.

The Deliberation

Jisela (my new favorite) says Kendal should be the one to go against Trishelle because she was the only woman to not end up in the water. (It sounds more interesting than it is. Her floor wouldn’t break because she weighs as much as my right leg and she got a little confused and sat down.) It’s so early in the game people are just grasping at straws when it comes to voting. You don’t want to make any big moves and make enemies so early and it’s not like anyone really shit the bed on this particular challenge either. So, everyone votes for Kendal.

Trishelle and Katie were roommates in their 20’s and so Trishelle is mad that Katie hasn’t told her the results from the deliberation. She feels like Katie isn’t being a good friend. It looks to me like Katie just ate her dinner, but ok. They bicker a little bit, nothing too major but more interesting than anything that has happened on the last 5 seasons of the new Challenge. Cut to 4 am when Trishelle and Katie are screaming at each other and they wake up the whole house. Alexa, play “This Is What You Came For.”

My husband was watching with me, giving all his wrong opinions, and he said there’s no way this is not scripted. These people can’t possibly still be upset about things that happened 20 years ago. I disagree. If I was living in a house with people I went to high school with or used to work with 15 or 20 years ago, I could totally see myself reverting back to that age and wanting to talk about that one thing they said that one time and how fucking dare they.

The Elimination

There are 2 jungle gym-type structures set up along with a big heavy rope. You get time to make your rope as hard for your opponent to untangle as possible. Then you switch and the first one to untangle the rope wins. It’s harder than it sounds. This rope is huge and heavy and this will be an endurance challenge for sure.

Kendal wins pretty easily. She feels more confident now and more sure of why she’s doing this show. She could win this whole thing I think. She’s incredibly physically fit but she’s going to have to step up her social game.

I’m already ready for Trishelle to go home although I do want to know her skincare regimen because the girl is aging so gracefully. There’s no preview for next week and that’s disappointing but I’m sure these vets are going to deliver with the drama and the physicality again!

In case you missed last week’s episode recap CHECK IT OUT HERE