The Challenge: All Stars 3 recap: A villain becomes a hero while another villain quits
Warning: This article contains spoilers for episode 5 of The Challenge: All Stars 3.
After Beth's sudden arrival in last week's episode of The Challenge: All Stars 3, it's been clear she's got an issue with Jonna. And it didn't take long for her truth to come out in the most Hurricane Beth way possible in this week's episode that also featured yet another epic male elimination showdown. All Stars 3 is already shaping up to be the best All Stars season yet, and we're only halfway through! Let's get to recapping, shall we?
Now that Jordan and Beth are back in the house, Kailah is thinking about how to best use her sabotage (although she called it a grenade, really showing which era of The Challenge she's from). And KellyAnne is trying to beef up her alliances by making a connection with Beth, but Beth is hinting heavily that Jonna isn't to be trusted. She's really got it out for Jonna.
Meanwhile all the older guys are still absolutely shocked at what went down the night before between Darrell and Jordan. They can't believe that Darrell was defeated like that, and they had no idea just how good Jordan really was. Wes has a great "I told you so" moment before immediately campaigning to take over Darrell's spot in their alliance. He wants the guys to target All Stars winners Yes and MJ as well as their biggest threat Jordan instead of him.
Paramount+
The Challenge: Sidetracked
Since we're halfway through the game, TJ drops a massive bomb: The Authority is now reducing to two players instead of six. That means only the male and female winner decide who goes into elimination. That's a lot of power to give to two people, and it's definitely going to shake up the game.
Plus, this week's daily is all about sabotage! We're really ramping up the drama in this episode. Players must race along a dirt track, collecting colored rings from different stations, and then toss the rings onto the star of the player of their choosing. Once a player's star is filled with five rings, they're out. The last man and woman standing wins. As for the sabotage, Kailah picks Beth and Brad picks MJ (again). Beth isn't too worried but MJ knows he's probably not going to win now, and he's right — a majority of the guys are planning to target him first, and then protect Mark by literally giving him The Authority. Brad's feeling uneasy about handing a win to anyone though, and he's right. How was this decided? This is going to be so boring!
The men go first, and MJ realizes pretty quickly what's going on. Jordan also sees that a plan was made without him, so he teams up with MJ to target Brad instead. And then Yes goes for Wes all on his own. MJ is first one eliminated, and then all the guys start going for Jordan next. Jordan's eliminated next, and then it's Yes. Brad is getting frustrated because he's not even allowed to go for the win without pissing off all his allies, and Mark starts walking and not pushing himself because he knows he's guaranteed the win anyways. It becomes so boring to watch at this point. Wes, Derrick, and Nehemiah get eliminated next, and Brad starts to get worried that MJ will call him out for his elimination opponent. Instead of just giving up, he decides to finally start fighting for his life, but Mark gets the last ring first and wins anyways because everyone helped him throughout the entire challenge. Lame.
The women go next, and The Treehouse is obviously targeting everyone who isn't in their alliance, with Beth as their first victim. Jonna isn't the only one throwing a ring on Beth's star, but for some reason, that's the only person that Beth gets mad at. Beth gets eliminated first, and she's fuming. She says she wants Jonna out because "she's a cheater, in so many ways." KellyAnne and Nia get eliminated next, and then Roni singlehandedly takes out Jonna. Now that it's only The Treehouse left, Roni gets out Kailah, then Roni's out, then Veronica, making Sylvia the winner.
Mark and Sylvia are now the only two in The Authority, meaning they're going to pick who goes into elimination. And then those two players will pick their opponents when they get to The Arena. That means everyone has to show up to the elimination in their uniforms because it could be anyone. I love when the game gets structured like that because the heightened anxiety makes everything more dramatic.
Paramount+
Back at the house, Kailah is proving once again how much she's leveled up as a strategic player by talking through how this new twist could put them all in danger. And the stress levels are clearly higher than ever as the cast goes out to a bar and the dance floor remains empty. Everyone's off in corners having game talks. MJ warns Mark that if he's chosen to go into elimination, he's picking Brad, who is Mark's No. 1 ally. Then Mark and Sylvia meet with Beth who says she'd likely pick Kailah or Jonna if she's chosen to go in. When Sylvia asks why Jonna, Beth says, "She's a little manipulator and she's cheating on her husband with MJ."
Whoa. Whoa. Mark and Sylvia are shocked speechless, and Jonna hears her name so she joins the conversation at the most awkward/hilarious moment. Jonna keeps trying to get Beth to say what her deal is but Beth just says she doesn't trust the way Jonna plays the game. Shout out to Jonna for the power move of correcting the way Beth's been butchering her name and then saying she'd love to take Beth's stars by beating her in an elimination.
Jonna then sets the record straight in her interview: "I'm not having an affair." MJ also says they're not having an affair, and they decide they need to get Beth out of the game. And Brad is pissed when he finds out MJ is going to target him, because he knows it was a mistake to throw the challenge for Mark. That only helped Mark and now it put his own game in jeopardy. The next morning, Brad wakes up Wes and Mark to make his feelings known, because he thinks he could have won the challenge if Wes didn't make the plan to give the win to Mark. Wes tells Brad he's willing to go into the elimination to ensure that Brad doesn't, if that's what Brad needs. Wes isn't willing to lose a real friendship because of a game decision, and I'm really impressed with him right now. But it's also fitting that part of his reasoning is that he's a "troll" who will always do the opposite of what you'd expect from him. You think he's the villain of the season? Watch him step up and be a hero right now. Incredible. Love Wes or hate Wes, you have to admit he makes some great TV. Now let's see if he can still bring it in eliminations.
Paramount+
Deliberation
Mark and Sylvia agree to put in Wes since he agreed to go in, and it turns out that Jonna also told Sylvia she'd go in. Twist! Last night at the bar, Jonna said that if Beth was picked to go in and was going to choose Jonna, then Jonna would rather be picked to go in and take that power away from Beth. This turned out to be an easy choice for The Authority but a very shocking outcome. I'm really blown away by Jonna's confident strategic gameplay here. She's playing like a winner and I love to see it.
Paramount+
Elimination
When the players arrive at The Arena, Jonna calls out Beth as her opponent, and it's wild to think that this is Jonna's first elimination since losing in 2015 during Battle of the Exes 2 (fun fact, she lost to Jordan). And then Wes calls out Yes for being "the worst judge of character in the entire house." Yes says something about how he's feeling okay about it because he's "here to nurture this flame of fairness and integrity the best I can," to which TJ responds, "But how do you really feel?" Wes is delighted because, as he says, "Even TJ knows you're full of s---." But the matchups are set and this is going to be epic. Not only are there two All Stars champs competing, but Wes is also a two-time champ from the main franchise, plus you've got the drama between Beth and Jonna, as well as Wes and Yes. Both matches are going to be personal.
Elimination challenge: Knock Off. Suspended high in the air on opposite sides of a wall, players use giant pegs to try and knock their opponent off. Whoever is last one standing wins.
The women go first, and Jonna comes out swinging while Beth looks terrified. Jonna is pushing the pegs with all her strength while Beth is just playing defense, clutching the pegs and holding them in. Beth gets hit in the face at one point, and Beth gets mad that MJ is helping tell Jonna where to hit from the sidelines, so she eventually just quits. Wow. That is so disappointing. Even all the players on the sidelines are pissed because Beth came in and took an opportunity away from another potential cast member, just to quit when things were getting good. She talked such a big game only to quit when it matters most? It's clear Beth came just to stir up drama and then dip, which is not what a good competitor does. You still have to actually compete! I honestly hope we never see Beth back after this.
Paramount+
For the men's round, Wes and Yes both start strong. Wes gets a good hit on Yes' face, and as the elimination continues, Yes starts to talk a lot of smack to Wes. He's trying to intimdate him but it only serves to show Wes where Yes is behind the wall, which allows him to get some good hits in. And while Yes is having a good time up there, he's also exhausting himself quickly whereas Wes is keeping quiet and making efficient moves, saving his energy. It becomes obvious who's going to walk away victorious from this one. The round continues for 42 minutes until Wes finally gets Yes right where he wants him, and knocks him off the wall. And just like that, another champ is eliminated.
After the two rounds, TJ surprisingly doesn't give Beth any s--- for quitting, which is even more disappointing because I was so ready to hear him tear her down. I'm not sure why TJ went so easy on her but I'm not a fan. However, he does tell Yes that he's probably his favorite human to ever be on The Challenge. I bet Wes hated hearing that.
Challenger of the week: Wes for defying all expectations and volunteering to go into elimination to save his friend, and then coming out victorious in the end. Now that's a true hero move.
The Challenge: All Stars 3 debuts new episodes Wednesdays on Paramount+.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
Related content:
