‘The Challenge: All Stars 4’ has changed how voting for elimination works, and it’s thrown a fantastic wrench into the game.
The Big Picture
- Winning the middle group challenge in
The Challenge: All Stars 4
is crucial for dictating the game’s politics and ensuring power. - Friendship and alliances are tested as players navigate the game’s twists, emphasizing the importance of forming strategic connections.
- Strategic moves by players like Cara can lead to revenge and shake up the house dynamics, impacting future alliances and gameplay.
Like every season of The Challenge, the rules of the games change, causing the politics in the house to be shifted. This season, the winning group in the daily challenge is automatically safe, as are their stars, should they have them. The middle group of players have the opportunity to send in two individuals from the bottom group into elimination. They are the only people who get a say. Well, a vote that is. It’s evident that others in the house are swaying minds. With the mechanics of how players are put into elimination, The Challenge: All Stars 4 has turned into a game of don’t turn on your friends because the first moment they get the chance to turn on you, they will! Winning is great, but being in the middle has proved that is where the power lies in this game. The middle group has the chance to dictate how the politics of the game are played. If you want someone out, make sure you have the chance to make it happen. This is easily one of the best twists The Challenge has introduced. No one is truly safe!
For the fourth straight season, The Challenge: All Stars has proven to be a solid spin-off of the flagship program. Uniting legends of the game to play once again, The Challenge: All Stars 4 has been non-stop drama since the season premiered. With a giant cash prize on the line, the politics in the house have brought out immense drama. With friendships and alliances taking shape, the past is coming into the present. South Africa had no idea what it was in store for when 25 Real World, Road Rules, and Challenge vets took over. With stars on the line, playing the game with TJ Lavin‘s new rules are causing all the right amount of chaos. Being safe is the new winning!
The Challenge
*Availability in US
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Features 24 strong competitors competing for the title as they face the ultimate willpower test with unusual forms and shocking twists.
- Release Date
- June 1, 1998
- Cast
- T.J. Lavin , Cara Maria Sorbello , Johnny ‘Bananas’ Devenanzio , Aneesa Ferreira
- Main Genre
- Reality
- Creator(s)
- Jonathan Murray , Mary-Ellis Bunim
How To Navigate the Middle Group on ‘The Challenge: All Stars 4’
Like most seasons of The Challenge, the way the game is played changes season by season. For The Challenge: All Stars 4, in order to run TJ’s final, a player must be one of six holders of a star. The six stars were initially earned by the three men and three women who won the first Daily Challenge. From there, the only way to secure it is to win the next Daily Challenge, so it can’t be stolen. The only way for it to be stolen is to win in an elimination in the Arena.
The winner of the elimination must steal a star from anyone who is not in the winning group as they are immune. If they already own a star, they must give it to another player. In the Daily Challenge, depending on the makeup of the challenge, winning individuals or teams are safe. The middle group is safe from elimination, star holder stars are at risk, but they get to vote in two players, depending on the gender elimination, into the Arena. The power truly does remain in the hands of the middle group. A dominating social game is the key to success in this season of The Challenge: All Stars.
In order to navigate the middle group, this season is very dependent on where one stands in the house. With previous relationships playing a major factor in the game, playing a smart political game is crucial. Kam Williams and Leroy Garrett have had a choke hold this season as many other players have a bond with them, but they also do not want to get in the way of their family’s future. At the time of filming, the pair had not yet wed and had their child named Kingston. They wanted to be out there together, as even Leroy disclosed he was going through his own postpartum depression. The weight of winning this season is very much on their minds. As much as they wanted to win to finally have a Challenge victory on their resume, their future outside the game was on the line.
Players like Kefla Hare and Flora Alekseyeun have been out of the picture for more than two decades. Their game has been dependent on forming relationships with the youngsters. As Flora spoke to Nicole Zanatta, she went into mother-mode, noticing that Nicole’s playful interaction with her ex, Laurel Stucky, seemed to suggest flirting, which Nicole very much wished to avoid. With Rachel Robinson gone, Veronica Portillo and Tina Barta lost a number, but have yet to be seen as physical threats. However, Avery Tressler has already made an enemy out of them, which will certainly affect the vote when the time comes. The connections continue, but needless to say, having an ally in the game is critical for safety. If you have a star, winning is best. If you’re still star-less, better be safe than sorry. This diabolical game has amplified the social game more than ever.
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Cara in the Middle Group Has the Power on ‘The Challenge: All Stars 4’
Only an episode prior, Kam Williams and Leroy Garrett were dominating how the middle group should vote. In order to keep Kam as a top tier woman, she wanted to see either Rachel Robinson and Cara Maria Sorbello out of the game. And she got her wish. Cara won and was furious that her “friend” Brandon Nelson voted for her. Of course, the nature of their friendship outside the game was severely called into question. Cara believes they’re friends, but Brandon claimed that Cara never reaches out to anyone when they’re not filming. Regardless, the house didn’t quite realize that, even if Rachel had her OG Mean Girls in the house, she might have been the more desired player to stay. Cara was ready to stir things up.
When the next challenge rolled around, it was a new spin on a classic called Bobblehead Bobsled. The challenge saw the players wear giant helmets with their faces where they had to collect bags of colored water as they traveled down a bobsled course. The silly challenge saw Kam in the winning group, but her worst nightmare came true. Not only was Cara in the middle group, her ride or die Leroy was in the bottom once again. Cara’s placement could not have worked out better for her. With both Leroy and Brandon in the bottom, she led the crusade to send them both into elimination, exacting her revenge. With an almost unanimous vote, Leroy and Brandon were sent into the Mission Improbable, where Leroy narrowly defeated Brandon, sending him home. For Kam and Leroy, they are safe for another round. For the rest of the house, it has proven how damaging an act of revenge can be.
There will certainly be lingering affects following Cara’s brazen move. Kam and Leroy have all eyes on Cara from this point forward. The problem is, Cara is a competitor. If there are Daily Challenges, which are solo games, Cara’s chances of winning are high. Should she want more power, she can easily throw it and maneuver her positioning to sit in the middle. That is, as long as TJ doesn’t throw in a random twist. For Kam and Leroy to maintain their power, Kam needs to push her partner to get out of the danger zone. He’s an easy target to send into elimination. Things are getting steamy in South Africa!
New episodes of The Challenge: All Stars 4 are available to stream Wednesdays on Paramount+ in the U.S.
This article was originally published on collider.com