The Challenge: All Stars 2, Episode 2 opened with a recap of last week’s premiere with Ayanna Mackins and Nehemiah Clark coming in last for the daily challenge. Derrick Kosinski and Jodi Weatherton were the winners, so they’d have to nominate four people for elimination.
Derrick and Jodi had a conversation with Ayanna about the elimination to ask what she thought about opponents. She told them it was early, so she wasn’t going to choose right now, but she’d compete hard no matter who she faced.
They called Nehemiah in separately. He said he wanted to go against someone he had defeated before, so he told them, Ryan Kehoe. The other option he said was Derek Chavez.
Derrick and Jodi decide nominees, castmates react
After winning the mission in the first All Stars 2 episode, Jodi and Derrick met on a beach to review a board with everyone else’s names. They first brought up Leah Gillingwater as an easy nominee with the least connections there.
Casey Cooper was their other choice, but they knew she had plenty of friends in the game to keep here there.
Derrick and Jodi didn’t want to choose Ryan Kehoe right away, so they went with Derek and Steve Meinke, who made fun of Derrick’s outfit earlier. They placed the four names on a board for the other cast members to see.
Jonna Mannion was upset to see her Real World castmate Derek’s name up there. Nehemiah didn’t like that Derrick didn’t give him Ryan, who was his No. 1 pick for the elimination. He said he was coming for Derrick because of that.
Jodi and Derrick went to talk with Derek and Ryan, explaining Nehemiah wanted both of them as options, but they gave him one. Derek asked why him and they explained they had a longer history or relationship with Ryan. Jodi teared up because she didn’t like hurting anyone’s feelings.
Nehemiah wanted to make sure he got the opponent he wanted. He went and spoke with a group of castmates to tell them he wanted Derek.
Cast votes for first elimination opponents
The meeting brought up some tension as Jonna asked Nehemiah why he wanted Derek. He said he gave two options with Ryan as his first. He said he had his heart broken several times by not getting to the final or winning, so now he’s playing this game like a business.
Derek and Leah got the most votes from the cast. For Leah, it was primarily due to them not having enough relationships with enough castmates. Many cast members said they’d known Casey for years. Derek received votes as Nehemiah’s choice.
“I need to make more friends. Damn,” Leah Gillingwater said, getting everyone to laugh at the meeting.
Ryan got upset and started confronting Nehemiah about trying to choose him due to his size. They argued about how often they reach out to one another before a challenge. Ryan said he doesn’t trust Nehemiah anymore.
Ayanna told her castmates to leave the negativity behind and focus on having some fun together.
“Do I have to start sending you f***ers Christmas cards?” Leah joked with several castmates after the meeting.
OGs enjoy a prom-themed party
The cast partied it up with a prom theme where cast members wore sparkly dresses, fake tux tees, and other fancy clothes. Tyler Duckworth dressed in drag as a character he called his cousin Tundra, who had “good intentions” but was “horrible with boundaries.”
Ayanna and Leah shared some moments where they hugged and said they’d have fun in the elimination no matter what. They showed respect to each other as mothers and said they’d be rooting for the other no matter what.
Derek reveals his painful loss to castmates
In an emotional series of scenes, Derek said in confessional that the day before he left for All Stars 2, he got a phone call that his younger sister had taken her life. Jonna comforted him outside of The Challenge house after he told her about it.
He said his little sister was the biggest fan of him on this show. He told castmates he needed to be there now. Jonna said she needed Derek there with her too. Jonna, Jasmine Reynaud, and Ryan decided to wear “B” at the elimination in honor of Derek’s sister Breana.
Using a marker, Joanna drew a heart with “BRE” in it on Derek’s arm ahead of the elimination so she would be with him for the event.
First elimination takes place for OGs
TJ Lavin greeted the OGs at The Arena, where all eliminations will take place for the season. He introduced each of the competitors, and they arrived out Gladiator style, with specially-filmed entrances into The Arena.
Next, TJ told them they wouldn’t compete as teams but as individuals. So it was Nehemiah vs. Derek and Ayanna vs. Leah competing in an event called Dead Weight.
There were six coffins in the arena, with three for each competitor going at it. They each weighed 300 pounds and had a chain inside, with two of the coffins containing longer chains.
The competitors had to solve a puzzle to get to the longer chains. The longer the chain, the more complex the puzzle was. The first player to drag all three coffins to the other side of the arena and secure their chain on that opposite side would win.
Nehemiah got the early lead and began dragging the first coffin across the ground. He got his first coffin across just as Derek solved his first puzzle. Derek started to gain some momentum but was still on his first as Nehemiah got a second coffin across.
Nehemiah struggled on the third coffin’s puzzle as Derek caught up to him by dragging a second coffin across. Nehemiah finally solved his third puzzle, and Derek finished his right after. They frantically pulled their final coffins, but Nehemiah got his first, getting the win.
Nehemiah and Derek hugged after the event. In an exit interview, a teary-eyed Derek said he knows his sister is still proud to have watched him compete.
OG puts on impressive elimination performance
Ayanna and Leah went next. Leah struggled with the carabiner. Ayanna tapped into powerful emotions as she yelled and swore at the coffin as she pulled it across the ground with ease.
“Holy s**t she has everybody shook,” Tina Barta said of Ayanna’s performance.
Castmates screamed at Leah about how to work the carabiner, but she kept struggling. Ayanna got a second coffin and began dragging that across with force.
Leah finally started on her first one, which was also the hardest to pull. Ayanna got her second coffin hooked.
In the end, Ayanna’s performance was too much, and she won the event before Leah could get one coffin across. She screamed in excitement and ran to jump on Nehemiah for a hug. Leah knelt on the ground in tears.
In a touching moment, Ayanna told Leah not to give up, and she helped her drag her coffin across as castmates got choked up watching.
Leah and Derek bid farewell to their castmates. TJ said he hoped to see them both again in the future.
TJ informed Nehemiah and Ayanna that the win earned them a Lifeshield. They can use that to save themselves from elimination in the mission if they lose or save a castmate of their choice. By using the Lifeshild, they lose their vote for the elimination.
Nehemiah said in his confessional he’s planning to win this time as the $500,000 is the main thing on his mind now.
The Challenge: All Stars 2 episodes arrive Thursdays on Paramount Plus.