With many OG cast members returning to The Challenge for the first time in years, some individuals worked to make sure they had allies once they arrived in the All Stars 2 season.
However, some went into the game without worrying too much about strategy, including Janelle Casaneve.
While she was on the show with at least one friend, a former Real World castmate, she recently talked about a secret ally she had in the game that none of their castmates knew about.
Janelle’s return for All Stars 2 included former RW castmate
Heading into The Challenge: All Stars 2, several OGs had castmates there from their original MTV seasons and other Challenge seasons who were friends and likely allies.
That included Jonna Manion, who returned after Season 1 and this time had Derek Chavez and Jasmine Reynaud, her Real World: Cancun castmates, there with her.
For Janelle Casaneve, her Real World: Key West castmate, Tyler Duckworth, was also part of the Season 2 cast. They’d kept in touch after their time on RW and The Challenge, and that probably gave them a good feeling about All Stars 2.
Heading into the show, it seems both cast members didn’t have a specific plan for alliances, which is similar to what castmate Tina Barta commented about her strategy.
Johnny Bananas had both of his former RW castmates as guests on his Death, Taxes and Bananas podcast and asked them about their alliances or strategies for All Stars 2.
Tyler admitted he decided to do All Stars 2 to reunite with the people he enjoyed being around and to do cool stuff like bungee jumping or eating disgusting foods. Janelle said she went into the show strategy-free and tried her best to stay neutral with people when they approached her for alliances.
“I had so many people coming up to me asking if there was a partnership situation if they could work with me, and I never felt comfortable saying ‘Yes’ to any of them,” Janelle shared when talking about alliances.
She mentioned that she’d try not to respond or find a way out of something. Janelle said her goal was not to offend others, but she also didn’t want anyone coming after her, so she had to be careful how she conversed with her OG castmates.
“You know how it is. You want to try to manage everyone so that, don’t want to offend anybody but also if that person ends up winning, you want to make sure they’re not looking at you,” she said.
Janelle had secret Challenge ally due to friendship before Real World
In the All Stars 2 premiere episode, viewers learned that Janelle and Darrell knew each other from the Bay area in California, and they used to party together back in the day.
Footage in that first episode showed the two friends having a private conversation away from the cast party at night. They decided it was best not to let others know that they knew each other from before, though.
Janelle talked more about that during her appearance on Bananas’ podcast.
“One thing was for sure. I obviously have people I’m close with. Tyler being one of them. Darrell being one of them. People didn’t know about me and Darrell. I never played with Darrell,” she shared.
“No one really knew that me and Darrell actually had a connection. That was something that we just decided not to tell anyone. I’ve actually known Darrell for longer than I’ve even been on The Real World. He’s actually the person that called me up one day and was like, ‘Hey Janelle, they’re casting for Real World. You should come up. I’ll give you a VIP pass,’ and then here we are today,” she shared.
That tidbit Janelle revealed was even something Johnny Bananas admitted to not knowing, as he was surprised by the details that led to Janelle getting onto his Real World: Key West season.
“He’s the reason,” she said of her Real World casting, adding, “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Now the two longtime friends have been cast together for All Stars 2, after never appearing on The Challenge together. Both are champions, with Darrell winning four times and Janelle winning once, so they may be able to put their experience and secret alliance to work in winning another with the spinoff series.
The Challenge: All Stars 2 episodes arrive Thursdays on Paramount Plus.