With Episode 8 of The Challenge: All Stars, competitors began their trek through another one of TJ Lavin’s hellacious finals. Unlike Double Agents in cold Iceland, the OGs were running their final in Argentina, but with some similar tasks along the way.
That included an early stretch of the final shown in previews for the episode, as teams consisting of one male and one female competitor had to paddle in canoes to get to a checkpoint.
More details are arriving from the competitors themselves about TJ’s final, including one cast member revealing how she and her teammate made a big mistake early on.
First part of the final included teams for canoe race
When The Challenge: All Stars final kicked off, host TJ Lavin told competitors several key pieces of intel about the upcoming adventure. That included the fact it would take place across multiple days but also involved competitors switching teammates for each mini-challenge or checkpoint.
He also said one of the six teams would be eliminated upon reaching Checkpoint No. 2, and that would be whichever team came in last place.
As the final started, each of the competitors had to solve a puzzle and then wait by a canoe for a member of the opposite sex to finish their puzzle. Those two individuals became partners for a canoe race across the water to get to shore.
Teams included Alton Williams with Aneesa Ferreira, Mark Long with Ruthie Alcaide, Derrick Kosinski with Jisela Delgado, and Darrell Taylor with Jonna Mannion. There was also a team consisting of Eric “Big Easy” Banks and KellyAnne Judd. They finished their puzzles last and looked like they might be going home due to starting the canoe race in sixth place.
However, the team of Derrick and Jisela seemed to have some major issues, eventually falling behind other teams in the water.
The five of the other teams reached shore ahead of them, so when Jisela and Derrick arrived, they were told, “Thanks for playing” by TJ, and were officially out of the final.
Jisela shares details about big mistake, her injury
Based on comments from Jisela in a recent podcast episode she did, she and Derrick may have done much better, if they had their canoe right from the get-go.
During Thursday night’s Reality NSFW podcast episode, Jisela revealed that she and Derrick had their canoe backward. That made it more difficult to paddle through the water effectively.
Around an hour and 10 minutes into the podcast, host Jonny Fairplay asked Jisela when they realized the canoe was backward. He asked if it was after Aneesa Ferreira and Alton Williams capsized in the water, or another point. Jisela said it was much later.
“When we reversed the canoe to the shoreline, then we were like, ‘Why was it so easy to reverse?’ and we still didn’t put it back right,” Jisela said.
She took to her Twitter on Friday and even shared “some visuals” to show viewers exactly what they did wrong. It’s possible that neither she nor Derrick was familiar with a canoe recently, or the excitement of the final got the best of them.
However, hats go off to both competitors for their run during the spinoff series. In particular, Jisela was competing with a major setback. During the podcast, she spoke about how she was still dealing with the severe injury she suffered while participating in All Stars Episode 7 elimination.
“I fully tore my ACL. I tore my meniscus, and I fractured my tibia,” Jisela told the podcast hosts, saying she was going on “pure adrenaline” when she was in the final.
Jisela said they gave her Ibuprofen, and she had on very simple “Saran Wrap” type bandages. She also used a flexible knee brace that castmate Ruthie Alcaide gave her. However, the OG competitor also indicated she needed reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation after the show, putting her on the sidelines for many months.
The Challenge: All Stars episodes arrive Thursdays on Paramount Plus.