The Challenge: All Stars finale officially wrapped up with one cast member surpassing the others and leaving the show with a bigger bank account than before.
Only ten finalists remained at the start of Episode 9, and by the end of the installment, only one was crowned the All Stars champion. Viewers will get to see that individual prove their motivation and determination.
During a recent podcast recap interview, The Challenge: All Stars winner shared what they brought for extra motivation and to keep themselves sane during the season.
Spoilers will follow for Episode 9, including the names of the All Stars winner and other competitors.
All Stars winner used peaceful, calm approach to season
By now, many viewers have already seen the thrilling conclusion to TJ Lavin’s final in Argentina, with 10 competitors having to survive eating disgusting animal parts, endure a cold overnight sleep station, and then race to the top of a mountain for the finish.
Road Rules star and Challenge 2000 winner Yes Duffy reached TJ Lavin at the finish line first. The final race was worth double the points compared to all the other tasks with teammates. So coming in first is what gave Yes the win. If Darrell had finished first, it would’ve been a tie.
However, it seemed Yes was determined to stay in the game and win the final, using a different approach than what viewers see on regular seasons of MTV’s competition show. He revealed ahead of the finale episode some personal notes he’d written himself in a mini-notebook following the intense deliberations to determine who went into elimination.
Somehow, Yes swayed castmates away from casting votes towards him in a key deliberation, and that helped him avoid The Arena all season. During the final, he was able to work effectively with whichever partner of the opposite sex he was teamed up with for each task.
In addition, he took mental notes on various competitors on their approaches to the game and used his own intelligent ways to adapt to the tasks that stood before him. This included using two sticks for hiking the mountain and stripping off layers of his clothing from the previous cold night of sleep so he wouldn’t overheat on the mountain.
All of the above led Yes to the finish line first and ultimately to the $500,000 prize. However, he had strong motivation going into the season, similar to others appearing on All Stars’ spinoff series.
The Challenge OG’s motivation for the All Stars season
Yes appeared on the Reality NSFW recap video on Thursday, May 27, which was the same day the All Stars Episode 9 arrived on Paramount+. Conveniently, the All Stars winner was their scheduled guest for that episode.
At around 29 minutes into the video (below), host Jonny Fairplay asked Yes if he brought a picture from home, and Yes said he actually brought four pictures from home. He also revealed the other special items he brought with him.
“That’s the drive in getting up every day. It was my wife and my family every single day because I know what you see are challenges where we eat things, we paddle, we run and we race things but really what’s going on is we never ever know what’s going to happen,” Yes shared.
Yes showed off some special cards and notes that he brought with him into The Challenge spinoff to keep himself sane during the show’s filming. Those notes and cards came courtesy of his wife and two kids, who were amongst his biggest motivating forces.
Yes revealed cards his two kids created for him. A card from his first-grader had a drawing of a green four-leaf clover and “This is a 4 Leaf Clover” written beneath it. There were red hearts on the other side of the handmade card.
A card from his fourth-grade son had a large drawing of a heart with three four-leaf clovers. It had things written on it like “We Love You!” and “Hope you win!” and “Good luck!” for “Dad.”
Last but not least, he revealed a card with a touching note his wife wrote for him to keep him grounded and motivated during The Challenge: All Stars journey.
“You already won in our mind. We won. We love you,” Yes read from the note on his wife’s card.
See images in the Instagram post below including each of the cards Yes brought to All Stars from his immediate family members.
He went on to share that he had yet to even reveal to his kids that he’d won the All Stars final, but was preparing to watch the episode with them soon.
That $500,000 is a sweet prize, but feeling the joy and emotion all over again while seeing his two kids’ reactions will likely be priceless for the All Stars winner.
The Challenge: All Stars reunion arrives Thursday, June 3 on Paramount+.