Fans of The Challenge felt an elimination matchup on All Stars Rivals had a lot of potential but failed to live up to any hype.
The fifth season of the OG spin-off features many individuals from more recent seasons combined with OGs from the past.
All the pairs involve two castmates with a rivalry or feud on the show, including Nany Gonzalez with Turabi “Turbo” Camkiran and Amber Borzotra with Faysal “Fessy” Shafaat.
Each of these teams featured a former champion on The Challenge, as Turbo claimed the individual win in a brutal War of the Worlds final and Amber won alongside Chris “CT” Tamburello on Double Agents.
In the recent Rivals episode, Amber and Fessy got voted into elimination during the cast’s nominations meeting, and Amber called out her castmates.
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That allowed daily challenge winners Veronica Portillo and Katie Cooley to use their power to put another strong team, Nany and Turbo, against them at The Arena.
All Stars Rivals competitors played Scratch Off
The All Stars 5 elimination Scratch Off featured the two teams using coins to scratch away at large orange boards, revealing a photo of the Rivals cast.
Once they’d scratched away enough of it, they could rush over to their puzzle station and assemble the puzzle to match what was on the scratch-off board.
In the highlights, viewers saw sped-up footage of the players scratching away at the large boards and then watched as they raced to complete their puzzles first.
“I don’t care who wins. I actually like Nany and Turbo, but I like my chances in the game without them a whole lot better,” Katie said in her confessional.
Meanwhile, Shane Landrum said if Amber and Fessy returned, they’d have a target on their backs because Amber had blasted Frank Sweeney Fox at the nominations meeting earlier. Shane also shared that he and Da’Vonne Rogers were “working with Nany and Turbo.”
Ultimately, Nany’s puzzle experience from many seasons of The Challenge helped her and Turbo prevail over Amber and Fessy, sending the former Big Brother stars home from Rivals.
Turbo picked up his first-ever win on The Challenge after failing to win in Ride or Dies. He seemed fired up after the Rivals victory, and Nany had to calm him down, although it was unclear why he was angry.
Fans were left unimpressed by a ‘waste’ of an elimination
In the Instagram comment section, fans sounded off about the elimination. Many individuals seemed to dislike the event and felt it was a waste of what could’ve been a tremendous physical matchup.
“Boring boring elimination rounds,” one fan wrote, while another commented, “What a WASTE of a physical challenge !”
“Lol what was this nonsense? This is an elimination? Good lord,” a Challenge fan commented.
Another individual asked, “Why are these eliminations so non physical and boring?”
A few complaints have arrived with recent seasons of The Challenge, including All Stars and USA spin-offs, with the lack of physical eliminations often mentioned. In addition, the Rivals spin-off has some fans questioning why there are teams of one man and one woman, or two women, competing against a team of two men.
During the recent All Stars spin-off season, viewers saw the Adam Larson and Steve Meinke team win four straight eliminations, including several against teams featuring two women.
The Challenge: All Stars Rivals airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
