Strategy Room: The Challenge Champs vs. Stars III - All Paired Up

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

This week, the real game begins on the third installment of The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars, as a twist revealed at the end of last week's elimination and episode will now see this game change drastically. There, Mike "The Miz" announced to the fourteen remaining competitors -- and who were split into Teams Red and Blue to begin with -- that for the rest of this campaign, they will be paired up into teams of two for the rest of the way until the finish line of the final challenge. And the possibility is very strong that, for the very first time, a Star can emerge victorious after we saw Cara Maria, Darrell, Bananas, CT and Emily have comprised the winners circle of the first two editions.
   And if this twist sounds familiar to most of you, this season has been following in much the same format as Battle of the Bloodlines two years ago where the game began as usual with the castmates and their bloodlines, followed by a draft dividing the teams into two and at random, then back into pairs the rest of the way. The only difference between what we saw in Turkey & Germany is that these players are mixed of the incumbent Champs and the Stars who were picked to compete against them, and now there are teams who will compete with each other to try and win the $150,000.
   With our next focus here being the Reality Debrief that will be posted here during the month of June, we won't do a recap for last week's episode. But with MTV.com providing us a leak of the teams who will be paired up for the Race to the Chase before Tuesday's episode, we have this trip into the Strategy Room to see where it all stands. So, let's get right to the point...

● CT & TONY: This is the team we will affectionately call "Team Dad Bod," and CT & Tony are the only pair who comprise entirely of Champs as well as the only ones who both have previous finals experience. CT is, of course, the defending Champion and will no doubt offer experience in this pairing despite lack of face time here. But all eyes, of course, is on the man who has picked up right where he left off from Vendettas: Tony has won the most money going into this business end of CVS at $3,700, has scored the decisive point in the past two challenges, finished first in the very first challenge before the Red/Blue split, and won two eliminations. Unless we get surprised by what happens down the stretch, it's hard to think of a scenario where CT & Tony would miss out on the final... they are the favorites right now - and with the one who's easily the top player here.

● WES & DANIEL: The only pair where both of its members stand in the top 5 on the leaderboard right now is Wes & Daniel. Booby was MVP in Week 5 by way of politics, and won all but two of the challenges here... he is the more athletic of the two who comprise this pair - the hockey game most especially. But of the six remaining "Champs," Wes is no doubt the one who is - shall we say - the one who needs to win this. Yes, he's won all five of his eliminations on the spinoff, but out of the original Champs team on Champs vs. Pros last year, Wes is the only male competitor who hasn't won a season since he appeared on that first one (CT & Bananas won CVS II, Darrell won Champs vs. Pros, and Jordan won Dirty 30 - not to mention Cara and Camila on the ladies side)... so that is something on his mind going into the stretch run.

● LOUISE & CASPER: As one of the two all-Stars pairs, Louise & Casper have a good shot at taking down the heavyweights ahead of them and become the first Stars to get bathed in the victory confetti. Louise is tied with Daniel, Drake and Wes in a tie for 2nd in the top five in having each won $3,200, but she has no doubt picked up where she left off last year on Champs vs. Stars - the drumbeat for her to be picked up for a regular Challenge season has only picked up since then. And with her getting to outsmarting Wes strategically, politically and physically I see her time to join the family will be soon enough. And for Casper, he went into elimination and won in week 1, and though some may find him arrogant he has backed it up competitively especially after the Tony blindside in the first arena... not to mention $2,700 and Top 6. They should be in the conversation as we head forward.

● KAILAH & DRAKE: Last week, she won in elimination while he was MVP.... momentum is your BFF on The Challenge and things are now picking up for Kailah & Drake. Of the two remaining Champs females here, Kailah has been the better competitor between her and Tori, which is good news for someone who only got to the Vendettas final due to the social game and winning the last pre-final challenge on Vendettas. Drake has the standing of being the heartthrob in addition to being MVP in being tabbed as one to watch going in, and now is into the pairs phase. The question of whether they have what it takes to make it far still should be coming.

● BROOKE & SHANE: This is probably the pair of opposites in the emotion spectrum: Shane is the fiery competitor who was given a life raft after losing to Tony to still get a chance to make a visit to his first ever final (either on the regular show or on this his first CVS). For Brooke, she's described in Allan Aguirre's Medium analysis as "a sweetheart.... an amazon woman with gargantuan size... a gentle soul." She went to elimination and bested Kam in showing that pedigree of being Hulk Hogan's daughter, and they should be a pair to keep an eye out as we head on the run to the final.

● TORI & LIL' MAMA: Along with Jozea, the only players who have not been told by the nominations panels to prove themselves in elimination have been Tori and Lil' Mama. Yes, our favorite blonde has flat-out confessed that she has not been the Tori of Dirty 30 last year - but with making it to this phase she should be able to finally come into her own. It's not the case with Mama in having brought it on the field... but most notable have been the hilarity they've brought to this season: Mama calling Kailah "a bum" and Tori dressing up as Hulk Hogan.

● SELITA & JOZEA: As the only other Star/Star team here, it would be hard for many to take in the fact that Selita & Jozea are still here in having progressed further than a Champ, a Puppet Master, a Queen, a Veteran, a football player and Cardi B's sister to get to this stage. We won't say anything bad about them here, but as we always say we have seen some stranger things happen on The Challenge... so don't be surprised if they hang around.

For now, my Top 3 right now are...

1. CT & TONY

2. WES & DANIEL

3. LOUISE & CASPER

Yes, it's safe to say that this season hasn't matched how well-received Champs vs. Pros was last year, but after two teams of Champs have won the first two installments of this spinoff things are now getting into full gear with this new twist of teams with Champs and Stars in most of the pairs and just one all-Champs team, perhaps it's time for some Stars to take over. And while it would a good thing for a Champ to win his fourth final in six years and see #TonyTime reign supreme with his biggest moment ever, it would be a great thing is the Olympian who helped set the stage for the British invasion to America and a man who came into this as J-Lo's ex would emerge on top... or if Mr. Ginger and an NBA player whose Cavs now have yet another date with the Dubs be on top of the podium. Let's see what the homestretch of Champs vs. Stars III has in store for us...

- I AM DC
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