Another season is in the books, and the All Stars 4 final was… different.
Many fans noted that this final felt kind of easy and unlike other finals we’ve seen over the past few years. Specifically, it felt less greuling than other All Stars finals, and this was a season that was supposed to be more intense with a solo winner.
While the final did underwhelm in some aspects, there are other areas that worked well.
The Good
Coming into the final we knew there were eight people and it would dwindle down to just one winner. At the start, the advantage/elimination format worked well. The challenges were fast-paced, but some of them were memorable (especially Shooting Star). While some of the competitions were underwhelming, it was an interesting format. Because people were progressively eliminated, no stage felt trivial and unnecessary, which has been the case on recent main series finals.
It’s also clear that production understood that players have different skillsets. For the first half of the game, anyone could have won, and this did result in some unexpected early eliminations — specifically Leroy and Nicole.
Perhaps the best thing about this final: It truly felt coed. Looking at other seasons with one winner, like Vendettas and All Stars 1, the bulk of the race was gendered. Then, the final and deciding stage was individual. We can also look at solo seasons like War of the Worlds and Battle for a New Champion. During these finals, the competitions were so imbalanced that the semi-strong men could easily beat elite females. On All Stars 4, it never really felt like either sex had an advantage.
The Bad
The most obvious problem with this competition — the checkpoints weren’t really skill based. People train for these shows, but nobody practices shooting paintballs from a car roof, golfing with a fire hose, or speed-hammering nails. We even had the Electric Star elimination stage that didn’t require any skill, it just required people to tolerate pain.
When we got to the second half of the final, it was just confusing. The scooter race was alright, and it was likely implemented to address inequities between males and females running. Then, we got to Star Loop, and it’s really no wonder Steve messed up. As a viewer, this was very confusing to follow. It was unclear that competitors had to complete checkpoints like the Twelve Days of Christmas, repeating each stage to advance to the next one. Even then, it’s hard to track progress. When we see Cara Maria eating a roach, it’s hard to know if she’s on her first or fourth lap.
Worst of all: The star twist. This was the deciding factor in the end, but it was not teased throughout the season, I would have expected TJ to warn the cast to manage their relationships, alluding to the star advantages at the end (he made a huge deal about the stars on All Stars 3). Instead, it allowed people to pile stars onto Laurel, giving her many advantages, and this is largely the reason she won. While I don’t think this twist was specifically designed for Laurel, I do think the format gave us an underwhelming winner. Sadly, that’s become fairly common in recent years. Viewers want to see a winner who gets a title based on their own merits, not because they have friends who flop in the final.
Stop Being Polite 
Even though I love All Stars and The Challenge, this was the worst final in Challenge history for me. The star advantages were completely unfair and some of the checkpoints required no skill at all and the final checkpoint was very confusing. The final was anticlimactic. I wanted anyone to win other than Laurel. Anyone.
That final was absolute rubbish. Laurel is already one of the strongest competitors ever, and then they let her skip 4 stations! Cara should have been the winner. Ridiculous.
I loved the star twist.
It showed how important the social game is and it hindered competitors who clearly dismisses it.
It was interesting to see that happening. Just like in Survivor. You vote people out, but have to worry about how to do it, because you need them to win at the end.