Redemption #2 is now over, and the game has finally gotten real. For once it feels to good to know that the eliminations will be carrying a little more weight in the game. At the most they could only have one Redemption left, meaning there will only be one more person coming back from an eliminated crop of stacked competitors. In the guys bracket, there are nine guys left in the game with seven elite athletes, and then Tony and Dario. The girls game is much different. There are two elite veteran females (Cara and Camila), a rookie sensation (Tori), team Jailah, and then the rest.

The difference in casting between males and females for these shows is drastic. Many of the males cast are the typical “Bro” jocks. Jordan, CT, Derrick, Dario, and Hunter were all collegiate athletes. Nelson and Bananas might have the best cardio out of the entire bunch, and nobody wants to see LeRoy in anything physical.

You look at the girls side, and its a different story. Camila has said she was supposed to play college soccer (not sure if that is true), Tori played college soccer at a D3 school, and from there we have no major athletes. Cara Maria didn’t get anywhere near the shape she is in now until more than five years into her Challenge career. They are usually focused more on looks and drama when it comes to the female cast.

Which brings us to Kailah. The same girl who got winded during a hike on Go Big Or Go Home has become a physical beast on the Challenge only a couple years later, devoting a ton of her time to the gym, and keeping to a healthy diet (besides the alcohol). I don’t know if you’ve seen lately, but she’s been putting in some work:

We can take a good look at Kailah’s questionable choices as a team captain when picking a team or a competition order, except she made it through that phase and we can now only project forward. By winning two eliminations, she has proven to be a major physical threat in this game. She has smartly chosen to align herself and Jenna with Cara Maria and Camila. This is the classic strategy of all the best players aligning in order to gain a stronghold on the game. If one person wins, then they all win. What sets Kailah apart is that in her confessionals she admits that this alliance is temporary. She understands that at the right moment, she has to make her Sarah Rice move and turn on her alliance in order to give her a better chance to win. When you’re playing for money, you must be able to make big game moves to win.

After the last few challenges being trivia and puzzle focused, the game is going to get a lot more athleticism driven. That’s proven by next week’s trailer:

I may be overestimating a bit, but this seems to be one of the most intense daily missions in Challenge history from a physical standpoint for the female competitors. This is a game that will require solid jumps, perfect timing, long limbs, and grip strength. Jumping is one thing, hitting the right spot of the platform to stay on is another. Something tells me that Kailah might do well:

When it comes to the physical spectrum of this game, Kailah is right there with Camila and Cara Maria. The difference is she wants the win more. After winning, Cara and Camila have more or less expected that they can show up and beat the younger players when it comes down to it. They forget how hard they used to work in order to make their mark, let alone just make a final. You can see it from the way that Kailah carries herself, she is ready to make the jump from being a good player, to an elite player, and possibly the best female competitor currently in the game.

The most important thing for Kailah’s future success, is she needs to learn how to be artificial. She has acknowledged that without alcohol, she is a bit socially awkward. Her biggest weakness is that she can’t make with friends with people she can’t really see herself being friends with in real life. That is perfectly fine for her, it only makes her life exponentially more difficult. Tori is a rookie and has progressed in this game on the fact that she gets along with everyone. When you’re a good player who people like, you’re never going in. Kailah needs to realize this.

In a game that sometimes feels like the same people are at the finish line every season, watching Kailah take the big check after the journey she had from her Real World season to now would be a storybook moment. The path she goes down is reminiscent of Wes. A young player who went from being party driven to being in the best shape of their life, living high off of the competition, and fully willing to take on the entire house in order to establish their dominance. A win or loss, Kailah is making for great entertainment and is now a star of the show.