Game Changer Season 8 Episode 10 Recap: Oscar Montoya Wins Last Talent Standing

Game Changer closes Season 8 with its biggest talent pool yet in Episode 10, “Last Talent Standing.” Sam Reich brings 23 Dropout performers into the studio without telling them what they are about to do, then introduces celebrity judges Maria Bamford, Kumail Nanjiani and Gianmarco Soresi. The challenge is deceptively simple: each contestant has one minute to demonstrate a talent, and anyone who survives must return with a completely different talent in the next round.

The last contestant remaining wins everything accumulated in the show’s piggy bank, although the prize turns out to be a growing Chili’s dinner rather than cash. Each eliminated player also returns wearing a pig costume and joins an extended jury, meaning the people who lose gradually gain more influence over who survives. What begins as a conventional talent show therefore becomes increasingly chaotic as the contestants run out of prepared skills, the judges get tired and everyone realizes just how long the game could continue.

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The First Round Quickly Eliminates Several Players

Kimia Behpoornia is selected to perform first and immediately discovers the central difficulty of the game. A contestant who uses an obvious strength too early still needs completely new material if they survive. Other performers take very different approaches, with Oscar Montoya recreating a hip-hop dance routine he choreographed when he was 12 and Brian David Gilbert attempting an unusual physical trick he remembers from childhood.

Raphael Chestang becomes the first contestant eliminated after his attempted mind-reading routine falls apart. Sam then asks each eliminated player how they would like to die before Grim Reaperino escorts them away, establishing the episode’s loose Squid Game parody. The performances become increasingly unpredictable as contestants rely on everything from music and dance to impressions, physical tricks and strangely specific knowledge.

By the end of the opening round, the prize has already expanded to dinner for 10. The surviving players are then allowed to break into the large boxes around the set, which contain props they can use for future talents. Sam also reveals that the eliminated contestants are returning as judges, creating an extended jury whenever Maria, Kumail and Gianmarco do not reach a unanimous decision.

Round Two Forces Everyone to Find Another Talent

Anna Garcia starts the second round by demonstrating that she can fit her entire body into one of the small boxes on the stage. Erika Ishii follows with Japanese dance, while Ify Nwadiwe turns to stand-up comedy. Ele Woods attempts a magic trick involving Kimia, but the judges and extended jury split on whether it works, resulting in Ele’s elimination.

The pressure becomes more obvious as performers begin admitting that they did not expect to need so many separate skills. Zach Reino produces one of the round’s biggest performances by improvising a Disney-style parody song after his original approach runs into copyright concerns. Rather than simply stopping, he rewrites the number on the fly around random objects on the stage, earning enough support to continue.

Kurt Maloney also survives with an impression built around his unusually complicated family history, while several others reach the limit of what they can convincingly present as a new talent. By the end of Round Two, enough contestants have fallen that the Chili’s prize has grown again. Sam then makes things more difficult by announcing that Round Three will be performed in pairs.

Jacob and Kurt Recreate Star Wars While Kimia Teams With Oscar

The duo round produces some of the finale’s strangest performances. Jacob Wysocki and Kurt attempt to recreate the podracing sequence from Star Wars: Episode I almost entirely through voices and sound effects. Their extremely compressed version impresses the extended jury enough to keep them alive, even though some of the judges admit they barely understand what they are watching.

Kimia chooses Oscar as her partner and performs Foley sound effects while he pantomimes an improvised visit to Target. Their coordination works surprisingly well, especially because Kimia jokes that she normally dislikes being asked to produce isolated sound effects on Make Some Noise. Both advance, adding another successful performance to a partnership that becomes important much later in the episode.

The same format does not work nearly as well for Anna and Josh Ruben. Their improvised interpretive dance includes an attempted lift that goes wrong, and the judges decide the failed move is enough to eliminate them. By Round Four, the surviving group has become much smaller and the eliminated contestants are becoming increasingly eager for someone to finally win.

Oscar, Kaylin, Jacob and Kimia Reach the Final Round

Round Four further separates the strongest survivors from the rest. Kurt demonstrates an ability to imitate the sound of blowing across glass bottles but is eliminated, after which he receives the unusual consolation of getting the kiss from Sam that he requested as his preferred method of “death.” Oscar performs a Midwestern husband-calling routine, repeatedly shouting for “Gary,” and survives despite appearing genuinely surprised that the jury wants to see more.

Kaylin Mahoney performs stand-up in front of Maria Bamford, one of her favorite comedians, and earns enough votes to continue. Zach’s attempted master-of-disguise routine fails almost immediately when he accidentally reveals his position, while Jacob produces one of the most legitimately impressive talents of the episode by successfully identifying Gianmarco’s playing card through apparent behavioral tells. Kimia advances again with taekwondo, while other surviving contestants gradually fall away.

That leaves four players when Sam announces that there are no more numbered rounds. Kaylin, Kimia, Jacob and Oscar will simply continue performing until only one remains. At this stage, exhaustion becomes almost as important as talent because the contestants and judges have been working for so long that several people begin openly looking for ways to leave.

Kaylin and Jacob Are Eliminated

Kaylin survives one more improvised performance before attempting to convince the room of one of her genuine opinions: she hates music. The bit does not receive enough support from the extended jury, finally eliminating her after an unexpectedly deep run. Finishing among the final four is especially impressive considering she entered an episode filled with veteran Dropout performers.

Jacob then tries to turn emotional control into a talent. A medic monitors his pulse while Jacob performs a deliberately provocative Michael Jackson impression and invites everyone around him to insult or unsettle him. His heartbeat remains impressively steady, but the extended jury still votes him out, leaving Kimia and Oscar as the final two.

The ending becomes particularly funny because neither finalist seems entirely desperate to win. Oscar later admits that once only he and Kimia remained, he began thinking about how he could get himself eliminated so she could take the prize. Kimia, meanwhile, increasingly jokes about wanting the game to end, creating a finale where surviving becomes almost harder than deliberately losing.

How Does Oscar Montoya Win Last Talent Standing?

Kimia and Oscar continue trading talents instead of receiving one final decisive challenge. Kimia quickly draws a dragon named Dennis, while Oscar tries to miss a basketball shot as part of what he hopes will be a losing performance. The plan backfires spectacularly because Oscar makes the basket despite saying he has almost never successfully done so before.

Kimia then gives an energetic dance performance that easily keeps her alive. Oscar responds by teaching the entire group a simple dance routine, turning the contestants and judges into his students. The judges decide that their ability to follow his choreography proves that teaching itself counts as his new talent, sending Oscar through yet again.

Kimia finally attempts what she calls a “Bigger Tech Deck” stunt involving several people and a larger board. The extended jury decides not to advance her, and Kimia openly accepts the decision by pointing out that somebody has to lose and everyone needs to go home. That leaves Oscar Montoya as the winner of Last Talent Standing.

Oscar’s prize has grown all the way to a Chili’s dinner for 46 people. Rather than keeping the absurdly large dinner to himself, he immediately says he will invite everyone who worked on the episode. Season 8 therefore ends not with the contestant who entered boasting about dozens of hidden skills, but with Oscar, who began the game claiming he really only knew how to dance and somehow kept discovering another talent every time Sam called his name.