Wild Card Challenge final scoring and winner announced! | Special Feature Episode | 10-7-26

This podcast episode is sponsored by Saily. Saily is an ESIM service app created by the security experts behind NordVPN. Instead of paying absurd daily rates to your home carrier or swapping SIM cards on arrival, Saily gives you flexible prepaid data plans in over 200 destinations worldwide. Download Saily from your app store and use our code FREQUENTMILER at checkout to get 15% off your first purchase. https://saily.com/frequentmilerThe Wild Card challenge has officially wrapped, with the final scores and official winner announced in our live YouTube broadcast on October 7th, 2026. Review the scoring and listen to the live broadcast here.As a reminder, for this challenge, our contestants picked from different wild card decks to set the parameters of their trips. First, they selected travel destinations, then hotel, airline, and transferable points cards, which provided their points and miles budgets. And finally, they selected power-ups and obstacles to make their travels a little more realistic to the challenges our readers and listeners face, and make things a little more interesting! Finally, they had to meet together in Melbourne, Australia, a destination that was revealed as a complete surprise in our card draw livestream.Total scores after Destinations 1 &amp; 2As a quick reminder, here were the scores each of the contestants earned after the first two destinations:GregDestination 1 = 102Destination 2 = 106Total score = 208NickDestination 1 = 105Destination 2 = 115Total score = 220TimDestination 1 = 107Destination 2 = 123Total score = 230Destination 3 scoringDuring the livestream on Wednesday night, we judges awarded the scores for their third and final destination: Melbourne, Australia.Here's a breakdown of what each of them earned:GregFlightsWallet-friendliness – 8Ingenuity – 9Luxury – 6Duplicability – 10AccommodationWallet-friendliness – 6Ingenuity – 6Luxury – 9Duplicability – 10ActivitiesWallet-friendliness – 7Ingenuity – 10Luxury – 10Duplicability – 10Mini challenge descriptionMany of our readers use miles and points for their honeymoons. Pick an activity you could imagine including in a honeymoon trip. – 10Additional bonus pointsWe were impressed with Greg's gameplay whereby he paid for his hotels using airline miles and paid for nearly all his flights using hotel points - 10Total points for Destination 3 – 121Total points for Destinations 1 &amp; 2 – 208Total points for the entire trip – 329NickFlightsWallet-friendliness – 7Ingenuity – 8Luxury – 7Duplicability – 10AccommodationWallet-friendliness – 7Ingenuity – 8Luxury – 8Duplicability – 10ActivitiesWallet-friendliness – 10Ingenuity – 9Luxury – 9Duplicability – 10Mini challenge descriptionMany of our readers travel with picky eaters. Order a dish you think is locally authentic, but wouldn't scare off a picky eater. – 10Additional bonus pointsNick was a real trooper considering he had to fly across the Atlantic three times despite not having to actually visit Europe as part of the challenge, as well as for managing to fit in so many activities despite the lack of sleep - 10Total points for Destination 3 – 123Total points for Destinations 1 &amp; 2 – 220Total points for the entire trip – 343TimFlightsWallet-friendliness – 10Ingenuity – 10<str