This is absolutely my thought too. Season 40 has been long rumored to be one where a ton of people push their chips in...we gotta get thru 39 to get there.
If Wes is truly done, then hats off to him on his Challenge career. Josh hasn't been as terrible as usual this season, but that was a bad Josh episode. Don't care that he fucked over Wes, but crying when he was picking the Wes ball, crying hugs after, "you know you'd beat us all", just pathetic.