Updated Challenge Champions List (if there were no f*ckery from stupid rules or production manipulation)
Updated to include Total Madness.
The Challenge has been called “America’s 5th major sport” and is often a straightforward athletic competition with stringent and clear rules, and winners who are fully deserving. The strength, endurance, and mental competition is compelling, and fans love to see people accomplish amazing physical feats. The cream almost always rises to the top
However, this doesn’t always happen — resulting in some controversial calls, unsatisfying results, and even multiple conspiracy theories about fudged final times and producer manipulation.
What would the Winners’ List look like if there were no f*ckery, stupid rules, or (alleged) manipulation or favouritism?
Here’s what one superfan thinks.
Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio — 6 wins (7 canon wins — Rivals 1)
The final of Rivals 1 was the first multi-day final. None of the competitors could have anticipated this, and thus nobody was pacing themselves or expecting to stay up all night and race again the next day. Kenny/Wes were the pace-setters the entire final, finishing Day 1 a whole 45 minutes faster than Johnny/Tyler.
The next morning, their gargantuan lead was literally more than decimated, with only a 2-minute head start granted to them. On top of that, they had to race to the top of a mountain and then use a GPS to locate a key buried under the rocks somewhere, which is gimmicky. With the whittled-down-to-nothing lead and a swingy final component of the final, Kenny/Wes took second to Johnny/Tyler.
That is some malarkey and thus Kenny/Wes were the rightful winners of R1.
Kenny Santucci — 5 wins (3 canon wins + Gauntlet 3 + Rivals 1)
On Gauntlet 3, the Army sponsored the final and championed a “no man left behind” mantra. So when Eric “Big Easy” went down and was carried out on a gurney, it disqualified the Veterans team. However, even after waiting for the ambulance to come and Eric to be carted away — the Vets still caught up to the Rookies and dug up and raised their flag first. But TJ / the Army stuck to their guns (pun intended), so the Rookies got the W. On other seasons where people were medevaced in the final (such as Cutthroat with Sarah and Abram), no such stipulation was made.
Rivals 1 — explained ⬆️
Landon Lueck — 4 wins (3 canon wins + Duel 2)
Landon completely dominated Duel 2, winning 5 dailies and 1 elimination (over Isaac). When it came down to the final elimination, the men were discussing who should go in, and Landon left the room to get pen and paper to vote. Meanwhile, the other 3 (Mark, Brad, Evan) agreed to throw him in.
Landon calls out Brad, and the elimination is Back Off — where you need to get a large carabiner off your opponent’s back and hook it onto your ring. Watch the elimination here.
In the first round, Landon wrestles Brad to the ground, and after repeated calls by TJ to “go for your ring,” he awards Brad a point because Landon wouldn’t follow the rules. The second round goes to Landon, so it’s do-or-die. In the third, Brad flings Landon’s ring yet away, but is not called out by TJ for not going for his own ring. TJ does not blow his horn or reset the round, and Landon is unceremoniously sent home after putting a damn clinic all season.
Evelyn Smith — 4 wins (3 canon wins + Gauntlet 3)
explained ⬆️
Wes Bergmann — 3 wins (2 canon wins + Rivals 1)
explained ⬆️
Paula Meronek — 3 wins (2 canon wins + Gauntlet 3)
explained ⬆️
Zach Nichols — 3 wins (1 canon win + Vendettas + Final Reckoning)
Vendettas was the first season where there was only one winner (which they bizarrely called a “genderless” winner). Zach “killed it” on the season, making the Troika 4 times and avoiding elimination through his power alliance with Tony and Kailah. In the final, he again excelled, beating everybody in the first leg by a large margin (with Kyle coming in second and Cara third).
However, similar to Kenny/Wes on Rivals 1, his lead was cut down to almost nothing or the second leg. In a “genderless” final, for some reason both Cara and Zach were given the same head start for the memory puzzle — only 30 seconds, when Zach stomped both Kyle and Cara the previous day.
This rendered the entire first leg essentially moot, as it all came down to a colour-matching puzzle, which Cara finished first.
On Final Reckoning, Zach again shone, winning 4 dailies in his time there. He and Amanda were safe during the voting after the Caged In challenge, but they could not decide who of the eligible teams to throw into elimination — Ashley/Hunter or Johnny/Tony. Zach and Tony were each other’s #1s, and the same with Ashley and Amanda.
They deadlocked and thus had to go into elimination themselves, against Da’Vonne/Jozea, who had not won any dailies theretofore. No big deal, right? Wrong. This was the second Mercenary elimination this season, and Cory/Devin had to beat both Zachmanda and Da’zea to enter the game. And interestingly, both the teams had a lead over Cory/Devin but could not shake off a certain medallion no matter how hard they tried. It was the same one in each round, and apparently, after the elimination round finished, someone tried to take it off with their hands — to no avail.
Many people see this is rigging. And it all would have been fine in the end, because Zach/Amanda had a great chance of winning the redemption challenge to re-enter the game. Except during the elimination, one medallion smacked Zach in the face, breaking his nose and medically DQing him and Amanda.
Several cast members have since declared that if Zachmanda had avoided that elimination, they would have gone on to win the season. I contend that if Zach hadn’t broken his nose, they would have had no issue winning the math-climbing-wall redemption challenge either, since Zach is 6' 3" and has won climbing-wall eliminations, and because Amanda murdered the X-It daily during Invasion, which included math (in a sudoku puzzle).
Chris “CT” Tamburello — 3 wins (3 canon wins + Gauntlet 3 but - Invasion)
G3 explained ⬆️
Conspiracy theories abound about the Invasion final, considering how close he and Nelson were in the end, with a purported 2 minutes separating them. Many people believe that Nelson is the “true” winner, but production awarded the W to CT, as a beautiful conclusion to his comeback / redemption story arc. Where he performed admirably on Exes 1, Rivals 2, Free Agents, and Exes 2 before leaving the game because of Diem’s cancer. CT came back in a new form — the Dadbod — on Invasion, and winning the season was a perfect capstone to an inspiring story. The conspiracy theory contends that production manipulated the times to get the ending they wanted.
It is also worth mentioning that the Invasion final had much less distance running than your typical final and several swimming portions. CT is not known for his endurance (see how he performed in the following final, on XXX) and Nelson and Cory are both poor swimmers. What’s more, with the Invasion final being spread over 3 days, the competitors had plenty of time to rest and recuperate before and after the daily stages. If it were a straight-up run, Nelson’s endurance would have outshone CT’s.
Various reasons why Nelson might have been the true winner of Invasion (though I know this is a controversial take).
Brad Fiorenza — 2 wins (1 canon win + Gauntlet 3)
Evan Starkman — 2 wins (2 canon wins + Gauntlet 3 but - Duel 2)
Tori Deal — 1 win (0 canon wins + War of the Worlds 2)
Tori played an impressive game on War of the Worlds 2, with elimination wins over above-average players Georgia and Jenny, being the first turncoat, making a second final in 3 seasons, and slaying it.
That is, until she ran into the Puzzle Purge during the WotW2 final. She could not get it together when literal stripper and fuccboi Rogan could, and thus she did not advance to the last part of the final, where her team ultimately emerged victorious. She would’ve been a champion if not for a 100% unnecessary Purge in the middle of the final — and apparently the puzzles were different for everyone, too, so hers could’ve been harder — but production added one on WotW2, just like the ones that sent Hunter and Cara home the previous season, and therefore Ms Tori Deal is still winless.
Natalie “Ninja” Duran — 1 win (0 canon wins + War of the Worlds 1)
Like Vendettas, War of the Worlds 1 had the one-winner twist. Ninja murked the final and was the only woman to reach the final stage and cross the finish line. Except she got 4th place (after Turbo, Theo, and Wes) and thus no money, no title, and not even a ride in the helicopter. It was bogus.
Amanda Garcia — 1 win (0 canon wins + Final Reckoning)
explained ⬆️
Nelson Thomas — 1 win (0 canon wins + Invasion)
explained ⬆️
Tyler Duckworth — 1 win (2 canon wins but - Rivals 1)
explained ⬆️
Diem Brown, Robin Hibbard, Adam King, and Eric Banks — 1 win (0 canon wins + Gauntlet 3)
explained ⬆️
Ashley Mitchell — 1 win (2 canon wins but - Final Reckoning)
explained ⬆️
Hunter Barfield — 0 wins (1 canon win but - Final Reckoning)
explained ⬆️
Tori Hall — 0 wins (2 canon wins but — Cutthroat and — Gauntlet 3)
G3 explained ⬆️
Cutthroat had the original Mercenaries coming in for a shocker elimination, then called “Heavy Hitters.” Out of nowhere, CT and Tina came in to run an elimination, resulting in the iconic “Bananas Backpack” moment.
Tori and Theresa were the women up for elimination. Theresa went first, when Tina would have been “fresher,” and won. Then Tori went — when Tina would have been worn out — and still beat Tina, but faster than Theresa did.
Theresa went home, but Tina has stated subsequently that she threw the elimination to Tori, as a belated wedding present. So if Tina hadn’t done this — or if it was just Theresa vs. Tori in elimination — then Tori is eliminated and doesn’t win this season.
And without her, maybe Red doesn’t win at all, since they don’t have someone lighter to carry on the stretcher — but what is certain is that Tori would have been eliminated then.
Frank Roessler, Jillian Zoboroski, Nehemiah Clark, Johanna Botta, Rachel Moyal — 0 wins (1 canon win but - Gauntlet 3)
explained ⬆️
Summary
The biggest winners here are Kenny and Zach (when it actuality he is the most screwed over by f*ckery, but also — karma), and the biggest loser is Tori Hall (but in real life she is the luckiest because she got 2 wins under suspicious circumstances).
Many r.obbed g.od(desse)s get their wins — Diem, Robin, Nelson, and Amanda — but some great competitors are still not champions — Frank R, Jill, Nehemiah, Hunter). And it’s interesting that there is a tie for most seasons won, between Kenny and Johnny; and also Evelyn solely holds the record for women, with 4 (to Veronica’s 3). Landon is 4 wins in 4 seasons and has even more of a case to be the Greatest of All Time. Obvi, 4/4 is how Darrell started his career — and nearly 5 for 5 before screwing himself out of another win on The Ruins — but early exits on Fresh Meat 2 and XXX tarnish his legacy.
This article is meant to encourage discussion and debate; and not to serve as the definitive list. Everybody else’s records stay the same.
Nota bene
The Final Reckoning final was peculiar and not particularly hard. It is entirely possible Zach/Amanda make it yet don’t win — but considering how well they performed when they were in the game, I’d still give them the edge, even over strong teams like Ashley/Hunter, Sylvia/Joss, and Natalie/Paulie.
If they somehow are taken out fairly before the final, and it’s still the same 4 teams in it — then Sylvia and Joss should both have 1 win, Zach with 2, and Amanda with 0.
There are stronger conspiracy theories that Sylvia/Joss were the true winners of FR, given that they were only 40 seconds away from beating Ashley/Hunter. But people believe that Soss would have shared the money, which would not be another #BigMoment for MTV, so production manipulated the times to (again?) get the ending and drama and fireworks that they wanted — because we all know Ashley would never have shared.
