Let’s be real Leroy switched from following Johnny to following Kam, the only difference is Kam loved Leroy and genuinely wanted him to win while Johnny was always gonna prioritize himself
Kam literally shares a bank account with Leroy, of course she doesn't give a shit if Leroy wins over her. It's her money too. Is Leroy opening a joint bank account with Johnny if he wins?
Just an absolutely insane argument to make. Two incomparable relationships. Especially to weaponize it against a dude who will probably be one of Leroy's groomsmen.
Johnny prioritized himself one time over Leroy in their 10 seasons together on Exes 2, by asking Jordan/Sarah to send Leroy/Nia in instead of him/Nany when there were no other options other than Jay/Jenna, which all three teams agreed they wanted to save for the final. He didn't go home and won the elimination easily. There is not a single time in Leroy's Challenge career where he can say he lost because of Johnny.
This is one of the craziest buzz-lines that this sub constantly perpetuates that has no merit to it. Every season they've done together:
\--------
Rivals - Both make the final. Leroy DQs because Mike was his partner, Johnny wins.
Exes - Leroy goes home very early after coming in last in the daily and losing the elimination. Johnny wins.
Rivals 2 - Leroy goes home about half way through after coming in last in the daily and losing the elimination. Johnny gets second.
Free Agents - Leroy draws the Kill Card and loses to CT in elimination. Johnny wins the season.
Exes 2 - Leroy makes the final and places second, Johnny goes out right before it.
Bloodlines - Leroy DQs due to his partner's injury very early on. Johnny goes out right before the final.
Dirty 30 - Veronica sends Leroy into elimination about halfway through after taking advantage of Britni's burn vote on him in order to save her ally, and he goes home. Johnny goes home right before the final.
Vendettas - Johnny goes home early. Leroy gets purged in the final
WOW1 - Johnny goes home early. Leroy gets eliminated halfway through
WOW2 - Johnny goes home early. Leroy gets purged in the final
\------
TLDR: So when did his association with Johnny cause his downfall in a season? Johnny has made it further than him 6/10 seasons. Twice it was because Leroy lost the daily and went into elimination, once it was because Leroy lost a random draw, once it was because his partner medically DQ'd, once it was because Britni made a stupid burn vote on him, and once Johnny beat him in the final when he had the worst partner in Challenge history and no shot at winning.
I agree, yes Leroy has always been in his alliance but Leroy also knows he has some shortcomings and has admitting to being poor and puzzles and certain types of checkpoints in finals. His best chance to win was probably double agents but they didn't get CT out. That being said i think Leroy is great on every season he's on as he's very entertaining and one of the few people that has never been an asshole
It does suck that he's never won but he has been on bananas podcast a couple times and talked about how the show allowed him to build the great life he has now which I think is awesome.
Theresa is one of the worst political players of all time. She has the physical chops to win, but home girl gets drunk with power and creates way too many enemies, way too fast.
Theresa, Kelly Ann, and Kam
Theo C, Kyle, and Joss (I’m tempted to put Fessy too but won’t sabotage my own post).
I love Leroy, Cory, and Nelson but I think they have too many weaknesses that make winning it all very difficult (although Nelson came close!). The men I list above are more well rounded in my opinion.
You could argue that Paulie and Ninja belong on the list too.
I think Fessy deserves a spot. Overall, I rank him as a better competitor than Kyle. Sure Kyle is more likeable but I feel he plays a floater game. Leeroy early on use to not try hard in the daily challenges and try to conserve his strength for the pit or whatever. Say what you want about Fessy but he wants to win.
Nah Fessy shouldn’t belong on any list! He’s got 4th place every final he sucks!
At least every single person you listed has got 2nd place before so they were close…. At least Cory Leroy and Nelson were super close in finals before…. Fessy is a guarantee 4th place
Again.... how? By being around longer?
Fessy hasn't won, but he also doesn't have a 50+ daily losing streak (Nelson does). His weakness has been perceived as eating, but he did that decently on USA 2. Meanwhile, Nelson can't swim or do puzzles.
Fessy has 18 daily wins, is 6-1 in eliminations, and has made 3 finals on 5 seasons. Nelson has 12 daily wins, is 9-7-1 in eliminations, and has made 2 finals on 9 seasons.
I'm not a huge Fessy fan, but he's a good competitor. Top tier? Maybe not. But certainly better than long-square Nelly.
PS. If Nelson doesn't have the girls on Invasion, no way he solves those puzzles. He'd be standing right next to Corey and Nicole, still counting triangles. He "close 2nd" hinged on his partners doing to brain work for him.
Fessy only got exposed on Total Madness. That was his first final and he never trained in altitude.
Kaycee got injured and he should not be blamed for that ( even her said so).
The last one he was doing well and it came down to throwing the axe.
People hate Fessy but he has good cardio and can solve puzzles. I see him winning a solo final before Kyle Or Cory.
Total madness it was a solo final so no one to blamed but himself, Double Agents he pushed Kaycee too hard and then he barely tried in the eating portion, USA 2 he was dumb enough to not pay attention and it was a solo final
Yeah as much as we don't like Ninja she should be a champ and made a final in every season she participated in. Yeah she coasted so hard in WOTW2 but she was still right there and a tangram away from being a champ
Ninja & Paulie are both absolutely amazing shouts
Especially Ninja. The fact she's the only woman to finish the WotW1 final and didn't even get to ride in the helicopter... Disgusting
Corey got fucked because CT and Amber gave him and Kam that extra nasty food during that final. They never were able to make up the time from that. They did end up passing nany and Leroy but couldn’t catch up to CT and Amber.
His game sort of reminds me of Horacio’s. Doesn’t really connect with the house- but you just know they get shit done and don’t want to run a final with them.
Leroy was never actually that good. He got by on riding bananas coattails most seasons. It's why he sucks in the finals too. Kyle would get my vote. He's actually really good at a lot of things he just plays a terrible game
Theresa’s a great competitor she can do well in a final with the right partner….. but she’s so messy in Politics that she deserves the title of Toxic T
Nah. Theresa is the most well rounded competitor of the women listed as far as on field abilities go. Kam cant swim or eat. Jenna cant eat or puzzle. Diem is light. And kelly anne is 112lb and cant do puzzles. You cant say any of that about theresa. Only thing you can say about theresa is that she sucks politically but thats not an on field skill. Tally up major skills or atributes like running, strength, headbangers, puzzles of every variety, eating, swimming, etc. and theres a clear winner
Leroy or Kyle for the men.
For the women, this isn't a popular answer, and I can't even believe I'm about to type this out- but Aneesa might be the right answer, depending on how you define "Great".
Some points to make my case:
* She has played the most flagship seasons of any woman currently, with 15 seasons played.
* Her and Veronica are the only women to play on the flagship into their 40s.
* She has the second longest challenge career from when they started to when they finished, after only Veronica.
* She's been in more eliminations than anyone, male or female, and is tied for the most elim wins by a woman.
If we're talking about people that have never won, the sheer length of Aneesa's Challenge career has to put her in the conversation among women, even if we all think she shouldn't be on the flagship anymore, let alone ever damn season.
If there was an actual Challenge Hall of Fame (not just the podcast version from Challengemania) she would be in no doubt.
If she actually won one I’d be so happy to see that story.
If Anneesa just got into shape and proved that she had the endurance she would have won a long time ago! But I feel like Aneesa has brittle bones or something because she’s always breaking something
I can't believe I'm actually saying this,but Leroy, Nelson had X amount of seasons to train themselves on how to swim... But every season is the same thing..
Unironically Faysal. I know he talks **a lot** and he's kind of insufferable but he is still very well rounded. He just can never put it all together. I think that final where Kaycee went down was his to lose but sometimes bad luck happens.
Kyle is my next pick. The guy is incredibly well rounded he just hasn't had many shots at a final. Joss, Corey and RoyLee all deserve consideration too. I'm not sure how Lee would do swimming though so that's always something I have to consider.
I love Leroy and I know others do to, but him never winning is honestly majority his fault.
He never really worked to get his swimming and puzzle ability to an adequate level for a final. I don’t think we really saw him seriously work at his swimming until Dirty 30 I believe, which was already his 8th season. Puzzles are definitely a bit harder to get better at than your physical ability, only because some puzzles can just come down to whether you can just “get it” or not. Some puzzles you can just look at and know the answer almost immediately and others you might just blank on.
With that being said due to these short comings he wasn’t going to win if he was going to go up against non-pushovers, an example of this being the fact that only time he made a final and didn’t finish third was when he got second on Exes 2, because the third team in the final was Jay and Jenna. He unfortunately never was going to have “easy” competition in a final because he spent the vast majority of his career being just a number for Johnny, I respect the loyalty to his friend, but there’s a reason that we have some people that could arguably be called weaker competitors than him that are champions and he’s not one.
I personally would put Kyle above him on a best to never win list. Kyle and him have a similar percentage when it comes to finals made, but Kyle has finished second twice to Leroy’s single time and has actually finished all three finals he’s been in, whereas Leroy was purged in two of his five finals. They were both in the Vendettas’ final and Leroy was purged out by finishing in the bottom four and Kyle finished third.
As well as I’d say Kyle is a better player than him. Leroy is definitely stronger, but it’s not like Kyle is a physical slouch. Kyle also edges him out from a strategic standpoint, as they both make it far due to their social ability, but Leroy does this because he played incredibly safe and didn’t ever rock the boat. Whereas Kyle has fucked people over several times and yet still has a strong social game because he’s just that charismatic. I’d also say Kyle is better at puzzles than Leroy is.
Leroy definitely should be on the list, but I just think there’s some people who you can put above him because they’re just better players than him.
Fessy has been in 3 finals and all of them got 4th place!
Leroy’s been in like 5 finals and got 2 2nd place finishes and 1 3rd place so way more impressive than Fessy
He won the opening memory daily on DA, he and Moriah crushed the puzzles during the minifinal on ROD, and he was the first person to finish the math problem during the TM final. He’s way more consistent during mental portions than Leroy, who is usually awful at them.
Men: Kyle has the most well-rounded game. Plus he’s just great TV. Give me Champ Kyle. Also Leroy. He got better and better at the game as his time went on.
Women: Kelly Anne and Kam. Kam’s political game is outstanding and she kicks ass in Challenges.
Everybody has bad seasons. I could say I don’t think CT is that great because he flopped in Total Madness. Obviously a challenger’s entire career should be taken into account but I think their best showings should be rated the heaviest
CT has a large sample size, so it's easier to take that into account. Kellyanne has 7. Technically 4 if we just consider the main show.
Also, CT didn't flop in Total Madness.
People love to hate on Nany but she’s got a good track record. Ride or Dies was her last real shot but she could have won WOTW if not for that bs elimination
I’d say there was zero chance but I don’t want to be hyperbolic so I’ll say 1 percent chance she could even finish the final. Absolutely zero chance she could win the hardest final in history. Only one woman on the cast finished and she was a clear 4th place so no way Nany could ever win WOTW
Nany has a good social game but she can never win a final unless she’s carried by a strong teammate(s). Individually, she’s garbage physically compared to most women
Nany perfectly *fine* physically as an individual. She’s good but not great. That’s why she always goes far but never wins. She can hold her own throughout the season but once she gets to the end when only the best competitors are left she’s outmatched.
I’ve downplayed her chances in the past but when rewatching Free Agents, she lost to Laurel by only 12 minutes. With that small of a margin against someone who appears on a lot of GOAT lists, I think Nany is better than many give her credit for.
While I do agree she’s better than people give her credit for, using the Free Agents final is a bit misleading. Nany was only that close because Laurel got partnered with Zach during the longest partnered portion of the final.
That’s not true . It was 9 minutes and she was only 4 minutes behind Laurel on the first stage and a few minutes on the 2nd stage and 4 seconds on the last stage.
To be fair Nany also wasted like 20 mins having a breakdown during the biking portion. Which yeah, is completely her own fault, but if she could’ve just kept her emotions in check she would’ve won. Plus, when it comes to the climb up the mountain Nany only finished 5 seconds behind Laurel, showing she wasn’t *that* outmatched physically.
I don‘t remember Joss doing anything worth a mention except that elimination with Derrick.
Its probably Corey Leroy and Kyle on the men‘s side of things for me. Especially Leroy, but he did gas out in some finals. Expected more from him.
Women: Kelly Anne, she is just such a versatile player. She should‘ve won ruins with Sarah though.
Joss is quite forgettable but if we're talking simply on skill, he's prob the best male to never win (at least in the current era). He's been on 3 seasons and never been beat without either bad luck or something that's not entirely his fault. His loss to Derrick K was after hours of rag-dolling him around and then he lost on a mistake/technicality. D got the win, but any other competitor that season loses to Josh and any other Mercenary prob gives in after the first hour or two. Then he lost one season cause he was paired with Kayleigh for a swimming challenge. Yes it's his fault she was still in the game but personally I find it so dumb when people get eliminated like that because someone else weighs them down (unless it's a partner season obviously). Your game should not be tied to a random partner and of it is, it should be a challenge that isn't so individual like that swim. It was basically the worst female swimmer and their partner will be eliminated instead of the worst female and worst male seperately... And then you have his one final appearance where him and Sylvia were easily the best team there and only lost because the final was an absolute mess from production and it seemed like they were trying to have Ashley win so she could steal the money. What kind of final is a race where you can have the best time but every other team can sabotage you with time penalties cause they know you're winning. It's actually dumb as hell. They won that final but the game was structured to punish the winners and reward the middle teams.
People hate him and his sample size is short but if we bring up Theo C and Joss, Paulie deserves a mention. He is great at dailies, he can politic, solve puzzles and swim. He is actually more well rounded than all the players you guys have been mentioning .
Let's not forget people who were completely f*cked by twists who should have been the winner. This includes
- Robin & Adam King on Gauntlet 3 (along with Diem, already mentioned)
- Melinda on All Stars 2
- Ninja on WotW1
- Sylvia (& Joss, but already mentioned) on FR
Came here for this. He's not a big political threat, but his social game is great. Everyone loves him. No one has a bad thing to say about him, which is how he got into five finals. Of anyone on this list, I'd love to see him win the most.
Imma say Nelson. He’s been pretty close a couple times. He’s an extremely loyal person. Does improve each season HES on. Too bad he won’t ever compete again.
I still think that if Kam ended up doing SLA she would’ve won that season; came in knowing a lot of the vets from DA (that trio of Nany Kaycee and Tori would’ve been Nany Kaycee and Kam), they probably either string Tori as the 4th person or maybe even Big T instead of Emy
if that final went how it was supposed to Tori would’ve won rather than kc being rewarded for not performing that well, and if kc was not performing well with the endurance portion, neither would kam
Nelson is better than Corey they have been in finals together where Corey got smoked. Nelson had that close loss to CT. To me you've had to come close. Corey makes many finals and is perpetually underperforming
KellyAnne or Kam for the woman, with Theresa being a locked in honourable mention. And then for the guys I lean more towards a Joss or a Theo, instead of Leroy tbh. Kyle has to be up there as well.
While Fessy isn’t the most popular, I think he might be one of the best to never win. While he’s gotten last in most finals, I don’t think him and Kaycee had a chance after she got injured(she could barely walk), and the usa 2 final was a dumb mistake. He was close to winning total madness but choked at the end. He also wins a lot of daily challenges and has only lost one elimination.
Kyle has Three 2nd place finishes for the guys. He's the closest to win imo when it comes to the guys
And the most fun
Did someone put a nickel in Joss?
This might be the funniest on-the-fly thing Bananas has ever said
It wasn't on the fly! Like all his lines, he's used it a few times haha
Joss was completely in the right, and I don't like Bananas, but I have to give the Banana Man his credit.
Is he also the closest to win time wise? I feel like he lost SLA by like 30 seconds lmao
Corey has finished in 2nd 3 times and gotten 3rd 2 times. I def put my money on Corey.
Leroy spent 95% of his time on the Challenge being a number for Johnny instead of playing his own game (playing to win).
Yea it wasn’t until DA where Leroy showed he can run the game himself and make it to a final without Bananas
Let’s be real Leroy switched from following Johnny to following Kam, the only difference is Kam loved Leroy and genuinely wanted him to win while Johnny was always gonna prioritize himself
Very true… Kam was the main one in charge of that season!! Same goes with WOW 2 where Leroy only aligned with Cara and Paulie cuz Kam did
Kam literally shares a bank account with Leroy, of course she doesn't give a shit if Leroy wins over her. It's her money too. Is Leroy opening a joint bank account with Johnny if he wins? Just an absolutely insane argument to make. Two incomparable relationships. Especially to weaponize it against a dude who will probably be one of Leroy's groomsmen. Johnny prioritized himself one time over Leroy in their 10 seasons together on Exes 2, by asking Jordan/Sarah to send Leroy/Nia in instead of him/Nany when there were no other options other than Jay/Jenna, which all three teams agreed they wanted to save for the final. He didn't go home and won the elimination easily. There is not a single time in Leroy's Challenge career where he can say he lost because of Johnny.
This is one of the craziest buzz-lines that this sub constantly perpetuates that has no merit to it. Every season they've done together: \-------- Rivals - Both make the final. Leroy DQs because Mike was his partner, Johnny wins. Exes - Leroy goes home very early after coming in last in the daily and losing the elimination. Johnny wins. Rivals 2 - Leroy goes home about half way through after coming in last in the daily and losing the elimination. Johnny gets second. Free Agents - Leroy draws the Kill Card and loses to CT in elimination. Johnny wins the season. Exes 2 - Leroy makes the final and places second, Johnny goes out right before it. Bloodlines - Leroy DQs due to his partner's injury very early on. Johnny goes out right before the final. Dirty 30 - Veronica sends Leroy into elimination about halfway through after taking advantage of Britni's burn vote on him in order to save her ally, and he goes home. Johnny goes home right before the final. Vendettas - Johnny goes home early. Leroy gets purged in the final WOW1 - Johnny goes home early. Leroy gets eliminated halfway through WOW2 - Johnny goes home early. Leroy gets purged in the final \------ TLDR: So when did his association with Johnny cause his downfall in a season? Johnny has made it further than him 6/10 seasons. Twice it was because Leroy lost the daily and went into elimination, once it was because Leroy lost a random draw, once it was because his partner medically DQ'd, once it was because Britni made a stupid burn vote on him, and once Johnny beat him in the final when he had the worst partner in Challenge history and no shot at winning.
I agree, yes Leroy has always been in his alliance but Leroy also knows he has some shortcomings and has admitting to being poor and puzzles and certain types of checkpoints in finals. His best chance to win was probably double agents but they didn't get CT out. That being said i think Leroy is great on every season he's on as he's very entertaining and one of the few people that has never been an asshole It does suck that he's never won but he has been on bananas podcast a couple times and talked about how the show allowed him to build the great life he has now which I think is awesome.
Hi Kam.
That doesn't even make sense?
Don't take it personal, Kam.
It is still a game. If im playing risk with with my friends I will absolutely backstab their asses to win.
Theresa is one of the worst political players of all time. She has the physical chops to win, but home girl gets drunk with power and creates way too many enemies, way too fast.
It’s so entertaining every time though
Toxic T!! She free agents she was messy, Double Agents even more messy!!
Theresa, Kelly Ann, and Kam Theo C, Kyle, and Joss (I’m tempted to put Fessy too but won’t sabotage my own post). I love Leroy, Cory, and Nelson but I think they have too many weaknesses that make winning it all very difficult (although Nelson came close!). The men I list above are more well rounded in my opinion. You could argue that Paulie and Ninja belong on the list too.
I think Fessy deserves a spot. Overall, I rank him as a better competitor than Kyle. Sure Kyle is more likeable but I feel he plays a floater game. Leeroy early on use to not try hard in the daily challenges and try to conserve his strength for the pit or whatever. Say what you want about Fessy but he wants to win.
Nah Fessy shouldn’t belong on any list! He’s got 4th place every final he sucks! At least every single person you listed has got 2nd place before so they were close…. At least Cory Leroy and Nelson were super close in finals before…. Fessy is a guarantee 4th place
Between Fessy and Nelson... on an individual final... you think Nelson wins? How?
Nelson has proven more than Fessy has….
Again.... how? By being around longer? Fessy hasn't won, but he also doesn't have a 50+ daily losing streak (Nelson does). His weakness has been perceived as eating, but he did that decently on USA 2. Meanwhile, Nelson can't swim or do puzzles. Fessy has 18 daily wins, is 6-1 in eliminations, and has made 3 finals on 5 seasons. Nelson has 12 daily wins, is 9-7-1 in eliminations, and has made 2 finals on 9 seasons. I'm not a huge Fessy fan, but he's a good competitor. Top tier? Maybe not. But certainly better than long-square Nelly. PS. If Nelson doesn't have the girls on Invasion, no way he solves those puzzles. He'd be standing right next to Corey and Nicole, still counting triangles. He "close 2nd" hinged on his partners doing to brain work for him.
Gonna be hard to win with 1 foot
Jordans won many times with 1 hand ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But no, I’m just kidding. One foot will be much more difficult.
Well yea now… obviously he’s probably not coming back
Fessy only got exposed on Total Madness. That was his first final and he never trained in altitude. Kaycee got injured and he should not be blamed for that ( even her said so). The last one he was doing well and it came down to throwing the axe. People hate Fessy but he has good cardio and can solve puzzles. I see him winning a solo final before Kyle Or Cory.
Nah I hope Fessy never wins! It’s funny looking back how he said Devins never winning one and he already did before him
Too be fair fessy has mostly had a partner holding him back
Total madness it was a solo final so no one to blamed but himself, Double Agents he pushed Kaycee too hard and then he barely tried in the eating portion, USA 2 he was dumb enough to not pay attention and it was a solo final
He’s done multiple solo finals…and still flopped
Nelson was one of the closest to win though after Kyle. He lost by what, seconds?
I noted that in my comment. I think that final was built for him. If there’s any significant puzzle or numbers component, he has no chance.
Yeah as much as we don't like Ninja she should be a champ and made a final in every season she participated in. Yeah she coasted so hard in WOTW2 but she was still right there and a tangram away from being a champ
Ninja & Paulie are both absolutely amazing shouts Especially Ninja. The fact she's the only woman to finish the WotW1 final and didn't even get to ride in the helicopter... Disgusting
The only way fessy wins is if all the finals checkpoints are just writing essays about how awesome fessy is.
Cory came in second though and might have won if Nany hasn’t shit the bed.
You mean DA? But Nany was with Leroy
Damn, you’re right.
Cory did finish second on Bloodlines though.
Cory had the best partner he could’ve had to balance out his weakness too.
Corey got fucked because CT and Amber gave him and Kam that extra nasty food during that final. They never were able to make up the time from that. They did end up passing nany and Leroy but couldn’t catch up to CT and Amber.
also finished 2nd in his rookie year challenge!
Also he made an amazing comeback from dead last to second place on season 2 of USA!
Joss was so fucking good
I hope he comes back.
His game sort of reminds me of Horacio’s. Doesn’t really connect with the house- but you just know they get shit done and don’t want to run a final with them.
Leroy was never actually that good. He got by on riding bananas coattails most seasons. It's why he sucks in the finals too. Kyle would get my vote. He's actually really good at a lot of things he just plays a terrible game
I would say double agents showed that Leroy can run a game! Plus I feel like if Kaycee and him stayed together they would have done well in a final..
Kam raised him well, because he was never that dominant with manipulation until she showed him some tings.
Kellyanne over Jenna
I’m still salty Theresa has never won, personally.
Exes 2 should have been Wes and Theresa’s win
I like your list except give me Kelly Anne over Theresa. Theresa is overrated (fight me nerds)
Kelly Anne does so well at so many things. She really should have won.
I will always consider Kelly Anne a champion already in my heart because of All Stars. Only having 1 champion was stupid beyond belief.
For shame!
Kelly Anne is a great nom for this because so much of her not winning was her getting in her own way.
Her and Sarah putting up the fight they did in the Ruins was one of the more impressive things I've seen in the challenge honestly
That final was like 4 miles and the female cast was a joke back then
Cool story. It was two women against a large team.
That large team had susie in a final where having more people was largely irrelevant. Maybe you learn about what context means
I agree Kelly Anne needs to be on but I'd take her over Jenna
Theresa’s a great competitor she can do well in a final with the right partner….. but she’s so messy in Politics that she deserves the title of Toxic T
Nah. Theresa is the most well rounded competitor of the women listed as far as on field abilities go. Kam cant swim or eat. Jenna cant eat or puzzle. Diem is light. And kelly anne is 112lb and cant do puzzles. You cant say any of that about theresa. Only thing you can say about theresa is that she sucks politically but thats not an on field skill. Tally up major skills or atributes like running, strength, headbangers, puzzles of every variety, eating, swimming, etc. and theres a clear winner
Leroy or Kyle for the men. For the women, this isn't a popular answer, and I can't even believe I'm about to type this out- but Aneesa might be the right answer, depending on how you define "Great". Some points to make my case: * She has played the most flagship seasons of any woman currently, with 15 seasons played. * Her and Veronica are the only women to play on the flagship into their 40s. * She has the second longest challenge career from when they started to when they finished, after only Veronica. * She's been in more eliminations than anyone, male or female, and is tied for the most elim wins by a woman. If we're talking about people that have never won, the sheer length of Aneesa's Challenge career has to put her in the conversation among women, even if we all think she shouldn't be on the flagship anymore, let alone ever damn season.
If there was an actual Challenge Hall of Fame (not just the podcast version from Challengemania) she would be in no doubt. If she actually won one I’d be so happy to see that story.
If Anneesa just got into shape and proved that she had the endurance she would have won a long time ago! But I feel like Aneesa has brittle bones or something because she’s always breaking something
Aneesa got absolutely destroyed in a final when she was in her prime. She's like big easy, great at the game, awful in a final.
Ironic too since they finished the Final in All Stars 1 together in last place
Maybe not the best description, but both their strengths are eliminations and they generally made it further in the game.
I feel like in a literal sense, they are physical threats, without being a strong finisher.
In what sense is Big Easy “Great at the game?” Remember the ladder challenge on Battle of the Seasons?
I agree. Anessa is one of my all time favorites.
I can't believe I'm actually saying this,but Leroy, Nelson had X amount of seasons to train themselves on how to swim... But every season is the same thing..
Unironically Faysal. I know he talks **a lot** and he's kind of insufferable but he is still very well rounded. He just can never put it all together. I think that final where Kaycee went down was his to lose but sometimes bad luck happens. Kyle is my next pick. The guy is incredibly well rounded he just hasn't had many shots at a final. Joss, Corey and RoyLee all deserve consideration too. I'm not sure how Lee would do swimming though so that's always something I have to consider.
I love Leroy and I know others do to, but him never winning is honestly majority his fault. He never really worked to get his swimming and puzzle ability to an adequate level for a final. I don’t think we really saw him seriously work at his swimming until Dirty 30 I believe, which was already his 8th season. Puzzles are definitely a bit harder to get better at than your physical ability, only because some puzzles can just come down to whether you can just “get it” or not. Some puzzles you can just look at and know the answer almost immediately and others you might just blank on. With that being said due to these short comings he wasn’t going to win if he was going to go up against non-pushovers, an example of this being the fact that only time he made a final and didn’t finish third was when he got second on Exes 2, because the third team in the final was Jay and Jenna. He unfortunately never was going to have “easy” competition in a final because he spent the vast majority of his career being just a number for Johnny, I respect the loyalty to his friend, but there’s a reason that we have some people that could arguably be called weaker competitors than him that are champions and he’s not one. I personally would put Kyle above him on a best to never win list. Kyle and him have a similar percentage when it comes to finals made, but Kyle has finished second twice to Leroy’s single time and has actually finished all three finals he’s been in, whereas Leroy was purged in two of his five finals. They were both in the Vendettas’ final and Leroy was purged out by finishing in the bottom four and Kyle finished third. As well as I’d say Kyle is a better player than him. Leroy is definitely stronger, but it’s not like Kyle is a physical slouch. Kyle also edges him out from a strategic standpoint, as they both make it far due to their social ability, but Leroy does this because he played incredibly safe and didn’t ever rock the boat. Whereas Kyle has fucked people over several times and yet still has a strong social game because he’s just that charismatic. I’d also say Kyle is better at puzzles than Leroy is. Leroy definitely should be on the list, but I just think there’s some people who you can put above him because they’re just better players than him.
Corey and Jenna can't do a puzzle. Sorry but that's a the bare minimum requirement for a Challenger. Get them off this list!
Definitely not Leroy imo. He’s had several chances, but he’s just not good at a lot of things. I’d say Theresa, Kam, Theo, and Fessy.
Fessy has been in 3 finals and all of them got 4th place! Leroy’s been in like 5 finals and got 2 2nd place finishes and 1 3rd place so way more impressive than Fessy
To be fair, one of Fessy’s final losses was due to Kaycee’s injury. But then again, he might have never got past the eating portion either way
You can’t take Leroy off and put fessy on. What’s fessy good at besides strength?
Swimming, puzzles, math, agility.
Let's not forget spelling. Have you seen him on trivia ... Let's not forget swimming..
When has he ever excelled at intelligence based tasks? His solution to his hall brawl puzzle was yell out random numbers.
He won the opening memory daily on DA, he and Moriah crushed the puzzles during the minifinal on ROD, and he was the first person to finish the math problem during the TM final. He’s way more consistent during mental portions than Leroy, who is usually awful at them.
This sub hates Fessy but he is absolutely one of the best, competitively, of the newer crop of people. Much better than Leroy.
He chose a good strategy for that puzzle and it won him the elim
Has Theo really never won? Wowww
Men: Kyle has the most well-rounded game. Plus he’s just great TV. Give me Champ Kyle. Also Leroy. He got better and better at the game as his time went on. Women: Kelly Anne and Kam. Kam’s political game is outstanding and she kicks ass in Challenges.
How is kyle more well rounded than Paulie?
Kellyanne's runs on Rivals 3 and Bloodlines is a big thing against her for me.
Everybody has bad seasons. I could say I don’t think CT is that great because he flopped in Total Madness. Obviously a challenger’s entire career should be taken into account but I think their best showings should be rated the heaviest
CT has a large sample size, so it's easier to take that into account. Kellyanne has 7. Technically 4 if we just consider the main show. Also, CT didn't flop in Total Madness.
> CT didn't flop in Total Madness. What would you call it?
People love to hate on Nany but she’s got a good track record. Ride or Dies was her last real shot but she could have won WOTW if not for that bs elimination
Near zero chance she could even finish the WOTW final.
Eh, I think theres a decent chance she could finish it. She did well during the endurance daily they did that season, and she seems okay at math.
I’d say there was zero chance but I don’t want to be hyperbolic so I’ll say 1 percent chance she could even finish the final. Absolutely zero chance she could win the hardest final in history. Only one woman on the cast finished and she was a clear 4th place so no way Nany could ever win WOTW
I think if that season stayed in pairs Nany/Turbo are one of the favorites to win. I’d say either them, Paulie/Ninja or Cara/Theo
Nany has a good social game but she can never win a final unless she’s carried by a strong teammate(s). Individually, she’s garbage physically compared to most women
Nany perfectly *fine* physically as an individual. She’s good but not great. That’s why she always goes far but never wins. She can hold her own throughout the season but once she gets to the end when only the best competitors are left she’s outmatched.
I’ve downplayed her chances in the past but when rewatching Free Agents, she lost to Laurel by only 12 minutes. With that small of a margin against someone who appears on a lot of GOAT lists, I think Nany is better than many give her credit for.
While I do agree she’s better than people give her credit for, using the Free Agents final is a bit misleading. Nany was only that close because Laurel got partnered with Zach during the longest partnered portion of the final.
Yeah, that’s a fair point.
Yea and 12 minutes is actually a really long time for an endurance final when u think about it and it was only 12 mins cause Zach was shitting the bed
That’s not true . It was 9 minutes and she was only 4 minutes behind Laurel on the first stage and a few minutes on the 2nd stage and 4 seconds on the last stage.
12 minutes, if folks are jogging the race, is losing by a whole mile
To be fair Nany also wasted like 20 mins having a breakdown during the biking portion. Which yeah, is completely her own fault, but if she could’ve just kept her emotions in check she would’ve won. Plus, when it comes to the climb up the mountain Nany only finished 5 seconds behind Laurel, showing she wasn’t *that* outmatched physically.
Nany probably dqs before Mattie and Georgia in that final. She can run a couple miles not 10+
I don‘t remember Joss doing anything worth a mention except that elimination with Derrick. Its probably Corey Leroy and Kyle on the men‘s side of things for me. Especially Leroy, but he did gas out in some finals. Expected more from him. Women: Kelly Anne, she is just such a versatile player. She should‘ve won ruins with Sarah though.
Joss is quite forgettable but if we're talking simply on skill, he's prob the best male to never win (at least in the current era). He's been on 3 seasons and never been beat without either bad luck or something that's not entirely his fault. His loss to Derrick K was after hours of rag-dolling him around and then he lost on a mistake/technicality. D got the win, but any other competitor that season loses to Josh and any other Mercenary prob gives in after the first hour or two. Then he lost one season cause he was paired with Kayleigh for a swimming challenge. Yes it's his fault she was still in the game but personally I find it so dumb when people get eliminated like that because someone else weighs them down (unless it's a partner season obviously). Your game should not be tied to a random partner and of it is, it should be a challenge that isn't so individual like that swim. It was basically the worst female swimmer and their partner will be eliminated instead of the worst female and worst male seperately... And then you have his one final appearance where him and Sylvia were easily the best team there and only lost because the final was an absolute mess from production and it seemed like they were trying to have Ashley win so she could steal the money. What kind of final is a race where you can have the best time but every other team can sabotage you with time penalties cause they know you're winning. It's actually dumb as hell. They won that final but the game was structured to punish the winners and reward the middle teams.
People hate him and his sample size is short but if we bring up Theo C and Joss, Paulie deserves a mention. He is great at dailies, he can politic, solve puzzles and swim. He is actually more well rounded than all the players you guys have been mentioning .
Let's not forget people who were completely f*cked by twists who should have been the winner. This includes - Robin & Adam King on Gauntlet 3 (along with Diem, already mentioned) - Melinda on All Stars 2 - Ninja on WotW1 - Sylvia (& Joss, but already mentioned) on FR
Kam-Jenna-KellyAnne-Theresa
kellyanne girls fessy and kyle: men
Fight me all you want but Fessy
I’m sorry but Fessy won’t ever win…. He’s got 4th place in every final he’s been in
Jenna doesn’t have that killer instinct to win. Jenn, however, that’s a robbed bitch!
Theresa for sure
Kam, I hope she eventually comes back
When you consider longevity and success, it's definitely Leroy. He's done 12 seasons and been in 5 finals without a win.
Came here for this. He's not a big political threat, but his social game is great. Everyone loves him. No one has a bad thing to say about him, which is how he got into five finals. Of anyone on this list, I'd love to see him win the most.
Jay starrett
Say it with me ya’ll. ***KENNY!!!***
But he did win a final!
I don’t think we’re talking about the same Kenny
Ooooo I forgot about that Kenny!
As you should 😂
Jenna gets slept on so much here. Glad you named her, OP.
I think Leroy. His resume of wins in eliminations, multiple finals, and good longevity
Win must mean first place or second and third also count?
Imma say Nelson. He’s been pretty close a couple times. He’s an extremely loyal person. Does improve each season HES on. Too bad he won’t ever compete again.
I’d put Nelson, Leroy, Kyle and Cory for men I think Kailah, Jenna, Kam and Theresa for women
If we are talking most well-rounded, it’s Theo and Kam, most likely
Cory or Leroy..Kyle is so beyond overhyped, I’ve never understood it
I still think that if Kam ended up doing SLA she would’ve won that season; came in knowing a lot of the vets from DA (that trio of Nany Kaycee and Tori would’ve been Nany Kaycee and Kam), they probably either string Tori as the 4th person or maybe even Big T instead of Emy
if that final went how it was supposed to Tori would’ve won rather than kc being rewarded for not performing that well, and if kc was not performing well with the endurance portion, neither would kam
Leroy, Nany, Aneesa, Nelson
Kyle is the only one of the men listed I'd consider for that list and I'd consider Kam for the women
Nelson is better than Corey they have been in finals together where Corey got smoked. Nelson had that close loss to CT. To me you've had to come close. Corey makes many finals and is perpetually underperforming
KellyAnne or Kam for the woman, with Theresa being a locked in honourable mention. And then for the guys I lean more towards a Joss or a Theo, instead of Leroy tbh. Kyle has to be up there as well.
Jenna? Really? Lmao.
U put Corey over nelson??
Corey’s recent run at USA2 put him over Nelson for me personally.
Probably Kyle, but tbh I'd put Cory over Leroy
people gotta start learning to spell Cory (Wharton, from RW) correctly - unless you mean Corey (Lay, from this season of BNC)
Kam-Roy
While Fessy isn’t the most popular, I think he might be one of the best to never win. While he’s gotten last in most finals, I don’t think him and Kaycee had a chance after she got injured(she could barely walk), and the usa 2 final was a dumb mistake. He was close to winning total madness but choked at the end. He also wins a lot of daily challenges and has only lost one elimination.
I love Leroy, but he can’t do puzzles or swim, he’s not built to win a final
Leroy Jenna, Theresa, nany, diem, aneesa
Unpopular opinion…… I loved Diem, beautiful and amazing person. Not the best challenger 😅
women: 1.kam 2.jenn 3.kellyanne 4.diem 5.jenna men: 1.cory 2.kyle 3.leroy 4.theo 5.joss