The Challengehas become one of history’s best competition reality shows and is about to celebrate its milestone 40th season. Throughout its run, many people have had the chance to compete on the show and become staple characters for the franchise.These people have made a mark on the show,whether it was by being one of the best competitors or by also being liked because of their personalities or loved/hated because of their cocky personality. Regardless, the people who have had the opportunity to be on the show have become critical players for the franchise andwill go down in history as the best of the best.
One of the essential factors to being one of the best is not only by the number of times you have participated in the show, but also by knowing how to have a significant political game and even when there are good times to start stirring the pot with everyone. Some players who have become legends are great at competitions, but they play a silent game where they will let everything crash and burn around them to make it to a final. Veterans are the ones who will always run the show, but in recent seasons,some rookieshave made themselves known that they can goone-on-one against some of the best. These are the ten best The Challenge contestants, fromJohnny BananastoCara Maria Sorbello.
The Challenge
15Emily Schromm
Emily Schrommdidn’t appear too often onThe Challenge, but when she did, she made an immense impact. With a victory duringThe Challenge: Rivals IIandThe Challenge: Champs vs Stars 1and a trip to the finals in her other two flagship series appearances, Emily has proven that she is a formidable opponent. While Emily rarely deals with the political drama, she’s got the goods to back her up if anyone wants to risk their place in the game in an elimination.
Having won every single elimination she faced, Emily’s dominating performance makes her one of the legends.Many of her fellow Challengers were always nervous when she was around, and luckily for them, she didn’t appear often. Fortunately for fans, Emily will be returning toThe Challenge: Battle of the Eraswhere she likely can continue her reign as one of the most dominating Challengers in the show’s history. She’s maintained her exceptional physique, so expect her to be a major threat.
14Sarah Rice
Sarah Riceis a brilliant woman. For the longest time, she was the heart ofThe Challenge. She has great physical prowess, she can handle nearly every puzzle she’s faced, and her political savvy has improved over her many appearances onThe Challenge.
The only thing that aided her downfall wasJohnny Bananas. Sarah Rice quickly became a rising star over the course of her tenure onThe Challenge. With nine competitions under her belt,Sarah was able to net two victories, but only one where she walked away with money. Thanks, Bananas.She has had her fair share of bad luck during her time on the show with partners who were disqualified, but Sarah proved she was resilient no matter the circumstances. With a journey from underdog to one of the best female competitors in the show’s history, Sarah Rice left on a high, despite the awful end onThe Challenge: Rivals III.
13Landon Lueck
With one of the strongest track records on the flagship series,Landon Lueckis one of the best players to ever appear onThe Challenge.With only four main seasons on his resume, he’s only lost once.That’s right. Landon was victorious onReal World/Road Rules: The Inferno II, Real World/Road Rules: The Gauntlet 2, andReal World/Road Rules: Fresh Meat II.
Even during his time onThe Real World: Philadelphia, he was always a nice person. And he brought that aura and energy intoThe Challengehouse. He was never there to cause drama, he was there to win. And he did! It’s been more than a decade since Landon appeared on the show, and fans would love to see him return forThe Challenge: All Stars, but his impact on the game has allowed him to be one of the unsung heroes of the show. Landon Lueck has proven that good guys don’t always finish last. They can and will end up on top.
12Darrell Taylor
As one of the members of the first era ofThe Challenge,Darrell Tayloris an absolute legend.In his first four seasons on the flagship program, Darrell won. Four challenges in a row.To not include him in the conversation as one of the best of the best because he hasn’t secured a victory since would be unfair. Darrell has always been a formidable appointment.
Many of his fellow competitors were fearful of seeing him in an elimination, let alone a final challenge, so they had to ensure the game format would get the best of him. As the show grew and new faces entered the mix, one of the OG stars lost his political edge, but it never deterred him from wanting to play. He was featured in the first three seasons ofThe Challenge: All Starsand will now be returning forThe Challenge: Battle of the Eras. Here’s hoping old Darrell is ready to fight for another victory!
11Evelyn Smith
As a feisty competitor,Evelyn Smithcan be described as a spitfire. With three victories on her resume, Evelyn was one of the most feared competitors to ever appear onThe Challenge. During her first few seasons, Evelyn was not a beloved individual in the house.She would be antagonized by many of her fellow Challengers, likely because they were threatened by her.But when it came toReal World/Road Rules: The Islandand her enemies realized that they needed her to win, and they suddenly had a change of heart.
They boosted Evelyn to the top and threw their ally,Paula Meronek, to the wayside. This helped set up the rivalry between Evelyn and Paula, which ended up being a benefit to Paula as Evelyn carried Paula to victory onThe Challenge: Rivals. Evelyn is easily one of the best female competitors the show has ever seen. She was feared, and rightly so. While the last time she took on the show was her final victory, fans are eager to see if Evelyn still has the goods to win.
10Tori Deal
Audiences metTori Dealduring the show’s 30th season, and she immediately made her presence known as someone who could become a legend. During her rookie season, it was clear many of the girls were scared to compete against her because of how strong she was, and it was odd for a rookie to be so promising at the game so early on. The veterans needed to keep an eye on her.
While on this season, Tori came in with her boyfriendDerrick Henry,whom she met from their original showAre You The One?She came into a unique situation when she entered a relationship and became increasingly popular as the game continued. Ultimately, she ended her relationship with Derrick and went on to dateJordan Wiseley,even getting engaged to him during a season ofThe Challenge.Not only did she establish herself as a legend by having a great rookie season, but she knew which crowd to ally herself with, and it helped her game evolve and finally be crowned aChallengewinner during the show’s 38th season.
9Nurys Mateo
When audiences metNurys MateoduringThe Challenge: Ride or Dies,she seemed like a typical contestant who was coming in as the pretty girl everyone wanted to surround herself with. She came in with her ride-or-die beingNelson Thomas,which may not have been helpful for her game during that season, but she made alliances with Jordan Wiseley during the height of his breakup with Tori.
Nurys may not have made it far during her first season, but her performance during her second season made her achallenginglegend. Not only was everyone in the house against her, but she managed to win different elimination challenges and made it to the final in second place and as the only female contestant in the top three.She showed what she is capable of doing and showed she was not willing to back down without a fight.Besides being great during her season, she developed a relationship with new fan-favoriteHoracio Gutierrez Jr.,which helped her have better allies in her corner.
8Horacio Gutierrez Jr.
It’s been long sinceThe Challengebrought in a rookie as promising as Horacio Gutierrez Jr. Coming from his showExatlon USA,Horacio established himself as aChallengelegend by having a fantastic rookie season duringThe Challenge: Ride or Dies.It was clear he was one of the best during the competition because he landed in the elimination challenge many times, since most of the veterans were sending him in because of how good he was.
He made history by joining the club with Wes Bergmann and winning the most eliminations in one season. There hasn’t been someone to do that in a long time, and for him to join some of the best speaks volumes about what a great competitor he is. Even though he may be great at the competition part, he is not in love with the drama as much, but his persona, the quality of a peacemaker and peacemaker, brings fresh air to the franchise.
7Laurel Stucky
When audiences metLaurel StuckyduringThe Challenge: Fresh Meat II,it was clear that she was bound to become aChallengelegend.During her rookie season, she came in full force and showed how good she could be at the gamewhile also having a good political game. After her rookie season,MTVput a lot of trust in her and brought her on for many different seasons.
After that, she went on to be the winner ofThe Challenge: Free Agents.Besides being a good competitor, Laurel is no stranger to being involved with drama in the house and even having different showmances during her appearances. Not only was she great on TV, but her ongoing feud and friendship with Cara Maria Sorbello brought a different perspective to the show by having two of the strongest female competitors at each other every time.
6Devin Walker
Devin Walkermade it into the list of the bestChallengecontestants not because he won his first season duringRide or Dies,but because he is excellent at politics and mind games. When he came into his first season duringRivals II, he was eliminated early but had the opportunity to return mid-season.
What made his rookie season shine was that he could get underChallengeveteran Johnny Banana’s mind and mess with and go head-to-head with him. It had been long since a rookie decided to go against the best in the game and mess with his head.He is known for having a tremendous political match and being able to get under many of his competition’s skin.Being aChallengelegend means being a winner, recognizing your other strengths, and using them to your advantage; in this case, Devin knows he can be more intelligent than everyone else and manipulate his way through the game.
