The Challenge Theory VIII: Top 10 WORST Competitors

About a month ago, I made a list of my top 10 male and female challenge competitors. However, I have now decided to make a list of the absolute WORST competitors in challenge history. Now the order isn't exactly dictated by how many eliminations lost or how many missions lost, but merely has to do with how pathetic these players have been in challenge history. Okay, let us get to the order:

#10 - Casey Cooper

While Casey might be known for being the most pathetic competitor in challenge history there is a reason why she is so low on this list. Casey originally came onto the show during "Fresh Meat" (2006) when she was paired up with Wes. Because she was apart of the dreaded "Austin" alliance, her and her allies were targeted early and often. During the first four exiles, Wes and Casey went up against Danny and Evelyn, Melinda and Ryan, Johanna and Jesse, and finally Tonya and Johnnie. By the end of the challenge, Wes and Casey had amassed five total elimination victories and a trip to the final mission where they ended up getting third place. Now the main problem with Casey was the fact that she was a giant wuss. During the "Jump Down Under" mission, Casey refused to even participate in the mission because of her extreme fear of heights and it started the reputation that Casey was a giant pussy. Casey would participate in three more challenges and the final one made her reputation much worse. In "The Ruins" (2009), Casey was apart of the Challengers Team where it appeared she did everything that she could to not win missions. The Challengers had a chance to get rid of her early in the game, but because Breanna wanted to go into an elimination against Susie, that chance was dashed. And because the Champions refused to get rid of her because she was winning money for them, she slipped all the way down to the final elimination. Casey was so pathetic during this challenge that in the mission "Rotary Club", Casey failed so much to roll down the hill that she was seen pissing off her team leader, Brad. Casey would eventually be eliminated by Susie to the chagrin of Johnny "Bananas" because she threatened to throw the final mission if she wasn't allowed to go up against Casey.

#9 - Tyrie Ballard 

Tyrie in my eyes could have been a good player because he is big, but unfortunately he either didn't have a good partner or he didn't have a lot of luck. He started his challenge career on the "Inferno III" (2007) where he played for the Bad A**es and wasn't originally voted into his first elimination. However, since Abram won a life shield, he decided to put his rookie teammate into an inferno with Alton. Even though Tyrie lost, he did make a large speech at the end saying he will be extremely upset if either Alton makes it to the end or if the Good Guys win the final mission. Tyrie would then leave early during his second challenge because of health concerns with his girlfriend and would get booted out of his fourth challenge after losing "Blast Off" with his partner Davis against Wes and Kenny. The sad part about this was the fact that Tyrie used to play for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in college. One could point out that the reason why they lost was because of Davis, but a lot of it should have rested on Ty as well. At the end of the day, Tyrie finished his challenge career on "Battle of the Exes" (2012) after being partnered with Jasmine and losing to Rachel and Aneesa in an elimination. Tyrie looked like he could have been a strong player, but failed to pan out because he couldn't win a single elimination.

#8 - Laterrian Wallace "LT"

Unlike the great Lawrence Taylor and the great LaDainian Tomlinson, Laterrian never earned his nickname in the challenges. He original season was "Road Rules: Maximum Velocity Tour" where there were great challenge competitors like Theo, James, and Holly, but "LT" never lived up to anywhere close that those three did. He did compete in one final mission on "Extreme Challenge"(2001) , but that is only because there were no eliminations on that show. He then started a challenge skid starting with "Battle of the Sexes" (2003) where he competed in two missions, "Sergeant Says" and "Dead Man's Drop" where he finished in last place both times. He wasn't eliminated on the first episode because former "Mr. Big", David Edwards quit the show. In his next season he lamented all of his "bravado", but the rise in maturity did not help Laterrian go to the end as he was eliminated by Alton in "Pole Dancing". The Road Rules Team flirted with getting rid of him early, but after apologizing to Sarah for knocking her into the pool in "Rolling on a River" made the team gun for Sarah just as much as they usually do. I just think that it was crazy that Laterrian was so physically strong, but he was just really bad at missions and his head was rarely in the game.

#7 - Katelynn Cusanelli 

Katelynn is known for being the first transgender person to ever be on "Real World" and the first to ever star on "The Challenge". She originally starred on "Fresh Meat 2" (2010) where she drafted Brandon. She came in with a lot of bravado of claiming that she did martial arts and she was going to take down Kenny. Lets just say that she didn't end up doing anything and really embarrassed herself on "King of the Wall" where she slipped on the climbing wall and ended up doing some major damage to her legs. Because of this, her and Brandon were unable to compete in the exile. However, neither were their fellow competitors Sydney and CJ because Brandon drank two beers before the exile so the team was disqualified. Regardless, Katelynn had another chance to show her stuff on "Rivals" (2011) where she was partnered up with Sarah. However, they lost in "Unburied" they went against Jonna and Jasmine and they lost and it wasn't because of Sarah. Katelynn falls into the case of "I can't believe that she performed so poorly", but a las, she did and she was terrible.

#6 - Danny Jamieson

You might think "isn't Danny a little too low on this list?" Maybe he shouldn't have been on this list at all. However, after being in six different challenges, he has not won a single one and he has NEVER won in an elimination. After gaining the first pick in the draft in "Fresh Meat" (2006), he decided to go with Evelyn and because they were apart of the "Austin" alliance, they earned a first way ticked straight to the exile where they pathetically lost to Wes and Casey. On his second challenge, "Inferno III" (2007), Danny went up against Davis in "Watch Your Back" and lost. Then went up against Adam King in "Ball Brawl", but was embarrassed by a much smaller competitor. Then went up against Darrell on "The Ruins" (2009) in "Oh Ring", which was one where he didn't have a chance in. Finally, Danny went up against Eric and Camila on "Battle of the Seasons" (2012) in "Balls Out" with his ex wife, Melinda. Again, Danny had a lot of huge competitive edge, but was never able to compose himself and was never able to come back to a role in a high alliance.

#5 - Melinda Stolp

Unlike her ex-husband, Danny, there is absolutely no question that Melinda deserves the 5th spot on this list. Not just because she is a horrible player that has been to five different challenges and not been to a single final mission, but also because she has never won an elimination challenge. I do remember when she was on "The Gauntlet III" (2008) and she boasted to being on of the best players on the rookie team, but she absolutely, positively was not even close to being the best player on the team. She was clearly below Johanna, below Rachel, way below Jillian and Tori. I would say that she was probably the worst female competitor on the whole challenge. You see, Melinda's M.O. was to ally herself with strong competitors, but due to the fact that she was always a weak player, she never was able to get past a single elimination.

#4 - Jisela Delgado

From the beginning of Jisela's time on MTV, which was on "Road Rules: The Quest" (2001), where she was the one and only cast member that was eliminated and replaced by Katie Doyle, she has never been seen as being a good player. In her three total challenges, Jisela has never won an individual mission and after "Battle of the Sexes" (2003), she also never won an elimination. One of the biggest things that I feel like puts her at the number four spot is the fact that in her final challenge "The Gauntlet II" (2005), Jisela went against Ruthie and "Reverse Tug of War" and appeared to have quit the elimination. Now it would have been better for the veterans team if she had lost, but she quit none the less as she looked like she gave up. That happened to be the last of Jisela's challenges, which was probably a good thing because she would continue to compete poorly and she would also have been eliminated early.

#3 - Brooke LaBarbera

I will say right now that Brooke should have never been on "The Challenge" in the first place. She is a good person that ends up becoming dramatic at times, but she was absolutely terrible when it came to missions and eliminations as she would always complain about being a former bailarina. She just doesn't seem to have very much fight in her and wasn't often trusted by her teammates. At one point in "The Gauntlet III" (2008) she argued with Johanna to get a better job in one of the missions, but she was denied that. She did get close to Evelyn and then Davis and Ryan in a gay orgy, but otherwise she didn't do very much to improve her competitive edge. I guess the one thing that puts her apart from the two below her is the fact that she never quit during an elimination.

#2 - Shauvon Torres

If this was a list of the players with the biggest breasts, Shauvon would be at the top of this list. However, in the missions and in the eliminations, she is by far the worst. She has appeared in three challenges and in those challenges she has never won an elimination, she has never done well in any mission, she has quit during a mission and she has quit an elimination. So while she "tried hard" against Aneesa in "The Duel II" (2009) to try to win, but she failed. She is also really good at getting the rest of the house to dislike her because she truly is an annoying drunk and she acts like she is better than she actually is, but she is not.

#1 - Alex Smith

Now Alex was only in one challenge, but the outcome of that challenge shows that he is the worst competitor in the history of "The Challenge". Not only because he appeared to quit in his one and only mission, which was "Pinata Pit", but also because he quit against Nehemiah in "Force Field". In Alex's defense, him and Nehemiah were at the elimination for a good thirty to forty-five minutes, but he also had completely given up. At the end of the day, it would have been good to see what else Alex could have done, but he will always be known for being on that one challenge and competing like utter crap and quitting.

The Challenge Theory VII: Did Susie and Cara Try to Sabotage the Rookie Team?

In late 2005, Murray/Bunim Productions aired "The Gauntlet 2" on MTV, which pitted the rookies against the veterans. A veteran was a challenge alumni who had previously participated in two or more "Real World Road Rules Challenges" and a rookie was a person who had either been to one or had never participated in a challenge. Probably the biggest controversy that occurred on the show was whether or not rookie girls Susie and Cara tried to sabotage the rookie team. Now I have never seen the reunion special for the show so I don't know exactly what was said on there that could have pertained to this theory, but I am going to try to tell it to the best of my ability.

Now, during the challenge, there were two male and female captains for both teams. If your team won then you and your team captain was safe, but if your team lost, then your team captain or your team would have to vote or pick a player from your team that matched their gender to compete in an elimination challenge. In theory, you could make a deal with members of the opposite gender on the other team in order to throw the missions on days where the opposite gender would compete in gauntlet eliminations. This came into play midway through the challenge when rookie captain, Kina was approached by Jillian with information that two of their teammates were going to throw missions.

According to Jillian, rookie girls Susie and Cara were approached by veteran guys, Timmy, Brad and David with a secret plan. If Jillian, Susie and Cara promised to throw men's gauntlet missions, then Timmy, Brad and David would throw female gauntlet missions. This would save all six members of this alliance and take them to the final mission on their respective teams. Now, this is merely what Jillian said to Kina, but was she being honest? Was she telling the truth? Your skepticism can come into play when after the mission "Team Races" where both teams had to push a manual transmission truck with bricks on it, and afterwards the rookie team held a meeting. Both Susie and Cara thought that the meeting was over why they were not allowed to participate in the mission as much as they wanted to and then it came out that the team thought they were trying to sabotage the game.

Immediately, Susie started crying and Cara started defending both of them, claiming they would never do something like that. Kina then told them that Jillian approached her about it and that was how the episode ended with the next episode beginning with Jillian admitting that Kina and Susie never agreed to a deal but merely just discussed it. Now why would Cara and Susie having an alliance be beneficial to them? On the rookie team, there were numerous members of "Road Rules: X-Treme" that included Kina, Jillian, Ibis, and Jodi with Cara and Susie being the odd players out that were not part of that specific season. This would cause Kina to throw either of the two of them in whenever she wanted to if the rookie team lost on a female gauntlet day.

Now Kina did eventually nominate Cara to go into a gauntlet elimination against her and Cara did lose, but do I think that Susie and Cara actually had an alliance with the veteran team? I personally don't think so. I think they were propositioned by Timmy, David and Brad, but I don't think anything concrete came of it. So the real question is what was the motivation by Jillian to lie about what actually happened? I mean, it is completely possible that because Jillian and Kina weren't on "Road Rules: X-Treme" at the same time as Jillian was actually a replacement for Ibis, who appeared two episodes after Kina was eliminated so maybe she wanted to gain an extra leg on Ibis and Jodi by telling her this information. However, I don't understand how Jillian could have been so idiotic to tell Kina a half-lie and not have the information get back to her team as her merely lying. Now it is possible that Jillian thought that Cara and Susie were in an alliance, but that they never agreed with the alliance in the first place. Either way, it lead to Cara getting eliminated and it really didn't save Jillian anyways because she was also eliminated by Kina in the final girl's gauntlet.

Susie and Cara