Cara Maria: 32 years old, 5'4, 11 seasons, 6 Finals, 2x Champion: Battle of Bloodlines and Vendettas, 1 Spinoff, 1 Spinoff Win Champs vs Pros, 12–5 elimination record

Marie Roda: 29 years old, 5'6, 4 seasons, 0 Final, Highest Finish: 5th Place Battle of the Seasons (2012), 1–4 elimination record

Team Skills & Physical Strength: It took a good long minute to figure out this team is probably not that great at any one thing physically. They are not winning a swimming challenge, not winning a sprint or a marathon, cannot lift as much weight as any of the co-ed or dual male teams, and neither player has a great history with heights related challenges. Cara is an experience competitor and has improved in “carnival game” challenges. If we see the same Cara who dominated challenges on Bloodlines and Dirty 30, then maybe she can elevate Marie who has mostly been middling her entire career. The most optimistic viewpoint is Marie looks like she is in significantly better shape based on her recent Instagram posts. A super fit Marie is something we have never seen, she has never been out of shape, but a sporty Marie who can win challenges makes them a potentially dangerous team.

Compared to the other dual female pairs, this team has a size and strength edge. Cara Maria has a long history of winning physical elimination against bigger competitors and Marie is built to tackle to people and get physical. If there is an elimination scenario where one competitor participates, no girl is beating Cara 1 v 1 physically on this cast except for maybe Kam.

SSMP (Social, Strategic, Mental, and Political) Game: What gets lost sometimes is Cara Maria has slowly become one of the best puzzle competitors in Challenge history. Back when the pressure would mount on her and she would shut down, her puzzle skills were non-existent. Now, she is experienced and can handle most puzzles. Her biggest strength is she has an incredible short-term memory where she can memorize codes and patterns quickly. She won the Vendettas final, the Dirty 30 Redemption, and the final challenge of Rivals 2 based on her memorization skills. At this point, people should fear her as much in puzzles as they should in something physical. Cara can also eat like a Champion.

Cara’s political game will be much weaker than it was on Vendettas or Dirty 30. On those seasons where people played as individuals, the male competitors made it a point to not vote in Cara Maria because they wanted to run the final with her if they got split into pairs. This season they will be trying to get her out because she has won finals. She is close with the three strongest males: CT, Bananas, and Zach, the question is will they protect her? I expect CT to help her, the others not so much. This is where Marie comes in. Marie has her Dolphins alliance of Sylvia, Kam, and Kailah. Literally, three girls who under any other circumstance would try to vote Cara into elimination will not until the late game because of her partner. Marie also understands how to play the game. Being partnered with Cara Maria gives her power she has never had in the game before, expect Marie to make use of it.

Eliminations & Winning Potential: Marie had good elimination losses against Tori and Kailah. When you look at Marie’s Challenge career her losses have only come to players you probably knew were better than her going in. It would be more interesting to see Marie go against Veronica, Britni, or Aneesa to see where she actually stacks up within the tiers of competitors on the show. Cara has won almost every type of elimination or challenge in the history of the show (even a swimming one!), it is something she does not want to see, but she has more experience than any girl in Challenge history. It has actually been two seasons since she last saw an elimination. She is only one away from tying Wes for all the record in elimination wins for regular challenge seasons.

Can this team to win? It is predicated on whether Marie can figure out the moves to get them the win. Shane/Nelson, Paulie/Natalie, Kyle/Brad, and Bananas/Partner cannot be in the final if they want to win. They will outrun them even with puzzles/food included.

Cara Maria’s Rating: 94/100

Marie’s Rating: 76/100

Team Score: 84/100