3 Seasons: Cutthroat (3rd place), Battle of the Exes (3rd place), Rivals II (Win)

5–0 Elimination Record

8 Challenge Wins

Daily Challenges: 9.5/10

Eliminations: 10/10

Finals: 9.5/10

Politics: 7.5/10

Most Challenge fans would likely say the top three female competitors in the show’s history are in some order Evelyn, Laurel and Emily.

Emily usually falls in the number three spot, and it’s mainly just for one reason — her lack of longevity.

And that lack of longevity is why she stands at number four in my rankings.

With just three seasons under her belt (compared to Laurel’s five and Evelyn’s seven), it speaks to how excellent Emily was in her short time on the show that she’s still on my Mount Rushmore of females.

Although it’s not long, Emily’s resume speaks for itself.

Emily was clearly not in as good of shape in her rookie season as she would be later in her career (when she got into CrossFit and became arguably the most physically fit female in the history of the show), but she was still one of the best females on Cutthroat. She took out Melinda in Handcuffs and Paula in Pole Me Over to reach the final.

But it was just her and Jenn on the blue team in the finals, and they had no chance of winning.

Partnered with her ex-flame Ty on Exes, the pair found themselves on the wrong side of the numbers in a veteran-stacked cast. They were thrown into elimination twice and went in once for losing a mission, but came out on top all three times.

Against Leroy/Naomi in Banded Together, Emily and Ty finished the elimination before Naomi even got to the pole.

Then Emily manhandled Cara in X-Battle, winning the second round in literally two seconds and prompting Mark to say, “Emily competes almost like a dude.”

And in the second-to-last elimination Hall Pass, Emily defeated her future partner Paula.

Emily was a beast in the final but was held back by Ty’s lack of cardio, causing them to finish third.

There was no doubt who was the favorite on the girls’ side of Rivals II when Emily was paired with Paula. And the duo lived up to expectations, winning six out of 10 missions and never seeing an elimination. Emily capped off her career with a victory, cementing her place as one of the best female competitors in Challenge history.

While I’m not including the Champs vs. series in my rankings, it should at least be noted that she won Champs vs. Stars and was by far the best female on the show, outperforming world-class athletes like Kim Glass, Michelle Waterson and Shawn Johnson. She won two MVPs, including winning the Sink or Swim mission to reach the final.

Politically, Emily isn’t really known for being a strategist, but she hasn’t been actively bad either.

On Cutthroat she went into elimination twice before Jenn went in once, but she felt as a rookie it was her place to go in rather than the established vet. There wasn’t anything she could do on Exes to crack the vet alliance of Johnny/Camila, Mark/Robin, CT/Diem and Dunbar/Paula.

On Rivals II her and Paula were in strong alliances with Diem/Aneesa and Camila/Jemmye, along with most of the veteran guys. Emily’s relationship with Jordan also helped them pick up the rookie team of him and Marlon.

If Emily returns to the show and puts together one or two more excellent seasons, she will be in consideration for the greatest of all time. But for her now, her only having done three seasons keeps her from cracking the top three.

Rankings

25. Tonya Cooley

24. Holly Shand

23. Ruthie Alcaide

22. Theresa Gonzalez

21. Jenna Compono

20. Jillian Zobroski

19. Diem Brown

18. Tori Deal

17. Dee Nguyen

16. Kam Williams

15. Jenn Grijalva

14. Tori Hall

13. Jodi Weatherton

12. Ashley Mitchell

11. Veronica Portillo

10. Paula Meronek

9. Susie Meister

8. Coral Smith

7. Rachel Robinson

6. Sarah Rice

5. Camila Nakagawa

4. Emily Schromm

3. Cara Maria Sorbello

2. Evelyn Smith