10. Abram Boise and Mike Boise — Bloodlines(6th Place)

They came in as replacements during the third episode of Bloodlines; the Boise brothers were the MVPs of an overall boring season that was Bloodlines. While the drama between Cara/Abra/Thomas/Bananas was the headline during their stay for the season, they came into the game with no preparation and killed it. Abram was key to the red team winning all of the daily challenges as he acted as a captain in some of them while just destroying others. Out of the 4 people that finished the daily challenge where a person had to swim down into the ocean and get in 6 air tanks, Abram and Mike both did it. Abe has always been good at the Challenge, but he came on this season with more tattoos and burns than ever, and also with a dad bod. In the end his team won every single daily challenge. His brother Mike was always on the losing side, but he completed every single daily challenge with flying colors and consistently wanted to test himself while others were scared. His destruction of the room in the sledge-hammer elimination was one of the most impressive wins that I have ever seen. Mike ended up losing due to him having to face Zach instead of CT in the pole elimination. That was CT post-Diem’s passing, and he had not been working out, slimmest CT I’ve ever seen. Zach looked incredibly fit.

9. Cory Wharton and Mitch Reid — Bloodlines(2nd Place)

Two bloodlines teams in a row!?! I’m sorry, it just played out that way. Despite a lot of people pumping up Cory’s chest, saying that he’s going to be the new face of the Challenge, he was oddly the weak link on this pairing during Bloodlines. His bad knee killed them in all endurance/strength portions of the competition. However, Cory is one of the social favorites in the house as he makes friends with both sides and is able to put his head down and just compete. This bit him in the ass on Rivals 3 when he dipped his toes into too many alliances and they all caught wind of him. The reason this team was so strong was due to one guy though — Cousin Mitch. In the Challenge house you get a lot of athletic guys who are very dumb, and what sets them apart is being skilled at certain sports — swimming, long distance running, lifting, and core strength. Mitch is the example of what happens of when you put a decent athlete with an actual above average intelligence on the Challenge. Not like above average for the Challenge, but someone who took AP/Honors classes and took Calculus for fun. Sarah Rice does not deserve to call herself the puzzle master in the presence of Mitch, she does them for fun, but he demolishes them in quicker time like nothing. Intelligence in the Challenge house scares people and forces them to act irrationally. This made them a strong pair.

8. Zach Nichols and Trey Weatherholtz — Rivals 2(6th Place)

Despite getting eliminated on the 5th episode, and only the 3rd male elimination, Zach and Trey remain the mystery team of what could have been. They won the first two daily challenges of the season, proceeded to finish second in the next one, and an unknown close to first placing in the fourth. The two competitors complemented each other well, and they were a perfect balance of strength, speed, upper body, and swimming. I am probably overrating them, but a lot of this is probably due to the fact that all we saw of them was good competition. They ended up in the elimination against Ty and LeRoy due to Trey tripping on the get go of a Challenge, and then everyone going for Zach. In the elimination, I know they cheated, but if you watched the elimination, it was somewhat baffling, they could have easily won without cheating. It was the easiest floor level — one that Preston did fairly quickly on the same elimination a few episodes later. Before that happened, no guy on that season could size up with Zach, as he was in his physical prime, and Trey had crazy upper body strength with Wes Welker type speed. As much as I dislike Zach, the guy is actually a tiny bit book smart, and I believe that they were the best team on that season when they got eliminated.

7. LeRoy Garrett and Mike Ross — Rivals 1(3rd place)

Talk about Rookies of the Year! In a house overwhelmed with legends and challenge veterans — Bananas, Kenny, Wes, Evan, Tyler, Adam, and Nehemiah, the two rookies, LeRoy and Mike made it all the way to the final. Adam Royer was LeRoy’s original partner, and even though they won the first challenge of the season, he was a terrible partner. Adam was a hothead who would have put a target on their back through drama, and he had no skill besides being slightly athletic. Everyone on the Challenge is basically athletic, but the reason why Mike Ross was good, was that he was a smart dude who could balance LeRoy’s raw strength and lack of knowledge very well. Kenny and Wes were terrified of facing Mike in the scenario that the elimination is a puzzle, so instead they went after Davis and Tyrie and later Ty and Brandon, who they viewed as lesser athletes than them. Mike and LeRoy as good friends established incredible chemistry on daily challenges as they finished near the top of almost all daily challenges that did not involve water. Even though he was not the best physical competitor by far, Mike always competed with heart and had great game strategy on how to do the challenges efficiently. LeRoy was incredibly clutch as he won the final daily challenge of the season in order to get the team into the final and force the famous CT/Adam and Bananas/Tyler elimination. They may not have finished the final, but day one of the final may have been the toughest final in Challenge history, and it was the first time a final had ever been anywhere near that difficult. Mike and LeRoy pushed themselves so hard to finish that final on Day 1 that their bodies were dead on Day 2. They may have quit with the mountain climb, but even TJ didn’t care, he knew 3rd place received 0 dollars, and he told the rookies that he actually respected them a lot, and it probably was not safe for them to keep going.

6. Christopher “CT” Tamburello and Adam King — Rivals 1(4th place)

They may have not made the final, and we are unsure of whether Adam ever accepted CT’s friend request, but the CT and Adam pairing was a historic one on Rivals 1. Some people forget this, but it had been over 5 seasons since CT had competed on a Challenge. He had the fight with Adam on the Duel 2 that happened on the first night, so he never competed during a single daily challenge, and on Cutthroat he only showed up as a heavy-hitter for a single elimination(a historic one). After spending a long time in Challenge purgatory, they finally released CT out of his cage for Rivals 1, and he proved to them why he is a beast. The duo finished the top 2 in every single daily challenge, until a unfortunate DQ by CT on the final challenge before the final. The house had their eyes on taking CT out the whole season and he either won immunity, or they were too afraid of losing Wes and Kenny against him. CT and Adam took out Evan and Nehemiah easily in an elimination, and then proceeded to hook up with the yellow team — Mandi(CT) and Jenn(Adam). Weird part about this team is that to this day, people wonder if Adam threw the final elimination so that his friends would make the final. Adam’s biggest strength was his speed, and he was one of the fastest guys in the house, but he messed up two to three times bringing the wrong balls up the hills in Balls In. CT was the first person to finish in the elimination by far, and then he proceeded to put a big hit on Tyler and Bananas, and then a second hit on Tyler, but Adam was still not able to drag the ball in on time. It’s really fishy, but I like to believe that he did not 100% blow the elimination, but I do believe Adam did not have his heart in it. I feel this could have been an all time pair, but Adam was very lacking when it came to muscle and strength, in the final for Rivals 1, they probably would have lost to Wes and Kenny. CT did not have the best endurance then, and Adam weighed only about 140 lbs, his body would not have held up during that final. One guy was too big, the other was too small, and event though they dominated daily challenges, they didn’t have the ability to win the final.