Nelson Thomas: 29 years old, 5'9, 4 Seasons, 1 Final, Highest Finish: 2nd Place Invasion of the Champions, 6–1–1 elimination record

Shane Landrum: 37 years old, 5'11, 6 Season, 0 Finals, Highest Finish: 5th Battle of the Sexes 1 and 5th Invasion of the Champions, 1 Spinoff, 1–4 elimination record

Team Skills & Physical Strength: Before Joss debuted nobody on the show put more work into their body than Nelson. If you watch his daily Instagram stories, Nelson is always working to improve his body in different ways. One day he is doing hot yoga, another day he is running sprints at an actual track, or he will doing Tae Kwan Do, and of course his normal cardio and cross-fit training. Nelson does not have the natural ability of a Zach or a Hunter; he has the heart and hustle of a lion. If an elimination were to be “run into a brick wall for an hour”, Nelson would destroy everyone on this cast. The problem is he is clumsy, not great with heights, and not a strong swimmer, which are all major skills needed to succeed on the Challenge.

Shane could complement Nelson as he is a thoughtful competitor who figures out the right strategies to approach every challenge. Nelson goes guns blazing and sometimes falls on his face because of it. Shane needs the physicality and strength to support him when playing strategic is not enough. In this partnership, Nelson needs to listen to Shane; Shane has been competing on reality television shows for half of his life at this point, experience matters.

In a perfect world, they put their sexual tension aside and run the gauntlet physically to earn their spot in the final where they are the best team cardio wise. If you subscribe to a more pessimistic approach you will figure Nelson will have them finishing in last during a swimming challenge and Shane will lose the subsequent headbanger elimination for them.

SSMP (Social, Strategic, Mental, and Political) Game: Nelson plays an overt and loyal game politically. He is loyal to his AYTO family, he is loyal to Amanda, and has friendships in the game with Joss and Brad. Cory/Devin and Hunter/Ashley potentially entering the game would give him two ally teams to align himself with. Shane is close with many of the same females as Nelson, the difference is he is more friendly with everyone in the house. This makes Shane less of an obvious target, although it is easy for people to nominate him as he is a friend and not an alliance sometimes.

They might have to align with the other dual male teams this season. If a weak team gets power, their team will be an obvious target for whom to throw in if you are trying to get a strong team out. Nelson needs to stop hanging out with Natalie because every time she promises to help him out, she just ends up voting him into eliminations and literally doing anything but saving him.

Eliminations & Winning Potential: Shane has a bad history in eliminations. His one win was in a “carnival game” elimination where strategy was the most crucial element. He does not win physical headbanger eliminations. His performances against Cory and Jordan with his game on the line were depressing. Shane played the game hard until it mattered most. Nelson does not bring the same consistency, except he pushes his hardest in the elimination arena. Maybe it is the fighter in him, Nelson approaches the elimination arena like it is life or death. If Nelson could go over an hour with Darrell and take out Hunter, he can take on mostly anyone on this cast.

This team can win this season. If they figure out how to work with one another and truly vibe, they can out-run any team in a final. The duo has a hunger to win. Nelson was two minutes away from winning Invasion and he wants the title of Champion more than anyone. Shane is one of the greatest players to never win and the greatest player to never make the final. The hunger is there.

Nelson’s Rating: 87/100

Shane’s Rating: 87/100

Team Score: 88/100