4 Seasons: The Gauntlet (Final), Gauntlet II (Win), Inferno III (Final), Battle of the Seasons

5–1 Elimination Record

23 Challenge Wins

Daily Challenges: 10/10

Eliminations: 10/10

Finals: 9/10

Politics: 6/10

This is by far the hardest person to rank on this list for me. In terms of overall career, you could put Alton anywhere from 8 to 17 and I really wouldn’t argue.

There’s no denying that Alton is an absolute supernova of a competitor, arguably the GOAT at his peak. But he also has just four seasons under his belt, and in one of them (Battle of the Seasons), he clearly didn’t want to be there.

Alton was the top performing male on the Real World team on his first season, The Gauntlet, and only had to go into elimination once, where he dominated Latterian in Pole Climb. Coral’s spider bite in the final kept Real World from winning the season.

He truly established himself as one of the all-time greats on Gauntlet II. Alton won the opening Royal Rumble challenge, making him the team captain of the rookies and forcing him to go into the Gauntlet every time the rookies lost on guys elimination days.

His singular brilliance in daily challenges on Gauntlet II helped the rookies win nine out of 15 missions over the more-proven vets, and the rookies ultimately won the season (in probably the dumbest final of all time).

He went into elimination three times, and although his competition (Danny Dias, Adam King and Jeremy Blossom) wasn’t exactly the cream of the crop, he absolutely demolished them. There wasn’t time to blink before he scaled the cargo net on Capture the Flag against Adam and Jeremy, and he threw Danny around like a rag doll in Beach Brawl.

He returned on Inferno III to solidify himself as the greatest competitor in the history of The Challenge to date (Landon only had done two seasons, and CT had only really been on three). He was again by far the best competitor on his team and volunteered to go in against Tyrie, where he defeated him in a puzzle elimination. But the Good Guys fell short in the finals to the Bad Asses.

Alton only having one win basically means nothing to me — it wasn’t his fault that his teams didn’t win The Gauntlet or Inferno III. Team challenge finals were often random, so I think punishing him for not having more wins is too results-oriented.

The less mentioned about Alton on Battle of the Seasons, the better. It’s not like he came on the show out of shape, but he clearly was not enjoying himself among a nearly brand new cast. He openly talked about wanting to throw his elimination, and although it didn’t seem like he quit in his and Nany’s elimination with Robb/Marie (there’s always been conflicting reports about whether or not he threw it), his heart just clearly wasn’t in the season.

His political game also was atrocious on Battle of the Seasons, as he feuded with Team San Diego and literally told Team New Orleans to throw his team into elimination, then when they did he made Dustin go in for him.

Battle of the Seasons doesn’t take away anything from what Alton did in the past, but when you only have four seasons and one of them doesn’t come close to living up to his own lofty standards, it has to affect where he ranks.

Alton is an absolute virtuoso of a competitor. The guy was good at everything, not just things that involved physicality and climbing, but he was also a proven swimmer and could solve puzzles.

Alton’s lack of longevity, the fact that all his success came in team seasons (whereas someone like Jordan won an individual and a partners season), and his lack of interest in playing the political game is what keeps him out of my top 10. Also, while his elimination wins were dominant, he never really beat a good competitor.

Alton would rank near Landon if he hadn’t come back for Battle of the Seasons, but he did and it has to be considered a stain on his résumé.

Rankings

25. Nelson Thomas

24. Paulie Calafiore

23. Leroy Garrett

22. Frank Sweeney

21. Jamie Murray

20. Tyler Duckworth

19. Hunter Barfield

18. Timmy Beggy

17. Dan Setzler

16. Zach Nichols

15. Abram Boise

14. Mike Mizanin

13. Theo Vonkurnatowski

12. Brad Fiorenza

11. Alton Williams

10. Wes Bergmann

9. Darrell Taylor

8. Derrick Kosinski

7. Kenny Santucci

6. Mark Long

5. Jordan Wiseley

4. Evan Starkman

3. Landon Lueck

2. CT Tamburello

1. Johnny Devenanzio