5 More Men and 5 Women who should be on The Challenge All Stars.
Around the premiere of The Challenge All Stars Season One I wrote about which players I wanted to see come back for future All Stars seasons. So far some of both my honorable mentions and the veterans on my list made it on the cast list for Season Two, or they are among the rumored cast for All Stars Season Three. However, there are plenty of more people that I think would be great to see come back on future seasons of All Stars.
Before I get to my list, I set myself a few rules in order for someone to be eligible. First, I did not want this list to be all of my honorable mentions from last time so limited myself to at most two of each gender. Secondly it must have been 5 years since they last were on The Challenge, as of now that means Rivals III or earlier. I am also trying to be realistic, so therefore I will not consider anyone who has become“too famous” since they are likely to be either too busy or have moved on from reality tv. Finally, it should go without saying but I won’t consider anyone who was involved with the incident on The Ruins.
Honorable Mentions:
Blair Herter (Road Rules: The Quest), David Burns (The Real World: Seattle), Aviv Melmed (The Challenge: Fresh Meat) & Melissa Beck neé Howard (The Real World: New Orleans)
Women
5. Christena Pyle (Road Rules: South Pacific)
Previous Seasons: The Inferno (Winner)
17 years since her last appearance
Christena was only on the single season of The Challenge back in the day but she was a really good competitor winning an elimination and being regarded as a big asset to the Road Rules team. On a season like The Inferno she got a bit lost in the edit due to the other huge personalities, but she is the kind of person who I think would be ideal to bring back in a “wildcard” spot. Similar to Jisela or Kendal being on All Stars 1 or Leah & Sophia on All Stars 2 since they were also not the kind of contestants that people were thinking of when All Stars was announced. We know she is still in great shape; she ran the New York City Marathon in 2019. Nowadays though, she works to promote inclusion and diversity in the professional world, so it may be difficult for her to get the time off to do The Challenge.
Men
5. Antoine de Bouverie (Road Rules: Europe)
Previous Seasons: Battle of the Sexes
19 years since his last appearance
Before the British “invasion” on Vendettas and the subsequent expansion to include casting people from all across the globe on The Challenge they had a few international contestants way back in the day from The Real World: London & Road Rules: Europe. Antoine was one of those international contestants, and he was a favorite character of mine on the single season of The Challenge he did (like I mentioned on my article of the 10 best single season competitors). He was a strong competitor, being the last man out before the finals on Battle of the Sexes. He was also a fun personality, between flirting with legitimately all of the women in the house to having his cast members teach him various American slang. He has not done any reality in a long time but I think could be a really fun out of the box choice to bring back, particularly with how the main show has gotten more international nowadays.
Women:
4. Jenn Grijalva (The Real World: Denver)
Previous Seasons: The Inferno 3, The Island (final), The Duel II, Fresh Meat II (final), Cutthroat (final) & Rivals (final)
10 years since her last appearance
Jenn started off her run on The Challenge as one of the better girls in some of the weakest female fields during her first few seasons Her game eventually changed as on her later seasons Jenn coasted on her fantastic social game to get her to three straight finals, while completely avoiding eliminations in her final two seasons. However, Jenn was never really in good enough shape to win a final while she was on the show. She was always an entertainment first cast member, whether it was her getting in fights, hooking up with both men & women or giving cutting confessionals. Nowadays she has become all about the gym and I think she would be a massive threat were she to come back for an All Stars season. I would be confident that she still has the ability to be really entertaining and play an excellent social game.
Men:
4. Noor Jehangir (Fresh Meat II)
Previous Seasons: Fresh Meat II (final)
12 years since his last appearance
Moving on from Jenn to her partner from Fresh Meat II Noor: It is a travesty to me that they only brought Noor on the one season of the show. He was a really strong competitor, finishing in a clear first place during the “fresh meat combine” and winning both a daily challenge and elimination. During Fresh Meat II Noor was pretty entertaining. He gave good confessionals and was really well liked in the house. He still seems to be in decent shape, and more than happy to do more Reality TV and game shows since he won an episode of the absurd “extreme mini golf” show Holey Moley and then competed in their finale in 2020.
Women:
3. Paula Beckert neé Meronek (The Real World: Key West)
Previous Seasons:
The Duel, The Inferno 3 (final), The Gauntlet III (final), The Island (final), The Duel II, Fresh Meat II, Cutthroat, Rivals (won), Battle of the Exes & Rivals II (won)
8 years since her last appearance
Paula is absolutely the kind of past contestant who I think of when I hear them say “All Stars.” She is a two time Challenge champion, winning Rivals & Rivals II and was an iconic personality on a season that was at times very messy and heavily involved in the drama. Paula is also one of the all time best at confessionals in the history of the show with iconic moments like talking about how she would tell her grandchildren about the Bananas backpack. However, she posted on her Instagram celebrating 8 years sobriety so I do not know how willing she would be to return, considering the partying environment is not the best for someone trying to stay sober. Assuming that she is willing to come back she is still in fine shape, posting regularly about yoga. With her plethora of previous challenges I do not think she would disappoint.
Men:
3. Theo Gantt (The Real World: Chicago)
Previous Seasons: Battle of the Sexes, The Gauntlet
18 years since his last season
Theo is an interesting case for me; he was a really strong competitor during both of his seasons on The Challenge but was fairly forgettable entertainment wise. However the seasons he competed on had really large casts and on The Real World he was a bigger character. Back in the day he was physically a beast, earning his way into the “inner circle” three times on Battle of the Sexes and being the last person eliminated before the final on The Gauntlet. He has not really been been heard from in years and I have no idea if he would want to be on All Stars, but he is the kind of guy that I would like see in the modern format of The Challenge.
Women:
2. Ellen Cho (Road Rules: The Quest)
Previous Seasons: Battle of the Sexes (final)
19 years since her last season
Ellen could have been a star if she wanted to do more seasons of The Challenge back in the day. She was one of the best athletes on a pretty strong women’s team that included Ruthie, Rachel & Veronica. She was also a cutthroat strategist, making moves to vote out her biggest competition like when she took out Veronica & Rachel. Another thing that made Ellen great on Battle of the Sexes was that she did not back down from the drama, particularly with calling out Puck for being a condescending ass. She is another person like an Antione or Theo that seemingly has no internet presence and has moved on from their time on realty tv, but if she was willing to do a season of All Stars it would be awesome to see.
Men:
2. Abram Boise (Road Rules: South Pacific)
Previous Seasons: The Gauntlet, The Inferno (won), Battle of the Sexes 2, The Inferno II (final), The Inferno 3 (won), The Island, Cutthroat (final), Battle of the Exes & Battle of the Bloodlines
6 years since his last season
Abram is a challenge legend, and on a personal note one of my all time favorite players. Across more than a decade on the show he was a great competitor and one of the all time most interesting personalities. I am shocked that he has not already been on one of the first few seasons of The Challenge All Stars, considering that he was on the regular show performing at a high level not that long ago. He is a two time champion and represented more of the old school mentality when he was brought back during the Johnny Bananas era, standing up to him by, for example, insisting on calling him by his name John instead of the Bananas nickname. Abe is still in good shape like he proved as one of the top competitors on the Red Team during Battle of the Bloodlines. Abram is such a weird personality on the show and I hope we see him on All Stars soon.
Women:
1. Emily Bender neé Bailey (Road Rules USA: The Second Adventure)
Previous Seasons: Extreme Challenge (final), Battle of the Seasons (2002)(final) & Battle of the Sexes
19 years since her last season
I know that for a lot of people Emily’s run on The Challenge was before they became fans of the show, but she was a great reality tv villain and if she had done more seasons could have been up there with people like Beth. Emily was one of the elite competitors in her day. On Battle of the Seasons she was in the “inner circle” for the entire season and was in the “inner circle” for the majority of Battle of the Sexes. Strategically, she ran Battle of the Sexes, manipulating her fellow inner circle members into voting out enemies like Veronica and the other stronger competitors on their team like Rachel & Aneesa in order to preserve her power. Then after manipulating the game she made the ultimate selfish move of quitting after her boyfriend was voted off the men’s team. She is married to someone else now though, so she is not going to quit the game for a boyfriend. It would be incredible to get one of the OG Challenge Villains back for All Stars.
Men:
- Eric Nies (The Real World: New York)
Previous Seasons: Road Rules: All Stars (won), Battle of the Sexes & Battle of the Sexes 2 (won)
19 years since his last season
There is not a more old school competitor you could find to bring on All Stars than Eric Nies. He is from the very first season of The Real World and competed on the very first season of The Challenge as well. Eric Nies is a legend and having him back on All Stars is obvious to me. He was on the first season of The Real World Homecoming earlier this year, so not being on the first season of All Stars made some sense, but Paramount should absolutely bring him on now. He won Battle of the Sexes 2 back in the day, and even though he would be one of the oldest guys in the house he is still in good shape, so you never know. I think it is worth it to bring him back no matter what.
