The Top “Flash in the Pan” Seasons by Challenge Contestants

A few weeks ago we lost Jay & Michelle in the elimination. Through the first half of the season, the pair were who I had as my MVPs in my Midseason Review. Both of them were some of the biggest characters of the season and they now look poised to be big factors in future Challenge seasons. In their previous Challenge seasons neither has really had the opportunity to be the main focus of a season. Jay, (though he was memorable), went out early on Total Madness and then on Double Agents, he went under the radar until the game blew up in his face. Michele did make some waves early on Spies, Lies & Allies but ultimately went home so early, (in just the fourth episode), that she was not a big factor. Time will only tell; maybe this is the start of Jay & Michele becoming a major focus on the show going forward in future seasons. But it is just as likely their prominence on Ride or Dies ends up being the only time the pair are major parts of the season. Therefore they may go down as a flash in the pan.

There have been other players who have really sparked in previous seasons, (and looked similarly poised to be future faces of the show), but never returned or returned only to be overshadowed and become a smaller factor again. It is not that I dislike players within this category or think that they were bad on the show; as a matter of fact, some of the contestants on this list are some of my all-time favorites. But the fact remains that they were on several seasons and had one season where they were a much bigger part of the action. Whether these contestants were overshadowed by bigger personalities on other seasons or they were under-edited by production, they each had one season where they much more notable.

Ruthie Alcaide on Battle of the Sexes

Ruthie is a personal favorite contestant of mine. She always played the game with an independent mind, and although she is small she did not back down from a fight. She was a tough competitor to boot. She was a major personality on her Real World season and shortly after came to compete on The Challenge.

She competed on a total of five seasons and although she did solid in other seasons she truly had her ‘flash in the pan’ moment during her first season, Battle of the Sexes. Ruthie notably was one of the top overall competitors, competing at the same level as the men and at times even beating them by herself. She was also often involved in the story and drama of that season by being in power as a member of the women’s Inner Circle from the second episode all the way through to the final. Though Ruthie and the other women lost the final, it looked like she was destined to be a champion before long especially considering the frequency of bigger teams winning.

She came back and had a good season on Battle of the Sexes 2 but was less of a focus with big characters like Coral, Tina, Tonya & Robin on the women’s team. She was the initial team captain of the Veterans on The Gauntlet 2 but again was overshadowed in terms of screen time and lost an elimination due to an unfortunate luck of the draw in elimination game. After a significant break, Ruthie returned for The Duel II where she made it halfway through but her small stature hindered her, and was ousted by Kimberly. Finally, most recently Ruthie appeared on All Stars where she was quiet, (apart from one big fight with Aneesa), and had a very disappointing finale performance.

Adam King on Rivals

Adam was often seen as a pretty amiable nice guy, although his constant attempts to hit on every woman on the show was cringey. He was a decent athletic competitor particularly when it came to balance and speed, although his size and lack of physical strength frequently hurt him.

Adam appeared on a total of six seasons of The Challenge. He made his way onto Battle of the Sexes 2 where he was an afterthought and gone quickly as just the third man sent home. He returned for Gauntlet 2 where he was again quite unremarkable within the season's narrative and ultimately got destroyed in an elimination which Alton let him hand pick. His next appearance was on The Gauntlet III, (his best season in terms of placement), where he was a runner-up but was overshadowed almost the entire season by the other major personalities on the Veterans team.

After a few seasons off Adam returned for a single episode of The Duel II where he didn’t even make it to the first challenge as he got into the infamous brawl with CT. Adam followed that up with another early exit, even though he was one of the self-proclaimed “heavy hitters” on the Challengers team alongside Brad, Dunbar & Danny. He definitively got beaten by Syrus in the third elimination.

In Rivals, his final season, Adam broke out from his norm and was a massive part of the season's narrative. In terms of game performance, he and CT won two daily challenges and an elimination and made it all the way to the last elimination. The dynamic of CT’s repeated attempts to reconcile and for Adam to answer “Are you my friend?” was a through line for the whole season. Obviously, being paired with CT (one of the most significant people in Challenge history) helped him pop more. But even separate from CT there was the fact that Adam’s alleged friends (Johnny, Evan & Kenny) kept hanging out with him in the house and treating him like the tag-along little brother while also trying to get him and CT out of the game. Then there were Adam’s repeated attempts to get into a relationship on the show with Jenn, (but I won’t get into the alleged truth about that here). Adam was a major factor on Rivals but was never brought back, and like a flash in the pan that seems like it was the outlier.

Kina Dean on The Gauntlet 2

Kina is a name that I frequently see brought up among old-school fans when discussing who they want to see come back for a future All Stars season. (I also ranked her as an honorable mention of which players I want to see make their All Stars debut). Kina was a beautiful girl and a decent competitor who came from Road Rules X-Treme, one of the most popular Road Rules seasons. If we are being honest though, she really only had one season where she was a much more significant part of the season. In her other seasons, Kina was much more of a background character.

Kina started off her Challenge career on Battle of the Sexes 2. Where as many rookies do she went home early, in her case the third women voted out. She didn’t get much screen time and was perceived as weak due to her small stature and rookie status.

Luckily for her, Kina was then brought back for the Gauntlet 2 where she was a major focus of the season. After Jo quit the game on night one, Kina was elevated to be the Rookie Team’s Female Captain. As such, she was automatically forced to go into every elimination round if their team lost, along the way winning against two champions Cara Z and Jillian. She was a good leader and did well in daily challenges and ultimately won the season. She got into some drama, most notably Cara & Susie, and her showmance with Randy was also a continuous storyline all season long.

After her stand-out performance on The Gauntlet 2 Kina was back a third time on The Duel and she was in the dominant women’s alliance and went deep in the game (finishing in fifth place). However, Kina did not have the same success in Challenges that she had on The Gauntlet 2 and she faded back to being more of a background character and not at all as important to the seasons narrative.

Ace Amerson on The Inferno 3

A lot of people have fond feelings in regard to Ace as a character to this day, (I’m looking at you Brian Scally of The Dom and Colin Challenge Podcast). He was often seen as just being on the show to have fun and not take the game seriously. Ace also often made boneheaded mistakes that cost his teams. He was a lovable goofball and a much-needed source of fun on The Real World Paris.

He first appeared on The Inferno where he only lasted two episodes and might have set a record by how quickly he quit the Bug Helmet elimination. History repeated itself when he came back for the next season, Battle of the Sexes 2 where he was sent home second yet again after performing poorly in the dailies, (although he did hook up with Tonya, so that was something). Ace was brought back a third time for The Gauntlet 2 where he made it deeper in the game due to The Veterans team winning safety for two of the early men’s gauntlets but was not featured as much on the episodes. Eventually Ace made a big mistake that cost his team and subsequently lost in the gauntlet to Derrick.

Ace was brought back for one more normal season of The Challenge when he was placed on the Good Guys team of The Inferno 3. He made it all the way to the final, ultimately finishing as a runner-up. This was by far his best season in terms of athletic performance as he was not considered a liability to the team like he was in past seasons. He even won the “Life Shield” which saved him from going into an elimination. He also was featured pretty often, being presented as a likable guy and only really getting flack when he refused to wear a Speedo for a daily challenge. He certainly benefitted from the fact that The Inferno format is the easiest of any Challenge type to make it to the final. But that does not diminish that he was a much bigger part of this season than he was in any of his previous appearances.

Ace made one final return to The Challenge (as of December 2022) appearing on the first season of All Stars. He was overall quite glum after being voted in to elimination when he was who Laterrian asked to go against but did have some good confessionals at least. In that elimination, Ace was absolutely humiliated and the first All Star sent home. He was an alternate for All Stars 3 so there is a shot Ace returns and can look to recapture the magic that was his Inferno 3 season.

Mandi Moyer on Rivals

Mandi, in my opinion, often falls into the category of a pretty girl who ultimately is now mostly forgotten. She was much more involved in the partying and hooking up in the Challenge rather than the competition, and even then she was never really a main focus of the narrative. Mandi as a competitor was never so bad that she was on the level of Shauvon or Casey, but The Challenge is not a show that often rewards being purely mediocre.
Mandi came into The Challenge world on Fresh Meat II where politically and strategically her entire game was dictated by her partner Wes. Though she made it pretty far in the game, within the house Mandi was regularly overshadowed by bigger rookie personalities like Laurel and Theresa. She then returned for another go on Cutthroat where she had a short-lived flirtmance with Chet before getting thrown in by her Red Team and beaten by CaraMaria.

Mandi next came back to be paired with her ‘Rival’, Jenn, and had her most successful run on The Challenge by far. They were in a great place politically, as was the standard for Jenn who is one of the best politicians the Challenge has seen. Mandi also performed solidly in the challenges, winning a daily, (her only across four seasons) and more importantly never finishing last place, thus avoiding the ‘Jungle.’ Her final performance was not great as they fell far enough behind that they were disqualified before even they finished the final. Socially, she greatly benefitted from her pair but she also had a short lived flirtmance with CT and later hooked up with Wes. Mandi was also involved in a few fights in the house, most notably with Laurel, who was also romantically pursuing CT.

After showing much more life than she had in the past on Rivals, Mandi went back to her old ways and had another unremarkable season when she was partnered with Wes (again) for Battle of the Exes. She became overshadowed again by Wes’s big personality, and with his enemies winning power in the first two weeks they were thrown in the first two eliminations. First, against rookies Nate & Priscilla where Mandi managed to get her only elimination win, and then against Leroy & Naomi, where even though Mandi won her rounds the pair lost and were sent home in episode 2.

Brandon Nelson on Cutthroat

Brandon has been a competitor that is often brought up by fans in conversations surrounding who they think is underrated and players they want to see come back (both on All Stars and regular Challenge seasons). He was always a solid competitor but never really was able to get a solid foothold in the game, politically being used as a pawn or scapegoat for other people’s games.

He started off his Challenge career by being the second to last pick in the Fresh Meat draft despite performing near the top in the Fresh Meat “combine.” As a result, he ended up partnered with Katelynn who got injured and they were sent into the elimination as a ‘sacrificial lamb’ since her injury would make it a miracle for them to be able to win. Unfortunately, they were disqualified instead of competing; not even for Katelynn’s injury but because Brandon drank a beer the morning of as they had no shot of winning.

Brandon’s most impressive run on The Challenge and ‘Flash in the Pan’ moment season came when he returned for Cutthroat. He got selected to be on the Red Team, who were not a particularly successful team, (only winning two daily Challenges, both with Brandon’s help). Unfortunately for Brandon, the team was politically dominated by the veterans Brad, Dunbar, Tyler, Tori & Paula. He became their scapegoat, being thrown into elimination after elimination to protect themselves. However, Brandon thrived in those eliminations and took out Derek, JD & Ty before finally losing a tough-fought elimination to Challenge Legend Derrick. In addition to his competition success, Brandon also got into fights with several of his teammates, and other cast members like his former partner Katelynn and most notably of all Ty who he was later paired with on Rivals. After such a successful season Brandon looked poised to build on that in future seasons.

Brandon was back next season for Rivals paired with Ty. They didn’t get too far, getting thrown into the second men’s elimination. Although Brandon did well in the first round he burnt through his energy and lost to Wes in the second round. After a one-season break, Brandon came back on Battle of the Seasons (2012) as a member of Team Fresh Meat but was thrown into the Knot so Fast elimination in episode three and lost (with CaraMaria) to Sarah & Chet. Finally, he came back for Free Agents where he started well but got bad luck, getting voted in with just 4 out of 11 votes, (because the other players could not get on the same page) and by the luck of the draw went up against Zach in a Hall Brawl variant.

Brandon was allegedly one of the alternates for the second All Stars season, so there is a chance we still get to see him make his return. In these last three seasons, he showed sparks of what he did on Cutthroat but ultimately was around an average competitor and didn’t play a big factor in their narratives.

Natalie Negrotti on Vendettas

Natalie came onto the show as a part of the very first crop of people from non-MTV shows after appearing on Big Brother 18. She was entertaining on Big Brother and later went on to co-host an Ex on the Beach special and be a part of the strange part reality show part Pepsi commercial Match Me If You Can.

Natalie started off her Challenge career with a bang, showing herself to be a legitimate competitor by winning five daily challenges throughout Vendettas. With her big personality, she brought good confessionals and overall entertainment to the show. Natalie also got involved in plenty of drama with her fellow castmates and she was involved in a showmance with Bananas which was featured heavily. She made it deep in the game before losing the last women’s elimination to Kam. She was great in this season, (with Kyle,) which made me feel like there was a chance that some of the people from non-MTV shows could be a good evolution for the show.

Natalie then came right back for Final Reckoning tied to one of her Big Brother “rivals” Paulie; they lost an elimination early and eventually made their way back in the game by the grace of the redemption house and finished a pretty distant third place in the final. Paulie with his overbearing personality dominated screen time for their pair and game-wise they had some successes but also some notable failures. Natalie then came back one more time on War of the Worlds where she was again overshadowed by a cast full of big personalities and went out early when she was put in a three-way elimination in a pole wrestle against two women with significant size advantages.

Even though Natalie sputtered significantly in Final Reckoning and War of the Worlds I still would be happy to see her getting another shot. I included her on my list of 10 Veterans I (realistically) want to see Return to Shake up Next Season of The Challenge and stand by wanting to see her make a comeback, even though on The Challenge to this point she was flash in the pan.

Dustin Zito on Battle of the Seasons (2012)

Dustin was such a massive personality and one of the major focuses coming off The Real World Las Vegas (2011). He had a brief relationship with one of his castmates and later hooked up with another, he got into fights and appeared to be in great shape, poised to be a staple for The Challenge. But ultimately Dustin never was able to become the established regular on the franchise that he hoped to be.

He first made his way onto Battle of the Exes paired with his Real World castmate Heather. They stayed relatively under the radar through the first couple of episodes as the Wes vs Bananas rivalry dominated the show. However Dustin never really had the chance to show what he could do, because in episode three he slipped going upstairs at the house and busted open his knee, requiring stitches and medically disqualifying them both from the game.

Dustin really made his biggest impression when he came back for Battle of the Seasons (2012). Dustin showed himself off as the competitor his physique would suggest, leading his team to win two daily challenges and two eliminations across the season. He made it to the final where he finished second place with a team of just him and Trishelle. Dustin was also a much more dynamic personality that season, getting into fights and drama throughout the season multiple times getting into it with Frank. He looked as if he was ready to come back and compete for a Challenge Championship going forward.

Dustin then came back a third time for Free Agents where he started off hot, being a part of the winning team for the first daily challenge and getting into a showmance with Jessica. However, things came crashing down for him in episode two as he was thrown into the elimination and got the misfortune of going up against a stud competitor in Frank, losing by seconds. Dustin returned one more time on Battle of the Exes II where unfortunately for him was paired with Jessica, who is truly one of the worst competitors we have had on The Challenge. They were thrown in the first elimination and lost to rookie pair Adam & Brittany and then lost in the second Battle of the Ex-iled. I would still be glad to see Dustin make a shock return to the franchise nowadays but it seems doubtful with rumors of him being banned for a sexual assault accusation in which he was later proven to be innocent.