The Biggest Power Moves in Challenge History

When it comes to The Challenge, playing a passive game usually doesn’t get you far.

Whether it was orchestrating a major move, blindsiding an ally, or personally trying to take a power player out in the elimination ring, these moments all stood out for players trying to take the game into their own hands.

Not all of these moves worked out. Some didn’t go exactly as planned, and others blew up epically in the face of the person trying to make the big move.

But what all these moves have in common is that they changed the landscape of the season, for better or worse.

Honorable Mentions

Cory Eliminates Darrell (Dirty 30)- After Cory won the final round of the opening purge, he had the choice of saving one of the Raines boys (Tony and Shane), Devin and Darrell. It was somewhat of an obvious decision for Cory to take out Darrell given that he was far and away the best competitor of that group, but the move painted a massive target on his back for the rest of the game as he revealed his plan to take out the strongest competitors.

JP Calls out CT (War of the Worlds)- Trying to make a name for himself, JP chose to go against the legend CT in his three-way elimination with Kyle. It didn’t work out, as Kyle ended up winning the elimination.

Landon Voted In (Duel II)- At the final four, the remaining players had to vote among themselves who would go into the final elimination. When Landon left the room to get a hat and pen and paper to vote, Evan quickly threw out Landon’s name. He was voted in and lost to Brad.

Isaac Seeks Revenge on Landon (Duel II)- Don’t mess with another man’s toenails. When Landon clipped the sleeping Isaac’s toenails, he tried to enact revenge by calling him into the elimination ring. He couldn’t avenge his toenails, however. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to call out one of the best competitors in Challenge history over some unwanted manscaping.

20. Tony/Zach Blindside Britni/Natalie (Vendettas)

Tony and Zach completely dominated the endgame of Vendettas, and were downright ruthless in voting in the final two females. The exact same scenario played out two votes in a row. The duo finagled their way into the troika after their team won the This Land Is My Land mission, giving the promise that everyone on their team would be safe. But they (and Natalie) lied, not even giving Britni a heads up that she would be going into elimination, as she was taken out by the mercenary Laurel.

Karma came back to bite Natalie when once again Tony and Zach were on the winning team and formed the troika, this time with Brad. They gave the same promise to their team that they wouldn’t throw anyone on their team in, but again blindsided Natalie by putting her in against Kam.

19. Leroy Voted In (Rivals II and Dirty 30)

I’m going to combine two moves here because they were both so similar, and they both happened to poor Leroy. On Rivals II, the original plan for the main female alliance of Paula/Diem/Camila was to vote in the rookies Jordan/Marlon. However, when Theresa and Nany — the former whom Leroy was hooking up with and the latter his good friend and Real World castmate — both burned their votes on Leroy/Ty, Diem took advantage and changed her vote to send in Leroy.

Leroy was again the victim of a burn vote on Dirty 30, when Britni flippantly voted for him not thinking anyone else would say his name, as it looked like Hunter would be the one going on. Veronica decided to vote for Leroy and tie the vote, and Leroy was sent in on the re-vote.

18. Evan Calls Out CT (The Duel and Rivals)

I’m combining these two because they both involved Evan going into elimination willingly against CT, but they’re on this list for very different reasons.

Wes gets massive credit for manipulating Evan to call out CT on The Duel. The two made a pact that if Wes was on the bottom he would choose to face Brad, while Evan agreed to face CT. Wes was obviously getting the better end of that deal, and Evan was eliminated in Ascender after trying to cheat by writing the puzzle solution on his arm.

Evan’s decision to go in against CT on Rivals was more understandable. He had to go home to go to graduate school, so it made sense for him to try to do a solid for his boys Kenny and Bananas to throw the mission and attempt to take out CT. It didn’t work out, as Evan/Nehemiah did horrible in the elimination, with Evelyn saying Evan looked like a beached whale.

17. Kenny/Laurel Throw in Darrell/Cara (Fresh Meat II)

I give Wes more credit for this than Kenny, but sending one of the top teams into the first exile on Fresh Meat II was an undeniably ballsy move.

With the four-time champ Darrell getting the number one pick in the Fresh Meat draft and taking Cara, the two were a major threat to be a powerhouse team.

But Wes convinced Kenny to send them in, while the rest of the house voted in Jill/Pete.

16. Veronica Gets Entire Road Rules Team to Throw Missions (The Inferno)

Veronica will appear later on in these rankings for power moves made against her, but by The Inferno she had learned her lesson and started playing the game much more proactively.

In order to get the perceived weak link Katie off the team, Veronica enlisted her entire team to throw missions to get Katie thrown into the Inferno.

It worked the first time they tried it, as the Road Rulers threw the Balcony Swing mission to put her in against Julie. They tried it again in the Saturn Valet Ballet mission, but Kendal didn’t get the memo that her team was throwing the mission and inadvertently caused her team to win.

Ironically, despite their attempts to get Katie off, she proved to be key in the final by solving the final puzzle and helped Road Rules win.

15. Shane/Nelson Call Out Brad/Kyle (Final Reckoning)

This is a recent move that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. After Shane/Nelson were thrown in by Bananas/Tony, they had the option to choose any team to face in elimination.

Instead of taking the easy option in Da’Vonne/Jozea (a team that Shane had been feuding with the entire season), they went after arguably the best team in the game. The move paid off, as they were able to take out Brad/Kyle in Tread Lightly.

14. Kam’s Plan (Final Reckoning)

Arguably the greatest strategic plan in Challenge history, I still have no idea how Kam pulled this off. When she and Kayleigh won the Dig Deep mission, Kam shocked everyone by announcing to the house that she would either be voting for Kyle/Brad or Sylvia/Joss with her power vote. Kam tipped Kyle and Sylvia to her plan, as Sylvia gave one of the greatest acting performances in Challenge history, fake-crying and looking genuinely upset that Kam would potentially vote for her.

The move caused every team to burn votes on each other, making Kam/Kayleigh’s votes the only ones that mattered. While the ultimate result of having Jozea/Da’Vonne and Angela/Faith face each other was a bit lame (and it was all squandered when Hunter/Ashley came in as mercenaries to face Angela/Faith), the strategy of teams coming together to burn their votes on each other was used frequently throughout the rest of the game.

13. Holly and Chadwick Vote Out Veronica/Yes (Battle of the Seasons)

The first vote in Challenge history started with a bang. The Road Rules Inner Circle, led by the married couple of Chadwick and Holly B, decided to make a gigantic move to start the season.

Instead of voting off a weak team, they (plus Timmy/Emily B) took out Veronica/Yes, who were in fourth place on Road Rules and were closest to reaching the Inner Circle.

12. Emily Votes Out Veronica (Battle of the Sexes)

This one was personal. After Emily suspected her boyfriend James had banged Veronica outside of the show, Emily made it her personal mission to get rid of her.

Her desperate attempts finally worked when she, Ruthie and Ellen were in the Inner Circle, as they voted off Veronica despite her having a higher point total than three other girls.

11. The Vets Get Rid of Brad (Battle of the Sexes 2)

Rookies usually don’t make it far on The Challenge, but in his first season Brad was able to make it to the final five based on his excellent performance.

The other four remaining men — Mark, Eric, Theo and Dan — were all veterans and in an alliance together, and were determined to make it to the end together. So for the second-to-last mission, they allowed Eric (who was last place in the guys’ scoring system and in line to be voted out next) to be one of the team leaders, ensuring that he would be safe if the guys won.

The guys indeed won the mission (as they basically did every time that season) and Brad was voted out.

10. Wes Strong-Arms Leroy (Battle of the Exes II)

I haven’t seen a bigger mindfuck since I watched Inception for the first time.

After Leroy/Nia won the Power Couple (which included one of the funniest moments ever when Leroy/Nia were stereotypically served fried chicken for their Power Couple dinner), it looked like they would make an obvious decision to throw in Wes/Theresa to face Jordan/Sarah.

But the devious Wes threw his ally Zach under the bus, telling Leroy that if he threw Zach in he would protect Leroy until the end. Somehow, Wes convinced Leroy to join up with his best friend Bananas’ biggest enemy, saving him from facing arguably the best team in elimination.

9. Jemmye Double Crosses Jenna (Dirty 30)

After Jenna saved Jemmye in the inital purge on Dirty 30, Jemmye was sure to tell Jenna that she owed her one in the future. She sure had a funny way of showing her gratitude.

In the second elimination, Jemmye pulled the double cross and chose to send in Jenna to face her best friend Kailah, rather than Camila, Nicole or Britni. The move didn’t have that much of an impact because Jenna immediately came back from the Redemption House, but it still goes down as one of the biggest backstabs in Challenge history.

8. Sarah Throws in Bananas (Battle of the Exes II)

This move has always been a bit overrated in my book. With Leroy/Nia set to go into the final elimination, Sarah/Jordan had the option to throw in either Bananas/Nany or Jay/Jenna into the final elimination.

Despite her friendship with Bananas, it was a no-brainer for her to put in Johnny/Nany, as they were her only competition in a final, compared to Jay/Jenna, who were a guaranteed layup in the final.

This move became infamous because Bananas and Nia made a gigantic deal about it (despite him essentially orchestrating Leroy going into elimination in the previous round) and because Johnny and Sarah were paired together on Rivals III, as Bananas justified him stealing Sarah’s money by her move against him on Exes II.

7. Red Team Scapegoats Brandon and Camila (Cutthroat)

Unlike everything else on this list, the Red team continuously sending in Brandon and Camila isn’t one specific move, but rather a strategy that was employed over and over throughout the season.

The veteran-laden team, led by Brad, Tori, Dunbar, Paula, Tyler, Melinda and Chet (who somehow in his second season stayed out of the first three eliminations while Brandon went in every time), decided that rather than go in themselves, they would use Brandon and Camila as their shields.

Ultimately, Brandon went in four times — taking out Derek, JD and Ty before losing to Derrick. In her rookie season, Camila proved herself as a strong competitor by defeating Emilee and Katie and coming extremely close to taking out Laurel.

While it was arguably cowardly for the veterans to not step up to go in themselves when they were clearly due, going into an elimination is always a dicey proposition.

As dirty as it was, the vets avoiding the Gulag as much as they possibly could has to be considered an excellent strategy. Brad never went in, Tori, Paula and Dunbar only saw one elimination late in the game, while Tyler went into the final two eliminations.

The Red team ended up winning Cutthroat, which was fitting given how much their gameplay embodied the title of the season.

6. Kenny Saves Bananas (The Island)

While this one wasn’t as dramatic as the next move on this list from the same season, this was a borderline masterpiece by Kenny.

When Evelyn won the final Face-Off, the obvious move for her would have been to steal Johnny’s key again. But Kenny convinced her to save his boy Bananas by cutting a deal for her to take Dunbar’s key in exchange for her getting to be on the final boat with them and Derrick.

Getting bitter rivals Evelyn and Johnny to patch things up displayed Kenny’s excellent mediating skills, and the move showed how far Kenny was willing to stick his neck out to protect his friends (although he screwed over Dunbar in the process, but this was their first season together). The move truly changed the course of Challenge history by getting Johnny his first win.

5. Evelyn Takes Johnny’s Key (The Island)

With Johnny and Kenny’s alliance running the show on The Island, the outcast Evelyn had a choice to make win she won the fifth Face-Off. She could either acquiesce to the alliance’s wishes and take Jenn’s key, or she could go directly against them.

She of course chose the latter option, delivering her classic speech in explaining her decision and saying “fuck you and fuck your alliance.”

But to me this moment has to be downgraded a bit because Evelyn ultimately joined forces with Kenny and Johnny, which cheapens the moment to some extent, even though it’s obviously one of the greatest moments in the history of the show.

4. Derrick/Diem Throw in Theo/Chanda (Fresh Meat)

The first time in Challenge history that someone turned against their own alliance member, Derrick and Diem tried to take the game into their own hands on Fresh Meat to try to get one of the strongest teams out. The move somewhat backfired when Derrick’s biggest ally Darrell was voted in against Theo/Chanda, but it ended up working out when Darrell/Aviv won the pardon and put in Kenny/Tina, who ended up taking out Theo/Chanda.

Ultimately Derrick and Diem’s cutthroat gameplay didn’t get them the results they wanted, as Kenny/Tina won the final mission and sent them both in, where Darrell came out on top and went on to win his fourth championship.

3. Jordan Flips Every Kill Card (Free Agents)

Hey, not all of these moves worked out.

But as dumb as it turned out to be, you can’t deny the absolute elephant balls it took for Jordan to willingly go into elimination against Bananas.

When Jordan saw that the elimination was Wrecking Wall, he should have never volunteered due to the disadvantage he had with his mangled hand. But he still stepped up, and was taken out of the game.

If he had won the elimination it would go down as one of the most legendary moments in Challenge history, but the moment is still huge and proved Jordan doesn’t play a scared game.

2. Tony Throws in Bananas (Vendettas)

Vendettas was the season of Tony Time, and he solidified that with one of the biggest moves in Challenge history by sending in his longtime friend Bananas.

With Devin already going in and chomping at the bit to face his biggest rival, Tony found himself as the swing vote in the troika between Kailah and Zach. Of course he voted for Johnny, leading to the elimination of the six-time champ who had already made four troikas.

Early in the season Tony called himself the Scottie Pippen to Johnny’s Michael Jordan, but this move allowed him to step out of the shadows and establish himself as a power player.

1. Evelyn Pitted Against KellyAnne (The Ruins)

The biggest power move in Challenge history was also one of the shrewdest.

When the Champions won the second mission, Evelyn agreed to go into elimination as long it was against Casey. But with JEKD and Susie in control of the Champions team, they wanted to ensure that the Challengers’ worst player stayed in the game. So rather than sending Evelyn in against Casey, they pitted her against KellyAnne, who happened to be Evelyn’s best friend and the best female on the Challengers.

The move set off an epic tantrum by Evelyn and Wes, as they damn near tore the house apart. Rather than trying to beat her best friend and stay on a team controlled by guys she had a volatile history with, Evelyn threw the elimination to KellyAnne.

As counterintuitive as it was to send in their best female, the Champions undeniably made the correct move. Casey’s incompetence caused the Champions to win all but one mission throughout the season, and the team really didn’t miss Evelyn despite her being at the time the undisputed best female competitor in the history of the show.

Was it dirty? Of course. But it’s a dirty game, Teej, and playing nice gets you nowhere on The Challenge.