The Greatest Female Players in Challenge History: #23- Ruthie Alcaide

Michael Alvey
2 min readJan 16, 2020

4 Seasons: Battle of the Sexes (Final), Battle of the Sexes 2, Gauntlet 2, Duel II

1–2 Elimination Record

12 Challenge Wins

Daily Challenges: 8.5/10

Eliminations: 7/10

Finals: 7.5/10

Politics: 7/10

Arguably the best female competitor from the show’s early days, Ruthie is a true Challenge legend.

Ruthie had one of the most impressive seasons by a female ever on her rookie season of Battle of the Sexes, winning Life Savers on the Dead Man’s Drop and Maximum Velocity missions and staying in the Inner Circle for all but one round.

But Ruthie could never quite re-capture the magic she had on her first season. She didn’t live up to her own standards on Battle of the Sexes 2, placing fifth among the girls.

She was the captain for the Veterans on Gauntlet 2, but after beating Jisela in Reverse Tug-O-War (Jisela didn’t really try), she lost to the much bigger Beth in the same elimination.

Ruthie earned an impressive mission victory on Duel II, winning the difficult All Shook Up challenge, but she lost to Kim in Back Off.

Ruthie is tough to judge because she was great in daily challenges, but she got into trouble in physical eliminations due to her size. She was always respected which helped her politically, but she pretty much just played the game straight up without much strategy, similar to a Landon.

Ruthie was a true pioneer of the show, and her place in the show’s history remains in tact.

Rankings

25. Holly Shand

24. Nicole Zanatta

23. Ruthie Alcaide

22. Theresa Jones

21. Jenna Compono

20. Jillian Zobroski

19. Tori Deal

18. Diem Brown

17. Dee Nguyen

16. Jenn Grijalva

15. Tori Hall

14. Ashley Mitchell

13. Jodi Weatherton

12. Veronica Portillo

11. Paula Meronek

10. Susie Meister

9. Coral Smith

8. Rachel Robinson

7. Kam Williams

6. Sarah Rice

5. Camila Nakagawa

4. Emily Schromm

3. Cara Maria Sorbello

2. Evelyn Smith

  1. Laurel Stucky

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