The Greatest Female Players in Challenge History: #2- Cara Maria Sorbello
16 Seasons: Fresh Meat II, Cutthroat (2nd place), Rivals (2nd place), Battle of the Exes, Battle of the Seasons, Rivals II (2nd place), Free Agents, Battle of the Bloodlines (Win), Invasion of the Champions, Champs vs. Pros (Win), Dirty 30 (2nd place), Vendettas (Win), Final Reckoning (4th place), War of the Worlds (5th place), War of the Worlds 2 (Final), All Stars 4 (2nd place)
Final Efficiency: 11/16 (68.75%)
Win Efficiency: 3/16 (18.75%)
47 Mission Wins, 16–7 Elimination Record
Individual Missions: 3.25/21.25 (1 Quad) (15.3%)
Partner Missions: 5.88/51.88 (1 Bi, 4 Tris) (11.3%)
Combined: 9.13/73.73 (1 Bi, 4 Tris, 1 Quad) (12.4%)
Average Times Voted In Per Season: .69
Seasons Making Final Going Into Minimum Amount of Elims: 5
Who would have ever thought that the girl who had a breakdown in her first (and only) episode on Fresh Meat II would become one of the greatest females in Challenge history?
Nobody has a résumé as long as Cara’s.
She has the most finals appearances in Challenge history by a woman with 11. She has the most elimination wins for a female ever with 16. She’s the first player ever to make seven consecutive finals. She was the first solo winner of a season on Vendettas.
But Cara wasn’t always top dog. She started her run on the show as the underdog, constantly battling both with the house and with her own self-confidence. She was bullied by Laurel on Cutthroat, and by Wes, Paula, Jenn and CT on Rivals.
I think there’s two halves of Cara’s career, and there’s a pretty clear dividing line.
From Fresh Meat II to Rivals II, Cara was an above-average competitor, but by no means was she elite.
I think sometimes people exaggerate how bad of a competitor Cara was in her earlier seasons. You don’t make three finals by accident, and she was usually in the upper-middle class of female competitors.
Still, she was clearly behind Laurel and Sarah on the gray team on Cutthroat and was more or less carried to the finals by Abram. She wasn’t as good of a “number two” partner for Laurel as Paula was for Evelyn on Rivals. On Rivals II she held back Cooke in several daily challenges, although she came through in eliminations and in the last mission.
But Cara clearly started coming into her own on Free Agents. She drew the kill card three times, impressively taking out Nia in Looper, beating LaToya in Oppenheimer and defeating Jessica in Balls In.
She injured her hand against Jessica, then had to face perpetual frenemy Laurel in Wrecking Wall, where she was sent home.
After Free Agents, Cara reeled off one of the greatest runs by a female in Challenge history, making six of seven finals and earning two victories.
On Bloodlines, she and Jamie were in the rookie alliance with Thomas/Stephen, Dario/Raphy and Cory/Mitch, but that fell apart when Abram entered the game.
Jamie and Cara were forced to go into the final three eliminations. Cara solved the puzzle to take out her longtime rival Bananas in Through Thick and Thin, then she defeated Aneesa in Mine Not Yours to reach the final. She and Jamie were able to beat Cory/Mitch and Jenna/Brianna, as Cara captured her first championship in her eighth season.
She returned on Invasion of the Champions and lost to Laurel in Balls In, then went on one of the most epic runs in Challenge history.
It started with her Champs vs. Pros victory with Darrell, as the former Fresh Meat II partners were able to avenge their early exit by defeating Kamerion/Lindsey and Wes/Camila.
After losing to Laurel in Balls In on Invasion, she finished second in Dirty 30, winning six daily challenges and beating Veronica, Aneesa, Jemmye and Britni to get out of the Redemption House.
Despite only making one troika, Cara cruised to the final of Vendettas without seeing an elimination. She was the top finishing girl in the first part of the final, then became the first individual winner in Challenge history by completing the final puzzle first.
Paired with Marie on Final Reckoning, Cara didn’t have much of a chance to win her third championship. Still, the duo made it most of the game without seeing an elimination before losing to Shane/Nelson in Meet Me Halfway.
But they were able to get out of the Redemption House by beating Kam/Kayleigh in That’s the Ticket, then made it to the final.
Cara had one of her best seasons from a physical standpoint on War of the Worlds. Partnered with Theo, the duo made four tribunals.
She reached the final by winning the Crash Landing mission, allowing her to skip the final mission. Cara just missed out on making the top four, as she was unable to complete the math portion of the final before Theo.
Still, Cara made the most tribunals of any girl on War of the Worlds despite competing against one of the top female casts in Challenge history.
Her excellent political game continued on War of the Worlds 2, as her and Paulie completely controlled not just their own team, but also the UK team. Once again she skipped into the final without having to see an elimination, and was one of the final four players from Team US after the purge after the first day of the final.
After a long layoff, Cara Maria returned with a huge target on her back. She got sent into elliminations the only two times she was eligible, beating Rachel and Kam. She couldn’t beat her longtime rival Laurel in the final, finishing second.
You could easily argue that Cara Maria should be number one given how ridiculous her resume is. She has six more finals appearances than Laurel, five more elimination wins, and one extra win.
But I can’t put Cara ahead of Laurel when comparing them on the seven seasons they’ve been on together. Cara made the final on War of the Worlds 2 while Laurel had an early exit, and they had roughly an even performance on All Stars 4 (though Laurel did ultimately get the win), but on the other three seasons they were competing against each other (Fresh Meat II, Free Agents and Invasion), Laurel outperformed her. And Laurel was also better on Cutthroat and Rivals when they were teammates.
Laurel beats Cara Maria in both individual/partner daily challenge win percentage, elimination win percentage, and winning the final. Cara might have more of the counting stats, but Laurel has been more consistently excellent.
Still, Cara Maria has had a remarkable career and is clearly on the Mount Rushmore of greatest women in Challenge history.
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