The Greatest Female Players in Challenge History: #12- Coral Smith
6 Seasons: Battle of the Seasons (Win), The Gauntlet (Final), The Inferno (Final), Battle of the Sexes 2 (Final), Fresh Meat, Gauntlet 3
2–0 Elimination Record
32 Challenge Wins
Daily Challenges: 7.5/10
Eliminations: 7.5/10
Finals: 6.5/10
Politics: 10/10
The queen of classic one-liners, Coral is not just one of the greatest characters in Challenge history, she’s also one of the show’s best players.
Partnered with her pal Mike the Miz on Battle of the Seasons, the duo stayed in the Inner Circle the entire game, winning the Sidekick Showdown mission and finishing second in points for Real World as it defeated Road Rules in the final.
On The Gauntlet she was voted into elimination early, beating Tina in Dead Man’s Drop, but was surprisingly able to keep herself out for the rest of the game, most notably when Theo G was sent into the final elimination instead of her. Coral once again reached the final, where her infamous spider bite ended up costing Real World the victory.
In her classic Inferno season, where she was challenged to a wrestling match by Julie and uttered two of the greatest lines in Challenge history (“I don’t wrestle, I fucking beat bitches up” and “I wear a 32DD bra, one boob alone could kick her ass”), Coral was able to stay out of the Inferno the entire season, only getting nominated twice.
Coral made the final by winning the final LifeSaver in the Window Washing mission, sending in David to take her place.
In the lopsided Battle of the Sexes 2 season where the men dominated the women, Coral was seen as one of the leaders on the women’s team, and was never voted out despite being a team captain in four losing missions. She came into the season with a huge target on her back being aligned with veterans like Veronica and Rachel, but somehow she was able to make it to the end with Sophia and Arissa.
Coral was never known for being a great competitor, but she had her best showing on Fresh Meat when she was partnered with Evan. They absolutely dominated the beginning of the game, winning five of the first six missions. But injuries to both Coral and Evan took them out of the game, ending what could have been the greatest season by a pair in Challenge history.
One of the elder statesmen on Gauntlet III, Coral found herself on a season with an entirely new crop of competitors that she couldn’t control like the previous generation. She was one of the females the veterans wanted to purge in their “trim the fat” strategy, and they pitted Coral vs. Beth in the “Matchup of the Century” (Coral was thrown in by the rookies). Although Coral took out Beth in Ball Brawl, when she was thrown into the second-to-last female elimination against Evelyn she decided to quit, ending her Challenge career.
Competitively, Coral was above-average but she’s arguably the worst in my top 25.
But she ranks this high because she had such a command of the political game. She intimidated her own teammates from throwing her into eliminations, as nobody wanted to face her wrath.
She also finished her career with a nearly perfect record in six seasons, although she almost certainly would have lost in elimination to Evelyn on Gauntlet III (not that it would have been anything to be embarrassed about).
Coral wasn’t the best competitor, but she knew how to play the game better than nearly anyone in Challenge history.
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