The Greatest Male Players in Challenge History: #15- Alton Williams
5 Seasons: The Gauntlet (Final), Gauntlet II (Win), Inferno III (Final), Battle of the Seasons, All Stars (6th place)
Final Efficiency: 4/5 (80%)
Win Efficiency: 1/5 (20%)
23 Mission Wins, 6–1 Elimination Record
Individual Missions: 4/18 (22.2%)
Partner Missions: 3/5 (60%)
Combined: 7/23 (30.4%)
Average Times Voted In Per Season: .50
Seasons Making Final Going Into Minimum Amount of Elims: 0
There’s no denying that Alton was an absolute supernova of a competitor, in the discussion for the GOAT at his peak. But due to his small sample size, it’s hard to judge just how great he really was.
Alton was the top performing male on the Real World team on his first season, The Gauntlet, and only had to go into elimination once, where he dominated Latterian in Pole Climb. Coral’s spider bite in the final kept Real World from winning the season.
He truly established himself as one of the all-time greats on Gauntlet II. Alton won the opening Royal Rumble challenge, making him the team captain of the rookies and forcing him to go into the Gauntlet every time the rookies lost on guys elimination days.
His singular brilliance in daily challenges on Gauntlet II helped the rookies win nine out of 15 missions over the more-proven vets, and the rookies ultimately won the season (in probably the dumbest final of all time).
He went into elimination three times, and although his competition (Danny Dias, Adam King and Jeremy Blossom) wasn’t exactly the cream of the crop, he absolutely demolished them. There wasn’t time to blink before he scaled the cargo net on Capture the Flag against Adam and Jeremy, and he threw Danny around like a rag doll in Beach Brawl.
He returned on Inferno III and reached his third consecutive final, joining The Miz, Darrell, Timmy and Theo Von as the only men in Challenge history to start their careers 3/3. However, he was outclassed by Abram on the season, and the Good Guys fell short in the finals to the Bad Asses.
The less mentioned about Alton on Battle of the Seasons, the better. It’s not like he came on the show out of shape, but he clearly was not enjoying himself among a nearly brand new cast. He openly talked about wanting to throw his elimination, and although it didn’t seem like he quit in his and Nany’s elimination with Robb/Marie (there’s always been conflicting reports about whether or not he threw it), his heart just clearly wasn’t in the season.
His political game also was atrocious on Battle of the Seasons, as he feuded with Team San Diego and literally told Team New Orleans to throw his team into elimination, then when they did he made Dustin go in for him.
Battle of the Seasons doesn’t take away anything from what Alton did in the past, but when you only have four seasons and one of them doesn’t come close to living up to his own lofty standards, it has to affect where he ranks.
Alton didn’t necessarily make people forget about his shortcomings on All Stars either, as he got gassed in the mini-final and finished fourth among the guys in the final (sixth overall).
Alton is an absolute virtuoso of a competitor. The guy was good at pretty much everything, not just things that involved physicality and climbing, but he was also a proven swimmer and could solve puzzles.
But Alton’s lack of longevity, the fact that all his success came in team seasons (whereas someone like Jordan won an individual and a partners season), and his lack of interest in playing the political game is what keeps him out of my top 10. Also, while his elimination wins were dominant, he never really beat a good competitor.
Alton would probably be near the top if he hadn’t come back after Inferno III, but he did and it has to be dampen his résumé.
Rankings
30. Turbo Çamkıran
29. Rogan O’Connor
