The Greatest Male Players in Challenge History: #14- Zach Nichols
10 Seasons: Battle of the Seasons (Win), Rivals II, Free Agents (3rd place), Exes II, Invasion of the Champions, Champs vs. Stars, Vendettas (2nd place), Final Reckoning, War of the Worlds, War of the Worlds 2 (Final)
Final Efficiency: 4/10 (40%)
Win Efficiency: 1/10 (10%)
39 Mission Wins, 4–5 Elimination Record
Individual Missions: 2/10 (20%)
Partner Missions: 8/29 (27.6%)
Combined: 10/39 (25.6%)
Average Times Voted In Per Season: 0.7
Seasons Making Final Going Into Minimum Amount of Elims: 3
Despite making four finals through nine seasons, I think it’s fair to say Zach’s career has been slightly disappointing.
He’s a freak athlete and one of the best competitors to ever be on the show, but he’s fallen short time and time again since winning on his rookie campaign, Battle of the Seasons.
I cut him some slack because in reality he should be a two-time champion, as he was screwed by Vendettas being the first season in the show’s history to have a solo winner and having the final come down to a puzzle.
But even taking that into account, Zach has had his fair share of moments where he came up short.
A mental mistake by Zach on Rivals II disqualified him and Trey, although they had been performing well with two daily challenge wins early in the game.
His performance in the Free Agents final was horrendous, as he completely broke down after the first stage and couldn’t even beat Johnny Reilly.
His one win, Battle of the Seasons (2012), was against one of the least competitive cast in the history of the show.
And other than his and Zahida’s win against Bananas/Morgan on War of the Worlds, Zach doesn’t really have any elimination wins against top competitors, as his other victories were against Jemmye/Knight and CJ/Jasmine (which Zach lost 3/5 times in Hall Brawl) on Battle of the Seasons and against Brandon Nelson on Free Agents.
The Thor-lookalike lost an elimination involving swinging a sledgehammer to Jordan. You know, the guy who only has one hand. He also lost to Darrell in Pole Wrestle on Invasion, to Cory/Devin in Shake it Off on Final Reckoning (an elimination that looked rigged against him), and to Wes/Dee on War of the Worlds (whether or not he threw that elimination is up for debate).
He’s also proven to be a terrible partner to his teammates, most notably to Sam, Jonna, Amanda and Ninja.
Despite his flaws, Zach is an absolute beast in daily challenges. He was by far the best male on Vendettas, and was the best in missions on Free Agents as well.
He‘s won nine individual or partner missions through his career, including four with Amanda on Final Reckoning.
Politically he has never been known as a mastermind, but he’s never been atrocious either. He’s had strong alliances with people like Tony, Jordan, Tori, Kyle, Laurel, Knight, Cara, and has worked with Bananas, CT and Wes at certain points.
Zach completely dominated Vendettas from a political standpoint (along with Tony), as he was in the troika four times, blindsiding Britni and Natalie along the way.
He and Amanda were in the best position in the house politically to play both sides of the house on Final Reckoning, but their stubbornness caused them to go into elimination and get sent home.
And on War of the Worlds II, he stayed in the background and didn’t make waves against Paulie and Cara, going the whole season without seeing an elimination.
Maybe I’m grading too much on a curve because of how good it looks like he should be. But as great as a competitor as he’s been, with just one win to his name (a weak win, at that), I don’t think Zach has lived up to the lofty expectations he had at the start of his career.
Rankings
30. Turbo Çamkıran
29. Rogan O’Connor
