The Greatest Male Players in Challenge History: #26-Paulie Calafiore
5 Seasons: Final Reckoning (3rd place), War of the Worlds, War of the Worlds 2 (Final), USA2, Battle of the Eras
20 Mission Wins, 3–5 Elimination Record
Win Percentage: 0/5 (0%)
Final Percentage 2/5 (40%)
Individual Missions: 1.58/6.58 (1 Tri, 1 Quad) (24%)
Partner Missions: 3.33/11.33 (4 Tris) (29.4%)
Combined: 4.88/17.91 (5 Tris, 1 Quad) (27.2%)
Average Times Voted in Per Season: 1
Seasons Making Final Without Going Into Elimination: 1
Regardless of whether you love him or hate him (and let’s be real, you probably hate him), there’s no denying what Paulie has accomplished in his short career.
It’s kind of amazing Paulie cracks my list after how bad his career started.
On his rookie season of Final Reckoning, Paulie was partnered with Natalie, a solid competitor who is awful in eliminations.
The duo lost three consecutive eliminations to Kam/Kayleigh and Jozea/Da’Vonne (twice), only staying in the game due to the season’s horrible format.
But they were finally able to get out of the Redemption House by beating Brad/Kyle, then won a pair of missions and an elimination against Bananas/Tony to reach the final.
Paulie and Natalie could have won, but Natalie getting lost during the final set them back and they finished third.
Paulie’s best season as a competitor came on War of the Worlds. He was aided by a strong partner in Ninja, as they made three tribunals together and defeated Kam/Ashley in Wheel of Death.
In the individual portion, Paulie made three more tribunals, making it to the final purge. That’s when he had one of the most epic failures in Challenge history, completely bombing the Judgment Day mission and getting sent home.
Paulie played one of the most impressive political games ever on War of the Worlds 2. After Wes and Bananas went home, Paulie not only gained control of the US team, but he also was pulling the strings for Team UK.
Paulie’s trustworthiness has been questionable in some situations (most notably breaking his word to Joss in the Final Reckoning final and essentially costing him the win, not to mention his life outside of the show), but Paulie protected everyone in his alliance and got almost all of them to the final.
It was a dominant political performance, as he was able to skate to the final without ever seeing an elimination.
But Paulie had another meltdown in the final, nearly pulling a Big Easy and collapsing. He was able to recover and make it to the second portion, but Team US came up short in the end, leaving Paulie winless.
Paulie returned after a hiatus on USA 2. It was a short stint, as he had to square off against Bananas in episode 3 and was eliminated.
He had an even shorter stint on Battle of the Eras, essentially volunteering to go in against an old rival, Theo, losing in Hall Brawl.
Although he’s had a few memorably terrible performances, Paulie still has an impressive track record. Getting first place in more than 27% of his individual/partner daily challenges, Paulie has been elite in that department.
His two recent early exits are fairly excusable, as he lost to two strong competitors.
While he’s fell short of a win on his five Challenge seasons, he still deserves to be ranked in the top 30.
Rankings
30. Turbo Çamkıran
