The Greatest Male Players in Challenge History: #3- Jordan Wiseley

Michael Alvey
5 min readFeb 5, 2019

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10 Seasons: Rivals II (3rd place), Free Agents, Battle of the Exes II (Win), Champs vs. Pros, Dirty XXX (Win), War of the Worlds 2 (Win), Total Madness, All Stars 3, Ride or Dies (3rd place), World Championship (Win)

Final Efficiency: 6/10 (60%)

Win Efficiency: 4/10 (40%)

26 Mission Wins, 15–7 Elimination Record

Individual Missions: 1/17 (5.9%)

Partner Missions: 7/41 (17.1%)

Combined: 8/58 (13.8%)

Average Times Voted In Per Season: 1.13

Seasons Making Final Going Into Minimum Amount of Elims: 0

Playing in one of the toughest eras in Challenge history, Jordan has proven himself to be one of the top competitors of all-time.

With six finals and four wins, Jordan has rapidly moved up the all-time rankings.

Only the fourth competitor ever to pull of three wins in a row (along with Jamie M, Darrell and Derrick K), Jordan’s hat trick was different in that he did it in every possible format, with victories in individual, partner and team seasons.

His three-peat was so impressive that it’s hard to even say which win was the best.

On Exes II he and Sarah were the best team throughout the season on a stacked cast, winning three daily challenges, beating Zach/Jonna in elimination and defeating Leroy/Theresa and Jay/Jenna in the final.

In an absolutely loaded cast on Dirty 30 that featured CT, Derrick, Bananas, Darrell, Hunter, Nelson and Leroy, Jordan still stood out as the best overall competitor.

Jordan won three daily challenges, came back from the Redemption House (it should be noted that he was second in that challenge and probably would have been eliminated had Nelson not been kicked off previously, but it’s not like Jordan lost an elimination to get sent to the Redemption House, he was just picked by Hunter) and defeated Derrick and CT in the final to earn what was at the time the largest winnings in the history of the show.

And on War of the Worlds 2, he and Tori had their backs up against the wall the last half of the season, but Jordan was able to beat Theo and Josh in eliminations and then win the final.

Based on the competition, his World Championship victory is in my opinion his greatest feat. He and Kaz were the best team in dailies, winning included a win in Highway Highjacking. They took out Bananas/Justine in elimination, as Jordan was finally able to top Bananas in a straight-up elimination after losses on Free Agents and Ride or Dies. And they were able to comfortably defeat Tori/Danny, Kaycee/Troy and Theo/Sarah in the final.

Jordan has been impressive since the beginning of his career. He and his Real World: Portland castmate Marlon were one of the best teams on Rivals II, winning a daily challenge and two eliminations, including an impressive victory over the bigger Leroy/Ty in Last Chance. They finished third in the final behind CT/Wes and Bananas/Frank.

He had another solid season on Ride or Dies, making his fifth final and winning eliminations against Laurel/Jakk, Kaycee/Kenny and Chauncey/Amber. It was far from a flawless season, however, as he got beat in Balls In by Horacio and Bananas. In most seasons, Jordan wouldn’t have made the final, but he got to come back after losing to Horacio.

The only blemish in his career physically is his performance on Free Agents, as he underperformed in the daily challenges and lost to Bananas in the Wrecking Wall elimination (where he threw himself in despite being at a major disadvantage, given he only has one functional hand).

His loss to Fessy in Pole Wrestle on Total Madness is completely forgivable, considering he was facing a monster with just one hand.

His record in the other spinoffs don’t really help or hurt his legacy. He went out early in a puzzle to Wes on Champs vs. Pros, where CT coached Wes through the elimination. He had a solid campaign on All Stars 3, making the Authority twice and pulling off an incredible win over Darrell in Steamroller, but ultimately falling to Mark in Pull Your Own Weight.

The only flaw to Jordan’s game is his politics, as he’s constantly gotten himself into hot water.

On Rivals II he feuded with Frank, and he and Marlon were voted into the final two jungles. Free Agents he was squarely against Bananas, and it blew up in his face when he threw himself into elimination against him.

On Dirty 30, he was thrown in because of his rap battle gone wrong against Jemmye.

On War of the Worlds 2, he was adamantly against Paulie and Cara, getting thrown in by them even though they were on the same team. Jordan was even thrown in before Josh, someone who also was completely against Para and clearly an inferior competitor to Jordan.

On Total Madness, he tried to strong arm Dee into helping Tori get a red skull, and he had a blowup with Wes, throwing a drink in his face and dangling a sausage in his face.

And on Ride or Dies, he mocked Jay in deliberation, leading to him and Aneesa getting thrown in.

Jordan is a prick, but with all he’s accomplished he’s indisputably number three in my eyes.

I think maybe the biggest testament to his greatness is how little people talk about the fact that he only has one hand. It’s unbelievable what Jordan’s been able to accomplish, regardless of his “disability.”

He still has a pretty long way to reach GOAT status due to the sheer volume CT and Bananas have accumulated. But If he continues doing the show, he could very well make it to the top.

Rankings

30. Turbo Çamkıran

29. Rogan O’Connor

28. Kyle Christie

27. Paulie Calafiore

26. Tyler Duckworth

25. Timmy Beggy

24. Dan Setzler

23. Cory Wharton

22. Devin Walker

21. Frank Sweeney

20. Mike Mizanin

19. Hunter Barfield

18. Theo Campbell

17. Faysal Shafaat

16. Leroy Garrett

15. Alton Williams

14. Zach Nichols

13. Abram Boise

12. Theo Vonkurnatowski

11. Derrick Kosinski

10. Brad Fiorenza

9. Darrell Taylor

8. Kenny Santucci

7. Mark Long

6. Wes Bergmann

5. Evan Starkman

4. Landon Lueck

3. Jordan Wiseley

2. Johnny Devenanzio

1. CT Tamburello

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