War of the Worlds 2 Episode 16 Power Rankings

Every week, I’m going to rank the players based on their impact in the episode. These rankings are going to be completely subjective (so please don’t spend too much time critiquing them) based on my feelings of how entertaining the characters were, how they did competitively/politically, and how the episode impacted their overall game.

I’m going to keep running totals to determine who has the best season on War of the Worlds 2. The winner of this prestigious championship will be awarded the grand prize of nothing.

On that note, let’s get to it.

RANKINGS

12. Kam- After a strong performance in the first day of the final, Kam just couldn’t get it done in the puzzle.

Still, this was a solid season for Kam both physically and politically, and I still think she has what it takes to win one of these.

11. Ashley- It’s hard to feel too bad for a two-time champion who stole $500K from her partner just two seasons ago, but it still sucked seeing people like Ninja and Cara go on to the next stage while Ashley got purged.

Although she came up short in getting her third win, I still think this was a great season for Ashley. I wrote before this season that she’s going to have to make some new friends going forward since the Lavender Ladies are all likely done with the show, and she did just that by getting into yet another strong alliance.

It was fun seeing Ashley go from villain to hero this season, and I hope it continues for her next season. Whether you’re rooting for her or against her, Ashley is always one of the biggest characters on every season she’s on, and she’ll be a mainstay as long as she wants to keep doing these shows.

10. Tori- It really doesn’t seem right that Tori didn’t get this win. She was one of the few people this season to actually fight for her spot in the final, winning eliminations against a pair of great competitors in Georgia and Jenny, so for her to get purged out just seems unfair.

Of course her fiance winning is a good consolation prize, but I wish it would have been $500K going to the future Wiseley family, not just $250K.

9. Leroy- I was mentally preparing myself for this to happen, but it was heartbreaking nevertheless.

Leroy excelled in the first day of the final, going every round on the gurney (the only player on his team to do that) and being the glue that kept Team US from completely shattering.

But the entire final came down to Leroy’s worst nightmare — a puzzle and a swim. It’s like the producers came together and figured out the best way to make sure Leroy didn’t make it to the second stage.

Seeing him crying was so gut-wrenching. Leroy has gotten a lot of heat over the years for not showing much fire, but the passion was there all season.

He knew this was his best chance to win. And now, it’s probably never going to happen for one of the most popular players of his era.

8. Cara- As much as I’ve been a big Cara fan throughout the years, I was really glad she didn’t win this one.

I don’t have a big problem with her gameplay throughout the season, even though there is some truth that her and Paulie gutting the team is a major reason why Team US lost.

But Cara just isn’t someone who’s fun to root for anymore. I don’t even know if she’s that fun to root against, either.

She’s not overly cocky like Paulie, and she’s not really mean to anyone. She just seems…unhappy. And withdrawn.

The season wouldn’t have felt right if Paulie and Cara came away as the winners. Nobody wants to see the villains defeat the heroes in the end.

And the shot of the UK popping their champagne cork juxtaposed with Cara crying…absolutely priceless.

7. Paulie- He caught a second wind in this episode, solving the puzzle for the US at the last checkpoint and earning a spot in the second stage.

Still, this final was a huge failure for Paulie, as he almost pulled a Big Easy and didn’t come close to living up to all his talk.

Give credit where credit is due, he didn’t quit and was a good sport about losing, but more than anything, this final will be remembered for Paulie dying.

6. Ninja- After getting absolutely shit on throughout the season, Ninja came up big and was the first person to solve the puzzle and move on to stage two.

I don’t know if anyone in Challenge history’s stock as a competitor has ever fallen so far in one season as Ninja’s did.

And honestly, I don’t think it’s warranted. Ninja flopped at anything involving swimming this season, and she dropped the relic in Relic Runner, but other than that there weren’t really any instances where she came up short.

She was able to take out Laurel (despite a controversial decision), and she made her second final in her first two seasons, the first woman to do that since Nicole Z. The fact that she’s made it as far as she has in two seasons and has walked away with no prize money both times is borderline ridiculous.

My guess is we’ll never see Ninja again after this season, and if that’s the case she’ll go down in my book as one of the greatest females to do two or less seasons, joining the likes of Roni Martin and Heather Cooke.

5. Zach- What a hilarious way for Zach to end this season, having to work with probably his three least favorite people on the show — Paulie, Cara and Ninja.

There was just no chance in hell that they would be able overcome the UK in the end, leaving Zach still searching for his elusive second victory.

I said it last week and I’ll say it again here — I think Zach deserves some blame for this loss. Sitting out the second round of the gurney and having Paulie shoulder the load with Cara and Ninja is what caused Paulie to collapse.

He also went back to his hothead ways in the final. If Sam and Jonna were watching this episode, they would have gotten PTSD.

Zach has certainly had some bad luck in his career, most notably getting screwed by Vendettas having just one winner.

But at a certain point, I think you have to say that Zach just isn’t a winner.

For a guy that big and athletic to have a 4–5 elimination record and just one win (against one of the weakest casts in Challenge history) in nine seasons, he’s just lacking whatever it takes to get him into the discussion of the all-time greats.

4. Rogan- Worst to first.

That was the story building with Rogan all season, and it’s one of the best redemption arcs in Challenge history.

It was an all-around crazy season for Rogan. The dude who had competed in one mission somehow immediately gained control of Team UK, and was steering the ship for the entire season. He came in and completely upstaged his best friend Joss, and got into an entertaining, up and down showmance with Dee.

Rogan is the only player to get eliminated first in their rookie season and win their second season besides the legend Evelyn Smith. While I can’t imagine him getting to Evelyn’s status on the show, Rogan solidified himself as someone who will be around for a long time.

For Rogan of all people to be the lone person from the UK to win is borderline incredible.

He did it for the queen.

3. CT- He was already my GOAT coming into this season, and he further cemented his legacy by winning this final.

I loved watching CT all season, whether it was his frustration trying to lead the ragtag group of Team UK, giving hilarious confessionals or proving that he’s still one of the best competitors on the show even while being out of shape.

People give CT shit for not training nearly as hard as he used to, but just look at the results. Since the dad bod first appeared on Invasion, CT has won four of the eight shows he’s been on (Invasion, Champs vs. Stars, Champs vs. Stars season two, War of the Worlds 2).

And even on the seasons he didn’t win, he let Wes go to the final instead of him on Champs vs. Pros, he dominated the missions on Dirty 30 and made the final, he lost because of Veronica on Final Reckoning, and he got double-teamed by Kyle and JP in his loss on War of the Worlds.

He beasted his way through this final, never showing any signs of breaking down, which was a concern given how his back gave out on him during the Champs vs. Stars season two final.

CT picking up his third victory kind of reminds of when Lebron James won his third championship. When both of them won, you realized immediately how weird it was that they had only won twice up until that point (it took CT 16 seasons to get his third win, while it took Lebron 13 seasons).

Honestly I could have put CT at number one this week, but with CT and Jordan being separated by just 2.5 points in my season standings coming into this episode, I could effectively choose who would go down as the MVP for this season.

And as much as I enjoyed CT this season, this will be remembered as Jordan’s season.

2. Dee- I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t really sure why production decided to bring Dee back after her rookie season.

From my view, she kind of just stood in Wes’ shadows last season and didn’t do much to stand out.

And I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong.

I loved watching Dee this season. She has the heart of a lion, and is liable to go ape shit when she gets upset.

Despite concerns about her cardio coming into the final, she did great and wasn’t a liability at all.

Like Rogan, Dee is one of the most surprising people to win the show in recent memory, but she’s another cast member who’s going to be around for awhile.

1 Jordan- It honestly would have felt wrong if Jordan hadn’t won this season.

He was front-and-center of so much of the action this season, whether it was in competition or the house drama.

I haven’t decided where I’m going to rank Jordan after this season, but purely as a competitor Jordan has to at least be in the top four at this point.

Three wins, plus another final in five seasons during an extremely difficult era in Challenge history clearly puts him in the pantheon.

He’s the first person to win three seasons in a row since Derrick K, and Darrell and Jamie M are the only other competitors to pull off the feat.

This was Jordan’s season, and it’s only right that he walks away with another victory.

Stray Thoughts

• The US completely cheating through the last stages and only getting a 10-minute time penalty was absurd. The UK got the same penalty for shoving the US out of the way on the trail. How those things receive equal penalties is beyond me.
• I really hate when everything comes down to a puzzle and wipes away everything that happened before it, and that’s what happened in the purge. Kam and Leroy were arguably the two best players for the US in the first stage of the final, and they got eliminated based on one puzzle, while Paulie shit the bed and still got to advance.
• I didn’t mind the second stage of the final. While it was edited to look like it was super quick, a six-mile run/walk is nothing to sneeze at, especially considering how grueling the first day was. It’s amazing that it ended up being as close as it was.
• TJ coming in on the jet ski with “Barracuda” playing was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.
• The music department killed it all season, and this episode was in my opinion their best performance. Whether it was playing playing “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” after the purge, or “Respect” after Team UK won, the music department was on point.
• Interesting that the top four in my season standings ended up being the winners (they’ve all been in the top four since episode 12). I tried to make the rankings be a reflection of who had the most impact on the season, and I think the UK champs were the four biggest stars of season 34, although Leroy, Ashley and Zach are all in the discussion.
• Thank you to those who have been reading along all season! I’ll see you at season 35.

Final Standings

32. S̵e̵a̵n̵ (1)

31–30. F̵a̵i̵t̵h̵ ̵a̵n̵d̵ ̵Z̵a̵h̵i̵d̵a̵ (6)

29. B̵i̵g̵ ̵T̵ (32)

28. N̶i̶c̶o̶l̶e̶ (67)

27. W̵e̵s̵ (76)

26. L̶a̶u̶r̶e̶l̶ (97)

25. E̶s̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ (103)

24. B̶a̶n̶a̶n̶a̶s̶ (131)

23. I̶d̶r̶i̶s̶ (138)

22. T̶u̶r̶b̶o̶ (168)

21. K̶a̶y̶l̶e̶i̶g̶h̶ (176)

20. B̶e̶a̶r̶ (181)

19. K̶y̶l̶e̶ (197)

18. J̶o̶s̶s̶ (198)

17. J̶e̶n̶n̶y̶ (189)

16. T̶h̶e̶o̶ (214)

15. J̶o̶s̶h̶ (254)

14–13. G̶e̶o̶r̶g̶i̶a̶ and N̶a̶n̶y̶ (256)

12. Ninja (260)

11. Cara (295.5)

10. Kam (319.5)

9. Zach (339)

8. Paulie (340.5)

7. Leroy (347.5)

6. Tori (360.5)

5. Ashley (363)

4–3. Dee and Rogan (400)

2. CT (406.5)

1 Jordan (407)