Let’s Compare: Old(ish) School to New(ish) School Competitors — Evan/Jordan Edition
Recently Jordan came up with his top 3 challenge competitors, and while I may not have fully agreed with him, after a while I began to see his points. While I normally completely agree with u/shmalvey on his rankings, I always saw Evan as a top 3 competitor, even with his lackluster performance on Rivals. This is not because I see him as more athletic than Landon, rather I believe he is the most well-rounded competitor we have ever seen on the challenge.
However, I am now thinking that Jordan could be coming for his spot. While Jordan has never had the same tight clique that Evan had throughout his seasons, I think their strengths and personalities are incredibly similar.
Attribute #1 — Heart
I may rank heart too high when I consider people’s skillsets, but Jordan and Evan are both full of it. (I guess that works when talking about both their desire to win and their egos…)
Evan was introduced to us in Fresh Meat, where he still did well in challenges while battling a hernia. His perseverance through the pain he was in will always rank him high for me, even though he became hard to root for in later seasons.
Jordan showed this same perseverance in the Dirty XXX final, where he crash-landed his parachute, and still killed the final. (I also have heard that he broke a bone in his leg during this, but not from a legitimate source, so I can’t be sure.)
Those two instances are past what one normally deems as doing anything to win, and although Derrick is #1 for me with this type of determination, both of these two competitors are right up there too.
Attribute #2 — Athleticism
There are some freakishly good athletes on the Challenge, and Evan and Jordan both rank high on that list.
I think Evan outranked Jordan a bit on dailies, with 8 wins in the combined duel seasons, as well as a crazy run with Coral in Fresh Meat.
However, that might be an unfair judgement as Jordan won 6 in Dirty XXX and Free Agents combined, and he went out a lot earlier in Free Agents than Evan did in the Duel.
But, for athleticism, their score cards aren’t the only things that matter. I view athleticism as natural ability in any random activity the challenge gods throw their way. Both Evan and Jordan have proved they are good at just about everything, even if they may not be the absolute best at anything.
Attribute #3 — Risk Taking
While I view both Evan and Jordan as generally smart competitors, they have both taken some stupid risks in their careers. I think a lot of this comes from the cockiness they both flaunt, because they don’t think the risk is that big and the payout is just that much bigger.
Evan took his big risks in eliminations versus CT. He knew he was the guy with the best chance of taking CT out, so he and his bde went for it when the opportunity presented itself. Why they thought CT would be easier to take out in an elimination than in a final, I’ll never know. Facing CT on Rivals was a different story though. There was no risk, as Evan didn’t want to be there, both because he had to get to grad school, and because he had a horrible time on Ruins and didn’t want to be a part of the Challenge anymore.
Jordan’s biggest risk is still one of my all-time favorite moments in Challenge history. I mean flipping all the kill cards in a dumb move? Perfect moment. It would have been incredible if he had won, and you can bet I was cheering hard, but sadly, not unlike Evan, he failed. It was so laughably stupid to go put himself into that situation, that I love him for it.
Attribute #4 — Strategy
Strategy is something that people generally only get credit for if they work their way up from the bottom. However, a better strategy is to create the top that other people strive to be on. Evan, with Kenny, pretty much created the top alliance for the Challenge. Evan’s strategic ability and Kenny’s pure charisma created the mob, a strategy that is often hated on, but worked and worked well. This is not the only instance of Evan’s dominance in the strategy of the Challenge, but if I were to keep going, I’d write a book.
Jordan is underrated for his strategy. He makes smart decisions, while he goes about pissing people off. He has gotten into fights with an overwhelming amount of people, but has made it to three finals out of four finals. A specific demonstration of his strategy this season is picking Wes and Laurel for the first tribunal. He was able to figure out where Wes’ head was at, while still getting his pick of who goes into elimination.
I’d also like to take this moment in recognizing a category I won’t write — puzzles. They are both very smart, and while I wouldn’t call them puzzle bosses, they are very adept at them.
Attribute #5 — Attitude
There is no questioning it. Both competitors are straight up assholes. I almost didn’t write this category, because I think it is obvious, but I feel I’d be remiss if I didn’t.
Evan was always a bit more secretive about it than Jordan. He would go comfort the people he bullied, and make it seem like he wasn’t such a bad guy after all. All the time he is still ripping into them behind their back.
On the other hand, Jordan is very upfront about his contempt for people. I feel like Jordan would call himself an asshole and be proud of it.
Obviously there is more I could say about each competitor in these categories, but I feel like it has already been beat to death.
