On episode 9 of Battle for a New Champion, TJ brought Tori to The Arena. He introduced her as one of the greatest players of all time, and then, she proceeded to win an elimination.
Of course, this type of comment won’t be met without some criticism. Many people have opinions on Tori, that’s why she keeps getting “casted” on the show, but there’s no denying that she’s become a major part of the franchise. She was on the five seasons before season 39 and did the World Championship and USA 2.
Despite her popularity (or infamy), most people seem to think TJ was being overly nice to Tori. She has one Challenge win out of her 11 seasons (seven on the main series, two Champs spin-offs, World Championship, and USA 2). However, she has seen six finals — and this may showcase one of her weaknesses. She’s not super well-rounded, and she struggles at the eleventh hour.
Early in Tori’s career, she kind of earned a reputation as an elimination beast. Then, on Total Madness and Double Agents, she played a scared (and perhaps entitled) game. She was out early, but by the time Spies, Lies and Allies came around, her political game improved. While she did win Ride or Dies, you could easily argue she would have been the most deserving winner of Spies, Lies and Allies.
Zach Nichols discussed Tori being a GOAT on his podcast, and he said that she’s on the path to greatness, but not the greatest. When it comes to women, he believes Laurel, Cara Maria, or Evelyn would get the title — and that’s not even considering the men.
Tori even agreed to this and said Laurel and Jordan deserve the GOAT titles. Some people may disagree, but these are definitely worthy names for the GOAT conversation. I don’t think Tori is trying to be shady here, but you do need to consider the fact that Tori did outperform both Laurel and Jordan when she won Ride or Dies.
While TJ might have been generous in calling Tori one of the greatest Challengers, he’s also trying to hype up the mercenaries, so we need to take his comments with a grain of salt. It’s also fair to say Tori is on the path to greatness because she is a champion now and she’s made four consecutive finals. It’d be great to see her compete against people like Cara Maria and Laurel again because outperforming them would really give her Challenge reputation a boost.
Stop Being Polite 