The best thing about Rivals seasons: It forces two people who hate each other to work together. When production manages to get a pair of real enemies to work together, it generates a lot of hype.
Viewers tend to be invested in these rivalries, and they’re the reasons people tune into the show. To make this list, I’m looking at pairs on Rivals, Rivals 2, Rivals 3, non-exes pairings on Final Reckoning, and All Stars Rivals.
I will be viewing this from a pre-season lens, so I won’t be assessing teams on how well they performed or how much drama they caused. Rather, I’m looking at how much animosity there was before the teams competed, based on how many story lines they had and how much pre-season buzz they created.
Bonus: Want to see every Rivals pair ranked? Check out this podcast.
10. Amber & Faysal
If you watched Double Agents, you’d know that Faysal viewed Amber as a fringe member of the Big Brother alliance, and when the numbers dwindled, he was willing to sacrifice her. This is somewhat understandable, but he went completely haywire on Spies, Lies and Allies. Faysal sent Amber into the fourth Lair, violating the veterans’ alliance and the Big Brother alliance. It caused a huge divide in the house, and indirectly, it resulted in drama that got Faysal ejected from the game. Since then, Amber has never really reintegrated into the Big Brother alliance — which has rebranded as the Vacation Alliance.
9. Wes & CT
These two came into Rivals 2 on OK terms, but the relationship could have exploded at any point. On their prior seasons they generally cohabitated without issue, but Wes knew how to get under CT’s skin. This resulted in a blow up on The Duel, and on Rivals Wes followed CT around the house for an all-night argument. Fortunately, Wes knew how powerful his partner was on Rivals 2, and they worked together well enough to get the victory.
8. Bananas & Tony
This pairing almost didn’t happen — though we would have had an equally valid Bananas & Devin pairing instead. Throughout Tony’s entire Challenge career, Bananas took him under his wing, and if we’re being fair, Tony benefited from this alliance way more than Bananas did. Then, Tony repaid Bananas by throwing him into an elimination on Vendettas where he was sent home by Devin. This rivalry was very similar to the Bananas & Sarah pairing, but we’ll never know if Bananas would have taken Tony’s share of the prize money.
7. Paula & Evelyn
There was a time when Paula’s Challenge career could have been described as a series of unfortunate events, and one of the first ones happened on The Island when Evelyn took her spot on the final boat. After that, the two kept their distance, which was particularly noticeable during their awkward greeting on Fresh Meat 2. While Evelyn’s move might have been a curse on The Island, it was a blessing on Rivals, because the two girls worked together to get Paula her first win.
6. Adam & Steve
These two Road Rulers reunited on All Stars 4 two decades after they did The Gauntlet together, but it seemed like their friendship never died. At first, they worked well together, but toward the end of the game, Adam voted Steve into his third Arena. Steve won, stole Adam’s star, and this prevented Adam from running in the final. This resulted in Adam going on a furious rant where he claimed Steve was dead to him, but if you really think about this, it this was a long time coming. On The Gauntlet, Adam was willing to jeopardize Steve in the Gauntlet before any other Road Rules male, but that time he faced no repercussions.
5. Zach & Amanda
It’s funny to think about this pairing before Final Reckoning because these two barely had any interactions on prior Challenge seasons. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t tension, because Amanda spread rumors about Jenna on Invasion that jeopardized Zach and Jenna’s relationship rekindling. This was enough for Zach to want to avoid Amanda, but when these two were on the same page, they worked well together. When they disagreed, it was tumultuous, and we saw that when the team sacrificed themselves into Armageddon.
4. Laurel & Cara Maria
It’s funny to look back at Rivals 1 when Laurel & Cara Maria were paired together. On Cutthroat, they had a very real dislike for each other, mostly rooted in Laurel doubting Cara Maria’s ability. Their communication was poor at the start of Rivals, but it improved by the end, and they ended up with a second-place prize. It seemed like they left the season on good terms, but since then, the relationship has become a roller coaster with much lower lows.
3. Bananas & Sarah
Most people remember the final moment of Rivals 3 where Bananas took all the money, but there was a reason this relationship was damaged. Sarah seemed to sacrifice her alliance with Bananas by voting him into the final elimination on Battle of the Exes 2. By that point, those two had been working together on the show for about five years — they were particularly close during Sarah’s short stint on Exes 1. Understandably, Bananas felt betrayed by Sarah coming into Rivals 3, but leave it to MTV to let Bananas get the last laugh.
2. Wes & Kenny
These two had a lot of drama after Kenny and Johanna’s hookup on The Island, and we saw them argue about this on The Ruins. This resulted in the Champions team targeting Wes, and the Wes and Kenny feud carried over to Fresh Meat 2. By that point, MTV basically made their rivalry the focal point of the season, even though it was mostly game-based after The Ruins. By the time they were on Rivals together, they were leaders in two separate alliances, but they were able to bury the hatchet for a while by finding a common enemy: CT.
1. CT & Adam
Coming into Rivals, CT and Adam had tension that was nearly a decade old. It began on Real World: Paris and resurfaced on The Gauntlet 3. All of those arguments looked like child’s play compared to the fight that happened on The Duel 2 where CT chased Adam around the house trying to pummel him. While Adam played a role in escalating that fight, these two former roommates had a lot of rebuilding to do to make their team work. They progressively improved their relationship until they “lost” the final elimination.
Stop Being Polite 