Over two decades ago, in 2003, Adam won The Gauntlet. He was one of nine Road Rulers to become a champion, and with such a large group of winners, some people had very different journeys to the finish line. Adam was sort of a team captain, and he spent a lot of effort voting Sarah Greyson into the Gauntlet, making her an underdog.
Adam won his second Challenge championship 21 years later on All Stars Rivals (it filmed in 2024). This time, his path to victory looked very different than his Gauntlet win. While the two seasons had very different formats, Adam’s second win had some unexpected parallels to his Sarah’s Gauntlet victory.
Five elimination wins
The most obvious parallel between Sarah and Adam can be seen in how they got to the end. On the Gauntlet, Sarah won five Gauntlets throughout the season (including the first one). Adam & Steve did the same on All Stars Rivals, though they were sent into eliminations for different reasons than Sarah.
The Road Rulers targeted Sarah because she was perceived to be weak, even though she was usually an average or slightly above average competitor. On the other hand, Adam & Steve were targeted because they won the first challenge and they had a star. There was legitimate strategy in sending the two men into the Jungle, while Sarah’s persistent nominations were mostly petty.
The Immediate Outsider
On the Gauntlet, it seemed Rachel and Darrell decided they would target Sarah because of their experience on Road Rules, and this was before the first mission even happened. As a form of self-preservation, most other Road Rulers followed the strategy, and Sarah had a hard time connecting with teammates who found her disposable.
Adam & Steve had few connections coming into All Stars Rivals. Adam had a few friends (like Nicole, Katie, and Veronica), but most people were willing to see Adam & Steve go home so they could steal their star. It’s not like other competitors hated the two men, but they decided not to build friendships so the votes wouldn’t feel personal.
Battle of the Sexes
The Gauntlet was unique, because the eliminations were not gendered and the women were voted in more frequently than the men. The Road Rules team sent girls into the Gauntlet 10 times while they only sent in a man on four occasions. This made Sarah feel like a target simply for being a female.
Men seldom deal with sexism in the same way as women on the Challenge, but All Stars Rivals only had two male/male teams. As such, players knew they were physically stronger and wanted to take them out of the game. In the second half of the season, Da’Vonne even said she didn’t want to see the two men in the final, and her intuition was right, because they won.
The “Injured” Story Line
Both Sarah and Adam had to go into an elimination in rough shape. On The Gauntlet, Sarah hit her back on rocks during the Vertical Limit challenge, and she worried this would cause her to perform poorly in her final Dead Man’s Drop — but she won. Adam was more sick than injured, but he also feared his weakness would cause him to lose before his second Jungle. However, he won Pile It On and got to stay in the game.
The Well-Earned Win
The happiest parallel — Adam and Sarah won after their season-long struggles. Both of them seemed like underdogs throughout their seasons (which seemed impossible for Adam on a male/male team), but they defied the odds to their championship title.
I don’t believe this is a “curse” or a production set-up; the similar story lines are just coincidences. But I’d like to believe that this was cathartic for Sarah. She wouldn’t want to damn Adam to lose on the Challenge, but she’d be happy to see him go through a similar struggle to earn his victory.
In a different world, Sarah Greyson could have returned to the show and been Adam’s rival, but Adam wasn’t entirely evil to Sarah on the Gauntlet. At one point, he said Sarah contributes the most to the team by eliminating Real Worlders. He wasn’t wrong; she sent some strong people packing. When the two got to the Gauntlet final, Adam made sure Sarah was moving and they were happy to share the victory.
But there were moments on the Gauntlet when Adam seemed like a jerk. If you ever felt that way, All Stars Rivals was a healthy dose of his own medicine.
Stop Being Polite 