This season of the Challenge is off to a strong start — well, for some of the players. The Challengers have been divided into three teams, and some of them have more potential than others.
The Blue, Orange, and Gray teams all have their strengths and weaknesses, but which ones are in the best shape to excel in the long run?
The Blue Team
Based on episode 1 and episode 2, you might think the Blue Team is completely screwed, but that might not be the case.They look like a group of misfits and outsiders right now, but they’ve shed two of their weakest players.
The group has a lot of rookie power. Based on first impressions, Josh and Lete are probably the two newbies with the most potential, and they’ve shown their dedication to the competition in the first two episodes. Anna Leigh has also surprised a lot of the other players with her dominant performance in the team captain race.
If this team fails, it will likely be because of the veterans. Nelson and Brad have already shown they’re hot-headed, and Cara Maria showed she still has fears in certain competitions. But the remaining players could band together and form a lean group if they put their egos and fears aside.
Still, this group seems to be the weakest of the three — but it’s likely to pack a powerful punch as it leans out.
The Orange Team
As the group with the most championship titles, you’d think the orange squad would benefit from decades of Challenge experience. So far, that hasn’t been the case.
The players on the Orange Team have many preexisting alliances, and Cutthroat’s format makes this a concern. People like Bananas, CT, and Tori are used to using a social game to get to the end of the competition, but this season makes it very hard to guarantee safety when your team loses. Plus, Will and Justin have a close friendship, so they’ll work to protect each other. So, the social dynamic could make this group implode sooner rather than later.
We’ve also seen the players on this team try to circumnavigate the rules of the game by forcing stalemates at deliberations and creating a cheat code during If You Know, You Know. These moves have backfired, resulting in losses. And because this team has so many social connections, losses tend to hit them harder.
Going into episode 3, this team still has dead weight, and that could hurt them in the long haul. They need to play the game, follow the rules, and prove the value of their Challenge championships.
The Gray Team
Clearly, this team has had the best showing on the first two episodes of Cutthroat, so they’re the team to beat this season. But this is a team with so much potential, and so few Challenge wins.
Yes, there’s Chris, who won USA 2 — but we also have Cory, who claims to be the best to never win. Then, we have Nurys, season 39’s runner-up, and Sydney, season 41’s runner-up. This should give the team a certain level of confidence while reminding them that they’re not unbeatable. And that should be made doubly clear after episode 2, when they won IfYou Know, You Know on a technicality.
We also see a group with a lot of personality but relatively few pre-existing connections. In many cases, Gray Team players have more important alliances on other teams. This was shown when Keanu tried to protect Anna Leigh, and Adrienne tried to protect Izzy on episode 2. So, this group likely has very different objectives in the game.
At some point, the Gray Team will lose, and this is likely to put a huge strain on their unity. It will be especially hard because there isn’t a clear weak link on the team, and deliberations could get very messy.
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