If you ask around about the all time great Challenge seasons, one of them that comes up between people of the older, middle, and new generation of Challenge fans is Cutthroat. I’m personally against big team formats, it allows players to hide, and it’s more a game of dropping dead-weight before the final than actually winning any challenges.

Cutthroat had those dead-weight shedding elements, but the 20k daily missions meant something for the competitors, and by the end, making sure you did not run out of guys also mattered. For Cutthroat, they made all the competitors run to the Gulag where the final 3 people to make it would be the team captains. Dumb twist, making the worst 3 people pick, however it added an element of random that helped the game.

These people were Camila, Shauvon, and Emilee,they drafted in that order, with Camila being on the Red Team, Shauvon being on the Grey Team, and Emilee being on the Blue Team.

The draft went as such:

Atrocious, right? Well, I’m going to fix it today.

Round 1:

Camila selects Derrick K first overall, he is coming off of three straight Challenge victories, and is the smart choice for veteran leadership.

Shauvon selects Johnny second overall, he is coming off of two straight Challenge victories.

Emilee selects Abram third overall, he is a beast, and has already won 2 Challenges.

Round 2:

Camila selects Laurel fourth overall, coming off one of the great rookie seasons all time on Fresh Meat 2.

Shauvon selects Jenn fifth overall, because she had a good reputation as a solid competitor, I guess?

Emilee selects Paula sixth overall, banking on Paula’s endurance for a final.

Round 3:

Camila selects Brad seventh overall, he is a hungry for a win, and has always been a good competitor.

Shauvon selects Dunbar eight overall, people think he was a good competitor for some reason. Not as egregious as picking him first overall.

Emilee selects Tyler ninth overall, after being told to do so by Paula, her Key West cast-mate.

Round 4:

Camila selects Tori tenth overall, thinking she should keep together the married couple, a dumb decision repeated! At least this time Tori was not the first female pick.

Shauvon selects Sarah eleventh overall, knowing Sarah did very well on the Ruins.

Emilee selects Emily twelfth overall, remember this was Emily’s rookie season, and I don’t think anyone had seen DC yet.

Round 5:

Camila selects Dan thirteenth overall, as recommendation by Derrick K.

Shauvon selects Vinny fourteenth overall, due to her attraction.

Emilee select Ty fifteenth overall, just basing on his overall outer physique.

Round 6:

Camila selects Melinda sixteenth overall, with Tori urging her to as Melinda’s good friend.

Shauvon selects Theresa seventeenth overall, for Theresa’s athletic look.

Emilee selects Ayiiia eighteenth overall, Cancun friends.

Round 7:

Camila selects Chet nineteenth overall. Chet has not given them a reason to not pick him, and Brad did a season with him (The Ruins).

Shauvon selects Brandon twentieth overall. Not much is known of him from his Fresh Meat season.

Emilee selects Derek twenty-first overall, another Cancun friend.

Round 8:

Camila selects Cara Maria twenty-second overall, hoping she shows the same potential she did on the Fresh Meat tryout.

Shauvon selects Mandi twenty-third overall, wants another blonde on her team.

Emilee selects Katie twenty-fourth overall, Katie is Katie.

Round 9:

Camila selects Luke twenty-fifth overall, he is not Big Easy.

Shauvon selects JD twenty-sixth overall, he is not Big Easy.

Emilee selects Big Easy twenty-seventh overall, Gauntlet 3.

The New Teams

New Red Team: Derrick K, Brad, Dan, Chet, Luke, Camila, Laurel, Tori, Melinda, Cara Maria

New Grey Team: Johnny, Dunbar, Vinny, Brandon, JD, Shau,von, Jenn, Sarah, Theresa, Mandi

New Blue Team: Abram, Tyler, Ty, Derek, Big Easy, Emilee, Paula, Emily, Ayiiia, Katie

What is obvious here? It’s that the Red Team is far and away the best. Abram captained an amazing Grey Team on the original Cutthroat, but having Laurel made it really easy whenever there were female portions of the competitions. Having solid guys like Derrick K and Brad who can combine to make 1 Abram, gives the Red Team a lot of strength. They also get two solid females in Camila and Tori who I believe are better than the 2010 versions of Sarah and Cara Maria.

The Red Team should be the the best team though! It was a pick up basketball style of draft instead of a snake draft format. Bunim-Murray is lucky that these people are dumb enough to mess up the draft with every other selection, but if you had legitimate good players picking, then this would have been a completely unfair format.

The New Grey Team looks decent on paper, except they have no brains and no leadership, due to this they will falter in all daily missions, and rely on eliminations to form a strong team for the final.

The New Blue Team is hopeless, except for the fact that they have Tyler, Paula, Abram, and Emily S. If they can hold onto that nucleus for the final, we could see them win. All they need to do is shed their dead weight.

Conclusion: The original Cutthroat was incredible season with a ton of fun, an amazing Grey team, and a disappoint finish in the final. The moral story is:

DON’T PICK DUNBAR FIRST OVERALL IN ANYTHING EVER