Challenge Fan Friday: Cohutta Grindstaff, the King Slayer

When people think about the Challenge, one of the first moments that come to mind is CT’s Bananas backpacking - a giant man physical dominating another grown man in the most emasculating way possible. Many fans consider the perfect Challenge competitor to be a 240 lb wolverine. For some, it might be the powerhouse known as Darrell Taylor, for the OGs, it’s the giant, Mark Long, and in terms of the ladies, it often sways between Laurel Stucky or Emily Schromm.

The man we are talking about today does not fit the perfect Challenge competitor mold. He is short and skinny - a country boy who is known for knocking out quite a few giants during his run. Since his first appearance on Real World: Sydney, Cohutta Grindstaff has been a true fan favorite.

Real World: Sydney was SLOPPY - KellyAnne and Trisha were all over the place the entire season, Shauvon was Shauvon, Isaac was (still is?) crazy as hell, and Dunbar had not yet attended anger management classes. Considering how into Dunbar she was, despite his sour behaviour, Parisa was another super annoying personality. The kindhearted and humble Cohutta was seemingly the only normal person in the house.

Cohutta starting a relationship with KellyAnne has got to be considered one of the most clutch moments in the history of the show. Let me start by saying that people are not objects. However, KellyAnne is one of the hottest girls in RW history, and Cohutta being able to get with her deserves an applause. During his season, he also got to live in a very nice house and find a lifelong friend in Isaac.

He made his Challenge debut on The Island, where he famously sat under his bug net without a care in the world, while everyone else was being terrorized by wasps and bugs. During the season, Cohutta took on Bananas and Derrick during a face-off, and, considering it was the closest thing to daily missions. he did fine. His actions during The Island are what made him famous for the rest of his run.

The Ruins was a stupid format that is excellent in theory but often fails in execution. During The Ruins, the Challengers were absolutely demolished by the Champs — and it didn’t help that they were dragged down by the burdens that were Casey and Shauvon. They lost the daily missions week after week and, consequently, had to watch two of their team members, get nominated for elimination. After watching Wes and the Champs demolish more than half their guys, it was finally Cohutta’s time to see an elimination.

If you watch the whole video you get a decent recap of the episode. I keyed it in on the final minute and a half for those less interested in Ibis and Evan commenting on Veronica’s body.

In his confessional, Derrick notes that Cohutta beating Wes would be one of the greatest moments in Challenge history. Cohutta took the down The Elimination King. A invincible man, with an 8–0 elimination record, was taken down by the person he thought would be an easy win. My favorite thing about the clip is Evan’s remark about Cohutta being the toughest guy he had to wrestle during a daily challenge on the Ruins, when two 200 lb dudes (Brad and Dunbar) were still there. On Bloodlines, Thomas had a similar sentiment. Even though Thomas had 30 lbs on Cohutta, they spent a ton of time deadlocked in the sand together, because Cohutta refused to give him an inch of space.

Cohutta’s best performance on a season was probably Free Agents. In almost every single daily challenge, he showed up and performed well, even if his team was not a major help. During their first daily on Free Agents, players had to run on a spinning log and grab a flag in the middle. Cohutta was one of few people to actually complete it. He won the second daily mission of the season when partnered with Laurel. He also did well in the Bar Crawl mission, coaching Nany and getting the best out of her — I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Nany’s best season ever turned out to be the season she dated Cohutta. He brings out the best in people. Because he’s genuine, Cohutta saying he believes in you probably makes you feel on top of the world. In a world of fake people, Cohutta is a gem that fell through the cracks into this show filled with crazies.

It would be ideal if we could get more Cohutta on these shows in the future. However, his RW season has now aired a decade ago. He did get an availability call for Invasion of the Champions, but once LeRoy couldn’t do it, and Nany declined, they went in a younger direction with Shane Landrum being the lone veteran. Because he is such a nice guy, Cohutta doesn’t fit many themes. As his fans, I think all we want at the very least is one more season from the King Slayer.

Edited by Lyndon Zass