Challenge Total Madness Player Preview: Jenna Compono
There was a point in time a few years ago where Jenna was one of the faces of the Challenge. She was neck and neck with Cara Maria in terms of fan interest and support. Jenna was known as the “Barbie Beast” and was the image of casual fan perfection: unproblematic, a little ditzy, beautiful, and a good competitor. On one end of the spectrum, Cara dove straight into the Challenge world by doing interviews all over the place, getting invested in Twitter drama, enabling her cult fanbase, and upping the drama portion of her game. Meanwhile, Jenna did the opposite. She somewhat eschewed the Challenge fanbase in terms of how much the fans care about her. It was not a 50–50 relationship.
Jenna loved the attention she got from the show and the fact it boosted her social media presence, yet, she never went all in. As time went on, the Challenge began casting more strong females, more dramatic characters across the board, and Jenna becoming injured in 2018 completely set her back. Jenna still has fan support and is a middle-tier character. However, it’s hard to envision her ever reaching her peak again; unless we see Jenna become a player better than she was at her best.
Introducing Jenna: When Jenna first appeared on the Challenge, nobody expecting anything from her. Alongside Jay Mitchell, she made it to the final of Exes 2 as the lay-up team who got kept around to give the final teams a better shot to win. Jay and Jenna had an embarrassing performance where Jenna was walking early into the final, and they were unable to drink fish juice, meaning they quit without even getting halfway done with day 1 of a 2-day final. She was initially an alternate for Battle of the Bloodlines until someone last minute drop-outs. She was labeled a “lay-up” again. That is until she won an elimination, and then another, and then a third elimination to make a final where she finally finished. The Barbie Beast was born. Jenna then coasted to another final with Cousin Vince on Rivals 3, where they finished in second.
In her fourth season, Jenna won two more eliminations. She was 5–0 through 3.85 seasons without ever being eliminated. Up until she got eliminated on Invasion, Jenna was on an all-time statistical tear. Even a skeptic of her abilities like me couldn’t deny the fact that she was a good competitor as the most important quality you can have on the Challenge is not getting eliminated. Then she began to sputter. Jenna made it far on both Invasion and Dirty 30, but the emergence of “Purges” exposed her weaknesses. Despite strong performances in eliminations, Jenna is a bottom tier player in daily challenges. Finishing last in these purges was now forcing her out of the game. She then sustained a foot fracture and shattered her heel during a Champs vs. Stars spinoff. Jenna lost a ton of muscle from being unable to work out, which was a big deal as her most significant advantage was her size. It didn’t help that girls like Tori, Mattie, Jenny, and Kam were added to the cast, making her former biggest advantage mean less.
Jenna is no longer in the conversation for the face of the franchise. She is now a supporting player who sometimes gets forgotten by the editing team. During most of War of the Worlds 2, especially after Zach left, it became “oh hey, Jenna is here.” Total Madness is Jenna’s 8th season. Jenna is now in the top 10 for female appearances all-time (tied for 10th w Tonya and Diem).
During her rookie season, Jenna immediately found a spark with Zach Nichols, and they’ve had an up and down relationship for the last six years. They broke up while filming Rivals 3 when Jenna called home, and Zach thought it was his other girlfriend “Brooke” calling. They got back together after filming Invasion of the Champions. That is until he ghosted her. Eventually, they found themselves together again after she got injured shooting Champs vs. Stars 2. They have had an up and down journey since. Their relationship on the show has not been successful from what we have gotten to see with our eyes. Except at home, they seem to be doing well as they got engaged in 2019! Jenna gets to play this season without him, which could be a godsend as they have not been successful together on the show.
Player Vitals
Jenna Compono: 27 Years Old, 5'9, 128 lbs*, 7 Seasons, 5–2 Elimination Record, 3x Finalist, Highest Finish: 2nd Place Rivals 3
Skills and Physical Strength: Back in 2017, I wrote an article about the fact that Jenna had one of the worst career records in daily challenges. Someone created a brilliant spreadsheet detailing win-loss ratios. In a team season, a person has a 0.5 expected win level because there are only two teams. If there are ten teams, they’d have a 0.1 expected win level. Some people have outrageous ratios from one-sided seasons. However, if you look only at players who have competed in 30 or more daily challenges, Jenna is second to last among all females.
She is bad at most daily challenges. Jenna excels at two things: cardio and heights. Her stamina is ridiculous, but it’s the roadblocks that come like puzzles and eating that completely impede her. In heights’ challenges, she has a great sense of balance and is weirdly able to shut off her brain from the fear of dying. From a pure physical standpoint, Jenna is fantastic. Once you add problem-solving to the equation, she crumbles.
SSMP (Social, Strategic, Mental, and Political) Game: I think a lot gets made of Jenna’s social game. In reality, she leaves a lot to be desired. Yes, people like Jenna, that’s important. Liking her as a person doesn’t stop them from being afraid to vote her into elimination. Jenna avoided elimination on Exes 2 because they were the lay-up team, and on Rivals 3 as Bananas carried his Cousin Vince the entire way. She was thrown into three eliminations on Bloodlines, two on Invasion, one on Dirty 30 (that she lost), and one on WOTW 1, all of which were in relatively early points in the season(s). Three times Jenna has been in either the first or second elimination. Jenna can make friendships easily; what matters is whether or not those friendships do anything for her.
Jenna is best friends with Nany and Kailah. Kailah is a big personality and becomes a target because of it. On Dirty 30 and Invasion, it was easy to throw Jenna into elimination because she’s linked to Kailah (they even threw them in against one another). Likewise, as much as everyone watching wishes they could be Nany’s friend in real life, she’s not the type to make smart moves to further your alliance politically. Jenna has strong bonds. However, those bonds might be detrimental in the long-run game-wise.
We all know Jenna is not good with puzzles or mental challenges. She won trivia once, though! Theoretically, Jenna could play a great strategic game because people don’t expect much from her. If Jenna wanted to play cutthroat, she could do so easily since people won’t see it coming. It’s hard to imagine her doing so.
Eliminations & Winning Potential: Jenna’s 5–2 elimination record is a bit inflated because of the fact she has been removed three times via Purge. I fear for Jenna as the level of female competition has massively taken a leap in recent seasons. While there isn’t an Emily or a Laurel or even Cara Maria on this season; this cast is stacked with multiple strong female players, lots of competent females who are on the same level as Jenna, and rookies with tons of potential.
She is strong in one on one competition as she is good at being fearless when things get strange. In headbanger eliminations, she doesn’t have the killer will, as seen by how DaVonne completely dominated her on War of the Worlds 1. Jenna is good at eliminations, just not as good as her 5–2 record.
Can Jenna win? Honestly, I don’t think so. Jenna has the cardio to win a final; she doesn’t have the puzzle ability, struggles playing from in front, and won’t eat anything gross. Could she make the final? Absolutely. Jenna is solid in eliminations, and she has a good relationship with Jordan and Bananas, two of the best male players on this season. Most seasons, males control the politics of the game, sadly.
