Challenge Total Madness Player Preview: Nany Gonzalez
Nany and the Challenge is a two-way toxic relationship. Whenever she is not on the show, she seems to have an incredibly fun life with great friends where she does not have to worry about getting backstabbed by allies or having to compete in crazy challenges or eliminations. As a fan of Nany, I despise watching her lose, hate that she often gets hurt despite having good intentions, and I’m always malcontent in her selections for male hookups (Hunter, really?). And yet, the concept of not having Nany on my television terrifies me. Likewise, I think Nany feels the same way about the show. Nany loves the Challenge because it is part of her life, and it’s somewhere that feels home to her. She enters the season(s) with optimism, and by the end seems mentally crushed. Sometimes being at home sucks.
My biggest fear for Nany is she becomes the person she was on Bloodlines and Rivals 3, where she was only on the show because she came dependent on it. As long as Nany enjoys being on the show, then I always want her on. Sadly, history says she will lose disastrously. Thus, fans of hers need to prepare themselves emotionally.
Introducing Nany: She debuted on Battle of the Seasons in 2012 as part of the bizarre hybrid Las Vegas team consisting of Alton, Trishelle, Dustin, and herself. Physically, this might have been the best version of Nany. Nany was a good athlete growing up, and you could tell on that season. She almost won an endurance-based elimination even with Alton trying to throw it so he could go home. For years, Nany never gave off the vibe that she was working very hard, yet, she was always physically impressive in some moments.
During Free Agents, Nany won the final two daily challenges and gave Laurel a run for her money in the Final itself. With Bananas, she won multiple exiles to earn their way back into the house and had the biggest blowout win in Pole Wrestle history. On Rivals 3, she bullied KellyAnne in an elimination that wasn’t originally supposed to be physical, but she made it physical and won flat out. The problem with Nany was she wasn’t always 100% there mentally as a competitor and was wildly inconsistent.
Since returning, Nany has become more consistent as a competitor in daily challenges; however, for a long time, one of her big edges was the fact she was physically bigger than other girls. Nany is much thinner these days. So while she is looking great, it hurts her ability to go head to head with other girls in headbanger type challenges. Nany is the image of an average competitor at this point, and it is maddening. Part of you wants her to be better, and part of you wishes she was worse so you wouldn’t get so optimistic about her chances of winning.
Last season, Nany had an awful time being on the wrong side of Paulie and Cara’s alliance. She was forced to be on a team she hated, had her best friend pick the other alliance, and lost in the final elimination. This time around, she gets to play without most of the people she hated from last season!
Player Vitals
Nany Gonzalez: 31 Years Old, 5'8, 8 Seasons, 3–9 Elimination Record, 1x Finalist, Highest Finish: 2nd Place Free Agents
Skills and Physical Strength: As I mentioned above, Nany looks fantastic these days. Her skin seems reinvigorated, and at 31, she looks younger than when she was 26. Alongside Turbo, Nany had her best season ever in terms of daily challenges. Nany is a solid competitor when partnered with someone motivated. She plays to the level her partner is at because Nany never wants to disappoint someone who relies on her. When partnered with Turbo, Nany raised her game. Yet, when partnered with Jonna on Rivals 2, they both crumbled together.
Looking forward optimistically, Nany’s only other true individual season was Free Agents, and she made the final then. Nany is very average in most daily challenges, which is not a big deal, but when you consider how Purge heavy recent seasons are, being average in challenges is much better than being inconsistent like Jenna or Nelson. Nany passes the bar on what is the lowest level of competency in almost every facet of the Challenge. While her swimming was not great last season, she was significantly better than the worst people. Sometimes Nany shocks people in carnival game challenges. She killed the tire jumping challenge on War of the Worlds 1 when most girls couldn’t jump more than one tire.
If you were playing a Challenge video game, Nany would be the starter create-a-player because there’s nothing she is terrible at. The problem is, there is nothing she is particularly exemplary in. It creates an excellent discussion of when evaluating players of whether you want a wholly balanced Nany type player or a Jenna type who is good at one or two things and then awful at everything else. Jenna has a better elimination record and more finals appearances, but she’s also never been as close to winning as Nany has.
SSMP (Social, Strategic, Mental, and Political) Game: I think Nany might be the worst social, strategic, and political player in Challenge history. As much as I want to be Nany’s best friend in real life because she seems like a lot of fun, in terms of playing the game, Nany’s friendships generally only negatively affect her. She is often way too loyal in a game where players need to put themselves first. On Nany’s rookie season, she volunteered for an elimination with Alton knowing he was going to throw it. Nany expects her friendships to be a mutual reciprocation of loyalty, unfortunate for her, she is on the Challenge where the other people are egotistical scumbags.
I have seen people mention that Kailah, Jenna, and Nany will be an alliance this season. It makes sense as Jenna is best friends with the two of them, and if you look at social media, Kailah and Nany seem to be good friends now. That alliance idea is tragic. I love the alliance aesthetically, but none of the three are dominant in daily challenges. If you have an alliance of people who don’t win daily challenges, then, in reality, you are just a group of people standing up against a wall waiting to get shot at.
In terms of puzzles/mental competitions, Nany is pretty below average. She isn’t in the Nicole Zanatta section, but she lost on a puzzle elimination last season and finished last in the up all night challenge with Wes (a challenge that included Nate and Christina).
Eliminations & Winning Potential: Aneesa and Nany are tied for the most career elimination losses by a female with nine. There is a real possibility that one or both of them break the ten elimination loss barrier this season, a mark only hit by Johnny Bananas. Nany’s elimination record is weird because one of her losses was due to the fact Wes couldn’t tape Georgia, another is because Alton threw the elimination, and then her loss on Rivals 3 was a weird family drama type thing. Regardless, if you end up with a 3–9 elimination record, it generally means you’re not good at eliminations.
Nany having no dominant skills is probably the reason she doesn’t win eliminations. Being competent doesn’t matter when you go one on one. All you have to do in elimination is be better than your opponent. So while Nany has had competitive elimination losses, they are still losses.
Can Nany win this season? No. Not unless she completely revamps who she is as a player. Paula was someone who would come on every season and find ways to lose disastrously like Nany. Except Paula went into every season in better shape, ran long-distances daily at home, and focused on improving herself physically so she could finally win. If Nany puts in half that effort, then she could be a legitimate contender, and we could look at her in a new light. Until then, I expect her to get eliminated around the final five or six point.
