Leroy Garrett’s Top 10 MTV Challenge Moments
During the preseason promo for Double Agents, Leroy announced that this will be his last season of the Challenge. After almost 10 years since his debut on Real World Back to Las Vegas and thirteen seasons, Leroy is hanging it up. From the outside, retiring at this point makes sense, yet, I still felt blindsided because to me, Leroy is someone who when I envision a Challenge house, he is there. While he wasn’t the best or most dramatic player, Leroy was always someone who you were happy to see. Leroy was like Norm from Cheers in terms of the stability he brought. He was hilarious in confessionals, had some hookups and showmances, and for a long period was always someone who had to be mentioned among the top players as he was physically imposing.
Leroy never won because he had massive flaws as a player, yet, even he acknowledged that. So many players deflect when they fail, whereas Leroy knows his abilities and is going to keep training to overcome them. Regardless, he at least holds down his status as probably the best male competitor to never win. Leroy had multiple amazing moments on the show, whether they be comedic or physically jaw-dropping. Let’s stroll down memory lane.
10 Final Elimination Win of Vendettas
On the Challenge Vendettas, Leroy got voted into the final elimination. It was very frustrating for Leroy as Tony voted him in, and Leroy is almost like the house-expert who give people the 411 on traditions, cuts hair, and is an all-around good guy. Leroy had looked out for the drunken dog that is Tony multiple times, and then suddenly, he gets thrown into elimination in favor of Kyle. A pissed off Leroy then went into elimination and disposed of Brad with ease, especially impressive considering Brad had won 6 consecutive eliminations prior (including wins against CT, Landon, and Frank S). Leroy punched the ticket to his third final, proving that he wasn’t cool with being disrespected by people he saw as friends.
9 Leroy “Bitch” Moment
During an elimination on Exes 2, Leroy supported his partner Nia by cheering her on, hyping her up, and saying whatever he could to give Nia the extra energy needed to defeat Averey and keep them in the game. In the heat of the moment, Leroy yells: “Don’t give that bitch no break!” and then immediately after, realizes his rudeness, and goes, “Excuse me, I didn’t mean to call her a bitch.” He proved to both be a ride-or-die for Nia and a gentleman all in ten seconds.
8 Completing the Final Daily Challenge of Exes
Leroy hates heights. Hilariously, it’s his fear of heights that has allowed him to kill some challenges out of fear of falling to his death. On Battle of the Exes, they had one of the most demanding challenges ever, where players scaled-down a skyscraper using mostly their upper-body. While almost all players fell around the second mark of this four check-point challenge, Leroy made it to the end, doing so by not looking down out of fear. Unfortunately, Nia fell in the first portion, and they automatically went into elimination because of it. Leroy completely outclassed elite players in Jordan/Bananas in this challenge.
7 Absolute Indifference in Daily Challenges on Free Agents
On Free Agents, Leroy made a shrewd decision in that he realized that if you don’t win the daily challenge on Free Agents, it might be better off to come in last and take your chances in the draw so that way you don’t have to politic/get voted in. Especially late in the game when the difference between the draw/winners was only a few people. Even CT got voted in on Free Agents during the era where he never got voted in. Leroy’s indifference hit a peak in Sausage Party daily challenge where he basically didn’t even attempt it. He then hyped up Jordan to pull all the kill cards and laughed his ass off in the house after Jordan got eliminated doing it.
6 Top Bunk Hookup on Rivals 2
For a long time, Wes and Leroy had a rivalry going where Leroy would beat Wes in eliminations, and Wes would trash on Leroy in his confessionals. On Rivals 2, Leroy was hooking up with Theresa. What makes the hook-up interesting is that Wes and Theresa formerly had a fling on Fresh Meat 2 and a little after. You add that they are having sex on the top bunk of a bunk bed, and even more spice gets added when you realize that Wes’s bed is the bottom bunk … with Wes sleeping there as they hooked up (he woke up during). Leroy came down hard on Wes with that one.
5 Leroy punches ticket to final of Exes 2
Leroy and Theresa defeated Bananas and Nany in Pole Wrestle in the final elimination of Exes 2 to send them to the final. For Leroy, it meant that he beat his best-friend and the reigning champ Bananas, not just once but twice in elimination in one season. It was the first time Bananas had got eliminated in four seasons, and before facing Leroy, he was on five elimination win streak. What makes it special is it was Leroy’s fourth elimination win of the season. Leroy is one of only three males to win four or more eliminations in a season, the others being Derrick and Wes (5). Considering his opponents were two players who had won their previous seasons (Wes and Bananas), and the runner-up of the previous season (Johnny Reilly), Leroy’s quality of victories is maybe the best ever in one season by a male.
4 Eliminating Wes on Exes 1
He did not have to see an elimination his rookie season, which made his first elimination win being against the 10–2 Elimination King (at the time), Wes Bergmann, a huge one. Not only that, they played the game Wes became a legend in, Pole Wrestle. Wes had defeated the other all-time great male elimination player of the period, Derrick Kosinski, on the Duel, and he had never lost clean in anything raw physical. Leroy not only quickly dispatched of Wes, but he beat Wes THREE times. Twice in the original round and once in a tiebreaker after his female partner lost her two matches. He proved his performance on Rivals 1 wasn’t a fluke whatsoever.
3 Being a powerful human on Dirty 30
On Dirty 30, a drunken Camila went on a racist tirade directed at Leroy. The moment it began, Leroy tried to de-escalate the situation and even acknowledged when it started that Camila was out of her mind from the jump. Then once Camila became verbally violent, he showed immense restraint, understanding that if he matched even a tenth of the energy getting brought at him, that he might get painted as an aggressor. Something that Black men and women have to deal with when living their everyday lives, and especially when under the magnifying glass of reality television. In the face of being called the N-word and other racially charged names, Leroy kept calm and proved to be not only an excellent tv personality, but an all-around powerful human as well.
2 Jaw-Dropping Elimination Win on Exes 2
Leroy’s first time on Bananas and Nany on Exes 2 is a more iconic moment for our guy. The Pole Wrestle wins feel more like a Theresa/Nany moment if we’re being sincere. In this elimination, Nia and Nany have a back and forth battle in the elimination known as Hog Tie. Players have their arms and legs strapped to a pole/log and are hug under, similar to a pig would be at a roast/cookout. It is one of the most difficult eliminations ever. At one point between Nany and Nia, Nany’s straps/ties got caught, allowing Nia to take the lead, eventually finishing and letting her partner go. When Leroy went, everyone in the crowd’s jaw dropped. The sample size of players competing in this elimination is not large, and it’s been mostly women, but when Leroy goes, the crowd reaction tells you all you need to know. Leroy moves his 200 lb frame up and down the pole with speed, power, and ease that is unimaginable.
It made me feel bad for Wes on Rivals 2 because sleeping in the bunk under Leroy while his hips are in motion must have been like a fucking earthquake. Often, Leroy performs at 50% because his social game will get him far, and he knows nobody wants to face him in elimination. This elimination was a reminder of why you don’t want to go against Leroy, and you definitely don’t want to see him at 110%.
1 The Rope Climb To The Final of Rivals 1
The final daily challenge of Rivals 1 had male players climbing up a rope dropped down by a helicopter. The player who does so in the fastest time wins immunity for their team. Since CT and Adam had come in last place, Leroy knew that he would have to win the daily challenge as Wes/Kenny and Bananas/Tyler owned the majority of votes and would have put Leroy/Mike into the final elimination against CT. Leroy not only wins the daily challenge, but he does so in such a blistering fast time that all the men on the ground can’t believe a man could climb a rope with such speed. He crushed Wes, a person who had won a rope-climbing elimination against three other men earlier in the season.
Leroy’s win forced the CT/Adam vs. Tyler/Johnny final elimination, sent him and Mike to the final, and, more importantly, cemented his status on the show as a badass and perennial threat. Even if Leroy wasn’t the most well-rounded player, again, he was not someone you want to go against. Due to this moment, it always felt like Leroy was a veteran from then on. It’s part of the reason why his retirement now stings because he’s always been a stable presence on the show and was someone you were never disappointed to see. Ironically, it feels as though Leroy is hitting a new stride recently and is becoming his best self on Double Agents, yet, now he is hanging it up. It’s the perfect type of exit because you don’t want to overstay your welcome, and you want people asking for more. Dear God, I hope he gets the win.
