The Challenge 40 Battle of the Eras Player Preview: Aneesa Ferreira
Back for her 17th MTV season, no player in Challenge history has made more appearances without winning than Aneesa Ferreira. Based on her history and the strength of this cast, it’s essentially a 100% certainty that she won’t be winning Season 40. Does that matter for Aneesa? Nope. She will give her the same confessional she always does, talking about how this is her season to win and how she’s ready to prove everyone wrong.
Straight up, good for her. Aneesa turned a shot at being on the Real World into a 20+ year Reality TV career where she gets paid a ton of money to show up and now hosts the official Challenge podcast. Aneesa’s never been a legit top competitor or one of the season’s main characters, but she’s always been around. She’s the cranberry sauce on the Thanksgiving dinner table, and you don’t have the 40th Thanksgiving without cranberry sauce.
Aneesa’s Cheat Sheet (TLDR Version)
Introducing Aneesa:
A true OG of Reality TV, Aneesa originally debuted on Real World Chicago — a season that filmed and depicted the cast learning about the events of the 9/11 attacks as they were happening. As a lesbian/bisexual Black Jewish-American, Aneesa checked so many diversity boxes and was representation for so many different viewers out there.
She debuted on The Challenge during Season 6 Battle of the Sexes and then was back for Battle of the Sexes 2. Aneesa made decent runs on each of these seasons, making it to around the halfway point before getting voted out — the most notable thing to come out of these seasons was a romance between her and Rachel Robinson. For most of Aneesa’s early Challenge career, her appearances were always sporadic and spaced out. Aneesa returned for Gauntlet 2, where one of the stronger players on a Vet team with a weak women’s side. She went to her first Final — unfortunately, their team was completely overmatched in the Final, and Aneesa didn’t even get a shot to compete in the Final itself.
After Gauntlet 2, Aneesa played on The Duel 1. This season, Aneesa found herself in an outsider alliance with Wes, Nehemiah, Svetlana, and Beth. While Aneesa failed to win any daily challenges, she proved a formidable opponent in eliminations, as her size gave her a distinct advantage. We saw her defeat Paula in the first-ever Pole Wrestle elimination. Aneesa & Robin had a beef after Robin made some problematic comments about Aneesa. The end result of that was Aneesa crushing Robin in elimination — they later got partnered on Rivals 1 from this. And then we saw Aneesa “beat” Diem in I Can, a callout that happened after a controversial broken deal between them that later resulted in their partnership on Rivals 2. Sadly, Aneesa came up short of the Final after losing in I Can herself to Svetlana.
We’d see Aneesa again for Inferno 3. It was a tough season for Aneesa because her team viewed her as a liability for the Final, she had a knee injury that did legit make her a liability for the Final, and in the end, she lost the last elimination before the Final to Paula. A couple of years later, Aneesa was back for The Duel 2. Once again, Aneesa did not win any daily challenges, and again, she proved to be a tough opponent in elimination because of her size. She beat Shauvon, Paula, and Tori Hall to get to the Final — which would be her last MTV Final for more than a decade until recently. Aneesa had one of the worst Final performances in Challenge history on The Duel 2 — she lost by over an hour to Rachel and Brittany, and even worse, she ended Mark’s chances of winning due to the way the Final was formatted. Also, Aneesa randomly didn’t have pants like everyone else.
It would be a couple of years again till we saw Aneesa back for Rivals 1. She almost won the first daily challenge with Robin; they came up short and got eliminated to face the power duo of Evelyn & Paula. They lost and were the first team out, marking the earliest exit of Aneesa’s Challenge career. She returned for Exes 1, where she and Rachel were a same-sex pair. As strong as they were, competing in daily challenges tailor-made for co-ed pairs was difficult. Aneesa & Rachel got to the halfway point of the game before losing to Dunbar & Paula in elimination. If you haven’t noticed, Aneesa & Paula faced each other 5 TIMES in elimination, a record that might never get broken.
Aneesa got to partner with Diem on Rivals 2, and they were a pretty solid team. With Diem’s political and social connections, they looked like they had a good chance of making it to the Final . Unfortunately, they came in Last Place during the final daily challenge, forcing them into elimination, where they got taken out by Cooke and Cara. Aneesa had a notable fight with Trishelle this season.
Edit: They lost to Jemmye & Camila in elimination.
We wouldn’t see Aneesa again until Bloodlines, where she went with a Cousin who she maybe didn’t know much. Bloodlines was a chaotic season for Aneesa. She had a showmance with the much younger Cory Wharton, who trashed her once she sided with the Bananas Veteran alliance. Despite getting trashed by him, she got back into his bed multiple times. Aneesa got into some messy drunken fights with KellyAnne on Bloodlines and, in the late game, got into an intense rivalry with Cara Maria. That culminated in Cara beating her in an intense Pole Wrestle in the final elimination of the season. Had Aneesa won that elimination, I wonder how the Final would’ve played out. Aneesa’s cousin Rianna was a terrible player, and Aneesa wasn’t amazing herself. Still, Cory had no ACL in one leg, and Jenna/Brianna had no brains/wouldn’t eat gross food, so really…anyone could’ve maybe won.
Aneesa took another break but was back for Dirty 30. She won some early daily challenges, then got targeted once the easy votes were out of the way. Aneesa lost an elimination to Kailah, then won an eating Redemption against Marie Roda and Nicole Ramos to get back in the game, only to then lose an elimination to Veronica once back in the game. Following Dirty 30, we’d see Aneesa pop up on Vendettas as a mercenary and appear on Champs vs. Stars 2 & 3.
It wouldn’t be for another couple of years until we saw her for Total Madness. From then on, we’ve gotten a lot of Aneesa. On Total Madness, Aneesa had some good confessionals, won some daily challenges, and beat Jenna Compono in elimination (though Jenna might’ve thrown it). Tragically, Aneesa missed out on the Final after getting taken out in elimination by Bayleigh Dayton in a Knot So Fast variation.
Aneesa went back for Double Agents, and it was a season of highs and lows. She won the opening daily challenge, got to pick Fessy as a partner, and we saw them make a big move by forcing Wes & Natalie and CT & Ashley into elimination. They won the second daily challenge together as well, and from there….Things went to shit. Fessy did not like being partnered with her as he didn’t think she had what it took to run a Final. In his defense, they came in last place in the Mini Final that season, even losing to the powerhouse team of Mechie & Amber Martinez. Aneesa did get a swing of momentum when she beat Tori in elimination — a big win, as Tori had talked shit about Aneesa in previous seasons (this was before they became best friends). The lows came back again, though, as not only Fessy but the rest of the men in the house didn’t want her as a Final partner. Aneesa’s season ended after she got blown out by Big T in a Hog Tie variation.
When All-Stars came out, Aneesa got the call, and finally, after over a decade, she made her first Final in years. In the Final…Aneesa didn’t perform swell. The only woman she beat was Jisela (who got purged immediately), and she came in 9th Overall. It was an underwhelming showing as Aneesa was competing against who hadn’t been on the show in many years — for her, at least she got to experience a Final again.
Aneesa returned for Spies, Lies & Allies, where she & Logan won the first daily challenge. Her season ended prematurely after getting injured during an obstacle course daily challenge. After this, Aneesa went on Ride or Dies. Her original partner was supposed to be her real-life friend, James Simon. Except there was a COVID stoppage early into filming Ride or Dies, and so at some point, he dropped out/got replaced with Jordan. So Jordan & Aneesa, who arguably had one of the bigger rivalries in Challenge history, were now partners for Ride or Dies. They weren’t a bad pair at all. Jordan led them as a pair, and they were competitive in multiple daily challenges, including picking up. Together, they beat Laurel & Jakk in elimination early in the game. Later, when Jordan got eliminated, Aneesa helped him win his way back into the game via the Knot So Fast Redemption elimination against Kenny & Kaycee. And then they beat Amber & Chauncey for their third elimination win. I might need a fact-check, but I believe Aneesa is the only player in Challenge history to win three eliminations in one season three different times.
On Ride or Dies, Aneesa made her first MTV Final since 2009, and not long into it…She rolled her ankle. Aneesa’s ankle has been a recurring issue for her over the years. She and Jordan constantly fought during this Final. She blamed him for the injury because he took them off the path, although Jordan was trying his best to keep them competitive, considering he didn’t have the cardio to be on pace with the other teams. To Jordan’s credit, even with Aneesa’s injury, he kept finding ways for them to remain somewhat in contention. Eventually, their game ended via a mid-Final Balls In elimination against Bananas & Nany, where Aneesa’s ankle was destroyed by the end.
Player Vitals and Stats:
Aneesa: 42 Years Old, 5'6, 17 Seasons*, 4x Finalist*, 14–13 Elimination Record*, * = Includes All-Stars
Skills and Physical Strength:
Aneesa has won more daily challenges in recent years than she did in her athletic prime. I credit more of that to her brain, where she’s found shortcuts in certain daily challenges using veteran experience. While Aneesa has never been a great daily challenge competitor, she rarely comes in last place because she’s historically pretty competent across the board. It’s why she gets far into every season, as she never seems like a total lay-up competitor. Aneesa is a solid swimmer who can carry heavy amounts of weight and is decent in eating challenges.
Aneesa’s size has always given her a distinct advantage in physical eliminations and challenges. On top of that, she enjoys tackling, wrestling, and physical contact. Back in the day, when being super thin was super in, Aneesa’s size was a much bigger advantage. Nowadays, The Challenge is loaded with women with more muscle and natural size, so Aneesa’s advantage is no longer as significant. Still, if Aneesa were to get the backpack elimination against strong players like Cara or Nurys, she could end their game in an instant.
Cardio, endurance, and anything involving a player having to support their body weight is where Aneesa falters big time.
SSMP (Social, Strategic, Mental, and Political) Game:
Socially, Aneesa’s connection to Tori has done wonders for her game, where they have all their pregame connections, and she has a loyal ally looking out for her. For years, Aneesa would get far into the game based on surface-value relationships & friends and then get thrown into one of the final eliminations, where she’d lose right before the Final. Now, she has someone in her corner. Additionally, Aneesa is part of the original vacation alliance crew with heavy pregamers like Devin and Kaycee.
I will note that Aneesa has some long-time rivals this season, such as Cara Maria, Laurel, KellyAnne, and CT. Those are powerful enemies to have, and I wouldn’t put it past Cara or Laurel to temporarily pause their game to take Aneesa out if they get into some drama again this season.
The mental side of the game is both a point of strength and weakness for Aneesa. She’s above average in tangram puzzles and has solid math & memory skills. In terms of mental toughness, Aneesa is soft — rather than pushing herself to run the extra mile, she’ll start walking before even considering giving 110%.
Eliminations & Winning Potential:
We’ve seen Aneesa compete in every type of elimination under the sun. If the eliminations involve climbing, mobility, or core strength, it’s typically a guaranteed loss. Aneesa’s bread and butter is highly physical eliminations, and even then, against this cast, with so many fit and athletic beasts, it’s not going to be a fight.
Eliminations are where Aneesa thrives more because while she doesn’t have the skillset to dominate dailies, often, in eliminations, you only have to beat your opponent at one specific thing.
Can Aneesa win? No. She’s gone to only 4 Finals in 17 Seasons, and her last three performances have all been pitifully bad. There’s no world where Aneesa is outrunning any of the Top 12 women on this cast. That’s fine, though. She’s picking up a hefty appearance check to show up.
Aneesa’s Overall Rating: 73/100
Previous Ratings I’ve Given Aneesa:
Spies, Lies & Allies: 75/100
Double Agents: 77/100
Total Madness: 75/100
Dirty 30: 75/100
