The Challenge 40 Battle of the Eras Player Preview: Cara Maria Sorbello
Cara Maria Sorbello is the most important woman in Challenge history and the female face of this franchise. Plain and simple. As someone who has been covering this show for nearly 8 years, I can say with certainty that anything written about Cara will get more blog views than any other woman on this show. She’s been the main character of so many seasons of this show, and whether you’re talking about all-time competitors, all-time rivalries, all-time eliminations, all-time meltdowns, or all-time horse owners, Cara’s name comes up. You cannot have Season 40 without her.
A few weeks ago, I got emotional blogging about how important Derrick Kosinski was at the beginning of my writing career by promoting my content and how now I get to work full-time professionally as a writer and creating content. I will do it again because, before Derrick, it was Cara Maria. If you don’t want to hear about me or my life, skip to the “Introducing Cara” part.
The first bits of Challenge content I ever did was writing player previews like this for Invasion of the Champions back in 2017. At that point in time, I was still a very new-to-the-show Superfan. And my favorite player was Cara Maria. I poured my heart into what was far and away the longest blog of the series. When I wrote the initial previews, 100ish, maybe 200 people would read them. As an amateur blogger, that was pretty damn good compared to everything else I had attempted to publish. Then, out of nowhere, some people sent Cara the player preview I wrote of her, and she reposted it across her socials and heaped praise onto me. As a 20-year-old fanboy, I geeked out, and Cara reposting my stuff led to me getting a lot of new readers and the motivation to keep creating content. Cara would continue to repost some of my stuff over the years, and we even did an interview for my blog after her win on Vendettas.
Now, that’s not the end of the story. As time passed, I did not love everything Cara was doing on the show. It put me in tough positions as there were multiple times where I would bite my tongue and not say my honest feelings because I didn’t want to upset Cara or her fans, who were a decent amount of my readership. Additionally, as much as I was a fan of Cara, I was and still am a fan of the Lavender Ladies. One day during Final Reckoning, I posted an inconsequential blog in the middle of the night where I broke down social media drama. I said Cara was playing the victim during an interaction with someone. I slept in till noon after posting that blog late in the night, and when I woke up, my fully charged phone was dead from all the notifications I got because Cara had called me a biased blogger on Twitter, and the internet began fighting a ton. Cara’s fans were attacking me, and Cara’s haters defended me. It was a crazy whirlwind. Cara deleted her tweet, and I removed the line from my blog. I still loved Cara, but things weren’t the same. It affected me, and I almost quit blogging, especially as I was still getting inundated with hate from her fans.
So when the internet began to turn on Cara during War of the Worlds 1, I found a second wind, leaning into the Cara & Paulie hate train. I made a lot of Twitter and blog recap jokes at their expense. Do I regret them? Mostly no. A few jokes crossed the line that I do regret. As a whole, I don’t have regrets because a lot of the jokes were funny; I still gave Cara & Paulie their props when they were due, and at the end of the day, they inspired me to make some of my best content. If Cara hated me today, I would not mind it one bit because I’ve written mean things about her, and there’s a non-zero chance I’ll do it again because I sometimes have to write mean things about people I like. At the same time, regardless of how she feels, I love Cara because I’m not who I am or where I am today without her. I also want to say that Cara’s Tweet from back in the day was absolutely correct — I am a biased blogger. My bias leads to me having strong opinions that I then want to write about and find ways to prove myself. That bias and love got Cara’s attention for my first blog about her and got her to dislike my other blogs.
Also, this is the last player preview I’m ever writing. I will never stop covering The Challenge, but when it comes to player previews, this is the last one, so soak it in.
Cara’s Cheat Sheet:
Introducing Cara Maria:
Originally from Methuen, Massachusetts, Cara Maria was just a girl with a horse, a psychology degree (3.8 GPA), and a lot of black leather clothing. She made her Reality TV as part of the recruit crop on Fresh Meat 2. Cara immediately impressed everyone at the Draft Combine by recording the fastest 40-yard dash time and winning the pull-up portion. Cara & Laurel were the only two women capable of doing a pull-up, and by doing six herself, Cara did three times as many as all other women combined. Darrell took her with the #1 overall pick in the Draft, and considering that he had never been traditionally eliminated from a show, they seemed destined to be a super team.
Well, Wes had spent years hoping to get revenge on Darrell for being one of the vets who voted him into five eliminations on Fresh Meat 1 because of their beef on The Ruins. Wes gathered the numbers and even colluded with Kenny to get Cara & Darrell thrown into elimination against Jill & Pete. Jill & Pete took Cara & Darrell down in an exile (mini Final type elimination). The rumor is that Darrell & Cara completely outpaced Pete & Jill but were set back massively by the puzzles.
Cara was given a second chance to compete on Cutthroat, where she was one of the last women to get drafted. On paper, it seemed like Cara would be on the outside looking in. Instead, Cara formed an instant connection with 2x Champion Abram Boise, and they remained together for many years. Abram was the best male competitor on Cutthroat and led their Grey Team to 100k dollars in daily challenge wins. Cara went into an early season elimination, where she defeated Mandi Moyer in the backpack elimination. After this, Cara was able to avoid elimination, in large part due to her being under Abram’s wing. This pissed off Laurel & Sarah Rice, and they even considered/tried throwing daily challenges in hopes of getting Cara sent into elimination before the Final. We saw the beginning of the Cara & Laurel rivalry this season. Laurel notably called Cara a JV player and went on multiple rants expressing her distaste for Cara and her abilities.
Well, they both went to the Final and didn’t win, except it was neither of their faults. Abram and Sarah were both medically DQ’d due to dehydration, and with them out, they had no shot of winning. Cara didn’t struggle like Laurel expected, though.
After Cutthroat, they made Cara & Laurel partners for Rivals 1. Being partners with Laurel definitely elevated her game as she wanted to keep up with her — and also, this was Laurel when she was at her apex physically. Together, Cara & Laurel won one daily challenge and were the first-place finishers in another, except TJ didn’t award them prize money because they didn’t finish in the time required. They got cheated out of $500 each in an amazing display of cheapness by Challenge production. It’s underrated how much the women were playing hard from the jump on Rivals 1; after an Evelyn & Paula vs. Robin & Aneesa match-up in the first women’s elimination, players jumped on Cara & Laurel finishing last in the next daily challenge to throw in Theresa & Camila against.
While those four women were very early into their Challenge career s— that is probably the most stacked four-woman elimination The Challenge has ever seen. Laurel, Cara, and Camila are all Top 8 all-time female competitors, and I think Theresa is a Top 30 female competitor. They competed in a game of endurance, where Cara came in clutch for their team. Considering Camila went on to win the following season, they sent a strong squad packing early into Rivals. Cara & Laurel later obliterated Jonna & Jasmine in a headbanger in the last women’s elimination of the season to guarantee their spots in the Final.
On top of the competition, Cara got into some drama this season. Cara didn’t vibe with most of the house…well, for most of her Challenge career, especially early on. She fell into the role of the house outsider. She got into some arguments with Jenn Grijalva, where Jenn enjoyed yelling at people as she does. Jenn even got physical with Cara at one point, and it was during a fight that Cara curiously had going on with her Boston brother, CT (this might’ve been an MTV exclusive clip). Somehow, Cara got into the most drama after they qualified for the Final. After a location change where the players moved to a loft in Argentina, there was an infamous moment where Wes, like a dickhead, poured an entire 2-liter bottle of off-brand cola on Cara Maria and her white dress. Instead of Wes getting reprimanded, Cara got yelled at by Paula & Tyler (who is a cunt) when she tried to retaliate against him. They blindly defended Wes and shit on Cara. This led to Laurel going into full defense mode as she savagely cursed out Wes & Paula to the point where Paula was bawling. Cara & Laurel bonded from this moment.
They went into the Final as a united pair. The Rivals 1 Final was far and away the hardest Final in Challenge history that players had ever seen and would see until WOTW 1. All the teams in the Final were breaking down physically from it…Except Cara & Laurel and Paula & Evelyn. While everyone was dying, those teams kept pushing each other and remained neck and neck for 10+ hours. They literally got to the eating portions after 6–8 hours of running and checkpoints at the exact same time. For all the talk the season before about Cara being a JV player, she held up amazingly in that Final. What ended up being the difference between the two teams was Paula’s eating ability — that gave their duo the edge and the advantage going into Day 2. Cara & Laurel came up short against the best women’s competitor in Challenge history (Evelyn) and a woman who had spent 8 seasons grinding to get her first win (Paula). It’s the most respectable loss you can have.
We’d see Cara return for Exes 1 with Abram as her partner. They curiously competed on the season while not being exes. All the progress Cara had made on Rivals 1 was out the window on Exes 1. There was something about playing with Abram where Cara receded into herself and became reliant on his instruction in all the daily challenges. Looking back, that was a significant indicator of Abram’s toxicity. They would’ve been a strong pair if we had gotten Rivals 1 Cara. Instead, they had no performances of note, finished last in a daily challenge midway into the game, and then had to face Emily & Ty in a Pole Wrestle. Emily wiped the floor with Cara. The way Emily dominated Cara was insane because even though she had a considerable size advantage — Cara was always known for her upper body strength. You’d assume she’d put up a better fight. Cara took the loss to heart, began devoting herself more seriously to fitness, and got into CrossFit.
Cara came back for Battle of the Seasons. They were a late-season replacement alternate team brought in after Real World Sydney got sent home due to issues. Coming in late put Fresh Meat at a disadvantage politically and socially. Cara was an even later addition to the late team as she replaced Carley Johnson, who dropped at the last minute. Cara is even wearing Carley’s jersey during the season, except they taped Cara Maria’s name on top of it. On a season with a bunch of rookies, Cara, Camila, and Brandon had the potential to be a dominant team… Unfortunately, they got brought down by the anchor that was Big Easy. Even with him losing weight, Big Easy was still a liability during daily challenges, which led them to go directly in two eliminations to finishing last. Plus, they already had a target on them, so they were an easy vote.
Cara & Big Easy did win the first Hall Brawl elimination in Challenge history together, as Big Easy famously rang the bell with Wes’s head, and then Cara defeated Lacey, who was making her Challenge debut seven years after her Real World season. Waiting seven years to debut only to get thrown into the first Hall Brawl ever Episode 1 and then never returning again is brutal. Two episodes later, Cara & Brandon lost a Knot So Fast elimination against Sarah & Chet, and they were the third team out. It was an uneventful season for Cara.
Then came Rivals 2, for which Cara was not on the official cast originally. However, Cara got slotted into multiple alternate slots. Cara & Ayiiia from Real World Cancun were rumored to be an alternate pair due to beef they had from Cutthroat. When Naomi from RW Las Vegas quit after the first daily challenge, they wanted to keep promising rookie Heather Cooke, so they brought in Cara as her new partner “based” on a Twitter spat they had. People were unhappy to see Cara enter the game because she was a massive upgrade over Naomi competitively. Had Cara not come into the season, Rivals 2 would not have had anywhere near enough juice. I want to note that Sarah Rice’s partner, Trishelle, quit soon after Cara’s arrival. Had Trishelle quit before Naomi had to leave, there’s a real chance that Cara would’ve become Sarah’s partner based on their tiffs from Cutthroat and other seasons. If Cara & Sarah had been a pair, I think they would’ve finished in 2nd Place as they would’ve been a strong team. Had Paula or Emily gotten injured, Cara could’ve been one of their partners based on their history as well! It’s funny how much beef Cara had on these shows before reaching main-character status.
On Rivals 2, Cara & Cooke got the underdog label and were voted into three eliminations. First, they defeated Jessica & Anastasia; the second one got canceled due to Trishelle quitting; and in the third, they beat Jonna & Nany. Cara & Cooke were a fun pair to watch, and they were the only team that could realistically pose a threat to Emily & Paula. During this season, Cara still had a bit of tentativeness in the daily challenges, which would sometimes frustrate Cooke. Cara did come in clutch as they pulled off their first daily challenge win in the last daily challenge to guarantee themselves a spot in the Final. The daily challenge consisted of players running while chained up and memorizing a color combination. Cara took on the burden of memorizing extra colors for their pairing and did so with flying colors (get it?).
They went to the Final, and Cara & Cooke actually won Day 1 by solving an incredibly difficult 3D puzzle. After this, they took an immediate lead during Day 2 of the Final, where their puzzle skills again gave them an edge. Things fell apart when they hit the eating portion. Cooke was a bad eater, Cara was trying her best, and then Paula became Joey Chestnut. Once Paula & Emily took the lead, Cara & Cooke were never the same and looked physically defeated. 2nd Place is nothing to scoff at, and this loss fueled Cara to get better.
She went back for Free Agents, where she was clearly in much better shape; this would become a recurring thing. This season, there were multiple notable things going on with Cara. She was there with her “best friend” Laurel, and as the two strongest women in the house physically, there was an interesting dynamic between them. We saw Cara’s rivalry with Bananas really begin to heat up and get a bit ruthless and dirty. Cara and CT’s bond became stronger and more apparent.
While Cara was in great shape, she continually found herself in the Draw on Free Agents, and for a second, it looked like Cara would be making a quick exit as he pulled a Kill Card and had to face Nia Moore in Looper, a game that was essentially a reverse tug of war. In a game like Looper, the larger player had a distinct advantage. At 5'4, Cara was facing a 6' former collegiate athlete in Nia. This elimination was the moment when Cara put the world on notice. With no teammates who could take credit for the win, Cara was in that arena by herself, batting with Nia for over an hour until Nia’s body gave out. So, a couple of notes… They tied the harnesses too tight in this elimination. Nia’s body lost feeling in the right side of her body by the end of the elimination, and she got checked into the hospital with potential nerve damage. Production had to add a rope for players to grab and pull themselves toward the bell to make the elimination easier/quicker from then on. None of this is to take away from Cara, but it’s to give perspective on what she endured and persevered through because if that’s what happened to Nia, imagine Cara pushing through with a 6' woman pulling on her for 90 minutes.
Cara would then appear in elimination again the following week, where she blew up LaToya in Oppnehimer, a Hall Brawl variant. From there, Cara blended into the house and was very friendly with the men as she spent time working out and lifting with them a bunch. For once, Cara was in a good spot. As she gained confidence and began looking like a threat, we began to see a schism between her and Laurel. Laurel started a friendship with Jessica McCain this season, and when Cara later faced Jessica in Balls In , Laurel cheered for Jessica over Cara. It was an exceptionally petty display by Laurel. During the elimination with Jessica, Cara fractured her hand while scoring a point as her knuckles slammed into the bin. Cara stayed in the elimination and won with a broken hand. It seemed like a medical DQ was coming her way, except Cara chose to remain in the game with a broken hand!!! A little interesting tidbit is that Cara took over the all-time lead for female eliminations with this win.
At final five, Cara & CT lost the daily challenge as it was a struggle competing with a broken hand. Bananas savagely voted Cara into elimination. It was the right move as Cara could be a liability in the Final with her injury, and she still hated him. Still, voting someone in while they’re already down on their luck is brutal. Even TJ was caught by surprise.
Things got even worse when Laurel pulled the Kill Card, and the elimination they were playing was Wrecking Wall. An elimination that consists of players having to punch holes through a wall to climb up it and ring a bell. Cara had no chance against Laurel with a broken hand in this elimination. Regardless, she gave it her all, and it was heartwrenching to watch. With each punch attempt, the fandom’s love for Cara became bigger and bigger. I don’t know if anyone has ever won more with an elimination loss than Cara in this moment. The entire Challenge world was behind Cara and wanted to see her win. Laurel apologized to Cara after the elimination, and they were buddies again at the reunion, but things didn’t feel right.
Cara took a one-season break during Exes 2 and returned for Bloodlines with her Cousin Jamie as her partner. Straight-up Bloodlines had one of the weaker casts in Challenge history, as many vets took breaks after Exes 2, there was an influx of rookies, and most of the Bloodlines were subpar. The rest of the cast was mainly there to be part of the background, as Cara & Bananas were the headliners for this season. I fucking love Bloodlines because the Cara & Bananas rivalry on this season is fantastic.
It started from the jump as Cara spearheaded a team-up between her duo and KellyAnne’s to help Cohutta win the first daily challenge so Bananas & Vince didn’t win. Now, where things got very interesting is Cara began an affair/showmance with Real Worlder Thomas Buell this season. Bananas, the petty bastard he is, even caught them cuddling on the bus on his GoPro Bananas cam. Shit got turned upside down for Cara when Abram & his brother Mike entered the game midway as alternates. Bananas used the affair between Cara & Thomas to derail Cara’s game, which was a crazy experience for her. Even crazier is the fact that the three of them were competing as a team together and fucking crushing the daily challenges. Eventually, Cara & Abram got pitted together via their Bloodlines as Mike & Jamie got put into elimination against one another. They faced mercenaries in Zach & CT, and Jamie ended up prevailing.
Once Abram was out of the house, Cara could refocus on the game, and she also got reunited with her Cousin as the game went back to a pairs format at the final five. They were then in immediate danger as Cara & Jamie finished last in the Mini Final as they were unable to solve a tangram puzzle. Rookies Cory & Mitch, who won the daily challenge, took a big swing by tossing Bananas & Vince against Cara & Jamie. These two faced off in a puzzle elimination, where Cara took down Bananas. It was the all-time underdog vs. the all-time Champ, and by beating him, Cara felt like she joined The Challenge elite, and her path to victory felt much clearer.
We can’t jump to the Final just yet because we first have to talk about Aneesa. Aneesa has never liked Cara — she resents that Cara has taken her spot as the elimination queen of The Challenge, and she hated that Cara was someone who said she wanted to win and then actually put in the work to improve herself. It’s something Aneesa would never be willing to do, only to say. Aneesa & Cara got into a fight on the bus that included Aneesa claiming Cara’s Boston accent was fake, and Cara yelled at Aneesa to shut up. These two would face off in the last elimination before the Final in a Pole Wrestle. Despite Aneesa having a distinct weight advantage, Cara was much stronger and outworked Aneesa for a 2–0 win.
Cara & Jamie went to the Bloodlines Final, and their performance… wasn’t spectacular despite winning. Jamie struggled during the largest cardio portion, and together, they struggled during the last puzzle/running portion. Luckily for them, Jenna wasn’t willing to eat any gross food, and Cory had no ACL in one leg, so their shortcomings were not as debilitating as those of their opponents. Credit to Cara & Jamie, though, because by beating Bananas before the Final, they didn’t even need an A+ Final performance. After 8 seasons, Cara rightfully earned the title of Challenge Champion.
She would take Rivals 3 off — there are rumors they wanted her & Wes to be a pair. If she was on that season, maybe Bananas & Sarah don’t steamroll it. Cara would be back for Invasion as one of the Champs. Interestingly, so would Laurel. Cara & Laurel had become very close, and Laurel even moved out to Montana (where Cara lived). Except right before the season, they took a break from each other to re-evaluate their friendship. Going into Invasion, Cara had taken her fitness to another level. She competed in CrossFit events and taught multiple kickboxing classes daily. With Cara looking yoked and now having the title of Champion….There were rumblings that she might be the best woman there. I mean, I was driving that car, hyping up that claim.
Early on in Invasion, Cara got thrown into elimination by Johnny Bananas as he continued their rivalry. The elimination was mostly an exhibition for Cara to show off and add to her win total as she took down Ashley Kelsey in Pole Wrestle. Along with being at her best fitness-wise, Cara’s looks caught the eyes of rookie Nicole Zanatta. Nicole was aggressively pursuing Cara this season and also paid attention to Laurel because…She was bored and will fuck any woman that moves. With the way Invasion was formatted, the Champions were forced to face each other in elimination, and so Cara & Laurel ended up pitted against one another in a game of Balls In. Again, Cara had been training harder than ever, whereas Laurel didn’t train going into the season. What happened? Well, as much as Cara put in the work in the offseason, you can’t teach size. Laurel beat Cara with relative ease. The loss had to sting.
Somehow, Laurel fell directly into Nicole’s arms despite her cheering for Cara the entire elimination and even looking pissed after Cara’s loss. It was bizarre and drove a larger wedge between Cara & Laurel because how could it not? It wasn’t Cara’s fault, but Laurel choosing to be with someone, knowing Cara was their #1 pick by a large margin, can’t be the foundation for a healthy relationship.
After Invasion, Cara gained momentum as she won the charity season Champs vs. Pros alongside her Fresh Meat 2 partner, Darrell. She then immediately returned for Dirty 30.
As a competitor, we saw Cara take a massive leap on Dirty 30 — while she had earned the title of Champion, daily challenges were still a bit of a struggle for Cara. After the opening purge, Cara won four straight challenges on Dirty 30 and only saw the Double Cross draw one time. We also saw Cara form a strong women’s alliance with Camila, Kailah, and Jenna. Actually, we didn’t see it. MTV edited most of it out, which made the later betrayal a little less impactful. Before we get there, some notes to throw out, there is we saw Cara get into it with Tony early in the season — where she got frustrated by his drunk antics, and at a deliberation, she railed into the fact that he sucked as a competitor. Another thing to mention is that Cara had become very close with Camila during this period, which was not a good look whatsoever. This leads to the next note: once Camila was gone, Cara became the undoubted female face of the franchise. She had already been a main character on Free Agents & Bloodlines, but in Dirty 30 and on, Cara really took up the mantle and never let go.
A testament to how strong Cara was competing on Dirty 30 is that when a team consisting of Kailah, Veronica, Tony, Britni, and Jordan won a Purge Challenge, they used the power to send Cara to the Redemption House rather than Camila. Cara was rightfully pissed off at Kailah, and this led to them having a massive rivalry/feud on social media that would go on for a couple of years. There was a time when I blogged about Cara or Kailah; it would do crazy numbers. It was the hottest feud in The Challenge social media sphere that production couldn’t portray on TV properly. We also saw a Jordan & Cara rivalry get ignited. Jordan disrespectfully told Cara he didn’t want to run a Final with her and that she was a scrub. In response, Cara threw Jordan’s luggage in the pool.
Cara remained on a hot competitive streak on Dirty 30, beating four other women in a Redemption to re-enter the game. She then immediately came in 1st Place during the Final Purge to guarantee her spot in the Final. It seemed like Cara’s season to win. Then the Final happened and Cara didn’t do anything wrong…She just got outperformed by Camila. Hell, Cara said in numerous interviews that she was shocked to have come in 2nd and that she believed Tori had beaten her. If Cara had won Dirty 30, it would’ve been one of the strongest wins in Challenge history.
She returned for Vendettas, and this was the first season Cara was fully single. While Cara had been single on Invasion/Dirty 30, there were still lingering things in the air between her and Abram. Ready to mingle, Cara found herself and Marie Roda vying for the attention of UK rookie Kyle Christie. In the end, Cara won out between them; she and Kyle began a showmance, and attaching himself to her was good for his game as she was a power player. For Cara, she mostly stayed out of drama and enjoyed her time in the house. What’s crazy is that Cara didn’t do much on Vendettas competitively. She did not make it into a single Troika until the final daily challenge of the season when it was a male elimination day. Honestly, Cara was able to coast for most of Vendettas in large part because men dominated the Troika, and they wanted her as a partner to run the Final with them.
The joke was on them as there was only one winner, and Cara picked a great day to have her best performance of the season. In the Final, Cara dominated Part 1 on the women’s side and beat Zach in the last memorization portion to win the Final and become the first solo winner in Challenge history. It’s funny how on Dirty 30, Cara won all those challenges only to come up short, and then on Vendettas; she wins basically nothing yet gets the biggest win of her career in the end. It was complete bullshit that at the Vendettas reunion, players like Kailah, Kam, and Jordan (who was only on as a mercenary) tried to diminish Cara’s abilities as a player. The same thing happened at the Bloodlines reunion, where Cara’s win was derailed by her getting slut shamed.
Coming off her second win, Cara was facing an uphill battle as she got partnered with Marie Roda on Final Reckoning. Spoiler alert: they didn’t win any daily challenges and bickered a lot. Marie was not a bad partner, though, as her social and political connections carried them through much of the game. Which was needed as Cara was in a mess of drama this season. The drama begins with Kyle. Kyle ghosted her, but she was still attracted to him. So when they entered the house, things were very complicated, as Kyle wanted to fuck a bunch of people (and he did), yet he also wanted Cara to remain under his thumb. Kyle hooked up with Faith, who was only trying to use him for an alliance so she could have a storyline. When Faith left, he hooked up with Ashley Mitchell, which put a wedge between Cara & Ashley.
We’d then see Cara fighting throughout the season with the Lavender Ladies, including a massive fight with Amanda, where Amanda wished Ebola and death upon Cara’s horse. These fights brought Cara & Marie closer together as Marie wouldn’t let her partner get picked on. Also, I forgot to note this: after Dirty 30, Cara and Bananas buried the hatchet and became friends. They were aligned on Vendettas and this season. At some point on Final Reckoning, Cara & Marie had to see elimination. They lost a physical elimination against Shane & Nelson, then immediately returned to the house after beating Kam & Kayleigh in a Redemption elimination. Paulie & Natalie also won a Redemption, which led to them joining Cara in the main house, and here we saw Paulie & Cara connect. After some initial flirting between them at the beginning of the game to make Kyle jealous, these two finally got to spend time together and began hooking up.
Cara and Paulie’s relationship became embroiled in controversy on social media, as there was a point in time when Paulie was juggling between her and The Bachelor’s Danielle Maltby. The controversy was so big that people online began sharing buttons or pictures that said, “We Love You, Cara” on them in a show of support. Imagine telling those people that Cara and Paulie are still together today (or I think).
Back to Final Reckoning. Uh. Cara & Marie went to the Final, and Marie had an injured ankle, so they were a 4th Place non-factor team. Truly, they were there for entertainment.
We got to see Cara seriously compete again on War of the Worlds 1. She & Paulie went on together — he was taken first overall by Ninja, and Cara wildly slipped to the #3 overall pick taken by Theo. Together, their pairs were power duos, each making it into 4+ Tribunals during the partner’s portion. Cara’s fitness and experience and Theo’s athleticism made them a deadly pair. Had it remained a partner format for the entire game, I feel pretty confident they would’ve won. On WOTW 1, we saw continued drama between Cara & Paulie and Kyle. Things got messy between them, and it spilled into Zach getting involved in the feud when he took Kyle’s side.
Eventually, Cara & Paulie won out as they got rid of Kyle before the Final. In the individual portion, Cara solved a puzzle to guarantee her spot in the Final during the second to last daily challenge. She didn’t even have to compete in the last purge comp. Unfortunately, Paulie did, and he lost in disastrous fashion. Cara competed in the hardest Final in Challenge history on WOTW 1 without Paulie. There’s nothing to say other than Cara gave it her all. The Final was hard as fuck, and Cara would’ve never given up; sadly, she got purged out on Day 2 during a math/kayak purge portion. Cara came in 2nd Place among women while competing against a stout cast.
Despite War of the Worlds being a successful season for Cara competitively, this is the season where a lot of began turning on Cara, largely due to her relationship with Paulie. After the scandal with Danielle during Final Reckoning, it was difficult to believe they would have a successful long-term relationship. Then you add that the two were very passionate about their attraction to one another to where if you didn’t already like them as a couple, now they were getting shoved in your face aggressively. They matched each other’s freak; we just weren’t ready for it.
Cara & Paulie were back again for War of the Worlds 2 as part of a stacked Team USA. If you couldn’t tell, this marked Cara’s sixth straight season, and Cara had been holding down the fort as the female face for multiple years. From Dirty 30 to WOTW 2, Cara went to five straight Finals, Johnny Bananas went to zero, and he was an early boot on WOTW1 & WOTW 2. With him making early exits, Cara took on the responsibility of being the overall face of the franchise. Let me tell you this…Whether it’s Bananas, Cara, Tori, etc., it’s almost impossible to be the face of this franchise without getting flooded with hate. Because when you are the face, everything you do and say on this gets put under a microscope. To be under the microscope for multiple years without a break definitely took a toll on Cara.
Especially on a season like WOTW 2, where Paulie & Cara had an alliance controlling the game on both sides (US & UK), people began calling it “Cara’s Cult.” Calling it Cara’s Cult was a prime example of how being the face of the franchise took a toll on Cara because Paulie & Kam were the two people actively running stuff for their alliance politically. Cara was there in lock-step with them, but she wasn’t the one puppet-mastering, yet she was the one who took a lot of blame and hate for the actions of their alliance. Fans loved Cara the Underdog, Cara the fighter, and the moment she wasn’t, it was easy for them to turn on her and cheer for the next underdog. It’s a constant cycle. On WOTW 2, Tori & Jordan won multiple eliminations, became the unsuspecting underdogs, and had fans eating out of the palm of their hands. And when Cara had an unimpressed reaction to their engagement live on camera, man, fans were fucking pissed at her. To Cara’s credit, she wasn’t going to fake enthusiasm, and she didn’t go to their engagement party in the house. In the end, her feelings were somewhat validated as Jordan & Tori were not for the long run.
Cara & Paulie got to the Final without either sniffing elimination; they succeeded in taking out multiple enemies and power players, were part of a bunch of daily challenge wins, and brought multiple of their allies to the Final without them seeing elimination. Rather than getting heaped with praise, it was hate, hate, hate. Including from me…because well, it’s more to fun to root for the underdog. Some other notes before we get into the Final: along with Cara’s rivalry with Jordan & Tori from this season, we saw her rivalry with Laurel continue and with Bananas get reignited.
The Final was a disaster for her team. The way the Final was formatted, it punished Team USA on Day 1 for winning a majority of daily challenges by requiring them to carry a crazy amount of weight more than Team UK, while also having a rule that only four people were allowed to carry the weight. If only four people can carry weight, why not have both teams carry the same amount? The intense pressure from carrying this weight took an immediate toll on Paulie, who gassed out and had to be dragged through the end of Day 1. Cara also seemed frazzled mentally during this Final, as she struggled during a puzzle/math portion and in an eating portion. The two of them ended up surviving the puzzle purge at the beginning of Day 2, then came up short in the end.
Haters took great pleasure in seeing Cara & Paulie lose, and the amount of hate they got during this time hit crazy levels. People wanted them gone, and we wouldn’t see Cara compete on this show again for 4+ years. Except it didn’t take long into those 4+ years for fans to begin missing Cara. Her absence in the franchise was felt. At the end of her run on WOTW 2, Cara had become a scapegoat for people directing their blame on what they didn’t like on the show, and once she was gone and we got more fake Tori Deal reaction faces, people were clamoring for her to be a savior.
Now, not everything about Cara’s absence from the show was cheery.
During the time off, Cara & Paulie definitely had some questionable social media posts and comments. At the same time, people were talking about her just as much, if not more, than most of the cast members on the show during this period. When Cara finally got brought back for All-Stars 4, it broke the internet. Also, I will talk about All-Stars 4 before her mercenary appearance on Battle For A New Champion because it was recorded first, even though it aired second.
While Cara’s break from the show felt a bit too long, it was for the best because the version we saw of her on All-Stars 4 was fucking awesome. Cara came in wanting to prove that she was the best female competitor, and even if she wasn’t, Cara was carrying herself with the actual confidence that she was. Not in a cocky way or a phony way, either. It’s what I call deserved arrogance. Cara had put in endless hours for this franchise and wouldn’t let anyone dull her brightness.
That said, Cara came in hot, as she dominated the first daily challenge of All-Stars 4 by beating everyone, including the men. Cara’s cardio looked impressive, and there was no rust whatsoever. She earned a Star, and among the original six players who earned Stars, Cara held on to hers the longest by a significant amount of time. Cara held on to her by playing a selfish political and strategic game, and I mean that in the best way possible. Rather than trying to appease an alliance, Cara was playing All-Stars 4 for herself because the person she wanted to win was herself. Cara promised people what she could and continually operated on a one-on-one basis. There were multiple deliberations where I was so impressed by the way Cara was able to take over and sway people. There was a swagger to her that I was so impressed by.
Throughout this season, we saw Cara have multiple notable rivalries. Cara still had Nicole Zanatta pressed after many years. She saw her friendship with Brandon affected as he turned on her because it was a one-winner game, and she was a better player than him. Cara and Jasmine had a blow-up, and Cara would later even give her a Star to put a target on her, which was a super-savvy move. After being friends with Kam for many years, we saw these two at odds, partly because there would be only one winner, and Cara was clearly the biggest Final threat among both men & women. Kam was also upset when Cara didn’t vote Rachel into elimination as Kam’s goal was to get Ayanna out, and by not voting for Rachel, it was an offense to her. Cara had made a promise to Rachel, and her vote didn’t matter here. I think both sides had valid reasons for what they did/to be upset.
The house would then pit Cara & Rachel against each other in an elimination match-up of two titans. Instead of the two of them getting an epic battle, Cara and Rachel got thrown into one of the dumbest and worst formatted eliminations ever that made two beasts look silly. Cara ended up winning and remaining in the game. Later, Kam would succeed in stealing Cara’s Star, only for Cara to get it back by beating her in an elimination. A Cara vs. Kam elimination was significant because it was two of The Challenge’s true elimination queens head to head after all these years. Now, that elimination happened partly because Laurel didn’t volunteer like she so confidently told everyone she would the previous week to take Cara out herself. Laurel saw the elimination, got scared, and dipped out. If they hadn’t done a last chance for a Star daily challenge to bail her out, Laurel would’ve missed out on the Final because of this choice. The Cara & Laurel rivalry from this season hit a new level of intensity. During the Laurel & Nicole saga, Cara acted as an ear for Laurel. She showed support because even through everything, Cara didn’t want to see Laurel manipulated by a woman who can barely spell her own name.
Laurel did not enjoy a dynamic and house environment where people treated Cara as the top dog and took some aggression out on her. In the Final, the two of them gave it their all, and with Laurel getting a bunch of help from players gifting her Stars, she took home the win. Had it been a more traditional with more running, Cara likely would’ve, except that wasn’t the game they were playing. Laurel won the game they were playing. Cara put up an impressive 2nd-place finish, and after crossing the finish line, Laurel welcomed her with open arms (after winning). While Laurel won the season, All-Stars 4 was definitely the Cara Maria show. I think that encapsulates who those two are — one ranks higher competitively all-time, while the other is much more important to the show. Cara & Laurel is the most layered and historic rivalry in Challenge history, and we’ll see it again in Season 40.
As noted before, Cara appeared on Battle For A New Champion as a mercenary. She walked into that arena like a megastar and struck fear into all the women in the game. And then Michele Fitzgerald beat her in a puzzle elimination while getting some help from the crowd. Womp.
Skills & Physical Strength:
Let’s get the negatives out of the way. Cara is a bad swimmer. She’s improved a ton since the beginning of her career yet remains average in traditional swims and struggles mightily in anything that requires diving. At 5'4, there are certain challenges where her height limits, and if we get a sized-based elimination, some players outweigh her and are essentially as strong as her physically. Cara used to be a poor competitor in heights challenges, although she’s become slightly above average these days.
In terms of assets, Cara’s core and upper body strength are phenomenal. She can probably lift close to twice her own body weight. Cara’s cardio is the best it’s ever been, which is crucial for the Final. One of the biggest factors in Cara’s favor is her experience level, where she’s seen almost every type of daily challenge at this point. Along with that, this new version of Cara competes with so much more confidence that it allows her to problem-solve during daily challenges with much more ease.
SSMP (Social, Strategic, Mental, and Political) Game:
Paulie is obviously Cara’s #1. Other than that, her friends in this game are CT, Derrick, Rachel, KellyAnne, and Darrell. Those are great friends to have if Cara was in Era 1. Instead, she’s in Era 2, where her enemies in Bananas & Laurel will have their eyes on her. Cara has her long-time rivalry with Jordan & Tori to look forward to, especially as Cara threw a ton of shade at Tori during her absence, and the two of them even got into it during the Season 39 reunion. Based on social media, Cara & Jordan are friendly now, which would be great because, no offense to Cara, Jordan always comes out on top in their rivalry.
Based on the Launch Special, Cara & Amanda seem to finally be burying the hatchet, which is excellent for them. Growth.
Regarding the social and strategic game, I would love to see Cara do more of what she did on All-Stars 4. On AS4, Cara kept her circle small and had solid bonds with players like Ace, Jay, and Steve. Cara doesn’t need to have a big alliance — if she can operate on a one-on-one level with a bunch of people and then compete at a high level, then she should be able to coast for a good amount of this game. Importantly, Cara has to either steer clear of Laurel or try to get Laurel out immediately. The more Cara gets caught up in that mess, the more it negatively affects her game.
When it comes to the mental side of the game, Cara is an above-average player. Yes, she’s had some brutal wipeouts in puzzles, but Cara has also solved some of the most complex 3D puzzles The Challenge has ever done, and her memory skills are undeniable.
Eliminations & Winning Potential:
Cara holds the record for the most elimination wins by a woman in Challenge history. That says enough.
Can she win? Yes. Cara is a threat to win every season she plays. That said, it will be an uphill battle against this stacked cast. While Cara is a 2x Champ…she is also an 8x Final loser. Cara is not a bad final runner , and she’s not an elite one either. You won’t see Cara gas out in a Final, except she isn’t running at a blazing fast pace and, in the process, has gotten outpaced in a few Finals. Something that worries me is that because Cara is such a massive character, people will treat her as though she’s the biggest threat in this game when players like Jenny and Emily are just as significant of threats, if not bigger.
I firmly believe Cara is a contender this season. With the landscape she’s facing, I don’t think she’s the favorite. If Cara were to win against this strong cast and earn her third Championship, then talks about her being the greatest player ever would become more serious.
Cara’s Overall Rating: 95/100
Past Ratings I’ve Given Cara:
War of the Worlds 1: 90/100
Final Reckoning: 94/100
Vendettas: 93/100
Dirty 30: 95/100
Invasion: 96/100
