The Challenge 40 Battle of the Eras Player Preview: Cory Wharton
When discussing The Challenge, not many players defined the mid-to-late 2010’s era of the show as much as Mr. Teen Mom himself, Cory Wharton. Cory was one of the last great Real World cast members. He went to a Final his rookie season, formed the famous Young Bucks alliance, was put on a Time Square Billboard, was a hookup, had embarrassing losses, and then a resurgence after becoming a Dad.
I’ve been blogging about this show for 8 years, and Cory went from being a Mr. Popcorn Muscles punch-line competitor to a player I respect and who should be regarded as one of the Top 5 greatest players without the title of Champion. To which, I don’t think Cory wants to be regarded as one of the best never to win; he just wants to fucking win at this point. Cory’s finished 2nd Place three times; the question now is whether he can take 1st.
Cory’s Cheat Sheat (TLDR Version)
Introducing Cory:
There have been multiple eras of Cory on The Challenge. Before The Challenge, though, Cory made his TV debut on The Real World: Ex-Plosion. From Day 1 on the Real World, it was clear Cory was a star. He looked great, was charismatic, and carried himself well. Cory had a messy hookup with “Smashley,” aka Ashley Mitchell before she got kicked out of the house. He had a notable showmance with his fellow castmate Jenny Delich that got interrupted by the arrival of their respective exes. Cory’s season then got turned even more upside down, as his ex had a positive pregnancy test during the season. This was particularly interesting for Cory as part of his backstory was that he was originally a Collegiate Football player but dropped out after his at-the-time girlfriend told him he was pregnant, except she was lying about the pregnancy as a ploy to keep Cory with her. That is some devious shit that set back Cory’s life. Cory has been on TV for so long, and those are details that I think a lot of people are just completely unaware of at this point, yet I find a bit important in attempting to understand who he is now and became.
Moving into Cory’s Challenge career. He made his debut on Bloodlines alongside his cousin Mitch. A fun fact about Cory’s first three Challenge seasons is that he basically had no ACL in one leg. From Day 1, Cory killed challenges that involved any short bursts of athleticism and was a natural in heights challenges. When it came down to anything involving cardio or muscular endurance… That’s where Cory crumbled. Luckily, his Cousin Mitch, who went to College and was terrific with puzzles, carried them to a win in the mini-final and an overall 2nd Place finish as rookies.
Cory came back for Rivals 3 and got Ashley as a partner, which at first seemed disastrous because she was crazy (sorry, Ashley). As the challenges began, it was clear that Cory had struck a bit of gold, as Ashley was a good competitor. This made their elimination loss to Nate and Christina super shocking (and embarrassing). It remains one of the biggest elimination upsets ever.
We then would see Cory return for Invasion, a season that felt built for him as he was the only Underdog guy who had made a Final prior. Cory was carrying himself with a huge ego and thought he’d be king of the Underdogs. Instead, Cory was quickly on the opposite side of the majority alliance. It’s legitimately one of the weirdest seasons I’ve ever watched because Cory was not a good competitor on this season. I felt like Shane, Hunter, and even Dario outperformed him in the daily challenges; meanwhile Nelson was the standout in eliminations. Cory just kept surviving in the game and benefited from some of the weird ways the game was formatted to earn himself a spot in the Final. In that Final, Cory had one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen. The puzzle on Day 1 immediately took him and Nicole out of contention, and then on Day 2, he was a disaster on all fronts with Camila. The Rivals 3 elimination and the Invasion Final were only the beginning of a series of brutal looks for Cory.
On Dirty 30, Cory had his “hit list” and formed the Young Bucks alliance, where he won the opening purge and beat Derrick Henry in elimination, but then was pretty quickly knocked out of the game by Hunter in both elimination and redemption. Cory continued to fail upwards because even though he wasn’t doing much in the game, MTV was still heavily promoting him, including putting him on the Billboard alongside Bananas for Vendettas. Except Cory lost the first male elimination of the season in one of the saddest eliminations ever to Nelson, where neither of them could kick a soccer ball. Cory was also the first eliminated on Champs vs. Stars after losing an elimination to Matt Rife, which, in retrospect, is very funny considering how famous Matt Rife has become.
At this point, the only thing Cory could hang his hat about was his many hookups. On Bloodlines, he had Aneesa — who he would later refer to as like an Aunt, and that’s totally normal. There was Cheyenne on Rivals 3. He had Kailah and Camila on Invasion — those were messy and wet, and not in a sexual way; I’m referring to Kailah peeing the ped and Camila hating half of Cory. Don’t worry, it’s funnier when you explain the joke. And then Cory entered Vendettas in a showmance with Alicia Wright.
This transitions us a bit as Cory & Alicia each got eliminated so early on Vendettas that MTV was able to put them on Ex on the Beach Season 1, which got filmed at the same time as Vendettas. They had a pretty explosive Ex on the Beach season…and this is where Cory met his future baby momma of multiple kids, Taylor Selfridge (from Are You The One). Before they had kids, though, news broke that it turned out that Cory was the father of Cheyenne Floyd’s daughter, Ryder! I have to give credit; once Cory found out he was a father, he stepped up like crazy, and we saw him mature exponentially.
Well, actually, before he fully matured, Cory went on Final Reckoning as a mercenary with Devin, where they got to enter the game pretty late into the season. But they were quickly out the door after Cory got DQ’d for slamming Tony into some concrete over some pasta. Now, I’ve always been weirdly on Cory’s side for this moment. I don’t support people getting slammed into the concrete over mac & cheese (unless it’s Annie’s White Cheddar Shells). However, Tony was a drunk 6'3, 230 lb+ man crowding over Cory after already disrespecting him and who had a history of being aggressive on these shows. So like yeah, what Cory did was wrong, but I see why he did it, and also, Tony acting like some helpless victim after was just bullshit.
There were rumors that MTV gave Cory a quiet two suspension for the fight, which I can half-believe — during this time, though, Cory began filming Teen Mom with Cheyenne. Eventually, Cory returned on Total Madness and this is where I feel like we finally got the version of Cory that MTV was marketing as a top competitor. On Total Madness, Cory was solid in the daily challenges, played a fantastic social game, and beat Swaggy C in elimination to get a Red Skull to run the Final. In the Final, on Day 1 specifically, Cory’s cardio was so dramatically improved that I almost couldn’t believe it. Cory probably beat Bananas on Day 1 of that Final by more than half an hour. Unfortunately, that lead was turned into basically nothing on Day 2, and Cory’s inability to solve a math equation killed him. Cory technically came in 3rd, although if you watch it back, it seems like he gives up once Bananas crosses the finish line because there is no prize for 2nd.
The loss on Total Madness sucked for Cory — still, he showed much growth, maturity, and improvement. He would come back for Double Agents, where there was a hilarious running gag of whoever ended up as Cory’s teammate would get eliminated. Meanwhile, he just wanted to go into elimination and get his Skull. And Cory did so by destroying Darrell Taylor in an elimination. By doing so, Cory was able to end his season with Kam as his partner. The two of them performed adequately in the Final. There are rumors of shenanigans behind the scenes from production, though all I can say from what I saw is that Amber & CT completely ran away with it, and Cory & Kam were a solid 2nd Place. Never at any point in the Final did it feel like Cory was gassing out or anything — they just weren’t as good as the 1st Place team. It was a 2nd Place finish you could be proud of.
We’d see Cory again on Spies, Lies & Allies, and I do think he bulked up too much going into this season. Cory was gassed out in his elimination with Bettina against Jeremiah and Amber, where Bettina really took the reigns in their elimination. He then got outsmarted and outworked by a hobbled Logan in their 1 v. 1 elimination.
Cory came back for USA 2 and played an excellent social game. Compared to Bananas & Wes, he completely flew under the radar and went to the Final without seeing an elimination. That Final was a mess, and Cory shit the bed completely during Part 1 of it. He recovered and came in 2nd, though I wouldn’t say it was as good of a performance as his previous runs.
Skills and Physical Strength:
Cory is an elite competitor when it comes to raw power, explosiveness, and speed. I think it’s bullshit and has done him a disservice that we’ve never seen him in a Hall Brawl, Pole Wrestle, or Balls In. I think Cory would beat the shit out of a lot of people up in a Headbanger. Fuck, I’ll say it, I legitimately believe Cory would be competitive against CT in a Hall Brawl because of how quick he is and the way he knows how to tackle. Additionally, Cory is pretty good in heights challenges or anything involving leaping or hand-eye coordination.
The question marks about Cory come down to endurance and cardio. If Cory is in the cardio shape he was in on Total Madness, he is more of a Final threat. Cory has no chance of winning if he’s in the cardio shape he was in on SLA.
He is also a bad swimmer and an even worse diver. Cory is not in the category of the worst Challenge swimmers ever, so he doesn’t get the grief that players like Nelson and Leroy have, but he’s not significantly better.
SSMP (Social, Strategic, Mental, and Political) Game:
Since Total Madness, Cory has really adopted a Dad persona in terms of the social game. He doesn’t make waves and is generally cool with everyone in the house. Cory fills the Challenge Vet and Dad role nicely in a house with new-gen competitors. That gameplay style might not work in Season 40, with so many cast members who are older than him. It also worries me that Cory doesn’t have his usual ride-or-die allies like Nelson, Fessy, or Hunter this season. On top of that, I’m not sure what Cory’s relationships with players such as Tony, Devin, Derrick, and Bananas is like, considering he’s had beef with them in the past. I don’t think any of those four guys will actively be targeting Cory. Except once the numbers dwindle, it’s easier to make a move against a guy who has wronged you.
Cory’s social & political game has got him to 3 Finals in his last 4 seasons. Strategically, though, he’s played the game a bit too safe and timid, where he’s gone to the Final against guys who are more well-rounded for Finals, like CT & Bananas. To win, Cory needs to play a riskier game.
In terms of the mental game, Cory has improved when it comes to puzzles and games of memory. Despite improving, Cory still ranks below average as a puzzle player.
Eliminations & Winning Potential:
Cory has never gotten a traditional headbanger elimination, but he still has an 8–4 elimination record. His two mercenary wins on Final Reckoning with Devin inflate the record a bit. Overall, Cory has proven to be great in physical/athletic eliminations and not so great in games of endurance or problem-solving.
Can Cory win? I don’t love his chances unless the Final becomes partner-based and he gets a partner who is incredible with puzzles. As an individual, Cory’s lack of puzzle skills and the fact he’s not the strongest in eating portions makes his margin for error everywhere else minuscule. For Cory to win, he has to crush all the physical portions of the Final. Even then, I’m unsure if Cory can keep up cardio-wise with guys like Jordan and Darrell. Along with Leroy, Cory is one of only two players to make 5+ Finals and never win. It’s not a great statistic to get grouped in with.
I think Cory is a decent bet to make the Final. That inherently gives him a better chance to win than most, but it’s going to be difficult.
Cory’s Overall Rating: 85/100
Previous Ratings I’ve Given CT:
Spies, Lies & Allies Rating: 86/100
Double Agents Rating: 85/100
Total Madness Rating: 77/100
Vendettas Rating: 78/100
Dirty 30 Rating: 77/100
Invasion Rating: 82/100
