The Challenge 40 Battle of the Eras Player Preview: Laurel Stucky

I’ve been covering The Challenge for 8 years, and if you’ve read my blogs, something I’ve stayed consistent about is that I believe Laurel is the dominant force The Challenge has ever seen. Laurel’s set records when it comes to eliminations, daily challenges, is a 5x Finalist, and with her win on All-Stars 4, she’s now a 2x Champion.

On top of all the accolades, Laurel is just fucking a wrecking ball of a competitor to watch. So many times, I’ve watched Laurel be the only woman capable of completing some of the hardest challenges. So many times, I’ve watched her obliterate other elite female competitors, crushing their dreams. Laurel lives in the nightmares of so many players — I’m sure Theresa Gonzalez is shivering in fear in any room where lights exist because of Laurel.

As a fan of Reality TV, the best part about Laurel is that not only is she one of the greatest female competitors ever — but she’s also messy. Laurel is a lightning rod for feuds & drama, she doesn’t take shit from anyone (except Nicole Z.), has had her fair share of showmances, and of course, is part of the greatest and most layered rivalry in Challenge history (her & Cara).

Season 40 would not feel right without Laurel. If Laurel can get her third win this season against this cast, then any conversation over who the best female competitor in Challenge history is will be over.

Laurel’s Cheat Sheet (TLDR Version)

Introducing Laurel:

A graduate out of Michigan State, Laurel made her debut as part of the recruit crop on Fresh Meat 2. Kenny Santucci picked her to be his partner, and I don’t think anyone has ever impacted a game as immediately from the jump as Laurel did. On Fresh Meat 2, Wes Bergmann formed a massive alliance whose goal was to target and eliminate Kenny and by proxy, Laurel. From the jump, if Laurel & Kenny did not win a daily challenge, they were getting voted in. So, with their backs against the wall, what did Laurel & Kenny do? They won 4 out of the first 5 daily challenges of the season. By sweeping all these wins, Laurel & Kenny essentially forced Wes’s alliance to cannibalize themselves until they turned on him. With a whole house against them, Laurel & Kenny were winning 1 v 12, 1 v 10, etc.

Laurel fucking wrecked Wes’s game with her dominating presence and performance. Not to mention, the one time they lost a daily challenge in that opening stretch, Laurel & Kenny got tossed in to face Sarah & Vinny in exile — which they won. Beating Sarah Rice (who, in my opinion, is a Top 5 female competitor of all time) in what was basically a mini-final with a bunch of puzzles is crazy impressive. It also marked one of only two times Sarah ever lost an elimination. Another crazy add-on is Laurel & Kenny would’ve won 5 out of the first 6 dailies, but they gave the 5th win away to their allies Jill & Pete as those two had already seen two eliminations — an incredible display of allyship.

And before anyone says, “Well yeah, Laurel did good because Kenny was her partner.” Kenny was an elite social game player and a massive Final threat, but prior to Fresh Meat 2 with Laurel, he was NEVER anywhere near a dominant daily challenge player. Even after Fresh Meat 2, we saw Kenny consistently be the weak link in most of the daily challenges he competed alongside Wes with on Rivals 1. Laurel was the gamechanger. They went to the Final and lost against Landon (& Carley), who pulled off one of the most superhuman efforts. To this day, I think if you replay that Final 100 times, Laurel & Kenny win 99 times, and we live in the world where Landon & Carley won because Landon became Superman. Also, on Fresh Meat 2, we saw the beginning of Laurel’s beef with both Theresa and Mandi.

Laurel would return for Cutthroat. She was once again a dominant force. She and Abram loathed each other as teammates, yet they carried a weird ragtag Grey Team to the most daily challenge wins by far. We also saw Laurel beat Camila in an elimination this season. I find it necessary to note because it was a carnival-game elimination, and even though Camila was a rookie, she was a pretty damn good player from Day 1. Laurel stomped out her dreams on that season because she was just straight up better. On Cutthroat, we saw the true beginning of Laurel’s rivalry with Cara Maria. I will try to show restraint so as not to talk too much about Cara Maria in this Laurel preview because the lore between them is so deep that it’s a 50,000-word blog in itself. She will still come up quite a bit, though. In the Cutthroat Final, Abram and Sarah shit the bed for their team. They both got DQ’d via dehydration, which cost Laurel a chance to win.

We then saw Laurel compete on Rivals 1, with Cara Maria as her partner. Cara Maria was always talented, naturally athletic, and strong. Still, she was not close to the player she is now, but they were a very strong team as a whole. They were the top female duo in two dailies and won two eliminations, including beating Theresa & Camila in a cardio-based elimination. I’m gonna repeat that: they beat Theresa & Camila, two players with excellent cardio, and two players who, even though they were still early into their Challenge careers, would be contenders as a pair to win any season because of how talented they were…Camila, the following season, literally won Exes 1. Laurel & Cara went to the Rivals 1 Final, and they were neck-and-neck with Paula & Evelyn for the entirety of a legitimate triathlon-like race on crack. Rivals 1 had the hardest Final in Challenge history. Wes, Bananas, Mike, and others were literally dying in this Final. Meanwhile, those four women never complained much and were zoned in on the win.

The difference in that Final probably ended up being that Paula is the greatest female eater in Challenge history. Losing to Evelyn and Paula was not something to be sad about, though it did mark Laurel’s third straight second-place finish. Just an additional note to tack on: Laurel was in a love triangle on Rivals 1, where she and Mandi were both into CT, with Laurel ultimately gaining his attention. Across Cutthroat and Rivals, we saw Laurel’s intensity outside the game come out with some below-the-belt blowups at Big Easy and Paula, though each were in retaliation.

Laurel did those three seasons in a row, and we wouldn’t see her again for a few years until Free Agents. Finally, Laurel got to finally play an individual game and was clearly the house’s top dog. She was consistently the first pick in any team drafts, had people pressed in the house by her presence, and won 4/11 daily challenges. We saw multiple notable dynamics from Laurel this season. There was her showmance with Jordan, which caught the ire of players like Aneesa & Bananas. This put more fuel into Theresa & Aneesa’s goal to take out Laurel before the Final. And, of course, we saw Cara & Laurel’s relationship evolve even more as they went into the game as best friends and then went through major turbulence. Laurel’s storylines with Aneesa, Theresa, and Cara all culminated the same way: Laurel beating them in elimination. In total, Laurel won 4 eliminations on Free Agents, where she became only the 2nd woman in Challenge history to win 4+solo eliminations in a single season.

Free Agents marked Laurel’s fourth straight Final appearance…and finally, she pulled off the big win. Some try to diminish Laurel’s win by noting she only beat Nany by 8 minutes. To me, that’s bullshit for two reasons. The first is that Nany was a great competitor all season during Free Agents. The second is that Laurel finished 1st in every single portion of the Free Agent Final except for the portion where Zach died on the mountain. Nany beat Laurel by 20 minutes in that one portion, which means if Nany had gotten Zach during that portion, Laurel would’ve won the Final by over 45 minutes! It was a dominant win by Laurel and a deserved one.

We wouldn’t see Laurel again for a few years till Invasion of The Champions. Despite the fact she hadn’t trained for the show in years, Laurel was still clearly the biggest x-factor for her team in the daily challenges. Something that always stood out to me from this season is there was a giant hamster wheel-type daily challenge that was super difficult. No other woman could do more than 3 turns on the wheel except Laurel, who outperformed half the men. Laurel was able to do it because of her mix of size and just natural ability to take apart daily challenges. There have been a ton of tall women on The Challenge, like Nia & Mattie, but none of them have been able to put the game together quite like Laurel.

Now, where we saw Laurel’s game devolve is when she entered a toxicity triangle with Nicole Zanatta and Cara. Cara & Laurel entered that season with their friendship being on uneven terms, and so when Nicole showed interest in each, the divide became bigger. These two ended up having to face each other in a Balls In elimination. Cara was coming off a Bloodlines win and had been training her ass off, only to get stuffed and knocked out with ease by Laurel. What made the elimination awkward to watch was Nicole actively cheering for Cara during their elimination, only for Laurel to jump into her arms afterward. I will note that by beating Cara, Laurel set a record by winning her 9th straight elimination, a record that will likely never be broken. Winning 9 eliminations in a row is crazy — Horacio, at one point, looked like he might have a chance after winning 6 in a row, but his loss to Nurys in Season 39 ended that idea. Right now, Emily Schromm, at 5–0, is the only person with a realistic shot of ever reaching Laurel’s record. When you look at the 9 eliminations wins from Laurel, it’s even more impressive when you realize five of the wins came against Cara, Camila, and Sarah — three Top 8 female competitors all-time.

Camila was the one to ultimately end Laurel’s elimination streak on Invasion. Laurel has stated that she didn’t give 100% in this elimination because her body was hurting from a pre-existing injury from an accident prior to the season. Still, it marked Laurel’s first ever loss.

After Invasion, Laurel’s appearances became more sporadic as she pursued a degree in Veterinary Medicine. It would be another few years until Laurel returned for War of the Worlds 2. Laurel was firmly on the anti Cara & Paulie side of the house and was part of the group that blindsided Wes early into the season. It was a big move, and she had a pretty explosive season, including a famous massive deliberation blowup. The move against Wes led to some retaliation with Laurel getting thrown into elimination against Ninja Natalie — one of the most controversial eliminations ever. I don’t want to break down the entire elimination because it’s a lot, but I will say it was bullshit that TJ blew the horn, called Laurel the winner, and then once they realized the issue, they continued the elimination even though the momentum was clearly affected. I think they should’ve had a complete restart or a new elimination entirely. Now, we got an epic Laurel celebration and curse-out from this episode, so that was fun. But it also sucked that Laurel was out by Episode 4.

Laurel returned a couple of years later for Ride or Dies with her best friend, Jakk. They weren’t a great team. Jakk was not a natural in the daily challenges, and Laurel wasn’t on her A-game. They barely beat Kim & Colleen in elimination and then got beat by Jordan & Aneesa relatively early into the season. We did see Laurel have a flirtmance with Horacio and the beginning of a beef between her and Michele Fitzgerald this season.

And then, of course, we just had All-Stars 4. Laurel had an emotionally explosive run as she began hooking up with her toxic ex, Nicole, and got deeper into the trenches of her rivalry with Cara. Even with all the drama and emotions, Laurel won the most daily challenges on the cast, went to the Final, and pulled off the win in the Final somewhat via the power of friendship. While the editing and formatting of the Final was a bit wonky and unconventional, Laurel undeniably crushed multiple portions of that Final and deserved the title of 2x Champion after all these years.

Skills and Physical Strength:

Laurel is an all-around beast. If you had to pin-point a weakness for Laurel, it’s cardio. And when I say cardio, it’s important to note that Laurel still ranks above average as a runner on The Challenge — she just doesn’t have the elite cardio that players like Jenny and Rachel have.

When it comes to everything else, Laurel is a threat — her size, grip strength, power, mobility, and coordination all rank highly. Importantly, Laurel has that sixth sense: she has a natural knack for the weirdest and most carnival-game like daily challenges.

SSMP (Social, Strategic, Mental, and Political Game):

When Laurel originally debuted, her social game took a backseat to her physical and strategic game. Everyone was terrified of her, so Laurel had to work off that intimidation and play her game based on how she was getting treated. Things have changed now. Forming bonds and unlocking a strong social game was key to Laurel’s All-Stars 4 victory. Even though most of the All Stars 4 edit focused on Laurel’s drama, she won the Final partly because multiple players (including Derek, who will be on 40) passed her down a Star. If Laurel can continue to make friends and foster the bonds she already has, then she’s a mega treat, as we know what she can do physically. Entering this season, Laurel has strong connections with players such as Bananas, Jordan, Horacio, Josh, Tori, and Derek.

When discussing enemies, let’s start with the fact that Laurel hates Michele and will likely be targeting her from the jump. She and Aneesa have gotten into it on multiple seasons as well, though their mutual friendship with Tori may put them on good terms this season. Of course, it wouldn’t be surprising if Laurel & Cara were to have Chapter 87 of their saga, especially with Paulie there.

In terms of the mental game, Laurel is fierce. When she gets angry, she locks in even more. She’s solid with puzzles and memory games, although where Laurel truly thrives mentally is strategizing on how to take apart daily challenges and when it comes to leading a team. Laurel is like a military captain in daily challenges in the best way, where she’s shouting orders in a way that’s very clear and where people fall in line.

Eliminations & Winning Potential:

For over a decade, the concept of having to face Laurel in a headbanger was a death sentence for players. Now, I will say some players could theoretically give Laurel some trouble, like Emily, Tori, and Kaycee. I can definitely see Laurel beating them still in a headbanger, but it wouldn’t be the foregone conclusion that it once was.

Laurel is someone who I like their chances in any elimination. She’s proven to be able to win in puzzle eliminations, cardio-based eliminations, carnival games, etc. Now, she’s not as unbeatable as she once was, and this is a very strong cast with so many players who have specialized skills. I could see her losing to multiple people on this cast. That’s not a diss, just more of a credit to the strength of this cast; nobody is invincible! Nonetheless, Laurel is someone I would bet on in most eliminations.

Can Laurel win? Yes. She’s literally coming off a win on All-Stars 4. Now, Laurel’s cardio is a question mark. It’s been a decade since Laurel competed in a marathon-esque Final. The Final she competed in on All-Stars 4 wasn’t anything like past Finals she’s been in. In the two most cardio-intensive dailies from All-Stars 4, Laurel wasn’t within striking distance of either Cara or Averey.

I worry that she might get caught up in some Cara Maria drama. On All Stars 4, everyone treated Cara like the biggest threat in the game. Cara is a beast, but I don’t think she’s the biggest Final threat. I think players like Jenny & Emily are bigger threats, and if Laurel gets caught up targeting Cara over them, then I can see Laurel coming up short of the win. For Laurel to win, a sharp strategic game with some calculated risks can go a long way to helping her chances. Laurel is a real threat to win this season; I don’t think she’s the favorite. Regardless, any season Laurel is on, she’s a contender.

Laurel’s Overall Rating: 97/100

Previous Ratings I’ve Given Laurel:

Invasion: 99/100