The Challenge 40 Battle of the Eras Player Preview: Nurys Mateo
After a strong role-player rookie performance on Ride or Dies, Nurys Mateo was the star of Battle For A New Champion and The Challenge as a franchise for a good couple months. Saying she was a big fish in a small pond wouldn’t even be fair; she was like Jaws from Jaws, thrown into a residential swimming pool. By the last few episodes, it wasn’t The Challenge anymore; it was the Nurys show.
Fast forward to Season 40, and now Nurys is Jaws in an Ocean with ten other Jaws, a couple of Godzillas, a Lochness Monster, Lugia, and CT. The transition from being at the top to now being in the mix of a stacked cast where everyone is aware of the threat you are and maybe wants to take you down a peg will be fascinating. Saying Nurys has the makings of a future Champion feels slightly insulting because a decent amount of people, myself included, believe she should already have that title. Regardless, I hope it officially happens one day. Nurys is a badass; she’s gorgeous; she gives 110% to the game and actually engages with the fans on social media because she cherishes her time on this show — for all those reasons, she has a fan in me, and it’s why she deserves to be on Season 40. After only two seasons, her impact on the franchise has been felt.
Nurys’ Cheat Sheet
Introducing Nurys:
One of my favorite details about Nurys is that she’s originally from Maine. Which like, I thought Maine was a fake state, you never hear of anybody being from Maine. She made her Reality TV debut on Are You The One? Season 6. On this season, Nurys was in a rivalry/love triangle with Malcolm Drummer and Diandra Delgado. Out of this, Nurys actually formed a lifelong friendship with Diandra, and they’re still close today. After AYTO, Nurys began hooking up with Nelson — and she was also a massive fan of The Challenge in general. There were photos of her in his Challenge jerseys back in 2018. They also hooked up when Nelson was “with” Kayleigh Morris…and the whole timeline of events there gets a bit murky. Nurys, Nelson, Diandra, Malcolm, and others we’ve seen on The Challenge/Reality TV then appeared on Ex on the Beach Season 2.
And then from there… we didn’t see Nurys on MTV for years. She popped up in random places, getting booked in modeling gigs and even appearing in a Cardi B music video. Considering Nurys was 4–5 years removed from her AYTO season and there had only been two AYTO rookie castings between seasons 33–37 (Amber on Double Agents, Asaf on Total Madness), the concept of Nurys ever appearing on The Challenge didn’t seem realistic. Even then, she would still live-tweet about the show. Ride or Dies came along, Nelson needed a partner, Amanda Garcia declined, and so Nurys got the call.
Nurys took the call and made the most of it. She was instantly in a showmance with Johnny Middlebrooks that thrust her into a triangle & rivalry with Ravyn. Following this, we got to see Nurys thrive as a competitor. I’ll be honest: when Nurys got cast, I thought she’d be a lay-up — my wrong assumption was she was only a pretty face who would maybe get in the mix drama-wise. Nope. Her cardio was fantastic; she was a student of the game, was clearly very intelligent, and also had an x-factor to her. Nurys broke Nelson’s 50+ daily challenge losing streak by playing strategically and later dominated a memorization mini Final Challenge for them. Along with her standout performances, Nurys stirred up some more noise and camera time as once Johnny went home, she began hooking/having a showmance with Jordan Wiseley — and with him & Tori being the season’s main plot, she became very important. When the game hit the individual portion, people saw Nurys as a major threat in the Final. She got thrown into a Pole Wrestle with Amber, where she fought valiantly but lost.
Following Ride or Dies, we had Battle For A New Champion, where Nurys was put in a great position to be a prominent figure on a season with no prior Champions. Nurys walked into the game with multiple alliances and could’ve stood in the background if she wanted. That’s just not who she is. She had her beef/rivalry with Melissa. We saw the beginning of her cute and wholesome relationship with Horacio and then built a friendship/bond with Kyland. Nurys was fiercely loyal and firm in her own individual beliefs. Which worked to her detriment in the game yet garnered the love of fans. Nurys tried her best to have Horacio, Kyland, and Olivia’s back and not go after her friends Jay, Michele, and Moriah. Jay took great offense because their game plan was to get out the big Final threats, and Nurys wasn’t about that because she wanted to be loyal to all of them. You probably can’t be faithful to everyone in this game — and if you can, kudos to you. At the same time, Nurys standing on her business earned the respect of fans.
Especially once goblin ass Jay forced Nurys into a situation where she had to pick between saving Horacio, Olivia, and Kyland. It was heartbreaking watching her have to choose, meanwhile her supposed friends Jay & Moriah derived enjoyment from seeing her in pain. And the next week, Nurys dealt with true betrayal, as her best friend Olivia sealed her fate, as we saw Nurys thrown into elimination against Kyland & Horacio. It was here that everything changed for Nurys. Nurys taking down Horacio & Kyland in elimination was the highlight of Season 39 and was a true star-making moment. She beat two men who had a combined 11–1 elimination record, had won 10 elimination wins in a row between them, and did so by beating them in what was essentially a mini Final. It wasn’t like she beat them at one specific thing based on luck; there were three checkpoints, and Nurys came out on top. We saw Nurys return the following week and take out Olivia & James to make it to the Final. With the entire house against her, Nurys kept winning and winning. I know many people were not super high on BFANC, but to me, that 2–3 episode Nurys arc is probably the best individual stretch on The Challenge that I’ve seen/felt we’ve had since the pandemic. To me, nothing on Challenge All-Stars 4 or Ride or Dies touched that Nurys run. I would’ve run through a wall for her.
Which made her 2nd Place Final performance to loss to Emanuel feel especially painful. In the Final, Nurys beat Moriah in elimination after Part 2, and in the final third part, she performed decently. Looking back at that Final, she timed out on one puzzle and slipped up a bit on the sudoku. For Nurys to win, she needed to CRUSH those, and she didn’t. However, when we look back at the history books, Battle For A New Champion was the Nurys season, and it’s bullshit that we only had one winner, especially in a season whose focus was to build new champions.
Now, the problem is we go into 40, and even though Nurys didn’t get the title of Champion, she will have a giant target on her back as if she had won.
Skills and Physical Strength:
Let’s get the negatives out of the way. Nurys is an awful swimmer — saying she’s bad would be generous. She was the only player among a group of 20+ on S39 incapable of doing a diving challenge, and she was given the easiest diving depth to accomplish as well (16 other people did tougher dives and got it done). On Ride or Dies, Nelson outswam her for godsake. If there’s a purge this season that involves swimming, Nurys might be counting her days. I hope she’s practiced in the offseason. Additionally, Nurys is a weak eater , especially when eating gross foods. To top off, Nurys does not weigh a ton, which is an issue for size-based challenges and eliminations, where if we get a backpack elimination or a Hall Brawl, it will be an uphill battle. Her upper body strength is also not the best. That came into play in her elimination loss against Amber B. and partially was a struggle in her elimination win against Horacio & Kyland.
In terms of physical strength, Nurys has excellent cardio, is taller than you realize, has long limbs that come in handy in certain daily challenges, and mentally has the natural knack for figuring out the best strategy in challenges for her. Body-type-wise and skill-set-wise, Nurys reminds me a ton of Ashley Mitchell. They’re both sneakier, much better athletes than people realize, and they fill this blueprint for what a good Final runner should look like. Neither Nurys nor Ashley will physically overpower you, but they will outrun and outsmart you. Nurys will cut the corners in the right places. Plus, she’s best friends Kyland and is dating Horacio; so you have to assume Nury is putting more time in the gym than she would typically just by hanging out with them.
SSMP (Social, Strategic, Mental, and Political) Game:
Having two strong allies who would take a bullet for you in Horacio & Kyland sounds like a great thing on paper for Nurys. My issue is that when you come into the game as an inseparable pair/trio, you kind of put a target on yourselves and a distance from everyone else. It’s hard to be social with everyone and form bonds when you just want to spend time with your significant other. For men in the game, they know they’ll never be Nurys #1 or 2, so it isn’t easy to align with her. When it comes to the women, Nurys is not on good terms with Era 4’s Olivia or Michele, and she’s never competed with Jenny — meanwhile, Jenny has her own friends.
Then you look across the cast, and it’s a bunch of people Nurys has never played with, and those she has played with, there’s complicated history. I don’t think Laurel or Tori hates Nurys — however, we know Laurel was all over Horacio, and Nurys hooked up with Jordan, so I don’t think they will welcome her with open arms. Especially when I feel these women are on better terms with Olivia than with her. You would think after 39 that Olivia would have a target on her and not Nurys, except the way this cast shook out, it looks like Nurys will be having a tough time.
At the same time, it wouldn’t shock me if Nurys did well socially and politically. When you’re a strong player, it’s easier to form bonds.
The mental game is Nurys expertise. She has elite memorization skills and is solid across the board with puzzles. Crucially, Nurys also puts in actual work and practice to improve her skills.
Eliminations & Winning Potential:
Two of Nurys’ three elimination wins have been the exile/mini Finals that are cardio & puzzles, and then her third one was a straight-up puzzle. Her one loss was a Pole Wrestle to Amber. Weirdly, though, it sums up what to expect from Nurys. If there’s cardio or a mental aspect, put your money on Nurys.
If it’s a headbanger against this women’s cast that’s a bunch of physical beasts, I’m betting against Nurys.
Can Nurys win? I compared Nurys to Ashley Mitchell a bit ago and will do it again. When these women are on a season, if they get to that Final, they’re fucking dangerous. Their mix of puzzle skills, cardio, and grit is tough to compete against. As I say all this, it’s vital to note that Ashley Mitchell is as big of a threat to leave within the first five episodes as she is to win. Going against this stacked cast with potentially many people threatened by her, I don’t love Nurys chances. Yet, if you looked at Invasion going in, the concept of Ashley winning against that stacked female cast seemed impossible. The circumstances worked for her to get there. Is Nurys going to do the same thing? I’d say there’s a less than 2% chance Nurys will win this season. Regardless, I’m not willing to rule it out because I can imagine her running a gauntlet and doing whatever it takes to win. We basically saw it last season. Additionally, before anyone gets mad…When I say less than 2%, that’s still a much better chance than half the people on this show. We got a stacked cast with twenty women, and only one person can win.
Nurys’ Overall Rating: 87/100
Previous Ratings I’ve Given Nurys:
Battle For A New Champion: 84/100
Ride or Dies: 68/100
