The Challenge 40 Battle of the Eras Player Preview: Tony Raines
The first Challenge blog I ever wrote was a player preview about Tony for Invasion of the Champions. When I wrote it, I didn’t know I was gonna post 900+ more Challenge blogs over 8 years. He was an easy first subject to write about because he was a fascinating character. Tony is incredibly flawed yet also charismatic. He is an authentic reality TV character who checks so many boxes.
Challenge 40 will essentially be his first season as a full-time competitor since Final Reckoning, as his All-Stars return got cut off before he could even truly start. On Vendettas, Tony Time was a real thing and he was a top competitor for a point in time. He’s also been someone who’s been a not-so-great competitor on a bunch of seasons, and with the years off, who knows what we’re getting. All I know is I’m happy to see Tony back in the fold.
Tony’s Cheat Sheet
Introducing Tony:
Originally out of Louisiana, Charles Anthony Raines made his Reality TV debut on The Real World Skeletons. At 6'3, good-looking, egotistical, with a regional accent and a proclivity for making bad decisions, I said it then and will say it now: MTV thought they had a new CT. Tony had one of the more chaotic Real World seasons, where he had a showmance with Madison Walls, who became the mother of his first child. Then production brought in both his at-the-time girlfriend, whom he broke up with right before coming on RW, and his long-time on/off girlfriend (Alyssa), whom they labeled his stalker — they’re currently married now. Tony was messy messy on both this season and on his future Challenge appearances, especially once he got some alcohol in his system.
Tony debuted on Battle of the Bloodlines. Going into the season, Tony was still dating Madison, and she was pregnant with their child. Less than 24 hours into being in the house, Tony cheated on Madison with a drunk Christina LeBlanc from AYTO after she had already been rejected by Thomas Buell’s twin brother Stephen. After this, Tony found himself in a verbal fight with Camila’s sister Larissa, Camila, Nicole, and Nany. Upsetting half the women in the house is always a hot start following an affair. Then Tony got into it with his brother, and they came to physical blows, yet they were allowed to stay in the game. To add injury to insult, Tony was out after Episode 3/4 when he ruptured his spleen after falling in a heights over water challenge.
After recovering from the injury, Tony went on Rivals 3, where he was partners with Camila — considering how weak most of the Rivals 3 cast was, getting Camila should’ve been a godsend. Instead, they bickered, and in the end, they ended with a DQ after they got aggressively close to the point where they needed to be physically separated. It was a brutal look for both of them. Tony also had a slight showmance with Jessica McCain and a middle-of-the-night hookup with Ashley Mitchell this season.
Tony got a great opportunity to compete on Invasion of the Champions, where he and Cory felt they would take up the mantle as the new top dogs. Immediately, that ego took a hit as the numbers aligned against him — and Tony literally got into a fight with Nelson after the first challenge (the beginning of their rivalry). Tony did win the opening elimination by beating the homeless finger-blasting vegan and his RW roommate Bruno. It was a cardio-heavy banger where Tony physically outmatched him. When the Champs entered, Tony didn’t spend much time with them as he got thrust into the first elimination of phase two against Shane. In a game of Tuk Tuk Bang Bang, Shane outsmarted and outworked Tony, and Tony also maybe broke his Tuk Tuk during the elimination. Although, if you watch the elimination, Tony is clearly trying to muscle it the entire time up top rather than hitting it low and trying to get any downhill momentum. I will note that Tony showed a more positive side on Invasion, as he began dating Alyssa again and was sober this season.
After three seasons, Tony had never made it past the halfway point, had never won a solo or paired daily challenge, and things looked like they were going to go badly on Dirty 30 as well. If Cory had not saved him, Tony would’ve been one of the initial players purged in the opening challenge. He didn’t last much longer, though, because Tony got taken out by the perceived house lay-up Ammo in only the second elimination of the season. Tony looked so defeated after this loss that he began talking about how maybe he wasn’t meant for The Challenge. Following this, Tony finally had some triumphs in his Challenge career — he beat Derrick Henry and then shockingly upset Darrell in the Redemption Battle to earn his way back into the house. Then Tony won his first-ever daily challenge by winning a trivia challenge. Drunk with power and alcohol, Tony ended up hooking up with Camila on the bus after a night out.
One of the crazier meta moments in Challenge history was Alyssa finding out about him and Camila from Vevmo, the spoiler site, and then calling Tony to ask about the rumors. Tony’s season hit some turbulence here, and he got thrown into an elimination against Dario Medrano. Both men thought the other sucked as competitors, and as it turned out, Tony sucked less as he pulled off the win. Seeing that he would not be part of the OG alliance, Tony formed a deal/bond with Hunter. Together, these two went on a mini-run and made it to the final five together. Unfortunately, both men lost the final purge to make it to the Final. Hunter had the excuse of a broken hand, but Tony was simply outmatched.
Going into Vendettas, Tony came back in the best shape of his Challenge career and had put on a good amount of size. The real turning point for Tony was an eating challenge. In one of the best individual displays ever, Tony solo crushed an eating daily challenge, where he was one of only five people to eat a block of rotten cheese, then beat Leroy in a marshmallow eat-off, and then topped it off by beating Cara in a battle where they had to take down an entire bowl of mayo. From there, we saw a much more confident Tony in daily challenges and a man with an ability to dig deep rather than the guy who would point fingers, throw a fit, or zone out. It wasn’t just the eating; we’d see Tony destroy some swimming challenges and always seemed to be on the winning side of things. Tony made it into 7 out of the 10 Troikas, including the final four Troikas to guarantee his spot in the Final. Not only that, we watched Tony play the political game to a high degree, where he took his famous shot at Bananas — and luckily, Devin was able to come through and eliminate him.
Tony got to the Vendettas Final with most of his enemies eliminated (Brad, Nelson), with his most significant threat out (Bananas), and got there with most of his allies (Zach, Kailah, Nicole). His one issue was he pissed off Leroy by saving Kyle instead of him for the final elimination, and then Tony got sidetracked during the Final by trying to sabotage Leroy. Leroy sabotaged Tony back, and Tony was unable to recover. Tony got lost in the sauce, and his cardio wasn’t up to snuff for a final. He came in dead last among the men, and it was a learning experience.
After his Tony Time star-making performance on Vendettas, they put him on Champs vs. Stars 3, where he beat Shane in elimination, formed a power duo with CT in the partner section, and they went on to win the season, where Tony stepped up massively to make up for an injured CT.
From there, you would think Tony would continue down the trajectory of winning an actual Championship and taking over as a face of the show. Except Tony wasn’t part of the initial cast on Final Reckoning and the reasoning was there an important wedding he had to be at during departure day. The rumor going around was that he and his ex Madison were going to be paired with an opportunity to enter the game as mercenaries during the week Hunter & Ashley did. People were also upset as the rumor was that Hunter & Ashley were initially told they would be alternates on Final Reckoning. This sounds unbelievable now as they were big characters, except you have to remember that Hunter was not medically cleared for Vendettas and was not a production favorite due to his lack of confessional ability. Meanwhile, Ashley had been kicked off RW, quit Dirty 30, and had to quit Champs vs. Stars because of a family emergency, so MTV was tentative to put her on a full season again.
With how big of a character Tony was becoming, bringing them in like this made sense, especially as it would’ve prolonged the Tony vs. Bananas rivalry that was shaping up. However, Devin’s dad passed during the departure day weekend, so he flew back home immediately, leading to MTV calling Tony and bringing him in by the second daily challenge to be Bananas’ partner. This was a golden opportunity for Tony to win, as they would be the best team on paper by far — so I don’t blame him for getting on that plane. At the same time, I will say that by partnering with Bananas, Tony immediately slid back into his shadow, and his trajectory got derailed. Additionally, Hunter & Ashley joining the game added another Lavender Ladies team to the game; we saw Bananas & Tony at odds with them and the Young Bucks all seasons. Some big moments for Tony included Zach refusing to step off the platform and vote for him, thus throwing himself & Amanda into elimination. And then, of course, there was Pasta Gate, as Cory slammed Tony into some concrete after Tony drunkenly ruined it and threw out Cory’s pasta following a night out.
Competitively, Tony & Bananas won two daily challenges this season, lost an elimination to Joss & Sylvia, won a Redemption elim against Shane & Nelson, and then ultimately lost in the final elimination before the Final against Paulie & Natalie. It was a tough loss, though casual fan sentiment was largely behind Tony, and it seemed like he’d be on the next ten seasons in a row.
Then he wasn’t. Tony took some time off to focus on his family, and rumors were all over the place regarding whether he was declining seasons or had fallen out of favor with MTV. Regardless, his absence was felt, and it took five years for us to see him again on All-Stars 4. The run did not last long, though, as Tony had to leave after the second episode to attend to a family emergency. As much as The Challenge world missed Tony, he felt out of place with that older All-Stars 4 cast. His being back for 40 makes sense, especially as someone who was such a big part of his era.
Player Vitals & Stats:
Tony: 36 Years Old, 6'3, 7 Seasons*, 1x Finalist, 3–4 Elimination Record, * = includes stats from All-Stars, Finalist on Vendettas
Skills and Physical Strength:
Based on Tony’s Instagram, he’s in the best shape of his life. He’s big, muscular, and shredded all at once. The guy is 6'3 and 220 lbs, so he should be able to compete with most other Challenge heavyweights. In anything size-based, Tony will have an edge. Tony is a fantastic swimmer, and as we know, he is one of the best eaters in Challenge history.
Tony’s biggest weakness as a competitor is he’s clumsy as shit. The guy’s sense of balance is terrible, leading to him having multiple dud performances in heights challenges, including the one that injured him on Bloodlines. There have been so many height challenges where Tony’s 6'3 frame should give him an advantage as jumping between platforms should be easier as he can basically walk between them, and yet, he’ll still fail. I hate to say this, but there are times when Tony reminds me of Josh Martinez as a competitor — at the same time, there are moments when I watch Tony and think he’s similar to CT. So, the sliding doors on Tony are massive.
The big question mark for Tony as a competitor is his cardio. When he bulked up for Vendettas, his cardio was a real issue for the Final, and he seemed to be gassed out at times on Final Reckoning. We’ve never seen Tony thrive in a Final on a flagship season, so to expect him to keep pace with Jordan, Darrell, Henry, or Bananas will be tough. Hopefully, Tony’s been getting his miles in.
SSMP (Social, Strategic, Mental, and Political) Game:
The more I look at this cast, the more I realize that Tony has either not competed with most players here, or it’s been such a long time since he’s competed with them that he may no longer be a priority in their alliances.
Devin, Bananas, and CT are supposed to be Tony’s top allies, except Devin and Bananas have a lot of other people they’re trying to protect and work with, and CT isn’t sticking his neck for others too often. It is good that Tony did All-Stars 4, so hopefully, he’s on good terms with players like Rachel, Tina, Averey, Derek, and Cara. The more friends, the better.
Strategically, Tony was willing to play selfishly and make big moves on both Dirty 30 and Vendettas. I’d love to see him play that type of game on 40, although he will need to wait till the midway point if he’s going to take risks because he doesn’t have the social protection to be making enemies from the jump.
In terms of the mental game, I don’t believe Tony has solved many puzzles. He’s not Nelson-level bad when it comes to mental comps; he’s more in the Leroy & Cory range, where he can solve stuff — it just may take him some time. Tony will need some good partners or to have improved his puzzle skills if he wants to win.
Eliminations & Winning Potential:
When you look at Tony’s elimination history, two of his wins have come down to his size/strength, and his other third win was an obstacle course-type elimination against Dario. When Tony gets challenged to use his brain or problem-solve, that’s when we’ve seen him struggle. Tony is built for headbangers, and when it’s not that, he kind of panics.
Can Tony win? You know, I was impressed by how Tony dug down deep during the Champs vs. Stars 3 Final when CT was struggling. If that version of Tony shows up, then I think he has an outside shot of winning. It has been six years since that Final, and Tony was never a natural when it comes to this game. The Challenge isn’t always like riding a bike. For Tony to win, he’ll need his cardio to be the best it’s ever been, he needs to not fuck up on any puzzles, and he’ll need some of the big threats out before the Final. It’s less than a 2% chance Tony wins, but I can envision it.
Tony’s Overall Rating: 85/100
Previous Ratings I’ve Given Tony:
Final Reckoning: 91/100
Vendettas: 82/100
Dirty 30: 77/100
Invasion: 73/100
