Premiering last night on CBS, season 2 of The Challenge: USA is officially underway!
For those who have not seen the show, The Challenge: USA is a spin-off of MTV‘s The Challenge, pinning fan favorite Survivor castaways, Big Brother houseguests, and The Amazing Race veterans (plus some legendary The Challenge alumni) against one another in a high-stakes competition for a massive cash prize.
With Survivor‘s very own Sarah Lacina and Danny McCray taking home the win on the inaugural season of, as well as Cassidy Clark, Chanelle Howell, Chris Underwood, Desi Williams, Michaela Bradshaw, Michele Fitzgerald, and Sebastian Noel competing on its highly-anticipated second run, our fingers are crossed that the Survivor veterans emerge victorious once again.
While we love each and every castaway who was selected to compete on season 2 of The Challenge: USA, keep scrolling to see seven Survivor contestants we wish were competing this time around. With these folks in the competition, we know that they would have dominated!
Joe Anglim (Survivor: Worlds Apart, Survivor: Cambodia, Survivor: Edge of Extinction)
You simply can’t think of a Survivor challenge without an image of the ultra-hunky Joe Anglim popping into your head.
Competing on Survivor: Worlds Apart, Survivor: Cambodia, and Survivor: Edge of Extinction, Joe has proved his physicality each and every time he has stepped foot on the beach, ultimately setting Survivor records for his extreme number of challenge wins. In 2023, he holds the record for most consecutive immunity wins in a single season (taking both tribal and individual immunity into account), with 10 during his time on Cambodia. In that same season, Joe set the record for the longest time being safe due to immunity challenges alone, with his first time being vulnerable at tribal council on day 29 of the competition. What a challenge beast!
Because of this, we would have loved to see how Joe’s abilities translate onto The Challenge: USA. Do you think he would have had the same success in all of the high-stakes challenges that the beloved show has in store? I guess we will never know…
Tony Vlachos (Survivor: Cagayan, Survivor: Game Changers, Survivor: Winners at War)
While challenges may not be his strong suit (or so we thought), taking home zero individual immunity wins on Survivor: Cagayan and Survivor: Game Changers, Tony Vlachos would have undoubtedly brought his one-of-a-kind personality and go-getter attitude to The Challenge: USA.
Winning four immunity challenges on Survivor: Winners at War, clearly working on his physicality after his underwhelming performance on Game Changers, it is clear that when Tony sets his mind to something, he will emerge as victorious. If he were to have been cast on The Challenge: USA, we would have loved to see him pour his heart and soul into taking home a win.
Commonly referred to as the King of Survivor, how do you think Tony would have stacked up against his competition on The Challenge: USA? With nowhere to build his legendary spy shack (or spy bunker, or spy nest), we reckon that the competition may have been a struggle for the New Jersey native…
Nonetheless, we would have loved to see him compete alongside some of the Survivor, Big Brother, The Amazing Race, and The Challenge greats!
Cydney Gillon (Survivor: Kaôh Rōng)
Cydney Gillon is hands-down one of the baddest b*tches to ever come out of the Survivor franchise.
Entering Survivor: Kaôh Rōng as a member of the brawn tribe, Cydney proved herself to be not only a physical threat, but also a social and strategic threat as the competition progressed. As soon as the merge hit, the Georgia native flipped on her former To Tang tribemates, ultimately forming the Dara Women’s Alliance alongside her strongest ally, Aubry Bracco. Here in 2023, we are still living for the girl power Cydney brought to Survivor back in 2016.
In a final four fire-making competition, she was knocked out of the competition due to a devastating loss against Aubry. With such phenomenal gameplay on Survivor, which ended just a few days short of the final tribal council, Cydney deserved her chance at redemption on The Challenge: USA.
Did we mention that she is a professional bodybuilder as well? With muscles like that, there’s no doubt that Cydney would have dominated competition after competition.
Natalie Anderson (Survivor: San Juan del Sur, Survivor: Winners at War)
Natalie Anderson is yet another strong female to come out of the franchise, earning herself the title of “Sole Survivor” on Survivor: San Juan Del Sur, and almost another win on Survivor: Winners at War.
While Natalie has always played a very physical game, she reinforced her strength during Winners at War by being voted out first, lasting 33 days on the Edge of Extinction, and winning her way back into the game on day 35. Throughout her seemingly never-ending time on the Edge of Extinction, Natalie worked tirelessly to complete challenges to earn the highly sought-after fire tokens, amassing a total of 16 (the most of any player on Winners at War).
Aside from using her physicality to her advantage on Survivor, Natalie has a little bit of history with The Challenge franchise as well. While competing on Double Agents back in 2020, she had to quit the competition after finding out that she was pregnant. In an interview with Us Weekly, Natalie dished all about it.
“I’m this different person when I’m on these shows… there’s nothing that’s gonna stop me from getting what I want or trying to get what I want. It was like this weird wave of happiness, shock, surprise, [and] disappointment. I didn’t even process what I was actually feeling, I was just like, ‘How am I pregnant? I want to win this money!’ I love my boyfriend, but he’s not here. It was just the most awkward way to find out you’re pregnant because it could have been an amazing feeling, but I didn’t have the opportunity to feel like that because I was just so confused and torn about having to leave the game, but also was super excited and happy.”
After flying home and reuniting with her longtime boyfriend Devin Perez, Natalie felt much more at peace.
“I could finally breathe and embrace the pregnancy in a way that I hadn’t felt while I was out there. I was now embracing in a different light, [and] I realized everything happens for a reason. I had to give up winning (potentially) half a million dollars, but on the flip side, I get to embrace this cool journey with somebody I love and trust to be my partner in life,.”
Having to leave the competition due to circumstances out of her control, season 2 of The Challenge: USA would have been Natalie’s perfect chance at redemption.
Frannie Marin (Survivor 44)
Despite her lean physique, Frannie Marin proved on the last season of Survivor that she is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to challenges, outlasting her competition on three separate occasions after the merge.
Although she had strong relationships with her Soka tribemates (especially with Matt Blankinship, her current boyfriend), Frannie’s allies began to distance themselves from her after she proved her physicality post-merge. Due to her impressive number of individual immunity and reward wins, Frannie was voted out at the final eight after being deemed as too big of a physical threat.
Considering Frannie is known for being dominant in challenges, we would have loved to see how she stacks up against her competitors on The Challenge: USA. We think she would have killed it, ultimately making a name for herself beyond her Survivor journey.
Jeremy Collins (Survivor: San Juan Del Sur, Survivor: Cambodia, Survivor: Winners at War)
Have you seen those muscles? Survivor: Cambodia winner Jeremy Collins was born to be on The Challenge: USA.
Aside from being a strong competitor physically, Jeremy has an ability to connect and build trust with those around him (regardless of their differences), which he has exemplified throughout his time on Survivor: San Juan Del Sur, Survivor: Cambodia, and Survivor: Winners at War. While The Challenge: USA is primarily a physical competition, Jeremy is one of the most well-rounded Survivor players the franchise has ever seen, and we are confident that he would have used his physicality, strategy, and social skills to climb his way to the top.
With longtime friend and fellow Survivor castaway Tyson Apostol competing on season one of The Challenge: USA (and almost winning), he could have gotten some tips from a finalist firsthand, ultimately paving the way for his victory.
Jonathan Young (Survivor 42)
Jonathan Young is the ultimate Goliath, serving as arguably the most dominant physical competitor in Survivor history by single-handedly keeping the Taku tribe afloat (both literally and figuratively) prior to the merge.
While Jonathan is known for being the provider on his original tribe (from making fire to catching fish to dominating challenges and beyond), his strong personality caused his social game to deteriorate post-merge. By switching his focus and forming new allies, Jonathan managed to outlast his fellow competitors until the very end of Survivor 42, resulting in a crushing loss in the final four fire-making challenge against his newfound ally Mike Turner, ultimately knocking him out of the competition.
Serving as an extremely physical player who had a relatively weak social and strategic game, we would have loved to see Jonathan use his strength to his advantage on The Challenge: USA, all while improving upon some of his areas of weakness.