As The Challenge: Double Agents season is winding down, viewers have seen some impressive performances during the various missions and eliminations.
One team set the bar high by winning daily challenges and several players proving themselves to be elimination stars, boosting their undefeated records.
However, The Challenge’s Cory Wharton also set an individual record that could be hard for competitors to break for a while.
Keep in mind, this report contains some spoilers for The Challenge including Season 36 of the show, Double Agents, up through Episode 17.
Cory Wharton’s Challenge resume includes impressive debut
Cory originally got his start on Real World: Ex-Plosion back in 2014. However, The Challenge viewers were first introduced to Cory on Battle of The Bloodlines as he was partnered with his cousin, Mitch. They put their names in the Challenge history books with a solid rookie debut, finishing second-place that season.
Cory has appeared on a total of eight regular seasons of The Challenge and reached the final in four of them. In addition to Bloodlines, he reached the final in his third season, Invasion of the Champions. Cory has also made it to the final in these past two seasons, Total Madness and Double Agents.
He has yet to win one, but that in itself is impressive. So is his elimination record, which stands at 7-3 as of Double Agents. During the season, Cory earned a Gold Skull by taking out one of the best of all-time, four-time champion Darrell Taylor.
During Double Agents season, fans saw Kaycee Clark and Leroy Garrett win five daily challenges together. Fessy Shafaat and Amber Borzotra were able to win both their eliminations, going 2-0 in Hall Brawl.
However, Cory’s record has nothing to do with daily challenges, elimination wins, finals reached, or prize money won. Instead it was something he set as a bit of a joke during Season 36.
Cory achieved record as Double Agents teammate
The format of MTV’s The Challenge: Double Agents had pairs of male-female teammates. At the start of the season, they were formed by everyone pairing up after Aneesa Ferreira, winner of the daily mission, got first choice. Cory ended up teammates with Tori Deal, which seemed like a solid choice too.
However, the format of Double Agents brought the chance that competitors could lose partners to elimination. Also, any competitor who won in elimination was given the power to steal a teammate from someone else. That happened to Cory early in the season when Devin Walker stole Tori from him. By default, Cory was then teamed up with Natalie Anderson, who just lost teammate Wes Bergmann to elimination.
However, Natalie had to leave Double Agents season soon after that as she was surprised with a positive pregnancy test. Due to that, the competitor she had previously eliminated, Ashley “Millionaire” Mitchell, got to return and became Cory’s new partner. That was short-lived as Ashley would fall to Kam Williams in elimination within the next few episodes.
A running joke started on the show about “The Cory Curse,” and it became a continuing theme. Cory was a Rogue Agent for a bit, and his next partner was Theresa Jones after she lost partner Jay Starrett via an elimination.
Theresa would be the next to go as the house voted her into elimination, and Kaycee Clark was able to win against her. At different times, Cory became teammates with Amber M and Gabby Allen after they lost their partners to elimination. However, the two rookies would also lose in elimination after becoming Cory’s partner.
He was Tula “Big T” Fazakerley’s partner for a short bit and seemed to curse her before Chris “CT” Tamburello took her back. Big T lost to Amber Borzotra in a Hall Brawl elimination late in the season. So Kam Williams ended up partners with Cory, giving him his record eighth teammate in a season of The Challenge.
It’s quite an interesting record and seems like one that will be tough to beat. However, if MTV brings a similar format for The Challenge 37 or thereafter, it’s always possible Cory could return and try to break his own record.
The Challenge: Double Agents airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
Episodes of The Challenge are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
The link above is an affiliate link. This means that for any qualifying purchase you make, we may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.