The Challenge’s Zach Nichols has seen some of the best all-time participate in MTV’s competition series.
His castmates have included legends such as CT Tamburello, Johnny Bananas, Jordan Wiseley, Cara Maria Sorbello, and Laurel Stucky.
Many of those champions showed up for the recent Battle For a New Champion season, which featured Horacio Gutierrez returning for his second campaign.
While Horacio reached the final on Ride or Dies in his first season, he failed to do so a second time.
He went into back-to-back eliminations and ultimately lost to his girlfriend, Nurys Mateo, in a three-person event just before the Season 39 final.
During the recent season reunion, he even called himself overrated because he had not truly proved himself in the competition yet.
The former show winner Zach agreed, calling the young star “overrated” thus far on The Challenge.
Zach says Horacio is ‘overrated’ as a Challenger
During an episode of the Zach Nichols Podcast, they reviewed The Challenge Season 39 reunion, with Zach’s co-host bringing up how Horacio referred to himself as “overrated.”
Zach called Horacio “very honorable” and said he “earned a lot of street cred” for defeating Jordan in the elimination during the Ride or Dies season.
However, Zach said Horacio is “overrated” in his “accolades as a Challenger.”
“Not overrated as an athlete, but yeah, he hasn’t necessarily lived up to what people are saying about him in The Challenge,” the former Real World star said.
He compared him to dual-sport superstar Bo Jackson, who Zach said was a “great athlete but never won the Super Bowl.”
In a follow-up question, Zach’s co-host asked if he’d prefer to bring Horacio or his former castmate Leroy Garrett to a final on The Challenge.
Zach said he’d choose Leroy to take to a final. He praised Horacio as a top-tier competitor athletically but said he didn’t think he’d get as far as Leroy “game-wise.”
Viewers will see how Leroy fares in his return to the competition show with The Challenge: All Stars 4, which begins on Paramount+ in April.
Fans reacted to Zach’s comments about Horacio
In the comment section for Zach’s podcast clip, many fans shared sentiments similar to those of the Battle of the Seasons winner.
One commenter called Horacio “the inverse of Turbo [Camkiran],” indicating both competitors have “top-tier athleticism,” but they have trouble with “the social aspect” of the game for different reasons.
While Turbo won as a rookie on War of the Worlds, his return seasons were less successful. He was kicked off for an argument in his follow-up season, War of the Worlds 2. On Ride or Dies, Horacio and Olivia eliminated Turbo and his partner from the game early in the season.
“He’s gotta work on his social game but also I can’t remember did he win a daily in this past season?” a commenter wrote.
Another individual speculated that Horacio would’ve won the Ride or Dies final if his teammate Olivia Kaiser didn’t get injured.
“I don’t think it’s fair to call someone overrated having only competed in 2 seasons,” the commenter wrote.
In just two seasons, the 27-year-old Horacio has racked up five daily challenge wins, a 6-1 elimination record, and an appearance in a final. It’s still early, and he’s got plenty of time to live up to the hype as he continues being humbly self-critical.
The Challenge: All Stars 4 premieres Wednesday, April 10 on Paramount+.