After being crowned the Big Brother champion on season 19, Josh Martinez joined The Challenge in an attempt to claim another win. During his time on Big Brother, the Miami native was known for banging pots and pans through the house and calling everyone a “meatball” between his competition wins. He took risks, played a strong social game, and won crucial competitions. With three Head of Household wins and a veto victory, Josh had a good winning record leading up to his victory.
Josh won his first Head of Household competition in week 6 during Gravestone Golf, where competitors hit a golf ball and attempt to get it in the slot worth the most points. When it came to nominations, Josh wanted to ensure that by the end of the week, he would be breaking up a showmance. He nominated couple Mark Jansen and Elena Davies to sit next to Jessica Graf, who lost the temptation competition. Elena was set as the target of the week, but when Mark wins Power of Veto, he saved his girlfriend, and Josh was forced to name a replacement nominee. He picked another showmance member, Raven Walton, but Jessica ultimately was eliminated from the game.
By week 11, the house was down to the final 5. Josh claimed HOH again during The Revengers competition and nominates Alex Ow and Kevin Schlehuber to sit in the nomination chairs. Winning competitions and making strategic nominations at this point in the game is crucial. Josh’s ally and runner-up, Paul Abrahamian won Veto and broke the news to Alex that he would not be changing the nominations. After a whirlwind week, Alex went home and the house is down to the final four.
During the final week of the competition, Josh and Paul were still in the house with Christmas Abbott. In the three-part final HOH competition, Josh won the last two parts, making him the final Head of Household and granting him the privilege of deciding who he wants to take to finale night. He chose to sit next to Paul, which was clearly a good choice considering Josh gets more jury votes. Josh won competitions when he needed to most, which played a big part in his success.
In addition to three important HOH wins, Josh also secured a Veto win on day 79 during Lime Drop. Houseguests raced down their lane and jumped into a ball pit to search for limes. The player who drops four limes in their designated tube wins the golden Power of Veto and earns the privilege of taking on nominated houseguest off the block. After his victory, Josh decided to keep nominations the same and secure his safety for the week, since he was not one of the original nominees.
With four competition wins, the most crucial one is the final Head of Household, which ultimately put the competitor in the position to win the whole game. During his time in power, Josh strategically used his time wisely and made quality decisions to get him to the final two and earn jury votes. After his Big Brother win, Josh went on to compete on The Challenge where he won more competitions.