When something great happens, we immediately have this need to contextualize it. Usually, we over blow its greatness. This happens in many arenas. The most common is sports. How often have you watched a very good Super Bowl and the next day read sports columnists championing it as “the greatest Super Bowl of all time.” Or what about elections. They can’t all be the most important elections ever. Movies, music, literature; all are susceptible to such hyperbole. So with that in mind, let me ask the question: Was C.T. versus Johnny the greatest moment in reality television history?

My hero, Bill Simmons, first begged the question on his twitter feed. Naturally, it got me thinking. Was it? I was certainly enthralled while watching it live. There was just so much awesomeness in that moment. C.T. chucking Johnny around while they were both sitting on the ground. C.T. literally stomping while carrying Johnny like a backpack. And of course, instead of C.T. pushing the oil drum over, throwing Johnny into it to put an exclamation point on this biggest destruction in challenge history. Here’s a clip!

But despite the greatness of the moment, while watching it, I never thought of it as the greatest moment in reality show history. You’re talking about thousands upon thousands of moments in television history here. Every American Idol, every Survivor, every Flavor of Love. I’m sorry, but there is no way this was greater than any number of moments from those and other shows. Hell, was it even the greatest moment in Real World history? Off the top of my head, here’s some moments I say were better:

Davis calling Tyrie the n-word

Puck getting kicked out

Ryan doing many things (but for sake of argument, calling the cops on a roommate)

Steven vs. Irene

Ruthie driving drunk (and the producers not stopping her, but rather filming her)

So what about best Challenge moment? Hmm, maybe. It was season defining, and especially considering that C.T. wasn’t even a competitor, it makes it even better. But there were other moments I still think were better.

1.Big Easy nearly dying

2. Abram being obvious about throwing the challenge-this is up there for two reasons. First, it was the first instance of one team throwing a challenge, at least to the point that the viewer was in on it. The second was because I was high when I saw that episode and it may have been greater in my mind than in reality.

3. The toga party

4. Any fights

5. Abram/Veronica/Rachel threesome

6. TJ almost fighting Cyrus

Alright, but the moment was still so awesome!! It has to be the greatest something, right? Well, how about greatest C.T. moment? The answer is a resounding maybe. I honestly don’t know if this moment was better than when C.T. punched Adam. That event had just so much. There was the buildup, not just in that episode, but in past seasons, too. The actual fight was a pretty good one. C.T. got a tremendous throw in. Then there is Adam running for his life, literally. Also, we have the producers losing complete control over the show. Unprecedented. This current moment was just a raw display of strength. It was amazing to watch for the athletic component of it. For that 10 seconds, no one in the world could have beaten C.T. But overall, I cannot say it was even the greatest C.T. moment ever.

So then what the eff was it? It has to be the greatest something. Well, ok, I’ll give you one. I fully believe this was the greatest elimination challenge in the history of the show. It had incredible build up, was spanned over two episodes, and involved dominance never before seen. There have been some classic duels on the Challenge, but this was something different. It was so good that everyone was talking about it in the house afterwards. That simply doesn’t happen. This is the place C.T.’s victory belongs; in the annals of great elimination challenges. It was amongst the best Challenge moments, but not the best. It was one of the greatest Real World/Road Rules/Challenge moments, but not the greatest. It was even one of the legendary reality moments, but it was not the most legendary. But that’s ok. Because it’s impact alone is enough. Folks, this is the moment we can all agree on has the biggest impact for all future challenges. This, my friends, is the moment C.T. came back to the Challenge…