The Challenge Season 39 is underway as Battle For a New Champion seeks to crown a first-time winner of MTV’s competition series.
A cast of individuals with some experience with the show and its concepts but never won before are doing their best to work together and outwit others.
Among those returning to try to win that first championship is Chauncey Palmer, who debuted on Season 38, aka Ride or Dies, with his girlfriend Amber Borzotra.
Amber won two seasons before that alongside multi-time champion Chris “CT” Tamburello, and she likely shared some helpful advice for Chauncey’s return as she stayed home with their newborn.
Unfortunately, Chauncey became an early out in his sophomore season because he claimed he talked too much.
However, it also could’ve been due to him being loyal to a fault and calling out one specific competitor for elimination rather than another.
Chauncey shares what led to his Season 39 demise
According to Chauncey, he has a revised strategy for the next time he goes on The Challenge, and it will involve much less talking.
Viewers saw him dig himself a hole during the deliberation as he began confronting cast members. That ultimately got him most of the votes at The Arena to go into the elimination event, which he lost.
Following his aired elimination episode on MTV, he shared that he was hopeful he’d return on the show with his girlfriend Amber in the future, but he’d be much more “focused.”
“I feel like I came in focused, but I’m gonna try to go in even more focused and just not speaking too much. I don’t know, I just felt like I was talking a little bit too much, and that’s what got me ultimately in trouble. So if I could just be patient, not get overwhelmed in certain moments, I think I’ll be fine,” Chauncey told The Messenger.
During the recent episode, Chauncey also learned that castmate Michele Fitzgerald said she held a grudge against him from the previous season they were on.
He told The Messenger that Michele is friends with Amber outside of the game, so he thought that by association, they were cool with each other.
“I never had a problem with her or Jay necessarily. I didn’t trust Jay, but when it came down to being with Michele, I was in the same room with her and Amber 95% of time on Season 38. I got to somewhat know her, so it was surprising, but at the same time, it is what it is,” Chauncey said.
“People are going to have their own mindset or opinion about you, towards you, or anything, so there’s really nothing I can do about it,” he shared.
Chauncey said he kept his word to castmate by not calling him out
While speaking with Mike Lewis (below) after his on-air elimination, Chauncey said that nobody gave him any advice or suggestions on who to call out for the elimination. It was entirely his decision to choose James Lock, who previously appeared on The Challenge: UK.
He also mentioned he chose to call out someone international rather than a cast member from the United States as he would’ve been considered a “snake” if he had done the latter.
Their elimination event was a close one, with James narrowly defeating Chauncey in what looked like a life-sized game of Connect 4. The competitors had to race back and forth to get large colored circular lights and place them on a giant board,
The goal was to create as many connected series of their specific lights as possible, with one point awarded for each consecutive series.
After three rounds, James won by one point over Chauncey, ending his time on Battle For a New Champion much earlier than he might have liked.
According to The Messenger, Chauncey revealed another UK individual he could’ve called out instead of James but didn’t.
“And as far as calling somebody from international, I was going to say Hughie [Maughan]’s name, but then I promised him also that I wouldn’t say his name no matter what. And the fact that he still said my name, I could have just been like, ‘Hughie, come down here and compete.’ But I want to also keep my word, so that only left me with a few other options. And deep down I felt like I could definitely beat James,” he shared.
One has to wonder if Chauncey had shaken things up and called out the castmate who said his name during the elimination vote, he would’ve ensured he stuck around to continue competing.
However, as host TJ Lavin mentioned, Chauncey was heading home to his new baby and girlfriend Amber, so he was still doing fine despite the elimination loss.
The Challenge: Battle For a New Champion airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on MTV.