With The Challenge: All Stars spinoff show, OG cast members came back to the competition years after their original MTV shows. Some of them even decided to return for the second season of the spinoff.
Among them was the entertaining Teck Holmes, who originally appeared on The Real World: Hawaii and competed in The Challenge 2000 season.
He was eliminated early in The Challenge: All Stars Season 1. Teck returned for Season 2 and reached the final thanks to being part of a powerful alliance. However, he and his teammate had an early exit due to finishing in last place during a leg of the final.
Surprisingly, Teck didn’t return for Season 3, even though the rest of his alliance members did. At least one of them reached the final and had a chance at winning their share of the prize money.
The All Stars OG recently shared an Instagram video with his fans and followers to let everyone know why he wasn’t part of the third season’s cast.
In an interesting reveal, he said a big part of him not returning was due to production and the situation involving the prize money in Season 2.
Teck explains reasons for his All Stars 3 absence
Taking to his official Instagram earlier this week, Teck “Money” Holmes posted a nearly six-minute video called “The Challenge: Why I wasn’t on Season 3.”
He started by wishing everyone well and said he had many inquiries about him not appearing on All Stars 3 and some people asking if he’d be on All Stars 4 or The Challenge World. Teck said he wanted to clear things up about all of that.
“One of the big reasons I wasn’t on Season 3 was because I needed a break, y’all,” Teck said, adding, “Season 2 of The Challenge was taxing. It was just grueling. It was mentally exhausting. I’ve never been that stressed out in my life.”
He also mentioned that “production had a few things going on,” and he didn’t think they were “above board,” so he “had to take a break.” Teck elaborated that he felt with Season 2, production was “being a little funny with the money.”
He said the cast showed up for the first season, and there was an individual winner, Yes, who took home $500,000 in prize money. Teck said that was cool, and when Season 2 arrived, he felt that was the “precedent” set for the individual prize money amount.
Teck said when they got there for Season 2, host TJ Lavin told them “this season is worth $500,000,” and there was no mention that they were playing for “a piece of” or “a portion of” that amount of money.
When The Challenge: All Stars, Episode 10 arrived, Teck said TJ delivered a narrated recap where he said four teams remained in the game and “would battle it out for their share of $500,000.”
Teck said he feels that information about the prize money should’ve been mentioned “upfront” so cast members could make the best decision about participating in the show for themselves and their families.
“What we do on The Challenge is too dangerous, too stressful [and] too impactful on our families to be doing it for a discount,” Teck said in his video.
Teck also mentioned in his video that he watched Season 3 from afar as a spectator, and from the start, TJ revealed the top male and top female competitor were getting their share of $500,000.
“How come that wasn’t expressed in Season 2 at the beginning like it was in Season 3?” Teck asked.
He went on to ask if there were individual winners for Season 3, why didn’t they win the same amount of money as the individual winner in Season 1?
Teck suggested that Season 1 needed to have one man and one woman as the winners and that they’d split $500,000 so a precedent was set for the next two seasons’ prize money.
All Stars 2 and 3 had two winners splitting prize money
As mentioned, The Challenge: All Stars’ first season featured Yes Duffy winning. With four men and four women competing in the final, he was the only winner and received all $500,000 of the show’s prize money.
That led to some contention from KellyAnne Judd and fans that there should’ve been two prizes, one for the first-place male and another for the first-place female. KellyAnne and Jonna Mannion finished in a tie for first amongst females in the Season 1 final.
In The Challenge: All Stars 2, Teck returned and became part of the entertaining alliance known as Kings Palace, which also featured Nehemiah Clark, Laterrian Wallace, and Melinda Collins. Three of them ended up reaching the final.
Kings Palace allies Nehemiah and Melinda were teammates, while Teck was partnered with castmate Ayanna Mackins. Unfortunately, Teck and Ayanna were eliminated during one of the first legs of the final, sending them home. That left three other teams, including Nehemiah and Melinda, to compete for the prize money.
Ultimately, the team of Jonna Mannion and MJ Garrett won the Season 2 final as they retrieved the $500,000 in prize money and boarded a small private jet with host TJ Lavin.
Teck didn’t return for The Challenge: All Stars 3, which featured a similar situation with the prize money, although cast members competed individually in the final.
Wes Bergmann was the winner for the men’s group, while Jonna captured her second-straight All Stars win, besting the women’s field of competitors. The two winners split $500,000 after boarding a yacht with TJ waiting on board to congratulate them.
As of this report, the fate of The Challenge: All Stars spinoff is uncertain, as there haven’t been any reports of a fourth season or beyond. A spinoff show called The Challenge: USA is airing on CBS, featuring reality TV stars from Amazing Race, Big Brother, Love Island, and Survivor competing in the game.
The 38th season of MTV’s main competition series, The Challenge, recently wrapped up filming, with the premiere episode expected to arrive before the end of the year.
Based on Teck’s recent comments, he might not return for another season of All Stars or any Challenge spinoff if they aren’t clear about the prize money situation from the start of the competition.
The Challenge: All Stars episodes are available on Paramount Plus.