In 2021 and 2022, fans saw multiple champions crowned for MTV’s The Challenge and Paramount Plus’ The Challenge: All Stars. Now, most of those individuals are nominees for a special award.
That award is Challenger of the Year, voted on by fans and presented by Challenge Mania Podcast. As one would expect, the nominees are a who’s who of five of the top competitors from the past year’s shows.
They’ll include Spies, Lies & Allies winner Chris “CT” Tamburello and one-half of The Challenge: All Stars 2 winners, Jonna Mannion. However, three other deserving contenders are in the group, with a few honorable mentions left out.
Challenge Mania reveals Challenger of the Year nominees
There are five finalists for Challenger of the Year, which goes to the best overall competitor from this past year’s seasons of The Challenge.
Leading the way in terms of overall championship wins is CT Tamburello. He recently captured his fifth Challenge championship with Spies, Lies & Allies, and his first back-to-back as he also won on the previous season, Double Agents.
His teammate in the Season 37 final, Kaycee Clark, is also amongst the nominees. Kaycee had a true story of redemption and a major showmance that unfolded with now-girlfriend Nany Gonzalez throughout the season.
She went down with a devastating leg injury in her Double Agents final, costing her and teammate Fessy Shafaat a chance to win. However, Kaycee returned to capture her first-ever championship in Spies, Lies & Allies, making for the second Big Brother player to win on The Challenge.
Two other champions from the past year’s shows are on the list. They are The Challenge: All Stars 1 winner Yes Duffy and All Stars 2 winner Jonna Mannion. Jonna emerged as a major fan-favorite after reaching the final in All Stars 1, where she tied for first place amongst the women with Kelly Anne Judd. However, there was only a money prize for the first-place winner, Yes Duffy.
She’d return in All Stars 2, where she played a solid social and political game and avoided eliminations. She’d team up with MJ Garrett, and the duo got the win against three other teams in the final.
The Godfather Mark Long is the fifth nominee. While he didn’t necessarily win a championship on any recent regular season or spinoff, he definitely won over fans by helping bring The Challenge: All Stars spinoff to life on Paramount Plus. If not for Mark, there wouldn’t be Jonna and Yes celebrating their wins.
Of the nominees shown above, Yes Duffy captured his second win in a Challenge season on the premiere season of All Stars. As far as winners not nominated for the award, Big Brother star Amber Borzotra had her first Challenge win alongside CT Tamburello on Double Agents. Additionally, Jonna won All Stars 2 teamed with returning OG MJ Garrett, who is not amongst nominees.
How to vote for Challenger of the Year
Based on details from Challenge Mania Podcast co-host Scott Yager, voting officially began for Challenger of the Year on Wednesday, January 19th.
Voting requires being a subscribing member of the Challenge Mania Patreon. It features six different tier levels starting at $1 per month and including $5 per month and $10 per month options. Each tier level brings extra rewards or benefits along with it as a Challenge Mania subscriber.
Challenge Mania also hosts events in different cities around the United States, which include special guests from The Challenge. Upcoming events will take place in New Orleans and St. Louis. Some of the featured guests include Jemmye Carroll, Trishell Canattela, Tony Raines, Nehemiah Clark, MJ Garrett, and Wes Bergmann.
See more details about upcoming events at the Challengemania.Live website.
The Challenger of the Year is one of the first award categories revealed, with Challenge Mania set to reveal other categories based on the various seasons of MTV and Paramount Plus’ Challenge shows over the past year.
The Challenge is on hiatus on MTV but is expected to return in 2022. The Challenge: All Stars episodes are available on Paramount Plus.