The Challenge global tournament is underway to determine which competitors deserve the title of Challenge world champions.
Viewers learned of the international tournament months ago through The Challenge’s social media and online media reports.
The tournament was a central talking point of CBS’ spinoff, The Challenge: USA, as host TJ Lavin brought up that the show winners would get to compete in the tournament.
In addition, those two winners, Survivor stars Sarah Lacina and Danny McCray, each took home a share of $500,000 in prize money.
Spoilers started arriving for the global tournament’s competitors several weeks ago, and the rumored cast featured many former champions, finalists, and stars from reality TV.
Based on online details, filming is taking place in Cape Town, South Africa, and one team is already eliminated from the competition show.
This report will contain spoilers for the currently-untitled global Challenge tournament, with the names of rumored cast members and individuals eliminated.
First Challenge team eliminated from global tournament?
According to a Vevmo forum thread, at least one pair is out of the running for The Challenge world championship. Based on the spoilers, the spinoff features one man and one woman paired up.
The first competitors revealed as either eliminated or disqualified from the tournament are The Challenge’s Nelson Thomas and his teammate, Claudia Albertario.
Viewers saw Nelson amongst the finalists in The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies, the 37th season of MTV’s show. Castmate Kyle Christie defeated Nelson in a surprise elimination round that TJ revealed on Day 2 of the final.
Nelson is currently appearing in MTV’s The Challenge: Ride or Dies season, where he’s teamed up with his ex and friend, Nurys Mateo.
Claudia is an actress who competed in The Challenge: Argentina spinoff. As of this report, it’s unknown how she fared in that spinoff show, but one has to believe she did well enough to qualify for the global tournament cast.
As of this report, it’s unknown who eliminated Nelson and Claudia from the show and how it happened or if they got disqualified.
Who else is competing in The Challenge tournament?
Earlier this month, Monsters and Critics reported on speculation about The Challenge global tournament’s cast members.
The cast features former MTV show winners and finalists. It also features finalists and winners from The Challenge: All Stars, The Challenge: USA, and three other spinoffs. Those Challenge spinoffs were filmed in various parts of the world, featuring reality TV stars from Argentina, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Among the potential competitors are seven-time champion Johnny Bananas, four-time winner Darrell Taylor, three-time winner Jordan Wiseley, and two-time winner Wes Bergmann.
Among the women in the tournament cast is Paramount Plus’ two-time The Challenge: All Stars winner Jonna Mannion. Former MTV show winners Jodi Weatherton, Amber Borzotra, and Kaycee Clark are in the cast. Show finalists are also among the field of competitors, including Tori Deal, Nia Moore, and Justine Ndiba.
Cast members were subject to change before filming began, and there were some changes to the cast. Initial online speculation suggested that Devin Walker and Derrick Kosinski were part of the cast. That changed, as neither is currently filming.
However, former Challenger Theo Campbell is part of the competition, making an anticipated return to The Challenge. Theo, also a star of Love Island UK, appeared in two seasons of MTV’s competition series. He reached the final in War of the Worlds and finished as runner-up to Turabi “Turbo” Camkiran.
Theo returned for the sequel season, War of the Worlds 2, where he famously defeated Johnny Bananas, Kyle Christie, and Idris Virgo in eliminations before losing to Jordan in Episode 11.
Total Madness winner Jennifer “Jenny” West is also one of the global tournament competitors, giving fans several familiar faces from the UK who excelled on MTV’s competition show.
Some newer individuals joining the cast include The Bachelor: Australia’s Kiki Morris, Georgie Shore’s Nathan Henry, Made in Chelsea’s Tristan Phipps, and MTV The Royal World’s Zara Zoffany.
These individuals appeared among competitors in the three international Challenge spinoff shows. Check out a full rundown of all cast members via the Vevmo forum thread.
The forum thread indicates that TJ will be the global tournament host. It will also feature the other three spinoff hosts: The Challenge: UK’s Mark Wright, The Challenge: Australia’s Brihony Dawson, and The Challenge: Argentina’s Marley.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV. The Challenge global tournament is TBA on Paramount Plus.