Former BMX star TJ Lavin has hosted MTV’s The Challenge for many seasons and has recently hosted the spinoff, The Challenge: All Stars, for several seasons, giving him years of memories.
He’s seen a lot over the years, including incredible eliminations, cast members quitting, horrific injuries, and epic victories in the final. He also recently witnessed what many fans may have felt was an “injustice” towards a cast member regarding the competition rules.
During a recent chat with seven-time Challenge winner Johnny Bananas, the longtime host opened up about what he felt was a “super sad” situation during All Stars 2.
TJ Lavin talks about ‘super sad’ situation with All Stars 2
This past week, Johnny Bananas talked with Challenge host TJ Lavin on the Death, Taxes, and Bananas podcast, getting his thoughts on the MTV show and Paramount Plus spinoff.
Bananas joked about a major “injustice” in Challenge history. That was the memorable moment where he got strapped to castmate CT Tamburello’s back in a one-sided elimination event, and the Bananas backpack became an iconic moment.
TJ got a chuckle over that but later revealed something he felt was unfair for a castmate during the recent All Stars 2 spinoff season.
“What I felt like was super sad was how Cohutta [Grindstaff] had to go home with his partner getting pregnant,” TJ said, adding, “‘I’m like dude, his partner got pregnant he had to go home.’ I’m like, ‘What?'”
TJ explained that it all came down to numbers and filming the show with COVID-19 protocols in place. He said they couldn’t find a way to make things work to keep Cohutta there.
“Everything was just a big cluster, and then I just felt so bad. I’m like, ‘Dude. I’m sorry, man.’ And Justin [Booth] felt terrible too,” TJ told Bananas during the podcast episode.
“Neither one of us liked that at all. We were devastated about it. We talked to Cohutta about it, and he was just like, ‘It is what it is.'”
Cohutta gracefully exited All Stars 2 season
Cohutta was sent home in The Challenge: All Stars 2, Episode 7, after teammate Casey Cooper discovered she was pregnant. Once the showrunners learned of that, Casey could no longer compete in the season. It also meant her partner couldn’t continue.
There were already two teams set for the elimination, but due to Casey’s DQ, it meant those teams got to stay in the game. Fans were upset at Cohutta’s unfair DQ since he didn’t get to compete in an elimination against one of the two men for a chance to stay.
Other Challenge stars might have made a big fuss over having to leave the show in that manner. However, Cohutta seemed to take it all in stride and realized, just like TJ said, “It is what it is.”
The former Real World: Sydney star took to his Instagram after the episode arrived on Paramount Plus to give some additional thoughts about it.
“Well. Grandpa always said you can’t knock a home run everyday. Twas’ a good run. Big congrats to @case_coop on her little one and for your information Cohutta is a gender friendly name,” he wrote.
Cohutta went on to joke that maybe he could’ve arm wrestled one of the other men for a chance to stay in the game. However, his fate was tied to his partner leaving the show.
Based on TJ’s comments, he felt horrible about that particular moment because it didn’t give Cohutta a fair shot to continue competing for the season. Luckily, Cohutta seems good-natured enough to move forward following what many fans felt was a bad decision by the showrunners.
The Challenge Season 38 is TBA for MTV. The Challenge: All Stars 3 premieres on May 11 on Paramount+.
Bull you could have kept him