With Season 36 of The Challenge, viewers saw plenty of star power in terms of former champions and longtime competitors.
That included Chris “CT” Tamburello, Wes Bergmann, Darrell Taylor, Aneesa Ferreira, Leroy Garrett, and Theresa Jones, all of whom have appeared on many seasons of the competitive reality show.
While two of those stars have pretty much called it quits, now it appears a third veteran competitor hinted that their time competing on the show could be over.
Three veterans retiring from The Challenge?
Before The Challenge: Double Agents season even started, various promotional videos arrived that featured the rookies and veteran competitors. In one of those videos, Leroy Garrett announced that Season 36 was his final run on the show.
That has been a theme throughout the season, as Leroy is seeking his first championship on the show alongside girlfriend Kam Williams. The couple is partnered with different castmates and still alive in the game as of Episode 15.
Meanwhile, veteran Theresa Jones made her big return to The Challenge after a hiatus of five years or so. Now a mother and wife, Theresa was a fan favorite on Double Agents but was eliminated by Kaycee Clark in Episode 9. Following her elimination, an emotional Theresa seemed to announce she was done competing.
Another star who made a return to The Challenge after a long hiatus was Darrell Taylor. Before Double Agents, the last time fans saw the four-time champion on The Challenge was the Dirty 30 season back in 2017.
Darrell made it quite far on Season 36, getting all the way to Episode 14 due to being partners with Amber Borzotra, who was in with the Big Brother alliance. In addition, Darrell had a strong friendship with Leroy outside of the game. Unfortunately, he was the easy target for the house vote in the latest elimination. At The Crater he’d lose to Cory Wharton, ending his time in the game.
MTV released a Final Worlds video clip, in which Darrell praised Cory and gave some interesting comments about his return.
“The good news is I miss my family. Hopefully, they won’t be disappointed in me. They wanted me to win this money. You know I gave it my all. It’s a game. It happens, but I had fun. I wouldn’t take anything away from Cory. He was a better man tonight. I had a blast,” The Challenge star shared.
“I would like to come back. I just don’t know if I could leave my family. It’s kind of hard,” Darell said in an emotional moment during the video.
Spinoff show leaves door open for returns
As fans have seen with The Challenge: All Stars trailer, Darrell will be back relatively soon on television screens. He is amongst the 22 cast members for the spinoff show coming to Paramount Plus.
“Oh you thought I was done?! ? Catch me on #TheChallengeAllStars competing with some of your favorite Challenge Legends streaming exclusively on #paramountplus on April 1st,” Darrell shared in an IG post featuring his All Stars cast photo.
That spinoff seems like it will continue with future seasons, based on Mark Long’s vision, and that could mean more appearances from any “retired” cast members.
For example, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to see Leroy and Theresa also pop up on the show they’ve become best known for over the years. After all, Aneesa and Darrell went on the show right after filming Double Agents.
Additionally, it seems as if competitors aren’t limited to one appearance on All Stars, so Darrell could return there again, if not on the regular season. His comments in the Final Words were far from definitive about his future.
While Theresa and Darrell now have families and may cherish the time to enjoy their lives with them, it seems the competition and adrenaline of The Challenge may call them back again, at least for the spinoff.
The Challenge: Double Agents airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV. The Challenge: All Stars premieres on Thursday, April 1 on Paramount Plus.