When The Challenge Season 38 arrives, viewers may not see fan favorite and back-to-back champion Chris “CT” Tamburello amongst the cast members.
CT, who recently captured his fifth career win with Spies, Lies & Allies, spoke about the grueling process of filming many seasons of the show right after one another.
With that, he responded to those questioning if he’d leave the show and ride off into the sunset now that he’s accomplished another championship and seems unbeatable on The Challenge.
CT won fifth championship in 19 seasons
To say that CT has become a fixture and recognizable face for The Challenge fans is an understatement. With Spies, Lies & Allies, the 41-year-old has now appeared in 19 seasons of MTV’s competition series and is dominating the competition.
Season 37 provided CT with a relatively easier format than the previous season, Double Agents, where competitors needed to earn Skulls to run the final. However, he still showed his abilities to outdo the competition in terms of the game’s social, psychological, and physical aspects.
He was a solid backbone in the veteran alliance, and he remained untouchable when it came to the season’s elimination voting. Competitors also showed a strong level of loyalty, respect, or downright fear in terms of calling him out, as nobody dared do so.
In the final, CT started strong individually, continued to stay strong while working in a four-person team, and then the win was in the bag when he teamed with his last partner, Kaycee Clark. Kaycee got the option to choose a partner after winning an emotional elimination against girlfriend Nany Gonzalez, and she wisely went with CT.
He told EW’s Sydney Bucksbaum that Kaycee was “dialed in,” and he could see it in her eyes that she was “pissed” after that elimination twist on Day 2 of the final.
“When she picked me, of course you’re always worried about somebody getting hurt, but I wasn’t worried about her abilities. I knew she wanted it and she was more than capable. I wasn’t even worried about her remembering her numbers or anything,” he said of Kaycee choosing to finish the final alongside him.
“It was actually nice to be on a team where you just didn’t have to worry about my partner at all. And it was brief, but it was probably the most important partner I had the whole season,” CT added.
With Kaycee as CT’s partner to win the final, it was his second-straight championship and the second-straight season in which a former Big Brother star won alongside him. He won the Double Agents season with former Big Brother Houseguest Amber Borzotra.
Is CT retiring from The Challenge, considering All Stars?
There are already rumors floating around about The Challenge Season 38, as fans anticipate which cast members will return for the show. Many fans always hope for the multi-time champs like Johnny Bananas, Wes Bergmann, and CT Tamburello.
Bananas has been away from the show working on other media ventures, including TV shows, 1st Look and Celebrity Sleepover. Wes has been focused on his business ventures with other entrepreneurs and said he’d be taking a break from the main season, for the near future at least.
Both Bananas and Wes continue to comment on the show they love, though, via podcast or Patreon, and neither has officially retired. What about CT, though?
Based on comments CT made to EW, he thinks it’s time to focus on other things beyond the MTV show.
“The Challenge is my home. I mean, I grew up with it. But I’ve done eight in a row. Back in the day, you did one show a year, maybe two, now it’s just cranking these things out and the shoot is longer and longer and longer. My son’s five years old. I film two shows a year, three months a piece, that’s half the year I’m gone. I can’t do that because he’s older now,” CT said.
As far as retirement goes, CT didn’t say that’s happening just yet, as he’d prefer to just “take a little breather.” He’s also got a movie on the way, a remake of The Most Dangerous Game, which he filmed alongside co-stars Bruce Dern, Judd Nelson, Tom Berenger, and Casper Van Dien.
“I’d like to spend time with the family, enjoy the fruits, recenter myself, and maybe just take a break, take a little breather. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Retire? I don’t have it in me to ever say I’m going to retire. What else would I do? [Laughs] Besides the movie thing, I mean, that’s been a lot of fun. It’s nice to branch out,” he told EW.
With his answers, it seems the five-time champ will take a holiday break at the very least. When asked about appearing in The Challenge: All Stars, CT said he isn’t thinking that far ahead but didn’t rule out appearing on it either.
“With all the spin-offs coming up, it doesn’t seem like The Challenge is going anywhere. And I think I’m on my third wind at this point. I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t realize how much I needed a break until I took a break before. I just want to maybe let the dust settle, maybe soak it all in,” he said.
The Challenge airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.