The Challenge: USA final is officially in the books, as 10 finalists battled it out in Patagonia to determine who would win the spinoff season.
After grinding through various checkpoints featuring puzzles, laborious tasks, and challenging weather conditions, Survivor stars Danny McCray and Sarah Lacina emerged as winners.
The pair were the only competitors to make it through every checkpoint in the final, while others ended up disqualified or quitting ahead of the finish line.
With the victory, Danny and Sarah won their share of $500,000 in prize money and qualified for the world championship tournament, set to arrive on Paramount Plus.
The format of that international tournament remains unclear, although it’s known it will feature other winners from spinoffs The Challenge: Australia, The Challenge: Argentina, and The Challenge: UK.
During recent interviews, Danny spoke about preparing for the championship tournament and revealed which other players from his spinoff season he’d want on his team.
Danny and Sarah are committed to Challenge World Championship
After surviving the conditions and checkpoints throughout The Challenge: USA final, Danny and Sarah became the CBS spinoff season’s champions. Other finalists included fellow Survivor stars and cast members that appeared on Big Brother, Love Island, and The Amazing Race.
Host TJ Lavin pointed out throughout the season’s episodes that the winners would receive a substantial amount of prize money and also move on to compete in a global championship tournament, exclusively on Paramount Plus.
During their various exit interviews, Danny and Sarah commented about their winning season and other aspects of the show. While appearing on Rob Has a Podcast with Rob Cesternino (below), the host asked if they plan to participate in the tournament.
They both confirmed that they’ve committed to the world championship and have been in communication about their training ahead of the tournament.
“We’ve been working out together, sharing our workouts to make sure that we’re prepared and ready to go,” Danny said.
In another exit interview with US Weekly, the two winners got asked what they might do differently in preparation for the international tournament.
“I plan on swimming more. I want to be able to use my energy the correct way, so I’m not dead tired after I’m done,” Danny said.
“Swimming, getting familiar with some other puzzles. Beyond that, I work out pretty regularly, so I feel good,” Sarah shared.
Tournament could include other USA finalists
Based on speculation, The Challenge World Championship tournament could feature a team of competitors from each spinoff show. Those competitors would likely consist of other finalists, but that’s still unclear and unconfirmed.
During the RHAP episode, Danny and Sarah revealed who they would want to bring along from The Challenge: USA as their teammates for the tournament.
“For me, I’d say Tyson [Apostol] on the men’s side, and it’s kind of a tossup between Desi [Williams] and Angela [Rummans] and Justine [Ndiba]. The women’s side was so strong it’s difficult to pick one, but Tyson on the men’s side for sure,” Danny said.
Sarah didn’t have any specific castmates in mind, saying she would “work with anybody” as long as they had “the common goal of winning.”
As of this report, it’s unknown when The Challenge World Championship tournament will film or the episodes will arrive on Paramount Plus, but based on the current timeline, it’ll likely come sometime in 2023.
The Challenge: USA episodes are available on Paramount Plus. The Challenge: Ride or Dies premieres Wednesday, October 12, at 8/7c on MTV.