After several seasons away from MTV’s The Challenge, it appears multiple-time winner Cara Maria Sorbello may have officially announced her retirement from the show.
On Wednesday, Cara shared several social media posts that talked about retirement and even mentioned passing the crown to a particular castmate.
The announcement seems to come after Cara repeatedly mentioned she wasn’t sure why she wasn’t back on the show after her last appearance two years ago.
Cara Maria Sorbello mentions retirement on social media
On Wednesday afternoon, Cara Maria took to her Instagram Story to share several slides regarding The Challenge. In the first slide, she reposted a photo she took of her castmate and friend Kam Williams.
The message with it has Cara praising her castmate as the “new face” of The Challenge. Interestingly, Cara Maria’s image is part of The Challenge banner on Paramount Plus for their various on-demand seasons.
“Here she is. The only acceptable ‘new face’ of The Challenge. I didn’t get an official retirement goodbye or a chance to pass the crown. But…she didn’t need it passed. She walked in with it. Long live the queen. @IAMKAMIAM_ keep doing amazing things. I will always root for you,” Cara’s message said.
Kam was a runner-up during The Challenge: Double Agents season, alongside partner Cory Wharton. The duo received $100,000 in prize money to split for second place. She has yet to win a final, but many fans would say she seems destined to win if she returns to the show.
In addition to the above photo slide, Cara Maria shared another one in which she mentioned how The Challenge impacted her life and changed things for the better.
The Instagram Story slide featured a note she had written in her diary on August 22, 2009, before she left for The Challenge: Fresh Meat 2 season. That was Cara’s debut on the show and her first appearance of 14 regular seasons.
“In the end, I was able to pay off my student loans, get LASIK to fix my eyes, buy my first home, get a new and safe car to battle Montana winter roads, and of course… care for Garnett. And so much more. So with that. I am thankful. Best of luck to everyone starting their journeys. Goodbye,” Cara’s message said, along with a heart emoji.
Cara’s Challenge career featured impressive run
Most fans would agree that Cara Maria is one of the all-time greats in Challenge history. In her 14 seasons, she failed to reach the final only five times, including her debut season.
It took her eight seasons to get that first win, which came on Battle of the Bloodlines alongside cousin Jamie Banks in 2016. Cara’s second win was a solo victory on the Vendettas season in 2018.
Over the course of her time on MTV’s competition series, she was part of 43 daily challenge wins, whether on her own or with a team. She went 13-6 in eliminations and racked up over $600,000 in prize money.
Cara’s last three seasons on the show also included her now-boyfriend Paulie Calafiore. The two met during Final Reckoning and continued to progress in their relationship on the War of the Worlds and War of the Worlds 2 seasons.
During the War of the Worlds 2 season, Cara and Paula were behind a major alliance for Team USA, which got rid of Johnny Bananas and attempted to get rid of Jordan Wiseley and Tori Deal.
Unfortunately, they were unable to do the latter, and ultimately, Team USA lost to Team UK in the final. Jordan was part of the winning team after he and Tori had defected to Team UK upon winning in eliminations.
That was the last appearance Cara and Paulie made on The Challenge in about two years. Since then, they’ve been continuing with their relationship and building various businesses beyond reality TV.
There is speculation that Cara’s connection with Paulie and things that he or they may have said during the show or off the show have prevented them from returning to MTV’s show. Paulie also mentioned how some of he and Cara’s castmates are like “snitches” who try to run to production or with anything they can to try to keep them off the show.
There have been no official reports about why they haven’t been back on The Challenge. Cara has also indicated in previous social media posts that she’s unsure why she hasn’t been able to return.
Paulie seemed to indicate he will be back on The Challenge once he’s done with his bobsled training and potential appearance in the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February 2022. However, it seems his girlfriend is saying she’s done with the show.
Nonetheless, one must wonder if this also means a spot on The Challenge: All Stars spinoff is out of the question for the longtime Challenge OG, Cara Maria Sorbello.
The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies premieres on Wednesday, August 11 at 8/7c on MTV.