The Challenge’s Devin Walker slams CBS spinoff finalists: ‘Ya’ll should be embarrassed’

Devin Walker has called out several of The Challenge: USA stars after watching how things went for the cast members competing in the CBS spinoff show’s final.

The show recently aired its two-hour grand finale on CBS and featured a final that some fans might consider comparable to the MTV show’s finals.

However, CBS’ version featured a variety of circumstances that happened before and during the final that viewers and spinoff cast members have criticized.

Several things caused issues for the competitors, putting them at a disadvantage or costing them a chance to continue competing. In addition, post-season exit interview comments from some finalists have indicated production wasn’t correctly explaining rules along the way.

That said, Devin isn’t listening to any excuses, as he even called out one of the finalists by name, saying they should be embarrassed about their performance.

This report will include spoilers for The Challenge: USA, Episode 11, which featured winners crowned in TJ Lavin’s final.

Devin calls out The Challenge: USA finalists

Several days after The Challenge: USA finale aired on CBS, Devin took to his Twitter, where he fired off some tweets reacting to the performance he saw from some of the finalists.

One tweet focused on the last checkpoint that competitors had to complete before climbing to the top of the mountain to win their share of $500,000 and move on to the world championship tournament.

At that checkpoint, each competitor had to solve a large Sudoku puzzle board under rough conditions, as it was cold and raining near the mountaintop. Some finalists were nearing the first stages of hypothermia, and others claimed they didn’t know how to do Sudoku.

Eventually, Tyson Apostol, Cayla Platt, Justine Ndiba, and Domenick Abbate said they didn’t want to continue, quitting the final just before the finish line.

Due to quitting, they lost their chance to win the final and the money they’d tallied in their personal bank accounts over the season. The spinoff season’s winners ended up being Danny McCray and Sarah Lacina, the only two finalists to get through all checkpoints and reach the top of the mountain.

“A Sudoku eliminated half the finalists and they think they could hang with us..? HAHAHA! CBS cast making @_nelsonthomas and @CoryWharton look like nuclear physicists,” Devin said in a tweet, tagging two of his longtime Challenge castmates.

Devin didn’t stop there, as he called what he saw “pathetic,” adding the finalists “should be embarrassed.”

“Especially you @TysonApostol,” Devin said, calling out the former Survivor winner.

The Challenge: USA final plagued by issues?

Following the airing of CBS’ grand finale for the spinoff season, cast members, including many of the finalists, spoke out about what happened. Among them was Survivor star Desi Williams talking about Enzo Palumbo quitting on her in the first leg of the final, which also meant she was out of the game.

An exit interview also included Ben Driebergen talking about his injury, which cost him from competing in the final. Ben’s injury also caused what some may have seen as a disadvantage for the women competing in the final.

Since he got medically disqualified, it meant there were fewer men than women running the final, with a total of nine individuals. TJ brought The Algorithm back to randomly create pairs of competitors, with one man working with one woman for each checkpoint. Ben’s absence meant one woman was on her own at each checkpoint.

Some viewers may have felt that cost Angela Rummans, who was by herself for an overnight checkpoint where everyone else had a teammate. The objective was for at least one person to transfer dirt from a pile via a wheelbarrow to an empty box. One teammate was allowed to rest while the other worked.

Since he got medically disqualified, it meant there were fewer men than women running the final, with a total of nine individuals. TJ brought The Algorithm back to randomly create pairs of competitors, with one man working with one woman for each checkpoint. Ben’s absence meant one woman was on her own at each checkpoint.

That meant Angela got disqualified from the final. In her reaction following the episode, she indicated that production didn’t warn her or tell her she was quitting if she went to sleep in the tent.

Tyson shared his issues with final, Devin reacts

Another point of contention was that some of the final’s checkpoints had time limits. With those checkpoints, a finalist could “time out” and then still continue competing in the final. That wasn’t the case at all of the checkpoints, though, an inconsistency Tyson talked about in a candid interview with Entertainment Weekly.

He specifically mentioned not being able to time out on the Sudoku puzzle, saying production told the finalists they needed to finish it to move on before they could continue on to the mountaintop.

Devin reacted to the EW article featuring Tyson’s comments in a tweet, saying “dealing with the twists and turns” is part of the game. He also suggested that the article was “embellished” to make Tyson “look less like a quitter.”

“The whole thing is an embarrassment to the game and they should be apologizing to the viewers not making excuses,” Devin said in his tweet.

From the first episode, Tyson was among the favorites to win The Challenge: USA based on some strong performances. He also shared in a podcast episode he did for The Ringer that when asked by his daughter which is the harder competition show, he told her Survivor.

Based on his EW interview comments, fans are unlikely to see Tyson return for The Challenge in any form. Devin, a finalist on MTV’s Season 37, is back for another installment as part of The Challenge: Ride or Dies cast.

The Challenge: USA episodes are available on Paramount Plus. The Challenge: Ride or Dies premieres Wednesday, October 12, at 8/7c on MTV.