Teck Holmes, a former Real World star and two-time competitor on The Challenge: All Stars, continues to speak about being misled by the reality TV competition show’s production regarding the prize money involved.
The 46-year-old reality TV star recently offered a message to The Challenge: USA star Danny McCray, partly offering him congratulations on his successful season.
Danny was one of the 2022 CBS spinoff show’s two winners, with fellow Survivor star Sarah Lacina the other winner in a grueling final held in Patagonia.
Teck, an OG cast member from The Real World: Hawaii, appeared in the first two seasons of Paramount Plus’ The Challenge: All Stars, reaching the final in the second season but failing to win.
Several weeks ago, he shared that he felt the show’s producers weren’t clear with their prize money explanation when he participated in All Stars. He continued to present that opinion by leaving a comment for The Challenge: USA winner, Danny.
Danny’s Instagram post (below) features several shots of Danny and his castmates in scenes from CBS’ Challenge spinoff. He competed in a season with reality TV stars from CBS’ Survivor, Love Island, Amazing Race, and Big Brother.
Teck says The Challenge: USA winner was ‘screwed’
In a comment he left for Danny, Teck didn’t hesitate to mention that he felt the Survivor star got “screwed” when it came to the show’s prize money, saying Danny probably would’ve preferred bringing more money home for his wife, Kiki.
“Congratulations on your win! Well deserved. What you didn’t deserve was to be lied to and misled by @bunimmurray @thechallenge @cbstv,” Teck said to Danny about his victory.
“I know you really wanted to take that 500k back to Kiki ? but instead they gave you LESS THAN HALF. As someone on the outside looking in they screwed you bro. No other way around it,” he said in his comment.
As mentioned, Teck expressed critical comments in an Instagram video last month indicating he felt misled by production when he appeared in The Challenge: All Stars Season 2.
The former Real Worlder suggested production was “being a little funny with the money” situation in terms of how they presented what the season’s final prize was to the All Stars 2 cast.
He said he felt a “precedent” was set with the first All Stars winner, Yes Duffy, taking home $500,000 in prize money as the season’s sole winner. However, the two winners of Season 2 split that amount of prize money, something Teck felt production should’ve been more “upfront” to the cast about before the competition unfolded.
Based on feeling misled over the prize money situation and that production wasn’t operating things properly, Teck said he chose not to return for Season 3 of All Stars.
How much did Danny and Sarah receive for their win?
The Challenge: USA was an 11-episode spinoff show based on MTV’s competition series, featuring CBS reality TV stars. TJ appeared as the show’s host, but all of the other cast members were newcomers to The Challenge.
Throughout the season, the cast members could tally money in their personal bank accounts by either winning daily challenges or eliminations. Competitors needed to bank at least $5,000 to qualify for TJ’s final.
They also brought any bank account money they’d accumulated to the season’s final but needed to complete it to take any money home.
Viewers saw multiple Survivor stars amongst the spinoff’s 10 finalists, including Tyson Apostol, Desi Williams, Domenick Abbate, and Ben Driebergen.
However, many competitors were either disqualified or quit. Ultimately, Danny was the first finalist to arrive at the top of a mountain in Patagonia after getting past multiple checkpoints, including puzzles, eating challenges and difficult weather conditions.
Eventually, he was joined by Sarah, although the episode footage made it unclear how much later she reached the mountaintop after Danny did. In the finale’s closing moments, TJ informed them they were the only two individuals to complete the final.
The former Survivor stars became The Challenge: USA winners, each receiving a share of $500,000 in prize money. Based on details shown in the episode, Danny received $245,500, while Sarah collected $254,500 for winning the season.
In addition, the two winners move on to compete in The Challenge World Championship tournament, which features other international Challenge spinoff show finalists and winners. The global tournament will arrive on Paramount Plus.
As of this report, the grand prize for that Challenge tournament is unclear.
The Challenge: USA and The Challenge: All Stars episodes are available on Paramount Plus.