In recent seasons of MTV’s The Challenge and its spinoffs on Paramount Plus, random and mysterious deactivations without explanations have become common.
That was exactly what happened in just the first episode of The Challenge: World Championship, a global competition featuring MVPs and Legends on Paramount Plus.
The MVPs consist of winners, finalists, and others who competed in spinoffs, The Challenge: UK, The Challenge: Argentina, and The Challenge: Australia.
Among the UK’s MVPs was Nathan Henry, who looked to be strategizing early in the game ahead of the first elimination.
Fellow UK MVP Tristan Phipps was the losing player in the opening qualifier and looked like he was automatically going into elimination.
However, host TJ Lavin revealed that Nathan had to leave the show, meaning Tristan was able to stay in the game.
Nathan Henry talks about leaving The Challenge: World Championship
Henry, who initially appeared on Geordie Shore UK, looked to be a promising competitor in the World Championship’s first episode due to his finish in the opening qualifier and strategizing about the game.
There was no mention of Henry’s name for elimination, but it became mentioned when the MVPs got sequestered in a room. They had to decide on one woman and one man to face Kiki Morris and Tristan, respectively. Fans may have noticed that Henry was absent from that deliberation, though.
TJ indicated that Henry had been “medically separated” from the game, a term that hadn’t been heard in a Challenge season before. That meant Tristan was safe from going into elimination. No additional details arrived from TJ or in any sort of confessional from Henry about the situation.
Henry recently spoke to Newsweek about having to leave The Challenge, saying how unfortunate it was due to not being able to compete for that significant prize.
“I was absolutely gutted because I was there to win, especially knowing that [there] was half a million pounds prize fund. And I was ready to play the game,” Henry shared with Newsweek.
“I’d already made so many friends in the house on the first two days that I was there, I’d already started creating alliances from the get-go, so I feel like I would have definitely been a strong contender but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be,” he said.
Henry didn’t give a specific reason for the medical deactivation or DQ. Previous seasons of MTV’s The Challenge have seen cast members have to leave the show or go back to quarantine if they tested positive for COVID-19. In those situations, it wasn’t revealed that they had COVID-19.
That was the case in MTV’s Ride or Dies, as early in the season, TJ revealed that Kaycee and Kenny Clark had to leave. However, they eventually returned in another episode as one of the teams participating for the season.
A Vevmo forum thread with spoilers for the spinoff season indicates Henry got medically disqualified due to having COVID-19. However, take that information with a grain of salt, as it hasn’t been confirmed by Henry or the show.
Based on Henry’s comments, he won’t make a surprise return for the World Championship spinoff, but one never knows.
The Challenge: World Championship Legend says fans got robbed
While Henry only appeared in that one episode before having to leave the game, it seems he made a strong impression on one of his castmates.
The Challenge’s Wes Bergmann, a three-time champion appearing as one of the World Championship show’s Legends, tweeted his thoughts on the situation.
“The biggest loss that fans got robbed of was the medical separation of @NathanHGShore. This dude was not only the star of his UK season, but was an undercover genius, and a comedic mastermind,” Wes said in his tweet.
He also called him a “funnier, sexier Kyle,” referring to castmate Kyle Christie.
The Challenge: Australia’s Grant Crapp also praised Henry. While he threw shade toward MVP Johnny Bananas, Crapp mentioned Henry on a recent podcast episode.
Wes indicated that he hopes The Challenge will bring back Henry in some capacity in the future. It’s going to be interesting to see whether the MVPs appearing in the World Championship spinoff on Paramount Plus get calls to appear in MTV’s main show, The Challenge.
The Challenge: World Championship episodes arrive Wednesdays on Paramount Plus.