The Challenge: World Championship

The Challenge: World Championship is a spin-off of the

The series is hosted by T. J. Lavin with the hosts of the three international adaptations of the series: Brihony Dawson, Mark Wright and Marley making guest appearances. It premiered on Paramount+ on 8 March 2023.^[3][4]

Background

In February 2022, a new series of international seasons of The Challenge was announced to air later in the year. The series comprises four new editions of The Challenge, which includes The Challenge: USA, The Challenge: Australia, The Challenge Argentina: El Desafío and The Challenge UK.^[5] These local renditions are followed by The Challenge: World Championship in which winners and select contestants of each series (known as "Global MVPs") compete again alongside cast members from the flagship MTV series (known as "Challenge legends").^[4]

In addition to the title of The Challenge: World Championship champions, the winners of the season also receive US$500,000 (also displayed as ARG$89,475,607, A$726,638 and GBP£413,390).^[6]

Sol Pérez, the sole winner of The Challenge Argentina: El Desafío, intended to compete on the season. However, she was unable to receive the required yellow fever vaccination in time as there was a holiday around the time The Challenge Argentina: El Desafío finished filming, with The Challenge: World Championship commencing filming shortly after.^[7][8]

Contestants

Draft selections

After the first elimination, each Global MVP drafted their partner for the season from the Challenge Legends in the order they finished the "Qualifier" challenge.

Each pair was also given team names of Team Argentina, Team Australia, Team UK or Team USA based on the nationality/spin-off season of the Global MVP:

  Team Argentina

  Team Australia

  Team UK

  Team USA

Format

World Championship consists of a daily challenge, nomination process, winner's selection and an elimination round. The first episode had only the "MVPs" (contestants from the spin-off seasons) competing individually. After the first elimination, each MVP picked their "Legend" partner (players from the flagship series) based on the order they completed the "Qualifier" challenge. The individual and paired format of the game is as follows:

• Daily Challenge: Teams compete in a daily challenge where the last-place team is automatically sent to the elimination round. The winning team is immune and earns the ability to select a second team to compete in the elimination round between the two teams later selected at nominations.
• Nominations: Teams, besides the winners and losers of the daily challenge, vote for two teams to compete in the elimination round. The two teams that receive the most votes are nominated for elimination. For episode 11, teams only vote for one team instead of two.
• Eliminations ("The Arena"): At the Arena, the winners from the daily challenge vote between the two nominated teams to select the second team to compete in the elimination round against the last-place team. The winners remain in the competition while the losers are eliminated.

Gameplay

Challenge games

• Qualifier: In a special challenge, each MVP individually undergoes a race around the outside of the Cape Town Stadium, completing five checkpoints along the way. The first male and female MVPs to finish wins while the last-place male and female MVPs are automatically sent to the Arena. Additionally, the order MVPs finish determine the order they draft their partner for the season after the first elimination.
  • Checkpoint 1 (Eat Your Heart Out): Players must consume a foul-tasting meal and two vegan shakes.
  • Checkpoint 2 (Hammer It Home): Players must use a sledgehammer to hit a tyre proportional to their bodyweight to the end of a lane.
  • Checkpoint 3 (On a Roll): Players must use a large cement cylinder to roll across a track without touching the ground.
  • Checkpoint 4 (Weight for It): Players must arrange several weighted cylinders from lightest to heaviest, where the characters printed on the cylinders form an
    alphanumeric
    code. They must then recreate the code using tiles at a nearby solving station.
  • Checkpoint 5 (Plant Your Flag): Players must roll a heavy flagpole with their national flag across a field and plant it at the end to complete the race.
  • Winners: Grant & Zara
• Chain Game: Teams race across several sand dunes to a shipwreck. From the shipwreck, teams must drag a 700-pound (320 kg) chain to one of several puzzles, which they must solve by looping the chain around poles to match the diagram. The further the puzzle is from the shipwreck, the easier it is to solve. After solving a puzzle, teams race back to the shipwreck to ring a bell. The first team to finish wins while the last team to finish is automatically sent to the Arena.
  • Winners: Grant & Jonna
• Gates of Hell: Each round, teams race to the end of a 50-yard (46 m) corridor before a gate closes to progress to the next round, and are eliminated from the challenge if one or both team members do not reach the end in time. The last team standing wins. In the event of a stalemate after multiple rounds, a tiebreaker round is held where the first team member to reach the opposite gate wins the challenge for their team. To determine the last-place team if multiple teams are eliminated in the same round, the last contestant to reach the opposite gate loses the challenge and their team is automatically sent to the Arena.
  • Winners: Wes & Zara
• Flying Around: To begin, each team member must drink a foul-tasting smoothie in two minutes; teams receive a five-point penalty for the challenge if they cannot finish the smoothie in time and/or a two-point penalty if they throw up any of the smoothie. Afterwards, one team member is harnessed on the arm of a spinning excavator. They must catch rings their partner throws to them and attempt to land them in a container in the middle of the field. The team with the most rings scored wins while the team with the fewest rings scored is automatically sent to the Arena.
  • Winners: Darrell & Kiki
• Rocketman: Played one team at a time. One team member begins on one end of a giant inflatable airbag. Their partner must jump from a platform onto the other side of the airbag, attempting to launch them over three crossbars at varying heights. The more crossbars teams clear, the more seconds are deducted from their overall time. After landing in the water, each team member swims to collect one puzzle piece at separate platforms before combining them to solve a puzzle onshore. The team with the fastest overall time wins while the team with the slowest overall time is automatically sent to the Arena.
  • Winners: KellyAnne & Tristan
• Tunnel Time: Each Challenge Legend begins chained to a pole. Their Global MVP partner must grab a glowstick, enter a dark tunnel under the Castle of Good Hope and count the flags of Argentina, Australia, the UK and USA on the walls. Afterwards, they must return to their board, multiply each flag's count by the provided number, then sum the four products to determine the code to unlock their partner. Teams then ring a nearby bell to stop their time, and there is a 45-minute time limit before teams time out. The team with the fastest time wins while the team with the slowest time is automatically sent to the Arena. If multiple teams time out, the last-place team is determined by how many correct values they have on their board.
  • Winners: Emily & Yes
• Ripcord Roulette: Played in three heats, teams begin suspended off the side of a building with five ripcords in front of them, and are asked trivia questions one at a time. If they answer correctly, they can a force another team to pull one of their ripcords. However, teams must pull one of their own ripcords if they answer incorrectly. Four of the ripcords are dummies while the fifth one drops teams if pulled, eliminating them from the heat. The last team standing in each heat advance to the winner's round while the first team to drop in each heat must participate in an additional loser's round. The last team standing in the winner's round wins while the first team dropped in the loser's round is automatically sent to the Arena.
  • Winners: KellyAnne & Tristan
• Highway Hijacking: Inspired by the upcoming film Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. One team member begins harnessed on top of a speeding truck while their partner begins in a super buggy inside the truck's trailer. The team member harnessed on the truck must jump onto an adjacent truck, collect a key and use it to unlock a detonator which blasts open the back of the truck's trailer when hit. After the detonator is hit, the team member in the super buggy must drive through the back of the trailer and to the finish line. The team with the fastest time wins while the team with the slowest time is automatically sent to the Arena. Additionally, the winners also receive tickets to the world premiere of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
  • Winners: Jordan & Kaz
• Points Break: While tethered together, teams swim to six platforms in a lake to collect six of their colored puzzle pieces and return them to shore, one at a time. After collecting all six pieces, teams use them to solve a triangular puzzle, and must then correctly answer a question about the puzzle asking how many triangles it contains. Teams have three attempts to answer before they are disqualified from the challenge. The first team to finish wins while the last team to finish is automatically sent to the Arena.
  • Winners: Emily & Yes
• Downfall: Teams must swim to a pair of rope ladders in the middle of a lake, climb to the middle and untie a large Challenge symbol tied to the rungs. After untying the symbol, teams can select a team to have their ladder dropped, eliminating them from the challenge. After all teams finish untying their symbol or are eliminated, surviving teams can continue climbing to the top of the ladder and solve a math puzzle. The first team to solve the math puzzle wins while the first team eliminated from the challenge is automatically sent to the Arena.
  • Winners: Sarah & Theo

Arena games

• Pole Wrestle: Players begin at the center of the Arena with both hands on a metal pole. The first player to wrestle the pole out of their opponent's hands three times wins.
  • Played by: Claudia vs. Kiki
• Tether Brawl: One team member begins lying on a sling suspended over the Arena. From the ground, their partner must swing them back and forth so they can collect eight hanging blocks and drop them at their end of the Arena. If a block falls in the center of the Arena, both teams may attempt to claim it. After collecting eight blocks, the team member on the ground must stack the blocks to form a tower. The first team to assemble their tower wins.
  • Played by: Jujuy & Nelson vs. KellyAnne & Tristan
• Oiled Up: Teams must take buckets of oil up a steep ramp to fill a container at the top so that a ball rises to a marked line. The first team to finish wins.
  • Played by: Benja & Jodi vs. Nia & Rodrigo
• Herculean Strength: One team member must hold up two weighted bars for as long as possible. Their partner can solve math equations to add weight to their opponent's bars, making it more difficult for them to hold on. Easier equations add 11 pounds (5.0 kg) while harder equations add 22 pounds (10.0 kg). The last player holding up their bars wins the elimination for their team.
  • Played by: Ben & Kaycee vs. Wes & Zara
• Lock, Stack & Barrel: Each team has a stack of barrels with symbols printed on them. They must study a 16-symbol answer key (depicting the flags of Argentina, Australia, the UK and USA), find the 16 matching barrels and arrange them in a four-by-four grid to replicate the answer key. The first team to finish wins.
  • Played by: Bananas & Justine vs. Jordan & Kaz
• Spin Me Round: One team member begins strapped to a rotatable platform. Their partner must spin and hold the platform upright so they can see and describe an answer key behind a wall. The team member holding the platform must then recreate the answer key their partner described using tiles on a board. The first team to correctly recreate the answer key wins.
  • Played by: Benja & Jodi vs. Kaycee & Troy
• Hands Off: Teams must use giant chopsticks to transfer nine geometric puzzle pieces over a balance beam, one at a time. Each time they drop a puzzle piece, they must restart that piece. After transferring all nine puzzle pieces, the first team to solve the puzzle wins.
  • Played by: Darrell & Kiki vs. KellyAnne & Tristan
• Breakthrough: Teams must use a rope to swing through a brick wall, reassemble the wall to reveal a math equation, and solve it to reveal the code to unlock a second rope. Teams then use the second rope to swing through a thick drywall to reach a puzzle. The first team to solve the puzzle wins.
  • Played by: Darrell & Kiki vs. Kaycee & Troy
• Hall Brawl: Played in a male and female round. Each round, players of the designated gender must run through a narrow hallway, past their opponent and ring a bell at the opposite end. The first player to ring the bell wins the round for their team. The first team to win two rounds wins. If the score is tied after both rounds, a coin flip is held to determine which gender participates in the tiebreaker round.
  • Played by: Emily & Yes vs. Kaycee & Troy

Final Challenge

After the "Hall Brawl" elimination, teams boarded a train called The Fear Express to the start of the Final Challenge.

Day one

• Loops of Hell: Teams must run a four-mile (6.4 km) loop four times, completing one of four checkpoints after each loop. Only one team may complete a checkpoint at a time. During this stage, each team is also given a canister with their team's flag which they require later in the Final Challenge.
  • Crack the Code: Teams must solve several hints to determine a three-digit code.
  • Sick Smoothie: Each team member must drink a foul-tasting smoothie.
  • Throwing Shade: Teams must throw bolts into a container from behind a line, and land three in a row.
  • Weight for It: Teams must arrange ten weighted cylinders from lightest to heaviest, where the characters printed on the cylinders form a code which teams must arrange on an answer board.
• Eliminated: Sarah & Theo (4th place).^[a]

Afterwards, teams return to The Fear Express and each team can select one member to receive an

• Overnight Stage ("Insomnia"): Teams must spend the entire night awake on The Fear Express, and team members are shocked by a shock collar if they fall asleep. The following morning, the first team to complete the "Loops of Hell" stage receive one hour of sleep, second place receives 30 minutes and third place receives 15 minutes before the Final Challenge continues.

Day two

• Race to the Finish: Teams must cycle to the end of a trail, then follow several arrows on foot to the next checkpoint.
• Misery Mountain: Teams must use the canister and key they received during the previous day to solve a slide puzzle and unlock a message instructing them to race to the top of a mountain. Upon reaching the top of the mountain, teams find a sign instructing them to collect a key and return down to the finish line. The first team to reach the finish line are declared the winners of World Championship and receive US$500,000.
  • Winners: Jordan & Kaz ($500,000 - $250,000 each)
  • Runners up: Danny & Tori
  • Third place: Kaycee & Troy

Game summary

Episode progress

Competition key

  The contestant won the Final Challenge.

  The contestant lost the Final Challenge.

  The contestant won the daily challenge and was immune from elimination.

  The contestant was not selected for the Arena.

  The contestant was nominated for the Arena, but was not selected to compete.

  The contestant won the elimination round.

  The contestant lost the elimination round and was eliminated.

  The contestant was medically removed from the competition.

  The contestant was disqualified from the competition due to their partner being removed.

  The contestant withdrew from the competition

Voting history

In episode 1, each MVP voted individually. Starting with episode 2, teams voted collectively.

Episodes

References