Battle of the Eras’ Uneven Elimination Challenges Caused Chaos

The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras has been all about nostalgia. With four eras of The Challenge coming together to battle it out for domination, the cast of 40 was about to be purged in the Era Invitational. With eight Challengers about to leave Vietnam, how they were about to face elimination might have been a tad unfair and uneven. Fate may have determined the challenge they played, but the level of difficulty was not the same across the board.

The Challenge has been an MTV staple since 1998. Originally bringing in all star cast members from The Real World and Road Rules, the show has evolved where reality stars from intellectual properties around the world have the chance to earn cold hard cash and Challenge glory. For the milestone 40th season, 40 of the shows’ brightest stars representing four eras have entered the arena to prove just which era is the best of the best.

Classic Elimination Challenges Returned

Eight Challengers were about to immediately be eliminated from The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras in the last stage of the Era Invitational. To continue to honor the four eras of the show, host TJ Lavin shared that the male and female competitors from each era would do battle in the elimination challenge that defined each era. Era 1 was Balls In, while for era 2, it was Pole Wrestle. Era 3 had Hall Brawl and era 4 was Take Shelter. TJ heard the calls from the fandom and gave them what they wanted. But how fair was it that each era didn’t get to play in their era’s challenge? If these players and these elimination challenges defined the era, why not put them to the test? Instead, it was all randomly selected.

On the surface, it was exciting to see these classic challenges resurface, but it also exposed how, depending on which challenge you received, the level of difficulty was incomparable. Some of these challenges were more physically demanding, while others were strategic. While the top two players from each era, who selected the opponent for the losing players, didn’t know what the elimination round would be when they selected who would be partaking in them, perhaps their strategy would have changed had they had this key bit of information about the elimination.

Not All Eliminations Are Created Equal

The first challenge of the night was Era 1’s Balls In, which saw Amanda Garcia take on Nia Moore for the women, and Tony Raines battle Leroy Garrett for the men in Era 3. This was one of the first challenges in the show’s history to truly watch players get physical. Nia’s height was the winning formula for her victory, knocking out Amanda, the lone player from her era. Tony shocked the house by knocking out Leroy, which is likely to alter the political strategy in the house. Era 2’s Pole Wrestle, an infamous physically grueling challenge, found Era 1’s Aneesa Ferreira and Katie Cooley fighting it out for the women and Mark Long competing against one of his long-time best friends, Derrick Kosinski. What was interesting about this elimination was size does matter, but for each match up, it flip-flopped. Katie, a much tinier woman than Aneesa, was outmatched. Derrick, on the other hand, is smaller than Mark, but his feisty spirit won out against the Godfather of The Challenge. In addition, Derrick has played this elimination round multiple times, having a massive advantage over Mark.

The third elimination round of the evening was Era 3’s intense Hall Brawl. For Era 4, Olivia Kaiser battled her rival Nurys Mateo for the women and Paulie Calafiore battled his rival Theo Campbell for the men. Even though Nurys, the reigning Challenge champion, was the favorite, she shockingly lost to Oliva because Olivia was able to run through with more power and impact than Nurys was able to resist. For Paulie versus Theo, Theo towered over Paulie and even though Paulie could get low to the ground, he was outrun by Theo. In the final elimination, Era 4’s Take Shelter watched Era 2’s Cara Maria Sorbello verse KellyAnne Judd for the women, as it was Ryan Kehoe versus Brandon Nelson. Take Shelter is a timed event that is all about endurance and strategy. There is no physical head-to-head, the only one of the four battles. Thus, strategic masterminds like Cara Maria and Ryan prevailed. The Eras Invitational did knock out some perennial names, which was a refreshing shock. The Challenge may not always be fair, but it always brings excitement. However, the two-part premiere wound up just like the Eras Invitational challenges: uneven.

The Challenge: Battle of the Eras airs every Wednesday at 8:00pm on MTV. Previous seasons of The Challenge are available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.

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