The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras

Battle of the Eras
Season 40
Presented by	T. J. Lavin
No. of contestants	40
Location	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
No. of episodes	3
Release
Original network	MTV
Original release	August 14, 2024 (2024-08-14) – present
Season chronology

The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras is the fortieth season of the MTV reality competition series The Challenge, featuring alumni from The Real World, Road Rules, The Challenge (U.S.), Are You the One? (U.S.), Big Brother (U.S.), Survivor (U.S.), Love Island (U.S. and UK), Survival of the Fittest, and Exatlon (U.S.) competing for a share at a $1 million prize. A launch special titled "Eras Only" aired on August 7, 2024, followed by the season premiere on August 14, 2024.

Format

Battle of the Eras features 40 contestants split into four teams based on which season of The Challenge they debuted on. Those who debuted during the first ten seasons (Road Rules: All Stars through The Inferno II) comprised Era I; those who debuted between the eleventh and twentieth seasons (The Gauntlet 2 through Cutthroat) made up Era II; those who debuted between the twenty-first and thirtieth seasons (Rivals through XXX: Dirty 30) made up Era III; and those who debuted between the thirty-first and thirty-ninth seasons (Vendettas through Battle for a New Champion) made up Era IV.

Following the opening "Era Invitational" twist, the format of the game is as follows:

• Daily challenges: Players compete in a challenge as teams. For the first challenge, teams had to elect one male and female representative, while for subsequent challenges, each team has a male and female target selected by the winners of the previous elimination round. The winning team's representatives/targets are safe from elimination while the last-place team's representatives/targets are automatically sent to the elimination round.
• Nominations (The Chamber): The representatives/targets of the winning team must select a male and female representative/target from one of the teams that did not win to compete against the last-place team's representatives/targets in the elimination round. If the winners do not agree, they are sent to the elimination round instead.
• Eliminations (The Arena): The representatives/targets of the last-place team individually compete in an elimination round against the representatives/targets selected by the winners, or the winning representatives/targets if they cannot agree on a decision. The winners continue in the competition and earn the power to choose the next targets, while the losers are eliminated.

Twists

• Era Invitational: For the first challenge, contestants compete against members of their Era, as part of the "Era Invitational" twist which culminates in eight eliminations. The last-place male and female player from each Era are automatically sent to the elimination round. The winning male and female player are immune and earn the power to select two members of their own Era to compete against the last-place players in the elimination round.
• Karma Vote: Each eliminated contestant is given the chance to rate the remaining contestants from one (lowest) to five (highest). The effect of these points will be revealed later in the season.
• Targets: From episode 3, the winners of elimination round earn the power to select one male and female player from each team as targets for the next cycle.

Contestants

Male contestants Original season Finish Brad Fiorenza The Real World: San Diego (2004) Cory Wharton Real World: Ex-Plosion Chris "CT" Tamburello The Real World: Paris Darrell Taylor Road Rules: Campus Crawl Derek Chavez The Real World: Cancun Derrick Kosinski Road Rules: X-Treme Devin Walker-Molaghan Are You the One? 3 Horacio Gutiérrez Exatlón Estados Unidos 5 Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio The Real World: Key West Jordan Wiseley The Real World: Portland Josh Martinez Big Brother 19 Kyland Young Big Brother 23 Nehemiah Clark The Real World: Austin Ryan Kehoe Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat Theo Campbell Love Island UK 3 Tony Raines Real World: Skeletons Episode 3 Brandon Nelson The Challenge: Fresh Meat II Episode 2 Paulie Calafiore Big Brother 18 Episode 2 Mark Long Road Rules: USA – The First Adventure Episode 2 Leroy Garrett The Real World: Las Vegas (2011) Episode 2

Female contestants Original season Finish Aneesa Ferreira The Real World: Chicago Averey Tressler The Real World: Portland Aviv Melmed Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat Cara Maria Sorbello The Challenge: Fresh Meat II Emily Schromm The Real World: D.C. Jenny West Survival of the Fittest Jonna Mannion The Real World: Cancun Kaycee Clark Big Brother 20 Laurel Stucky The Challenge: Fresh Meat II Michele Fitzgerald Survivor: Kaôh Rōng Nia Moore The Real World: Portland Olivia Kaiser Love Island USA 3 Rachel Robinson Road Rules: Campus Crawl Tina Barta Road Rules: South Pacific Tori Deal Are You the One? 4 Jodi Weatherton Road Rules: X-Treme Episode 3 KellyAnne Judd The Real World: Sydney Episode 2 Nurys Mateo Are You the One? 6 Episode 2 Katie Cooley Road Rules: The Quest Episode 2 Amanda Garcia Are You the One? 3 Episode 2

Teams

Era I	Era II	Era III	Era IV
Aneesa	Aviv	Amanda	Horacio
Brad	Bananas	Averey	Jenny
CT	Brandon	Cory	Josh
Darrell	Cara Maria	Devin	Kaycee
Derrick K.	Derek C.	Jonna	Kyland
Jodi	Emily	Jordan	Michele
Katie	KellyAnne	Leroy	Nurys
Mark	Laurel	Nia	Olivia
Rachel	Nehemiah	Tony	Paulie
Tina	Ryan	Tori	Theo

Debuted on

Gameplay

Challenge games

• Light It Up: Players must assemble a three-dimensional puzzle, then paddle a coracle to collect ten lights of their Era's color from buoys in a lake. After collecting all ten lights, players must return to shore and place them in a board. The first male and female player from each Era to finish wins while the last-place male and female player from each Era are automatically sent to the elimination round.
  • Winners: CT and Rachel (Era I), Bananas and Laurel (Era II), Cory and Tori (Era III), Horacio and Michele (Era IV)
• Gladieater: Teams must paddle a dragon boat around an island. Once complete, each team member must consume one of eight delicacy dishes. Afterwards, teams must hang shields with logos of all 40 seasons of The Challenge to date in chronological order. The first team to finish wins while the last team to finish has their representatives automatically sent to the Arena.
  • Winners: Era III

Elimination games

• Balls In: Each round, players play both offense and defense. The offense player has one attempt to deposit a ball into a goal at the center of a ring (or enter the inner boundary surrounding the ring with the ball) while the defense player attempts to stop them by blocking them and knocking the ball onto out of bounds. Players then switch roles and repeat the process before the end of the round. The first player to score in two out of three rounds wins.
  • Played by: Amanda vs. Nia, Leroy vs. Tony
• Pole Wrestle: Players begin at the center of a ring with both hands on a pole. The first player to wrestle the pole out of their opponent's hands two out of three times wins.
  • Played by: Aneesa vs. Katie, Derrick vs. Mark
• Hall Brawl: Players must run through a narrow hallway, past/through their opponent and push a button at the opposite end. The player to hit the button first in two of three rounds wins.
  • Played by: Olivia vs. Nurys, Paulie vs. Theo
• Take Shelter: Players have 20 minutes to barricade the entrance to a bunker using provided materials. After those 20 minutes are up, players must attempt to break into their opponent's bunker. The first player to break into the bunker and switch on the light inside wins.
  • Played by: Cara Maria vs. KellyAnne, Brandon vs. Ryan
• One Step at a Time: Following the directions/restrictions listed on a board, players must place colored tiles onto a frame one at a time to create a path to the other side of the Arena. Each time they make a mistake, they must remove the incorrect tiles one at a time. The first player to correctly place their path to the other side of the Arena wins.
  • Played by: Averey vs. Jodi, Darrell vs. Tony

Game summary

#	Challenge	Gender	Winners		Era representatives/targets				Arena contestants		Arena game	Arena outcome
			Era	Contestant	Era I	Era II	Era III	Era IV	Last-place	Winner's pick		Winner	Eliminated
1/2	Light It Up	—	Era III	Tori	—				Nia	Amanda	Balls In	Nia	Amanda
				Cory					Leroy	Tony		Tony	Leroy
			Era I	CT					Mark	Derrick K.	Pole Wrestle	Derrick K.	Mark
				Rachel					Katie	Aneesa		Aneesa	Katie
			Era IV	Horacio					Theo	Paulie	Hall Brawl	Theo	Paulie
				Michele					Nurys	Olivia		Olivia	Nurys
			Era II	Laurel					KellyAnne	Cara Maria	Take Shelter	Cara Maria	KellyAnne
				Bananas					Ryan	Brandon		Ryan	Brandon
3	Gladieater		Era III	Tony	Darrell	Derek C.	Tony	Kyland	Darrell	—	One Step at a Time	Darrell	Tony
				Averey	Jodi	Aviv	Averey	Kaycee	Jodi			Averey	Jodi
4					Derrick K.	Bananas	Jordan	Horacio
					Aneesa	Laurel	Nia	Jenny

Bold indicates the contestant was selected for the elimination round

Episode progress

Contestants		Episodes
		1/2	3	4
	Aneesa	ELIM	LOSE	TBD
	Averey	SAFE	REP
	Aviv	SAFE	NOM
	Bananas	WIN	SAFE	TBD
	Brad	SAFE	LOSE
	Cara Maria	ELIM	SAFE
	Cory	WIN	WON
	CT	WIN	LOSE
	Darrell	SAFE	ELIM
	Derek C.	SAFE	NOM
	Derrick K.	ELIM	LOSE	TBD
	Devin	SAFE	WON
	Emily	SAFE	SAFE
	Horacio	WIN	SAFE	TBD
	Jenny	SAFE	SAFE	TBD
	Jonna	SAFE	WON
	Jordan	SAFE	WON	TBD
	Josh	SAFE	SAFE
	Kaycee	SAFE	NOM
	Kyland	SAFE	NOM
	Laurel	WIN	SAFE	TBD
	Michele	WIN	SAFE
	Nehemiah	SAFE	SAFE
	Nia	ELIM	WON	TBD
	Olivia	ELIM	SAFE
	Rachel	WIN	LOSE
	Ryan	ELIM	SAFE
	Theo	ELIM	SAFE
	Tina	SAFE	LOSE
	Tori	WIN	WON
	Jodi	SAFE	OUT
	Tony	ELIM	LOST
	Brandon	OUT
	KellyAnne	OUT
	Nurys	OUT
	Paulie	OUT
	Katie	OUT
	Mark	OUT
	Leroy	OUT
	Amanda	OUT

Color key:

  The contestant won the daily challenge, was immune from elimination, and selected the elimination contestants

  The contestant's team won the daily challenge and was immune from elimination

  The contestant's team came last in the daily challenge

  The contestant's team won the daily challenge, had the power to select the elimination contestants, but could not come to a decision and was sent into the elimination round and won

  The contestant was not selected for the elimination round

  The contestant was nominated for the elimination round but was not selected

  The contestant won the elimination in the elimination round

  The contestant lost in the elimination round and was eliminated

  The contestant's team won the daily challenge, had the power to select the elimination contestants, but could not come to a decision and was sent into the elimination round, lost, and was eliminated

Episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original air date	US viewers (millions)
546	1	"The Era Invitational, Part 1"	August 14, 2024 (2024-08-14)	0.43
547	2	"The Era Invitational, Part 2"	August 21, 2024 (2024-08-21)	0.47
548	3	"A Fatal Era"	August 28, 2024 (2024-08-28)	N/A
549	4	"My Trivia Era"	September 4, 2024 (2024-09-04)	N/A

External links

• Official website