"Do something with those people" — The Challenge 40's Cara Maria shares her "hot take" on first-episode eliminations

The Challenge 40 featured 40 returning alumni from previous seasons, but many were eliminated right in the first episode. Cara Maria Sorbello, a contestant in the reality series, openly criticized the show, expressing her disapproval of these early eliminations.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, published on December 18, 2024, Cara questioned the reality show's decision to bring back 40 alum if most of them were just going to be dumped in the very first episode.

Cara Maria Sorbello expressed her disappointment with how the eliminated contestants were sent home without having a more significant presence on the show. She suggested that the producers should have found a way to involve those contestants more meaningfully in the season.

"My hot take is why bring 40 people if you're going to just ditch a lot of them in the first episode and not do, at the very least, a reunion of just those people? Do an after-show. I know maybe budget didn't allow, but do something with those people that got sent home first," she said.

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"It was a waste" — The Challenge 40 star Cara Maria criticizes the premiere eliminations

Cara Maria made her return to the MTV franchise with season 40, in which she represented Era II and managed to reach the semi-final.

In The Challenge season 40, episode 17, aired on December 18, 2024, she faced off against Tori Deal in a brutal underwater elimination challenge. Despite her efforts, Tori emerged victorious, leading to Cara's elimination from the competition.

Cara was not happy with the fact that a lot of alums were eliminated in the premiere episode. In the Entertainment Weekly interview, she called this decision a "miss," considering how they weren't going to have a redemption house.

"If we weren't going to have a redemption house, then I feel like it was a miss. We didn't get enough Amanda, we didn't get enough Paulie blowing up in the house, Katie was gone too soon. It was a waste," she said.

The Challenge season 40 contestant believed that the "targets should have been kept secret." She felt that it "would've been way more crazy" if the contestants wrote their targets down before the elimination in the premiere episode, but nobody would know who those targets were.

She explained that if the targets were kept anonymous until the end, it would have added a shock element to the episode.

"And with the whole star twist on my All Stars season and stuff like that, I hate when losers have an effect on people's games [with the Karma vote]. I don't believe in handouts and give-mes. I believe in a meritocracy. I know that's part of the game. I know that's Big Brother. I know that's Survivor. I know voting's part of a game and you can't hate the game," she added.

Cara admitted that voting is part of a game and contestants must abide by it. However, she felt that if a player competes in a challenge and earns a top position, then the person should be given that position. However, since voting is involved, the results often get adulterated.

"I know voting's part of a game and you can't hate the game. But I personally [believe] that if you earn first place, you earn first place. Not you earn first place, but sorry, you actually got third because more people voted for this person. I just hate that s---. So we'll see if that comes into play," The Challenge star concluded.

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The Challenge season 40 episodes are released every Wednesday on MTV.