"One of the tightest eliminations" — Horacio opens up about his exit from The Challenge 40 after losing against Derrick Kosinski

The Challenge 40 episode 4 aired on September 4, 2024, on MTV and Paramount+. During the fourth episode, there were 30 remaining competitors, of which Horacio Gutiérrez Jr. and Aneesa Ferreira were eliminated.

While Aneesa is a veteran of the show, Horacio is a newcomer. The two competed against Jenny West and Derrick Kosinski on The Challenge 40, episode 4. Later, things got intense when many cast members and Horacio's girlfriend, Nurys Mateo, shared dissatisfaction with Horacio Gutiérrez's elimination.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly published on September 5, 2024, Horacio discussed his elimination. Following many controversies, the show producers agreed to share the "raw footage" with the competing participants, Horacio and Derrick.

"If I'm not mistaken, leading to Derrick beating me by a second or less than a second. That was their final conclusion. It was one of the tightest eliminations they'd apparently witnessed," Horacio said during the interview.

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What went down between Horacio Gutiérrez and Derrick Kosinski on The Challenge 40?

After performing poorly on the previous trivia challenge, Horacio Gutiérrez's team was nominated for the elimination in the fourth episode. For the challenge, he chose Derrick Kosinksi from the opponent team to compete against.

"I gave it everything I had. This season was tough, especially after Nurys left, but I have no regrets about how I played." Horacio shared.

However, after Horacio and Aneesa Ferreira were declared the eliminated players, he was unsatisfied with the outcome. During his previous interview with Entertainment Weekly, the former competitor shared that a production team member helped his opponent, Derrick, during the elimination task, Pick It Up.

"They don't show, on his (Derrick's) side, someone (from the production team) was coming in to help put his pegs back in. That's not me seeing that, that was the entire cast seeing that. Nobody came in to help me when my pegs would fall — I would have to take my time and put them back in," Horacio alleged.

His girlfriend, Nurys Mateo from The Challenge 40, and several other cast members sided with him against the show's producers. Seeing so many controversial allegations, the show's producers released the unedited and raw footage from the challenge involving Horacio and Derrick.

During his appearance on the Challenge Mania podcast, Horacio shared:

"I think the head producers of Bunim/Murray Productions and the people at MTV made a decision to do something they've never done in 40 seasons — because of all of the negative feedback — and that's show me and Horacio the footage, the rules of how this thing went down."

The Challenge 40 star added that it was "probably the first and the last time" the show producers agreed to do such a thing. After seeing the footage, Horacio agreed that he was "wrong," as not everyone paid attention to the moments when the rules were explained.

According to the footage, even though production members picked up Derrick's pegs on the challenge, it didn't make any difference. It was because once a participant placed the pegs, it didn't matter if the pegs stayed on the wall or fell - they were already counted in the challenge.

After seeing the rules explained in the raw footage and how he took his time during the challenge, Horacio shared that Derrick beat him by "a second or less than a second." He added that it was "one of the tightest eliminations" the show has witnessed.

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Fans can stream The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras on MTV on Wednesdays at 8 pm ET.