The Challenge 40: Battle of Eras, 3 key moments from episode 1

The Challenge 40: Battle of Eras aired its first episode on August 14, 2024, on Wednesday at 8 pm ET/PT, broadcast by MTV. The first episode, 'The Era Invitational: Part 1' welcomed the 40 contestants straight into the fire by introducing them to the elimination challenge.

In the first episode of The Challenge 40: Battle of Eras, contestants had to compete in 8 rounds of challenges, and the challengers who lost had to compete to save themselves from elimination. Week 2, which will air on August 21, 2024, will witness the contestants grab the final spot in the show and save themselves from elimination.

Episode 1 of The Challenge 40: Battle of Eras was the first installment of 'Era Invitationals' and there are already some losers from the daily challenge who are at risk of going home. The first daily challenge was called 'Light It Up', which required contestants to show their balancing and puzzle-solving skills.

---

3 key moments from episode 1 of The Challenge 40: Battle of Eras

1. It is a double dose of nostalgia and cut-throat competition

Episode 1 of The Challenge 40: Battle of Eras has a cast line-up of the veterans from the previous seasons, and their face-off in episode 1 is both nostalgic and competitive. The episode opened with challengers who have arrived in Vietnam via cargo/storage container.

The challenges are met with the host, TJ Lavin, and told that they will be competing not alongside their era team members but with them. The last man and woman to finish the first daily task will be at the risk of elimination. The task witnessed some age-old rivalries like Laurel Stucky from Era 2 and Cara Maria Sorbello, who wanted to snatch each other's spot but also saw a decade-old friendship between Rachel, Aneesa Fereira, and Tina.

---

2. Elimination is here

The show had a stellar first episode by pitting the team members against each other to chase a spot in the show. The show took no time to introduce the contestants to the very first elimination round. Out of 40 contestants, Tj Lavin made it clear that only 32 would make it to another round. The first task was called 'Light It Up'.

The contestants had to make a puzzle that represented 40, and as soon as they finished it, they had to take a boat present on the shoreline and reach one of the 100 buoys. The buoys had 4 colors of lights denoting each era, and contestants had to take 10 lights denoting their era and put them into the cradle to finish the task. The first man and woman to finish the task won the task.

The contestants who lost were:

• Mark Long and Katie Cooley from Era 1
• Ryan Kehoe and KellyAnne Judd from Era 2
• Leroy Garrett and Nia Moore from Era 3
• Theo Campbell and Nurys Mateo from Era 4

---

3. The show with the biggest star cast so far

The Challenge 40: Battle of Eras managed to have 26 years of history and return for its 40th season with the biggest star cast possible. With a whopping star cast of 40 contestants from all other previous seasons, the show created a history of its own.

The Rolling Stone got in touch with Justin Booth, the showrunner of The Challenge, on August 14, 2024, after the show aired, to learn more about the biggest cast in the reality TV world. In the interview, Justin explained his reason for having such an enormous cast and why he chose the people he chose. He said:

"We really went with our most popular kids. And I call them kids, even though obviously some of them are the same age that I am. We wanted 40 to be special, and to be special, we had to get the largest names that we possibly could that are affiliated with our show. Obviously, we swung and missed with a few people, and that was unfortunate, but we got a great, great cast. These are some of our most famous and most popular kids.

---

Episode 1 of The Challenge 40: Battle of Eras is available on MTV and Paramount+. Episode 2 will air on August 21, 2024, on MTV at 8 pm ET/PT.