The Challenge season 40: Who went home tonight?

The Challenge season 40 aired a brand new episode this week on Wednesday, August 21, 2024. The segment was the second episode of the season but witnessed the first elimination as two players from each era (group) were sent packing.

The contestants who were already at risk of being eliminated after losing the daily challenge competed against the ones chosen by the winners of the same challenge. A total of 16 contestants fought for their spot in the game and only half of them remained.

Those who were eliminated included Amanda Garcia, Leroy Garrett, Mark Long, Katie Cooley, Paulie Calafiore, Nurys Mateo, KellyAnne Judd, and Brandon Nelson.

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What happened in The Challenge season 40 tonight?

In The Challenge season 40: Battle of the Eras saw eight contestants pack their bags and leave Vietnam after being defeated by someone from their era.

As part of the show's format, the players were divided into teams according to which era of the show they first appeared on the MTV show. The players who lost the daily challenge in episode 1 competed against people picked by the winners of the same challenge after battling it out in the arena.

The winners of the first challenge chose the players who would compete against in The Challenge season 40's first elimination.

Those who were at risk were:

• Mark Long and Katie Cooley vs. Derrick Kosinski and Aneesa Fereira(Era 1)
• Ryan Kehoe and KellyAnne Judd vs. Brandon Nelson and Cara Maria Sorbello (Era 2)
• Leroy Garrett and Nia Moore vs. Tony Raines and Amanda Garcia (Era 3)
• Theo Campbell and Nurys Mateo vs. Paulie Calafiore and Olivia Kaiser (Era 4)

Host TJ Lavin explained that the elimination would bring back iconic elimination challenges from each Era, including Balls In, Pole Wrestling, Hall Brawl, and Take Shelter. Lavin added that each pair would clash in those tasks to secure their spot on the reality show.

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Balls In

In the elimination task, each player had five chances to get as many balls inside a barrel, located in the middle of a large circle while their opponent tried to stop them. Each player took turns until five rounds were over.

Amanda and Nia were up first and the final score was 2-1 in favor of the latter, which meant that Amanda was eliminated from The Challenge season 40. Leroy and Tony were up next and the latter sent Leroy packing.

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Pole Wrestling

Mark and Katie from The Challenge 40 (Image via Instagram/@thechallenge)

The elimination task required the competing players to be on their knees as they grabbed a pole. To win the task, one player had to be the last person holding the pole, and in The Challenge season 40, those contestants were Derrick and Aneesa. The Era 1 pair eliminated Katie and Mark.

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Hall Brawl

Nurys and Paulie from The Challenge (Image via Instagram/@thechallenge)

In Hall Brawl, contestants started on the opposite ends of a small tunnel. They had to pass each other and get to the other end of the tunnel. The first person to do so would stay in the competition. Episode 2 of The Challenge season 40 saw rivals Theo vs Paulie, and Olivia vs Nurys in the task. As a result, Paulie and Nurys were eliminated.

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Take Shelter

KellyAnne and Brandon from The Challenge 40 (Image via Instagram/@thechallenge)

Take Shelter took place in two phases. In part 1, the contestants had to use building material to barricade their bunker and in part two, they had to break their opponent's barricade. Cara Maria and Ryan won the task and sent Kelly, Anne, and Brandon home.

The eliminated contestants didn't leave the arena immediately as TJ Lavin revealed there was another twist. Although they were still being eliminated, they had to rank the remaining contestants from 1 to 5. While TJ didn't reveal what the ranking was for, he called them "Karma Votes" which would come into play later in the competition.

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Battle of the Eras will return next week with a new episode on Wednesday, at 8 pm ET on MTV.