The Challenge Premiere: Cara Maria Sorbello Breaks Down That ‘Wild’ First Challenge, Why [Spoiler] Was Eliminated

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The following contains spoilers for the Season 41 premiere of The Challenge: Vets and New Threats!

New threats have officially invaded The Challenge!

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In the competition series’ Season 41 premiere, 16 veterans are each paired with a rookie partner for a rough-and-tumble battle for all the glory. And with most of the early housekeeping having been taken care of in the Day Zero launch special, this episode hurls us directly into the season’s first challenge, which sees players diving into a huge mud pit to collect balls worth varying degrees of points. The kicker? Partners are tied together and must move in tandem.

“The hardest part about this type of challenge is just making use of the area that you’re in,” two-time winner Cara Maria Sorbello tells TVLine. “You could be in a muddier area, a drier area. You might have to make your way around. And then you’re tied to your partner. So when you’re running down, you could be going for one thing, they could be going for the other thing. I thought Jake and I did incredibly well, so I was actually surprised when they counted the balls. I was like, ‘What the heck?’ I thought we crushed it, and then as soon as I come out and I look at everybody else’s baskets and I’m like, ‘Holy hell, how did they do this?’ I heard people were kicking balls to each other, people were partnering up, so I don’t know, it was a wild one. It was tough, but I like that. I like the type of challenges where you have to grind it out.”

The Challenge's Cara Maria Sorbello

This season, the Top 8 teams of each challenge will earn and accumulate points. The results of “Mud Ball Madness” are as follows: Nia and Justin (came in 8th place, earned 1 point), Leroy and Sydney (7th place, 2 points), Ashley and Gabe (6th place, 3 points), Michaela and Will (5th place, 4 points), Olivia and Cedric (4th place, 5 points), Theo and Izzy (3rd place, 6 points), Aviv and Yeremi (2nd place, 7 points) and Bananas and Dee (1st place, 8 points). Bananas and Dee win safety, along with the power to save one team from elimination. As for Rogan and Adrienne, last place sends them directly into to the Arena. TJ flips a coin to determine whether it’s going to be a male or female elimination, and unfortunately for Rogan, he’s doomed to hit the sand. New threat Justin is then voted in to join him.

In “Intertia,” players must maneuver a large hamster wheel-like contraption along a three-bump track. The first person to get down the track and back wins and stays in the game. But the elimination turns out to be a lot harder than it looks.

“Looking at what this is off the bat, I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God,Justin doesn’t stand a chance,'” says Sorbello. “He’s a little peanut in this hamster cage. All Rogan has to do is give one hard ram into it and he’s a rugby player, you know? Game over. This thing’s gonna flop around and he’s got this in two seconds. And boy was I wrong!”

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A totally spent Rogan doesn’t have what it takes, and underestimated Cheer vet Justin wins the elimination and his Challenge stripes in one fell swoop.

“It took a really long time. It was really frustrating,” Sorbello continues. “I know Rogan got gassed because I think Rogan was going for pure brutality and strength, and Justin didn’t have that. So he had to be creative. He had gymnastics and he had cheerleading, and he started using a really good strategy and did it just the way it was supposed to be [done], and with a little flair too, to be honest.”

Were you surprised by the Arena’s outcome? And what did you think of the premiere? Grade it below, then light up the comments!

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