After kicking off in August 2024, The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras has been a jam-packed season full of surprises, controversy, betrayals, and unexpected victors. The milestone season of MTV's landmark reality competition brought together 40 legendary contestants, split into 10-person teams designated by their "era" of Challenge history.
The season's penultimate episode aired on Dec. 18 and cemented the eight players who will compete in what's sure to be TJ's most intense final challenge ever. It's only fitting for one of the most rigorous and physically brutal season to end with a serious bang and prove the strength of this final group of competitors. However, we'll have to wait until 2025 to find out the winner.
Because the scheduling would have landed the season finale on Christmas Day, the season 40 finale seems to have been instead pushed back one week to air on New Year's Day, Jan. 1, 2025 at 8/7c on MTV, according to TV Insider. Like each of the previous episodes, the season finale will span an hour and a half in length, so settle in for a blood-pumping start to the new year!
Who made it into The Challenge 40 final?
Going into the second to last challenge, TJ surprised the final nine competitors with a location change from Vietnam to the Philippines. The last four men were lucky enough to have made it directly into the final, while the final five women had one more elimination to contend with. Season 40's final targets were Cara Maria, Jenny, and Rachel.
During the challenge called Fortress Bricks, which was something of another mini-final, Jenny won first place for the women and solidified her place in the final. Jordan won first place for the men, while Bananas and Kyland took second and third, and Derek finished last and earned a disadvantage for the final. Cara and Rachel took second and third for the women, and Michele narrowly edged out Tori for fourth place, putting Tori directly into elimination against either Cara or Rachel.
Ultimately, Cara Maria was chosen to take on Tori in the final elimination round, in which the whole group has boarded a boat called Sinister. It's where they will be living leading up to the final challenge. During the final elimination, Cara and Tori had to tread water in the ocean at night for as long as they could. The elimination went three grueling rounds before Tori won and eliminated Cara.
Here's the final eight competitors who will be competing in the final:
- Bananas (Era 2)
- Derek C. (Era 2)
- Jenny (Era 4)
- Jordan (Era 3)
- Kyland (Era 4)
- Michele (Era 4)
- Rachel (Era 1)
- Tori (Era 3)
Each era has at least two competitors represented in the finale, apart from Era 1, which has been represented by Rachel on her own since week 8. It's amazing that she made it as far as she did without her team, but once the season went from a team game to an individual game, she managed to survive based on her own grit and her strong alliance with Bananas Angels.
The final challenge will be a real show, as it's stacked with tried-and-true beasts and underdogs alike. Even though he has a time disadvantage, we shouldn't count out Derek yet. And over the past few weeks, and with all those elimination wins under her belt, Michele has proven herself, too. We'll have to see who puts up the most dominating performance to take home their share of $1 million.
Watch The Challenge 40 season finale on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025 on MTV.