A Rookie Will Win This Season of 'The Challenge: War of the Worlds' (SPOILERS)
Updated Feb. 12 2021, 11:41 a.m. ET
Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Challenge: War of the Worlds.
The 33rd season of MTV's The Challenge is going strong with this year's competition, War of the Worlds. Although there are several weeks left before we definitively see which of the initial 34 players will win $1 million in what MTV describes as "the most grueling, physical and mental challenges ever devised," spoilers have already revealed the season's big winners.
According to the show's Fandom page, which, we concede, is often right about these things, there will be eight players in the final challenge who battle it out after separating from their partners from earlier in the season.
How does the War of the Worlds work?
When we first met the 34 contestants, they were a mix of veterans from The Challenge, who'd previously competed in the grueling show, and "Rookies," stars from reality shows such as The Bachelor, Big Brother and Survivor. They were split into teams of two, where one veteran would be matched up with a rookie.
The initial teams were and , Amanda Garcia and Alán Valdez (who got injured and was replaced by Josh Martinez), Ashley Mitchell and Chase McNary, Cara Maria Sorbello and Theo Campbell, Chris "CT" Tamburello and Julia Nolan, D'Vonne Rogers and Stephen Bear, Hunter Barfield and Georgia Harrison, Jenna Compono and Gus Smyrnios, Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio and Morgan Willett, Kam Williams and Ashely Cain, Kyle Christie and Mattie Breaux, Leroy Garrett and Shaleen Sutherland, Natalie Negrotti and JP Andrade, Paulie Calafiore and Natalie "Ninja" Duran, Wes Bergmann and Dee Nguyen, and finally, Zach Nichols and Zahida Allen.
Which teams were eliminated?
We've hinted at this before, but Fandom has now listed the order of eliminations in its entirety. First, there was a rookie purge that saw Josh Martinez and Liz Nolan pack their bags. Then teams started falling off week after week. Ashley Mitchell and Chase McNary were eliminated early on, as were Bananas and Morgan Willett.
Chris "CT" Tamburello and Julia Nolan also got the boot, which will be followed by the eliminations of Natalie Negrotti and JP Andrade, Zach Nichols and Zahida Allen, Leroy Garrett and Shaleen Sutherland, Amanda Garcia and Josh Martinez, Jenna Compono and Gus Smyrnios, and Kam Williams and Ashley Cain.
After the elimination of Da'Vonne and Stephen, The Challenge eliminated the teams and cut four of the remaining 12 single cast members before the day of the final challenge arrived. Nany González, Dee Nguyen, Paulie Calafiore, and Kyle Christie were all sent away from War of the Worlds without making it to the ultimate challenge.
Which means the winner is...
Fans of The Challenge might be shocked to learn that both the winner and the runner-up of this season are rookies. In fact, five of the coveted top eight spots went to reality stars who had never before competed on MTV's epic competition show.
Eighth place went to Love Island's Georgia Harrison, 7th place to Party Down South's Mattie Breaux, and 6th place to veteran Hunter Barfield. Another veteran took the top 5 spot on the list, Cara Maria Sorbello. American Ninja Warrior's Natalie "Ninja" Duran proved to live up to her nickname by arriving in 4th place.
Veteran Weg Bergmann came in third, Love Island's Theo Campbell came in second place, and our very favorite Turkish star (and two-time Survivor champion), Turabi "Turbo" Çamkiran landed in first place.
Which should come as a surprise to absolutely no one who watches this show. Even the MTV's official page calls him "one of the most intimidating physical performers The Challenge has ever seen."
Don't miss the chance to cheer him on (and see whether our predictions were right), Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on MTV.