The Challenge is heading into Era 5 with its latest installment, Vets and New Threats. The 41st season will feature a War of the Worlds vibe with rookies and veterans teaming up throughout.
It follows up Season 40, Battle of the Eras, which featured one of the competition series’ most star-studded casts yet.
The MTV show featured numerous former finalists and multi-champions, including some of the game’s all-time greats, such as CT Tamburello, Johnny Bananas, Laurel Stucky, and Cara Maria Sorbello.
It also brought back some familiar faces whom some of the fanbase had been demanding to be on their screens for several seasons.
In addition to seeing Cara return to the flagship show, viewers also got to see Nia Moore, Avery Tressler, and Era 1 OGs like Derrick Kosinski, Mark Long, and Aviv Melmed. These competitors hadn’t appeared on MTV’s The Challenge in a while.
Not only that, the Era 5 team was quite stacked. It featured notable newer competitors, including the return of Paulie Calafiore and Total Madness winner Jenny West.
Is the champ done with The Challenge after that controversial twist?
And with Season 40, Jenny captured her second-ever championship on The Challenge, but as viewers saw, it was a crazy tie situation due to that silly Karma vote.
The twist introduced in Battle of the Eras allowed all eliminated players to cast Karma votes, awarding one to five points for each remaining cast member. A one was the worst score, and a five was the best.
Votes were based on how a cast member felt that castmate treated them and others during Season 40. At the final, production added up the votes and factored them into everyone’s results for the order of finish.
It was a controversial twist, to say the least. While it didn’t necessarily hurt any of the men’s finalists, it impacted several of the women. Michele dropped down in the order of finish, losing out on a bigger prize for second place.
Whenever a competitor loses out on a significant prize due to an unexpected twist, it can leave a sour taste. Michele seemed disappointed in the outcome, and many fans disliked the concept.
It may have also been the case for Jenny. Despite finishing ahead of her fellow women’s finalists, Tori Deal, Michele Fitzgerald, and Rachel Robinson, that points system created a tie for first place. With that, Rachel and Jenny both won Season 40.
Rachel later received a championship belt, as did the men’s winner, Jordan Wiseley, at the Season 40 reunion, being recognized by castmates’ votes as the “GOATS of The Challenge.”
Jenny recently posted a reply to a question on her Instagram Story, suggesting that Battle of the Eras may have been her final appearance on MTV’s competition series.
“Sometimes if I see a message congratulating me or something I’m like ‘s*** yeah that was pretty cool .. I am proud of myself for having achieved it.. it’s not easy and the competition was crazy tough.. I’m super grateful to the show for the opportunity.. but I wouldn’t do it again,” she wrote on her IG Story slide.
Here’s what fans think about Jenny’s potential retirement
On a Reddit subforum dedicated to The Challenge, many fans had feelings about seeing Jenny call it quits.
“No!! We love you! Challenge gods be nicer and give us another chance!” one fan pleaded in a comment.
“Well damn….would be awful not seeing her on the show again. Seems like she could easily end up with the most female wins if she keeps playing,” a commenter wrote.
“Jenny will go down as another what if, but I’m thankful we got to see her defend her crown and win again on 40,” another fan wrote.
It’s also worth noting that several Reddit comments mentioned that production did not treat Jenny well, citing her as one of the show’s top competitors, and the frustration of having to split her first-place prize with someone due to the “popularity contest.”
Jenny appeared in just three seasons of The Challenge, with War of the Worlds 2 as her debut. She followed up by becoming the women’s winner on Total Madness. Jenny then returned after a several-season hiatus to tie for first place on Battle of the Eras.
As mentioned, they’ve unveiled the Season 41 cast, and Jenny’s not involved in Vets and New Threats, which is unfortunate. It’s unclear whether that’s due to her turning down the call or them not even contacting her for it.
According to her The Challenge Wiki fan page, she’s racked up $737,500 in career winnings on the competition series. Not a bad haul for appearing in just three seasons, but she has definitely earned it!
While it’s disappointing if Jenny is truly retired, there’s also a never-say-never phrase that enters into this. We’ve seen plenty of “retired” Challengers decide to continue competing, whether it means popping up on The Challenge: All Stars or the flagship show, so stay tuned!
The Challenge: Vets & New Threats premieres Wednesday, July 30 at 8/7c on MTV.
