The Challenge aired its 40th season earlier this year, featuring the biggest cast ever, with competitors representing four eras of the MTV franchise.
The Battle of the Eras highlighted some of the all-time greats from MTV’s competition series.
Some of the stars included champions Johnny Bananas, Jordan Wiseley, CT Tamburello, Cara Maria Sorbello, Laurel Stucky, and Rachel Robinson.
With such a big cast, there were plenty of hits and misses in terms of who made it, with fans mentioning which individuals they felt should’ve been there.
While fan debates raged online, some competitors were unable to appear due to their schedules.
However, there was another former two-time champion who wanted to participate in Season 40 and nearly did.
The Challenge OG was an alternate for Season 40
The Zach Nichols Podcast recently featured The Real World: Key West’s Tyler Duckworth, who was also a two-time champion on The Challenge.
During a podcast clip, Tyler surprised Zach when he mentioned that he’d been waiting to go on Season 40 as an alternate.
He mentioned that he’d gone through all sorts of paperwork and had set up lesson plans or other work for his teaching job.
“To make those arrangements was such an important thing,” he said, adding he was “prepared” to go on Season 40, because it made sense.
Tyler believed he would’ve been a great addition to the Era 2 team, since he won back-to-back seasons in Seasons 20 to 30.
“How great would it be to bring Tyler Duckworth and Johnny Bananas back?” he asked.
“I’m not angry. I’m processing still,” Tyler said, adding, “I couldn’t watch [Season 40] because I put like nine to 10 months of effort into it.”
He mentioned that he worked out hard to be part of the Battle of Eras by losing weight and gaining muscle.
“Usually if someone wins back-to-back Challenges, you’d think, ‘Let’s give him chances to perform,'” Tyler said, mentioning Jonna Mannion returned several times after her two All Stars wins.
“I don’t understand why I was punished for winning two seasons and then just never being cast again,” he said on Zach’s podcast.
Fans believe Tyler should’ve replaced another Era 2 member
For Season 40, the Era 2 team featured a lineup of notable women. Four champions were there: Cara Maria, Laurel, Emily Schromm, and Aviv Melmed. In addition, the men’s side had the show’s winningest cast member, Johnny Bananas.
However, the other men representing Era 2 hadn’t won any championships during their appearances on the show. They included Nehemiah Clark, Brandon Nelson, Ryan Kehoe, and Derek Chavez.
In fan comments on Zach’s IG clip with Tyler, many people speculated whose Era 2 spot Tyler should’ve taken on Battle of the Eras.
“I love Ryan but that was Tyler’s spot fact,” one IG commenter wrote.
Another commenter said, “Someone explain to me how Brandon was more deserving of a spot for Era 2 over Tyler.”
“Brandon/Derek’s spot belonged to you for sure! The casting team is horrible as usual,” someone wrote in an IG comment.
Tyler appeared in four of MTV’s The Challenge seasons and won Cutthroat and Rivals. After his 2011 win, which he achieved with his Key West roommate Bananas, he had a 10-year hiatus. He returned for the All Stars 2 and All Stars 3 spinoffs, which aired on Paramount+.
In a 2021 Entertainment Weekly interview, Tyler expressed disappointment about not getting called for additional MTV seasons, and contemplated how much more money he might’ve won.
It seems he would’ve loved putting back on his Challenge gear for other MTV seasons, including what could’ve been an epic Battle of the Eras, but production decided to go with different cast members for whatever reason.
The Challenge: Vets and New Threats airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
