SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from “The End of An Era, Part 2,” the Jan. 8 finale of “The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras,” which aired on MTV.
For one “Challenge” competitor, “Karma’s a relaxing thought.” And for another, it’s the opposite.
The Season 40 finale of “Battle of the Eras” aired on Wednesday night, revealing that the karma votes — each player was able to give 1-5 points to each player before they were sent home — had much more power than some assumed.
After part one of the finale, it was no surprise that part two featured a lot more swimming… and a lot of Jordan Wiseley winning. In fact, Jordan won six individual challenges throughout the season, didn’t go into one elimination and won every single checkpoint during the final.
After staying up most of the night counting coins and singing, the group began day two with another swimming and rowing checkpoint, which was dominated by Jenny West and Jordan. The second checkpoint was more swimming, this time out to a sandbar, where they had to compete against each other answering math questions.
Jenny and Jordan won once again. Michele Fitzgerald struggled repeatedly to solve an equation and was the last woman left at the island. Finally, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio arrived and she was able to beat him. He then came in last for the men since, of course, Kyland Young beat him at math. As for Michele, despite finishing behind Rachel Robinson and Tori Deal, she was able to pass them both when swimming back to the boat. Tori and Bananas came in last.
The last checkpoint was a swim to an underwater scooter; after obtaining their scooter, the players had to use it to swim and collect tokens. The first two (not the first two women — the first two players!) to complete the checkpoint were Michele and Rachel. For the women, then came Tori and Jenny. Jordan once again finished first for the men, followed by Bananas, Kyland and Derek Chavez.
Then, TJ Lavin broke down the scoring: 1st place at each checkpoint received four points, 2nd place received three, 3rd place received two and last place received one point. Karma votes were worth two checkpoints.
“The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras”
After adding up all the scores, it was no surprise that Jordan was announced as the male winner, winning his fifth Challenge and the $400,000 prize. Second place ($75,000) went to Derek, followed by Bananas in third ($25,000). Kyland finished last.
Here’s the breakdown of all the points, including the karma points; for the men, the extra karma votes didn’t have an impact on the actual winner.
Jordan: 31 total — 27 from checkpoints, 4 karma points Derek: 27 total — 19 from checkpoints, 8 karma points Bananas: 17 total — 15 from checkpoints, 2 karma points Kyland: 15 total — 9 from checkpoints, 6 karma points
For the women, the karma vote changed the result of the game. Rachel and Jenny tied for first place, with Rachel going from third place to tying for first thanks to the karma votes. The pair split the $400,000 prize money. Meanwhile, Michele went from second place to third after the karma votes (and she was only one point behind Rachel/Jenny!) winning $25,000. Tori came in fourth place, going home with nothing.
Jenny: 24 total — 22 from checkpoints, 2 karma pointsRachel: 24 total — 16 from checkpoints, 8 karma pointsMichele: 23 total — 19 from checkpoints, 4 karma points Tori: 19 total — 13 from checkpoints, 6 karma points
