The Challenge: USA Finals Recap: Who Won the Money and a Chance to Attend the World Cup?

The challenge: United States It ended its first season on Wednesday, and while crowning the first-ever CBS champion, it also marketed itself as such “The one where everyone stops.”

I’ll admit: It’s very easy to be a keyboard warrior when I’m watching the show from my air-conditioned living room and comfy couch while I’m doing all that stuff in my armchair. But after 43 seasons (spinoffs included; 44 if we count them Spring Break Challenge), the nightly Quit-a-Palooza was unlike anything we’ve seen before, and honestly, it wasn’t that exciting to watch. Let’s break it all down, including who was medically DQ’d, who dropped out, and who snagged that lucrative grand prize.

In the first hour of the final, players are aware that the final is right around the corner, and they’re all aware of who they want (and don’t want) to take on this final challenge with. But before that happens, there’s another female elimination and the pressure is on on.

In the first-ever Night Challenge of the season, players swim across a lake in the dark to reach an abandoned town. There they have to solve puzzles to collect chips and hoops that are worth points. Whoever collects the most points wins. And you know what happens to the lady in the last…

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Two guys have the first place: Tyson and Dom. Sarah takes the women’s win, marking her first singles win of her entire reality TV career. But what woman goes straight into the arena? Angela who spent waaaay too much time on a sliding puzzle to earn a pink hoop.

In the arena, Tyson votes Cayla into elimination while Sarah and Dom overrule him by throwing Alyssa in. And it’s going to be a hit, overall challenge Staple: Pole Wrestle! Unsurprisingly, Angela destroys Alyssa in two turns, and we finally get a rare glimpse of emotion bb Ice Queen Angela. (Now, you seemed to cry. Were there real tears? I think we’d need a microscope and slo-mo rewind to solve this puzzle.)

THE FINAL | As players board a private jet into the mountains of Patagonia, Ben tells us he’s worried about his shoulder, which he injured in a gnarly fall in the final challenge. Even before the finale begins, TJ has some bad news: Ben is actually medically DQ. Looks like this is a win habit be handed to him on a silver platter. (I said what I said!) Snark aside, you never want to see someone removed from the game like that, so I feel for the guy.

Players compete in teams through a series of checkpoints and the algorithm decides the matchups. If your teammate quits, you’re out too. (Ouch!) The first pairings are as follows: Danny/Cayla, Dom/Angela, Tyson/Justine, and Enzo/Desi. Sarah starts alone.

CHECKPOINT #1 | They start with an ice swim to shore where they have to solve a puzzle. Teams receive a tiered number of points based on their placement in each mini-challenge. Whoever has the most points for each gender at the end wins.

Enzo does the unthinkable and gives up mid-swim, which also knocks Desi out of the race. And now a special note to all future contenders on MTV, Paramount+ and beyond: DO NOT ENTER THIS SHOW IF YOU CAN’T SWIM. You waste your time and waste our Time. TJ hates quitters and so do we. The end. This is so, so incredibly devastating for Desi. Either way, Danny and Cayla finish first, earning five points each.

CHECKPOINT #2 | The new pairings: Danny/Angela, Tyson/Sarah and Dom/Justine, with Cayla running solo. After a sprint, it’s time for a gross eating challenge! You need to eat a whole onion, full cloves of garlic and a whole thermos of lemon juice. (But hey, at least it’s not bull testicles or monkey brains, is it?) After their snack, they have to do some math while following a series of equations. Cayla is struggling hard to eat but keeps fighting. Angela and Danny collect their first place points here.

CHECKPOINT #3 | New teams: Dom/Cayla, Angela/Tyson and Sarah/Danny with Justine going alone. Here they have to memorize a series of numbers, collect a decoder and run along a path. After adding the numbers and using the decoder, they must decode letters to form a sentence. Tyson and Angela crack the code first and win the leg while Justine takes a time out.

CHECKPOINT #4 | It’s now Danny/Justine, Tyson/Cayla and Dom/Sarah alone with Angela. It’s the night leg and duos have to move a huge mound of dirt while their partner rests. Being alone puts Angela at a serious disadvantage. She decides to sleep instead, expecting to get last place points to get fully charged for Day 2. Her “strategy” comes back to bite her: when TJ wakes her up bright and early he asks her what happened then he shockingly disqualifies her. (I disagree with the decision here, but shouldn’t Justine also have received a DQ for not completing Checkpoint 3? That feels a bit contradictory. However, it would have been unfair of her to sleep all night worked hard. I’m torn. Let me know what you think in the comments.) Dom and Sarah win five points for the task.

LAST LEG | The algorithm is down once again, and now it’s a brutal race to the top of the mountain, with some puzzles along the way. When players complete the task, the money in their individual bank accounts is theirs. Also, the points for this part are doubled, so first place adds a whopping 10 points to their total score.

Tyson is taking a quick lead in the men while Justine is leading the pack in the women. The second puzzle is a series of Sudoku puzzles and luckily for Danny he studied them before moving on survivor. Danny rushes in first as Tyson loses his massive lead.

Tyson, Justine and Dom then hit rock bottom AND THEY ALL GO UP. My mouth is literally hanging open. The challenge Has never had so many quitters in a final. je. And I’m rightly shocked. Then Cayla will stop too! Sarah may still be on her first puzzle, but all she has to do is not give up and finish to achieve victory.

And that’s exactly what she does. Danny makes it to the top of the mountain like a BOSS while Sarah completes the sudoku. She may have been one of the most unlikable players this season (facts are facts) but she’s not giving up and that’s respectable. She becomes the only woman to make it to the top, and if she makes it, TJ announces her as the winner of The challenge: CBS! And since everyone else folded, Sarah and Danny all win this Bank accounts, in addition to her share of the $500,000 grand prize.

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