The recently unveiled Chaos phase of The Challenge: Battle For a New Champions revealed that the cast members would have to face legends of the game in elimination events.
Four-time show winner Jordan Wiseley made the first appearance for the legends, who arrived at the arena to face either Asaf Goren or Ciarran Stott.
It depended upon a draw of one of three swords from a rock at The Arena, with two swords bearing the names of the potential opponents.
Host TJ Lavin said a third sword would bring something different but didn’t reveal what that would be.
Jordan ended up pulling a sword with Ciarran’s name, and the two faced off in an event where they raced between two ramps with buttons and lights at the top of each.
The winner was whoever could rack up the most points each round by racing up the ramps and pressing buttons above the lights that went off.
After several rounds, Jordan was declared the winner. Still, that win hasn’t come without some controversy as claims of production assisting The Challenge champ or it being rigged in his favor arrived online.
Jordan addresses online claims about possible rigged elimination
In a video Jordan shared on social media, he talked about what went down during his elimination. Claims had arrived online that Jordan complained about his shoes coming off to production, but he clarified.
Jordan explained that the final footage on MTV showed three rounds of him versus Ciarran for their elimination. Jordan said it showed Ciarran won the first, and then Jordan won the next two.
However, Jordan said they actually had five rounds, so the entire elimination wasn’t shown in the episode. He indicated Ciarran’s shoe came off in their first round, so he stopped to allow him to put it back on, and they continued.
In the middle of the second round, Jordan said his shoe came off, but Ciarran didn’t stop for him. Jordan said he didn’t complain about it. Ultimately, Jordan said he decided to continue without his shoes on.
He brought up part of the event rules where they were told if they wrestled, they’d “reset” the two competitors so they could continue to race for the lights.
He said they wrestled “a bit” at one point in their third round, and nobody reset them. Jordan said that cost him time, so he asked the refs for the event about what was going on because his strategy would change if they were allowed to wrestle.
Jordan indicated he’d won the first round, but Ciarran won the next two. At the start of Round 4, Jordan said he told production, “If it’s a different game, let me know because then we’ll start playing a different game.”
He said he allowed Ciarran to get the first two points in that round “because [production and staff] weren’t listening” or acknowledging them about enforcing or explaining the game’s rules.
They finally agreed to reset the time when they wrestled and were going to restart it at 0-0, but Jordan said to give Ciarran the two points he’d allowed him, so they did.
After the reset, Jordan said he won Round 4 and then went into Round 5, winning that one to eliminate Ciarran.
Jordan said it’s known among Challenge competitors that refereeing and rules change during games and that he’s all about fairness for competitors. He said he often yells to production or the refs during eliminations about making things fair for all involved.
“I just want it to be fair. All credit to Ciarran. Worked his butt off, and I hate that we had to deal with a little ref intervention, but that happens in every sport. Bad calls get made. We argue them. It gets fixed,” he said.
“I didn’t complain about shoes. I just took them off [and] went in socks. He got those two points fair and square. I didn’t give them to him as like I’m trying to be cocky,” he explained in his video.
With the elimination victory, Jordan eliminated Ciarran from the competition. Jordan also claimed $10,000 of the Season 39 cast’s prize pool money before leaving the show.
Jordan’s castmates also addressed online ‘lies’
In a tweet, Jordan’s former Ride or Dies castmate, Nurys Mateo, called out what she called “lies” online about Jordan’s elimination win.
“Where do yall come up with all these lies? Elimination was NOT rigged for Jordan, he won fair and square. Jordan didn’t complain about his shoes, he complained because the rules were unfair and unclear to BOTH of them. Jordan did what Jordan always does and simply DOMINATED,” Nurys tweeted.
In reply to Nurys’ tweet, Ciarran indicated, “Rules were pretty clear to me.”
Several other tweets arrived from Nurys and Michele Fitzgerald to suggest that the elimination involved much more than was shown in the episode released on MTV.
Ciarran retweeted his castmates’ remarks about the actual elimination that happened.
As previous comments from former cast members have suggested various events during The Challenge are rigged for the viewers’ entertainment, it likely raises questions from fans after the recent elimination.
With Jordan already telling his side of things, one has to wonder if Ciarran has a different version of what happened to bring his exit from the show much earlier than he would’ve liked.
The Challenge: Battle For a New Champion airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on MTV.
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