“The Challenge” season 42 ended with Team Orange winning the competition in Thailand, but the five champions still had one final decision to face before collecting their prize money.
Tori Deal, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, Chris “CT” Tamburello, Michele Fitzgerald and Will Gagnon defeated Team Gray during the season 42 finale of “The Challenge: Cutthroat.”
The victory gave Team Orange a total prize pool of $550,000, but the contestants who became famous on MTV before it switched to Paramount+ weren’t guaranteed equal shares.
Under the season’s rules, team captains had sole authority to decide how they would divide their winnings.
That meant Deal could decide how much money to give her four teammates and how much to keep for herself.
Deal surprised her teammates by announcing that she planned to collect a “Captain’s Fee” before distributing their winnings.
The following contains results from the season 42 finale of “The Challenge.”
Tori Deal Reveals Her ‘Captain’s Fee’ After Team Orange Wins $550,000
Deal’s announcement initially caught her teammates off guard because the captain could keep the entire prize.
However, she ultimately revealed that each teammate would pay just $1.
That left Deal with $110,004 and each of her four teammates with $109,999.
The $550,000 total included the $500,000 grand prize, an additional $25,000 Team Orange earned earlier in the season and another $25,000 from the final briefcase discovery.
The prize distribution followed two days of competition in Thailand, where both teams faced physical challenges, puzzles and an overnight endurance test.
Deal’s decision allowed all five members of Team Orange to leave with nearly identical winnings.
‘The Challenge’ Season 42 Winners Overcome Injuries in Thailand Finale
Team Orange entered the final portion of the competition with several physical setbacks.
Gagnon struggled with a knee injury, while he and Devenanzio dealt with severe blisters on their feet.
Tamburello also struggled with fatigue and endurance during the final.
Meanwhile, Team Gray, Adrienne Naylor, Cara Maria Sorbello, Cassidy Clark, and Alexis “Lete” Lete, faced its own challenges.
Sorbello spent an extended period on watchtower duty during the overnight portion of the final, allowing her teammates additional time to recover.
Team Orange entered the last stretch with a 10-minute advantage.
On the second day, the finalists had to assemble a power source before completing a 10-mile jungle race that required them to collect puzzle pieces.
At the end of the race, the teams had to complete their puzzles.
Team Orange finished first and destroyed Team Gray’s compound to secure the championship.
The victory marked Devenanzio’s eighth main-season title, Tamburello’s sixth and Deal’s second. Fitzgerald and Gagnon earned their first championships.
Team Gray Captain Adrienne Naylor Makes Different Prize Money Decision
While Deal divided Team Orange’s winnings almost equally, Naylor took a different approach with Team Gray’s $25,000 prize pool.
Naylor decided to keep an additional $5,000 for herself before splitting the remaining $20,000 equally among the four teammates.
Under that arrangement, Naylor would receive $10,000, while the other three competitors would receive $5,000 each.
Lete questioned the decision, taking issue with the suggestion that Naylor deserved twice as much money.
Sorbello, however, declined her share of the prize.
She returned the money and said she was satisfied with the UFC tickets she had received.
Fans can stream “The Challenge: Cutthroat” on Paramount+.
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‘The Challenge’ Season 42 Champions Stunned by Tori Deal’s Decision After $550,000 Victory