SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from “The End of An Era, Part 2,” the January 8 finale of “The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras,” airing on MTV.
For one ‘Challenge’ participant, ‘Karma is a relaxing thought.’ And for another it is the opposite.
The season 40 finale of “Battle of the Eras” aired Wednesday night and revealed that the karma votes — each player could give each player 1-5 points before being sent home — had a lot more power than some thought.
After part one of the finals, it was no surprise that there was a lot more swimming in part two… and Jordan Wiseley won a lot. In fact, Jordan won six individual challenges throughout the season and was not eliminated once And won every checkpoint during the finals.
After staying up most of the night counting coins and singing, the group started day two with another swimming and rowing checkpoint, which was dominated by Jenny West and Jordan. The second checkpoint was more swimming, this time to a sandbar, where they had to compete against each other to answer math questions.
Jenny and Jordan won again. Michele Fitzgerald repeatedly struggled to solve an equation and was the last woman left on the island. Finally, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio arrived and she was able to defeat him. He then came in last among the men, because Kyland Young of course beat him in math. As for Michele, despite finishing behind Rachel Robinson and Tori Deal, she was able to pass them both as she swam back to the boat. Tori and Bananas came in last.
The final checkpoint was a dive to an underwater scooter; After getting their scooter, 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. Tori and Jenny came for the women. Jordan again finished first among the men, followed by Bananas, Kyland and Derek Chavez.
Then TJ Lavin analyzed the scoring: first place at each checkpoint received four points, second place three, third place two, and last place one point. Karma votes were worth two checkpoints.
“The Challenge 40: Battle of the Ages”
After tallying 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 place ($25,000). Kyland finished last.
Here is the breakdown of all the points, including the karma points; among men, the extra karma votes had no 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 outcome of the game. Rachel and Jenny tied for first place, with Rachel moving from third place to tied for first thanks to the karma votes. The couple split the $400,000 prize money. Meanwhile, Michele rose from second place to third after the karma votes (and she was only one point behind Rachel/Jenny!) and won $25,000. Tori finished in fourth place and went home with nothing.
Jenny: 24 total – 22 from checkpoints, 2 karma points
Rachel: 24 total – 16 from checkpoints, 8 karma points
Michele: 23 total – 19 from checkpoints, 4 karma points
Tori: 19 total – 13 from checkpoints, 6 karma points