With The Challenge: Battle of the Eras premiere, viewers saw cast member reunions, new meetings, and renewed rivalries.
Some of the biggest feuds and rivalries came from the most recent Era teams, including Era 4.
The 10-person crew included friends-turned-rivals Olivia Kaiser and Nurys Mate.
Theo Campbell and Paulie Calafiore are also part of the crew.
In the first episode, host TJ Lavin unveiled a colossal twist: an early batch of eight eliminations, called the Era Invitational, would significantly reduce the cast.
Each squad would lose one man and one woman, based on the worst-performing competitors and whoever the daily challenge winners opted to send in against them.
That immediately set the stage for potential showdowns between the previously mentioned Era 4 stars.
Theo says he and his castmate ‘wanted to fight’ to settle things on Season 40
Toward the end of the Season 40 premiere, the four Era teams deliberated about who would go into eliminations. Nurys and Theo finished last in the daily challenge, so they would automatically compete in their team’s eliminations.
Since Horacio Gutierrez and Michele Fitzgerald were the Era 4 daily challenge winners, they decided who went against Nurys and Theo. However, based on two unsettled feuds, their decisions seemed relatively easy.
Nurys called out Olivia and mentioned last season’s fiasco involving her and Michele in the elimination voting. Paulie mentioned how he’d heard around The Challenge house that Theo wanted to face him in elimination due to their history in a previous season.
“Now’s your chance to say it, and we can finish it in the sand,” Paulie told Theo from across the table.
“That’s what’s gonna happen. You know, as a man, when you look someone in the eye and you blind lie to them, to me, I think you’re a f***ing coward,” Theo replied.
“You’ll stab everyone in the back, so if I gotta be the one to take you out, so be it,” he said.
“There’s one thing you should’ve learned from War of the Worlds 2, Theo. I don’t cast the first shot,” Paulie fired back, causing more arguing.
Theo shared a clip of the exchange on his official Instagram, asking fans what they thought about the episode.
“Why u look like u wanna fight bro?” a fan asked Theo in the comment section.
“We did. But there’s a right way to settle these things. Hopefully we see each other in the sand,” Theo informed the fan.
In another comment, a fan said, “This is the Theo we miss ! WOTW Theo is back.”
Theo replied, “He never went away,” with Paulie agreeing and adding, “he just needed help remembering who he was.”
Paulie and Theo had a fiery feud during WOTW
Viewers saw highlights of Paulie and Theo’s clash during their seasons together. The two were castmates first for War of the Worlds, which featured Cara Maria Sorbello as Theo’s teammate. Paulie and Cara were in the early stages of their relationship.
Paulie failed to reach the final due to finishing last place during a daily challenge purge just ahead of that final. Cara and Theo were among the finalists, with Theo finishing as the runner-up to winner Turabi “Turbo” Camkiran.
However, War of the Worlds 2 saw things become volatile as castmates, including Johnny Bananas and Josh Martinez, attempted to throw a team daily challenge so they could send Paulie’s girlfriend, Cara Maria, into elimination.
Later, Paulie and Theo got in one another’s faces at The Challenge house, including that infamous kiss Paulie planted on Theo. During MTV’s Battle of the Eras premiere, a flashback to the previous season’s highlights played to remind fans about their situation from the past.
Theo went into several eliminations that season, including one where he eliminated multi-time champion Johnny Bananas, seeming to do the dirty work for Paulie and Cara.
The power couple fooled Bananas, as Paulie assured him he wouldn’t send him in. Paulie even shook his hand but then voted him in to eliminate him.
Later, Theo lost to Team UK teammate Kyle Christie in his second elimination, ending his time on the show. Many fans believed Theo could’ve won a final if he continued competing on multiple seasons of The Challenge. Still, his eye injury and recovery had him on a hiatus from the show.
Viewers last saw Paulie on The Challenge: USA 2 on CBS, and Theo finally returned for The Challenge: World Championship on Paramount+.
With the Battle of the Eras marking their first season together since War of the Worlds 2, it seems the sand will help them settle their differences.
The Challenge: Battle of the Eras airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
Episodes of The Challenge are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
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