Wes Bergmann isn’t competing on The Challenge: Battle of the Eras, but still enjoys the season as a spectator and critic.
In addition to analyzing the episodes for his subscriber-based video reviews, the multi-time champion also monitors various developments outside the show.
He’s recently slammed former castmate Laurel Stucky amid her ongoing drama with Cara Maria Sorbello on Season 40.
Another significant controversy arrived when MTV OG Derrick Kosinski eliminated newer competitor Horacio Gutierrez early on Season 40.
Horacio’s girlfriend, Nurys Mateo, who was already eliminated earlier in the season and was not present during Horacio’s elimination, immediately blasted The Challenge production on social media for lying to viewers about how the elimination went.
Horacio also released a video about how he felt a lot went wrong during the event, leading to what some called an unfair result.
However, producers had a private meeting with him and Derrick, showing them exclusive footage from the event and discussing the rules so they’d understand why Derrick was the winner.
Wes calls out Horacio and Nurys for public remarks about Horacio’s Season 40 elimination
While with his former castmate, Johnny Bananas, on the Death, Taxes, and Bananas podcast, Wes discussed the Battle of the Eras elimination that riled up fans and cast members. In particular, he said it’s not good for the show if there is constant fan discussion about whether The Challenge is rigged.
“Let’s go on a little mini-rant here because I think I really hope that a lot of cast members listen to this,” Wes said, adding, “They’re not going to want to hear this because this is just good advice and they hate good advice.”
“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. What are you doing, you idiots?” he asked.
We mentioned Horacio, who he’s never met but has enjoyed watching compete on The Challenge. He said he’s met Nurys once and hopes to see her back on the show, too.
“What are you doing to yourself?” he asked during the podcast about them calling out the show publicly.
“Like if you feel like there was a bad call or whatever, you can write an email, and they’ll listen to it, they’ll read it, they’ll get on the phone, they’ll talk you through it,” Wes said.
In addition to Horacio and Nurys, Wes brought up his former castmate, Devin Walker, who also commented about the elimination on social media. Wes said he talked with Devin about it but didn’t mention what he told him.
Wes and Bananas discussed how The Challenge fans think the show is rigged
During their discussion, Wes and Bananas agreed that production creates these inventive daily challenges and eliminations in a board room in Van Nuys, California. Then, they ship the concept to be tested at the show’s filming location by “an intern” before competitors participate.
They mentioned that although production tries to think of everything that could go wrong, it just can’t account for everything.
“What they did that week of negative virality around the two or three days that that happened, I bet that the fandom now thinks that the show is rigged three, two or three percent more,” Wes said on Bananas’ podcast.
“But if every time someone says the show is rigged around a viral moment that really is just it broke, or it was a bad ref in the situation or whatever, two or three percent 10 times, all of a sudden the fans are going to think that it’s the WWE without a budget,” the former show winner said.
Wes admitted he liked that producers got on a Zoom call with Derrick and Horacio to break things down and clarify so that Horacio and Nurys would recant their criticisms. Horacio admitted there was a rule he missed which allowed Derrick’s win to stand.
Despite that, Horacio announced his early retirement after Season 40. While Nurys stated she wants to return due to her love of The Challenge, Horacio has since revealed he would take time away from the show and might reconsider returning.
The Challenge: Battle of the Eras airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
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