While MTV’s The Challenge and Paramount Plus’ The Challenge: All Stars have seen some intense moments, viewers watching the CBS spinoff of the competition show hadn’t quite seen anything too dramatic within the first four episodes.
However, that changed when Episode 5 arrived, and castmates who thought they had trustworthy allies realized that wasn’t necessarily the case.
According to several of The Challenge: USA cast members, the situation became so intense with castmates following one elimination that security needed to stay over to ensure everyone was safe.
The footage didn’t show that during the episode, but it may be why things didn’t get too intense between cast members in the compound.
The latest revelation arrived as part of an exit interview, with several eliminated competitors spilling the tea on alliances, including the Survivor group, which looked to be crumbling at the end of Episode 5.
This report will contain spoilers through Episode 6 of The Challenge: USA, including the names of eliminated competitors and winners at The Arena.
Episode 5 elimination infuriated Survivor stars
In The Challenge: USA, Episode 5, Tyson Apostol picked up his third win in a daily challenge. This time his teammate was Love Island USA star Cashay Proudfoot, and the duo had to decide which team to send into The Arena against Cinco Holland and Azah Awasum.
Cinco and Azah didn’t provide them much assistance by volunteering names of teams they’d want to face or not face in elimination. So Cash and Tyson chose Sarah Lacina and her teammate Leo Temory as their opponents.
Earlier, Tyson made it seem that Sarah was safe as she was one of his Survivor allies. However, his decision showed her his true colors and upset another Survivor star, Ben Driebergen, as he realized Tyson would go against their alliance members.
Sarah and Leo ended up winning their elimination event, and following the win, they celebrated but also began taunting and trash-talking. Along with expletives and trash talk, Sarah started pointing up to the stands at Tyson and giving him a cutthroat signal.
In the opening scenes of Episode 6, viewers saw that Sarah and Ben were upset with Tyson’s game to move, with Ben even saying he was “furious.” Footage showed him pacing, and castmate David Alexander even offered to go outside and talk so he could cool down.
However, viewers didn’t see that a personal security guard was also necessary that evening to ensure the safety of the cast members.
The Challenge: USA stars reveal security needed after elimination
In Episode 6 of The Challenge: USA, Derek Xiao, and Shannon St. Clair become the latest competitors to get sent home via an elimination at The Arena.
While they looked to have a lead in the tire-transferring event, their strategy of stacking up tires didn’t work as well as their opponents. Add to that the fact that Shannon had an injury she sustained during the daily challenge, hobbling her a bit.
Ultimately, the team of Enzo Palumbo and Justine Ndiba sent them home from the spinoff show.
Following the airing of the episode on CBS, Shannon and Derek appeared in various exit interviews with media and YouTube podcasters. During an exit interview for Rob Has a Podcast, they discussed their season and elimination. However, they also spoke about the intense fallout after the Episode 5 elimination.
“You could cut the tension with a knife. I mean, when I tell you, it was half the Challengers on one side of the house, literally, and the other half in a different room. We didn’t even see each other. I personally- I didn’t know where to go,” Shannon said of the scene at the house.
“I didn’t want Sarah [Lacina] to hate me. I was closer to Tyson [Apostol], but I didn’t want to get on Sarah’s bad side, and I was kind of that wildcard…So I stayed out of it completely,” she said.
“Getting back from Sarah’s elimination, like the vibe was scary. We had a literal personal security guard- not one of us, like an actual security guard sleeping with us that night for 24-7 watch, inside the compound,” Derek revealed.
When asked why security was necessary, Derek said he didn’t want to “say any names,” but cast members were “scared” based on the vibe after that elimination.
“Ben [Driebergen] was pacing back and forth. I thought if I talked to him, he was gonna throw a punch,” Shannon said jokingly, adding, “I love Ben. I think he’s the best person ever. I just think tensions were running high, and they wanted a precaution.”
Derek also joked during the interview that he thought he might need security if Xavier Prather came back from his elimination event. That’s because they were bunking near one another, and fellow Big Brother 24 star Alyssa was in a bunk underneath Xavier’s. She was part of the team that sent Xavier into elimination, and it ultimately resulted in him going home.
Fortunately, it seems things remained under control in The Challenge: USA compound, but things were certainly volatile after those Episode 5 elimination results!
The Challenge: USA airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on CBS.
Episodes of The Challenge are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
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