Even though he’s not a cast member of The Challenge Season 40, Wes Bergmann is still one of the show’s biggest contributing stars.
Wes announced his retirement on a spinoff, CBS’ The Challenge: USA 2, and it was most apparent he was missing when the Season 40 cast got announced.
Some have considered Wes among the biggest snubs, even though he said he’s retired.
The two-time MTV champion’s significance to the show is so meaningful that even his former rival said he wished he was on Battle of the Eras with them.
Based on some cast members’ remarks before the new season’s premiere, the new MTV season didn’t have the best conditions for how the cast got treated.
During a recent series of messages, Wes addressed the complaints regarding Season 40 from cast members.
Wes calls out Battle of the Eras cast complaints
Wes often takes to Twitter to express his thoughts about what’s going on in the world of The Challenge. A recent series of tweets featured him addressing what some of the Season 40 cast members complained about regarding treatment by production and the filming conditions.
“But wait, they treated the cast like s***t!” Wes tweeted along with a silly face emoji.
“The show is called The Challenge. It’s in the title. If you ever complain about living conditions when on a show called The Challenge you need to clout chase on another channel,” he said.
In a follow-up tweet, Wes mentioned the difficulties with filming a show in a new location each season, seeming to reference another reality TV show that films repeatedly in Fiji.
“Do you know how hard it is to change countries almost every season whilst feeding/housing 40 cast members & over a 100+ production staff? Some stuff will break & fall through the cracks. Trust me, if we filmed in the exact location in Fiji EvErY sINgLe SeAsOn it would be smoother,” he tweeted.
Wes didn’t specify any of The Challenge stars or which reality TV show he was referring to. However, Survivor Seasons 33 to 40 were all filmed at Mamanuca Islands, Fiji.
Love Island Seasons 5 and 6 also took place at a villa set in Fiji. Season 7 will also take place in Fiji and will air in 2025.
A previous season of The Challenge, Total Madness, was filmed in difficult conditions as Johnny Bananas often recalls living in an underground bunker in the Czech Republic.
Who complained about The Challenge Season 40?
In a previous report, Monsters and Critics pointed out Jordan Wiseley’s remarks about the rough conditions for the Season 40 cast.
He released a video that mentioned a misconception viewers have that cast members go to filming and work out all the time to stay in shape.
“We are treated like s***. We sleep like s***. We are fed like s***. Our schedules are dogs***,” he said.
“When I say ‘a challenge house is one of the worst environments to be in,’ I’m not exaggerating. This one was by far the worst treatment we’ve ever received as a cast, and it’s taken a toll (more on that later),” Jordan claimed.
Along with Jordan, castmate Theo Campbell also posted a message regarding the situation during filming.
“The promo for the challenge, sums up how the whole show was for us In terms of production not giving a f,” he tweeted with a laughing face emoji.
Theo’s tweet arrived over a week before The Challenge released the Battle of the Eras Super Trailer. Earlier this week, MTV aired the Battle of the Eras Launch Special to get viewers reacquainted with cast members, their stories, and life updates since being away.
While Jordan has participated in eight seasons of MTV’s The Challenge and two spinoffs on Paramount+, Theo has participated in fewer seasons. He debuted on Love Island UK, filmed in Mallorca of Spain’s Balearic Islands, while Jordan got his start on MTV’s The Real World: Portland.
Some have called The Challenge: War of the Worlds final one of the show’s most brutal regarding the conditions and requirements the cast dealt with. Both Wes and Theo competed as men’s finalists, with Theo finishing as a runner-up to the winner, Turabi “Turbo” Camkiran.
Around the time that The Challenge released official cast photos and the first promos for Season 40, former finalist Horacio Gutierrez seemed to indicate that his third season on the show would be his last.
As of this writing, it’s unknown what prompted Horacio’s decision to retire early, should that be the case.
Wes’ decision to retire didn’t come due to the living conditions or unfair treatment, but rather due to being unable to dedicate the time to filming away from running his businesses. In addition, he’s become a father, giving him another reason to watch The Challenge from afar from much cozier conditions.
The Challenge: Battle of the Eras premieres Wednesday, August 14 at 8/7c on MTV.
Episodes of The Challenge are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
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