Jenny West was one of three winners of MTV’s The Challenge: Battle of the Eras, but some fans weren’t happy she even reached the final.
The Total Madness winner returned after several years away from the competition series and performed impressively in her second-straight final.
Due to a Karma Vote twist, which many fans disagreed with, she finished in a tie for first place with her friend and ally, Rachel Robinson.
However, she also won several daily challenges to gain safety from eliminations or power in the game.
One of those daily challenges caused controversy, as Jordan Wiseley and fans pointed out that she hadn’t finished her puzzle correctly after MTV aired Episode 17.
Despite that, host TJ Lavin announced her as the winner. It meant she was safe from consideration for elimination. It also gave Jenny the power to choose who faced the daily challenge loser, Tori Deal, in the last women’s elimination.
Jenny on Season 40 daily challenge controversy: ‘I still deserved to win’
In a dual interview with Rachel, Jenny spoke about that controversial puzzle that arrived in the final daily challenge of the season. She claimed she was “five minutes” or more ahead of Cara Maria Sorbello when she won.
“Regardless of if I had to switch two pieces, I still would’ve won,” she says. “I still deserved to win it because I killed myself for it knowing it’s our necks on the line — I needed to win or Rachel needed to win, and that was it,” she told Entertainment Weekly.
“It irritates me to think that I’ve had messages sent to me saying, ‘You don’t deserve to be in that final.’ F*** you. Yes, I do. I killed myself there, and I deserve this,” she shared with EW’s Sydney Bucksbaum.
Her win in the final alongside Rachel meant they split $475,000 in cash. Jordan won on the men’s side, giving him all the first-place money.
While some individuals, such as Jordan Wiseley, never saw a single elimination during Season 40, Jenny entered The Arena twice. She returned to the house by defeating castmates Aviv Melmed and Aneesa Ferreira.
Jenny and Rachel called out fans for accusing production of rigging The Challenge
Jenny’s daily challenge controversy added to another from earlier in the season. That involved Horacio Gutierrez losing to Derrick Kosinski during a super close elimination at The Arena.
Following the episode in which it occurred, their castmate and Horacio’s girlfriend, Nurys Mateo, called out production for not showing everything that happened during the elimination.
Horacio also released a video sharing his thoughts on how it played out and his feelings about being robbed of the win. Many The Challenge fans rallied behind the cause, blasting the show online.
Ultimately, production did its best to clarify with the two competitors, Derrick and Horacio, by revealing additional footage to them at a private video conference. Horacio “admitted he missed a rule” that production told them before the event, seemingly giving Derrick the win.
While speaking to EW, Jenny and Rachel expressed their dissatisfaction with fans online, suggesting that production rigs things so that certain cast members win.
“They couldn’t do that even if they wanted to, there’s no way they could,” Jenny said regarding manipulating the games, adding that those behind the show “really don’t care.”
Rachel said “human errors” might happen on the show occasionally. However, she feels the fans calling things out so much has to stop.
“But to go online and to create a hysteria and to create this narrative that The Challenge in any which way has any interest in one person winning, that’s bulls***,” she said.
The Challenge airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV. The Challenge: All Stars Rivals premieres Wednesday, January 29 at 8/7c on MTV.
Episodes of The Challenge are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
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