A war of words erupted on The Challenge: Battle of the Eras between friends Josh Martinez and Cory Wharton, leading to further remarks on social media.
During the recent installment of MTV’s competition show, viewers saw the era teams face off in a Gladiator-themed daily challenge involving large shields and trying to push opposing players into the nearby water.
Era 4 came away with the victory, giving their targets, Jenny West and Theo Campbell, the power to decide which players went into the elimination against Era 1’s Derrick Kosinski and Rachel Robinson.
Potential picks for The Arena included Era 3’s Cory and Averey Tressler or Era 2’s Derek Chavez and Cara Maria Sorbello.
Ultimately, Cory and Averey got sent in. Cory became upset that his friend and ally, Josh Martinez, didn’t dissuade his Era 4 teammates from putting him into the elimination.
Following his televised victory over Derrick, he put the former Big Brother winner on notice.
Cory and Josh continue their Battle of the Eras beef
Taking it to Instagram, Cory shared an illustration created by Aaron the Artist, showing him dressed as a gladiator. He’s holding a sword in one hand, and in the other, he has the heads of the individuals he eliminated from Battle of the Eras: Derrick and Brad Fiorenza.
“2-0 this season in eliminations, I have nothing but respect for these two legends that I went against. Two of the best to ever do it. Happy that I could walk away with a Win though 🙌🏽. Josh I’m coming for you next 👹🗣️🤫!!!” Cory captioned the IG post.
As of this writing, Cory’s IG post had tallied nearly 10,000 likes and over 530 comments.
According to Josh in an X message, he didn’t have time to address Cory’s post due to another commitment.
“I wish I could engage with Cory’s Instagram post but im actually doing PAID press for Telemundo Today,” he wrote, firing shots at his castmate.
Josh previously revealed that he joined Telemundo’s reality TV show, Los 50, which premieres October 15.
“Feel extremely lucky as a first generation to have the blessing of joining @telemundorealities family,” he wrote in an Instagram post about the news.
During The Challenge’s recent episode, Cory shouted at Josh to “go somewhere with that fake bulls***” and not to take him as an “idiot” after he didn’t save him from going into elimination.
However, Josh told him he got outvoted, and his teammates ultimately decided who was going in.
Cory said he would take it personally and go after Josh when he returned to The Challenge.
Cory previously called out castmates doing press
In August, various Season 40 cast members appeared at a press event ahead of the Battle of the Eras premiere, allowing fans to see them up close and personally.
However, Cory called out the unpaid nature of the event, suggesting he would never participate in that sort of event for MTV.
During the recent Battle of the Eras episode, elimination winners Cory and Rachel Robinson received the option to choose targets from each team. However, Kyland Young volunteered for Era 4, sparing Josh from being a potential target to go into elimination.
Viewers will see if Cory and Josh continue to clash or work together as the season continues with a significant prize on the line for Season 40’s final.
The Challenge: Battle of the Eras airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
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