With The Challenge: Battle of the Eras currently airing on MTV, former cast member Theresa Jones claims several individuals from the show owe her an apology.
She mentioned show winners Johnny Bananas and Laurel Stucky, who appear in MTV’s current season.
Theresa, 39, hasn’t appeared on the competition show since 2020’s Double Agents, where she teamed up with Jay Starrett.
Following her elimination in Episode 9 by Kaycee Clark, she seemingly announced her official retirement from the show in an emotional speech.
She reiterated her decision to remain retired due to having surgery and wanting to spend more time with her family away from reality TV.
However, she posted a cryptic message on social media earlier this week, seeming to call out her former castmates and a producer for an unspecified incident.
Theresa posted a cryptic message about The Challenge
Taking to X and Instagram, Theresa posted a message that seemed to be about a previous incident or situation from MTV’s The Challenge.
Her message also mentioned Hurricane Milton threatening Florida just a few weeks after Hurricane Helene caused death and destruction in multiple states, including Florida.
“Just in case Hurricane Milton tries to take me out: You owe me a f***in apology for turning a blind eye!! What happened in Uruguay was NOT OK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” she wrote.
Her message included tags for The Challenge, production company Bunim Murray, MTV, Johnny Bananas, Laurel, and show producer Lisa Fletcher.
Theresa’s X message didn’t allow replies and had over 100 shares with 300-plus likes.
In a message she posted to X two days before that, Theresa shared a screenshot of details obtained from The Challenge Fandom Wiki to point out how few minority cast members have won the competition show.
“I mean it’s kinda black and white at this point! Lol,” she wrote above the screenshot.
The screenshot mentions that 23 of the 142 first-place winners of The Challenge, or 16 percent, are minorities. In addition, it mentions that since 2006’s The Challenge Season 13, only seven cast members, or nine percent, who won the show are minorities.
“4 were Challengers and 3 were from other shows,” the screenshot says.
What happened in Uruguay for The Challenge?
While Theresa doesn’t provide any specifics about an incident, her mentions of two castmates and Uruguay might give some clues.
Season 25 of MTV’s show, The Challenge: Free Agents, was filmed in 2014 in Punta del Este, Uruguay, and Pucon, Chile.
Theresa, Bananas, and Laurel were castmates this season, with the latter two competitors winning the final.
Just before the final, Laurel eliminated Theresa in Puzzle Pyramid, which saw Bananas eliminate Chris “CT” Tamburello. The episode footage showed the women going first, followed by the men, although that may not have been the order they went in.
The elimination event involved different puzzles the competitors had to solve to move up three levels on a podium-like structure. The first competitor to complete their puzzles, reach the top of the structure, and ring the bell won.
“This is my worst nightmare,” Theresa said in a confessional about the puzzle elimination.
Laurel seemed to advance quickly through her first two puzzles as Theresa struggled. However, Theresa eventually completed the two puzzles and moved on to the final puzzle, as Laurel was still attempting to solve it.
It involved placing squares with numbers on them so that each row, column, and diagonal line equaled 15. In the footage (below), Theresa thought she’d solved it and asked for a check, but host TJ Lavin told her it was incorrect.
Soon after, the footage shows Laurel calling for a check and winning the event, sending Theresa home.
That season’s final featured $350,000 in prize money, with first place man and woman receiving $125,000 each. The second-place man and woman received $35,000 each, while third place received $15,000 each.
The Real World: Portland’s Jonny Reilly finished second for the men, followed by The Real World: San Diego’s Zach Nichols. For the women, Laurel finished ahead of The Real World: Las Vegas star Nany Gonzalez and The Real World: Brooklyn’s Devyn Simone.
After losing the elimination, Theresa received a send-off speech from TJ and shook his hand with a brief hug. She also said goodbye to her castmates without any adverse remarks aimed at anyone.
“There’s nothing more painful than losing this way to her, especially out of all people. It sucks,” Theresa said in her teary-eyed post-elimination confessional interview.
It’s unclear if Theresa’s recent X message refers to this situation and suggests Laurel had help from Bananas or if something else not captured on film happened that season.
The Challenge: Battle of the Eras airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
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