After The Challenge Season 40 cast reveal, fans likely have their wishlists of competitors they felt were snubbed or deserved a spot in the epic 40-person cast.
Viewers mentioned a former champion who hasn’t returned to the show since a previous incident.
Zach Nichols, who hasn’t appeared on the show since War of the Worlds 2, might be another former champion that fans would’ve liked to see.
He’s since moved on to podcasting, where he discusses The Challenge with his co-host, Pierre Bacall.
During a recent installment of his Zach Nichols Podcast, Pierre mentioned MTV’s Season 40, The Challenge: Battle of the Eras.
He jokingly said the “biggest snub” was Zach’s former The Real World and The Challenge castmate, Frank Sweeney, before saying it was Zach.
Zach reacts to not being part of the Season 40 cast
During the Zach Nichols Podcast, Zach’s co-host suggested that anyone who ever appeared in The Challenge was eligible for Season 40 since they “fit the theme” of the show’s eras.
However, Zach quickly addressed how he viewed the new Challenge season’s theme.
“I think part of the theme, though, is you have to be controlled,” Zach said, adding, “I don’t fit that theme.”
In an Instagram podcast clip, Zach’s co-host Pierre called Zach the “biggest snub on this list” based on his era and the other cast members.
“I mean, I’d always love to compete, but if it means that I stood up for myself in the past and I have an opinion, then I’m OK with it,” Zach said.
“I like 90 percent of this cast,” he said, adding, “If you’re gonna use the word’ legend,’ we can’t loosely throw that word around.”
“So when I look at this cast, I do see some people that I wouldn’t consider legends,” Zach said.
Among the cast members that might be considered legends are multi-time winners Johnny Bananas, Chris “CT” Tamburello, Cara Maria Sorbello, Jordan Wiseley, Derrick Kosinski, Mark Long, Darrell Taylor, and Rachel Robinson.
Zach competed in nine seasons of MTV’s show and reached four finals. In 2012, he won Battle of the Seasons alongside several castmates from The Real World.
Zach previously revealed The Challenge may have cut ties with him
Earlier this year, Zach opened up about why he hasn’t returned to The Challenge since Season 34, and it might be due to butting heads with producers while filming MTV’s show.
During a podcast episode in March, he spoke about suffering an injury while competing in The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 but said his family physician cleared him to return for the next MTV season, Total Madness.
However, he claimed that despite the network “ordering” for him to appear that season, a high-up network representative informed him he’d failed his physical and couldn’t participate.
Zach said he told the individual that wasn’t true, but they claimed they were “staring at [the] failed physical.”
While the individual said they’d check into it and get back to him, Zach said he followed up later. However, the next person he talked to acted like his previous conversation about the failed physical never happened.
He claimed during his podcast he’d learned about a message sent out to someone from a producer connected to The Challenge who previously butted heads with him.
“I will do whatever it takes to make sure that kid never gets on another show,” Zach claimed the producer’s message said.
Zach didn’t compete in the season, although his showmance and now wife, Jenna Compono, did. Zach still appeared in some episodes via video chat for conversations with Jenna due to an ongoing storyline about relationship issues they were dealing with at the time.
Neither has returned for any version of The Challenge since, for various reasons, including getting married and having children.
“Long story short, I’ve always been someone- I’m not really good with people having authority over me, I like to be in charge of my own destiny,” Zach shared during his podcast earlier this year.
“I don’t want anyone to walk all over me,” he said, per The Ashley’s Reality Roundup.
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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Zach is an overhyped baby that is abusive towards women. Don’t come back.