Why Did ‘The Challenge’ Stars Nelson Thomas, Josh Goldstein, and Leo Dionicio Leave the Game?
What To Know
- The latest episode of The Challenge was full of twists, including the disqualification of three players.
- Here, we piece together the clues about those unexpected exits.
As an early preview clip from The Challenge‘s latest episode foretold, three players unexpectedly left the game.
The previous week’s cliffhanger was indeed the start of host T.J. Lavin‘s announcement, which continued at the top of Wednesday’s (September 16) segment titled, “Is This Safe?” Warning: The following post contains spoilers for The Challenge Season 42 Episode 8.
After T.J. arrived, he explained, “You know it’s never good when I show up to the house. Leo [Dionicio], Nelson [Thomas], and Josh [Goldstein] all broke the code of conduct here on The Challenge, so they’re all gone.”
That was all the reasoning T.J. gave, and the other contestants, while surprised, quickly moved on to the business of figuring out new captains and team strategies before the next daily.
So why did the triple disqualification spree happen? Well, Paramount+ has not made any public comment on the matter at this time, but several rumor sites revealed, ahead of the season’s premiere, that there was an incident that ultimately involved all three men. According to these reports, Leo used a slur during a game with Nelson, and Josh repeated the word; then, Nelson, in a moment of anger, caused damage to the house’s kitchen, and all three were removed from the game.
The episode itself did not show any of these allegedly inciting incidents. Though Josh and Nelson were shown arguing about Josh’s captaincy in a prior episode, that dispute did not escalate to any actionable level that was shown.
The rest of the newest episode continued without much more detail or reaction; even as Tori Deal burned a drawing she’d made of the eliminated contestants, joking that it was cursed, she called their absences “mysterious.” From there, the Gray Team selected Chris Underwood as captain, and Team Blue opted for Alexis Lete to lead the show first, with the other two women (Cara Maria Sorbello and Anna Leigh Wilson) taking their turns in the weeks to follow.
In the daily, “Mean Cuisine,” the teams had to row to boat piers and select disgusting food items for their opponents to eat. Since Team Orange had two vegans on the team, Tori and Izzy Fairthorne, they sat out of the eating portion, and Lete pulled off a feat of eating to bring Team Blue to a much-needed victory.
Jonne Roriz / Paramount+
Afterwards, T.J. had more jaw-dropping news for the players: The captain of the team that won his final would get to decide whether and how to divide the cash prize. This left everyone side-eyeing their leaders, but there was still the business of an elimination bout to get to.
Though Tori asked T.J. whether it was even an option to nominate herself, as captain, when she had the green light to do so, that turned out to be an academic exercise. Instead, she revealed, it was Izzy who’d go in. For Team Gray, Chris put up Cassidy Clark.
The arena, “Slideshow,” required the women to push against a shared sliding door to see the puzzle key underneath and arrange their photos in that samae sequence. Though Izzy gave a valiant effort, she ultimately allowed Cassidy too much space to see beneath the door and complete her puzzle first. This made Cassidy a four-time elimination winner and sent Izzy on her way home.
That wasn’t the last bit of drama for the day, either. After the arena, T.J. announced that because of the earlier exits, Team Gray and Team Blue would have to merge and choose a new captain for their now-combined crew.
The Challenge, Wednesdays, Paramount+
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