After The Amazing Race stars.
With Challenge USA contestants being pulled from the first three seasons of Love Island, fans of that show and The Challenge saw some of their favorites compete to earn the opportunity to compete on The Challenge: Global Championship exclusively on Paramount+. Throughout the season, Love Island stars discovered how to navigate a Challenge house, and some surprised other challengers and the audience with how they were able to compete.
Cely Vazquez
Picked by the winners of the week, Angela and Tyson, to go into elimination because the whole team was from Love Island. Cely and her partner, Javonny, were eliminated in the first arena of the season after playing “Knot So Fast.”
She and Javonny had 20 minutes to wrap and knot a 250-foot rope as much as they could within a pyramid, then switched pyramids with Azah and Kyland. Whoever unknots the rope the fastest stays in the game, and unfortunately, Cely and Javonny couldn’t get the job done.
Javonny Vega
Fan-favorite on Love Island season 3, Javonny became a Challenge rookie sent home too early to show what he’s capable of.
After the first challenge involved solving math equations while rappelling down a building, only answering once on the ground, and being eliminated in the first arena, Javonny never had much of an opportunity to show his competitive abilities. Javonny was easy to send into elimination when the winners were from Big Brother and Survivor with no ties to Love Island, and his partner was fellow Love Islander Cely.
Cashel Barnett
After having a strong relationship that crashed and burned with Kyra Green on Love Island season 1, The Challenge USA didn’t treat him much better. Cashel competed alongside ex-Big Brother houseguest Tiffany in the second elimination of the season “Knowledge is Powered.”
Unfortunately for Cashel, he and Tiffany couldn’t defeat Cayla and James from The Amazing Race. The two teams pedaled stationary bikes, charging a power station that would turn on lights and make symbols appear; they then had to memorize and duplicate the symbols.
Melvin “Cinco” Holland Jr.
After coming in last place in the daily challenge, Cinco and his partner, Azah, were automatically put into elimination. Cinco was eliminated in USA’s fifth arena after failing to complete “A Dark Turn” faster than Leo and Sarah.
Tied together, each team goes into a dark room feeling for film reels of different sizes before identifying and ordering reels correctly outside the room. However, Sarah and Leo out-strategized Cinco and Azah, ending his time on The Challenge after proving himself to be an athletic threat in the competition.
Shannon St. Clair
After her performance on Challenge USA, Shannon may be a female player fans want to see on the main MTV series. Unfortunately, Shannon was eliminated in the season’s sixth elimination.
Her team was selected to compete by the week’s winners after she appeared to get injured in the daily challenge. Without feeling 100%, Shannon couldn’t finish “Spelling Eeb” with Derek faster than Justine and Enzo, sending her home. After struggling with wanting to compete or go home, Shannon showed that she could compete once she set her mind to it.
Kyra Green
The week’s daily challenge winners chose Kyra and her partner Kyland for elimination because they realized she was sick, making this the perfect time to get rid of two major threats in the competition. Kyra, at full health, was too strong of a competitor to stay in the house.
Against Alyssa and Leo, Kyra and Kyland competed in the seventh elimination, “Ball & Chain.” They ultimately just couldn’t get the win without the answer to how many times Madonna had been married, ending their time on The Challenge.
Cashay Proudfoot
One of the most popular Challenge USA players, according to Instagram followers, Cashay was selected by the week’s daily challenge winners to compete in the ninth elimination of the season and the first solo women’s elimination against Sara in “In a Roll.”
Cashay established the “Fab Five” alliance too late in the game and ultimately didn’t make the correct deals to save her from the arena the way other women did. Overall as a competitor, Cashay made Love Island fans proud of how far she made it.
Justine Ndiba
The last Love Island contestant standing was Justine. However, finals weren’t new to Justine, considering she made it to the end of Love Island, winning her season of the show. While she may not have won the final of Challenge USA, after quitting due to the weather conditions and her body’s reaction to them, Justine still showed her strength as a competitor.
Without the overall win, Justine proved that just because she’s from Love Island doesn’t mean she doesn’t have what it takes for The Challenge.
