:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/TheChallengeseason41finale-120325-01-939062c5924b444fae9a1ac74c824004.jpg "The Challenge season 41 winners reveal how they went from last place to first, production 'fluke,...")
&34;I think production took an extra rope on accident,&34; [SPOILER] says of the missing prop that forced a team to endure a 5minute penalty. The Challenge season 41 winners reveal how they went from last place to first, production 'fluke,' and more &34;I think production took an extra rope on accident,&34; [SPOILER] says of the missing prop that forced a team to endure a 5minute penalty. By Sydney Bucksbaum :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/headshotb5dc24df8d5d43d1a16c9ce0e0383119.jpg) Sydney Bucksbaum Sydney Bucksbaum is a staff writer at .
"I think production took an extra rope on accident," [SPOILER] says of the missing prop that forced a team to endure a 5-minute penalty.
The Challenge season 41 winners reveal how they went from last place to first, production 'fluke,' and more
"I think production took an extra rope on accident," [SPOILER] says of the missing prop that forced a team to endure a 5-minute penalty.
By Sydney Bucksbaum
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/headshot-b5dc24df8d5d43d1a16c9ce0e0383119.jpg)
Sydney Bucksbaum
Sydney Bucksbaum is a staff writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2019 and is a published author. Her work has previously appeared in *TV Guide Magazine*, E! News/E! Online, *The Hollywood Reporter*, Mashable, Bustle, IGN, DCComics.com, Inverse, *The Daily Northwestern*, and more.
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December 3, 2025 9:30 p.m. ET
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'The Challenge' season 41 finalists. Credit:
**This article contains spoilers for *The Challenge: Vets and New Threats* finale. **
*The Challenge: Vets and New Threats* has officially crowned two new champions: Olivia Kaiser and rookie Yeremi Hykel.
It's a result that not even the new champs themselves thought was possible after they ended the first day of the grueling season 41 final in third place, and then got bumped down to last place after a disastrous Connect Four checkpoint. But thanks to Yeremi's ultra-marathon skills and Olivia's powerful endurance as she kept his pace, the two ultimately overtook every other team to cross the finish line in first place at the top of the Andes Mountains.
"My story is just a wild ride — I came in as a rookie, I was fearless, and then I got injured, kind of became fearful because of an injury like that, and then became a villain, fell in love, and then won, and now I'm a mom," Olivia tells *.* "I mean, it's been busy over here... For the split second that I had the energy, I was happy and proud that I could show that I am a gamer as well, not just a *Love Island*er that went in there to mess around."
Below, Olivia and Yeremi break down their shocking win, the production "fluke" that cost another team a major time penalty, and more.
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Yeremi Hykel and Olivia Kaiser on 'The Challenge' season 41.
**: Yeremi, you're now in the very exclusive club of rookies who won in their first season. Your former partner Aviv is also in that small group. Have you two spoken about that since your win?**
**YEREMI HYKEL: **Yeah, we definitely have. She's so happy for me, but there's always this unspoken thing where we're just both like, "I wish we were doing this together." That was the plan the whole time, and we were just backed into a corner where the only move that we could do was separate. But she's so proud of me, and she's like, "I already did this, so if I can do anything that I can to give you the best chance," she was going to do it.
**If you hadn't staked a claim on Olivia, and you stayed with Aviv and competed in that puzzle elimination against Michaela and Cedric, how do you think that would have went?**
**HYKEL: **I don't know. I think it would've went better than it did, because Aviv and Will hadn't worked together in a really long time, and their communication didn't look like it was as on point as I think me and Aviv's would have been in there. It was a double puzzle elimination. I'd like to think that me and Aviv would've done well, but Cedric and Michaela are both super, super smart and they're really good at puzzles.
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Olivia Kaiser on 'The Challenge' season 41.
**Turbo said that he believes you would have lost that elimination and not even made it to the final. What did you think of that?**
**HYKEL: **Turbo's just trying to talk s---, man. He says a lot of things, and one could arguably say that Turbo wouldn't even be in that final without Sydney. It's crazy because he's talking all this mess at the very end when we were supposed to be working together this entire time. It's kind of surprising to hear some of the comments that Turbo has.
**What did you think of how Turbo had to be airlifted off the mountain after crossing the finish line?**
**HYKEL:** I thought that was really funny. When you get to the top of that mountain, there's not a shiny helicopter there to take you down. They're literally like, "Now walk down the same way you came up," and you're like, "What the hell, are you serious?" For this entire character that Turbo puts on as being like an "alpha," it makes him feel like he's just the pinnacle of man, right? He wears blood for makeup. But he was the only one of this entire final to get dragged down by other people. When we did the swimming checkpoint, he was like, "Yeremi's cardio is so bad," but you are literally the only person that had to get other people to carry you off this mountain. Wow, dude. You are so far from what you think you are and you don't even know it. You'll look stupid and that sucks for you... I didn't talk to him at all until I saw him again at the reunion.
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Yeremi Hykel and Olivia Kaiser on 'The Challenge' season 41.
**At what point during the final did you realize you won? Was it when you passed Turbo and Sydney on that last part of the hike?**
**HYKEL: **It had to be when I saw the chest. We had this whole battle climbing next to Turbo and Sydney for what felt like 30 minutes, moving the pace of a snail on that mountain. Because we decided to make a move that was essentially taking on more physical strain by climbing a section of that trail versus taking the path, which Sydney and Turbo decided to take, that was ultimately the reason that we were able to overtake them in the end. It was shocking. I was just in complete disbelief that when we got there, we put our keys in, we opened it, it was a feeling that I've never felt before. It was beautiful.
**OLIVIA KAISER: **The final on TV looks hard, but it was the hardest thing I've ever done, and I hike all the time. When we were at Connect Four and we went from second place to fourth, we looked at each other and he's like, "We have to give it everything that we got." And I said, "I have been. I don't know if I have any more in me." But then Yeremi was like, "Liv, come on. Let's just place so I can get a little money. I'm broke." He doesn't even put pressure on me to win, he just wants us to do well. And something in my brain clicked where I was like, "Wow, I have a bigger purpose to fight for." Sometimes [just fighting for] myself isn't enough because I'm content with [what I have]. After that, I gave it everything I had, and I for some reason knew at Connect Four, if we just kept pushing the gas, we could win. At the end of the day, heart trumps everything else.
**HYKEL: **Connect Four, I can't even say it was a loss, it was just an ass-whooping. I just got battered down with that Connect Four. Turbo and Sydney got so far ahead, but you can see all of them scattered, separated on the path, on the incline. It's a daunting sight. So let's just push it and let's just get third. I think that really helped us not become defeated by the really daunting task that it was to think about even potentially getting back to second or even first.
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Yeremi Hykel on 'The Challenge' season 41.
**How much time separated you from Turbo and Sydney in second place?**
**HYKEL: **I would say probably five to 10 minutes, because we had gotten to the chest, opened it, we were [filming] our reactions, and we fell to the floor at one point just to try to get some rest. That was the first time we actually got to rest that entire day. And then we ended up seeing Sydney and Turbo getting up there a little bit later.
**Olivia, if you had found out that you were pregnant during the season, would you have left the show or would you have stayed?**
**KAISER: **Yeah, if I found out I was pregnant, I would definitely go home. I would have to go home — you can't compete pregnant, but also I would be like, "I need to go sort my real life out." My head would've gone totally out of the game, and also I would want my baby to be healthy and safe. I'm lucky enough where he's perfect. People are like, "Did you know? You shouldn't have run the final pregnant, you shouldn't have done this." I didn't know! I had no symptoms, I had no morning sickness. I was so thin at the time, and I just didn't know what to look for. I'd never been pregnant before. I think any woman that finds out they're pregnant on *The Challenge* leaves usually because of morning sickness. I was lucky enough where I was [already] in my sober era, so I think I had maybe three cocktails the entire season, if that. Thank God it worked out for me, but any person that finds out they're pregnant is going to leave the show.
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Olivia Kaiser on 'The Challenge' season 41.
**Yeremi, when did you find out that Olivia competed in the final with you while she was pregnant?**
**HYKEL: **There was some speculation inside [the house] that she might have been pregnant, but you don't take anything seriously, really. But it was probably a month after that, she ended up DMing me on Instagram and she sent me the ultrasound and broke the news, so that was so crazy. And I love that for her because she gets a lot of hate for her past performances, but this is just a testament to what she can do and what she can handle. And let me tell you, as somebody who is certified in doing hard s--- for a living, that final was difficult, so the fact that she was able to push through it and come out on top in that situation is extremely commendable.
**Yeremi, why didn't you stake a claim on Sydney for the second day of the final?**
**HYKEL: **Quite simply because I had just did that and I knew what that entailed. Running up that mountain was not fun. It was exceptionally challenging, and I had just gassed out my meter doing that StairMaster twice, and then doing that swim. When [TJ] said that, I was like, "Not me, big dog." And I just didn't feel any need to. I was confident in myself, I was confident in my abilities, and I was also confident in Olivia's resilience. If I'm with her and I keep her, I know that we're able to give this a good run.
**KAISER: **Sydney is obviously a G, and I think she would've won the entire thing, so it's nice that we had partners. Turbo held her back, who would've thought? We were so tired that even if Yeremi and Sydney wanted to be partners, I don't even think that they wouldn't have done it, because we knew that that was going to result in some kind of mountain climb. No one had the energy. At that point people were like, "Let's just get through the next day." I wasn't going to stick a claim. I think that Yeremi also saw me push myself, and knew that with me as a partner, he still would do well. He wouldn't have staked if I was horrible as a partner that needed to be carried.
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Olivia Kaiser and Yeremi Hykel on 'The Challenge' season 41.
**What was your reaction when Michaela and Cedric lost their rope? Did you know that Theo thinks he took theirs?**
**HYKEL: **I had draped my rope over my tent, and Cedric ran straight up to my tent trying to take my rope. And I was like, "Nope, that's not your rope, dog, that's mine," and he was like, "Oh my bad." That was crazy. Why would you think you misplaced your rope on my tent? We tore apart that camp looking for it and it was nowhere.
**KAISER: **I think it was a little bit of a fluke on production. The ropes shouldn't have been taken. None of them should have been misplaced. We didn't leave that campsite, so I think production took an extra rope on accident, just cleaning up some miscellaneous stuff. But there's no footage of it, so who knows? We'll never know. And honestly, if it was anyone else but Michaela and Cedric, maybe I would've been like, "Who did take your guys' rope?" But karma is literally a bitch. I was bullied all season by that girl, so it's catching up with you now.
'The Challenge' season 41 finale footage leaks early online and spoils ending for fans
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'The Challenge' stars welcome first baby while competing against each other in finale
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**What's your relationship with Michaela like now?**
**KAISER: **Oh, girl, there's zero relationship, and I love it that way. I like to surround myself with positive people that are fun. Me and Johnny do not get along in the game, clearly, but outside the game, it's never that serious. And with her, apparently it is. I don't like her, but I also don't not like her enough to try to crucify her name everywhere. I never did anything to her. If she wants to waste her energy on me, okay... The only reason I'm offended a little bit by Michaela is because she's bringing it into other things in my life where I'm like, "Dude, I don't understand the smoke." Even the other girls, like Aviv, Nany, Ashley, we didn't work together all season, but [we're good]. It's never that deep until it is, I guess.
**Yeremi, what do you think about Michaela and Cedric's recent podcast appearances where they haven't taken accountability for targeting you and Aviv despite being in an alliance with you?**
**HYKEL: **It was not only painful, but it was very surprising to hear that it was Michaela who asked for me to go in there and for me to think that Cedric's over here saying that he didn't know about it, but he 100 percent knew about it. I can't believe that I'm just getting played, straight up. It's a jarring feeling and it feels crazy. I'm not surprised to be honest with you, and I think what they did is completely fine — I'm not surprised that somebody in this game didn't want to run a final with an ultra-marathon runner. The only thing that I have an issue with is they try to portray this image that they're essentially taking flack that they don't deserve. And that right there is in itself a lack of accountability, because what they did was be untruthful and gaslighting. That, plain and simply put, is a shady game, but they don't want anybody to criticize them for playing a shady game. I just wish they would take some accountability for that.
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Yeremi Hykel and Olivia Kaiser on 'The Challenge' season 41.
**Were there any checkpoints or legs of the final that weren't shown?**
**KAISER: **No. This final was definitely a foot race. The checkpoints were all fairly easy. It was more just who can hike the fastest or the most consistently.
**Did you have any injuries that weren't shown?**
**KAISER: **Oh my gosh, yes. Everyone was injured, everyone was down bad. The first day I was hiking that loop, I overextended my hip and it was hurting the rest of the entire final. We were getting hypothermia and altitude sickness. I think it was probably maybe some kind of morning sickness starting to set in and not eating, since we only had a banana and a little pack of nuts. And afterwards, my knees, just like the impact on them, I was injured for a month or two. Theo ran the *War of the Worlds* final, and he said this was almost harder. But Yeremi gave me exactly what I needed, healthy communication as a team, and it worked, and I gave him what he needed, someone that wasn't going to stop or quit.
*This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.*
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