Who wins ‘The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion?’ The eliminations, finalists, and overall winner, explained

Warning: the following article contains potential spoilers for ‘The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion.‘

Everyone’s favorite competition series is back and better than ever with a brand new iteration — The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion.

According to MTV, “In the ruthless world of The Challenge, this newest group of non-champion, next-gen players must work together to win the grand prize, but it’s still anyone’s game,” ultimately leaving fans of The Challenge on the edge of their seats.

Filming throughout the month of June in the picturesque landscapes of Croatia, The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion brought together fan-favorite challengers who are yet to win a season of the hit competition show for the ultimate chance at redemption, as well as a massive cash prize. Beginning with a $300,000 prize pot, contestants had the chance to raise the winnings to $1 million by succeeding in a series of pass or fail challenges, with each win adding $50,000 to the grand total. Failing the challenges in episodes one and two, the stakes definitely are at an all time high!

The fan-favorite challengers competing on The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion are as follows:

• Asaf Goren
• Callum Izzard
• Chauncey Palmer
• Ciarran Stott
• Corey Lay
• Ed Eason
• Emanuel Neagu
• Horacio Gutierrez
• Hughie Maughan
• James Lock
• Jay Starrett
• Kyland Young
• Berna Canbeldek
• “Big T” Fazakerley
• Colleen Schneider
• Jessica Brody
• Jujuy Jiménez
• Melissa Reeves
• Michele Fitzgerald
• Moriah Jadea
• Nurys Mateo
• Olivia Kaiser
• Ravyn Rochelle
• Zara Zoffany

What is the Mercenary Twist on The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion?

While the first four eliminations will be a house vote followed by a callout, mercenaries will be added to the game afterwards, making the competition more difficult than ever before.

During the Mercenary Twist, the house will vote two players into elimination, and their names will be entered into a draw. The mercenary (who is a legendary The Challenge champion) will draw out of three swords, which will consist of the two names that were voted into elimination, as well as a “Champ’s Choice.” Whoever is selected will compete against the mercenary in an elimination challenge, and if the mercenary wins, $15,000 will be taken from the prize pot — yikes!

The mercenaries competing on The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion are as follows:

• Jordan Wiseley
• Kaz Crossley
• Devin Walker
• Kaycee Clark
• Tori Deal
• Darrell Taylor
• Laurel Stucky
• Cara Maria Sorbello
• Brad Fiorenza
• CT Tamburello

What is the elimination order for The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion?

As mentioned, the first four eliminations will be a house vote followed by a callout, with mercenaries coming into play after a fourth challenger is eliminated from the beloved competition series. As we saw in episodes one and two, “Big T” defeated Jessica and James defeated Chauncey, however, the next two eliminations are yet to be seen.

When the mercenaries come into play, things will get more complicated, with Ciarran losing to Jordan, Kaz losing to “Big T,” Callum losing to Devin, “Big T” losing to Kaycee, Melissa losing to Tori, Darrell losing to Kyland, Laurel losing to Ravyn, Cara Maria losing to Michele, Brad losing to Kyland, and Asaf losing to CT.

To follow the Mercenary Twist, a brand new element of the game will be introduced, which results to the last place finisher being purged in the daily challenge. Then, the winner of the challenge will get to save one person, then that person will save someone, and so on, until the three people weren’t saved compete in a private elimination.

Prior to the finale, Ed, Ravyn, and Michele will purge, and Zara, Horacio, Kyland, James, and Olivia will be knocked out of the competition in the private elimination challenges.

Who wins The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion?

As longtime host TJ Lavin said during the premiere episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, there will only be one winner, regardless of whether they are a male or female.

According to a speculative post from @Jul4s25 on The Challenge Wiki, Jay will be eliminated by Corey and Moriah will be eliminated by Nurys on the first day of the final, leaving us with our top five finishers. The final placements are as follows:

• Winner: Emanuel Neagu
• Runner-up: Nurys Mateo
• Third place: Colleen Schneider
• Fourth place: Corey Lay
• Fifth place: Berna Canbeldek

To see how Emanuel’s win comes to fruition, catch brand new episodes of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion every Wednesday at 8pm ET/PT on MTV.