In 2017, MTV aired its milestone 30th season of The Challenge during which 30 of the “dirtiest” contestants of all time participated in The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30 and two players walked away with $450,000 apiece.
Filled with backstabbing and power plays galore, Dirty 30 was an individual-based game, and like the typical Challenge season, each round of play featured a daily challenge and an elimination game. The men and women were placed into separate brackets and each “Presidio” ⏤ or elimination grounds ⏤ featured battles between two players of the same sex. When the dust settled and the final challenge was in the books, two victors walked away nearly half a million dollars richer. But how did they do it?
Jordan Wiseley returned from the Redemption House to beat out the men
Jordan Wiseley entered Dirty 30 a reigning champ after winning season 26’s Battle of the Sexes II with partner Sarah Rice. He made the final in his Challenge debut, placing third on season 24’s Rivals II with fellow Real World: Portland alum Marlon Williams and began filming the season after a quick stint on The Challenge’s Pros vs. Champs spin-off. Several other male heavy-hitters joined him on Dirty 30 including champions like John “Johnny Bananas” Devananzio and newcomers like Cory Wharton.
The winners of Dirty 30’s daily challenge were not only safe from competing in the Presidio, but also had to nominate one man and one woman to fight for their lives. After those two names were determined, the players then headed to the Presidio, where the losers of the daily challenge were eligible to face off against the winners’ picks. This was when the Double Cross ⏤ the method used to determine elimination matchups ⏤ came into play. Each player took a turn drawing a concealed block until someone grabbed the one with two “X’s.” That challenger then had the power to send any loser of the same sex into the sand.
Jordan was among the victors in the game’s first daily purge challenge and was thus safe from instant elimination. Although he avoided being sent to the “Redemption House” initially, he eventually found himself in a loser-go-home redemption challenge. He made his first trip down to the Double Cross after being on the losing daily challenge team, but Nelson drew the double-X block and chose to send Tony in against Ammo Hall instead. Jordan didn’t avoid elimination the next go-around, however: he was voted into the Presidio by the day’s winners and faced off against Ammo after Ammo was double-crossed by Derrick K.
“Striptease” ⏤ a blindfolded game that saw contestants ripping patches off of each other ⏤ was the first and only proper elimination contest Jordan competed in, but that didn’t mean he was finished with the Presidio. He stood in the Double Cross lineup at the next three Presidios, pulling the Double Cross three times in a row, and after his third straight one, he landed his first daily challenge win of the season. He was a part of the “Green” team who, in a season first, was asked to instantly eliminate two players. The group forced CT and Cara Maria Sorbello to move into the Redemption House, a fate that Jordan soon met himself. Episode 15 marked the final elimination battle-back challenge and Jordan’s only hope of making the Dirty 30 final. On the male end, he and CT clawed their way into the regular house by triumphing over the likes of Johnny Bananas and Leroy Garrett. Jordan then won the last daily alongside three others, saving himself from the final purge of Dirty 30.
Three men and three women competed in the final challenge, with Jordan up against CT and Derrick K. In yet another twist, the winners weren’t revealed until the Dirty 30 reunion show. After watching the final challenge, it became clear that Jordan had done enough to secure the bag and he was awarded $450,000, with Derrick receiving $35,000 and CT earning $15,000 for second and third place, respectively.
Camila Nakagawa won 2 elimination rounds en route to her second championship
Camila Nakagawa joined Dirty 30 as a Challenge champ after winning season 22’s Battle of the Exes alongside Johnny Bananas. She had also podiumed two other times — in Rivals II and season 29’s Invasion of the Champions — with The Challenge XXX ultimately becoming her 10th and final flagship appearance. She was placed in the women’s bracket against notable names like Cara Maria and Veronica Portillo and was one of only four competitors to never see the Redemption House. She also avoided being eliminated throughout the entire game despite fighting in two Presidios.
Like Jordan, Camila won the first heat in the opening purge and went on to win four of the next six dailies. She was at risk of being sent onto the elimination grounds once during that stretch, but Jemmye Carroll’s decision to backstab Jenna kept her safe. Camila then found herself in back-to-back do-or-die situations. Jemmye was voted into the Presidio by the Green team and found herself opposite Camila after Jenna drew the Double Cross. In “Body Check,” Camila was victorious in the physical elimination round and was then escorted into the Presidio by Jenna. After Tori snagged the Double Cross, Camila was pitted against Britni Thornton and once again showed off her championship mettle by besting her opponent in “The Reel World,” a contest in which the players ran on top of a massive wheel while reeling in a long rope.
Camila fell into the final purge of the season with Jenna and Kailah and ended the besties’ games after successfully traversing a massive beam while hanging from a rope in “Snaking Your Way Back In.” The female bracket turned out to be more competitive than the men’s, but Camila ultimately did enough to notch her second championship and the $450,000 grand prize, with Cara Maria receiving $35,000 for placing second and Tori earned $15,000 for placing third.
Despite being one of the female faces of the franchise, Camila’s win was ultimately bittersweet. At one point during Dirty 30, she and Leroy Garrett got into a heated argument during which she used racially-charged language against him. Years later, Leroy posted an Instagram video saying that Camila’s words had deeply hurt him, which prompted an apology from Camila and an affirmation that she was enrolled in “anti-racism courses” and did “not condone racism.” Although MTV and Bunim/Murray never publicly commented on why Camila’s Challenge career came to an abrupt end, Jemmye revealed in a YouTube video that Camila was banned due to her comments. The Challenge issued a public apology to Leroy and Dirty 30 became Camila’s final Challenge appearance.
