Horacio insists he actually won 'The Challenge' season 40 elimination against Derrick (2024)

Warning: This article containsspoilersforThe Challenge: Battle of the Eras,season 40, episode 4, "My Trivia Era."

Horacio Gutiérrez Jr. hates to cause any drama on The Challenge — all he wants to do is compete, but he says he just can't keep quiet about what really went down in this week's episode that led to his exit.

Horacio was automatically sent into the elimination when Era 4 lost the trivia challenge, and Era 1's Derrick Kosinski was chosen as his opponent. Their endurance elimination ended in an extremely confusing photo finish, and host TJ Lavin announced that Derrick beat Horacio. However, footage on the episode showed that Derrick did not place his 40th peg into the wall, while Horacio had all 40 of his placed correctly.

In the hours since the episode aired on MTV, multiple cast members have spoken out against the ruling, including Horacio's girlfriend Nurys Mateo and competitors Devin Walker and Jordan Wiseley. Now, Horacio is breaking his silence in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, insisting he actually won against Derrick. "I'm not feeling any better after watching the episode," Horacio tells EW. "I'm always going to be extremely hard on myself, but there has not been one single day where I have not thought about it."

Below, Horacio reveals what actually happened in that elimination and what wasn't shown in the episode — including a claim that a member of production assisted Derrick. (Representatives for The Challenge did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Was it as close as it seemed in the episode?

HORACIO GUTIÉRREZ JR.: It was definitely close. Most of the time [Kyland] was telling me, "You're up by one! You're up by two!" I still think I won, but it is what it is.

A lot of cast members, especially Nurys, have been outspoken on social media about how they think you won as well. Why is that? What actually happened?

Everybody has their version of the story. But my truth is not just my truth, but also [what] everyone else on stage saw, which is that there were things that happened that were definitely not [in the episode]. At one point, my ball got stuck while it was going down the platform, so while I'm picking up these pegs, TJ is trying to blow the horn — and TJ's horn never frickin' works, which I hated this season. So he's telling me to stop, Kyland is telling me to stop, and I stopped for a solid five to 10 seconds, which in that type of game, was extremely crucial. Meanwhile Derrick is still running. They don't show that.

Another piece that is not seen is the pegs were not stable. They would fall, and you had to pick them up. They don't show, on his side, someone [from production] was coming in to help put his pegs back in. That's not me seeing that, that was the entire cast seeing that. Nobody came in to help me when my pegs would fall — I would have to take my time and put them back in. It's things like that where other cast mates came in and I appreciate them. It's people — obviously not Nurys and Kyland but — it's people who don't owe anything to me, like Devin, Jordan. I truly appreciate them and many others who are willing to say the version that I think truly happened.

I know that when I finished my 40th peg and when I called for the check, the first thing I do is look over to see where Derrick is at, and I vividly remember he was missing the top right corner [peg]. When I did get eliminated and I went home, the only person I talked to was my brother, and I was like, "He was missing the top right corner," and so to relive that and see that was something [that happened], I wasn't wrong. I wasn't speculating. I called for a check and at one point, TJ actually blowed the horn and says, "Horacio wins."

Oh wow.

Yeah, that's a whole other thing that was not seen. This is not me trying to bash The Challenge in any way, shape, or form. I absolutely love the franchise and what it's done for me and my life. I'll always be so grateful and I love the game. But I have to state the things that really happened, and that's what went down. I was said as the winner, and then Jenny comes over and tackles me, we're happy and celebrating, I walk over to my team, and they're like, "You're seven and one in eliminations." I walk over to Derrick and I give him a handshake and I say, "Heck of a battle, man." And he's still missing one. And then he fixes them there, he puts the final peg in — this is when it's all over — and I tell him, "Do you mind throwing a basket on my platform? I want to throw one on yours." I just wanted to see if there was a difference in how fast they would drop. We did that, and as soon as we do that, that's when they were like, "Don't touch anything, we have to check."

They went to go check the film for a solid 45 minutes to an hour where we were just waiting. They come back with that final decision and that's what went down. And there's more things but that's basically what happened.

I'm glad you mentioned Derrick's top corner peg because it's clear in the episode it wasn't in the hole, it was laying on the row below it. A lot of fans on social media have been pointing that out as well. How did that play into the final decision?

After they did whatever they did for an hour and they announced that Derrick won, I'm usually the person to just stay quiet in defeat, like, "Okay, I accept it," but this one, it's still a pill that I can't swallow, truly. I asked TJ, "Can you please tell me why he won? And can you also tell me why production was helping him? Somebody from production was putting in his pegs. I didn't get that." And he just said, "He put the 40 pegs in before you did." And that's it.

I didn't want to argue with TJ because I like TJ, and at the end of the day, he's doing what he has to do. It was nothing against Derrick either. But if you're doing a puzzle and you finished the puzzle, but then you lose a piece, yeah it was already completed but you knock a piece down, and then somebody else calls, "Check," then they go back and check the tapes and they're like, "At one point you had it finished, but you just didn't know, so you win?" Even though that person never called for a check, never realized it. To me, I was like, "That's not my problem."

And TJ also said that Derrick had to do an extra run because he didn't know he could just pick up the peg and put it in. Well, that's not my problem. That's not my fault. The rules for us were first person to get all 40 pegs in first and call for a check wins. He might've maybe put all 40, I'll give him that. Hat off to you. But at the end of the day, you never called for a check. You never actually completed it in that sense. There was never a time where your entire thing was full of 40 pegs and you called for a check.

It wasn't until the end when I came over and said, "Heck of a fight," that he arranged it. Even Jenny spoke up at the time as well, once they announced Derrick won and I talked to TJ, Jenny's like, "I can't keep quiet. It's not fair, and we think that Horacio won and it's just not right." And then nobody responded. Everybody just stayed quiet and that was it.

How does it feel having Jenny then and other cast members now speaking out against the ruling?

Seeing them speak up for me definitely means a lot. At the end of the day, I'm competition for them, so they have no reason to try to justify anything. They're going out of their way to step in and say, "We see you as competition for us, but that's not right." It makes me more emotional. Because there's so many times where I go back to my soccer days where I'm like, "No, that was not wrong," but that's just my version, and nobody else is seeing that. Now it reassures how I feel about the whole situation, knowing that it's not just my version, it's everybody's version of what they're looking at, and I get it. Derrick will also have his version, because he lived it in a certain type of way. But everybody else on the stage was looking at this, so it is nice to hear them agree. I really appreciate the support that they have been giving me, but at the end of the day, it doesn't really change anything.

You didn't want to argue with TJ, but did you talk to producers about it? Did you ask to see the footage? How long did it take you to accept the ruling?

I'm going to be honest, I didn't fight, and maybe I should have. At that point I'm like, "There's no turning back." I had a feeling like, "Yeah, this is done. They're going to get me out." I don't want to say I accepted it completely, because I don't accept it now, but I just had to roll with it. I wasn't going to sit there and argue with TJ, with production of, "Let me see the film." I didn't want to make an entire scene. That's just not who I am. I know many others probably would've, and they're right to do so. I just didn't feel like that's me.

It wasn't until that same night when I felt it. That's when the tears of desperation and anxiety [hit], and I didn't know what to do. I have not accepted that, but I have to learn to just roll with it, and that's it. There's no changing anything.

How has this experience changed how you see your future on The Challenge?

I truly don't know what's next for me. I love The Challenge. I went back-to-back-to-back for three seasons, and it was an amazing experience and I absolutely loved every second, even the bad seconds. Right now, I don't know where I'm going, not even just with The Challenge, but in life in general. I'm kind of just trying to cope with everything.

And to be honest, I had just been waiting to watch this episode, and then from there be like, "What's next?" Nobody had seen what had happened, nobody knew what had happened, and so now that it's out, maybe take a breather, take a little bit of weight off your back — even though I still feel it, because at the end of the day, I failed. That's how I see it. Now it's taking a step back, finally, after months, and I'm going to analyze what's the next move.

There were rumors you were saying you were retiring after this season, which would be heartbreaking.

Yeah, believe me, a lot of people have sending plenty of messages and support. It would always be hard to just step away, but yeah, I mean, my emotions are kind of everywhere and only time will tell.

Did you walk away with any new vendettas against Bananas, Laurel ... or even production?

No, not really. Everybody was always very nice to me. I'm not going to say, "I've got a vendetta against production." I just have to roll with it, and that's it. I am still extremely disappointed and angry, but it is what it is. If there was any season to win, it had to be this one. To me it's like, "This is my time to prove that what happened on 38 was not a fluke. What happened on 39, it wasn't supposed to happen that way. This is now my time. Nobody's going to stop me." I guess I spoke a little too soon and ran into some people I just can't beat.

Another [thing] that they don't show, but I said it multiple times, is that I'm so, so sorry to everybody because I've always thought I was the most overrated. And now having this happen, even though there were so many things that were out of my control, I still blame myself because I shouldn't have let it be that close. I just proved that I am the most overrated. That's just my mindset. I failed. And so I apologize to everybody that truly believed in me, in my community of all the Hispanics, Latinos, Mexicans, they're like, "You're a great representation for us." The amount of support has been completely unreal, and so it's like, "Damn, I'm so, so sorry for that."

Horacio, you're breaking my heart. Out of your three seasons, this is the fluke season. Hopefully, if you continue to come back, you'll see that for yourself.

Thank you. That means a lot. And thank you for listening and hearing my side of things. I could hear it in my voice at times as I was talking, I'm like, "Don't cry." I could feel the emotions taking over, but we got through it and I'm glad.

The Challenge: Battle of the Erasairs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.