After a season of intense competition in the mountains of Chile, Olivia Kaiser and Yeremi Hykel have been crowned the winners of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats. They fought their way past three other teams in a punishing two-day final that tested endurance and willpower to claim the grand prize. The finale aired on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, on MTV, concluding a season that began on July 30 .
The winning duo took home a $425,000 share of the show’s $500,000 total prize pool. This victory marks a major moment for both competitors: it is Olivia Kaiser’s first championship win and Yeremi Hykel’s debut victory in his first season on the show .
How Olivia and Yeremi Won the Final Challenge
The final leg of the competition was a brutal ascent in the Andes Mountains, pushing the four remaining teams to their absolute limits . The finalists were Olivia Kaiser and Yeremi Hykel, Sydney Segal and Turbo รamkฤฑran, Michaela Bradshaw and Cedric Hodges, and Theo Campbell and Adrienne Naylor.
The finale’s second day began after a grueling overnight task where only one teammate could rest in a tent while the other had to balance on a narrow log for hours . The race to the summit involved several difficult checkpoints. The first was a partner trivia challenge to unlock a combination lock, which Sydney and Turbo won decisively .
The next obstacle was a giant game of Connect Four. Olivia and Yeremi lost this game to Sydney and Turbo, and then again to the teams of Theo and Adrienne and Michaela and Cedric, putting them in last place . Despite this setback, they began an incredible comeback during the final mountain climb. Pushing through exhaustion, they first passed Theo and Adrienne, then overtook Michaela and Cedric, who were struggling with an ankle injury .
In the last stretch, they closed in on the leading team, Sydney and Turbo. With a final burst of energy, Olivia and Yeremi reached the mountaintop first, unlocking the final box to claim their championship .
โCome on, Yeremi. Almost there,โ Olivia was heard urging her partner in the final moments of the climb .
The Winners React to Their Victory
After their win, both champions shared powerful and emotional reactions. Olivia Kaiser, a veteran competitor from Love Island USA, spoke about overcoming doubt.
โEveryone that has ever told me that Iโm not good enough or I canโt or the voices in my head that said I couldnโt or Iโm not good enough have all gone silent,โ Olivia said. โIโm a champ. I got exactly what I wanted and I got exactly what I deserved.โ
For Yeremi Hykel, a newcomer from The Amazing Race, the win was life-changing. He became emotional thinking about his mother’s support.
โThis was so f***ing hard. But we did it. We did it together,โ Yeremi said in a confessional. โThis money is going to change my life. Itโs going to change my momโs life. Iโm just thinking about what my mom told me and she said, โYeremi, no matter what, fight with every last breath in you and you can do it.โโ
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Results for the Other Final Teams
The other teams faced their own battles during the final push. Sydney Segal and Turbo รamkฤฑran secured second place and a $50,000 prize . Their race ended dramatically when Turbo began showing severe signs of hypothermia near the summit. He required assistance getting down the mountain and was later airlifted out for medical care. Following the finale, Turbo promised fans he would return to the competition “stronger and stronger” .
Michaela Bradshaw and Cedric Hodges finished in third place, earning $25,000. Cedric, a rookie from Big Brother, admitted he underestimated the difficulty of the final.
โIโm not going to lie. Coming into these finals as a rookie, I was definitely naive,โ Cedric said. โI thought it was going to be hard and one of the most challenging things in my life but I didnโt know to this extent.โ
Theo Campbell and Adrienne Naylor finished in fourth place and did not win a cash prize .
Olivia Kaiser’s Personal Revelation After the Finale
In a surprising personal update following the season, Olivia Kaiser revealed she had a major secret during filming. She shared that she was seven weeks pregnant while competing in the grueling finale . She took a pregnancy test with her partner, fellow finalist Theo Campbell, just hours after filming wrapped .
In a video posted on social media, Kaiser expressed her fear before checking the test result. Theo Campbell looked at the result first and celebrated the news, telling her, โCongratulations, you just won a final, pregnant.โ
Reflecting on the season, Olivia explained that the physical toll of early pregnancy affected her performance. She described feeling unusually tired and lethargic during the middle of the competition, which she initially attributed to the stress of the game .
Olivia Kaiser and Theo Campbell welcomed their baby boy, Atlas, on November 20, 2025, just days before the finale aired .
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