Stars Of MTV's The Challenge Who've Made The Most Money

MTV was an early pioneer in reality television, launching the groundbreaking "The Real World" way back in 1992. A few years later, the cable network revolutionized the genre again with "Road Rules," which eventually evolved into its more well-known competition-based format that predated shows like "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race." Initially, MTV's two main reality shows crossed over into "Real World/Road Rules Challenge" – but in 2010, for the 19th season, the show's title was shortened to "The Challenge" and no longer held to the tradition of only having contestants that appeared in previous iterations of "Real World" and-slash-or "Road Rules."

One of the upshots to opening up the field of potential cast members for "The Challenge" is the competition seems to have gotten a lot more intense in recent years. As the various challenges have been amped up to meet the talents of the competitors, so too have the prize money amounts been raised to better reward winners for some of the most physically and psychologically taxing events in reality show history. But this means that especially skilled players, particularly repeat winners, can make some serious bank on the show. Here are the competitors who have raked in the most cash on "The Challenge" so far. 

We already mentioned that Dee Nguyen was one of four contestants to split the $1 million final prize in Season 34. But that wasn't her first time on "The Challenge" — that distinction came by way of the first iteration of "War of the Worlds" in Season 33. Originally appearing on "Geordie Shore" — basically the U.K.'s version of "Jersey Shore" – Nguyen made it all the way to Episode 14.

After being part of the winning team in "War of the Worlds 2," Nguyen came back one more time for Season 35's "Total Madness." Though she was again eliminated before making it to the final, Dee managed to pocket $5,000 during that season for winning the challenge Throne Off, giving her a bit more total prize money than Rogan O'Connor at $255,000. But that'll most likely be the last dime she ever sees from the show, as MTV cut ties with her in 2020 following some unfortunate remarks she made regarding the Black Lives Matter movement.

One of the contestants that originally came from a non-MTV reality show brand is Kaycee Clark, who started out on "Big Brother" and then made her "Challenge" debut in Season 35's "Total Madness." She didn't win anything but finished pretty strongly, narrowly missing the top five. She improved a little in Season 36's "Double Agents," finishing fourth. That trajectory of getting progressively better each time continued through her third appearance – this time, taking it all for Season 37's "Spies, Lies & Allies" which earned her $400,000 on top of $3,000 she had already won from a previous mission.

Clark has thus far returned one more time, playing in Season 38's "Ride or Dies." She, along with teammate (and brother) Kenny Clark, initially exited the competition for undisclosed reasons, not revealing until a later interview with Entertainment Weekly that it was the result of testing positive for Covid-19. But they were allowed to come back later when their replacements – Emmy Russ and Nam Vo – were eliminated. Still, even with that second chance, the Clark siblings were also eliminated just before the final. 

Even before she made her "Challenge" debut during Season 34's "War of the Worlds 2," Jenny West already had proven herself a worthy competitor by being part of the winning team on the U.K. series "Survival of the Fittest" in 2018. But it wouldn't be until her second appearance the following season for "Total Madness" that she'd live up to those expectations, winning the game and $500,000 in prize money.

Fans of "The Challenge" have been somewhat confused by West's absence since her win, especially when she hasn't been responsible for or connected to any controversies that might have affected her future with the show. There are various articles that have been written that theorize reasons for her hiatus, such as Stop Being Polite which suggested she might simply be too strong of a competitor. Whatever the reason, neither West nor MTV have said anything definitive on the subject, so it's hard to know for sure. 

"Spring Break Challenge" was a single-season spin-off that aired on MTV in 2010, featuring teams full of college-aged newcomers led by "Real World" and "Road Rules" alums. The only standout of the rookie contestants, at least according to producers, was Camila Nakagawa – she's the only one who was invited returned to compete in subsequent seasons of "The Challenge." In fact, Nakagawa went on to compete in 10 separate seasons of "The Challenge" which, in addition to "Spring Break Challenge," impressively makes her an 11-season veteran of the overall franchise.

After having already won $5,000 during her "Spring Break Challenge" appearance, Nakagawa added another $76,250 to her total earnings for being the overall winner of Season 22's "Battle of the Exes" as well as winning one of the earlier events. During Season 24's "Rivals II," Nakagawa earned $7,500 for finishing third in the final challenge. A few eliminations later, Nakagawa then netted another $27,500 for her second-place finish as well as other challenge wins during Season 29's "Invasion of the Champions." But she still wasn't done yet, as she'd pile another $450,000 onto her total earnings for being one of the winners of Season 30's "Dirty 30." All told, Nakagawa has earned $561,250 so far across her many "Challenge" appearances. 

Given that "The Challenge" is arguably one of the inspirations for "Survivor," it's not surprising that several "Survivor" alums have subsequently made the jump over to "The Challenge." The most successful of those who have made that transition so far is arguably Turabi "Turbo" Çamkıran, who originally appeared on Season 8 of "Survivor Turkey" before joining "The Challenge" for Season 33's "War of the Worlds."

Given that Çamkıran won not only that season of "Survivor" but another as well, he obviously had what it takes to go far in "The Challenge." Sure enough, he won "War of the Worlds" as well, taking home an impressive $750,000 for the honor. He would be disqualified for his second season, "War of the Worlds 2," for issues with fellow contestant Jordan Wiseley, and eliminated during Season 38's "Ride or Dies." But his $750,000 is still one of the biggest single payouts in "The Challenge" history and puts him among the top earners even for only winning one time.

We now enter the millionaire's club of "The Challenge" competitors, kicking off with Ashley Mitchell. Another "Real World" alum, Mitchell jumped onto the "Challenge" train for Season 28's "Rivals III" where she was eliminated during the Spun Out event. But she got a big head start on her eventual $1,121,250 in total prize winnings when she earned $121,250 during the "Invasion of the Champions" season – $100,000 for winning the final challenge and $21,250 from her team's bank account.

Personal issues led to her voluntarily withdrawing from Season 30's "Dirty 30," but Mitchell more than made up for that when she took home a record-setting $1 million for winning the final challenge in Season 32's "Final Reckoning" alongside Hunter Barfield. In a shocking twist, Mitchell — having performed better individually than Hunter – was given the choice of how much of the $1 million to share with him. She ultimately chose to keep the entire payout for herself, stating, "This guy's belittled me, put me down, slut-shamed me, and also threatened my life and my family's life. I'm keeping the money (per Reality Blurred)." It was a decision that most fans wholeheartedly agreed with.

Playing in fewer seasons than Johnny Bananas but earning a little more money, Chris "CT" Tamburello is the highest earner in the history of "The Challenge" so far with a combined $1,365,000 in prize winnings. Tamburello started out on "The Real World" before he became one of the most prolific "Challenge" competitors ever, beginning with earning $11,000 as a runner-up in Season 8's "Inferno."

Following a few more finalist paydays, his first big win came when he netted $62,500 for winning the final challenge of Season 24's "Rivals II" on top of $500 for a previous challenge. He also won the final challenge in Season 29's "Invasion of the Champions," adding $100,000 to the $12,500 he earned from the team bank account. So more smaller paydays followed before Tamburello once again won a final challenge in Season 34's "War of the Worlds 2" to the tune of $250,000. And that wasn't even his biggest cash prize at that point, as he'd soon win a whopping $450,000 for winning the final mission of Season 36's "Double Agents," immediately following that up with another $400,000 for winning the final mission of Season 37's "Spies, Lies & Allies."