The Challenge's Olivia Kaiser Had Severe Injuries That Cost Her The Competition
The cast of "The Challenge" Season 38 is comprised predominately of well-known contestants from prior seasons of "The Challenge" in addition to other popular reality shows. Integral to this season is a format that pairs off male and female contestants into duos for its entirety. Among them are former "Exatlón Estados Unidos 5" competitor Horacio Gutiérrez Jr. and Olivia Kaiser of "Love Island" fame.
As fans are well aware, Gutiérrez and Kaiser made it to the Season 38 finals, before Kaiser ended up medically disqualified, landing them in fourth place. Kaiser spoke at length about the two consecutive, severe accidents that ended her "Challenge" run in an interview Variety published shorty after her final episode aired.
First, Kaiser explained, she suffered a serious injury during a bola-throwing game when a carabiner caught on her finger. In a grisly, detailed description of her wound, she recalled a visible nerve ending. Nevertheless, she received medical care and moved on to the next couple of challenges, during one of which her wound even opened back up. Of course, at the time she was unaware that the significant damage to her finger wouldn't even be the worst thing to happen to her that day of filming.
Olivia Kaiser's injured finger snowballed into a serious mishap
Even greater disaster struck during Horacio Gutiérrez Jr. and Olivia Kaiser's "Challenge" finale in a subsequent competition that required them to aim golf balls at a bullseye with a slingshot. Because of her finger damage, Kaiser failed to pull back her slingshot with a requisite amount of force, propelling a golf ball into her face.
"I thought my teeth were knocked out because the impact was so hard. It felt like my nose was literally off my face, crooked. I remember popping my nose back a bit into place because it felt it off so I kind of crunched it back. I licked my teeth to make sure they were all there and had an instant migraine," she said. It was then that the "Challenge" staff disqualified her from competition.
Kaiser likewise told Variety that she's relieved the injury didn't result in permanent damage to her eyes, nose, or brain. Nevertheless, it required a grueling recovery, between a two-day long hospital stay, and a sustained fear that her face might have been permanently scarred. "Every time I looked in the mirror, it was a memory of what happened to me. I'm not trying to be dramatic about it because it's not that serious but in the same sense, it is because it's not something anyone could be prepared for," she said, revealing just how severely this mishap affected her life even well after her "Challenge" disqualification.