‘The Challenge’ Champ MJ Garrett Called out for Lying About 10-Minute Lead in Final
The Challenge champs MJ Garrett and Jonna Mannion claimed they had a 10-minute lead on the other teams when sprinting to the safe containing their prize money. However, Janelle Casanave called him out for lying, insisting she and Darrell Taylor were much closer behind them.
MJ Garrett claimed he had a 10-minute lead in ‘The Challenge: All Stars 2’ final
Jonna Mannion and MJ Garrett spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the taxing final following their win.
They acknowledged not completing the first checkpoint due to Teck Holmes and Ayanna Mackins quitting as other teams thought it wasn’t fair. However, the duo claimed they intended to finish before producers stopped them.
Additionally, the two said they previously lost time during the checkpoint due to an “error” out of their control. After completing the puzzles in the next leg, MJ claimed he and Jonna had a ten-minute lead on the other teams when running to the safes.
He insisted Darrell Taylor and Janelle Casanave weren’t as close behind as portrayed in the episode. However, the runner-up refuted his account in a Jan. 2022 episode of the podcast, The Challenge Mania.
Janelle Casanave says she and Darrell Taylor were ‘50 yards’ behind him
Frontrunners Janelle and Darrell arrived at the puzzles first but realized they had a difficult second one.
After watching the episode and seeing other teams’ puzzles, Janelle believes they had the “hardest” one and didn’t understand why the finals would include such “unequal” checkpoints.
The runner-up noted they lost their lead during this time as the second puzzle stumped her. However, she insists that MJ and Jonna only had a 50 yard lead on them heading to the lockboxes. The Inferno 3 champ admitted the winner giving the “inaccurate” detail “disappointed” her and claimed she only addressed it because he specifically brought it up in the interview.
“Why do we need to put each other down and make things up?” She later added. Janelle claims the winning team arrived at their safes around two minutes ahead of her and Darrell.
She also called him out for ignoring her when asking about the fourth step she didn’t receive
MJ also admitted the lockboxes were broken and claimed producers told them to run to the jet anyways. However, they say someone picked them up in a truck and drove them back to the safes, where they reportedly received a fourth step in how to open the combination.
During the interview, co-host and multi-season champ Derrick Kosinski noted he asked MJ about the left-out instruction but claimed the winner refused to answer him.
Janelle broke down in tears while explaining it was “blatantly clear” that producers only gave MJ and Jonna the extra step as no other team could open the safe. Additionally, she pointed out that the winners claim production confirmed they had the correct code but ignored her and Darrell when they asked.
Due to the several mishandlings during the final, especially how it ended, the former champ has admitted she isn’t sure if she’ll return for another season. The Challenge: All Stars is streaming on Paramount+.
