"Really had a good time" — The Challenge star Cara Maria reflects on her journey

After a nailbiting underwater elimination against Tori Deal in The Challenge Season 40 semifinal round, veteran competitor Cara Maria Sorbello left the contest with an unexpected sense of peace. "That little birthday party they had for me an hour before I had to go into the elimination, it was just the sweetest thing," she said.

Cara Maria added in a post-elimination interview with Entertainment Weekly:

"I really, really had a good time. I definitely feel like I won,"

This heartfelt reflection came after her December 18, 2024 exit from the milestone Season 40 that brought together competitors from different eras of the long-running MTV competition series, aptly named Battle of the Eras. While Tori Deal secured her spot in the final, Cara Maria's departure marked the end of an era, prompting her to look back on her 14-year journey through one of television's most challenging competition shows.

The Challenge's Cara Maria’s journey from fetish bars to reality television

In an interview with Gold Derby on December 19, Cara Maria painted a vivid picture of her unlikely path to reality TV stardom. Before her 2010 debut on The Challenge, she was bartending at a "fetish bar" in Hollywood, California — worlds away from the intense physical endurance-driven competitions that would define her future. She revealed:

"I had never done sports in my existence on this planet, alright? I'd done like cheerleading in 7th grade and I rode horses my whole life. I was an arts and crafts kid and a total weirdo."

If the admission highlighted just how far she'd come from her early days, Cara Maria went on to add, emphasizing the transformative impact of her reality TV journey:

"Like I don't know where my life would be without The Challenge. I had no confidence, doubted everything I ever did... I was the last one picked for anything athletically."

Finding peace in competition

Her final season proved to be a departure from her typical experience on The Challenge. "This season, once Laurel left, I was able to let my guard down. Usually I'm always on hard defense, which is why people root for me because I'm always trying to survive. That's how most seasons go for me, in survival mode. How many eliminations do I have to go into? How many people are going to keep targeting me?" she explained.

The season's engaging format and competitor dynamics allowed Cara Maria to experience the game somewhat differently. Despite initial targeting from Johnny and Laurel, she found herself in a more comfortable position after Laurel's elimination, appreciating the opportunity "to just chill" — a rare luxury in The Challenge world.

Perhaps, most surprisingly, Cara Maria discovered a new perspective on the game-life balance:

"Now, The Challenge is The Challenge and the game is the game, and then real life is real life. This doesn't need to be personal outside the show, and it's just brought a whole different sense of peace to me. It's a load off my shoulders and I'm just in a lot happier place."

Her impressive metamorphosis from an insecure bartender to a confident competitor who can separate game politics from personal connections is rather profound. While her journey on Season 40 ended before the final, Cara Maria's narrative exemplifies the surprising ways reality TV can change not just professions, but also hone personal development.

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