The Challenge Season 40: How did the Karma Vote change the result of the game?

The Challenge Season 40 finale aired on January 8, 2025, and introduced a karma vote. What is new is that the contestants did not even know about it.

This meant the scoreboard would be affected based on the votes cast for 'karma.' TJ has been reminding the contestants all season long to be nice to everyone, but who could have deduced that this is what he meant by that?

The karma point twist ended up bringing Rachel to the top from third place and shocked everyone. Even fans were not in support of the twist and they thought Jenny deserved the entire win.

The concept worked with the eliminated members coming back to cast a vote in favor of the remaining contestants. The men's scores were not affected at all by the votes, but the women's board did drastically.

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The Challenge Season 40 finale - Concept of the Karma vote

If someone has great karma, they will get 8 additional points. The second one will get 6 points, the third will get 4, and the last one 2. Adding in the factor that the players already have histories with each other meant that being "nice," as TJ suggested, just for this season, wouldn't have worked.

Fans love Rachel and appreciate how, even after 10 years of being on The Challenge, she was able to pull through and is still in the best shape of her life. The Challenge Season 40 finale was titled 'The End of an Era Part 2.'

It began with swimming and math questions, and Jenny and Jordan dominated the challenges. By the end, after the karma votes had been cast, here is what the scoreboard looked like for men.

1. Jordan - 31 points - 27 checkpoints, 4 karma points
2. Derek: 27 total — 19 from checkpoints, 8 karma points
3. Bananas: 17 total — 15 from checkpoints, 2 karma points
4. Kyland: 15 total — 9 from checkpoints, 6 karma points

This did not change the trajectory of the win as Jordan still ended up winning the $475,000, which he would have done anyway with or without the additional points. But for the women's scoreboard, things were different. This is how the deal fared for them.

1. Jenny: 24 total — 22 from checkpoints, 2 karma points
2. Rachel: 24 total — 16 from checkpoints, 8 karma points
3. Michele: 23 total — 19 from checkpoints, 4 karma points
4. Tori: 19 total — 13 from checkpoints, 6 karma points

Rachel was in third place before the karma points were added, and Jenny had a definitive win. Although, this changed, and Rachel was pulled to the top meaning, there was a tie between the two. The pair had to split the $475,000 price money among themselves.

As for Michele, she was in second place before, and even after the karma votes, was just one point behind. She was awarded $25,000. As for Tori, who already had a bad run during the finale, did not win anything as she was in fourth place.

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The Challenge Season 40 - Fans react to the Karma vote

The Challenge fans reacted to the Karma point deal and voiced their opinions on social media. They did not like it at all and hoped that the concept never return. One user wrote,

"Somebody on the female side who won definitely didn’t deserve to win.. the karma vote some bullsh*t. This isn’t survivor."

Fans even compared the vote to a popularity contest, saying,

"Jenny was robbed! She shouldn’t have to give Rachel a dime just because Rachel won a popularity contest."

"Pls never do the karma vote again ❤️ it’s unfair. It makes it more of a popularity contest !!"

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The winners of The Challenge season 40 were Jordan, Jenny, and Rachel.