“The Challenge” season 40 female winners talk historic tie: 'It's really a feel-good ending'

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Challenge: Battle of the Eras finale.

For the first time in all 40 seasons of The Challenge, the show ended in a tie. And the two women who tied for the win couldn't be happier about it.

Battle of the Eras was meant to have only one female winner and one male winner. And while Jordan Wiseley ran — or, more accurately, swam — away with the win on the men's side, things were much more complicated when it came to the women thanks to the Karma vote.

At the end of Wednesday's finale, host TJ Lavin revealed that all the eliminated players actually did have an impact on the outcome of the season since their votes changed the standings for the women. While Jenny West finished in first place, Michele Fitzgerald finished in second, and Rachel Robinson finished in third, the Karma vote bumped Rachel up to tie with Jenny for first place, and Michele was demoted to third place.

Since Rachel and Jenny had been in the "Bananas Angels" alliance together for the second half of the season, they're proud to share the season 40 champion title and split the $400,000 cash prize — especially since they come from Era 1 and Era 4, spanning the entire franchise. "It's really a feel-good ending," Rachel tells Entertainment Weekly of the tie. Jenny adds, "And one I don't think anyone would've seen coming, either. You couldn't have written it."

Below, Rachel and Jenny break down their historic tie, how they feel about the Karma vote impacting the outcome, and more.

Related: The Challenge's Cara Maria reveals why final season 40 elimination got so intense

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Are you both happy to have tied for the win or do you wish there had been some kind of tiebreaker?

JENNY WEST: No tiebreaker for me, Rach. I'm more than happy for Rachel and I to win together because I think it was supposed to be that way from the start. It was written in the stars for me.

RACHEL ROBINSON: I agree. The second the game went individual, Jenny and I played it 100 percent as a team. I mean, Aviv was part of that, but once Aviv left, it was the two of us. It made total sense for the season for us [to win]. I'm just going to go out on a limb and say, I'm not trying to talk down, but I think if Michele and Tori had shared the money, sure, I'm sure they would've been happy, but Jenny and I really played it side-by-side the entire time. We both took the people out we needed to in the exact way we needed to. There were many times where I just woke up the next day and said, "If you got one different placement, this would've been a different outcome."

JENNY: It's weird how we did that for each other without even the awareness of what it was impacting. If Michele and Tori had won and had to split the money, maybe they would have been fine about it, but this is the preferable outcome for me rather than me winning on my own. Us winning together, it's somebody that you love, why would you not want that? It felt right.

RACHEL: I remember you said it the night before the final. She's like, "It sucks that we can't both win." If you told me, "You could redo that final and you could not only win in Karma points, but you could do better in the checkpoints and win first or take it from Jenny, would you do that?" And I would say, "Not in a million years." In the back of my head when TJ was reading out the results, I think I actually was nervous for that outcome. I think I would've visibly been not happy — and I would've won! So this was just the perfect outcome. And it's still a substantial amount of money. We both can just enjoy it so much more now, because we can enjoy it together.

JENNY: Can you imagine for me? The journey Rachel went through this season and the way that she was left on her own, she always played with heart and fairness, and the way I essentially really didn't have any tactic and my Karma points went back down, me having just won that final on my own knowing what Rachel had been through? There's no way. She deserved that too. It wouldn't have felt right just to be by myself and that's how Rachel feels.

RACHEL: Really, we're each other's biggest fans. We're going to make people really sick about it because we're going to be like, "We love each other so much. We're so happy." If anybody else isn't happy with the outcome, you can literally kiss our ass. And to be honest, there's actually a third winner. His name is Johnny Bananas.

JENNY: He thinks he won.

RACHEL: Because we did.

JENNY: He was like, "Guys, we won!"

RACHEL: We all walked away feeling like we won. I think he was smiling just as big had they said he won.

JENNY: It was emotional. It's never happened before.

RACHEL: And I'm really happy that they made the points transparent because there has been a lot of controversy with some of the season. There is no doubt in anyone's mind — you can't fake the checkpoint, and the Karma points are right there for you. I knew the second that they said it that I was probably going to have the best Karma points. I wasn't sure where everyone else would fall, but I did think I've got a good shot. You knew Derek was going to have the best on the guy's side. You know what I mean? This isn't questionable. I'm very happy they show you a quantitative number where everyone can see exactly how it was done.

JENNY: See, I've not watched any of this yet, being in the U.K. Rachel, tell me who voted me low. Let me know the names and that's it. I don't care. We won. F--- it.

Related: The Challenge's Cory responds to backlash over MTV's portrayal of Nelson's drunk driving accident

Since the Karma vote impacted you both in totally different ways, how do you feel about it now? 

JENNY: Honestly, anything where it comes down to a popularity vote, I just can't be bothered.

RACHEL: 100 percent. Jenny just does not give a f---. And I like that. I love a person who can be in the Challenge house and not fall into the trap of being fake. Jenny was such a breath of fresh air.

JENNY: I don't want it to come across as I just think I'm better than everybody else, it's not that at all. I just struggle in a room full of people with a lot of conversations going on. My brain gets extremely overwhelmed and tired and start to switch off, and I struggle to concentrate. And I knew, as the season was progressing, we kept seeing the people getting eliminated being held back. We guessed something like [the Karma vote] was going on. You would think that might have been the catapult to make me [try] a little bit more but it still didn't help. I just hoped those points don't count for much.

We’ve never seen a final like this before where it’s all swimming to the checkpoints. What did you both think about this format?

JENNY: It was savage. Obviously I can swim. I don't swim ever, though. I think the last time I swam was four years ago on The Challenge, but I'm not unconfident in water. Michele had been some kind of swim instructor. Rachel, it didn't really matter because I wasn't seeing her as competition in a way. If she won, great. If I won, great. And then Tori, I knew that she wasn't as confident so I thought this could actually work out okay.

RACHEL: I have to point out that Jenny kept up with Jordan, which, to keep up with Jordan in the water is a whole 'nother level. That just goes to show what a strong swimmer she is, and I just love that she didn't even know how strong she was as a swimmer.

JENNY: I had no idea.

RACHEL: She'd come back to the boat, and she was obviously going through it. It was her first day of her period, and she was really not happy on that boat, and she'd be hysterical. And me and Johnny would be like, "Jenny, what place did you come in?" And she'd be like, "First." Johnny and I are sitting there killing ourselves to try to get back to the boat, and Jenny's beasting a breaststroke. I think she has a hidden talent that she didn't even know was there, and now the world knows. And Michele's just so impressive. I really couldn't say enough amazing things about Michele after the final because she showed so much heart. She really truly never, ever gave up in the water. It was quite amazing to watch. It was cool to see a final this way because it made what's normally a strength in a final not necessarily strength. Granted, yes, Jordan's going to be strong in any kind of final because he just happens to be a very, very good swimmer. But as far as Michele or Tori for instance, it really flipped that script, right? Here's Tori who's been really shining the entire season and then struggling in the final. Michele and I, it just evened the playing field, is what I'm trying to say.

JENNY: And Kyland as well. I think there's definitely going to be a few people that have watched this season, if they're competing in coming seasons, they're going to start having swimming lessons.

RACHEL: Everyone getting ready for 41 is doing nothing but swimming right now.

Was there any portion of the final that we didn’t see in the episodes?

RACHEL: No. Thank god!

JENNY: It was all in there.

RACHEL: I know that's happened in the past, but on this particular one, they showed every checkpoint, they showed our overnight. There was nothing that the viewers missed. I think also because the points were so important, every point in that final, there's no way you could leave anything out.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

The Challenge: Battle of the Eras reunion airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.

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