“The Challenge”'s Jenny addresses season 40 final puzzle controversy: 'I still deserved to win it'

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

The Challenge season 40 had no shortage of controversies, and the final daily challenge sparked backlash yet again from cast members and viewers alike when Jenny West's puzzle appeared to have two pieces in the wrong spot when she was declared the winner. As a result, Cara Maria Sorbello, who finished second for the women, was sent into the last elimination of the season where she lost to Tori Deal and was sent home. Jenny went on to win the Battle of the Eras final in a tie with Rachel Robinson, splitting the $475,00 cash prize for the women (meanwhile, Jordan Wiseley won for the men).

Since the results of the final daily challenge had a massive impact on the outcome of the entire season, questions over the alleged unfinished puzzle were raised yet again after Wednesday's finale declared Jenny one of the winners. But Jenny and Rachel, who worked together all season in the "Bananas Angels" alliance, tell Entertainment Weekly that they think the controversy should officially be put to bed.

"What's really frustrating is I would never feel satisfied taking a win for a challenge if I didn't think I should have had the win," Jenny tells EW. "If those two pieces were wrong, at no point was I told they were by production. And let's just say they are wrong — it wouldn't have taken me more than about 15 seconds to just knock the bottom one out a little bit, take the top one off, slide it through to replace it, and then switch them around."

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

Cara Maria had a three-minute penalty on her time, and Jenny believes that she was "at least five minutes ahead" of Cara's second place finish. "Regardless of if I had to switch two pieces, I still would've won," she says. "I still deserved to win it because I killed myself for it knowing it's our necks on the line — I needed to win or Rachel needed to win, and that was it. It irritates me to think that I've had messages sent to me saying, 'You don't deserve to be in that final.' F--- you. Yes, I do. I killed myself there, and I deserve this."

Rachel, who finished the final in third place but was boosted to first due to the Karma vote, says she's "personally offended after seeing the controversy" surrounding Jenny's daily win. "Because I know how hard Jenny housed that, and I know how much she deserves it," Rachel tells EW. "And I'm just upset because the whole season with the controversy of this and that, it just seems like, shut up at this point."

Because the final was an intense swimming race, Rachel believes "there's no doubt" that Jenny was "meant" to be there at the end. "I'm sorry, it's great that Kyland's there, but also, it kind of sucks, right?" Rachel adds. "To be honest, I am surprised that swimming wasn't vetted a bit more before that final. The best swimmers did make it there on the women's side for sure, hands down. But that's what you want to see in the final — you want to see competition."

Rachel points out how the male competition in the final was basically only between Johnny Bananas Devenanzio and Derek Chavez for second place, since Jordan won every single checkpoint and Kyland came in last.

Related: Johnny Bananas calls out 'bulls---' final twist on The Challenge season 40

"You take even just one person out, and then it becomes a three-person race, and you make one person super strong, and then it becomes a two-person race, but for the women, it was a four-person race from beginning to end," Rachel says. "There's no doubt in anyone's mind after watching the entire season that Jenny is 100 percent meant to be in that final. Regardless of, we can sit here all day and say, 'Was production off? Did they say yes because maybe something was not aligning and they knew that it didn't matter if she switched it, it still was going to be off?' Who knows? Could she have switched it before the time? Absolutely."

Rachel hopes that after the Derrick Kosinski and Horacio Gutiérrez Jr. elimination controversy earlier this season, fans and cast members will stop questioning calls made by production. "I've already proven the Derrick and Horacio thing wrong — I had to go to bat for Derrick on that one because I am all for people speaking their mind, and if they have questions, questioning to the right people," Rachel says. "But to go online and to create a hysteria and to create this narrative that The Challenge in any which way has any interest in one person winning, that's bulls---."

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Related: The Challenge's Michele reveals how she feels about Johnny Bananas after season 40 drama

Jenny agrees, adding that production members "really don't care" who wins. "They couldn't do that even if they wanted to, there's no way they could [manipulate] things," she says.

However, Rachel acknowledges that "human errors" occur on the show "every now and then."

"Because this is live and the things we're doing have never been done before," Rachel explains. "I'll go on a limb and say yes, but is anything intentional? Absolutely not. That's it. I'll leave it, I'll mic drop on that for Challenge 40. So if anybody has any conspiracy theories, tell me the end of Challenge 40 isn't meant to be, and then we can talk."

The Challenge: Battle of the Eras reunion airs Wednesday, Jan. 15, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly