Derrick Kosinski and Averey Tressler (‘The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras’) on going out swinging against Cory and Rachel [WATCH]
It was a “Gladiator”-themed event on Wednesday night’s episode of “The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras.” Derrick Kosinski and Averey Tressler went down swingingin a boxing-style elimination arena called “Fate of the Gladiators.” The Era 1 OG and the Era 3 newbie were taken out by Cory Wharton and Rachel Robinson, respectively. Watch their exit interview with Gold Derby above.
“It would have been a lot cooler if I did win,” says Derrick, who was competing with a torn ACL and meniscus. “I would have probably left the game the next day anyway because I was basically playing in fear. Had I won that, I would have had 3-0 in eliminations. If I would have beat Cory with one leg I would have felt like I won ‘The Challenge.’ I would have been fine going home to my wife, who was nine months pregnant at the time, and doing what I had to do as a dad.” The injured three-time champ reveals he had to wait six weeks after his wife gave birth to have knee surgery.
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Averey admits, “I already knew what was going to happen” when she stepped in the ring with Rachel. “I was like, ‘You don’t have to take it easy on me, but don’t really f*** me up. We’re still friends, right?’ She gave me some good pops. I didn’t want to leave with a black eye. I already knew what was going to happen, just be nice.” While watching the tussle, you may have been screaming at Averey to “block her face” during the match, but the competitor explains, “We were not allowed to block our face. That’s the thing that they didn’t show. We weren’t allowed to defend ourselves.”
As they left the game, both Derrick and Averey were given the opportunity to rank players on a scale of 1-5, knowing their ranking could help or hurt each player in the final. Derrick says he gave his top scores to Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, Ryan Kehoe and Rachel, but “lowballed” men on the Blue team consisting of Devin Walker, Jordan Wiseley and Cory. Averey gave top marks to Jordan and a low score to Bananas, noting, “I want to help the people I want to see win.”
As Derrick looks back at his historic career on “The Challenge,” he’s most proud of his 13 elimination wins. “That’s the most. That’s the record for individual elimination wins. I was on a roll. I thought I could beat [Cory] with one leg, as crazy as that sounds. No I didn’t win, but I came so close.”
Finally, when asked who their top male and female draft choices would be if they had to return to the game in pairs, the answers seemed pretty easy. Both chose Rachel as their top choice among women. For men, Derrick would like to work alongside Bananas, Darrell Taylor or Mark Long, while Averey would choose Jordan.
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