Kiki Morris and Troy Cullen have officially taken out top spots in the inaugural season of “The Challenge Australia“.
Competing against Brittany Hockley, Ciarran Stott, Brooke Jowett and Conor Curran in the gruelling finale episode, Kiki and Troy won the series after a series of endurance challenges that began with a late-night numeric puzzle and ended with a finish line sprint.
Filmed across Argentina, the physically and socially demanding series saw reality TV challengers battle it out against each other in constantly-rotating teams of two during the day, and experience life as housemates under the microscope at night.
The controversial series also saw a number of contestant hookups along the way, and has produced at least one couple with Olympian Emily Seebohm and Ryan Gallagher confirming their relationship last week.
For the finale, the show stayed true to its formula of pairing participants with each other at random, with a total of three team swaps throughout the many challenges, which included swimming through green swamp water, cycling 50km, pushing a parked car and memorising a 3D puzzle.
Despite being timed individually, a competitor was only considered over the finish line when their teammate for each section joined them at the finish line.
“To win this right now is probably the most important, exciting thing I’ve ever done,” Kiki said, adding, “because this wasn’t just a modelling competition or a beauty pageant, it was the most gruelling mental and physical thing I’ve ever done.”
Beating out “Australian Survivor” alum Brooke Jowett by nine minutes, “The Bachelor” and “Bachelor in Paradise” alum was plagued with back pain throughout the challenges, vomited a number of times and even had to cut off her g-string during the cycling challenge.
“I’ve proven myself and I’ve succeeded and I’ve won,” Kiki said proudly.
Meanwhile, Troy had been considered a major threat thanks to his experience across three seasons of “Ninja Warrior”, and maintained his lead in the finale challenges throughout the episode, beating out runner-up Ciarran by a whopping 20 minutes.
“Being a fan of ‘The Challenge’, this season has meant a lot to me. I’ve had it all — eliminations, finals, dailies, and that’s what I wanted from all of this; I wanted the full ‘Challenge’ experience,” Troy said.
“My friends and family are going to be so proud of me, this has been an absolutely awesome experience.”
Taking home $100,000 prize money each, Kiki and Troy have also won the opportunity to compete in the world series of “The Challenge: Global Championship” in 2023, where they will compete against other winners from around the world.
“I think that both Troy and myself are such great testaments of the Australian spirit and we are going to give it our all at worlds. I cannot wait to be beside him when we do it, he is one of the best guys I have ever met and I am so proud of us,” Kiki said.
While Troy hasn’t shared how he plans to spend his winnings just yet, Kiki says she knows exactly where her $100,000 is going.
“A lifetime supply of lashes and nails,” she jokingly told host Briohny Dawson.
