After a very gruelling time indeed, the inaugural season of The Challenge Australia is officially over – and the two winners have been crowned.
WATCH: Konrad Bien and Megan Marx get together while filming The Challenge
It was a landslide for the boys, with Ninja Warrior alum Troy Cullen winning the competition by a whopping 20 minutes. As for the women, the final result was much closer, with nine minutes separating first and second place. The Bachelor’s Kiki Morris took home the gold.
Both Troy and Kiki pocketed $100,000 each and will now go on to represent Australia in the world championships.
WHO caught up with the winners following the finale, scroll on for the full interview.
Congrats on your Challenge win! What was the experience like?
Kiki: The experience was incredible because obviously not only are you doing physically gruelling challenges, but you are living in a co-ed house, trying to make, you know, alliances and friendships and kind of get through day-to-day without having access to the outside world or your friends and family. So it’s so many different things that you are juggling at once in order to try and push through and win this things. So I’m so proud of myself to get to the end and be able to win.
Troy: Different, that’s for sure. I’m used to Ninja where you go out in a course and it’s you first, I wasn’t ready for the social aspect of being stuck in a house, that’s for sure.
What was the hardest part?
K: I think for me the final challenge. I knew in my heart of hearts if I didn’t push through and win it I would’ve been so disappointed in myself, because there were minutes where I was gonna quit, but I knew if I left and quit, I’d be taking the, the person I was teamed up with home with me. So kind of replaying the words of encouragement from my partner in my head as I was doing that last, you know, five kilometre run was the thing that got me through. I think I even remember praying out loud and looking up at the stars while I was running on this dark desert highway, like ‘please God, like the universe, whoever’s listening to me, I need to finish this race’.
T: I felt like for me the hardest part was probably when I first got into the house and just everyone already knew each other. They’re all very cliquey, I guess you could call it. They got on really well. Like the Bachelors all knew each other, the others had spoken to each other outside the house and everything. It was just me, all by my lonesome who knew nobody.
How did your friends and family react?
K: My friends have always thought that I’m a very capable person. My family obviously as well know exactly what I made of. For them to find out I’d won, they were surprised in a sense, but at the same time they weren’t. They’ve always told me the one person that doesn’t believe in me is me. Everyone else sees my potential and I kind of have a bit of self-limiting belief system, but I’ve definitely been able to kick that to the kerb now.
T: I think they were pretty happy, they were pretty proud despite of all the drama. I think they were watching it like, ‘Oh my God, what is this show?’ ’cause personalities were clashing immediately and they knew that just wasn’t really me. So yeah, at first they were nervous for me, but then after they were pretty excited.
Who were you closest to in the house?
K: The girls in my bedroom were Megan Marx and Brittany Hockley and I know both of them from The Bachelor franchise. Megan and I were together on the 2016 Bachelor with Richie, and Bri and I were together on the 2019 season of Bachelor in Paradise. So we already had a relationship outside of The Challenge. And then obviously my history with Ciarran, and now we’re good friends. Then Konrad because he was part of our alliance. Without those guys I don’t think I would’ve made it. We had great laughs we didn’t take ourselves too seriously. I think watching back the show, we weren’t sitting locked away in bedrooms, kind of plotting and strategising every move we made, we were actually out having fun. And I think that definitely kept us sane.
T: I was lucky enough to find Marley pretty quickly who was in the same boat as me.
WATCH: Kiki Morris on Bachelor In Paradise. (Article continues after video)
Who started the most drama?
K: Cyrell. I mean, that’s just part of her character and we love her for it. She’s very fiery and very passionate. And I guess Ryan as well – he’s a bit of a Australian larrikin who likes to ruffles some feathers. When you’re in close quarters with no social media and no outlet to the outside world, people get bored. There are people starting drama about cups in the kitchen and where the coffee pods are. So, I mean, there’s no harm and no foul when you’re filming a show like this.
T: I reckon probably Ryan in the end, I felt like he just he started the worst drama, I don’t know whether it was the most but, man, he just started yelling and abusing people and just bringing up stuff and he just wasn’t holding back, that’s for sure.
What are your plans for the prize money?
K: My partner lives overseas; I’m in the middle of a long distance relationship and I’m currently flying back and forth from Europe every four weeks. So I’m gonna be moving full time with my partner, you know, we’ve talked our business plans, we’re talking marriage, everything’s looking great. So that will go to me moving overseas to be with him.
T: I’m gonna travel the world hopefully with my girlfriend and spend the rest on a few renovations around the house.
Are you planning on appearing on more reality television shows?
K: I enjoyed doing The Challenge because I think it’s not women competing against each other for the attention of a man, unlike Love Island or The Bachelor. And for the first time ever, it doesn’t matter how you look, it’s how much you’ve got, how much you can dig deep and show your true determination. So I’m gonna continue to do shows like this if I’m invited back. I think it’s really empowering for women to not have to compete with each other for the attention of men.
T: I’m not sure. I might go back to Ninja or I might even try and do The Challenge flagship if they invite me, which is the main series in America. That’d be awesome.
Is there anything else you want to add?
K: I hope that everyone digs deep and supports me on the World Championship. And for any little girl out there that doesn’t think she can do it and go and compete with guys and all that kind of stuff, she definitely can.
T: I saw Konrad said he didn’t want to hurt me – for someone who didn’t wanna hurt me, he went pretty hard. I knew what he meant, but he definitely still went hard. I’m still in contact with Konrad; we’re good friends. No hard feelings.
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