‘The Challenge’: Josh Martinez Says a Harness Malfunction Prevented Him From Finishing Elimination

A couple of weeks after Josh Martinez won his first elimination, receiving the final gold skull for the men in The Challenge 36, he had to protect it against CT Tamburello. Ultimately, the veteran won, stealing his ticket to the finals, and sending him home. Following the episode, Josh claimed he had a harness malfunction in a now-deleted tweet.

Josh Martinez won his first elimination in ‘The Challenge 36’

Big Brother 19 winner Josh Martinez made his debut on MTV reality competition series The Challenge in its 33rd season, War of the Worlds. He returned for the following two seasons, where he failed to win an elimination.

In Double Agents, the 27-year-old initially teamed up with Kam Williams, but Kyle Christie infiltrated and stole her following the second week. Therefore, he ended up with longtime friend and ally Nany González as a partner.

After Josh avoided getting thrown into a Hall Brawl, he asked then-double agents Kam and Kyle to help him out and pin him against rookie Mechie Harris. The BB champion got his way and ended up beating the undersized newbie, winning his first elimination and receiving the last gold skull for the men.

Following his victory, the Florida native enjoyed a comfortable spot in the house as his alliance featuring the other former Big Brother players continued to protect him throughout the competition.

He had to defend his skull against CT Tamburello

After the plan to blindside three-time champ CT Tamburello into the first elimination backfired, most of the house blocked him from getting his gold skull.

Therefore, CT had to win a daily mission to throw himself in. However, it didn’t prove easy with Big T Fazakerley as his partner. When they won, with her out-performing him in the challenge, he asked several competitors to vote Josh, or “the Goof,” into elimination.

The Big Brother alliance had the numbers and chose to vote in his ally Devin Walker instead. However, a security breach made it a double elimination, with CT having the power to choose the matchups.

Therefore, he pitted Devin against four-time winner Darrell Taylor and picked the Goof for himself.

Josh claims he had a harness malfunction in the second elimination

For the elimination, similar to Kam and Ashley’s, the guys had to jump from a platform to poles that held puzzle pieces. They had to collect the pieces and then repel down to solve them on a podium.

While Darrell and Devin’s came down to seconds, CT seemingly smoked Josh. Following the episode, the BB champ claimed in a now-deleted tweet that his harness “dropped” following CT’s, making it “impossible” for him to collect the final puzzle piece.

Even though Josh said he wished the episode would’ve included him “screaming at production to reset my harness,” the 27-year-old admitted the veteran still “killed that puzzle.”

Additionally, he noted he wished they would have had a “headbanger” elimination. Following CT and Big T’s daily mission win, co-star Lolo Jones, who also accused the network of forcing her to quit, claimed the two shouldn’t have won it because they didn’t follow the rules.

The Challenge 36 airs Wednesdays at 8/7 Central on MTV.