Did CT Really Throw the Challenge to Save Cara Maria?

The Challenge: Cutthroat turns one of Episode 8’s stranger accusations into a full storyline a week later. After Orange loses the Mean Cuisine eating challenge, some members of the team begin questioning CT Tamburello’s effort and wondering whether his friendship with Cara Maria Sorbello influenced the result. By Episode 9, Michele Fitzgerald goes further and suggests CT effectively helped Cara by not giving Orange everything he had.

There is one major problem with that theory: nothing shown in Episode 8 proves CT intentionally threw the challenge. The footage shows him eating and struggling through the same competition as everyone else, while other factors clearly hurt Orange, including Justin Hinsley’s difficulty eating and Gray and Blue deliberately loading Orange with tougher dishes. Izzy Fairthorne has also said after the episode that CT and Will Gagnon were among the people she saw trying especially hard.

Related: Why Are Cara Maria and Tori Fighting on The Challenge 42? Michele and CT Drama Explained

Why Do People Think CT Threw the Eating Challenge?

The suspicion starts because losing Mean Cuisine happened to benefit Cara Maria. At the time, Cara was still on the badly depleted Blue team with Anna Leigh Wilson and Lete, and Blue desperately needed its first daily victory to avoid another elimination.

Orange entered with far more players and looked like the obvious favorite on numbers alone. When the larger team lost to three women, some competitors naturally began looking for reasons beyond Blue simply performing better.

Justin was the first person shown openly questioning CT after the challenge. He wondered whether CT had become a liability, particularly when it came to endurance, and even questioned why a competitor famous for eating challenges had not carried Orange to victory.

That suspicion eventually evolves from “CT performed poorly” into the more serious claim that he may have deliberately reduced his effort to help Cara.

What Actually Happened During Mean Cuisine?

Mean Cuisine involved two different phases. Teams first rowed through a floating market in Thailand and selected dishes for their opponents, then raced to finish the five plates placed in front of them.

Gray and Blue quickly recognized that Orange had the biggest numerical advantage. They therefore cooperated during the shopping portion, giving each other comparatively manageable selections while trying to stack Orange’s table with larger and more difficult dishes.

Orange was also dealing with an uneven distribution of responsibility. Tori, Michele and Izzy were not handling the eating portion in the same way as CT, Will and Justin, and Justin struggled badly once the eating began.

The episode repeatedly shows Justin having difficulty getting through his food. At one point he says he might pass out and complains that he is trying not to damage his teeth. His teammates become frustrated because the women’s games are at risk while he contributes relatively little. CT, meanwhile, is visibly participating. He struggles with the food, but struggling in a Challenge eating competition is not the same thing as refusing to compete.

Did CT Actually Stop Trying?

There is no clear evidence that he did. The strongest evidence available actually points in the other direction. After Izzy was eliminated later in Episode 8, she discussed the Mean Cuisine performance and specifically said CT and Will were trying extremely hard. She was frustrated with Justin because, from her perspective, the other two men were taking on much more of the difficult food while Justin was not matching their effort.

That is important because Izzy was on Orange and had every reason to care about the result. Losing the daily directly put her into danger, and Tori eventually selected her for elimination. If CT had obviously sabotaged Orange to protect Cara, Izzy would have had good reason to notice it.

Instead, she singled him out as someone who was trying.

Why Does Michele Say CT Was Only Giving 60 Percent?

The accusation becomes more direct in Episode 9 after Cara overhears Tori and Michele discussing her refusal to help Orange. Michele argues that Cara had previously received help from Orange because CT did not give his full effort in Mean Cuisine.

When Cara later tells CT about the accusation, he confronts his team. Michele does not completely back away from her position and says she felt CT was operating at roughly 60 percent.

That is her interpretation of his performance rather than proof that CT deliberately sabotaged the game. CT responds by reminding everyone that he actually ate a significant amount and questions how he could be blamed for throwing the challenge when Justin was contributing substantially less.

The exchange also reveals that the accusation is partly tied to concerns about CT’s conditioning. Justin had already described CT as a possible endurance liability, so a disappointing daily performance was being interpreted through an existing concern about whether the five-time champion was physically ready for another final.

Did CT Throw Mean Cuisine to Protect Cara Maria?

Based on what has been shown and said publicly, there is not enough evidence to say CT intentionally threw Mean Cuisine to save Cara Maria.

Cara certainly benefited from Orange losing, and CT’s long friendship with her gives other players a reason to be suspicious. But motive alone does not establish that someone deliberately sabotaged a challenge.

The actual competition provides several alternative explanations for Orange’s defeat. Gray and Blue worked together against them during food selection, Orange had communication problems during the rowing phase, Justin struggled badly with the eating portion, and Blue ultimately performed better than expected despite having only three players.

CT could have performed below his personal best without intentionally losing. Those are not the same claim, and Episode 9 sometimes blurs that distinction as frustration inside Orange grows.

Why Does Cara Tell CT About the Accusation?

Cara tells CT after her confrontation with Tori and Michele because the accusation directly involves him. She also believes Orange may be preparing to treat CT as expendable because some teammates are questioning his endurance and usefulness in a final.

CT does not immediately accept every conclusion Cara draws about his team. However, hearing that people believe he intentionally threw a daily clearly changes his mood and prompts him to address the issue publicly.

That creates an interesting reversal. Tori and Michele bring up CT as evidence that Cara owes Orange loyalty, but telling Cara about those suspicions ultimately gives her information that could weaken CT’s loyalty to Orange instead.

The accusation meant to pressure Cara therefore risks creating a new problem within Tori’s own team.

Could CT Have Been Protecting Cara Without Completely Throwing It?

This is the more difficult possibility to rule out. A veteran can subtly reduce effort without obviously stopping, and there is no way for viewers to know exactly how hard CT believed he was pushing in every moment.

Episode 9’s argument leaves room for Orange to feel that he could have done more. Michele’s 60 percent comment reflects that suspicion, while Cara’s relationship with CT gives the theory an understandable strategic motive.

But there is still a difference between suspicion and evidence. CT is shown eating, Izzy says he and Will were trying hard, and Justin’s struggles are impossible to ignore when assigning responsibility for the loss.

Unless CT later says that he deliberately eased off to help Cara, the fairest conclusion from the material currently available is that the challenge was not proven to be thrown.

The Accusation May Matter More Than the Answer

Whether CT actually sabotaged Mean Cuisine may eventually become less important than the fact that his teammates believe it is possible. Cutthroat requires teams to trust one another all the way into a final, and Episode 8 has already revealed that the captain could control how the winning prize money is distributed.

Orange now has questions about CT’s conditioning, CT has questions about whether Orange truly wants him, and Cara knows exactly where those doubts exist. That is a dangerous combination this late in the season.

So, did CT throw the challenge to save Cara Maria? Nothing shown so far proves that he did. But the accusation has already accomplished something almost as important: it has given CT a reason to wonder whether the team he is supposed to reach the final with actually trusts him.