Why did Grant from The Challenge: World Championship leave the game early?

Grant from The Challenge. THE CHALLENGE: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP-“Brave New World”- Grant of Team Australia during the “Rocketman” challenge in THE CHALLENGE: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP season 1, episode 6 streaming on Paramount +, 2023
Grant from The Challenge. (Image credit: Jonne Roriz / Paramount +)

Yet another competitor has bowed out early: Grant from The Challenge: World Championship, a member of Team Australia who was a frontrunner in the game alongside partner Jonna Mannion, shockingly made a premature exit from the Paramount Plus series, as Nathan Henry of Team UK did back in the very first episode of the season. 

While Nathan's early departure from The Challenge: World Championship cast was due to a positive COVID test, which caused him to be "medically separated from this game," Grant's evacuation was due to a season-ending injury he suffered during this week's "Rocketman" challenge. 

In the challenge, one teammate was tasked with jumping off a platform onto a large inflatable, launching their partner as high in the air as they could in the hopes of clearing the three crossbars in front of them. The more crossbars cleared, the more time was taken off their overall score, a big boost as the players then had to swim up to several floating platforms to collect puzzle pieces, swim back to land and complete the puzzle. 

Grant had opted to jump from the platform, with Jonna waiting on the inflatable below, but when it came time to launch his partner over the crossbars, Grant completely missed the inflatable. He continued competing, despite feeling a "burning pain" in his leg from the fall. "I've booted my knee," he told medical upon returning to land. After getting checked out on-site, Grant was put into an ambulance to get further medical care. 

"At this point, I'm not worried about last place or going into the arena, I'm worried about Grant," Jonna said of her injured teammate. 

Grant and Jonna end up with the longest Rocketman runtime, putting them straight into the Zone. However, despite the rest of the house descending into drama trying to nominate two teams to go against the Australian duo in elimination, it was all for naught. 

The next time we saw Grant, he was hobbling into the Zone on crutches, so it was no surprise when host T.J. Lavin announced to him and the rest of the cast:
"The doctor said that you are medically unable to continue on The Challenge." As Grant's partner, that meant that Jonna also was leaving the game early. 

"Team Australia just lost one of its most powerful teams," Yes said of the pair's untimely exit. 

Fans react to early exit of Grant from The Challenge:

While some The Challenge: World Championship viewers pitied Grant for his medical evacuation from the game, others took it as "karma" for his past treatment of Kelly-Anne and Tristan. Here's what fans are saying on social media: 

Christina Izzo

Christina Izzo is the Deputy Editor of My Imperfect Life. More generally, she is a writer-editor covering food and drink, travel, lifestyle and culture in New York City. She was previously the Features Editor at Rachael Ray In Season and Reveal, as well as the Food & Drink Editor and chief restaurant critic at Time Out New York. 

When she’s not doing all that, she can probably be found eating cheese somewhere.