CT Tamburello is 40 years old and has now won The Challenge four time after securing a victory during the April 21 finale of The Challenge: Double Agents. However, don’t expect him to disappear from the MTV franchise any time soon! “I’m 40 years old now — it’s easy for me to ride off into the sunset,” CT admitted to HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “But, at the same time, I’m not f***ing leaving! People can say whatever they want, but I have a higher win percentage during my dad bod era than during my 20s. I’m a different player now. I’m a different person. I’m not trying to be the toughest guy there and overpower the challenge. I’m trying to work smarter, not harder.”
During the final on Double Agents, CT was partnered with first-time competitor, Amber Borzotra. Although it was the first time they were working together all season, the managed to beat the other three teams (Fessy Shafaat and Kaycee Clark, Leroy Garrett and Nany Gonzalez, and Kam Williams and Cory Wharton) to win the $900,000 prize. Amber was extremely underestimated by the other players all season long, but CT said he was confident from the moment he found out she was going to be his partner for the final.
CT Tamburello on ‘The Challenge: Double Agents.’ (MTV)
“I was so excited, honestly,” he revealed. “I knew she had a lot of heart after the second challenge, then I find out down the line that she also ran a marathon. For me, that’s all I need. If I’m going to be the slowest runner on our team, then we’re in good shape. Just get me there. And she did better than I even thought she would! She ate a lot of the food, she helped me solve a lot of those puzzles. She saved my life when I fell off that kayak! There were times when I felt like she was taking it easy on me with the run. She’d pretend to be looking where to go just so I could catch up to her.”
CT is no stranger to The Challenge finals — this was his ninth one — but he said Double Agents was absolutely “brutal” due to the elements. “You’re soaking wet, it’s two days, no sleep, no eating, it’s cold,” he recalled. “No matter what you did, the elements were terrible. I’ve been on a hike before in a final and I remember my fingertips and feet being cold, but this time, my whole entire body was. I felt like if I moved too fast, I was just going to shatter.”
Check out more from our EXCLUSIVE interview with C.T. below!
Amber Borzotra on ‘The Challenge: Double Agents’. (MTV)
On automatically making the final because Nany chose Kyle as a partner instead of him before the last elimination: To this day, I don’t know why. I’ve asked her! I feel like I should sent her a Christmas gift or something. She’s like, no no, don’t worry about it. We didn’t talk [about it]! I’m like….were you thinking that no matter who you pick, they’re going to go in next and you wanted me to pick you [as a partner] after that? I don’t know. I really don’t know!
On how he’s grown as a player since starting on the show and his advice for Fessy: There were teammates that I’ve had [in the past] that I treated like [Fessy treated his partners]. One in particular is Veronica [Portillo]. I learned from those mistakes. I get it. Fessy’s coming in hot — he has a lot to prove. He’s selfish. He knows what he wants, but I don’t know that I would handle it the same way he’s handling it. I’ve been there before. I’d go in and whenever I didn’t win I’d blame everyone else instead of being positive. I think that will come down the line for him. I try to tell him, ‘I relate to you, but pump the brakes.’ Down the line, you’re going to make things harder for yourself.
On his biggest concern going into the final: I can honestly say, every team in the final looked solid. Every team had a great season. They performed above and beyond and I don’t make the mistake of underestimating anybody. I try to be open-minded that anybody’s a threat. My major concern when we were running was I didn’t want Amber to come out of the gate and gas out and not pace herself. It was a major concern. But then she just wouldn’t f***ing stop moving! Throughout the entire final, me an Amber were finishing checkpoints before other people even showed up. We were just looking at each other like….yo…I think we’re going to do this. But we just kept focusing. We just kept saying, ‘Don’t even think. Go, go, go.
