The Challenge: USA winners unpack that shocking ending: 'It was miserable'

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Challenge: USA's season 1 finale.

The Challenge: USA may have ended in a controversial way for eight competitors between all those DQs and quits, but for the two winners, Survivor alums Danny McCray and Sarah Lacina, they think the final was "perfect."

"They did leave out some of the extra work that we did — some of those legs were twice as long as what they actually show — but I think they did a good job of capturing the weather and how difficult that was and the terrain and all the different things that we had to go through," McCray, who crossed the finish line first, tells EW.

"We were there, so we know how things happened and how things went down — and they went down like you saw it," adds Lacina, who was in last place but was the only other player to cross the finish line after McCray.

Below, McCray and Lacina break down that shocking finale ending, reveal how miserable the conditions really were, and what they think about how everyone else quit.

Jonne Roriz/CBS 'The Challenge: USA'

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What extra work wasn't shown in the episode?

DANNY MCCRAY: The one where I was partnered with Sarah and we had the decoder, we actually had to do a climb first and we decoded a puzzle at the top. And then you saw we had to go down another 20-25 minutes and decode a second puzzle, so that one was two parts. And then the overnight part was we had to move the dirt to the pit, and then you had to move the dirt from the pit back to where you originally got it from.

SARAH LACINA: I don't know if people are trying to come up with reasons why [Angela was DQ'd], but I think maybe that's where confusion is coming from on the overnight leg. Every challenge there's a sign that tells you what you have to do, and this one says you must move this pile of dirt over to the pit and then it will reveal a code at the bottom of the pole, and attached to the top is two bags that you have to use the code to unlock. Once you move all the dirt, you get the code, then you have to put all the dirt back. On the sign it says you must retrieve these bags to continue to the next leg. It was pretty clear what we had to do. There was no confusion of the work that had to be done.

Danny, you absolutely crushed every single checkpoint throughout both days, so at what point did you realize you were going to win?

MCCRAY: After I finished the sudoku. I knew that I was one point ahead of Tyson and this was double points. If he ends up beating me in this one, then he'll win the whole thing, but once I saw him stuck on the sudoku and I said check and they said go, I knew that was my chance to win. I didn't feel like he would be able to catch me if I got that little lead on him. I knew that it was over.

How long were you up at the top of the mountain before Sarah arrived?

MCCRAY: We saw that Sarah was stuck on that first puzzle for a while. We didn't have a clock, so if I had to guess I'd probably say maybe 45 minutes to an hour before Sarah got there. Shout-out to her for continuing to do that because that's a long time to be outside.

Sarah, how long were you at that puzzle checkpoint? We saw you taking a break to huddle under a tree to shelter from the rain.

LACINA: Yeah, I was hungry, I was cold, I was freezing, my fingers weren't working, my brain wasn't working, and I was frustrated. I knew based on the point system, I didn't have to get first in this leg to win, I just had to not get last. So as everybody leaves, it was really demoralizing. We've been in snow and rain for 24 hours and I found a little bit of shelter and I'm like, "You've got to get your head right." I took a few minutes to myself and I'm like, "You're here for the long haul." It doesn't say you can time out, but I've watched The Challenge enough that either they're going to have to tell me I'm disqualified and I'm out or they'll tell me I've timed out or I'll be out here 'til midnight doing this. One of those is going to happen. It came to a point of continuing to persist and you're either going to get the puzzle or you're going to be out here a while.

Did you end up solving that first puzzle or did you time out?

LACINA: I ended up timing out of it. And I have no clue how long I was there. It felt like between one to two hours. And it's the mental aspect of it. I thought I lost everything and then having to come to terms with not winning, but not quitting, you need to continue. You're not going to win, but you're also not going to quit. Once I get that in my head, here we go.

You had no way of knowing you were the only woman left at that point, so did you ever consider quitting?

LACINA: Money is great, but disappointing my family — my son would have never understood why I didn't continue. And I didn't want to have to ever explain that to him. I'm not going to set that example. And, quite honestly, walking away with that lesson and going through that is way more valuable than the money. I come off very arrogant and cocky the whole season, right? But that's how I really feel about myself because I have been in those positions before and I overcome them. I don't ever quit. I may not come in first, but I know I can do it. That's where I get my drive. I have learned to become successful through that. If you don't like it, sorry, but it works for me. Like if Tyson thought, "I can't beat Danny," Danny could have turned the corner and broke his ankle. You don't know what can happen until it's over. I got to the top, I still thought I was last! And I wasn't. Even when you think it's over, it's not. Never quit. You can never win if you quit.

Jonne Roriz/CBS

Sarah, how long did it take you to solve the sudoku? Because we don't see you at that checkpoint.

LACINA: I did it on my first try. I would say I was able to get it done in 15 minutes. I know how to do sudoku, so I just hammered it out.

When you got to the top of the mountain you still thought you were in last place, so how did you find out you actually won?

LACINA: They had a little cabin — they weren't going to make Danny stay out there all night waiting for me — so I go in and it's just Danny in there and I'm like, "Where is everybody?" Danny's like, "I was the first one to finish," and I'm like, "Yeah, that's cool. But where is everybody? Are they in a different room or what?" The people in the room are shaking their heads, and Danny and I were not with it. We haven't eaten, we haven't slept, we're cold, wet. We can't see it. And finally they start helping us along, and we're like, "Wait a minute. Is it just us two? No way." I still can remember that moment. It was insane.

Danny, when Sarah arrived, did you think she passed everyone or did you know everyone else DQ'd?

MCCRAY: I thought somehow Sarah got to the sudoku, passed Tyson, Dom, and Justine, and [landed] in second place. When she walked in, I'm asking her, "How many people are still left at sudoku? What happened? You've got to explain to me how you ended passing up all these people." She's like, "There was nobody else," so I'm thinking the same thing: This cabin's small, I didn't see any other rooms, are y'all hiding?

LACINA: I didn't pass anyone, trust me. Nobody was there. There's no way I missed them.

MCCRAY: And at the beginning, I ended up going the wrong way, which is how I got so far behind Tyson and Dom. I went the wrong way up the mountain, and it ended up slowing me down about five minutes, so I'm like, maybe there's a different path or something. At this point, I'm just like, there's no way everybody quit.

Which DQ or quit shocked you the most?

MCCRAY: We would both say Tyson. Tyson is the Superman of the season. You've seen him do Survivor four times. He's a professional cycler, ultra marathons, all that stuff, so it was very surprising to see that he didn't complete it.

LACINA: When they said that he quit, I'm like, why though? You're not out there that long because you guys were all gone by the time I got there. I couldn't wrap my head around why he would quit. Watching it and he's like, "I'm going to have to do the whole puzzle again," and it's just are you willing to go to that place or not? Are you willing to endure the elements? I was willing to stay out there 'til midnight on that other puzzle, it didn't say there was a timeout or anything. You pick your poison, I guess.

You've both experienced Survivor — Sarah, you've done it multiple times — so you've dealt with enduring harsh elements before. Was being on this mountain in the cold so much worse than what you've all gone through before?

MCCRAY: It was the elements, but I think it was more of us having the wet clothes on from the previous day walking through the marsh, which was water and mud up to your knees, sleeping in that, and then when you get to the top of the mountain, it's much colder, you're working up a sweat, and you still have all these wet clothes on, and then all sudden you get into freezing temperatures. It's a very drastic change and I think that got the best of the people who couldn't complete it.

LACINA: It was miserable. There were miserable nights out on Survivor too, but it's not forever. You just have to tell yourself you can get through this. It's going to suck. I think it just came down to who wanted it bad enough, who's willing to go through the suck to finish.

MCCRAY: And we did it.

Since this is the first time we've seen everyone except the winners get DQ'd during the final, do you think that means this final is more difficult than previous Challenge finals, or is it because everyone was new to The Challenge and just hadn't experienced a final before? 

MCCRAY: Everybody that was on this cast, they're very tough people. I think the final was really hard. I don't want to get into the having the MTV people come and say it wasn't as bad and all that other stuff. Let me tell you something: They've been through their stuff, Sarah's been through hers, I've been through mine. I've been through NFL training camps, I've been through cold games, I've been through super hot games, I've been through all that. This was hard. And we finished. And you saw it knock out some of the strongest people that you may have seen on any season of Survivor or The Challenge, so it was tough.

LACINA: It was brutal. Looking back now, it's like childbirth. You go, "It wasn't that bad," but no, it was horrible. This is the same. It's easy to say now, we're removed from it, we're warm, we're dry, and go, "Well, it wasn't that bad." No. It was.

Jonne Roriz/CBS Danny McCray on 'The Challenge: USA'

As we were reminded in every episode, the winners of this season are invited to Paramount+'s Challenge global world championship, but after your experience this season, would you ever return for another season of The Challenge on CBS or MTV?

LACINA: [Host] T.J. [Lanvin] is like, "You punched your tickets to the world championship," and we're standing out there and we're like, "Here, you can have them back. We don't want to go."

MCCRAY: I just want the money, T.J.!

LACINA: But no, you get removed from it and it's like yeah, sure. Let's have another baby. Let's go. As long as it works out in my personal life and in my work life and with my family and I have their support, then yeah, I'm up for whatever adventure.

MCCRAY: Me too. I just want to have a fair shot at actually competing and winning The Challenge. I don't want to just be on there to be a name on the show. As long as I feel like that opportunity is there, then I'm open to it because I'm only on it to win. I'm not here to become a reality TV star.

Any chance we'll see either of you back on Survivor?

MCCRAY: [Laughs] Let me tell you something, that hourglass twist, I will never forget it. I'll never forget the emotions that I went through. Sarah has now been with me in that house for five to six weeks and probably never seen me get super emotional, but I was crying nonstop because I was so angry that I put myself in that situation. My mom had to see me cry. That experience for me, I'll never be able to get over it. I love Survivor, I'll continue watching it, but that game's not for me.

LACINA: I said I was done after Game Changers. I went back for Winners at War. I say I'm done after Winners at War. [Laughs] But somehow, I don't know what they keep doing to convince me. So yeah, I'm done!

MCCRAY: I think The Challenge is the best for us, Sarah.

LACINA: Maybe the Olympics are next.

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