‘The Challenge: Cutthroat’ Season 42, Episode 5 – Where to Watch, Streaming, Preview & Last Week’s Results

The competition continues on August 26, 2026 with another episode of The Challenge: Cutthroat. Here’s everything you need to know before tuning in, including when the episode premieres, where to watch, what happened last week and a preview of what’s ahead.

• Episode: Episode 5
• Season: Season 42
• Episode Title: TBA
• Air Date: August 26, 2026
• Time: 3:00 AM ET / 12:00 AM PT
• Host: TJ Lavin
• Filming Location: Thailand
• Streaming Service: Paramount+

What is ‘The Challenge’ on Paramount+ About?

Hosted by TJ Lavin, The Challenge is a long-running reality competition series that debuted in 1998. Each season brings together a mix of reality TV veterans and newcomers to compete in physically and mentally demanding challenges for a cash prize.

Season 42, Cutthroat, features 24 competitors divided into three teams as they battle for a share of the $500,000 prize. Throughout the season, competitors must work together as teams to earn a place in the final, but in the end, the winning team captain will decide how the prize money is divided.

How to Watch ‘The Challenge: Cutthroat’

New episodes of The Challenge premiere Wednesdays on Paramount+ and are released weekly at 3:00 AM ET / 12:00 AM PT. Previous seasons of The Challenge are also available to stream on Paramount+.

You can stream Paramount+ through DIRECTV, making it easy to follow the competition all season long. Get started today!

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‘The Challenge: Cutthroat’ Episode 5 Preview

Heading into Episode 5, the captain rotation that has shaped the season so far is coming to an end. At the next challenge, each team has to tell T.J. Lavin the name of their sole permanent captain, meaning one player per team will hold the role for the rest of the season instead of handing it off after every elimination. With captains controlling the elimination matchup whenever their team wins a daily, that choice carries far more weight than any of the weekly handoffs did.

Team Orange goes into the week in the strongest position, with back-to-back daily wins and all eight of their original players still in the game. Team Grey is down to seven after losing Nurys Mateo, and Team Blue remains at five with no daily wins to their name. Blue did get one piece of good news, though: Anna Leigh Wilson has now won two eliminations and is proving to be the team’s most reliable competitor in the arena.

The house also has plenty left unresolved. Cara Maria Sorbello is under pressure from her own teammates after Blue squandered a significant advantage in the water, and Grey has their own tension to sort out following the fallout from Nurys’ exit. Several new pairings have formed as well, which could complicate the permanent captain decisions if loyalties start pulling in different directions.

What Happened on ‘The Challenge’ Last Week?

Need a refresher? Here’s what happened in Episode 4 of The Challenge: Cutthroat.

Daily Challenge

The teams competed in “Infiltration Dive,” a water challenge that started with a swim out to a dock. From there, players went one at a time on a long underwater swim across a 50-meter area, surfacing only in submerged air cones along the route, and collected puzzle pieces as they went.

The format gave Team Blue their best opportunity of the season and they could not take advantage of it. Because Blue was down to five players, they only had to get five people through while Team Grey and Team Orange each had to move eight. Team Orange won their second straight daily challenge anyway, giving captains Izzy Fairthorne and Will Gagnon control of the arena, with Team Grey second and Team Blue third.

Captains Cara Maria Sorbello and Nelson Thomas both struggled in the water. Nelson was not prepared to swim with his prosthetic leg and ultimately removed it, then had difficulty in the first air pocket. Cara Maria, who has never been a strong swimmer, also lost significant time. Alexis Lete, Josh Goldstein and Anna Leigh Wilson all performed well, which made the result harder for the team to accept. Josh confronted Cara Maria afterward about whether she still wanted to be in the game, and she said through tears that she did.

Elimination

The nominations produced the episode’s most contentious moment. Grey captains Cassidy Clark and Leo Dionicio put up Adrienne Naylor, and the rest of the team voted in Nurys Mateo. Orange captain Izzy Fairthorne selected Nurys over Adrienne, who is a close friend of hers, and Orange captain Will Gagnon chose Anna Leigh Wilson from Blue, sending her into her second elimination before either of the other Blue women had been in one. Nurys reacted angrily to being voted in and lashed out at several castmates, including Sydney Segal.

Anna Leigh and Nurys met in “I’ve Got You Pegged,” a combination of strength and puzzle solving. Each player had to pull 15 poles from two blocks and place them into differently sized and shaped openings on a platform, with every pole sitting at the same height once they were positioned correctly. The first player to finish won.

Anna Leigh controlled the game and won comfortably, sending Nurys home in 21st place. It was Anna Leigh’s second elimination win of the season and the first arena loss for Team Grey.

T.J. closed the episode with a twist: at the next challenge, each team will have to name their sole permanent captain for the rest of the season.

‘The Challenge: Cutthroat’ Season 42 Competitor Tracker

‘The Challenge: Cutthroat’ Episode Schedule

Follow the season with the episode schedule below:

New episodes premiere every Wednesday. This schedule will be updated as additional episodes are announced.

Watch ‘The Challenge: Cutthroat’ on DIRECTV

Never miss an elimination! Stream new episodes of The Challenge: Cutthroat every week on Paramount+ through DIRECTV, and catch up on previous seasons of The Challenge anytime.

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