‘The Challenge: World Championship’: Nelson Thomas Shares Unique Elimination Idea With Jonna Mannion in Exclusive Sneak Peek

The Challenge; World Championship competitors are preparing for their first paired elimination. On the heels of winning the first daily with her partner, Jonna Mannion has a big decision to make — who will she put into elimination? Nelson Thomas and his partner, Jujuy Jimenez, are automatically going into elimination after their daily challenge performance, and he has some ideas for who he wants to go up against. In PopCulture.com’s exclusive sneak peek of Wednesday’s episode, Nelson let Jonna in on his big elimination scheme, which, interestingly enough, involves his hair. 

As Jonna explains to Nelson, she’s unsure whether she wants to throw in the partnership of KellyAnne Judd and Tristan Phipps or Jodi Weatherton and Benja Alfonso. Nelson said that he is slightly concerned about going up against either pair, as his own partner, Jujuy, has less Challenge experience than vets KellyAnne and Jodi. However, he has an idea for how he wants the elimination to play out. 

Nelson suggests to Jonna that he could give her a signal to indicate who he wants to go against after seeing what the elimination game will entail. If he leaves his hair up, it will indicate to Jonna that he wants her to pick Tristan. But, if he leaves his hair down, that means he wants to go against Benja. Jonna then weighs in on Nelson’s plan in her confessional, and it doesn’t appear as though she’s fully on board with it. 

She says, “When you’re the person going into elimination, you don’t really have the choice. I’d like to help Nelson out in this situation. And if it works out maybe I can just blame it on Nelson.” To see what Jonna and her partner, Grant Crapp, ultimately decide to do, fans can tune in to The Challenge: World Championship, which airs on Wednesdays on Paramount+. 

Nelson’s Challenge journey is playing out at the moment, but he navigating a more serious battle offscreen. On Tuesday, the reality star opened up about the car accident that he was involved in on March 5. He posted a video on Instagram of the scene, which involved several bystanders, including Minnesota Vikings player KJ Osborn, having to pull him out of his burning vehicle. The accident left Nelson hospitalized with a severely injured hand and leg. Thankfully, he said that he was in “high spirits” and that he is “getting stronger.” The Challenge star ended his post by asking fans for prayers as he navigates this ordeal.