The Challenge alum Tyler Duckworth has died. He was 44.
“My son, Tyler, passed away earlier this week,” his mother, Joni, announced via a private Facebook message on Thursday, August 13, per People. “Cause of death has yet to be determined. I will post on Facebook about services as soon as his dad and I figure it out.”
(The Sun was first to report news of his death.)
Duckworth originally found fame on MTV as a cast member on The Real World: Key West before officially joining the Challenge franchise that same year. He won the Cutthroat and Rivals seasons of The Challenge and also competed on four other incarnations — The Duel, The Gauntlet III, All Stars 2 and All Stars 3.
He most recently reunited with his former costars at a recording for the “Challenge Mania” podcast on July 31 in Minneapolis. (The comedy podcast is hosted by Challenge alum Derrick Kosinski and Scott Yager.)
The reality star shared some behind-the-scenes photos from the event on August 2 as he celebrated having an unofficial Challenge reunion in his hometown of Minneapolis.
“@challengemaniapodcast always knows how to bring the BEST of the BEST together!! So proud to represent my hometown of Minneapolis along with these other challenge legends,” Duckworth wrote alongside a carousel of photos of Real World and Road Rules stars. “The fans are what keep us coming out! Hearing your stories of courage, inspiration & joy that you’ve got being a fan of the franchise is humbling each and every time. Also, pretty sure we nailed the cast photo for the lost season of The Real World: Minneapolis!! Thank you Minneapolis! Thank you @scottofyager It was REAL!!”
Aside from his Challenge success, Duckworth shared with Entertainment Weekly in 2021 that he’d become a middle and high school teacher.
At the time, he spoke about breaking new barriers of The Challenge as one of the few LGBTQ+ winners in the franchise’s history. (He returned to the franchise for The Challenge: All Stars 2 in 2021 after a ten-year retirement.)
“It’s no secret that the gay guys are always voted in first. And I take it very seriously that I’m going to represent the gay community, and there’s a lot of expectations because not only am I gay, but I can win these things and I’ve proven that I can,” he explained. “But at the same time, there’s a lot of pressure. Like RuPaul says, “Don’t f*** it up.” If I f*** it up, it’s like I’m ruining it for the gay community. So I put a lot of pressure on myself and feel like I have to carry the torch.”
He went on, “But at the same time, you have to just let go of that pressure and be yourself because otherwise you’re going to beat yourself up. You have to remember that this is just a game, and the big joke this season is when people started getting serious, I would always put my hand on my hip and then turn around and say, ‘It’s just the game.’ And that kind of de-escalated situations for people that were getting upset.”
