It’s The Jake’s Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast’s fifth anniversary season kick-off episode! I am honored that three-time Challenge champion and Challenge Mania co-host Derrick Kosinski visited the podcast!

Derrick began his Reality TV journey on Road Rules: X-Treme, where he and his teammates, including fellow Challenge legend Jodi Weatherton, completed 13 missions across Argentina and Chile. He debuted on The Challenge on the Battle of the Sexes and competed in nine additional seasons, where he made the final five times and won championships on The Inferno 3, The Island, and The Ruins. Throughout his time on the main show, Derrick won 43 daily challenges and nine elimination wins, earning $210,970. The last time he appeared in the main franchise was on Vendettas, whereas a Mercenary, Derrick, took out then-newcomer Joss Mooney in the Crazy Eight game.

Derrick returned to The Challenge for three installments in the Paramount+ series: The Challenge: All-Stars. In the first season, Derrick never saw an Arena Elimination game, but he and his partner, Jisela Delgado, placed eleventh after they failed to place the first checkpoint. In the spin-off’s sophomore season, Derrick Kosinski won the first two daily challenges but was blindsided into elimination when longtime friend Brad Fiorenza sent him home.

In The Challenge: All-Stars’ third season, Derrick competed against cast members who made it to the finals. Derrick played an excellent game this season and even defeated All-Stars 2 champion MJ Garrett in the Star Struck elimination game after the latter called him out. Sadly, one of his longtime rivals, Nehemiah Clark, eliminated Derrick one episode before the Season Three finals in the infamous Pole Wrestle arena game. This was the same game that Derrick lost to another rival and Nehemiah’s best friend, Wes Bergmann, in The Duel.

When he is not competing on The Challenge, Derrick hosts the popular Challenge Mania Podcast with co-host (and Jake's Take friend) Scott Yager. Since 2017, the duo has covered the franchise and sat down with show icons, including Johnny Bananas, CT Tamburello, Cara Maria Sorbello, and Aneesa Ferreira, and current-day fan-favorites such as Amber Borztotra, Chris Underwood, Jonna Mannion, and Paulie Calafiore. Also, the duo connects show fans with their favorite cast members as a part of Challenge Mania Live. Atlanta, Austin, Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, and New York City have been previous stops on the live show.

In this edition of The Jake’s Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast, Derrick Kosinski revealed his favorite Challenge seasons, spoke about his iconic elimination matches against Wes and Joss (including reacting to Joss’s commentary in 2020), and Challenge Mania’s evolution.