This article contains spoilers for The Challenge: Vets and New Threats episode 10, “A War Brewing.”

It’s time for a major reality check for most of the rookies on the current season of The Challenge: CT Tamburello is one of the best to ever play this game, no matter what shape he’s in. So what’s up with all the blatant disrespect and body-shaming for the man infamously known for wearing another player as a backpack, and smashing heads and eating them? Seriously, do these rookies want to die?!

While the five-time champion came into season 41, Vets and New Threats, visibly struggling during most of the challenges, he also beat most of the rookies (and vets!) during last week’s grueling mini final, once again proving how he’s one of the greatest. He was finally sent home in this week’s episode, however, after he and Tay Wilcoxson were DQed from trivia and lost an elimination against Theo Campbell and Adrienne Naylor.

Now, CT tells Entertainment Weekly that watching his own performance and what the other players were saying about him all season long has been the wake-up call he needs to get back into fighting shape — but he’s also calling out everyone who’s been talking trash about him this season.

“I won four out of the last 11 Challenges during the ‘dadbod era,'” CT tells EW. “I have a higher win percentage in this last decade than — I don’t know, does anybody have a higher winning percentage within the last 10 years? And I did it looking like Uncle Fester.”

CT Tamburello on ‘The Challenge’ season 41.

MTV

But the longtime vet admits that this was his worst season yet, and watching himself in the past 10 episodes has been very difficult.

“I can honestly say I didn’t realize how big and how much I had let myself go until the show aired,” CT says. “And I was like, ‘Oh, god damn.'”

Now 45 years old, CT thinks that it’s just his age finally catching up to him — a point made clear when he realized he was the same age as his partner Tay’s father.

“So you guys are all talking s— to your f—ing dad right now? No respect,” he says.

That said, he’s not ready to retire from The Challenge (we’ll hold as you all breathe a sigh of relief). He just now knows that he needs to evolve the way he approaches each season, instead of his usual routine of showing up to the house without training and getting in shape before the final.

“S—, I don’t know how many times I retired and came out of retirement,” CT says. “I remember when I came out of retirement for Invasion [which I won], and it was that same mentality, but I was so much younger. I really am getting old. If I’m going to come on these Challenges, I need to take better care of myself before I come on. Maybe I should start transforming myself a little bit earlier before I show up.”

Throughout his 21 years of competing on The Challenge, CT has gone through several different self-named eras, and with season 41, he’s ready to close the chapter on what he’s now calling his “humble pie era.”

“I kind of knew coming in that I was out of shape with the training or whatever, and I was going to get my butt kicked,” he admits. “But I didn’t think it was going to be that bad. I felt like I kind of needed that kick in the butt to have that chip in my shoulder. Like, ‘All right, motherf—ers, I’m going to see you when I come back. I ain’t going nowhere.’ Sticks and stones, whatever. But it did feel a little lonely at times. I’m taking grenades.”

At this point, it would be easier to list the season 41 cast members who didn’t trash CT’s performance or appearance in every episode. What’s worse is that the majority of the rookies banded together to target CT for multiple reasons, the most vocal being “justice for Leka” Sodade, since they believed CT threw a climbing challenge to send her into elimination. Some rookies, like Sydney Segal and Dee Valladares, even outright called CT a liability as a partner and claimed they didn’t want to be “stuck” with him in the game.

“I try to pass the torch gracefully and I try to give grace,” CT says. “I just don’t understand where all this animosity came from, all the way down to the point where nobody ever said exactly why they thought I tried to throw the challenge to send Leka home.”

CT points out that the format of the game pairs veteran males with rookie females, so he actually wanted to keep strong women like Leka around for his own safety.

“Why wouldn’t I want her to be like my Kaycee or Amber?” he says, referencing the two partners he most recently won the show with. “Nobody gave me a reason, and I didn’t quite understand.”

He also doesn’t get how he was receiving so much hate for his performance while also being feared in the game, because those are two completely opposing ideas.

“Am I washed up? If I’m washed up, then why wouldn’t you want to keep me around?” he says. “But then, if I’m a threat, I would’ve just had a lot more respect for people if they just said what the real reason was behind it. I just felt like I deserved more respect than what I got. And I understand it’s a game or whatever, but it didn’t have to be played like that. You guys are trying so hard to make me out to be something I’m not. I still think I can win.”

To all his haters, CT points to the literal scoreboard.

“Let’s be honest, I would’ve won that mini final if everybody didn’t cheat,” he says. “You know what sucked about it was that I was one point behind Turbo. I would’ve not only surpassed him, I would’ve been part of the 30-point club. What are we doing here?! The gall to say that I’m washed? Talk about judging a book by its cover.”

He does understand and appreciate how this new class of rookies is taking the game more seriously than ever, however, which is why he got a lot of heat from them for not performing at his peak.

“I really truly do believe that if I had taken the game serious when I was in my 20’s, I’d have a hell of a lot more wins,” he admits. “But I also think that, with the new kids, I probably should have said the quiet part out loud so people understood where I’m coming from.”

After hurting his back during a heights-over-water challenge on season 40, Battle of the Eras, CT formed a fear of those types of dailies. It’s why he couldn’t climb up the ladder while partnered with Leka, as he claims he had a mental block more than a physical issue — despite what most of his competitors believe.

“If I had just come out with that in the beginning instead of trying to pass it off like, ‘Yeah, I’m out of shape. I’m fat,’ trying to make light of it?” CT wonders. “If I had just said, ‘I’m afraid,’ in the beginning? This is new to me. It wasn’t about going up [the ladder], it was about coming down [from that height into water].”

He says he slowly started to face his fear throughout the season, which is why he was able to make it up just a little higher during the next heights-over-water challenge, the Cyclone climbing wall. But it wasn’t until this week’s trivia challenge, when he was disqualified for holding onto the stair master machine hanging 40 ft. above the water, that he was finally able to fully overcome it. That pivotal moment wasn’t actually shown in the episode, however.

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m touching, I’m touching, I’m touching, it was almost like, ‘Disqualify me, please,'” CT remembers. “I’m f—ing dying. I’m going to s— myself again if you don’t get me out of here. But what they didn’t show was when they told me I was disqualified, I jumped back on the platform with TJ to then figure out which side I was going to jump down. But I do my pencil [jump] and I was proud of myself.”

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly’s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

He says he finally doesn’t feel afraid anymore now that he’s jumped from that height without anything bad happening. And he’s using that as more motivation as he trains for future seasons.

“And the people that were good to me, that showed me grace when it wasn’t my proudest moment, I got you and I owe you,” CT says. “However, there’s some of ’em — I’m coming back, motherf—ers. I’ll be honest with you, I was caught off guard by Nany saying she wanted to get rid of me. I’m like, ‘Oh.’ Maybe I gave everybody too much credit.”

At the same time, he acknowledges that he “needed” to hear the disrespect from the rookies and vets alike to realize that he needed a change.

“Watching it and especially seeing this stuff, it’s hard for me to defend to myself,” CT says. “No, look, they got a point. ‘Man, you’re looking f—ing beefy, my guy.’ However, I did win the mini final! To hear everybody talk more trash and then they get f—ing wiped in that mini final — I can beat all you motherf—ers. I’ve got to go make sure I can take care of myself at home before I show up because those days are over of just showing up, getting in shape, and getting ready for the final while I’m there — not with these new kids.”

The Real World: Paris alum has already been training hard and “eating healthy” to get back in shape, and he’s excited to return transformed.

“I’m starting to believe in myself again. I think I can still win,” CT says. “Especially with what I did with that mini final. You guys have a lot of f—ing nerve talking all that s— to get smoked. I see you.”

The Challenge: Vets and New Threats airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.