The Challenge: What Happened To Horacio & Why Was He Disqualified?
Horacio Gutiérrez Jr. competed on MTV's "The Challenge" Season 38 alongside Olivia Kaiser per its core gimmick pairing up contestants and keeping them with their same partners for its entirety. Prior to "The Challenge," Gutiérrez Jr. was on reality competition show "Exatlón Estados Unidos" whereas Kaiser made a name for herself on "Love Island." Together they nearly reached the end of their "Challenge" season until the pair ended up disqualified.
Gutiérrez Jr.'s disqualification was simply the result of Kaiser sustaining two injuries that cost her the competition. First, Kaiser damaged her finger during a physically intensive game, which hindered her abilities moving forward but was not yet enough to sideline her outright. However, during a subsequent game — perhaps affected by her existing injury — she accidentally propelled a golf ball into her face with considerable force. Given the seriousness of head trauma, she was ultimately transported to a hospital, ending her run. Without a partner, Gutiérrez Jr. too was medically disqualified.
"It was pretty traumatizing, because we did work so hard," Kaiser told Variety. "I'm not trying to be dramatic about it because it's not that serious but in the same sense, it is because it's not something anyone could be prepared for."
Horacio Gutiérrez Jr. still competes athletically, largely outside of film and TV
"Exatlón Estados Unidos" marked Gutiérrez Jr.'s first TV appearance. Since "The Challenge," he has yet to rejoin the worlds of film or TV to any significant degree.
Gutiérrez Jr.'s sole subsequent public appearance to date was as a contestant in The Soccer Tournament, which pitted 32 independent soccer teams against one another with a $1 million prize at stake. The tournament debuted in 2023 and aired on a few different NBC-owned platforms. He played for Raleigh Rebels FC, who made it out of the group stage before losing 3-4 to ZALA FFF in the tournament bracket's round of 16.
Based on posts to his Instagram account, Gutiérrez Jr. continues to compete athletically in non-televised events like a Spartan race that took place in Austin, Texas in 2023. He also shared that the April 2023 issue of a magazine local to his hometown of El Paso, Texas featured him on its cover with the caption "El Paso's Herculean Hero." Fans of his "Challenge" run can read the article in full on digital magazine platform Issuu and generally keep up with his present-day goings-on through his personal social media.