‘The Challenge’ Contestants Pay Tribute to Tyler Duckworth

“The Challenge” two-time winner Tyler Duckworth died Tuesday in North Dakota, and his fellow contestants are remembering him as a “joy to be around” with “vibrant energy.”

Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio posted a video tribute to Duckworth on Instagram on Sunday. The pair started their reality show careers together in their early 20s on “The Real World: Key West” in 2006. Devenanzio and Duckworth also competed together and won “The Challenge: Rivals” in 2011.

“You were more than a friend. More than a roommate,” Devenanzio wrote in the caption of the post. “You were the brother I never had. Rest easy, Tyler. You’ll always be family.”

Brad Fiorenza wrote, “So grateful we got to see him on this day. Thoughts and prayers to his family. May his amazing soul live on forever in the lives he touched 🕊️RIP Tyler.”

Derrick Kosinski, who competed on the show and co-hosted the “Challenge Mania” podcast, told People Magazine, “We shared a room on ‘All Stars 2’ and he was an amazing human being. His passing is so sad. He was always such a bright light and incredible joy to be around. He also kicked my ass in elimination on the original ‘Cutthroat.’ And that was after he eliminated Johnny Bananas in the famous Bananas backpack elimination, ‘Back Up Off Me.’ He went toe to toe with CT for 40 minutes! He doesn’t get his flowers often enough for that. And he won that season. And then won again with Johnny on ‘Rivals.’”

Tina Barta, a contestant from “Road Rules: South Pacific” and multiple seasons of “The Challenge,” wrote, “We shared an experience that very few people will ever fully understand, and somewhere along the way, it became more than a show or an adventure. It became friendship. It became history. It became family.”