Although he’s never won a season of The Challenge, Cory Wharton has found himself as one of the faces of the franchise. Always game while delivering great confessionals and, at times, heated drama, Cory has made 11 appearances between MTV’s flagship series and spin-off shows.
Most recently, he competed in CBS’s The Challenge: USA season 2 as one of six veterans carrying the MTV flag in a sea of CBS reality stars.
So, let’s get to know Cory a bit more.
According to his Challenge Wiki biography, Cory was born on March 5, 1991, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. So, he’s 32 years old at the time of this writing. Cory’s original taste of reality TV was as a cast member on Real World: Ex-Plosion in 2014 when he was 22 years old. He then crossed over to The Challenge at 24 during season 27’s Battle of the Bloodlines.
Online search indicates that Cory stands at 6’0″ tall and has a net worth of around $1.5 million. His earnings are bolstered by his Challenge career — he’s made $113,750 thus far from prize money per his Challenge Wiki bio. Even though he’s never earned the title of “Challenge Champion,” Cory’s made it to four final challenges (Battle of the Bloodlines, Invasion of the Champions, Total Madness, and Double Agents).
Further, Cory is paid to appear on reality television, meaning he’s earned a paycheck for his Challenge stints, as well as when he appeared on other shows like Teen Mom and Ex on the Beach.
The amount he receives for competing in The Challenge is private information. But, he’s one of the franchise’s biggest names, so nowadays he likely earns a pretty penny regardless of how his season goes.
Cory recently boxed Too Hot to Handle’s Chase DeMoor in a celebrity match, which would’ve allotted him a payday as well. They fought during Social Gloves 2 in September 2022 and the exhibition match lasted all five, three-minute rounds. According to his official IMDB profile, Cory also tried his hand at acting as a basketball player in Devil’s Ride and as a character named Clinton Jones in Black Spartan.
Although a big part of Cory’s narrative during the first part of his Challenge tenure was his tendency to move from girl to girl, he’s been settled down for years.
Cory’s dating another reality star, Taylor Selfridge. They’ve been together since 2019, according to the US Sun. They share two children — daughters Mila and Maya — and Cory’s also the father to Ryder Wharton who he had with former Challenge contestant Cheyenne Floyd in 2017.