Tyler Duckworth<\/a>, a two-time champion on MTV<\/a>‘s The Challenge<\/a><\/em> and Real World: Key West<\/em> alum, was found dead on Tuesday. He was 44.<\/p>\n Fans knew him first as the funny, big-energy guy from The Real World: Key West<\/em> in 2006 \u2014 MTV cast him not long after he graduated from Tufts, and he barely had time to unpack before the network shipped him straight into The Challenge<\/em>. He’d stay part of that world for nearly 20 years, cycling through six seasons \u2014 The Duel<\/em>, The Gauntlet III<\/em>, Cutthroat<\/em>, Rivals<\/em>, All Stars 2<\/em> and All Stars 3<\/em> \u2014 and along the way became one of the franchise’s most beloved lifers. He won twice, taking Cutthroat<\/em> in 2010 and Rivals<\/em> the following year alongside longtime castmate Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio. Friends called him “Mighty Duckworth,” and it stuck.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Off camera, he found a quieter kind of pride teaching world history in Grand Forks, N.D. In a statement to People<\/a><\/em>, Duckworth’s mother, Joni, said he’d found his passion in teaching and was good at it, adding that she understood his students loved him and that a man who’d traveled the world had plenty of insight to bring into a classroom.<\/p>\n A neighbor in his Grand Forks apartment building reported water pouring through their ceiling on Tuesday; a maintenance worker sent to investigate found Duckworth in an overflowing bathtub. Police say there were no outward signs of trauma and nothing so far points to homicide, though the case was initially classified as an unattended death. A cause of death is still pending autopsy results. Duckworth’s mother confirmed his passing in a Facebook post Thursday, writing that even the family didn’t yet know what happened.<\/p>\n![\"Melody](\"https:\/\/www.goldderby.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/BR_2818_SG_0008b.jpg?w=300&h=168&crop=1\")
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