To All, I thought I had a broken cup holder because it wouldn't stay retracted in the closed position. So here's what I did...
1) Pulled gently but firmly on the faux wood trim surrounding the shifter lever. It had 4 metal retaining clips (2 on each side) that I thought were tough without knowing how hard to pull. Once pulled loose, to remove it completely, I had to shift into low 2 position.
2) Unscrew the two screws for the flip up arm rest latch. From there you can remove two more screws that removes the cup holder.
3) Pull upward to remove the plastic cover before removing the actual cup holder. Be GENTLE, it only has plastic hooks (ears) that snap into place.
4) I then found coins, paper, lots of debris. Cleaned it and looked at the workings like any curious DIY... and IT ACTUALLY WORKED AGAIN. It looks like it would be pretty hard to break the mechanism.
Hope this helps others with broken cup holders.
Tools needed where a phillips screw driver, and a small torx or star point.