A Really Good Looking Underdog w/ Dusty Harris

Dusty Harris aka "The Dust Devil" joins Devyn and Tori to discuss the ramifications of Operation Hat Trick, the rules he set for himself going into this season and the 37 seconds that changed his Challenge career forever. Also: a geography lesson!

Head to Paramount+ to catch new episodes of The Challenge: USA 2 on Thursdays and Sundays, and we'll see you back here right after for a look behind the scenes on MTV's Official Challenge Podcast.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everyone, I'm Devin Simone and I'm Tory Deal and
this is mtp's official challenge podcast. Girl. This was an
episode that's a lot ev if. So what is with
you guys this season with like multiple personalities? Because I
feel like we will see one side of someone and

(00:22):
we're like, oh, okay, that's.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Cool, and then another episode.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
I mean we saw it with John Ay, we saw
it with Chaosity, we are seeing it. We even kind
of saw it with Bananas when he went from like
usual confident Bananas to his godfather's speech of woe is Me?
Like this is just and this week with Dusty the
Teddy Bear.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
And then with Wes as well, you get both of
them happy moments.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yes, although I'm still not sure if Wes's woe is
Me wasn't more political than not? Okay, because not that
Wes isn't like heartfelt, we don't get to see that side.
It's it's there, But like remember Wes's like best asset
is that Wes is a like a top tier mind

(01:09):
upon mind upon mind.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Can I say something that makes me feel like it
was authentic?

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (01:17):
So you know we all have one ten minute phone
call sometimes twice a week. Yep, every time before his
phone call he would be a ball of anxiety because
he would just be worried that he was going to
get bad news about the pregnancy or something. So I
think it was just truly a time of like like, really,
my wife, I can't even talk to my wife that

(01:38):
much and she has a baby growing inside her, like yeah,
so I do think.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
But I did about that part not being genuine.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
I meant more of the woe is me around going
into elimination like that part I believed was real, like
obviously he adores his wife, and yeah, being a new
dad like that I felt was very genuine. I meant
just the part of like make it a girl, because
we've seen him all seasons sort of say now I'm
gonna be the funny person. Now I'm gonna be this person,
like kind of strategized to stay out of the elimination.

(02:08):
So I want to say, not the new dad part
that I think was one thousand percent like yeah, real
and raw, right, but just his I mean, even Dusty
was surprised by how many girls got voted in Yeah,
possibly thanks to Wes's politicking, right, and being like, yeah,
were you surprised?

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Of course I thought it was gonna be straight Dusty
all day. Yeah, I knew obviously Wes was gonna vote
for a girl. I knew Dusty was going to vote
for a girl. And then it was like, you know
what really surprised me Michelle voting for Dusty because not
that she owed anything to Dusty, but Michelle and West
got so close.

Speaker 4 (02:47):
This season in terms of working together.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
So I think that when Wes watches this back, he's
gonna be like, wow, Michelle was playing all the sides. Yeah,
And I mean, you know, I don't actually know, but
it's gonna be interesting to like eventually talk to Michelle
and watch out she's moving through this game because obviously
she's survivor strong, but she really did ride the middle
with the vets.

Speaker 4 (03:08):
Yeah, like we never we never targeted Michelle.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, she's very smart in this game, and she's keeping
her like cards close to her chest, which is really impressive.
There was so much going on in this game. So
we started with this week's challenge, hi Q Trivia.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
I love trivia. It's always my personal favor. Altho, you
guys got some hard questions.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Admittedly, like you guys and Chris knowing with a double
deck of caon whatever.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
That yes, Like, what how did I don't you know that?

Speaker 4 (03:39):
I don't know if I said the right shape right there?

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Girl, it sound right, I don't even know, like it
just makes and he said that suspended from the air,
that that man must be a genius. Blue team winning
with an incredible strategy. You guys were like amazing and
how you did that? Standout performance though from Melissa s
and the Green team and Tiffany on the Red team,
And shout out to Tiffany because when she was the
last one up there and she's like stuck to the

(04:03):
glass and you could see they cut to a clip
and she basically is like even kissing the glass, like
she's even using her lips literally has like a suction,
and then she makes a quick comment where she's like
oh hell, and then she falls like she.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Pulls her lips off the glass and then.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
She falls, and it was just so funny, like the
timing of that, but propositivity for doing an amazing job.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
And I think that this is one of the beautiful moments.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
And when you see a challenge team standing up next
to each other and you look for the strongest, biggest competitor, right, Like,
you look at the Blue team, you think, oh, FESSI like,
but you never know when the challenge is gonna benefit
somebody smalls anyone's game.

Speaker 4 (04:40):
It's anyone's game, which is why we got to see
it with Alyssa. We got to see it with tiff
as well, and I think.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
That that, you know, it was good nice to see
for them and for their own personal moraleity challengers.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Absolutely, and that's why we have trivia every sea.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
I mean, I think, what, that's the only individual daily
I've ever won as an individual, because y'all know I'm
not winning another individual So I love trivia. Then we
have voting where it's Wes and Tiffany going in. We
get to see you and Bananas, which I think was
pretty smart sort of say from the jump, hey, look,
we are not going to be able to sway anyway, right,

(05:13):
you like on the Blue team because you're like, we
don't have the numbers, so you're like, we're just gonna
look like we're playing along. So Wes and Tiffany get
voted in the hopper, selects Dusty with because he had
seven balls in the hopper. Everybody was turning on Dusty
and we got to see a little bit of the
dust devil now. I mean he went in on Tiffany,

(05:33):
and Tiffany handled it well, just you know, blaming her,
saying you be Tray. I mean he really How did
you feel in the house when you saw that?

Speaker 3 (05:42):
I mean I tried to stay away from it because
you know, I don't It's like when you watch when
you watch things catch on fire, you.

Speaker 4 (05:48):
Don't want to be a part of the fire in
any way. You don't want somehow the association.

Speaker 5 (05:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, so I was like, you know what, let me
just but you could hear it. And I think that
I think tiff did handle herself really well. I think
she I think it's hard, it's a really tough environment.
I think we had already seen glimpses of Dusty where
sometimes like the competition would get to.

Speaker 4 (06:06):
Him and he'd be like wow, like screaming really loud.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
Yeah, And I think some people, you know, around that
it took a while for people to get used to Dusty.
But I think at this point in time, obviously tiff
we kind of knew he had those moments, and I
think she she that's why she was able to handle
handle it really well.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, I mean, and especially to be accused of something
you didn't do right, Like, I think that's the part
that's like tough, when someone's coming at you in front
of everyone. Also, Michayla was hilarious. I don't know if
you guys caught it, but go back and rewind. When
Mikayla runs up the stairs, it's like, hey, y'all, there's
some tea, and everybody gets up from the table and
runs downstairs.

Speaker 5 (06:41):
Huh.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
Mikayla is just just so so funny. She is, man,
she really is.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
The way she would just hobble in a room like
she's full full blown character.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
She's also the way she knew hings by the way
the hingstrem question and she's like, I know because the
app has not been deleted. Shout out to Mikayla for that.
So much stuff is so funny. And so then we
see the elimination come down, right, and it's Wes versus Dusty,
which is what you know. Wes was hoping wouldn't happen,
but it did. Going into that, who did you think

(07:13):
was going to come out victorious?

Speaker 3 (07:15):
I really didn't know. I mean, I think that it
was pretty evenly matched. Wes has the experience. Dusty is
an incredible athlete, which hasn't really been highlighted too too
much yet, you know, unfortunately for him. But like if
you were to see him compete in some of the
daily challenges, you would put a lot of emphasis on
his athletic ability.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
Yeah, Wes's fight like struggle with the ropes, like his curse.

Speaker 4 (07:40):
Not until after not until after.

Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah, but I know he's strategic, and so I figured
the issue is with Wes going first, right, Like, Wes
was the first person to figure out which wheel was
going to be the one to actually have enough leverage
to knock the other person off.

Speaker 4 (07:55):
So by Dusty staying up there watching that, he didn't
even have to waste time trying that exactly. I just
went right for the second one.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
So I think start of Dusty, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (08:03):
For sure, it gave it gave Dusty an advantage.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
So you know, when when the Times came out and
we found out that Wes one, I mean it was
like a shock to everybody.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
How long did it take for them to make that
announcement because we saw like kind of a not a
slow mo, but we just saw everyone's reactions when it
really seemed Wes seemed defeated.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
It really did seem like Wes lost.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
How much time do you think passed before they actually
kind of got them both up there and then announced
it right here who the winner is?

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Yeah, at least thirty to forty five minutes because Wes
was sitting in the in the mud soup for a while.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
Really, yeah, and they didn't encourage him to get it.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
They just let him stew, literally let him they let
him stew.

Speaker 5 (08:44):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
Interesting, yeah, emails email Wes.

Speaker 4 (08:52):
But now he's back in the game. He's playing with
Blue team.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
Now he takes so smart because now you guys have
the numbers.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Finally think are looking sort of up.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
I mean, in this game, anything changes every week, but
you guys finally have the numbers. Had you guys talked
about that beforehand, or had he shared that with you
guys that he would defect if he want to come
back over to the WOU team.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
I kind of assumed he was going to do that,
And obviously you had seen this, you know, the drama
brewing between Chris.

Speaker 4 (09:19):
Cassidy and West.

Speaker 5 (09:20):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
Yeah, so, like I kind of had it in my mind,
but you know, obviously for it to go down. This
is the cool thing about the challenge is somebody could
take a shot at you. You can go in, you
can come back, you can return the shot. And then
now it's this, it's karmik in a way.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
Yeah, you can return the shot and move people around,
which is like changes everything. So we see west effect
and then yeah, and now we're set up for next week.
We had some very interesting trivia moments, which is another
reason I love trivia. I don't think any will ever
be as good as when Bananas said Australians speak Dutch.

(09:56):
But Jojo Siwa coming from Dance with the Stars all
the To be fair, she was on Dancing with the Stars, That's.

Speaker 5 (10:03):
What I said.

Speaker 4 (10:03):
She just didn't she just she just didn't start.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
She didn't she didn't start there. But it did have
a dance in it.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
And Corey, I actually feel like we should have I
didn't eve think about it till now, but we should
have called Corey for this episode and just put him
on speaker and asked him to pronounce Steven Spielberg, like
we should be like Corey, hey, can you can you
just say Steven Spielberg for a second, please? I wonder
if could get it right now? Ah wild, oh wow,
so good.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
I mean there's so many moments, Like we were actually
up there for an hour and thirty minutes. We had
so many trivia questions that you didn't get to see,
so many hilarious ones. I know, one of the questions
was what is the final Magic Mike movie called?

Speaker 4 (10:41):
And Banana's yells out.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
Big boner and yeah, yeah, nobody knew the answer, so
like there was ridiculous response.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
Wait what is it called?

Speaker 4 (10:51):
I think it's called The Last Dance?

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Oh I think it is. Yeah, Oh that's hilarious. Yeah,
so funny.

Speaker 4 (10:57):
There were some funny moments up there.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
You know.

Speaker 4 (11:00):
I wish that you guys could watch the entire thing.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
They should release that the trivia part, at least uncut,
because I bet you there are some really hilarious Is
there another one that stood out to you as being
like the dumb not dumbest answer, but sort of.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
The like, I'm pretty sure that while one of the
questions while Lissa was up there by herself was who
is the pop star that sings crazy and out of nowhere?
She was like, I don't know, Prettey spears and got
it right with like actually not knowing what she was
talking about.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
So there was some moments that's hilarious.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, with Alyssa s while she was up there alone,
still answering questions, right, So it kind of sucks that
they gave her the one that she didn't.

Speaker 1 (11:37):
Really Yeah, yeah, but I mean props to her, Props
to all of them.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
So good.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
It's always so fun to see and TJ really gets
really gets into it, like yeah, I mean he came
to play as evidence by his shirt, I know he
didn't think we were gonna let that slide. This episode
he had. He really was taking some fashion risks. I
appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
He was bold.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
He had the print, the applicase, the floral applicase. He
was really doing something like I dare I say, this
is the most bold we've seen TJ in his fashion.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
Can I confess something to you. I don't think I've ever.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
Noticed what he's worn, and I'm always mind blown by
you that that's something.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
That sticks out in your mind. I does, and I
don't know why, but I guess.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
I mean, it probably makes sense because I'm the one
who went to the challenge house with like four bags
and fourteen pairs of heels and like, you know whatever else.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
So I pay attention to those things.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
But I'm always impressed when when TJ deviates, you know.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
Plus he's come along way from.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
Like the T shirts, Like he used to just wear
T shirts and now he's like exploring his style. So
props to TJ for taking He looked like he was
about to go to like a d or fashion show afterwards,
Like really he did, good job.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Good on, He's just.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
Flinging us all off a garage the opener evily right
right into the water.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
And by the way, for our listeners, I love when
you guys because some of them have gotten into it
too and will DM me things that I don't even
notice about TJ's wardrobe sometimes or things that they like.
So I love that you guys analyze that along with me. Yeah,
that always is a shot like stand out to me. Now,
speaking of.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Standouts, I want to know who gets your time out
of the week and who gets your gold star.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
My timeout goes to Unfortunately, Dusty because the blow up
is what led to listen, if the blow up was
on the right person, go off, Kim right right, but
it was just on the wrong person.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah, And that's a big shot to shoot. Yeah, and
it not be on the right person.

Speaker 4 (13:38):
Yeah, yeah, what do you think you agree?

Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, no, I don't. I think you know.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
I'm I like a silent shot anyway, meaning or like
a measured one. So even if you are mad, I
think a just conversation, not a yelling. Anytime somebody sees
you like sort of blow your top, I just really
do think that you are at a disadvanta and anything
in any moment, I just feel like you're at a disadvantage.
And so I think that put him at on the

(14:07):
back foot that way. It's why I've liked the rookies
this season. And I know some people listening might be like, oh,
it's hypercritical because I got on so many challengers last
season in World.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Of the World or in Globals. Yeah, yeah, the Global Challenge.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
I got on so many of the rookies about coming
after the Vets, And it wasn't just that they were
coming after the Vets.

Speaker 2 (14:28):
Like, I get it. I get that it's needed.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
It's happening this season, and I actually really enjoyed, well
it hurts me. I also enjoyed it, like hurts so good.
The difference is is that I feel like if you're
measured and just organized in how you do it, it's
just so much more impactful. Like I just resonate with
that style of gameplay. It doesn't make one right or wrong.
It's just what I prefer versus being like loud, because
I think it puts you at a disadvantage. Everybody knows

(14:51):
where you stand, and so Dusty doing that, even Cassidy
coming at Wes like cool if you think there's a thing,
but like play that card when necessary, you know what
I mean, Because now when you verbally put a target too.
As the house starts to get smaller and people have
to say names and votes, and it gets harder to
vote people in because you've built relationships because you guys

(15:12):
have all been living in this house together, it's always
easy to scape goat the people that are either chaotic
or that have a very obvious feud right where you
can go like, oh, I'm gonna just keep putting it
all over there, whereas if.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
People don't know kind of where you are, I don't know.
I just think it keeps you a little safer in
the house.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
I think you're absolutely right, and I think that like
even though these rookies are organized to an extent.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
A lot of they were.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah they're still rookies, and they were, and they're kind
of following apart now as the numbers start to dwindle, yay,
and as they see, you guys are the cockroaches they
can't kill. I mean really, even Wes coming back this
week only further proves that the bets are the cockroaches.
Y'all better get some raid mixed with some deep some
you know, dichotomous earth or however you say it.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
The diatomation. I don't know, dietonation. I think that's it.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
Whatever, get all that to try and get them out.
Who's your gold star of the week?

Speaker 3 (16:07):
My gold star of the week goes to listen, are
we gonna give it to Wes?

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Like he won? I feel like who?

Speaker 3 (16:16):
And also and also yeah, I'm gonna give it to
Wes because he gave us those great scenes of him
politicking and then that we got that nice montage with
the American flag behind.

Speaker 4 (16:25):
His yes head, and that was that was a good laugh.
So I enjoyed that.

Speaker 3 (16:29):
And then also he wins and he gets to come
back in and he was stressed about being a father
so I'm giving.

Speaker 5 (16:33):
It to Wes.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, yeah, that was I mean that the father part
and getting to see his wife was like really sweet
to see, very very sweet see and the moment with
Bananas and Wes honestly, and I know Wes probably felt
a little embarrassed when he thought he lost was Bana's
coming over there, but it was a heartwarm to me.
It was a heartwarming moment, especially just their history, like
man like, I was just it really was beautiful to see.

(16:57):
I'd say my time out of the week probably go to.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, it might go to Dusty. I think it's probably
gonna have.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
To go to Dusty only because he came in so
hard and wouldn't even listen to reason, and I get that,
like a lot of stuff was like pent.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
Up, but it just hurt his game overall.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
Although when might argue him getting fired up maybe helped
him going into elimination because sometimes people getting really fired
up like that is like the amp they need when
they're going in. So you know who knows on that end.
But sorry, Dustin, I'm would have to give my time
out this week. My gold star goes to Tiffany because look,

(17:37):
I'd say I'm a relatively calm person. The way that
Tiffany handled being yelled at about something she didn't do
and she didn't like, at least for what we saw,
she didn't like pop off or just it rightfully, ye is.
There was like a patience there and a kindness there
that was brilliant. Also, she gets the gold star because

(17:59):
her commentary was funny as hell. The shade she threw
in the interviews was actually very funny. She's hilarious and
I can't wait to have her on the podcast.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
She's so very funny.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
But she just handled that well and even them being
able to work together, and she made that little quip
in the OTFS before you guys went up for the
trivia High Q Trivia where the team was sitting together
and she was like, yeah, I gotta get it right
because Dusty's, you know, coming after me, and like Dusty
didn't crack a smile, but like the fact that she
could even kind of laugh about it, I think was

(18:30):
so great and just spoke to her character, which is
really cool.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
So she gets the gold star.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
And then the other honorable mention is obviously whoever put
tj in that shirt?

Speaker 4 (18:40):
Yeah, the shirt that I definitely noticed yea one day.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
Look, they're not all noticeable.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
He also had on a green shirt that very much
looks like an outfit I bought to wear on my
honeymoon coming up on safari, pretty much the same thing.
You know, probably got it from the same place. But yeah,
the flooral shirt. I feel like it was a departure tea.
Let me know what you guys think, But I feel
like it was a bold move for him, and I'm
proud of him taking these risks. Speaking of someone taking

(19:08):
risks that our guest today is someone who is not
afraid to go out there full throttle. He is a
star on the Amazing Race and he is now i'd
say an up and coming star on the Challenge, wouldn't
you say, Tori, And.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
I'd say he's written one of the best pieces of
literature ever ever.

Speaker 4 (19:28):
Yeah, considering that love note to Bananas.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
So he's an author as well. So I'm excited to
talk to Dusty. Let's get him on the podcast and
see what he has to say about Everything that happened is.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
So much good stuff.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
All right, you guys know the drill, Grab a snack,
but take us with you and then we'll be right
back with the Dusty from the Challenge USA.

Speaker 3 (19:57):
All right, everybody, Now you may know this person from
Amazing Race thirty three he finished in third place with
his partner Ryan Ferguson.

Speaker 4 (20:05):
Or you may know him as Dusty Dangerfield, the man
with the Plan.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
Dusty, Welcome to the show.

Speaker 5 (20:14):
What is Tori? How are you guys doing today?

Speaker 4 (20:17):
Good?

Speaker 2 (20:18):
Welcome.

Speaker 5 (20:19):
Yeah, it's a blessing to be here. I can't even
begin to describe. It's surreal being a fan of this
my whole life, spending last twenty years watching this, watching
you toy for the last ten years, you know, competing,
and now getting to do the podcast with you guys
and recap some crazy things that we just saw. This
is gonna be good. I'm very excited, guys.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
Oh, so many questions for you, Dusty, So many questions.

Speaker 5 (20:43):
I have some answers I don't want to give.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
Well, you don't have to speak on anything you don't
want to speak on, but the podcast.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
Yes, you got to keep it real.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Oh shit, never wanted sugarcoat this for you, Dusty, come
here to keep it real.

Speaker 5 (20:58):
Me. Let's go.

Speaker 4 (21:00):
He's ready for it.

Speaker 5 (21:02):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
Well, let's talk about everything. That happened before this episode.
Let's back it up for a second, because your backstory
is amazing. It was one of the most interesting things
that I got to learn about you while we were
filming in the house. You know, we have a lot
of off days where we're just chilling talking and you
explained how you and your partner Ryan got on the
Amazing Race and the story is pretty incredible. So would
you mind just starting off by sharing that story with us?

Speaker 5 (21:25):
Yeah? Absolutely so. Yeah. My best friend, my partner in crime,
Ryan Ferguson, we competed on Sedson thirty three of the
Amazing Race together. So crazy story Ryan. When we were
when he was nineteen years old and I was twenty,
he was actually wrongfully convicted of a murder that he
had nothing to do with in our hometown of Columbia, Missouri.

(21:47):
He has a documentary out it's called Dream Killer that
you can find on all viewing our streaming platforms, and it's,
you know, basically, a kid that we went to school
with had a dream one day that he had killed
the sports editor of our local hometown newspaper. And it
said that Ryan Ferguson, my partner in the Amazing Race,
was with him, and that took the freedom of my
best friend for ten years. Fortunately he got a fantastic

(22:11):
attorney in Kathleen's Eleanor shout out to you and his
amazing father, Bill Ferguson, who I love and is a
real American superhero. Never let up and you know, provided
the truth. I got my friend out and that led
to us getting the opportunity to run the world Gallivant
and him to babysit me as we raced around. I

(22:32):
feel sorry for the guy. I bet he wishes that
he wasn't with me halfway through.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
No Dusty, and I think, like even you taught us
even more of the backstory about how the reason why
he asked you to be his partner when he got
asked it to be on the Amazing.

Speaker 4 (22:45):
Race was because out of all of the people in
his life, you.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Were one of the only ones who remained loyal to
him while he was incarcerated for all those years. I
think that just speaks volumes to your character. And I
think that if you were to peel back the layers
of Dusty like you are truly a heart of gold
underneath all of the you know, Teddy Bear love letters
and competition attitude that you bring.

Speaker 4 (23:07):
To the show.

Speaker 5 (23:08):
You know, it's I'm a guy who wears his emotions
on his sleeves. If you watch the Amazing Race, you
can see that. And I can assure you what you
are going to see coming up here on the challenge
will expedite a tenfold I would have to think. And
it's just who I am. I grew up rough. I
grew up in noise, violent yelling, screaming, in that environment,

(23:29):
and it's I became a product of that environment. And
I've had to work very hard the last ten years
of my life to try to put that behind me,
to think before I, you know, go into action. But
it's a hard thing for me to do. It's never malicious,
it's just more how I communicate and it just comes
out sometimes pretty crazy. When I'm winning, I'm in the
highs of the mountains, and when I'm losing, I'm in

(23:50):
the lows in the valleys. It's just who I am,
and the emotions are on my sleeves and it's something
that I work on constantly. I don't know if it's
ever going to go away completely, but you know, I
will stay. And I did get a lot of growth
out of spending time in that Challenge house because as
you know, Tori season Vet, it's you are pressure cooked.
There is no two ways to get around it.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
Yeah, definitely it is.

Speaker 1 (24:10):
I mean I remember even my time back on the
Challenge it felt very It's a lot of chaos all
of the time. We know that you were Challenged super fan.
What was it like coming onto the show for you?

Speaker 2 (24:21):
Was it everything you expected it to be? Was it
different in some ways?

Speaker 5 (24:26):
So? I mean, honestly, like coming onto the Challenge was
a dream of mine, the amazing race. I was so
blessed to get to do that, and especially do it
with my buddy who we lost ten years of our
friendship together. What a way to make up for it.
But this was my jam. To see that red jersey
that said the Challenge with Dusty under it. I mean,
I literally I'm about to cry right now thinking about it.

(24:48):
It was love. It was an honor to wear that
and to represent the Challenge and to actually compete with
Bananas West, with all the other crazy people, Tory, all
of the other contestants that I got and me from
all these amazing shows. But to say that I'm a
Challenger now I mean, it's it's a life long dream
come true. People want to go play in the super Bowl.

(25:10):
I wanted to run a final in the Challenge and
I've wanted to for the last twenty three years.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
Dusty, I think we know your feelings about the Challenge
versus the super Bowl because in that trivia question, sir,
as a Missourian, I would have expected you to do better.
You even mentioned it's your wife's favorite team and your
wife family favorite team shout out to the Ksey Chiefs.
What do you have to say for yourself there, sir.

Speaker 5 (25:33):
I'll tell you I am so ashamed. I went in
very confident. I think my you know, the Red Team,
good old Red Flags, felt confident in me to shit
the bet on that one of all things. I mean,
my questions, I'm gonna get roasted. It's going to be
so bad. The ridiculele I will take it, will make
up for it, I assure you do.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
Let's just set the story straight really quickly about this challenge,
because they didn't highlight how many answers you got right us.

Speaker 4 (26:01):
You had so many answers.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
So this was about him getting one wrong because everybody eventually, yes,
we're wrong, Dusty a Missourian getting a Missuri specific question
wrong ball dropped.

Speaker 5 (26:12):
I'm sorry, Pat guy you one.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
So how was that challenge for both of you guys? Tori?

Speaker 1 (26:19):
I don't think I've ever asked you. What are your
thoughts about the trivia challenges?

Speaker 2 (26:23):
Dusty?

Speaker 1 (26:23):
I want to know your feelings about doing it and
also the fact that you guys got to do it
as a group this time, like Toy, do you feel
like that was more advantageous or did it make it harder?

Speaker 3 (26:33):
Absolutely, it was totally an advantage and you didn't really
get to see the discussions up before we told our answers,
but we did have time to discuss at least fifteen seconds,
So at least you got to be able to talk
to somebody.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
You know.

Speaker 4 (26:44):
Obviously two brains are better.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
Than one when it comes to swing information. Yeah, yeah, so,
I mean yeah in some cases exactly. So I thought
it was I thought it was great. You know when
we heard Red team.

Speaker 4 (26:54):
Going at it.

Speaker 3 (26:55):
I mean, Dusty, you were crushing it on your team.
You were definitely the vocal point for giving the answer
to TJ.

Speaker 4 (27:00):
But then you just slipped off.

Speaker 5 (27:02):
Dude, man, I'll tell you going into this like trivia.
This was one of the things where I was like, Okay,
I'm locked in. I feel good about trivia. Yeah, And
I remember sneaking into Buffalo Wia Wings Yes all the time,
kind of got ready for this. I had all the
apps on my phone putting work in, so I felt good.

(27:23):
When I realized that we had to lay on a
glass panel or a yes panel, I sweat profusely.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
Was it hot that day?

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Because I know you guys were cold, and a lot
of the challenges you looked cold, but this one was.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
It was hot that day.

Speaker 5 (27:37):
It was so hot and immediately skin or you know,
asked glass. Banana said it best. That was the play.
I feel like the Blue Team, you guys, you just
had the brains to really strategize everything. We would be
talking Red Team, red flags, hooting and harm at each
other with no structure being put into place, and I

(27:59):
would look over and I was just like it was
an oiled machine and you could just tell the experience
on Blue Team really paid a huge dividends to them
and Tory.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
What was Blue Team's strategy?

Speaker 3 (28:09):
Okay, listen, I I think ultimately it came down to
the way Bananas told us to lay on the board,
so we all had our right leg.

Speaker 4 (28:19):
We all hiked our shorts up literally made thongs. We
made thongs.

Speaker 5 (28:23):
Out of our shorts.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
Yeah yeah, and we put our leg on and then
we crossed and pushed down. It's really hard to see
what I'm doing, but go back, rewatch it. Freeze, freeze
the way we were standing, because that position is what
held us there for so long.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
You guys were all laying the same direction like we.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
Were all We were all holding the same positions, and
a lot of people were laying flat on it. Kind
of like, yeah, but that wasn't That wasn't the play.
You needed a little bit more leverage to and be
able to push in on your foot. So Bananas was
the one that had that strategy and that kept.

Speaker 4 (28:52):
Us up there.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
That this entire thing lasted longer than an hour and
a half. Wow, up, Wow, that's impressive.

Speaker 4 (28:58):
Week an hour.

Speaker 3 (28:59):
I couldn't walk when I fell into the water because
that's how numb my feet were.

Speaker 4 (29:03):
It's crazy.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
Yeah, that's really impressive to stay up there for an
hour and a half.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
Wow, Props to you guys.

Speaker 5 (29:09):
I was dangling with my legs off of the platform
for probably twenty minutes.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
Literally, we did see the leg dangle and that looked great.
I mean, you had great posture, Dusty. Just so you know,
those legs were gracefully like angled on that platform.

Speaker 5 (29:22):
They only showed a little bit of it. I just
kept begging. I was like, sacrifice yourself, pull me up,
come on, let me go. You gotta do it. I did.
I hung on as long as I could. Once the
sweat started though, and the slippings started, I knew, Yeah.
I just kept begging TJ. Hurry, I could just let
me get one more answer, please, just want more.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
TJ gets such a kick out of it, like TJ
is like I can't. And then the fact that he
threw Blue Team in the water even after they won,
was just like double shady Dusty. How was it competing
against because we saw and we'll get into I mean,
I don't know what your official nickname is, Tory might
know like the duck, because before going into this you
were Teddy Bear Dusty.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
And when I suck clips of this, oh I like that.
I like that the dust sevel.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
I saw clips going into this episode, and I was like,
how is that possible?

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Because Dusty is the giver of love.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
Notes, which we will talk about to bananas, and he
is like the teddy bear.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
He literally just seems like a teddy bear in his interviews.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
So you got riled up, which, yes, you guys is
love session. We will definitely get into that. But you
and Tiffany basically had some friction at this point. So
how was it competing with her on this particular daily
where you have to really be unified as a team,
You have to communicate knowing you know, you guys are

(30:41):
not getting along.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
What was that like for you?

Speaker 5 (30:44):
So with Tiffany the night before there was definitely a
quarrel where I basically berated her for my thoughts that
she had. Maybee had worked something out to put votes
on me, and so they recapped it with Alyssa, I
have the Converse station to keep balls off me. I
got four balls and I literally set four goals for myself.

(31:06):
I think this is important before I get into this
on what I expected from myself from the challenge. Number
one was to stay sober, and we can get into
that whenever. I felt that was important because dust Evil
Musty whatever, if you would have seen it with some
cocktails in it, he would have turned into a hurricane.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
No question, okay, Okay.

Speaker 5 (31:24):
Number two was to make it to a final that's
to be seen. Number three, I wanted to be undeniable
in competition, Okay. I wanted to make it to where
the Challenge had to bring me back because I performed
so well and brought so much energy to this program
and this you know franchise that they had to bring
me back. But lastly, the one that should have been
number one was to control myself, to take a second

(31:47):
when times were bad, reflect before acting. And I didn't do.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
That with Tiffany, but you were living in the moment
to be fair, Dusty, especially in the Challenge House.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
And like you said, like it it's.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
Designed for even those of you who are great at
maintaining control to lose control like that. It is everything
that is sort of I don't say not real life,
but like all the craziest things of real life.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Put it's everything your parents like warn you.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
About, or like the good mentors in your life, you know,
be wary of strangers like be you know, don't do X,
y and Z like and it's putting that all on you.
So I hope you don't stay hard on yourself around
not maintaining control, because that's pretty much you were human
in that moment. But I do how do you feel though,
seeing how wrong you were.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
About Tith?

Speaker 5 (32:37):
Yeah, so you know, seeing it. The next morning, I
did have a conversation with Tiffany and I apologized at
this point in the in the show, when I apologized,
I still was convinced that she was one of the
other girls had worked against me to vote me in.

(32:57):
So I just communicating to a woman yelling at any
time that is a big no no to me, and
I could have hated in a different manner. So I'm
that's one of my biggest regrets on the show, was
yelling at Tiffany the way I did. See what really happened,
what transpired to know, basically, my whole team and the
Survivor Strong gang all put balls on me. It sucks

(33:19):
to know it stings that happened right under my nose.
I feel like this game and this just the wave
just blew right over me.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
And I think they did that. Like, why do you
think that they ended up choosing you?

Speaker 5 (33:32):
I think it's a very easy It was a very
easy choice to be chosen. Let's be honest. If you
know anything about the challenge. And again I've watched this
profusely for twenty years. When you cause a scene in
the house and now seeing it and knowing that the
whole house was standing in the hallway of the dungeon,
which was our room the dungeon, it puts the target

(33:53):
on you. It's, you know, bad vibes in a house.
I mean, I remember having multiple talks with you, Tori,
and with Bananas and everyone down in the room, and
it's like it's trying to keep the Richter scale from
going too high or too low and keeping the windows
of line in the middle. And the second that I
popped off, I knew that there was probably going to
be more balls coming my way. It's just but this was.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
Before you popped off, though, or if there's some behind
the scenes, please let us know, both of you guys.
But your reaction to Tiffany happened after there was first
a vote for you initially right like the first time
you saw your name go in, and you didn't know
that the Survivor girls had done it so prior to
that was because from what we saw in previous episodes,
there was nothing that would indicate why it was confusing

(34:36):
as a viewer of why even the Survivor Girls would
have gone after you because we didn't see any scenes
that you caused in the house, and we just saw
Teddy Bear Dusty in a love note to Bananas.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
So was there anything else?

Speaker 1 (34:47):
We had Bananas on recently on the podcast and he
had nothing but sweet things to say about you too,
and we got to see the note.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
So we'll go through that.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
But so was there something else that happened in the
house of why you think the Survivor Girls would have it?

Speaker 2 (34:59):
Just didn't. It seems to be a gap there.

Speaker 5 (35:01):
I'll be honest with you, I think that. And again,
just going back to my personality, man, I bring a
lot of energy to the table, and there was multiple
conversations had with Mikayla and I. We spoke quite a
few times throughout the season to where she was really
leaning into me to try to get me to work

(35:21):
with them, and it's just my bed was already made
at this Okay, breaking loyalty to who I was working
with was something, you know, the point I was in
in the game, it wouldn't have made any sense. And gotcha,
just my vibe in the house, I kind of figured
that survivor would stick together. I thought I had a
better opportunity to do more damage with the people that

(35:44):
I would and with the Vet absolutely, and I wasn't
going to go against them.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
It's just so maybe they came after you because they
thought you weren't an ally. It seems like like that
you weren't going to side and vote along the lines
they wanted.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
That makes sense.

Speaker 5 (35:57):
Yeah, And let's be honest, there's no blood on your hands.
When there's one amazing race person left in the house,
I become an easy vote when there's you know, if
I had an alliance of six amazing race people supporting me,
I would have people fighting more for me. Right, It's beast.
I knew coming in with just Lewis this was gonna
be an uphill battle. But I like to eat. I
like it to be hard, and I got everything I

(36:18):
asked for. I can assure you that.

Speaker 4 (36:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
And you know what's interesting is like because eventually we
got to a point where, you know, Dussey, we needed
you just as much as you needed us.

Speaker 4 (36:26):
The Vets I'm talking about, and.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
They show Operation hat Trick the week prior when we
all and the best thing is Dusty was a part
of that, but it doesn't even look like he was.

Speaker 4 (36:37):
Yeah, Dusty, Dusty was in on operation hat trick all us.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Wait, Dusty, did you eat your piece of paper or
flush it down the toilet? Because that was the thing
immediately swallow you ate?

Speaker 2 (36:48):
You guys could have flushed it.

Speaker 5 (36:50):
Why I wasn't going to be outdone by Oh my.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
Gosh, were they not beating you guys in the house,
which we haven't talked about so far this season, Tory,
what were you guys eat?

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Like?

Speaker 1 (37:00):
Was there ever any fighting over because I know, least
back in the day in the Old School Challenge a
couple but big fights that happened in the house. As
a viewer, you'd watch them and just be like, oh
my god, Nanni's fighting with Frank or whatever. But really
it was because it started over a bottle of hot sauce,
or like it started over the last piece of chicken
and somebody was hungry and they couldn't get it, and
like that was the origin of the fight.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
So that happened.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
Actually quite people were hoarding snacks. That happened both times
I was on the challenge. So were there any moments
like that here where everybody?

Speaker 2 (37:31):
Yes, really.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
Wait, yes, Mikayla and I love her to death would
steal the frozen berries and she would hide them.

Speaker 4 (37:38):
To this day, we still don't know where she was hid.
She would you nowhere.

Speaker 5 (37:42):
We had a freezer down by the dungeon that no
one knew about, and she put them all in there,
literally right there down in the dungeon. That's where all
of her stuff was always at.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
That's hilarious. Michaela's so smart. She's like so sly, so sly.
Why is it because you guys were eating all the berries?
Is that why she felt she needed to hide them?
She was just like very She was very She really
cared about what she ate.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
She has a very clean diet, and I think when
she realized that we were all kind of I don't know. Listen,
there was a lot of snacks that weren't good for you.
When they provided those frozen berries, she took them. The
avocados were few and far between, she took them.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
That's like, not grocery market, Michayla. That is hilarious.

Speaker 5 (38:23):
It's just a man up early putting in the whole
ordeal smoothies. Does that all going go?

Speaker 1 (38:29):
Yeah? And the words of MICHAELA, there is some tea
going on. You don't want to miss this. We got
to take a quick break, but we'll be right back.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
So before we get into like the craziness of you know,
the elimination and sort of the teeth biting moment of that,
let's take it back to a really special moment you
had with Wes where you guys were talking about fatherhood.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
That was really cool.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
Had you guys had any deep conversations prior to because
we haven't seen it like prior to this, or like
how did this you know, sort of vulnerable conversation come
to be.

Speaker 5 (39:12):
So the crazy thing is Wes is expecting I believe
in September. If I'm not mistaken, my wife was actually
pregnant as well. But Wes, ma, wow, very clear that
this was his season. This is number two for me,
so I wanted him to have all the shine of
being a.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
New So does your wife do Dusty?

Speaker 5 (39:30):
Very soon? Here do on the tenth actually premiere day?

Speaker 1 (39:34):
Now, Oh my gosh, oh wow, so special and congratulations.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
Maybe it's a sign of a future challenger Dusty. I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
I feel like they're going to have a challenge generations
at some point, if we keep going at this rate
and so like you do, you and your baby could
compete with john A's kids, Wes's kids moment.

Speaker 5 (39:55):
I mean, Johnny a few kids that just haven't knocked
on the door yet.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
It's probably true, but but.

Speaker 5 (40:05):
Take that level.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
There he is, there's a tout level. He showed himself.

Speaker 3 (40:14):
Oh my gosh, man, it's it's it's it was beautiful
to watch you and let's have that conversation.

Speaker 4 (40:19):
And I think it goes to show like how.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
Tight that room that dungeon really became. Throughout the entire game.
You can really see how Survivor is obviously still Survivor
strong and Dusty you were with amazing race and then
obviously Lewis is gone and now you.

Speaker 4 (40:33):
Literally have nobody.

Speaker 3 (40:34):
So at this point in the game, recognizing that you know,
you had this blow up with Tiffany, knowing that the
Vets were really the only people on your side, did
you start to have feelings of like, wait a minute,
am I playing this game the right way? Or is
there anything else I could be doing at this point
to get further.

Speaker 5 (40:50):
I feel like at this point in you know, the war,
it's your I'm laying in the bet that I'm going
to lay in. You know, losing Lewis was heartbreaking. Sucks
because he was truly an ally to me. I just
feel like that he played his cards too soon with
the routes he wanted to go, and we just didn't
have an opportunity to position ourselves very well together. But

(41:11):
I love that guy. Man, he is a force to
be reckoned with, and you know, it means the world
to me. I just really felt, to be honest walking
into the house. Let's be honest, partnering with the Vets
probably wasn't the smartest move for any rookie to do.
I had a very, very in depth conversation early into
my Challenge career. I believe you were in there, Tory

(41:32):
but as well with a special fruit named bananas. But
he told me he realized that something very important to
me is, you know, I'm a little bit older in
the tooth and a lot of these kids. Let's be honest,
I'm thirty nine going on to forty, so there may
not be many years left of this. I want to
continue to compete on this and you know, make a

(41:52):
name for myself on the challenge and Banana said it best.
He was like, listen, you can fly with the pigeons
in one direction and see where that gets you. Or
he was like, you can be an eagle that's going
to cut down through all the pigeons and he goes,
My best advice to you, Dusty is to cut against
the grain. And that is something that really stuck with
me from that moment on because there is a difference

(42:12):
in what the Amazing Races and what the challenge is,
and it's something that just it took me a little
bit to understand, Like watching it for twenty years and
then going into that house. Nothing prepared you for that
because you have what format there's a hopper, is it
going to be team, is it going to be individual?

Speaker 3 (42:29):
What are you into with the Amazing Race, there's really
not a lot of gameplay, Like you don't have to strategize,
you don't have to vote people into elimination.

Speaker 4 (42:36):
So you've already had this. You already had the physical.

Speaker 3 (42:39):
Experience because you're aren't you like an ultra marathon or
don't you like run hundreds of miles I do?

Speaker 5 (42:44):
Iron Man's yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:45):
Wow, Like why yeah?

Speaker 3 (42:47):
So that just goes to show how fit Dusty is like,
and we knew that no matter what, this guy was
the real deal.

Speaker 4 (42:54):
You nobody runs, nobody's an iron.

Speaker 3 (42:55):
Man's right, they're not the real deal. And then so
obviously he had the Amazing Races. But yeah, how was
it like trying to even politic This is your first
experience politics, man.

Speaker 5 (43:06):
It is when you go into a house of all
a type personalities. I mean there is not I mean,
I think Tyler slept a lot, but even when you
could get him talking, he had a little a personality
and a deeple there. It is something else, man. I
thought I had this vision in the back of my
mind that oh, I'm gonna have best friends for the

(43:27):
rest of my life, just like my Amazing Race cast.
It's like we go on vacation every year. There's this love.
But like Tori said, there is no like game in
the Amazing Race. It's just don't get fast. And so
you think you're prepared, You think you know you're gonna
do You're gonna say this, do that. But a famous
quote that I live by by mister Mike Tyson is
you always have a plan until you're punched in the face.

(43:50):
And I will assure you the Challenge House will punch
you square between the eyes every.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
Single yeah, and this season in particular because we were
talking about it. It's so, you know, something that separates
the Challenge or has for years, and I'd argue you
probably still does, is one. When the show originally started,
it was people who were cast on their shows because
they were people who spoke their minds and stood in it.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
It wasn't about sort of manipulation gameplay.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
It was literally, you are this personality and like you
stand by that the real worlds and the road rules.
That's why we were cast on those shows. And then
ultimately right it turned into the Challenge. Then you start
bringing in Big Brother survivor people who were cast because
of their ability to kind of scheme, manipulate, keep secrets,

(44:37):
you know what I mean, like Analyze, which is very different.
And even before when they would have Big Brother people on,
there would either usually still be so many challengers or
just the structure of the game would be that they
would very quickly have to adapt to as we've been
saying on this podcast, or say it with your chest,
which is like if you say you're going to vote
someone like or where there wasn't secret voting for Examp.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
So if you if I said, Dusty, I had to
say it to your face that I.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
Was voting you in and then you know you could
come after me after that. Whereas this season is interesting
because you know, the producers have made it so with
this secret vote that people can be real messy. So
it's really a balance of what the challenges and the
sneakiness of you know, Survivor and Big Brother, which has

(45:24):
clearly made it hard for the Bets this season. They
were on the back foot for the first half of
the season so far, we'll see how to end up.
And then for you coming in for your first season,
my god, man, like that you making it this far
in this season in particular is seriously no and with
one of the smart I mean, part of the reason
the Bets are struggling is because they don't have the
numbers on their side.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
Amazing race didn't have the numbers on any side.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
So like you making it this far, Dusty, really is
I mean, round of applause to you, because that is
no easy task at all.

Speaker 5 (45:56):
That means so much to me hearing that come from you.
You know, I didn't get to where I wanted to
be but I know, I know now what needs to
be done. I truly believe that I can win the challenge.
I know I can one hundred percent. I can, and
that is my objective in life is to win that
thing and let my two sons meet me, watch me
bea champion.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
What would you do differently?

Speaker 5 (46:18):
Like?

Speaker 2 (46:18):
What's you?

Speaker 1 (46:19):
Don't have to give your whole strategy because then I
don't want you blaming us when people listen to the
podcast and the next season they coming you stretched you,
But what's one thing you would do differently when you
come back?

Speaker 5 (46:30):
I would make everyone an F and earn their way
to an A instead of making everyone in a and
letting them earn theirselves interesting. I get of the doubt
m h and want to hurt feelings. You know, I
thought I could play this game nobly, and you learn
real quick you that does not exist in this And
it's like I have the tenacity, I have the goal,

(46:51):
I have the game to do it. I just didn't
really bring as much of it as I wanted to
or needed to into it. But I can tell you this,
the little seedling has been one, and I'm gonna turn
into a redwe and I'm gonna thump some of the
fuckers next time I get a chance.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
Yeah, the dust level I just hear.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
I feel like the dust Devil is next season, we're
gonna be like, who is this gonna be?

Speaker 5 (47:13):
I want to control my emotions better to take a
deep breath, walk away, yes, and have my conversations.

Speaker 1 (47:20):
Man, your emotions will kill you every time Dusty in
that game, like you have to be the ones who
do well and go far, I'd say consistently, are the
ones who can be pragmatic when it is needed. Like
even john A's sort of victory like return from what
she was back in the day to a challenger. Now
you see someone who is much more methodical, you know,

(47:40):
like just pragmatic about things.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Bananas can turn it on.

Speaker 1 (47:43):
Even Tori, as we've seen her grow on the challenge
and when it's like you just get you gotta the
emotions are there like let it all fall apart when
the game's over and then you know we all need therapy.
But in the game, like like you've gotta be pragmatic
because if they can smell fear, or the minute that
they can since it, you know you're already kind of

(48:03):
backed into a corner.

Speaker 5 (48:06):
You've got to learn from this business. And it is
a business. And that's something that I realized maybe a
little too late in the game, that is it is
business man. That's two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for
a man and a woman. You guys wanted that as
much as I did. And it's like, you're gonna do
whatever it takes to do that, and I need to
realize that. And it's you know, I'm going to continue
cutting against the grain. I'm gonna have my moments. There's

(48:28):
no two ways about it. I will pop off if
it gets to the point it's gonna happen. It's control
it as best as I can.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
Use it to your advantage.

Speaker 5 (48:36):
Yes, absolutely. And it's just I hope there's not a
hopper next time.

Speaker 4 (48:41):
Yeah, okay, but how about this?

Speaker 3 (48:45):
Do you hope there's not not a steering wheel and
a large sewing.

Speaker 4 (48:49):
Thimble next time too? What was the thing you guys
were spinning on?

Speaker 5 (48:55):
What do we call that? I have no idea A
sewing wheel?

Speaker 2 (49:01):
Sewing? Have you ever sewn anything in your life? Story?

Speaker 1 (49:03):
My great grandma Babushko, I knew it was a no
the minute she described it.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
As a sewing wheel.

Speaker 5 (49:10):
Yeah, it was something else. I'll tell you that.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
Do you usually attack not so chaotically dusty? Like is
your thing?

Speaker 2 (49:18):
Is that?

Speaker 5 (49:18):
Well?

Speaker 1 (49:19):
Like, yeah, walk us through the strategy of you going, Okay,
this is how I'm I'm gonna go with it, not
after you saw Wes do it so not slowly, but
you know what I mean, like just so kind of yeah.

Speaker 5 (49:29):
So, first off, I was so excited that I was
on the drum first and I got to watch what
Wes was gonna be. I immediately knew I was going
to go to the second wheel. My thought was a
smart the third. So I get to the first wheel.
You know, the objective is to untie this thing as
quickly as possible. My dumbass is working in the middle

(49:49):
of the poles holding it up when clearly what you
need to do is pull from the outside so you're
not getting tangled up in the roads or you're pulling
them apart. So I got through the first whel It
definitely took me a little bit of time to untangle
myself before I could get it loose. But I immediately
ran back to the second wheel and I caught DESI
she kind of slipped something under her breath. Yes there,

(50:12):
I'm glad they did, uh.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
Shout out des yes.

Speaker 5 (50:16):
And so I heard her say that, and I immediately
pulled from the outside and I knew I was in business.
Then I was like, okay, so I get the second
wheel on, and I mean, the the thoughts in my head.
I mean, I'm like, I'm going to kill this ginger.
I'm going to sing so hard that he shoots up
into the crowd. There'll be nothing he can do. And

(50:36):
so I'll be honest with you. I gave it one
tug to the right and put every single thing that
I had into it to spin it to the left.
And when I dumped him, you know, you hear a
bit of it. Some excitement comes out of me.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
Yeah, I mean, and it looked fat.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
You did a crab like to be fair, and also
you up on that the you we did a great
job because those things are so hard to balance on
and you're tall, so you were and you were standing
up like you had some balance in there.

Speaker 2 (51:09):
Some very good.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
Are you a good dancer, Dusty? I feel like we
saw means because you you had the rhythm.

Speaker 5 (51:16):
For show us a boot scoop boogie, Show us I'm
hoping in an episode in the clubs you get to
see a few moves. I mean, I don't have feet,
if that's what you're asking.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
Okay, okay, Dusty coming with a little swag, all right.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
So I saw the.

Speaker 5 (51:32):
Moment, it felt so good about the performance. When I
fell in, I honestly was very nervous because I was, like,
felt pretty quick. But then once you see Wes on it,
it's a lot harder to stand on that drum than
people think. Yeah, I have pretty good balance. I was
literally doing like one legged squats, waiting in the back,
like mentally preparing myself, and so I felt good. Thirty

(51:56):
seven seconds literally haunts me to this day.

Speaker 2 (51:58):
I wake up along the whole thing.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
Do you guys think like like each because it's thirty
seven seconds difference, But were you standing up?

Speaker 2 (52:05):
You know? Was it kind of like a five twenty
minute challenge? A five minute challenge like ten minutes.

Speaker 5 (52:12):
Ten minutes? Yeah, somewhere in there.

Speaker 2 (52:13):
Okay, yeah, okay, so it would be hard to tell.

Speaker 5 (52:16):
Yeah, I would be a little bit longer in the ropes,
but I mashed him on the spinning drum right vice versa.
He untied the first one a little quicker than me.
And I mean I for sure thought I won. I
think everyone thought I won, but it looked.

Speaker 2 (52:28):
Like everyone, Oh yeah, yeah, everyone thought.

Speaker 4 (52:30):
I mean you saw it on Wes.

Speaker 3 (52:32):
Wes is sitting their head down, Banana's is giving him
a mud massage, like.

Speaker 4 (52:36):
Yeh, we all we all thought Wes lost.

Speaker 3 (52:39):
You know, which was you know, sad in its own way.
I was happy. We were all happy Dusty. Not we
were all, but a lot of us were so happy
Dusty was coming back. Wait, Dussy, were you gonna switch
teams if you didn't move?

Speaker 5 (52:50):
Man? I had I had an idea to come to
the B I mean, going to Blue, let's be honest,
was the smartest play, no question asked. But part of me,
with everything that I'd been through with that damn Red Team,
it's like, I think there's gonna be a target on
my back anyways, And I was pretty convinced it was
gonna split up pretty soon or like go to partners

(53:14):
or something to where it wouldn't matter anyway. So part
of me was a bit nervous to piss off the
Red Team even more in the event that somehow they
figured out how to win one without Tory and bananas
throwing something right, I was the target again. So I mean,
and guess.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
What, you didn't know that they had voted for you, right,
like you still didn't know. You thought it was just
Tiffany and someone else. You didn't realize it was Michelle.

Speaker 5 (53:36):
And at this point I had known Joe okay, spoke
with me, Michelle spoke with me Chanelle's okay.

Speaker 2 (53:42):
So they admitted it. Yeah, they admitted that they vote
for you, okay, and it.

Speaker 5 (53:46):
Was all love and I told him, listen, guys, at
this point, it's like I think Tory said it best.
We had multiple conversations where it's like you're not truly
a challenger until you go into the arena and go
prove yourself. And so walking down into that the first time,
I was extreme nervous. But it's strange, right when you
hit sand Peter, when you step over that rope into
that ring, some came over me and it was like,

(54:07):
I'm ready. I feel so at peace, so ready to go.
I thought I did enough and man to be able
to beat Wes if to take him out and put
that notch on my coffee table. One of the best
to ever be in eliminations. I would have loved to
been able to do that, I mean.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
And to get so c you though, got so close.
And it was two Missourians, all right, This was like
the fight of the state. Okay, it was the middle
of Missouri versus the west side. For people who don't know,
go get a map. I'm largely talking to our producer Nicole,
who I love. We've had this conversation, but not me.

Speaker 4 (54:41):
Also getting a map.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
What I deal with your two Missourians for those who
don't know, Dusty being from Columbia at West being from
Kansas City, like battling it out, and what I'd say
was a pretty I mean, it was epic to watch
because you really couldn't tell. And like you said, you
both had very different strategies. Even standing up on the
sewing wheel. You stood up West crouched Dan like seemed

(55:05):
to kind of stay down the whole time. You guys
just had very different ways of doing it, and it
really looked.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
Like like it was anyone's game.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
And again, as a rookie, props to you, Dusty, because that,
I mean, it's pretty.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
That was epic.

Speaker 5 (55:21):
Was I wanted it so bad, bad man, like so
bad to win that one, though, when it was all
said and done and over, I feel like I could
have blown up. I felt like I won. I felt slighted.
But at the end of the day, it is what
it is, and it was an honor to lose to Wes. Yeah,
I'm very grateful that if I was gonna lose, to
lose to a legend. And I'll say it to this day,

(55:42):
I know everyone wanted to come in and knock these
bets out of this business, knock this game. It did
I it take over the ropes and we'll see what happened.
But at the same time, you have to respect what
these people have built for us, right don't have the
opportunity to do this. And I'm being Dusty, it was
an honor to compete with Survivor and Big Brother and
I have friends for lifetimes.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
Probably trying a politic for next season, Dusty, if you
don't slow down, we are onto you what you're.

Speaker 5 (56:07):
Going to do.

Speaker 2 (56:11):
No, I'm onto both of you.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
I get on Tory about it too, but I'm like Tori,
you are so obviously politicing in this moment.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
Be hious about it.

Speaker 1 (56:20):
Ready, let's go speaking of politicing or just genuine love.
Let's talk about your love letter to Bananas. What inspired
you to write it? And we got to hear a
little bit of it a couple of episodes ago, But
can you just share what you wanted to convey?

Speaker 5 (56:38):
Absolutely, so, I don't want to call it a love
letter to Banana's. So this was actually written when Bananas
went into elimination.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 5 (56:46):
And so at this point, man, I'll be honest with you.
You see Bananas on TV. He's a guy that you're
either going to be extremely drawn to or a guy
that you're going to be extremely detracted annoyed by. That's
fair that when I entered the house, the room I
got stuck in. Instead of turning left, I made the

(57:07):
right to the dungeons. So I'm stuck with Bananas, Paully
and Josh, my roommates. I know I'm in for a ride,
and so I grabbed the reins. And so, as a
you know, a super fan of the show, spending time
with these guys, some of my best moments were hearing
stories from all of these people, the vets that were
on the show and what they've been through, and so
Banana's just really became a voice of reason for me.

(57:30):
That is a crazy thing to say out loud. He
was looking board man. He gave me lots of good advice,
not just challenge advice, but just life advice. And if
banana's the opportunity, you open up and kind of let
him in a little bit. He's got a rough exterior,
but when you peel a banana, their emotions often.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
Say yeah, that's exactly what we say about nanners.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
That is a hundred percent true.

Speaker 5 (57:56):
I just wanted to show my appreciation man, give him
my contact information and made some plans like whitewater wrap
do some things. And it's just like it was just
a token of my appreciation for the things that he
kind of did for me, you know, kind of taking
me under his wing and dealing with my crazy ass.

Speaker 3 (58:10):
Dude, he loved you, he needed you just like you
needed him. And I'm sure, I mean, you should have
seen him when you went home. You know, he just
kind of like flopped on the bed and was like damn,
you know.

Speaker 4 (58:20):
I mean, obviously we love Wes too, but no one,
none of us wanted.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
To see you go, Dusty like you brought so some
of the best stories.

Speaker 4 (58:27):
In the house.

Speaker 3 (58:28):
There's not very many people that can sit the entire
house down and have them all laughing dusty stories from home.

Speaker 4 (58:34):
I'm not going to say what they were. I'm just
going to tell us at least one.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
No, no, no, you can't come on the podcast and
not tell us at least everyone listening wants to know
at least one dusty story.

Speaker 2 (58:44):
So can you give us I don't.

Speaker 5 (58:46):
You can't air this shit.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
I don't think you.

Speaker 4 (58:48):
Can air it.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
Okay, our producer she'll cut it out. Then she'll cut
it out.

Speaker 4 (58:52):
I want to know a dusty What is a dusty ism?

Speaker 2 (58:55):
What is a dusty story writer?

Speaker 5 (58:56):
Or a letter?

Speaker 4 (58:57):
Dusty writer?

Speaker 5 (58:58):
Letter?

Speaker 4 (58:59):
How about it?

Speaker 5 (58:59):
I write you a letter with it. Yes, I will
send you a letter, and you do as you see
fit with it. Just they'll give me.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
I will hold it. That'll be a keepsake.

Speaker 1 (59:06):
That'll be that'll be like a collector's item in ten years,
A dusty and authentic, dusty letter. That'll be more valuable
than what the beanie babies were ever supposed to be.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
I will take a letter, dusty.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
I will give you my address after this, I fully
expect the dusty letter happened.

Speaker 5 (59:21):
I'm just I'm a proponent that lives too short. Man,
live it to the fullest, grubby bull by the horns
and thrash your way through everything. Man, It's just it
is what it is. I uh hints drinking. You know,
I used to drink a lot and get wild and
do crazy shit. And I mean you, I'm proud that
I stayed sober through that madness because literally drinking in
the house is a ped I'm telling you to get

(59:44):
that outlet of just being able to let your guard
down and release. I'm really excited for my kids to
be able to see their dad. You know, he may
not made it all the way to the finish line,
but he fought some demons and you know, stayed sober.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
Yeah, sober in that house is hard. So is imagined
is so so so hard.

Speaker 3 (01:00:04):
I was sober three months before going to film this season,
and by like the first week, I so, I'm not
gonna say who, but somebody's like, just have a shot,
just have a shot. And I caved like that because
it's so hard in that environment. So I was always
looking at Dusty like, Wow, the strength it takes to
be able to be in this environment. It is truly

(01:00:25):
truly something else like there's so much.

Speaker 4 (01:00:27):
To be proud of.

Speaker 3 (01:00:28):
Yes, maybe you didn't make it to a final yet,
but guess what, There's.

Speaker 4 (01:00:32):
Gonna be more opportunities in the future.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
And if not, then I'm gonna write a need letter
to production because Dusty better come back my letter now.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
You and the bayar frozen berries being wanting more frozen
berries in the house.

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
That's exactly what Toy would write me.

Speaker 5 (01:00:47):
I just to prove that you know, I can produce
on the Challenge.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
But that's it. That's the other thing. Please Dusty, please
out of the newbies.

Speaker 1 (01:00:55):
If this is something Tory, I feel like we need
to get on this train and like spread the word.

Speaker 2 (01:00:59):
Don't come in producing the show. Just be you. Yeah,
just be you. You don't need to making a big name.

Speaker 1 (01:01:05):
Is just you being authentic because that's why you were
cast in the first place. You don't need to get
in more fights and in people's faces. You don't need
like just do what is literally authentically you. Because I
feel like that's the one thing that would make the
Challenge go downhill is if people come in thinking they
need to produce and trying to produce and trying to

(01:01:25):
make a moment like sure if there's a moment where
someone's getting on your nerves and you want to say, well,
I'll see you an elimination or whatever, you know, like
like that's authentic.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
Cool, fine, but you don't need like you are.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
You're a Kanough and some of you will know what
I mean when I say you are Kanough. You are
so like, just be you in the show, because you're
going to be incredible to watch, especially just giving your
background and the marathonness and the two sides of you.
You're not a Gemini by chance, are you?

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (01:01:57):
Okay, it's got the stingers that singer of love.

Speaker 1 (01:02:01):
Yeah, that's gonna be plenty to watch. So please, don't
you not need to produce yourself. Just be and you'll
get more out of it too. Honestly, I think and
Toy can back me on this. And the moments you
feel like you've gained, whether be friendships, relationships, or personal growth,
it's been you just really being you and not.

Speaker 3 (01:02:19):
And people are gonna connect with that, which is why
so many of us already connected with you. And I
think all of the things s Deevin's saying, like, I think,
don't overanalyze the way this season went for you because
you stayed very true to yourself, as true as possible.

Speaker 4 (01:02:30):
That's all you can do, and you still made an
epic show, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:02:33):
So Unfortunately half the stories wouldn't pass the production cut
because you know, we want.

Speaker 4 (01:02:40):
To keep you on out of tail.

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
No, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 4 (01:02:45):
I swear to God, i'mkidding. No, You're incredible, Dusty.

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
And seriously, you don't even have to sign the letter
Dusty when you say it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:54):
Just no, Dusty is one of the most you know,
I think obviously, Well the first, this lasting, amazing racer
that's something to be proud of, very impressive, went home
against a legend in a very close elimination.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
With thirty seven second different thirty seven seconds.

Speaker 3 (01:03:12):
Wild competed so strongly all season and created so many
incredible bonds with people who are going to stay in
the game forever.

Speaker 4 (01:03:20):
So Dusty, you have a lot to be proud of.

Speaker 3 (01:03:21):
Keep your head up and congratulations on being a new
dad again again.

Speaker 5 (01:03:27):
So much to me. You guys have no idea and
so I got another. I gotta go win one of
these damn things. Biden, Jordan, you do little boys, man,
it's going to get expensive.

Speaker 3 (01:03:35):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Dusty. Well, thank you so much for
coming on the show and we look forward to talking
with you again in the future.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
Hopefully so we do.

Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
And for everyone who wants to keep up with what
you're doing and see your new little one, where can
they find you on social media?

Speaker 5 (01:03:50):
You can catch me on Instagram at Dusty HARRISO three.
I am on Facebook just Dusty Harris and Twitter Dusty
HARRISO three as well.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
Thanks right, and then you guys can say them your
own po box.

Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
I'm really addressed to see if he'll send me a
letter too. And it's like the new version of an
NFT is just Dusty letters like a collection. You should
number them and then it'd be like ooh, I got
like a first edition.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
It could be a thing.

Speaker 5 (01:04:15):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
Oh well, thank you so much, Dusty, and thank you Dusty.

Speaker 4 (01:04:19):
Hope to see you soon, man, love you so much.

Speaker 5 (01:04:22):
Yeah, I love you guys. Thank you for letting me
do this with you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
Meant the world of course. Welcome to the challenge fan.

Speaker 5 (01:04:26):
Hell yeah, I love it. Guys. Have a great today.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
Well that was it was eye opening, it was cool,
like it was good to see Dusty will definitely be back. Like,
there's no way he's not coming back to the challenge.
I feel like and listen, it's his own choice.

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
If Dusty was a food, he would be an apple
pop pie. Wait no, yeah, yeah, actually that makes.

Speaker 4 (01:04:53):
Sense because it's two confusing things. I meant to say
he was going to be an apple pie and then
chicken pot.

Speaker 3 (01:04:57):
Pie because like he's a warm Southern is he from
the south?

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
Missouri is not. We have been talking about a map.
Don't worry, guys, I'm going to send her a map
after this. All right, We're gonna go to lunch story
and I'm just bring a masking country.

Speaker 4 (01:05:12):
Right, he's country.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
Yeah, he's from a small town, but like the Missouri
is literally in the middle of America.

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
It's literally of.

Speaker 4 (01:05:19):
The country middle. He's country.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
Okay, we'll allow that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:23):
Yes, So he's like, you know, anyway, he's like he's
like a fresh baked country meal. Because I do feel like,
you know, even though he's got these moments that are
like really raw and authentic and like maybe he'll pop off,
he's a sweeting.

Speaker 2 (01:05:36):
He's a total sweetie. Inside, he's a teddy bear and
dust devil.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
It's like it's literally two sides of that coin, which
I feel like is one of the themes of this
season is we're getting ready to see two sides of
I mean, we should just keep a running tallly of
how many people we get to see different sides of
It's really been so interesting. Now I know we get
to see another side of you if we follow you
on social media?

Speaker 2 (01:06:00):
Where can people do that?

Speaker 1 (01:06:01):
If they want to see my backside?

Speaker 4 (01:06:04):
You want to see my backside?

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
Okay, now, sorry, Mom, you can turn off the episode.

Speaker 4 (01:06:10):
You know, I really my posters are relatively wholesome.

Speaker 3 (01:06:14):
You guys can follow me at Tory Underscore Deal on
Instagram for the wholesome content, and Devin, where can they
follow you?

Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
All my contents? Pretty awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:06:21):
The most risk thing you'll see is the like wedding
robe video that I posted on Instagram. That's literally and
it's not ety risk bad I need to go see.

Speaker 4 (01:06:30):
I don't need to go find that.

Speaker 1 (01:06:32):
I was feeling myself that moment, but you got to
go follow me on my website. You can go to
devinsimone dot com. That's Devin d E v y N
smell with an I S I m O n E
dot com. Scroll to the bottom you'll see my socials.
You can also go to Instagram Devin Simone TikTok I
post there sometimes. If you want to be match made,

(01:06:53):
go to my website and click the matchmaking links. So
if you're single, including Mikayla she was talking.

Speaker 2 (01:06:57):
About she's struggling, you know, can chit me up. You
can be in the free database if you want, or
pay to work with the matchmaker. And then my Amazon
because we do lives.

Speaker 1 (01:07:06):
I'm actually doing one tomorrow, so follow me on my
Amazon channel Devin Simones Gift Closet. You can just type
that into Google and then say hi and I'll shout
you out as an official Challenge podcast listener. And so
aside from that, if you like this episode, because we
know you guys, did we appreciate you, Please rate and
review us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever you
get your podcasts. And then tell a friend and a

(01:07:28):
friend's friend, and a neighbor and a random stranger on
the street.

Speaker 2 (01:07:32):
It just might brighten their day.

Speaker 3 (01:07:33):
Yes, tell everybody, and also don't forget catch new episodes
of The Challenge USA airing on CBS.

Speaker 1 (01:07:39):
And then you'd already know you're gonna see us. We're
going to see you right back here after.

Speaker 2 (01:07:46):
That new episode. For a brand new episode of MTV's
official Challenge podcast, Steven Spielsberg