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February 11, 2021 52 mins

Tori and Aneesa discuss the return of everyone's least favorite Challenge (trivia), Amber B's big gamble and the infamous Cory Curse. The Challenge vets are also joined by Challenge Supervising Producer and casting lead, Skye Topic, to break down the casting process for the show.

Watch new episodes of The Challenge every Wednesday, and go behind the scenes with Tori and Aneesa the next morning, on MTV's Official Challenge Podcast.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
What's up everyone. I'm Tory and I'm Anissa, and it's
time for another episode of MTV's official Challenge podcast, where
we go behind the scenes of the Challenge double Agents.
And as you folks know, this podcast is not spoiler free,
so before we go behind the scenes, make sure you're
up to date on the latest Challenge episodes. Yes, and
on this episode, we'll be talking about the return of

(00:23):
my least favorite game, Trivia's the Worst, Amberbe's Big Gamble,
and seeing if there's any truth to Corey's curse. And
later in the episode, we will be joined by a
very special guest producer and casting lead, Sky Topic, so
stick around for that. Yes, I love Sky. Okay, let's

(00:43):
get into this episode of me. I can't wait to
talk to us. She's amazing. Okay, Anisa, So here we
are Segment one. You know how it goes. Girl. You
are the VET of this game, the one and only Anissa,
So you get to start off safe House, which is

(01:04):
that thirty six second recap in honor of it being
the thirty sixth season. Are you ready? No, you can
freestyle it if you want. It makes it more fun.
I'm gonna try. Go ahead, go ahead. I'm not really
gonna freestyle, so let me jump right into this. Go So, um,
Amberbe and Gabby get into kind of an argument and
then it's like kind of emotional and whatever, and then

(01:25):
they get on the bus and then um, Gabby and
I are talking and laughing and whatever. And then we
get to the challenge. We find it it's trivias and
nobody's laughing anymore. Then we're in all in full planks.
As we get most of these answers wrong, Durrell and
Amber win. They get lifetime whoppers and five thousand dollars.
I'm salty about that, but it doesn't really matter. Get
back to the house and guess what theres is on
the chopping block. But she kind of has been for

(01:45):
a while now, and all her friends are seeing that
she hasn't been that great of a frank. She's actually
trying to get them all out because she thinks she's
gonna win the whole thing, and maybe she's right. Um damn,
met I mean, listen, you got like a third of
the episode, maybe maybe forty five Goodbye, goodbye. Wait it
wasn't my not bad what I mean? You went whatever?

(02:07):
Just go okay, baby, little toy. Here'll drop it on you.
Boom boom bopp. Here we go pull up to the challenge.
That's a trivia of bam. Hope everybody shaved them armpits
because their arms are about to be exposed. That's right.
Then you're gonna fall into the water when you don't
get the question right. But thank god, Whopper Junior is
there home and the King, the Burger King, he gonna
pull up through free whoppers for life. Amber be Darrell,

(02:29):
I'm jealous. I'm coming through for dinner. Thank God. Okay,
now we're gonna go over there to the deliberation where
everybody was it real? Quips set cricket, cricket, cricket, cricket, cricket,
baby chirp, chirp. That's right, Teresa gets thrown into elimination.
Can she do it? No, she cannot because Casey the one,
the only the new nickname to Killy. Casey pulled through
and bam put her in the chalk coat and stood
the room. How's that good? Are you in there? Like?

(02:54):
You know? Cricket, cricket, cricket, chirp chirp. Yeah, yeah, it's
pretty bad. My rat getting better, like as we go
on as you haven't been on the show. Now you're
just like, fuck it, I'm gonna I'm gonna do whatever.
I'm just like, I feel so free now. Yeah, it's okay,

(03:14):
it's all right. The burden of the challenge has been
lifted and now you could be free to freestyle. Hell yeah,
and I feel like it. Well listen, now we have
to move forward. Let's move forward. Okay, moving forward. Um,
the play of the day, the best athletic move. Did

(03:38):
we give it to Durrell? I mean I think we should, yeah,
because let me tell you something. It took him a
minute to stand up. They don't show it, but it
definitely took him a while to stand on that platform
because it was, um, it was angled. So it was
like you had like little baby kitten heels on. Oh
so your heels were up a little bit. You're on
a slant with your toes face in the water. Okay,

(04:00):
then you had a little thing. So if you were
going to hold a plank, it would kind of force
you to be straighter, if you will, like you, because
you'll be able to push off on your heels. Right. So,
and he was just fucking scared and he pulled out
that win, which was great because this one was scary,
Like we'll talk about it later, but this was not fun.
It looked terrifying. I cannot lie. I'm happy I was

(04:24):
not there for that one that looked treacherous. Should we
give the dirtiest deed of the day to amber Bee
or no? I mean I also want to give a
dirtiest deed to FESSI for hitting Big Tea with it. Yes,
come on, but Tea was so frightened and I'll get
into that too later. Put FESSI, why why Big Tea Fessi?

(04:47):
He was like, I'm sorry, I know it was just
a poor thing. I love Big Tea, I really do.
Oh yeah, all right, well let's get into it. Let's
get into the episode itself. Because it looked crazy. Talk
to me about what it was like to be there,
and he said, because it looks terrible. I mean, we
got there and we were looking at these things, and
I'm like, I don't really get what we have to do.

(05:10):
And there were a lot of like safety measures like
don't touch the sides, don't do this, like because they
wanted us to be safe because you were going to
be in a full plank if you got it wrong
or somebody through you know, an ex atcha. Yeah, it
was crazy, but I will say this. I mean, Devin
definitely came for me. I know that him and I

(05:30):
maybe have had an argument the day before about something
and we had you know, apologized and whatever else, but
he still was throwing his ship my way. Plus you
know he thinks Big Brother sucks. Right, that's still up
for debate, And no, I'm kidding or am I. But
the funny thing is, and what they don't show because

(05:51):
they can't show, is that when it was the second
heat and Big Tea was up there, Big Tea used
to like impersonate like Shakira and Michael Jackson and all
these things. And for you guys that don't know, Big
Tea is not the best singer, but the most incredible entertainer.
She we literally while she was crying up there and
started singing Shakira to her in unison all of us,

(06:14):
and it just like her tears stopped and she like
chilled out a little bit. But it was such a
nice moment because we were like all there for her,
and it shows that we are human. And that's why
they didn't show it because it looks like we have
hearts and so probably wasn't clear though that too. No,
they could have called her up and below groups drummer

(06:36):
and can we can we clear this? We're having a
really great moment on on you know, National TELEVI becase please. Yeah,
but I and I loved this in the in the
second heat too. No, I'm winning, yeah, because I feel
like he didn't understand some of the questions and a

(06:57):
lot of it applies to like some of it was
like America in history or whatever, right, And I mean,
Noam's brilliant with his little engineering ass and he's still
one for his heat. So I thought that was incredible. Yeah.
Plus I'm sure those abs were helping him hold himself up.
I know. Yeah. If anybody can hold on for that

(07:19):
in that type of position for a long period of time,
it's not because anybody who was in the house saw
how much he worked out. First of all, Now, I'm
eats four thousand calories a day. I asked him, it's crazy,
and he works out for like three hours a day minimum.
But like functional movements, like he's not in there like
pick it up weights and throwing him he's like doing
like stuff that really works. For your body. Yeah, it's

(07:39):
like burpie to like high poll, Like it's just like
a whole like combination of different workouts that like, yeah,
full body, he's chiseled, and I want to be too,
nam if you're doing one on one, I'm here, I'm here,
and the ones lick. The nomsicle is sorry, it's all right,

(08:03):
not entirely false. So Durrell wins with amber By. Yeah,
amber By has definitely rubbing a couple of people the
wrong way in the house. We don't know if we
can trust her. We don't know which way she's going.
But the plus is here. Darrell won. So he's friends
with Leroy, he's cool with me, he's cool with Cam

(08:23):
And I'm thinking that, you know, if big brother is
going to stick together the way that they have been,
I'm probably safe this week. Yeah, definitely, I would feel
pretty good about them too. And plus, obviously amber had
so much amber B had so much going on with
a few of the other girls like Amber m and
like Gabby, So it was like the target was off
your back entirely pretty much like it was a nice

(08:46):
week probably for you to just sit back, relax and
watch a show. Yeah, well it was because all of
these people just started showing their true colors, Like the
stuff with Teresa happened, and then Amber B was you know,
her stuff was in question, like right, you know the
love and peace happiness like which totally believe in and
think it's great, but you know a lot of people
self edit. Yeah, and you know, we want to be

(09:08):
on here and be vulnerable and be relatable and fuck
up when we do and be great when we do,
and you know, be celebrated for being humans that are
putting ourselves out there. And you know, you're getting to
that point where you've been in been in the house
with a bunch of people and you're annoyed by every
sound and I just think people get on each other's nerves. Yeah,
and there's also a million dollars on the line, so

(09:29):
for sure everything's fucking annoying. Yeah, yeah, I don't, I
honestly think that. Like I obviously was in the house
with Amber B and I know what everybody means. But
when when you say she preaches love and all that stuff,
but the thing is is that's her game, Like she
that's her game, and like, yeah, maybe at this point
in time, people are starting to catch on to it.
But you have to have a game in that house.

(09:51):
You're in a game, right, you have to appeal to
as many people as possible at first or you're gonna
get targeted. And so you can't really hate her. I
mean you can. You can be rubbed the wrong way
by her, especially if she threw her boat at your name.
But like everybody has a game in that house. Yes,
you know, I gotta give Amber m some credit here
because she's a fucking straight shooter. She'll walk up to

(10:11):
somebody and she'll be like she walked up to me
in the house one day, like when I was going
around saying if I wanted to go up against somebody,
I wanted it to be her. She's like a bitch.
What And I was like, oh, like you step And
I think that you gotta give her some credit in
that area because it's kind of scary being in that
house and like not knowing how people how this is
going to affect your political game if you do step
to somebody. But you know what, she does it, so
I gotta give her credit for that for sure. Oh

(10:32):
she did it to me too. She sat me down
like I thought we were cool. And then there was this.
I was like, yeah, I didn't know what happened. The
energy was weird, and I thought something had happened after
you left, and I like popped off. I was in
bed and like we had all been drinking, and I
yelled down the hallway some stupid shit. And then I
apologize and I was just like listen, like Tory laughed
da da da da, and like all this shit and

(10:54):
this game is just getting to me. And I apologize
for whatever, and her and I talked and she she
was a straight shooter. Yeah yeah, And I really did
like that about her because she's younger and this is
our first season and it's just like even even in deliberation, Yeah,
I'm just gonna let you know I am voting for you. Yeah,

(11:14):
exactly right. You can't even be mad at that. You can't.
There are no surprises. You can get mad at sneaky
and shady shit, because obviously that hurts. But when somebody's
honest with you, like it's like you might not like
what they're doing, but you can't call him fake. No,
but it's awesome. It's just a bowl bitch like yeah, yeah,
I'm just I'm yeah, Teresa, I'm voting for you. Yeah,
just want to let you know. And it wasn't shady,

(11:35):
it wasn't like slick like She's just like, yeah, I'm
just collection of now. Yeah. I mean, let's talk about
Teresa because I just want to say this about her interview.
She was like, Oh, it's finally time that these girls
are on to me. But like Cam, we've seen her
plotting since the week it happened to make this work.
So I don't think Teresa's given Cam enough credit for

(11:56):
all of the plotting that has been going on. I mean,
maybe she just didn't know, but I think that after
she told Cam that we voted for her when we didn't,
I think Cam was like, oh shit, like you don't
really you guys aren't really as close as you thought
you were. And and then she got blindsided by her.
So once that blindside blindside happened, she was like, Okay,

(12:18):
well we gotta get Jay out and then we gotta
get Teresa out. Yeah, and leave Ryan. Cam had their
hands in both things, and both their plans, you know,
came to fruition. So good on them for playing like
a great fucking game. Hell yeah yeah, And like the
only reason why they couldn't have done it sooner is
because it was two guys eliminations back to back. So yeah, well,

(12:41):
so then Teresa goes into the elimination, she gets voted in,
and then Casey goes in and he So what was
that like to watch? Because Casey looked like she dragged her.
This is the thing. I know that it was tough
for Teresa to be there without Like I couldn't imagine
being a mom and not being able to see my
kids every day. And I know how involved Teresa is
in her children's lives, and that is like, I mean

(13:02):
they're her life, like you live to keep these these
humans alive, these little humans, and you know, with the
pandemic and everything else, and like just they're they're her life,
like she's a mommy. So I know that, like it
was tough for her to be away from them. And
I think that going into it, she was like, I
don't know who I can trust, I don't know who
my friends are. I'm just imagining what her headspace was like,

(13:25):
because you know, knowing that she was going to go
into elimination, I mean, she was pretty cool about it,
but you know, I knew that she wasn't in the
best position right, and like I didn't know who they
were putting in. They didn't tell anybody that Casey was
going in, so I was totally surprised. I told Lolo,
I'm like, good luck, girl, fucking go get it, dumbass. Yeah,

(13:48):
Lolo didn't even know, or maybe she did, I don't know,
but I was like, girl, at your day, you got it.
I think that Lolo would have been awesome. Yeah, Loo
would have been awesome. Yeah, but I feel like, you
know that look of defeat people have on their faces.
I feel like Teresa kind of had that. I know
that she had a pretty nasty fall the day before

(14:09):
at Trivia. Oh yeah, she was the worst fall the day. Yeah,
So I don't know if that played a point apart
in it. You know, I'm not taking anything away from Casey.
Casey was fast out of the gate, she had a
great strategy, she didn't stop moving. Yeah, she was great
and a well deserved win. Yeah. It was just it
was just hard because I, like, I don't know, I
felt bad at the end of it. I was just
like by Teresa. Yeah. It sucks because like obviously, like

(14:33):
we both had our arcs with Teresa, Like we went
into the house really liking her. And then like, but like,
like I mentioned before, everybody has their game and Teresa
just played her cards the way she played them. It
just didn't work in her favor because it upset too
many people, right, I mean, like honestly, everybody watching this,
Like I know that people are going to go online
and talk shit on everybody, but like, it's a fucking game,

(14:53):
So give Teresa a fucking break, Like, give all of
these people a break. We might be on here and
we might be talking how we feel, but granted we
we're the ones affected by a lot of things, so
we have our feelings about it, but everybody was watching it.
Just remember everybody's still a person. It's just a game,
and ask yourself how you would do on a TV
show like this for a million dollars because the ship's
gonna get real or I'll tell you yeah. And the

(15:15):
other part with Teresa, like, I mean we were close before,
Like I've played games where before where we were just tight.
We'd do our skin regiments together, we'd laugh so much.
She was my thereso. Like I was so excited to
have her in the house, and I think that it
was just disappointing that our friendship couldn't turn into like
this super strong, like kind of alliance, you know. And

(15:36):
I wish that it would have been different, but it wasn't.
And you know what, she's been gone for a minute
and she played the best game she could. Yeah, definitely
she really did have a good chance. Well, Corey does
have that curse. Geezny Sin. I was right. I said,
he either got your pregnant girl, now he's sending you home.

(15:56):
Like before, he's trying to get you close to him,
now he's trying to get you away from him. I mean,
I'm sure Taylor's happy about that. Yeah, right now it's
called the Cory curse, you know. Yeah, definitely cannot hold
on to a partner to save his life. Wow, I'm
really interested to see how his next partner in him Amber.
I'm so interested for that next episode. It's like I'm
on the edge of my seat. This season is so good. Yeah. Yeah,

(16:19):
it's just one weird thing after the next. It's definitely
a It was just an intense season for it. Like
I was, I've never been so paranoid in my life really,
because I mean watching it now, I'm like, God, you
guys really fucking hated Bessie. Oh and I just like
partnered with him like ride or die, like, Yeah, we
both have our skulls and that's why I picked him back.

(16:40):
For those who keep asking, we both have our skulls,
and you know what, humility is a thing? Maybe just
a little bit of humble pie be in my partner.
And it's just nuts. I just didn't know that many
people were trying to get him out. Yeah, idiot, I
should have picked somebody that r No, don't worry about it.
I mean, listen, you're doing fine. I know. Well, I'm

(17:00):
really excited because we're going to interview Sky and she's
a producer and the casting lead. She is like the
go to person. She's got an amazing accent, and she's
an angel, so I'm really excited to talk for her.
Hey too. All right, guys, we are back now with

(17:22):
one of my favorite people behind the scenes on the challenge.
She is a producer and the casting lead. Welcome Sky,
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Happy to be here.
Oh it's so good to see your whole face without
a mask on it. Oh wait, we're listening to you though,
because this is a podcast. So good to hear your

(17:44):
face sky's so good to hear it, so good to
hear your faces. Thank you. So for people who don't
know anything about you, would you just tell us about
your role on the Challenge and how it's changed over
the years. Yes, for sure. So basically I started as
John Murray's assist in two thousand and eight, and actually,

(18:07):
funnily enough, Dan Caster was Jackie French's assist on the
MTV side, so we were both sort of assists at
the same time, rolling calls like doing notes on you know,
cuts and stuff. And then once I left John's desk,
Justin Booth, the EP hired me to run the talent
team obviously, where I met you and Nissa on rivals.
And then I did a lot of little jobs like

(18:33):
you do in our field, where actually it's really good,
so I have a good overall. So I worked in
the legal department for a while. Obviously I did casting,
I ran the post coordinator job on Challenge story assist,
and obviously to where I am now. So I feel
like I've done a ton of jobs on the Challenge,
which obviously is invaluable where we wear so many hats,

(18:57):
that's awesome. Yeah, I didn't realize it was that many
so many things. Yeah, I mean, I know it was
so many things. We didn't start off on the best foot.
But here we are loving each other. Here we are
ten years later. Made it. I know, I want to
hear that story. I want to hear that story. I mean,
we were on rivals one and I didn't know who
this lady was. And I was very used to like

(19:18):
Fatima and like Temails and like you know, the people
that I've worked with over the years. And I don't
know if I was projecting because I was like partners
with Robin or I don't know what it was, but
but I felt so like I was like, this doesn't
make any sense. Like I know what that I love
Anissa and who she is, but like this is not
like working, which is really talent because yeah, you guys

(19:43):
need to really trust that person, you know so. But
but we're amazing now. I mean, I don't know if
it would be that great, haw'd we had not had
our little you know, It's like Tor and I. If
we didn't have our little hiccup, I don't know where
we'd be, right for sure. It's almost like we're gone deeper.
But because we had to like get through that. Yeah,
So I love this. I feel like we're in therapy

(20:04):
all over again. Interview today. So I want to know
how early you start casting for a season. So it
really depends on how many seasons we're going to do
in that year, I would say, and normally have like
a month a month and a half off between seasons

(20:27):
before I start casting again. And it really depends on like,
you know, how many newcasts we're going to need, So
say for a War of the World one, you know,
half that season we're fresh phass, So like that is
going to require a lot more time. Wow, I didn't
even think about that. No, me either, because it's a
casting process, you know, like where I am in right

(20:49):
now for thirty seven and then you know, in a
little bit we'll start that diligence process, so that that
process actually takes a long time, and you're actually doing
that for more people because you're actually overcasting, right because
you need to have people kind of stand by just
in case somebody up from the main list of people
doesn't pull through. I was thinking about that actually when

(21:12):
I was like thinking about this podcast, about how many
extra people we have to cast, and also how many
extra people we have to cast depending on the format.
You know, sometimes you can just insert person, but you
can't necessarily do that on arrivals. You know. Also you
want to cast for gender and diversity and all that,
so you really need a lot of different people sort

(21:33):
of in the wings waiting. Yeah, So does location and
theme determine the cast or does it cast like determine
you know, where you're going to take them on what
you're going to do with them. For me, location doesn't
really change how I would cast anything. Theme for sure.
Like sometimes I'm I'm so tied to a theme that

(21:55):
I'm frustrated, you know, because I can't like I'm like, oh,
this person's amazing, but they just really they don't fit,
you know, what the format is. But location not so much.
I just care that I'm not going to put anyone
in a dangerous situation. So if someone tells me they
can't swim, I really want to know that. If I'm
gonna know I'm going to my heart and every challenge

(22:16):
is gonna be boiling and we're gonna be in the water,
I need to know that. I mean, I mean, let's
not let's not say that because Iceland is cold as
shit and we were in the water. I was, I
was a seal this season. You guys are definitely in
the water a lot. Last season we're like, oh, there's
glaciers and snowcap mountains. We're not going to go in

(22:37):
the water that much. Oh another water challenge, which is
so crazy because, like you, people don't realize how much
prep goes with the water challenge too, because after every
time you get out of the water, somebody needs to
come up to you with a blanket. There's always like
soup on tap, there's like hats waiting for us. Like
you guys have everything planned out to a tea because
you know her asses are for freezing enough then they

(22:58):
have to take them away so we don't look like
sloppy people. Yeah, and they pan back to us feel
like running around, Yeah talents running in with the blankets
and the coffee, and I'm like, start, start, I need
to get like the shot that coffee is a lifesaver though. Yeah.
So Sky, I have a question for you, because you've
obviously been a part of casting for so long, what

(23:19):
are the necessities for a well rounded cast? Like, what
are what are the things that you really look for
from everybody? I mean the truth is. I really just
want cast members who are real and authentic and going
to expose their own truth however, like ugly or difficult
that is. I just always tell our cast and I

(23:40):
know if I've said this to YouTube, I don't obviously
you aren't someone I struggle within this like world. But
you've got to just be yourself and let the chips
fall where they may. However, like ugly or difficult, that's
going to be for you because if you try to
like self edit or predict what you think is or
isn't going to work, it comes across as really inauthentic,
and I personally don't want to work with inauthentic. I'm

(24:02):
like bringing my true self to the interview room and
the story team, and I want you guys to do
the same. So I'm not looking for a villain or
you know, a princess or whatever it is, because if
people are just who they are, those things will expose
themselves anyway. You're right totally. So do you have people?

(24:23):
Do you have people when you cast them that you're like, oh,
I know this person, it's going to be a villain.
I mean I have people, yes, when I'm like I
like this person like I'm like, I'm not sure, I
don't know, I don't not like this person, but like
I think they're going to be really good, and you know,
like the fact that I personally don't necessarily like them
is I listen to that Like that's good, you know,

(24:46):
because obviously I'm not going to like every single person
and that makes ours show better. Have you ever chosen
someone I've been like they're going to be phenomenal and
they shit the bad Or has your judgment been so
on point? Because I feel like you are a great
judge of character. You know when people are editing themselves,

(25:08):
you know, like you know when you're not getting the
real deal, Like just a cast member that comes on,
You're like, god, they have so much potential. I know
that they're going to open up, be great and like
they're gonna bring so much to the show, and then
it's like a flop. I mean, yes, we have had
those cast members. I really try to talk people through

(25:29):
self editing or not exposing their true selves in the
interview room because I just don't feel like it's going
to help them later. Yes, I definitely have cast members
I'm like, this person is not good and then you know,
we don't often that sea together. Yeah, totally. Yeah. I

(25:49):
mean this season had an incredibly diverse cast, So would
you mind justus speaking about the importance of that, and
especially just like the way the world has been lately. Yeah,
I mean, obviously our cast needs to reflect the world
that we live in, and it's massively important to that
our viewers see themselves on the screen, like whether that

(26:12):
be ethnicity and the sexual orientation, religion, geography. I'm always
striving for that and casting for the show, and I
feel like we're also striving for that in the crew
that shooting you guys, so that everyone feels like they're
reflected in the show. Hole. Yeah. I don't even think
about the crew me either, But I did. I love Michel.

(26:33):
I was like my Mex brother. I didn't know what
the mask on. I was like, look at those dreamy
ass eyes. I was like, where are you? He was like,
I'm Mex girl. I was like, by our crews so great.
You know, they're from all they really are sort of
a reflection of you guys. You know, they're from all
over the world. We speak all different languages, you know,

(26:55):
where look different, we have different sexuality, but you know
we're the same as you. You know, I love that.
I love that. Um, how was the casting process changed
over the years? I mean back back in the day,
it really was pretty simple because we were only pulling
from real world, so we really just used to pitch

(27:17):
the names to MTV and say this is who we
like and that they would be like great. That was
sort of as simple as it was. Um. Now the
show is obviously so much bigger. There's a lot that
goes into it. There's you know, casting decks, pitch tapes,
one sheets, you know, lists of pros and cons, and

(27:38):
you know, it's a it's a much bigger job to
get all you guys to learn location. Um. I was
thinking about like my phone in contacts the other day,
and I was like, I've got so many like contacts
in there, like a niece, a mom, like everyone everyone's
like got parents that they need you to like take
their number off. So of course scale would be up

(28:02):
in the mix. That makes me kind of insecure that, like,
there's so much that goes into it. Not insecure, but
like you've really taken a look at all of us,
like a really like a really big old look like yeah,
like you just peeled us back. Yeah, I'm like not
even skin anymore. I'm flesh. My soul is just out there.

(28:24):
I feel like you guys know more about me than
I know about me. It freaks me the fuck out.
I think they do though, sometimes, like they can see
the things about us that like we're not ready to see,
or they bring out I know it with you, Sky,
like we'll talk about stuff, and you really have the
ability to pull stuff out of us or to create
such a safe space where it just comes out naturally.

(28:44):
So I'm grateful for it. Thank you. Therapy is great,
It's just really free. Yeah. Yeah, So, Sky, I want
to get your producer intake on this specific episode because
it was an amazing episode and we love watching people,
you know, get that a certain edit, whether they come
off as fake or come off as hard headed or whatever.

(29:06):
So I want to know about this specific Amber B situation.
Do you personally think that she wasn't the right to
choose the Big Brother Alliance over the Amber M situation?
Like I probably wouldn't have done that if I was Amber,

(29:28):
Hurry Amber, If I Amber, I probably would have dropped
Big Brother Alliance made a deal with the rookies because
I'm a so low on that Big Brother totem Pole
alliance that he could have probably used that opportunity to
say to the rookies, Hey, like, I'm gonna like side
with you guys and fully commit, but you guys need
to know that, like I'm the top of this alliance,

(29:51):
and like, do we all agree with that? And you know,
even if they they messed her up later in the game,
that would have been a good power playm she could
have played with both. Yeah. I don't know though, because
I gotta give it to her a few episodes before
when she didn't listen to Teresa's master plan of throwing
that challenge and she was the reason that Teresa didn't
win and then Lieber got to win. It's like, I'm

(30:13):
happy that she kind of sticked with the Big Brother
people because we would have never had that storyline if
she didn't. I mean one hundred percent, what she did
was bold and pretty. She would have seen all the
things she could have done. I probably wouldn't have been
out to see that far ahead and would be like, oh,
how do we get more power? I'm just gonna like
make this new alliance, because I would have seen Fessie

(30:33):
and Casey and Josh and thought, hey, I'm just not anyone.
I'm not above them in their own little world. Yeah,
which makes total sense. I totally get that. So there's
this big brother. Since we're speaking about big brother, this
big brother versus the world's mentality in the house right now,
Do you personally have a favorite show to cast from.

(30:56):
I mean, I'm gonna have to go with like the
original Real World. Yeah, it's all about me. There is
amazing training on that show. You have to really be yourself,
Like I'm all here for the challenges and the politics
and blah blah blah blah. My true heart is with

(31:16):
the story and who you guys are as people. And
I just think the Real World was an amazing training
ground for people expressing themselves. That makes a lot of sense,
And I feel that I love all the shows you
have to say that. I mean, we have like five
months of well I did five months of being there

(31:37):
just being an idiot, nineteen year old idiot. I mean,
like you're just putting yourself out there. You have to
be You're completely vulnerable, and we already know that. Like
think about Leroy came from Real World, ninety came from
real world, like, those are some of my Anissa, those
are some of my favorite players in the game. So like, yeah, yeah,
I agree with that. And what about Teresa. Teresa came
from there, right, was fresh meat, fresh fresh me? Okay,

(32:03):
So my question is about Teresa because she went home.
I wouldn't say early, but you know, she went home.
So and a lot of other Vets, me Wes, especially West,
we got sent home early this season. So do you
guys this production like look at the Vets leaving the
game early and get a little bummed or are you like,
all right, this is just how the season's going down.

(32:24):
I mean I think I have both reactions, like this
is how the season going down, of course, because I
can't change that. I was sad to see Teresa leave
this early this season, just because I was like, I
really couldn't believe that she was even coming back. I
was like, oh my god, because I had been asking,
you know for many seasons prior to that, do you
want to come back? And you know she has her kids, right, Yes,

(32:46):
I'm very sad when a Vet leaves the show, just
because I'm sure when anyone leaves the show. But I
have a long relationship with some of the vets, and
really I only see you guys when we're up in cameras,
up in the field, So saying goodbye can sometimes mean
maybe for a long time, maybe forever, because maybe that

(33:07):
was their last season and they didn't even know it yet,
because they've decided to leave, you know, the franchise. So yes,
for Teresa, I was very like, oh, like I felt it. Yeah,
I can understand that. I'm excited to see which old
og you guys pull out of the hat for the
next season. Can't wait. Don't find that. That's why it's

(33:30):
actually pretty amazing when some of you know, the Ogs
take a few seasons off, because that return can be
pretty massive. Yeah, super exciting. Listen. Okay, I'm not trying
to take seasons off. I'm getting old. I'm not talking
about you. But you know, seeing seeing Derell and Teresa
this season was like, I love him. Yeah, it was

(33:53):
unless I get pregnant or something, I don't know how
that's going to happen. Tory, she's so silly, gosh, So
let's lighten the mood up a little bit. I want
to know if you were one of us, this guy
and you were on this show, right, What do you
think you would be best at? Heights, swimming, eating, puzzles, politics? Um,

(34:18):
I mean I'd probably be great at swimming. I'm Australia
and like I'm a good swim Yeah, yes, fish, I
would be I would probably do pretty well. And I
think I wouldn't be great at eating. I think I'd
be a pretty good all round up, but swimming would
probably be some where I could maybe win a challenge. Okay,
I thought you were gonna be like my name's Skies

(34:40):
Heights Beach. Like I'm from Australian, A lot of our
stunt guys are from there, so I thought it was
like in your blood, like in your DNA to be
like we love heights. I mean, we're not going to
wear a harness, but swimming would probably be my best Okay,
who do you feel like you would make alliances with? Um,

(35:02):
we're smiling around me us. I mean I would definitely
be making alliances with the strong Vets, and I'd try
to sort of play a little bit dumb, like I
really didn't know what I was doing. As far as
the actual names. Definitely, I would want to make sure
that you two were cool with me. I would want

(35:22):
to make I would want to make sure Nanny was
cool with me because she everyone loves Nanny. You know,
I wouldn't want anything any issues there. I wouldn't want
to make sure Corey was cool with me. Cam, Johnny,
Like these are names that I would be just be
very careful around because these are names that have a
lot of sway. Yeah, especially Cam. This season, she Cam,

(35:44):
I felt like she's part of production. I'm like, how
do you know? Are you the oracle? Like how do
you know? All the ship? She was just like so
intuitive this game, and so she demands and commands so
much respect. I mean, I admire her. I mean I
know she's my little sis, but and she's younger, but
she has lived a life and she she's just a

(36:04):
boss bitch and it is just wonderful to see her
thrive in these really in this really weird like social experiment.
Like she does really well at just like keeping her cool,
sleeping her days away, and then like not being an
athlete and then showing up to the challenge killing shit
and like she's just great. She's great. It's amazing, amazing.

(36:25):
I mean, when I did her, she came from you
the one. But when I did her casting interview for Challenge.
I just remember hanging out the skype and being like,
whoa like, can we cast this person like right now?
She's like amazing, Yeah, yeah, because it's great. She doesn't
even just like talk to talk. She motherfucker walks the walk.
That motherfucker is scary. I wouldn't want to be on

(36:47):
her bedside on the show. I'd be like, ah, yeah, totally.
So if you could cast any like celebrity on the Challenge,
who do you feel like you would want to see
on the show? Oh? Man, you guys? Um? I mean,
like I said, I'm much more interested in the house
and the story, and I do really think we benefit

(37:11):
from funny. So I would like love to say, like,
you know, Tiffany Hattish in there. That would be amazing,
just because I think that'd probably be good. But also
I would get a lot of great house reality and
some comedy, which sometimes you know, our show can lack. Yeah,

(37:31):
that would be amazing. Devin really brought the comedy this season.
Did funny It is smart to quick fire like he's
a smart dude with a lot of jokes. Yes, he's
really He really did bring that funny. He's having a
good season. Yeah, yeah, he is having a good seas
even though he's talking some shit, he's definitely definitely here

(37:52):
for it. Listen, I'm not mad at it. The truth
is the truth. He's great. I'm entertaining. You gotta give
it to him. Oh he is. I would sing Rogue
Agent Lounge all morning. He makes up song stuck in
my head. Oh he has a whole eping It's amazing.
I can't wait to hear Basil Rain. We got drunk
and I was topless and he put basil all over me.

(38:14):
I love that. I threw it at me from the
money like our basil tree, hen rain. We were supposed
to make pesto. But Basil Rain looks good. Oh that's
so good. He had a lot to you know, he
had didn't have a great season on Final Reckoning and
we really haven't seen him since then, so you know,

(38:34):
it was in his best interest to really turn up.
And you know, I think, you know, he had such
a difficult season after his father passed away on Final Reckoning,
so I think in this season he was like there
to really turn up. And that's sometimes when a break
is great, you know, Yeah, I believe in breaks. He
not take his foot off the gas. He is ruthless

(38:55):
in those interviews. I hit him up after I said, bitch,
I thought we were friends. It's like we are day
it's all for TV. I'm like, oh, all right right,
and you just got to brush it off. Whatever. He
sent me a text he goes, tell somebody I love him.
He was like, tell Fessy he still sucks, And tell
Casey I'm still on the fence about you. Okay, I

(39:16):
got it. I never told anyone. Yes, Well, now the
message is delivered. So there you go. There you go. Friends.
So guy, would you ever cast a super fan? Um,
listen when I'm doing custing interviews and you know, potential

(39:39):
rookies know about our show and remember cast members or
challenges they loved. I'm in like that means they really
love the show. What I'm not really into is if
people like talk about the show as though they kind
of know what they would do or they would do
it better. Someone who's talking to me about alliances numbers.

(40:01):
This gives me a little like anxiety. I'm just gonna
say this is an example, but say, like, I complete
the challenge, do really well, but then I get sent
it to elimination. I don't want someone saying that was
stupid that Sky participated in the challenge, because she should
have not, and then she wouldn't have been an elimination.
That is a red flag for me because that means
someone's going to not compete in our game, which is

(40:23):
really important, right right, right, of course. Yeah, it's like
the worst watching people pull up to a challenge and
then throw a game. It pisses me off so bad
because it's like, we're here to play. You came to play.
Play the game. It drives me, like I can't, just
drives me so mad because you know, we've spent so
much time sitting these challenges up. It's important for the

(40:45):
show because the challenges keep the politics moving and the story,
which is obviously what I care about the most moving,
And when people just don't play because of numbers, it's
like a mess. Yeah, only takes away from it and
it's like we also, I mean even for like that
truck challenge, we were there for six hours. I wish

(41:07):
I will wait six hours and then the person I'm
going against doesn't compete. Yeah, I would have been a
pit I would have thrown them off the truck. Yeah,
I had to anyway, but you know, it just it
does take away from the experience. It really does for everybody.
And I can't tell if they're good or not. So
I'm like, yeah, it seems like there would be a
good challenge, but they're not really playing, so I don't

(41:30):
know really what the skills are. Totally. All right, we
have one more question for you guy, and then we're
gonna let you go because we know you got a
lot of prep workd Okay, would you mind sharing any
crazy cast wrangling stories that might come to your mind?
Like how difficult is it to work with some of
us sometimes? I mean, you guys, I have thousands million

(41:52):
of these stories. You know, there's some really intimate ones
this season obviously, you know, take Natalie into the chamber
and you know, doing a pregnancy test with her was
a very intimate moment while she found out that you know,
she was pregnant. You know, that was obviously a moment.
And then CT on Dirty thirty being sent home at

(42:15):
the border of Columbia because his passport was like water damage.
Now this is like very stress, right, Yeah, Ashley on
Invasion when she wanted to go home because Johnny through
the toilet, see it in the river like the end.
I had literally had to spend two hours trying to
convict her to stay in the game because I knew
that she would get to the airport and be like,
why did I leave the game? So I was like, God,

(42:36):
I gotta like get her back in the right head
space to continue going. Yeah. Yeah, Oh my gosh. I
can't even imagine all of the stories that you've seen
over the years, because you guess the craziest motherfuckers. So
you're gonna get You're gonna deal with some shit. It's
a lot. Also because we have a relationship, so I
understand why sometimes it's like I just like they need

(42:59):
you guys need to talk to me about it because
we've spent like so much time together. Right, Well, I
hope we get to spend more time together too. Well,
my hips and my knees are good. No, that's happy
to hear that. Well, Sky, thank you so much for
taking some time to give us all your insight and

(43:22):
come on the show with us. Thank you, We love
you so much. No, Well, you guys are doing an
amazing I love the podcast. You're amazing. She might have
to be the third person on here. Your voice is
so soothing. I love it. I miss it. Well, appreciate
it you guys, Yes, thank you, sorry, thank you so much.

(43:43):
By hopefully see in the future. Yeah, sooner rather than later.
You got it? All right? Well, sky is amazing, Anissa,
how much do you love her voice? I mean I'm

(44:03):
going to download it and listen to it at night.
I think she is incredible. I love where our relationship
has gone. I just hear her and I'm like, yes,
all is right in the world. Yeah, she's just such
a straight shooter that if you don't like her, it's
because you just don't like something honest that she's saying.
It's not her. She's just like a mouthpiece for just honesty. Yeah.

(44:25):
She really knows how to see a situation for what
it really is. That's yeah, it's really nice. She's bullshit.
Yeah she can. All right, Anysa, We're gonna go into
our closing segment, which is listener transmission this times and
this time what listener transmission in Times? To me, I
didn't know what the fuck you were reading. But well,

(44:46):
I'm gonna ask you some questions from fans because you know,
they want to know what's going on. And this is
the first question, Anissa, after I got eliminated by your
beautiful self, why did you pick Bessie for second time
to be your partner? Well, I didn't really think it through,
but I did think, why wouldn't I pick a guy
who already had a skull and the chances of us

(45:10):
being thrown in again, we're probably going to be low
if we both had them and people needed them. If
I since we didn't know if it was going to
be a girls' day or a guy's day and the
game was just switching up so much. Now you know,
when they brought Ashley back, there was that whole breach.
I didn't know if there was going to be another one, Like,
we never knew what was going to happen in this game.
So if I don't know, if I picked somebody with

(45:31):
a skull, fine, if I have somebody that doesn't have one,
they're gonna want to go down. What if they want
to go down when it's a girls' day and they
think it's a guy's day and then I got to
go in and then my skull's taken from me and
I'm out of the game. So this was strategic. Yeah,
So that's my answer. Okay, Now, Tori says, how does

(45:51):
Tori feel about Devon's interviews? Okay, this is honestly how
I feel. And I have to explain this to my
mom because my mom is so sorry. Devin is not
your friend. He talks badly about you in interviews. But
I know Devin for a long time. He is going
to say whatever he has to say in interviews to
make the story more beefy. Right, So the week interview

(46:14):
after the fact of whatever happens, so you have time
and you have the ability to kind of like interview,
you go back in time in your interviews, so you
can really like make the story sound any way you
want from your perspective because you know the outcome. Right. So,
I think because there was already so many people gunning
for us, Devin wasn't going to stand in the line

(46:35):
of fire of all these rookie votes. And he and
I obviously like have this like already beginning storyline where
we don't really work together. It just made it easy
for him to be like, dam I'm gonna trash story
in my interviews because I'm gonna be honest with you.
Out of all of the cast members on the show
Devin Walker aka Dave, because he's my friend text me
more than anybody except for Anissa. To Devin and I

(46:58):
talk a lot, So I just think he was playing
enough for the cameras. I'm not buying it. I'd have
to go in there and get fucked over again by
him for me to believe that we're actually not friends.
But maybe I'm just illusionable. Maybe you are. I mean,
I thought you guys were friends. I was surprised by
a lot of that. But you know what, he had
to do what he had to do, and yeah, yeah,
be beefy for camera, beefy for camera, bring the beef

(47:21):
for camera. That's gonna lie either, folks. All right, So
does Tori think she was a little cocky this season? Okay, listen,
I don't walk around the house saying I'm gonna beat you,
I'm gonna beat you, I'm gonna beat you. Do I
walk around confident and try to overly plan the game.
Definitely did. I take a big step back after watching

(47:41):
that elimination and watching myself get booted early two seasons
in a row. For sure, my ass is coming back
humble as fuck. You're never gonna hear me talk well
about any other competitor. Again, I promise you I've learned
my lesson. But I also don't think there's anything wrong
with being a confident woman on the show. I think
girls get way more heat when they want to act

(48:02):
like they're good at something or they want to have
confidence in this outh than guys do. So I think
that it needs to be It's a fifty fifty thing.
The world needs to get more comfortable with women talking
their shit because we have every fucking right too. And
I also have to take a page out of the
Anissa book and just you know, just be more humble
and be a better human. So I'm I'm here. I'm
here for the growth, and yeah, I'm here for it.

(48:25):
But I also think that the world needs to be
a little bit lighter on women. Yeah, yeah, because we're
here and we're talking more shit than we ever have. Yeah,
I'm not I'm not apologizing for anything nothing. So here
is our last question. Do you guys get recognized on
the street a lot on the street, in a restroom

(48:50):
at Target? Yeah, then they want to take pictures. I'm like,
I'm gonna mask and I look like shit, And I
knew I was gonna look like shit walking down this house.
But I thought this mask is about to save me. Yeah,
but no, you know the little scar between my eyes.
Damn it, h day, get off my face. One of

(49:11):
my favorite stories A Nissa is me and you when
we were in Philly, Me, you and Cam went out
to dinner night. Oh yeah, I'm not gonna go deep
into the story because again, don't take a deep dive.
I won't go down. Won't go because that's at five
in the morning. Give it a little bit. Okay, this
is obviously after I moved back to Jersey. I was
freshly single, and I'm back with Anissa and my girl
Can and me and A Nissa are out on the street.

(49:32):
It's Philly. We were taking some shots. Some group of
guys was like ansa tory without even a thought, this
was so unsafe. This is so unsafe. We were like, hey,
we'll come up to your apartment and be your friends.
And then we hung out with them. Obviously nothing happened,
like it wasn't that until five in the morning, but
we hung out forever, like what the fuck were we thinking?

(49:55):
And now all the windows were open, they could have
tossed one of us out of it. Um, oh my god,
I don't know what the fuck we were doing, but
it's crazy because, I mean, without hesitation, they were like, Tori, Anissa,
we love you. I'm like, I mean we weren't even
close to them. Yeah, we're like fifty feet away. Yeah,

(50:17):
what do you mean? We had like us seven what
was the shots? Lemon got us? Lemon drops? Yeah, he
was like, this is the perfect dessert after dinner where
we were just eating like fucking seafood. Oh, lemon drops nineteen.
We had two hundred dollars worth of shots and then
walked back. You and I walked so much. We got
our steps in that day. Yeah, better than drinking and driving. Baby,

(50:39):
we were ye stepping stepping stepping. Oh my god. Oh
what a great episode. But Anissa, you had another great episode.
Absolutely love your interviews and your makeup is always bombed.
Can't wait for you to do my girl. Where can
we follow you? And how can we support you? I
am Anissa MTV. That's a n E s a MTV,

(51:01):
Instagram and Twitter. I usually check Instagram more. There's gonna
be a lot of dms. But slide on in because
your girls reading. Yes she is, and she's sending me
any of the juicy slides. I just got one right
before this podcast. Pretty crazy and I'm not mad about it.

(51:24):
If you're out there listening, keep on sending to your
girl Tory, where can they find you and send you
beautiful gifts. You can send me some long dms to
Tory underscore deal. That's right, Sending your listener questions and
everything else we have to. Please watch new episodes of

(51:48):
the Challenge every Wednesday and then go behind the scenes
with us the next morning on MTV's official Challenge podcast.
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Hosts And Creators

Tori Deal

Tori Deal

Aneesa Ferreira

Aneesa Ferreira

Devyn Simone

Devyn Simone

Da'Vonne Rogers

Da'Vonne Rogers

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