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December 10, 2020 45 mins

Join Challenge vets, Tori Deal and Aneesa Ferreira, as they dig into the brand new season of The Challenge: Double Agents. In their very first episode, Tori and Aneesa discuss who to watch out for this season, go behind the scenes of that heated elimination, and share editing secrets you won't hear anywhere else. Plus, they interview Challenge Executive Producer Emer Harkin, and make sure you listen to the end for Challenge Confidential and listener questions.

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

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
What's up everyone. I'm Tory and I'm Anissa, and this
is the very first episode of MTV's official Challenge podcast,
where we are going to go behind the scenes of
the brand new season of The Challenge Double Agents, from
what it's like to sign up for the season you
know nothing about, to how the casting process works. You'll
hear secrets on the episode that you won't hear anywhere else. Plus,

(00:23):
we have a very exciting guest for our very first episode,
and it's Emur Harken, the executive producer of The Challenge.
I absolutely love Emur. This is so exciting. She's amazing,
She is bad ass, and don't forget at the end,
we're even going to be answering listener questions, so stick
around for that. Okay, So should we begin, Anissa? Yeah girl,

(00:44):
let's go? Oh yeah, all right, Anissa, Since you are
the OG, you are my favorite Challenge bet of all
ar why don't you start by introduced seeing yourself and
telling all these mother efforts who you are. Well, I'm Anissa.

(01:05):
This is my fourteenth Challenge, probably my twentieth show on MTV.
I started this journey back in two thousand and one
on Real World, Chicago. Amazing. Yeah, right, knock the dust
off me to come back to this season for the Challenge. Yeah,
so I've been doing it as long as they're calling

(01:26):
your girl's going yes, and that's it and there's no
reason not too. Oh my gosh, Like what a lifestyle
to be on this show, to compete, to make friends,
everything that we do. It's crazy. Yeah, twenty years later,
I mean, and it brought me to you on Dirty
thirty baby, that's right, Oh god, oh my gosh. I
had done are You the One? I did are You
the One? Second Chances? Then I got recruited to go

(01:46):
on the Challenge pretty much right when people were like
they were just starting to recruit outside shows. Are You
the One was like the first outside show that was
brought in, And so I got lucky enough to be
swamped into that mess and I met you, and man,
we had to we have the first season. I mean,
we loved each other. We came up with that one
song in the beginning Dirty Battle. Yeah, besides that one,

(02:09):
the other one's circular motion. You won't get into that
this episode, but another episode we'll get into songwriting by
Tori and Asa, and I thought we really vibed. I
thought you were amazing and funny and beautiful, and you know,
you came in with your then boyfriend, So I'm all
about interracial dating. I am a product of its. Girl.

(02:29):
We're going to be best friends, and I vote you
in or select you to go into your first elimination.
You win, you come out. I'm the devil. You hate me.
I'm still trying to love on you. It's not really
working at all. Yeah, broke my heart and Nat here
we are looking back. I just cringe up my reaction

(02:52):
to all of that, because when you're a rookie on
your first season, you don't realize like, oh, it's just
the game. You can't take this ship personal, like it
is what it is. But you were the first person
you like took my challenge elimination virginity. You were the
first person to ever vote me into something. I mean,
someone's got to do. You were my first. So I
like didn't know how to process that, and I think
that's why I came back and I was like fuck nice,

(03:15):
but like it literally could not keep us apart even
when we were on Champs for Stars together. Like, I
apologize so much. I almost wrote a letter, but I
don't know if I should bring flowers to the challenges
like gets out. I was so I wanted to be
your friend. Oh, I want to be your friend too.
I'm so happy. I'm I'm I've matured from that because
I don't know what I was doing. It took me

(03:36):
a little bit to grow up. It's okay, you're still young.
I forget how young you are. Sometimes well younger than me. Yeah,
it worked out well. And now you're right over the
bridge from me, I know, and I can see you
whenever I want without having to get on a plane
or go through TSA. So now I have you in
Jersey and Philly, fuck doing it, Yeah, right near each other.

(03:58):
I mean, yeah, I'm really excited about Yeah. Yeah. For
those of you guys who don't know, Jordan and I
are going through a breakup, and I am thankful to
be moving back to my family on the East Coast,
and I get to have my friend Anissa over there
in Philly. So there's so many beautiful things. And I'm
also still really good friends with Jordan, so nobody worry
about that too much. Is a very amicable breakup. But

(04:18):
back to the challenge, because that's what we're here to
talk about that is right now before we get into
this episode, Anissa, we are going to do a quick
fun segment called sixth House where we share a thirty
six seconds, no filter, no questions asked reaction to this
week's episode in honor of it being the thirty sixth season. So, Anissa,

(04:38):
I'm starting your timer now where you go. Don't start
it yet? Hurry No, I'm already. Oh god, we are started. Okay.
So what happened was we moved to the house in Iceland.
Then we show up at the challenge. It's double Agents.
Then we have a hill we have to go up there.
Then we get the capsule, then we have to decode it.
Then I decoded it. I want. I got to pick
my partner. The guy's winner was fussy, but it didn't
matter because I made him by beat everybody by a

(04:59):
whole minute, picked him than everybody else. Picked partners, and
then the house scott to vote in who they wanted
against who we wanted. We voted in West, they voted
in CT. We thought it was a guy's day, but
oh it's a girl's day. It was Ashley versus Natalie.
Ashley goes home Natalie's days. She's pissed off. She's the
room with me. I'm nervous about that West pissed off.
I don't really care. And now I made enemies. Okay, Okay,
your god, damn, that was good. You got so much

(05:22):
in thirty six seconds. I can't even damn. I'm gonna
try to do it right now. I'm gonna try to
hit on everything that you didn't touch on, which is
gonna be okay, but that's the way you should go hard. Hurry, Tory,
are you ready? You got thirty six seconds? Okay, here
we go on the clock. Winner. We starting, and we
are starting now. Okay, everybody, we arrive into Iceland. We
all got nose brutalized. That's right. We got swabbed for COVID.

(05:42):
None of us had COVID. Congratulations. We get to the challenge,
we see Lolo Jones. We're like, fuck that ship. We
get up the hill, I'm like, give me that, give
me that canister, Grab that canister. I'm on the bottom
of a dogpile and Nieces trying to have sex to me. No,
it was that. It was really, honestly, just all fun
and games. I'm trying to give you the ship you
won the shit you're like on the winner you picked Bessy.
He's looking sad, but Loki, he's happy because he knows
that you're a real one. Then we get there, Leo's like,

(06:03):
I want to go. I don't want to go into
elimination ct I could flip dude bigger than you. We
were all like, no way, he's like an ant picking
up things that are twice his size. That's crazy. And
then yeah, Astley actually goes home and we were all
really happy about that the end. Okay, he's like an
ant picking up stuff twice his size. Maybe he got

(06:24):
the ant strength. He's like an ant. Oh my god,
that way I gave me like hard palpitation that I'm hot.
I mean, and I have to check. I mean the
ant compliment and like in a compliment because antswer my favorite.
Bugs man, those things are crazy. So that's a shout
out until we know I love Aunt. He cleaned it up.
However you want. Let's talk about the play of the day. Oh,

(06:49):
come on, come on, we all know what it was.
Shoot of the face. No, the play of the day
was you winning and oh that's too but and stealing fetzy. Oh,
I also thought it was very athletic for CT to
fucking slam that shoe, wasn't. Oh my god, it is
so good. Okay, and then alongside yours, Yeah, I mean

(07:14):
the real play of the day. All right, all right,
enough of that. Clearly we both have different perspectives on
what happened, but let's just dive into the episode. Oh incredible,
Oh my god, it's like an action movie. I mean everything.
I mean, whoever did this outdid them totally. Editors, you

(07:36):
guys are amazing. Whoever's in charge of music, You're incredible.
I was blown away, like I had my stomach hurt,
like I was there for the first totally. It riled
me back up. First of all, seeing TJ is like
it kind of gives me PTSD and it kind of
also really hypes me up. It's like this like middle thing.
I'm like, shit, what is it gonna make us do now?
But at the same time, I'm like, damn it, like

(08:00):
so hype. But I see him and how smooth he
looked coming out of that helicopter. I know, he looked fine.
I was like, okay, DJ, because I've been on the
show with him since his first season, so he went
from like you know, a fox T shirt, a hat
and like board shorts and like flip flops in the
sand to like a legitimate like wool blend coat getting
out of a helicopter, sunglasses, Like he's a man man now, yeah,

(08:25):
But then you know, like he looks good for a
second and then he drops the bomb on what we're
about to do. And then like we see this huge
like going into the challenge, we see this mound of
dirt in front of us. We're like looking out on
the Icelandic Ocean. It's freezing outside. I don't think people
understand like while we're trying to anticipate all of these
nerves that are running through our head. TJ's like, oh yeah,
fifteen of you guys are going out a time. Girls heat,

(08:46):
then guy's heat, and you're gonna be lining up, racing
up this hill, trying to get this capsule, then trying
to decode this briefcase and basically punching in a code.
And no one even understands that we're trying to like
like basically deal with all that while it's rain on
us freezing. Also, you know, them telling us the rules
are like by the way, there are rocks in this mound, like, hey,

(09:07):
don't like fall down the hill and like break something.
I'm like, I'm not going up this fucking hill. Yeah,
I've had bad experiences with uh just putting your all
out there and then coming back with a limb that
doesn't work. So this was not going to be the
challenge that I was going to go out in. A
lot of girls were saying that, and that was the
smart move. Like we had discussed it. I was gonna
go up there and I was gonna try to grab

(09:28):
that capsule and bring it back down to you, right,
And I also talked to Lolo about that. I'm like, Lolo,
when we get up there, like, let's chill for a second,
let's look at it before we bring it down, because
we're the ones who worked are but to get up here.
So when I run up that hill, like right behind Lolo,
I'm yelling at her. And you don't even get to
see this in the episode, but I'm younger, I'm like, Lolo, stop,
WELLO read the capsule? Hello, stop and she just starts
running with it. And that's when like this red light

(09:49):
goes off in my head. I'm like, fuck it, I'm
gonna snatch the baton from a fucking relayer in the Olympics. Baby,
I'm in the Olympics. I snatch a shit out of
her hand. I'm cracking Anissa, I'm cracking up on the
atom of that dog pile. Wait. I literally told her,
I'm like, throw it to me, low, low, like it
was a football, and then you have it between your legs,
jaws of life, Tory's legs of life wrapped around it.

(10:12):
I'm Tory, You're my friend. Let me see the colors.
I'm like, is it positive or negative? Because the positive
part was almost inside of you. I didn't know which
side to go from. I'm like, you know what, I'm
just going to and run back. I didn't even try
and win, like that wasn't the point until I fell
and you hear everybody go oh, and I'm like, oh, now,

(10:35):
now your bitch has to win. I can't just fall
in the middle of the challenge. I mean, I tripped myself.
It clearly wasn't one of those majestic rocks on the
on the beach was literally my feet. I think I
was so excited that I was like I could memorize shit,
which I knew I could, and I'm like, fuck it.
When I get back, I'm like, well, you can't actually
lose now, like you have to do well. I mean

(10:56):
it's edited to look like we were neck and neck,
but I finished, I mean minutes yeah before people you know,
were done. Oh yeah, and Ashley's still going. I put
I've closed my briefcase, not today, and I'll letting anyone
pete that shit girl, you killed it, I mean, and
that is what sets you up for basically an amazing
first episode. But let's get into the boys round because

(11:18):
this shit is incredible. Yeah. First of all, Michi just
fires up that hill, like where the hell did he
come from? Right then the shoe Listen that shoe, and
I knew, I mean the shoe, the opera music. It
couldn't have been more beautiful, I mean, majestic. What a moment,

(11:40):
What a fucking moment that is going to play yeah
for maybe years. I mean that is a response to
many text messages where like somebody told me some shit
that I don't understand. It's like a shoe in the face,
or when I say something dumb, shoe in the face.
Oh god, it was so good man, honestly, like and
not because of any like beef I've ever had with West.

(12:01):
That could have been pretty much anybody standing there. Oh
my god, I would have it could have been me,
It would have. It just was so good, Like it's
never seen that. We all cracked up when we saw that.
I mean you see our reactions and that was not
We laughed for so long, so long, I mean so long.
And West was furious. I mean he was so angry.

(12:24):
And I'm like, when you watch this, you're gonna understand
that one, Josh didn't do it right, and two it's funny, yeah,
the challenge, but it's funny. Yeah, And just to touch
on that one thing you just said about Josh, like
it's not shown in the episode, but he was screaming
at Josh right after that challenge because he really thought
Josh did it. I'm like, oh, this is funny. Like

(12:44):
people are all on Twitter and stuff all the time,
and like, Josh West doesn't hate you, but the moment
West could have blamed somebody, he blamed Josh. So don't
let it fool you. That rivalry is out there and
it is a two way street and West does it
to Josh too, So it's not just Josh. Oh Man
but it was wait till that's a couple rivals. Yeah,
oh god, that would be so good, It would be
so good. Oh my gosh. Yeah, that first challenge was crazy,

(13:06):
but also that first elimination, like just try going through
all of that politicking to try to get two big
dogs against each other, trying to get Seat and West
against each other, and then what happened. It's a girl's day,
fucking girls. Like you should have seen the look on
everybody's face when we found out this huge scheme that
we were trying to make happ in these two major
competitors to go against each other, and then it all

(13:27):
just fell apart because it was a girl's day. And
I feel so bed for Ashley, like she got dragged
along in that and then she ended up going home
because of something that we planned, something that we planned
that didn't go in our way. Yeah, but I also
felt like Ashley was aligning with all the rookies one
and two. I don't know if I could trust her
in that regard. I mean, she's I think she's so fun.
But then you have Natalie, who was our roommate. She

(13:49):
lived in a room with us, and Natalie was nothing
but like honest and fun. Yeah, of course, one of
the biggest threats in the house. Definitely. Personally, I think
that she is one person to watch out for this season,
and I think that she has possibility. Well, she's amazing, absolutely.
I mean I watched that one episode on Survivor of
her running to get logs in the heat while people

(14:11):
are like emaciated and dying, and she's she can win.
She's blow that girl can go. Then TJ hits us
with a oh, well, Natalie, Now you can choose to
stay with your partner. You can pick CT which would
been an awesome team, yeah, or you could pick anybody
in here but me and Fessie. Well, I can't wait
to see what she does next week because that is

(14:32):
gonna be wild. I'm telling you, we already know what
she does, but it's gonna be wild when you guys
watch it. My next questions for you, Aisa, just all
about preparing and arriving to the seasons of the show,
Like what goes through your mind or like what do
you even like, what do you even think about before
you go on a season? Before I'm like training seven

(14:52):
times a week boxing and outdoor boot camps, and you know,
doing as much as I could to kind of condition
my body. But you really can't train. Yeah, you can't
when you're gonna run up a hill. Ye, get a
capsule in your workout? No, probably not. Yeah, you just
know you don't do that. You can just do yourself
a favor and like try to do math problems on
a calculator, which is what I've without a calculator, which

(15:13):
is what I've been doing because obviously I'm shit at math.
So like I'll do stuff like that, or I'll like
order tangrams on Amazon and I'll like try to play
with those. But like, realistically, the puzzles are always so
different than the equations that they give you. You can't.
You can try to practice and prepare for it, but
like you you don't know when you're gonna get it.
You could be running down after six miles of something
and then it's like do a math problem and you're like,

(15:35):
fuck my life, you know, like four plus seven? What
do you mean? But also the element of that is
you can do that, you can prepare for these things,
but under pressure, yeah a million dollars, can you do it? Yeah?
Because Tory, we've done it together where we're like twenty
nine plus. Yeah, like easy shit, Yeah, easy shit for
those I mean, you know, for those who could do math,

(15:58):
easy stuff. It seems easy easy, but it's not. Yeah,
it is not. That element of pressure is really hard.
And also it's the unknown. Like before we go on
a challenge, we really don't know anything. We don't know
where we're going, we don't know who's going to be
on cast. We really don't reach out to one another
because if you do, honestly, you kind of rub yourself
off as somebody who's trying to overpolitic too early, and honestly,

(16:18):
you can really stress yourself out thinking about that stuff.
It's better to just work on you be the best
version you can and then when you arrive on location,
you just kind of soak it all in. And this
season arriving was way crazier than any other season for
me because of COVID in the world. It was just
so much no no swabbing and quarantining, and like it was,
we were drained by the time we got there. It
was different, you know, like my first season, what did

(16:41):
I do? I went to Jamaica, I lived on a resort,
I had a cell phone, we lived in a villa.
Oh yeah, we had a cell phone for two people.
It was amazing. I mean it was a flip phone,
so it did it had like it couldn't do anything
but play a snake. But we had access to the
internet like everything. I want to go back then. Now

(17:02):
it's like I want to I want to go back
in time and I want to be on the Duel
two with you would have killed It looked so much fun.
Like when I was in quarantine in the hotel, I
just rewatched all of the seasons like I had. I
just had to get myself hyped up for the show,
and I watched them and I was like, I want
to go on this season and have fun like they did.
But then when we get there and you see how
cut throat it is, it's like so hard to like

(17:23):
differentiate between fun and like survival. Right, I want to
know this, what made you want to go on the Challenge?
Somebody put a gun to my head? No, No, my roommate. Actually,
my roommate Joey, who was this amazing girl. She was
a huge Challenge fan. She literally said this to me.
She was like, Tori, you need to apply for Are
you the one you need to go on Are You

(17:44):
the One? You need to be funny and you need
to get recruited for the challenge. I swear to God
before I ever stepped foot on are You the One?
Before I ever watched an episode. That's what she told me.
And I was like, no way, I don't watch reality TV. Never, never, never, never,
I watched one. I watched Devin's season of Are the One.
I had a huge crush on Devon. Swear to God,
this is not a lie, and I still crush on Devon,

(18:08):
and I was like, all right, I'll give it a shot.
So then yeah, went on are You the One? And
that was a history shot. I never knew that. Yeah,
all because of Joey, because a good time partying as well. Yeah,
she's phenomenal. Yeah, I definitely. I mean it's definitely different
back then because it was like you go on Real
World or road Rules and then you just go on
the challenge. It's like almost part of your oh really yeah,

(18:30):
because it was because they only pulled from Real World
and road Rules and they had to look at other
other places. Totally dude, Oh my god, it's just crazy.
Like like I said, I watched the seasons, you've lived them.
And like just seeing how much they've changed, it's just
mind blowing. That's why I'm so happy that we have
Emur here because Emer's the showrunner now. She was a

(18:52):
producer on Dirty thirty, so we've and I know you've
seen her grow in the ranks. Yeah, I feel like
em was a breath when we were doing it and
she I would get out of the water and she's like, oh,
you didn't fall. I'm like, no, I got past the
first and second. She's just one of those like tough love,
in your face, strong asked women that to be honest,
I wouldn't want to see her on the challenge I wipe.

(19:14):
I'm so happy she's a producer and that she's not
a competitor because she doesn't give a shit. No, she
is savage, but honestly she needs to be because we're
like wrangling a bunch of big kindergarteners who should probably
be in jail. That's honestly what her job is, to
wrangle us. But not only that, not anymore. And now

(19:34):
she's the show owner. She runs it, so I'm so
excited to dive into some questions with her for you
and for us. Okay, people, we are going to take
a quick break, but when we get back, we are
going to be talking to the infamous Imur Harkins. So, folks,

(19:56):
we are back, and I am so pleased to intr
produced an interview this person. She is a badass, which um,
clearly we're only going to have badasses on this show.
She is now our executive producer. Her name is Emur Harkin. Ye,
so lovely to have you here, and I cannot wait

(20:18):
to grill you. I am dreading every second of this,
although delighted to tell to you both, but dreading your worst.
Gotta worry we won't be that bad. She honestly, hearing
your voice is so lovely, but Loki does give me
PTSD not gonna lie like I feel like I'm feel

(20:39):
like I'm getting eliminated right now talking to you. No, really, Emur.
We were discussing this earlier that like you only see
Emur when she introduces that, like says hello, I'm emer
you never see her again unless something goes wrong. It's
like or you're going home, you know, you're like with
the Wizard of Us, like yeah, man, behind, yeah exact, Yeah,

(21:01):
I just placed just looming over our heads, like don't
do this. EMO is going to see well, don't. I
always know what's going on, but I just rather stay
in the background because you guys don't need to see
and hear from me all the time. I just prefer
to get everything done. And then, like you say, it's
only really if there's a problem that you should hear
from me or see me, which is probably great for
you guys. The more infrequent the better. And it wasn't

(21:24):
always like that though, because like on Dirty thirty, you
were a producer on the show, so we would see
you frequently. It's just crazy to see how much you've
transitioned and grown in this field. I know, but before
that Free Agents, before I mean, when was your first season?
My first season was due to in Queenstown, New Zealand.

(21:44):
Then traveled with the show around the world. I think
it's like up to upwards of twenty countries now. I
was an ape in the challenge department. Then I was
a challenge producer, as you guys would have gotten to
know me then that way, and yes, always screaming the
rules and telling you what rules, what to abide by,
what not to do. And then I became a supervising producer.

(22:08):
I had a little jaunt into story producing in thirty thirty,
as Tory said, and then I was Koe p And
now yeah, I'm the EP showrunner this season. So it's yeah,
quite so amazing quite the decade. Yeah, it's been mental,
but it's amazing. I can't believe you came on Duel
two like I've never gotten a pad on the back.
That was a great season for me. I of course

(22:32):
you were amazing. I was on top of the mountain
in Queenstown Hill with you when you were finishing. It
was amazing. I did not think, seriously, that was two
thousand and eight, Anissa, and it's not nearly twenty twenty one.
It's crazy, crazy here we all are. But the beauty
of the day, no, and look, the beauty of it is.

(22:54):
I think the reason that the show is so like,
it's so intoxicating for all of us is that the
things that we get to see and do are just
beyond comprehension. You know, we get access to places in
the world that we would never see otherwise. You know,
I'm not sure if you guys are aware of that,
but like the challenge locations are all out, you know,

(23:15):
largely off the beaten path. You would never stumble upon
them as a traveler, like when if you were just
there randomly. So you know, we've we've seen the best
or the best around the world and it's pretty awesome
and we've done it together. Isn't that crazy? I travel
with you guys more than I do with my family.
So how do you actually find the locations then if
they're so remote? Well, it all, I guess it all

(23:37):
starts the initial conversation. We'll start with, you know, what
do we want the season to be about? So years ago,
you know, traditionally we thought like we liked X's or
it was rivals or so on and so forth. But
like as you guys have seen over the last couple
of years, we keep wanting to kick things up a notch.
And you know, I tell you guys all the time,

(23:58):
like we're only there because of you. We treat you,
guys as like our superstars. We want you to feel
like it. We want you to feel like action heroes
often and we you know, have you doing things that
make you action heroes. So we've kind of started emulating
these movie words. So you know, War of the World
one was like Mad Max and then or of the

(24:18):
World's two was kind of Laura Croft tomb Raider, and
then we kind of got into this like crazy post apocalyptic,
you know, total madness last season and so now this
season we're doing double Agents and it's that kind of
like spy, spionage thriller type vibe. So we that's where
we start, So we try and figure out, like what

(24:39):
theme there's an appetite for what the show needs. I know,
so that's a lot of fun, you know, I didn't
know that. Yeah, So like that's where I start. That's
I you know, I'm a movie lover, so I'll think about,
you know, what have I been inspired by, what have
I what has taken me somewhere else, and what would
be a fun thing to recreate for you guys. And

(25:01):
then that will naturally quittle down the list of countries
that we can go to and that we can shoot in,
and then the process becomes, you know, getting partnerships with
countries and making sure we can go there. I scout,
I make sure that it's a viable option for everything
that our production involves. So that's that's a massive undertaking

(25:26):
to start with something so huge and quitt let down
to exactly what we need. But it's it's pretty incredible
to to do. It's a lot of fun. How long
does that take, you, guys to do? I feel like
even buzzing out two of these a year, which is
like typically what is done if there's not Corona in
the world, But like, do you immediately start planning for
the next one months the other one's wrapped filming. I'm

(25:48):
not telling you, but yes, it's like it's quick. It
takes a long time, you guys, It's like months of work,
you know. Then then as you say it to or
you throw COVID in the next and it's like it
was Bunker. So last year, you know, Double Agents took
a lot longer than it would traditionally take. I was
working on the show for like over ten months in total.

(26:09):
Oh yeah, the prep was a lot longer because you know,
there were very few countries that we could take, you
guys too, so it was pretty crazy. And it was
two cold seasons back to back. Man, it was you know, Bunker.
Then we were in Lison. When you're a little thicker
affect you the same. So I was like, who I
don't wear a bikini, thank you lord. I was like

(26:33):
give me a wetsuit. I don't care what I looked like. Yeah,
it looked like a condom and a seal for the
season stop. I don't I always job, Oh my gosh,
But like, did you guys, because like this season we
did some crazy challenges and I'm like, there's some people
got really hurt. I'm obviously not going to go into

(26:55):
that stuff, but like there are people who got really
cold during some of them. Do you guys test every
single challenge that we do or y? No, God No,
We've got a We've got this team of testers that
we will hire wherever we go, so we'll find people
that are like a really representative cross section of you guys.

(27:19):
So we'll have like small girls, big girls, and toll guys,
short guys, like a cross like different people of different
way it's different capabilities, so that we're testing the game
in multiple ways. So we and we do the same
with the elimination. So for the challenges and the elimbs,
we will play them out in multiple ways. So if
it was like Anissa verse tory, this is how it

(27:42):
would go if it was you know, X verse. Why.
So there's a real rigorous process that goes into it.
We have got you guys covered, Are you well looked after?
Are you testing them like right before we do them?
Or is there is that in like the months leading
up to because it looks like such an extensive like setup,

(28:03):
like so long and tedious, like I would like with
the first one. Obviously not as as crazy you know,
set up amount of dirt with sure anywhere, but for
the like heights ones that we do or you know,
with like all the scaffolding or you have this stuff
that they're they're so intricate, like are they you know,

(28:24):
I know that they're planned ahead of time? Are they
tested ahead of time too, or is that like closer
to shooting. Well, we prototype everything pretty early on to
make sure that that's actually you know, that it's a
real and that it's executable really, you know. So we'll
prototype things, will refine the game, and then we'll do
rehearsals in the days previous. We also will try and

(28:46):
do rehearsals in different conditions. So let's say it's today
before a challenge and it's particularly windy, we'll rehearse the
challenge in wind and we'll also rehearse it and rains
can so that we can see how it lays, because
you know, if you guys are at a height, if
you guys are on rope that gets wet, anything like that,
the game will then play differently. So we try to

(29:09):
test it all out. But in terms of the the
accurate rehearsal that's done in a couple of days prior
to shooting. And what people don't know is that you
guys used to test the stuff out. Yes, we did,
which made me feel I got so much better. I'm like,
at least they know what I'm going through because it's

(29:29):
cold or high or it sucks totally. Do you remember
an said, you remember that game in New Zealand where
it was like this ladder and the wrongs got farther
and farther apart as we climbed that it was swung
over a cliff. It was this giant, giant ladder tory.
It was like fifty feet tall and there might be

(29:51):
like ten feet between each of the wrongs, and I
tech that was the first and we were like, we
were like four hundred feet off the edge of a
cliff and that's the first I ever tested And oh
my sified. I was terrified. I was never yeah, and
it would look it was amazing. But I was never
good for the water and the falls. I was useless everybody,

(30:13):
you know, and that that gets me. It's funny. I
can cliff on a skyscraper and I'd be okay, but
it was a waterfall that was my you know, we
all really Yeah, I didn't shocker, you're a shoe. I
was like, oh, I remember when you were in when

(30:34):
we were in Turkey and you were under the water
with us, and I could see you because you were
like in your scuba gear amurs in like a bikini,
and like, oh, I see these little pale legs. I'm like,
okay on something. I don't know they were scared of anything. Look,
it's awesome. But like I say, you know, if I
if my back's against the wall and I'll do whatever.

(30:54):
You know, I've done a lot of crazy stuff for
this show, but like I say that, the falls don't
really get me very excited. Yeah, definitely, not wow nor
any stuff. I'm fine, but I'm getting better at falling now.
Sure I started to not give as much of a
shit now that I'm older. Something happened where I just
stopped caring. That's funny. I think I went the opposite way.

(31:17):
I think, I you know, I never cared and now
when I'm like, but it's kind of like I have
to do it, I'm looking and I'm looking at it
now like I have to do it. If it doesn't
work out, it doesn't work out. But like, if we
have to do something scary, I'm not gonna be like, no,
I'm not going to do it because I've quit before
once for more so for gameplay. But it's just like
you just gotta get in there and go that's right,

(31:40):
but you've just nailed it. And that's why we stopped
testing largely and why we started bringing in testers, because like, sure,
I can test a game, but for you guys, like
we want to see people who are really you know,
they're being paid, they're being paid to perform just like
you guys are. So it's like, you know, it makes
sense to have to have you know, real real body

(32:03):
doubles for you guys. I give you guys a lot
of credit because even though you have to set all
of these challenges up early, I mean, you really keep
everything such a secret. We are completely left in the dark.
We don't know anything that's going to happen. I mean,
how do you guys keep that on lock? So well?
Are there just a lot of people on the cast
or on the crew who don't know what's going to
happen the next day? I tell no one anything unless

(32:25):
absolutely necessary. And what about TJ? How much does TJ
know before he he'll largely know what's going on. TJ
and I like to talk about things. TJ and I
are super close. We're good bugs, and he likes he
likes to know what's coming up. He likes to get
in the zone and everything. So yeah, we talk and
then TJ knows what challenges are coming up, We talk

(32:47):
about it. We talk about like how it's going to go,
how we think it's going to play. So yeah, he's involved.
He make bets on who you think is gonna win
left right? I know they do, oh, I mean big
teammate bets and she was a part of the cast. Yeah. People,

(33:07):
I definitely gave away some money this season. Definitely lost
a couple of bets. It's fine, It's really fine. Um.
So with that being said, I know that like back
when you when you first started, Yeah, it was basically
pulled from Real World and road rules, and now we're
getting all of these other people. I feel like this

(33:28):
season in particular was super special. I mean it was
the most diverse cast I've ever been on UM, which
I think was amazing just for the storytelling alone. Like
everybody shared like its gradir issues. Um. I mean, we
talked about mental health, which isn't talked about a lot
um in our community. It's just you know, just like

(33:50):
you know, a lot of pressure to be a certain
wet Like it was just amazing and I hadn't um,
I hadn't seen that before. So thank you, well, no,
thank you, thank you guys all and spice this season.
Oh look, it's all about you guys. I think I'm
really proud of that. I'm so happy that you've said

(34:11):
that because I think, you know, ultimately it's what we're
all interested in, is everybody's story, Like what we're all about,
what makes us tick. And when everybody was being so
raw and so honest and so open and to have
all of those real conversations and be it from like
race to any kind of you know, mental health issue,

(34:36):
like you say, it was just we're all human, we
all struggle, and I think that you guys sharing those
struggles so openly and so honestly will be really important
to our viewers. And I think that it's awesome. So
I commend everybody on their honesty and they're you know,
bringing their a game. I think it's really really special. Yeah,
I feel like we're slowly getting not that real worldwide,

(34:56):
but that like dig a little deeper into the human like, right,
have the because these episodes used to be twenty two
minutes and you guys unpack them full of stuff, and
now we have an hour and a half and I'm
like you, you know, you can still sneak in these
very real, vulnerable, open, honest, scary moments for people and
make us even more relatable. These are humans, These are

(35:19):
people that are still struggling, like now, like the challenges
used to be the challenge, Like I feel now we've
added another layer of Oh these people have stories. Yeah,
and these are relatable stories. I just got chillsblut. I'm
really really happy about that. Oh well, I'm glad you're happy. Yes,
But you guys have a platform and to use it,

(35:39):
you know, to use it wisely. And I think that
it's I think it's it's an awesome platform and I
think it's it's Yeah, it's really special this season. Yeah,
and that conversation between you and Essa and Cam that
first episode like setting the tone emotionally for this season. Like,
I think that first episode had every bit that it
needed to have in it. It had the emotional aspect,

(36:00):
that conversation, it was so beautiful and opening, and then
we had the competition, which was incredible, and then we
had that killer elimination. Like that first episode was just
so amazing to watch. It was amazing. I've never been
in shock and awe from a from a premiere for
a challenge in a long time. I mean, Tory and
I are watching it like, oh my god, what's going on?

(36:23):
James Bond movie? What the fuck? I know? I mean,
the music was incredible. I mean just the pictures of
us on the screen with TJ. I'm like, you guys
put in fucking yeah. We did mean so much and
you can tell like you guys cared so much. Don't care,
but like it is like this, it just looks like

(36:44):
everybody just tried their asses off. Yeah, and crew are like,
it's really funny that you mentioned that cold open, because
like that initial minute and a half, you know, it's
like the ode to TJ Lave and then he comes
in and he fits in the thumb drive and all
the data is you know, I sing and everything. I mean,
I had, like, you know, I picture in my head

(37:05):
how it's going to open, and then you know, you
pitch what I what you what you write and and
so when we talk it through together with the network,
and it was literally sentenced by sentence what I had
written on a page month ago. So to actually watch it,
I was just like, Wow, it was. It was really
impressional actually, and I'm so glad you guys liked it,
but it's yeah, we haven't. I felt sick. I felt

(37:26):
like I had won. I felt like I was about
to go compete again. I felt like I made I
was like, I'm in a movie, mom, in a fucking movie.
I like it. Figure. It felt like that, And it
felt like we hadn't even done it yet, Like yeah,
I was excited all over to you want to go
run somewhere like I didn't know what. I didn't know

(37:48):
what to do with myself. I thought it was absolutely incredible.
I mean, I can't wait to see the rest of
the season. It is. Yeah, well you guys, hold up,
you guys nailed it. Yeah, I did. For Amur. We
can't thank you enough. It's honestly a pleasure to do
these shows with you and have all these moments to
laugh about and honestly thank you for everything you do

(38:09):
and for coming out of this podcast and opening up
with us. Thank you, you guys. I love you both.
You're amazing thing at me. I love them with you always.
I know, I know you always say that to be honest,
it wouldn't It would not be our relationship if you
didn't laugh sometimes I would feel weird about it. No
that I won't change I wouldn't change anything. I am

(38:32):
so grateful for the opportunity. I am so grateful that
because of you, I challenge myself just showing up as
a challenge, you know, So thank you for you know
that I can eat, so thank you for the job,
thank you for the experience. Tori is one of my
closest friends, So thank you for that. Like it's just
thank you for taking me to all of these beautiful

(38:53):
places and just allowing me to push myself to do
shit I never ever would even pay to do. Well.
I am pride of you. I'm proud of you. I'm
proud of you both every day and I'm so grateful
for being part of this based it is amazing. You
guys are wonderful to many more to come. Yes, thank
you so much, Mury later, Bye, bye bye. Our next

(39:24):
segment is called Challenge Confidential. We're going to share a
secret from the episode and I want to talk about
something in editing that looks way different than happened in
real life. And that's the order of the challenge. That's
the order that we played the game. Like the guys
went first, yeah, and then they show us going first.
I'm like, my win was supposed to be second and climactic. Fuck,

(39:48):
why are we watching the guys second? Yeah? You know,
I think it was because the guys went first. I
think they went so hard the girls got freaked out.
And that's why you have in our group where Nicole
was kind of throwing words to hello and Cam is
like trying to figure out. She's not like attacking anybody
for it, but she's listening to people like people are
playing softer and smarter instead of harder like the way
the guys played. So I think that's the reason why

(40:09):
the girls played softer in the second round, but the
guys got. They played so much harder that it's almost
more fun to watch. And that's why I think they
aired them second, or they could have shown like, oh, well,
the girls definitely went slower, so like a Finissa one
who probably didn't beat FESSI by that much. I mean
I thought about all of this. Yeah, and so I
was watching it. But here's another Can I share another secret?

(40:31):
Oh yeah, the guys usually always go first in the
first elimination. Yeah, so that was a big like ladies
first moment. And for me, I'm like, chivalry could have
died just for today if they got to just let
the guys go first. I would have patriarchy any other day.
But let it, let them, let the mails go first

(40:54):
and lead us into victory. I would have let them
go down. We would have had an amazing matchup. It
would have been ct for West like that would have
been like hanging upside down by ends and feet in
the ankles and wrists in the most vulnerable position, and
we would have gotten. But we didn't. But no, we
did not. All right, Tory, let's talk about what's in

(41:16):
our mail bag, which the mail bag includes a bunch
of questions from people out there who want to know
more about us and what goes on in the Challenge house.
All right, so let's do it. One of the questions
that we got from one of the fans is how
did this season change with coronavirus R wea so many
COVID tests. I feel like a cute tip. I feel

(41:38):
like a cute tip. There was a lot of nasal brutality.
Oh my god. Before we even got to the location.
We had to pass the first two tests. Then we
had to get tested right when we got into Iceland,
and Tory can tell you how wonderful her test went.
It was terrible. I literally walking into Iceland, this woman
like took this thing, this qute tip, and shoved its

(42:00):
so deep in my nose. I had never felt like
a cute tip in my brain before I grabbed her
by the wrist and I'm like, I moved my head.
She's like, don't thattch me. I'm like shaking my head
in agony, literally with this huge stick out of my nose.
Like I opened my eyes and I see it that
first one in Ice, and I was like, these people
don't give a fuck over here. Yeah, but that's why

(42:20):
they have no cases. Oh yeah, because they give a fuck,
and your nearest neighbors as sheep like sixteen wild horses.
God it was. It definitely changed. But you know what
was really cool. We got so many hugs, which was
nice because I hadn't had a hug and so long.
Definitely was a change. Yeah, and we couldn't go out
the season, you know. So they built us a club

(42:40):
in the backyard, and that club got so many different names.
Oh my god. We called it the cligloo because it
looks like a club igloo. But production hated when they
called us that, so they made us call it the
ice Dome and all of our interviews and we were like,
it's the cligloo. Yeah, And I thought it was the
click glue and that's why they're calling it the cligloo.
I thought maybe Nelson it made up that name because

(43:01):
he calls it a click and not a click. That's
another secret today, but Nelson calls a click a click,
and I thought, that's why we're calling it the click blue.
And Tory let me go on and say because she knew,
but that's what I thought it was, and did not
correct me. I can't thought laughing right, I'm crying. You

(43:23):
did that oh fuck, Okay, let's get off this question
before I keep laughing. All right, well, then I'll ask
the next question so you could get it together. Thank you.
So someone wanted to know how far in advance do
you find out what the challenge is? Bitch? When you
arrive on set, you don't know any You still don't know.
You don't know until TJ says it totally, because you

(43:45):
can arrive at the challenge and you could be like,
I think it's this, I think we're gonna do this,
and you could be completely wrong. You'll never know. I
don't think I've ever known what it was from twenty
years ago today. No. Yeah, that makes sense because they
want to get genuine reactions, and it also gives us
no time to plan on how we're gonna do it.
We just have to get there and everyone has the
same amount of time to strategize. Yeah. Yeah, Well, listen,

(44:07):
this was an amazing first episode. You crushed it, Anissa.
You are the MVP girl. I'm so happy that you
got your first challenge daily win and thank you. I'm
sure there are more to come this season, so let's
hope for that. We shall seem all right, girl, where
can we follow you Anissa so we can. DM. You
can tell you that UQ and Anissa MTV everywhere. That's
a n E s a MTV. Yeah, that's Twitter, that

(44:33):
is Instagram. Please, I'm not gonna give up Snapchat because
I don't want to crazy shit in there, and I
know y'all all send it. Thank you, but thank you. Yeah,
what's yours? Tory? You guys can follow me at Tory
Underscore deal And I'm not on Twitter anymore because the
trolls are too too fucking crazy. I'm over it. On Snapchat,
I have eleven followers, a Nissa's one of them. I
want to keep it that way, So just follow me

(44:54):
on Instagram. DM, mean, let me know what's going on
in your life. Don't set me know. Dick pis nothing
crazy like that unless it's huge. No, but really, if
you have any questions, make sure you send them in
because you never know we may be discussing them. They
may be in our next mailbag. Yes, yes, yes, So
that's it for this week's episode, but we'll be back
next week. Guys. Make sure to watch the new episodes

(45:16):
of the Challenge every Wednesday and go behind the scenes
with us the next morning. On MTV's official Challenge podcast,
Advertise With Us

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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