March 9, 2023 • 57 mins
First round draft pick Jonna is on the podcast! She talks to Aneesa and Da'Vonne about the slang she picked up from Grant, what was going on behind the scenes with KellyAnne and what she thinks of how each team stacks up.
Catch new episodes The Challenge: World Championship, Wednesdays on Paramount+ and we'll see you back here next week for a brand-new episode of MTV's Official Challenge Podcast.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone. I'm a Nissa Ferrera and I am Davion
Rogers and this is MTV's official Challenge podcast. We are
back with another episode from the World Championship. I can't
deal with it. I can't. The cliffhanger, I can't. The
cliffhangers are killing me. Y'all gonna have to give us
four episodes because girl what I know, right, I can't.
I can watch the whole thing tonight. It's actually a
(00:23):
really good season so far. I really loved this episode. Yes, yes, honey.
I am so excited to see Johnny come back and
to see how she is dominating in this episode. I'm
so so proud of her. It could be because you know,
the whole Mama thing. I don't know, but I just
I love her as a person and I love her spirit.
(00:44):
You know what I was thinking, I am really I
noticed as I was watching this episode, Casey is more active.
I don't see Casey as active on the main show.
I noticed in this episode she's more active, more talkative.
And then I was like, you know what, but I
am excited to see how Casey plays this game without Josh,
Nanny and Fansy around her. I am so excited to
(01:06):
see how she plays this game this season. I can't wait. Yeah,
I think she's definitely This is definitely a different, different
Challenge chapter for her. And I think that she's coming
on after we had a really long season with the
mindset of like I'm gonna go have fun, right, and
I feel like I feel a lot already from her. Yeah,
but we shall see. Girl. It's some te bruin, okay, Kelly,
(01:32):
and I feel it mine on an episode, I am anxious,
paranoid Pam and it happens. It happens to a lot
of us, but we're like silently spiraling. She had out
loud spiral. I think I outlet spiral sometimes. Yeah, we
all have, we all have. Yes. So for this particular
season of the Challenge, we have a new segment of
(01:55):
which we're calling it King or Queen of the world
or someone who's on another planet. Right, so we'll start
with you. Who is your king or Queen of the
world for this episode? I mean, my queen is john A.
And not because she's coming on, and not because I
love her, but I feel like she handled that puzzle
(02:17):
in two seconds. Yeah, she did good, and that was
one of the most difficult ones because they were the
last ones to get there. Yes, moving her reputation to
be true. Right, Kudos to Mom and Pops, to Grant
for following directions and trusting that john A had it.
(02:38):
He was like, I'm just gonna let it go, and
he did and she killed it. However, there are two people.
There are three people on this other planet. Sorry, I
think Cahoui and Nelson are on their own planet during
this episode when they are trying to figure out this puzzle.
Poor babies, but they were just so confused. They were
(03:02):
just they were just helpless, like just stuck in the material.
I know, I know, I know, Well we don't. We
don't know what's going to happen. You know, we'll see
on the next episode or the next depending depending We
may never get to this elimination in three episodes. Just
(03:22):
gonna have morehouse drama, right, talking about who they want
to vote in. But you know what, that's what the
people have been asking for. They're like, we want to
see more of the drama, so all the stuff that's
we want to see, difficult challenges that challenge people. Yeah,
and we also want to see what goes on in
people's heads. And conversations that they have that make them
(03:43):
do the things they do. Yes, yeah, because I think
we're missing out on the meat and potatoes, right we
go challenging all of a sudden, I'll talk of shit
and a confessional. But that's fine, or not just me,
just anyone. We want to know how we got from
A to I don't know how we go to A
to Z. I need to know A to B B
two C C T T. That's what I mean there.
I need a linear projection. Listeners, I hope you are
(04:06):
catching on. This has become a podcast that is very
therapeutic for Anissa, and I'm glad to be a part
of that. Thank you very much. So my king or
queen for this episode is John of course, one hundred percent.
Like I could sit up and rant and rave about
her all day. I just thought that again she proved
(04:28):
her reputation to be true, and I thought that was
super cool to watch. And then on another planet, I'm
gonna give it to Kelly. I am wait. I just
see this planet in the distance here sitting on it
say that, and it's just chant just a little She's
just sitting there like well, and like I like her.
(04:49):
I like her, but it's like something this episode just
really wasn't click. And then again, maybe there's something we
didn't see. We don't know, but I do think there
is something that is to be said. Baby girl, you
need to come on, come on back, and and and
and if she ends up in this elimination and she
comes back out on top, then baby, something different raise hell.
(05:10):
I feel because I've seen both sides of Kelly Ham. Yeah,
and then we became friends. Yeah. Oh, then we became
friends after that, so I know what it looks like
from both ends. And it's not always fun, like the
wrath of some people are just not fun because like
like Johnny's you know, we all we've played with her before.
She doesn't mince words. You know, she's gonna tell you
(05:31):
how she feels. Yeah, well, let's hope john Nay tells
us how she feels because we have such a fun
episode for you guys today. The number one draft pick
Johnny is on the podcast today, So don't go anywhere
because we'll be right back with all the team after this.
(06:01):
I'm so excited about this episode because one of my
favorites is here today. And let me just start by
saying she is the bomb, and she holds it down
for the mamas, and y'all know that's near and dear
to my heart because everything I do is for my baby. Okay,
so give it up with us for Johane, I'm so
(06:29):
happy to here, man. I just want people to start
pronouncing your name right. It's never been no. You were fine.
I immediately immediately like did I say it? No? On
this actual episode, Danny was like, and Jana or Jonah
or I've seen people call you Joanne. Yes, yes, people,
(06:52):
there's no a before those ends. Maybe Johan, you are
here with us on the podcast. So I just want
to jump right into this episode because girl, so I
we're salty. Everybody could hide the fact that they were
(07:16):
like damn, I'm like, yeah, there's little yeah, yeah. Actually,
I don't think anybody. I don't think anybody was more
surprised than I was that I was first round draft pick. Um.
My face showed it all. Um. Honestly, I knew. We
didn't know, like TJ told us, like, you know, do
(07:37):
well in this qualifier, but we didn't know for sure.
We kind of made assumptions like, hey, this would be
the order we're choosing, but we didn't really know. Um,
I knew Grant had gotten first, and um, let me
just tell you every conversation that I had with Grant
leading up to this point was about Tori, about him
choosing Tory as a partner, you know, And so I
was just like, yeah, she's a badass, like she just
(07:59):
wants us thirty eight like, you know. It was more
informational about other people. It was never like, yeah, why
would you be a good partner for me? So when
it actually came down to it, I think, like in
you know, the arena when we were there, He's like,
I think we might be a good partners. I was like,
I think I think we would be too. But I
didn't think that he was going to choose me, you know.
(08:19):
So yeah, I was as sure that everyone else was.
If the roles were reversed, who would you have chosen?
After watching the qualifier, right, Um, coming into this, like
we hadn't seen anybody performing. So the only show that
I had seen, obviously, besides the Flagship in All Stars
was The Challenge USA. So going into this, I mean
(08:39):
I had talked to Sarah and I was like, hey, listen,
I think I would be a good fit for Usa.
I think I would work well with Danny. I think
I would work well with then. I don't know, if
you want to put in a good word, but like, honestly,
they were the only people whose names I knew going
into the qualifier, so I thought, you know, after talking
to Ben, I thought, you know, for sure i'd be
paired with him, and anything is is. Danny and I
(09:01):
had this little joke now and he always every time
we like cross each other in the hallway or something,
he'd be like the partner that got away. I was
under full impression that like either Ben or Danny was
going to choose me. Didn't even you know, question it. Otherwise,
did anyone express like their level of anger or disappointment
(09:23):
for partners that they could have had or should have
had or wanted to have and now they don't like
were people? No? I do. I do remember though, like um,
Sarah giving Danny like a lot of SHITU and being like, well, Danny,
if you would have just you know, won the qualifier. Um.
But I think that grants not telling anybody who who
(09:43):
he was going to choose, and then it kind of
caused this like domino effect of people getting different partners
than people they had originally talked to. I love that.
I love a good surprise mission. Everyone went into it
thinking that he was gonna pick Tor. That's that's what
I thought. I don't know what everyone else thought. So,
you know, we move into the house after the qualifier,
(10:05):
we have a couple of days to like you know,
get to know one each one another, and before we
get to the next thing, like you know, in the show,
it shows us going directly there. So I think everybody
kind of had an idea of, like, you know, who
they want to work with, you know what they're gonna do,
and you know, Grant just comes out with us, Okay,
I'm gonna choose this person um which shape the tables.
(10:27):
To be honest with you, West West took credit for it. Somehow.
It's very you know, West thing to do. He was like, well,
you know, you know, funny, I talked to Grants and
I you know, I asked him what his weakness's word.
He said puzzles, and I was like, well, you know,
my girl, Johnny is really good for puzzles. And job
(10:47):
you did on your own sissy your so I My
other question was, I know you got to actually see
the expression on the faces of the last pick. Yeah,
did they express their um, did they express any hot
(11:09):
think about Kelly? Ylliam was pissed she was hot? Yeah,
Kelly Kelly didn't probably, I mean, no one would like
to be picked class. Honestly, it was like dodgeball and
it's like you get if you get, you're standing there
and everyone else is getting picked like yeah, um, yeah,
she didn't want to be picked. Like. I hate it
because I feel like you're just getting sized up and
you just wait down there to see. Like. I hate
(11:31):
how it makes you feel like people are just I'm
judging you. I mean, even though they are very much
basically picking you based on what they think you're capable of. Yeah,
and I feel like the last pick is like, well,
we'll just work with this. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know
what happened to Tristan during that qualifier. He couldn't. I
didn't see it, but I couldn't figure out the weight thing,
(11:53):
So poor guy. Okay, let me ask you this question.
Here goes some tea. Give it to our listeners because
you know we likes to get a little a little
look ish over here, right. Were there any preseason alliances
going into there? Preseason Alliances. Well, you know what, the
Challenge World Championship was very different because listen, so I
(12:14):
had just come from, like say, All Stars, so I
have obviously those relationships that I've kind of come into
this game with. Yeah, they just wrapped filming season thirty eight,
which I'll get back to that. But you know, coming
back home and watching season thirty eight and seeing how
that game was set up, it made me understand why
everybody played, you know, in the World Championship with that
(12:37):
like mob mentality. Yeah. I didn't get it when I
was there, but after watching thirty eight, I was like, oh, no,
wonder they all like played that way. Yeah, and then
you know, we have people coming in, you know, this
is their second show. We have people from Survivor and
different shows from Big Brother, and it was very interesting
to see how everyone plays differently plays the game. Oh,
(12:58):
I forgot you at first. All Stars. So we've been
doing shows of people from all the other shows Davon included. Yeah,
um so yeah, they do. They do play really differently. Yes,
Oh my gosh, I can't even explain it to you.
There was there was one point that I was like
in the house right and I saw Grants right, And
I saw like Sarah and Danny and just different people downstairs.
(13:20):
Everybody was talking to Grant, and I noticed how the
survivors were feeding him these things, right, and Grant is
just like he's like, I don't care. I'll go into elimination.
I don't I don't give a funk who I go against.
And I was just like, WHOA, let me do some
damnage control here, like this week hopefully admit like, hey,
we don't care who we go against. We want to
(13:43):
think out the best. That's not that's not how you
know the legends play it. I'm like, we need to
reel it in a little bit. Yeah, So Bibar and
big Brother is very mental, and so when we when
we come into the challenge, it was like, y'all that's
what you guys rely on. There's no there's no this
chance of like you know, the daily challenge thrown in
(14:05):
this game or notions you fully rely on. Yes, And
it was my first opportunity, in my first chance to
witness it firsthand and see, I'm damn you guys are good.
Were scary, but it is scary, Like I love to
make it work. So now we have the pairings right,
because these great pairings and there's some heavy hitters. Like
(14:26):
when they say world Championship situation, it for real is
a situation. Okay. And so to you, were there any
teams that you were like, oh, I might be a
little yeah, give me the top three that you may
have been like, um, Tory and Danny getting paired together.
(14:47):
My immediate thought was, okay, I don't want to see
them in hall roll. However, you know, absolutely strong team
right there. I didn't know anything about Kazz necessarily. I
knew that she had won uk UM, but I knew Jordan,
you know, it was a very strong competitor as well.
And you know, I was, to be honest with you,
(15:07):
I'm sitting around looking at all the teams and I'm like, damn,
this is like. This isn't like a hey, here's a
layout team, Hey there's this. It's every single team either
has an Olympian, an ex professional athlete, a champion, like
all of it. I personally, when I saw the pairings,
my eyes immediately went to Sarah and THEO bro Like
(15:31):
that's scary. I think I think the only thing that's
probably scarier than that would have been THEO and Tory
that would have been the only thing that would have
been scarier than that. I was like, this is going
to be physically, but I don't know about um communication wise,
I don't know yet. Oh yeah, yeah that's all. Here's
(15:51):
the thing, because I feel like when you get these
people together, they may be strong, however, coming from different games,
coming from their experience on the show. Maybe one's one one,
maybe one hasn't. You go on with a totally different
mindset on how you're going to play that game, especially
when you have nothing to lose, like you don't have
to win again because you've already won, when you still
want to get to win bitter, Um, it doesn't. This
(16:18):
was my very first time doing a challenge with you,
and I will first off of that say he is
the most hilarious person I've ever met. Like when you
want comedy, when you want that, like you know, comedic
relief of like not being in a challenge game, Like
he is so fucking funny. I love him. But um,
they were a very interesting pair seeing Sarah and THEO together.
(16:38):
They're both very opinionated, they're most and very different alliances. Like, yeah,
I will say that about the way that the pairing
shook up um the Challenge USA team. All the pairs
in that team specifically, it was very interesting to watch
because not only were they strong, but every pair had
(17:02):
it's you know, one partner was on one side and
one partner was on the other side. So I mean,
I haven't been to nomination yet, but there's a very
good chance that you know, it's gonna get real heated
between USA because whoa. I thought the dynamic of the
baby steps between Johnny and Justine was really really good.
(17:25):
I'm excited to see how that progresses. But I thought
that was really good to see them in the beginning
to see how that played out. So I want to
get right into it because Kelly Anne is your girl,
like outside of the game, that's that's your girl. Before
we even get into it, because in this episode we
don't get to see what happens in the ending, but
(17:46):
just to kind of give us a little hint, where
do you and Kelly Anne stand today? Okay, so this
isn't this is what I think. It's very interesting about that. Sorry,
but I'm stressed out for you in this episode. I'm
stressed out for her, I'm stressed out for you. I'm
like it like gives me nervous energy life. Yeah, we
(18:07):
can I know, both of us. Yeah, I don't know
that both of you. And you don't know how you
hate conflict. And she's she's like, you're my friend, don't
vote for me, thank you, And I'm like, oh my god,
I'll never do Okay, so let me lead up into this. Okay. So,
Kelly Anne and I are friends. Um, we we're good friends.
And you know, coming into this game, Uh, Kelly Anne
(18:28):
and I were both on I was on All Stars one,
two and three. Kelly Anne was on All Stars one
and All Stars three she missed two well, and in
All Stars season two, Jody and I, you know, became close.
Not necessarily close, like we weren't like best friends or anything,
but as far as the game goes and as far
as um reliability and alliance is, like, Joe proved herself
(18:51):
to me, and I will say honestly, it's because of
her and because of our alliance that we had with
you know, Janelle and Darell and Jody and Brad, you know,
because of that, Like, yeah, I knew one thing about Jody.
I knew she was a straight shooter. I knew that,
you know, what she says, she means she's not ever
gonna bullshit me. So, you know, when I'm faced with
(19:12):
this hard decision of Okay, what are you gonna do?
First of all, the people nominated, Kelly Anne and Jody
are both people that I'm you know, would like to
play the game with it, I'm close to. But they
are also both my roommates, you know. So that was stressful.
But I was weighing it out, you know, And what
really it comes down to for me is Kelly Anne
(19:35):
and I. The reason why we are friends is because
we're very similar. And I'll just say at point blank,
like I don't like making tough decisions when I'm put
in a position of power. I honestly hate it. And
Kelly Anne is also the same way. She's very watery.
She's all over the place. I mean, you see the
paranoia kick in. As soon as you know she knows
(19:56):
she's on the chopping block, she goes to this person,
she talks to this person, she comes and talks to me,
same time. So what you're saying, you guys are very different,
That's what I'm got seeing in the sense of emotions
all over the place. I knew I know in this
game that this is going to be a very tough
road ahead of me and who out of out of
the people that I'm choosing against to go in. This
(20:18):
isn't This isn't like a nomination process like All Stars
two was like the winners don't nominate, they put the
nail in the coffin, you know. And for me, I'm
trying to decide, you know, do I go with my
friend or do I go with someone who I know
what she says is true is reliable in this game.
Jodie and I are very different. We're like the ying
(20:39):
to the yang. Like. She's very point blake, very logical.
I'm very emotional, very watery all over the place. Kelly
and I, Kelly and and I both being that same
way was was not good for me and I. I
just think yours is more like yours is more like
a lake. I feel like you can hide yours better though, Yeah,
(21:01):
I think, Well, here's the thing. The difference between Kelly,
Anne and I is I understand that this is a game.
And that was the biggest difference between past Challenge on
A and now is Yes, we do have friendships in
this game. We rely on them to get us further.
But you know, at a certain point you have to
figure out what you're playing for. Are you playing for you?
(21:22):
Are you playing for your family? Or are you playing
to maintain these friendships? You know outside of this, If
we're really friends like we say we are, we should
be friends leaving this game, regardless of what happened, right, Like, right,
So that was at the point that we were at,
is like I had already learned that lesson and that's
where I was, and she, Kelly Anne, was still there
(21:43):
and this is what I rely on to get me
further and I need you now. So so two things.
One in your confessional you said you you were like,
I know, I don't want Kelly An to play the game.
You said, right you, You made it a point to
say that. So with with with knowing that, was it
(22:05):
any easier to make whatever decision it is that you're
going to make, no, no, because it's still even though
even though you don't want to fall back into like
the old way that I played and fall back into
your emotions and friendships, it's hard when you're there and yeah,
with those people, and that's the only thing you rely
on Because I knew I knew kind of like the
hard decision that I had to face, and I knew
(22:26):
I didn't want to do this to a friend. But
then I also understood, like this is a World Championship.
It's either going to get ugly now or it's gonna
get ugly later no matter what I do, No matter
what I do, this decision that I make is going
to have consequence yes, and get to be the first
person to choose Yeah, someone's feelings are harder and decisions
only get harder as people get more attached to each
(22:47):
other or maybe not. Did you guys have any agreements
or anything before coming into the house, because I mean
we all talk before we go on the show. We
do you guys have any agreements? So I had. I
had just found out. I had found out that Kelly
Ann was come to the World Championship, and you know
her and I. Here's the thing, her and I had
talked on the phone, texted, talked on the phone. I
(23:08):
think a matter of fact, I think I ordered her
some stuff on Amazon because she was like on vacation
in like Tahoe or something, and she's like, my stuff.
Phone gets sense to me in time, Like we had
talked before, which leads me to another point. I don't
know if they show this because I didn't watch the
first episode yet, but leads me to the point that
you know, when you're first in the house and we're
(23:30):
all sitting there, I just met Zara, and I just
met Emily, and we're sitting there getting to know each other,
and this is where it starts with Kelly an right
sitting there getting to know each other shooting the ship.
I'm pretty sure I say something along the lines of,
you know, this is a hard game, but one thing
about me is you can trust me in the sense
(23:50):
that if I say I'm going to do something like
I'm one of those people that you know, I hold
my word to a high standard. And then immediately Kelly
and jumps into the conversation and she's just like, actually,
I don't think that's true, and I'm I'm sitting here
as like a wan or my friend, and I'm I'm
just meeting these people. She has no filter though, yea
(24:12):
she doesn't, which is it's like not like she's doing
it on purpose either, but that's just how which is like,
here's the thing, it's it's her best quality and maybe
might be one of the worst in the game for
her that she is so honest, honest to a fault,
and it's something that I admire. But in that moment,
she was like, you know what, what Johnny says is,
(24:34):
you know, might not be true, and I like look
at her and I'm like, shut up, a bitch, I'm
trying that. I'm amazing up here. And you know what's
scaring about that is because that's your friend. And so
it carries weight with the people that she's saying it too.
They're like, oh, you maybe you're lying because that yeah.
(24:56):
To me, I was like, listen, we have talked every
day leading up to CLI into South Africa, like what
if this is something that was heavy on your heart.
Maybe it's something from the Path, maybe it's something from
All Stars to whatever happened I'm sorry All Stars three.
Then in those conversations leading up to it, I understand
we're filming TV show, Like why wouldn't you bring it
up to me? Then why do you wait into the
(25:16):
very moment the first time we're in the house, the
first time I'm talking to new people, to just interject
and say this, you know. So that started it with
me and Kelly Ann and right then and there, I
was just like, Okay, she's going to be all over
the place just like I am, and in this game,
like I can barely handle my own all over the
(25:37):
place emotions like I can't deal with this right now,
you know. So Wow that was fun. Wow, it's all good.
It could start. It could be from like All Stars
one where you guys tied but she didn't believe that
you guys tied for third. Yeah, two back, but you know,
it could be from All Stars three to listen, like
(25:58):
she makes sure to say that too. Did you can't
that what? She was like, um, you were like, um,
I won this and I wanted or she said one
of you said I want this. I wanted. She was
like yeah, and you tied with me. And I was like,
oh okay. So I feel like no matter how people
act when they get in, it's like they forgot everything
else outside of this, and the only thing that matters
is what happened a million seasons ago. To like, the
(26:20):
game is like all consuming. Listen. She's coming fresh off
of All Stars three, right and she you know, her
and Kendall were in you know, obviously they were lying
their best friends and then they had this whole alliance
the Treehouse against them, and here I am in the middle.
I was kind of close with Kayla and then she,
(26:40):
like you know, Kelly Anne got targeted a lot, and
so because of that, you know, I think she's carrying
that Vaneta and feel like thinking in her head still
like you know, oh, you screw me over and I'm like, no,
I was playing a game. And that's how we have
to approach this situation as well. And you know, I
(27:01):
call it post traumatic challenge syndrome. I don't know people
carry over real happened in the past. Yeah, breaking it
into whether they say they want to like clean the
slate or not. It's still off your head. Yeah yeah. Okay,
so hold on, before we go any further, we need
to take a quick break and we'll be right back
after this. I don't want this drama to override you
(27:36):
winning the first daily, okay, So let's fasten to that
because Mama made it happen, Okay. I was so proud
of you. Other than the chains obviously being heavy, what
do you think was the hardest part of it? Because
you guys got there last and then won the whole thing,
So what was the most challenging part. So the hardest
(27:56):
part for me is and I told Grant, because mind you,
we just became partners. I don't know anything about him.
He doesn't know anything about me. M I let him know,
like right away, my shrinks, my weaknesses, you know, weaknesses.
Not the greatest swimmer, also, not a sprinter anything that's
like fast running. Like, I'm not your girl. I'm more
of an endurance girl. So right away we're sprinting through
(28:18):
sand dunes, you know, and I tell him, I'm like,
we're not going to make it there first. And he's like, well,
I hope you're good at this puzzle. And I'm like,
I'll take any of them kind of thing. So the
chains were really heavy. I remember, you know, my first
FaceTime conversation with like with my family back home, and
I was wearing like a tank top and I had
(28:38):
all these bruises, right because that chain was so heavy.
And the crazy thing about the chain is like as
you pull it through the sand, it like buries itself.
And so the hardest part for me was definitely you know, interworming,
moving that chain down like he got there didn't seem
(29:00):
for y'all. I thought, you guys we're gonna do double
Dutch with it. But yeah, yeah, you and Kaze. I'm
saying her name right. You guys were pretty much neck
and nick hunting up there. How did that feel? And
to pull out the win against her due at any
point you think you were gonna lose it because you
(29:21):
were just pushing brands like come he gotta love Grant.
He was so positive. He was just like, come on, Johnny.
I think he was still like at the point we
had just become partners, still be pronouncing my name a
little bit, but he's like, come on, you caught this.
You got it. And I was so tired because, like
I said, though she's were heavy, the sand, all of it.
(29:42):
I did hear in the back of my head. I
could hear voice and it was I mean, Anis, I'm
sure you know this voice very well, but it was
Jordan yea, and he would catch me, let's go, come on,
catch me that voice honkey right, But I could hear Jordan.
He was like, Jay, you better get that bell like
he was. He was behind me, but he was he
was like, I'm gonna catch you. I'm gonna catch you. Yeah,
(30:04):
I better get that bell. It almost seemed like he
didn't he wanted to win, but he didn't really want
to win, so it wasn't like like totally mad to
come in second. It's from seas that season thirty eight mentality.
Oh yeah, because it scared us because we were like,
oh shit, we gotta make decisions. But Jordan's not afraid
of the sand, so as you know, as a partner.
(30:25):
But it does make the ride a little easier after
coming off of a season that was that was just
we were in the sand so much, so I could
understand why. But it is always nice to win that
first one. I will say thirty eight like that was
such a mind fuck, the way that game was set up.
And then so you have these players like you have Tory,
you have Casey, have Bananas, you have Jordany, you have
all these people come traumatized, traumatized from the season thirty eight.
(30:50):
We have a trauma running this house like it is
a mob. And I was like, this is a different game, guys,
and they're like, no, it's like in this one it's
the same thing. It's like they don't want to win
because they don't want to like have that responsibility. But
at the same time, you want to win. I don't
you want people don't want to win. You're gonna get
(31:11):
a target anyway, and there's gonna matter point regard end
of the game when you have to go against a
bunch of people. Yeah, yeah, and all and they're all good,
So it doesn't matter who you get rid of. You're
still stuck with a bunch of great teens. So it
does not matter who you put in. Oh, somebody's feelings
are gonna get hurt. Well, they're gonna have to win
the next daily. Yeah, to be able to do something
(31:32):
to you. I do want to ask you though, going
back to that daily, because that was your moment. A
lot of that doing the puzzle took communication, right, How
is the language marrier or between you and Grant? Let
me just tell you. Okay, So Grant, if you can
have him figured out by now, he has a very
(31:53):
thick Australian accent. Right. So I'm talking to Emily, who
Emily and Grant are pretty close, right, And Emily explains
it to me this way. She says, Okay, you know, John, Ay,
you live in Nashville. There's you know, big cities in
the US, like you know, New York, La. Whatever. Grant
is what we call um. She's like, what do you
guys call it? We call it country. He is from
(32:15):
the middle of nowhere, so like she's like, can you
imagine like people in the south or you know whatever,
had this super thick accent that you can't understand. She's like,
that's Grant. But for the Australian. I was like, Okay, Grant,
it's not just me that can understand him. But let
me just tell you. So we have like our interviews
and stuff, right, and We're sitting there and I'm just
(32:35):
dying laughing at everything he's saying. He's coming out with
all the all these expressions like a bit how you
go in And one time he said something about like pissing.
He's like, oh, I was pissed, And I was like,
you mean like pe or like I don't know if
it was really weird, but m yeah. He the language.
I wouldn't necessarily call it a language very because obviously
(32:57):
we're both speaking English, but his accent, Man, and all
of our interviews he had he had the camera people dying,
he had the sound people dying. I was dying because
I was like, I have no clue what you're saying. Bro.
But we'll just go with it. Yeah, there are definitely
some phrases and words where I'm like, I know that
means drunk. Oh, and it called ankle biters. I thought
(33:17):
they were dogs. He men his children the ankle biters.
I said, I can't how are those children when those
are little tiny dogs? Did he teach you? And he
slang like oh yes he did so, like between him
Emily and Troy and Kiki, like, um, we called it
a we we just became an Australian team, right, we
(33:38):
called it Kangaroo court. Um. But I took a notebook
and I was like, okay, Emily, what is a bit
how you go? And mean? And so I wrote down
the translations. So I'm like I'm like, oh wait, I
know what this one is? Like all right, um No,
It's like if you see somebody and they're either a
(34:00):
little bit off or they're kind of sick or whatever,
he'd be like, oh, Anisa is a bit how you
going today? Jeez? Well, I know what I'm using. I'm
talking that that notebook of yours with all of us
(34:22):
right now. Would love to break it out right now.
So what did you think of the Australian team as
a whole, Like, how did you feel about listen? We
have Okay, so who do we have? We have Kiki,
we have Darrell. Ki just proved herself in elimination to
the point that all of us were like, damn, nobody
(34:43):
wants to fuk with Kiki, Like you know, Um, Darrell
obviously strong, four time champ. We had Troy, I mean
he won his Australian season. We have Amber, she's a champ. Um,
Emily's an Olympic swimmer. I mean, yes, one the first season,
I'm looking at our Australian team and I'm that we're stacked.
We or they seemed to beat out of everybody. So
(35:07):
I was I was pretty comfortable, you know, comfortable with
my team. Um. The thing is, though, you don't really know,
like what the relationships are, like, like they just came
off of filming their season. I don't know what they
went through to get to where they are, right, but um,
all he know is, you know, looking around at all
the teams, I'm like, between us and you know, USA,
even like it's gonna be hard to beat the Australians.
(35:30):
Not to mention the Australians, they are savages. Australians do
not give a fuck. Let me just tell you they
are balls to the wall all the time. They don't
care who they go against, they don't care what's happening.
They are love that. So what would be one word
to describe each team? M like an adjective if you will?
(35:53):
You mean like each country? Well no not to like
no no, no, no no, the p team, the team? Okay,
each country? All right here, we're gonna give you a rundown. Okay, Australians,
Um okay, So look we're just gonna zoom through it.
I'm gonna give you the names and then you just
say one't word like like speed Okay, okay, first thing
that I'm gonna say these people's names wrong. I'm sorry
(36:15):
in advance. Um Zaren West strong, dude, listen, Zara. I
don't like I said, I didn't see the first episode,
but Zara came flying out of those gates. All every
single guy, like Jordan West, Finance, all of them were like,
damn did you see her? So like I already knew
you know, West was a strong player, very strategic whatever,
(36:36):
and West and Zaza together dangerous, Ben and Casey. That
was an interesting one for me, Um, I thought I didn't.
I just nobody knew who No, no, listen, nobody knew
who Ben was choosing. Everybody was there was like a
few people were that were under the impression that Ben
was going to be their partner. But um, strong team.
(36:56):
I mean, Casey's strong as fuck, like you know, all right,
Kas and Jordan, Um, I mean I don't know Kas
at all. I know Jordan is a great competitor obviously,
So yeah, strong. I can't stay strong for every team.
I feel like that's how this is gonna go. You're
gonna do and I'll say the name. Okay, one word, Okay,
(37:21):
Danny and Tory struck, this is this is becoming. How
about Ben oh, ben Ha and Jody. I'll be honest,
they were one of my favorite pairs. I mean, between
the two of them, I mean, I don't know if
it'll like translate and show, but ben Hat is a
(37:42):
very passionate person. He was so he was thrown into
basically this house of wolves, right, and he between the
language barrier between what was happening. Ben Hat had just
like this pure heart and just did not understand, like
he was just like He's like, okay, I guess it's
now my time to politic and I'm like, I don't
(38:03):
think it's gonna help. He's great, he's great, but the
two of them like because Jody's are very like, like
I said, cut and dry, point blank person, and he's
very passionate. So listening to their conversations, I was like,
you guys are hilarious, so hilarious. What is the word
that we are getting to? Hilarious? Sorry right now, Justine?
(38:25):
What about Justine and Bananas? Justine and Bananas? You know
it's so funny? Is Jesse? They didn't show it, but
Justine was like, you know, I was a big fan
of the show growing up, and so I'm gonna choose
Bananas as my partner. So wait, how do you say
you're old without saying you're old? You're old? I know
who you are, So Justine, No, I love Justine. Justine
(38:51):
surprised me, Like she's Oh, she's a powerhouse. She is
not only a powerhouse, but she is not afraid to
say what she's thinking. And I love about her. Yeah.
What about Keki and Darrell? Um? Like I said after
the first elimination, I don't want to fuck with Keiki.
Um uh no, because she's out of nowhere so fierce.
(39:13):
Um and Durrell's I love Darrell. Darrell's my boy, who's
on All the All Stars with me? Um. Durella and
I are very similar in the sense of, like, you know,
when it comes to making decisions, we're just like, I
don't want to upset anybody. Yeah yeah, Keki and Darrell, Um,
they could be the leaders. They could be the leaders
(39:33):
of the Kangaroo Court. Oh okay, okay. Rodrigo and Nia, Um,
let's just say um so. Nia is my girl, right Uh.
Nia loves to travel. She loves food, all the stuff
rodri So in his country, like he is like a
famous chef. Like right away. Oh, these two were like,
(39:58):
no matter what happens, if we get eliminated, if we don't, like,
we're going on a food tour of South Africa. Wow.
They were very um in the house. They were the
people that were like, let me make you, um this
fancy drink. I'm gonna make you at Miami Vice. I'm
gonna blend this. And I was like, yes, I will
take all the orders and all the the drinks you
(40:19):
guys were making me. I loved it. So resourceful I'm
just trying your words the word no, all right Emily
and yes, um Emily and yes, very strong team I
can't say strong. Yeah I'm strong. We were intermidated by Emily.
(40:45):
I mean, come on, let's be real, an Olympic swimmer.
Come on, she is tall. She's I would say her
and Laurel are very like. She's tall. Yeah, I mean
she's taller than yes. Yeah. Well no, no, I don't
mean it like that. I mean like, I mean, no,
you met it like that. So that's that's that's team tall.
(41:08):
Team Troy and Amber. Uh, this is my first time
meeting Amber doing a season with her, and um, they
they were all about it. They were team team spirit.
I see that. I could see that when through in
the puzzle there were no when she ran off and
(41:30):
she was like let's go and like or when they
got there, oh yeah, like there was a very positive
attitude between both of them. You could see it. Yes,
so teams team spirit. Troy is so smart. I mean,
between like Troy and Dio, they would do these like
chess competitions in the house. I can't even I can't
even hang And they go for game after game after
(41:52):
game after game I'm like, somebody's got to get bored.
I would watch it for hours. Great. They were like
Cheese's they get are you? They're like he played chests
and I was like not, not like they taught me,
but I would sit there and watch game after game,
trying to find moves you have to be and Logan
was like, and I am. And Logan was like cheese chess.
(42:14):
Cheese's the game of life. And I'm like, just say
that again, and I swear to got to learn it.
So I would just sit there and watch him and
dev and play and Logan so good. I mean, Logan
had beat him like thirty five games to something. Yeah,
and he was teaching me like how to start. He
made me download the apptor in Quarantine. I lost a
few games and he was like that wasn't a good try,
(42:37):
because that's that's my chest skills. I'm like I can't.
All right, we got three more. I'll do the last
name because you may fuck that one up. So I
got it. Um. Sarah and THEO. Uh they were, like
I said before, they were the most interesting pair to watch,
(42:58):
like the two of them, like THEO as like comedic,
how funny he is like when I tell you, he's
like Brad to me, like he's like one of those
people that it doesn't translate on the show. But he
is so funny. And Sarah's just that she's a very
um She's funny as well, but it's like a very
dry sense of humor. So watching them as a team
(43:20):
come to decisions together, like you know, usually you'd have
like one dominant person and the other person's like, Okay,
I see how we can work this out. The two
of them were like, this is what I think, this
is what I think, and they did not mesh well.
They had very different games in mind, I think. But
(43:41):
team opposite yea, the word we got team opposite, John
Christ Johnny. If they ever had this on the challenge,
this is the one game that you may lose. I
would lose a going straight. It's it's gonna be called
sum it up. And She'll be like, Nope, I can't
do it. I'll be still there, like but I love
(44:04):
all of them and this is the great thing, and
this is the bad thing. But seeing as I see
all sides of every person personality. So that's an active brain. Girl,
that's an active that makes for great interviews and great confessionals.
How about Tristan and Kelly Anne. Oh hilarious? Umm, Kelly
(44:25):
Anne and Tristan. Uh m hmmm. I don't know who
was more annoyed by the other person. Yes, they, I
mean they got along great, but so Tristan. Tristan's a
very like He's a scorpio too, so he's very like
you know, Keta's bad like whatever. Kelly Ann's like one
(44:49):
of those. Okay, if we have a problem, we're talking
about it right now. This is very upfront. So seeing
their dynamic as well was hilarious. My name say, like
the last team annoyed and last but not least Whoie
and Nelson. Okay, listen, no, I will take back Whoever
I said before was team Spirit like Whooie is the
(45:12):
most energetic, most positive vibes, Like craziest person I've ever
met in the best way possible. Like we we love
Whoie so tam crazy team crazy spirit. Team like team energy,
crazy Spirit. I want to say, like team loves life.
They loved life. Oh okay, okay, well I have crowned
(45:37):
you and Grant as team parent. How did I feel
playing How does it feel? Sorry playing this game with
someone who shares the same goal is your children, who
shares the same goal as you? How did that feel?
You know? That's something that like I said, we're still
getting to know each other's partners, but like still the
biggest change for me as a person, like you know,
(45:58):
I've said it time and time again, was becoming a
mother and somehow finding this inner strength of if I
can do this, then I can literally do anything like
challenge what you know, Like I got this and Grant
told me that you know, he had a two year
old daughter and that he had a baby on the way,
and I that was the thing that we we found
(46:19):
in common that I was like, Okay, so you get it.
You get that we're here for a bigger purpose. We're
not just playing to make friends with people. We're not
just playing to better ourselves the next season like this
is do or die. You know, we're here for our
families and that's what we're representing. So is that your
advice that maybe I should go and get pregnant? So okay,
(46:40):
I can come back and be like, you know what,
I found this inner state. No, I respect moms all
the time, Like that shit is hard. You literally worry
for the minute you get pregnant till for the rest
of your life. May you literally have to push a
baby out, carry something and then push it out and
then feed it. And I mean someone is depending on you.
It lives because they can't take care of themselves. Ten months,
(47:03):
six hours of labor, Yeah, it's such an amazing, amazing
ten months in one week. Damn, you're about to pop. Yeah,
you're normally pregnant for ten months anyway, wouldn't it be
eleven months in one week? Or were you? No, it
was ten months and we had one extra week. They
were gonna induce me. And then at one twenty two
in the morning, and I only remember because it was
my grandmother's One twenty two is my grandmother's birthday, and
(47:25):
so my water broke and I was like, well, let's
go do this, and I remember they the nurse came
in and she was like, oh, your first time mom.
You're gonna be here for three or four hours pushing,
So just just lay back and take your time. And
I felt like that was a challenge. I pushed kat
in South in twenty minutes. Don't play with me, happidoral
or no, Like I said, Jesus Christ, you can do anything.
(47:49):
You can do anything. I got that girl, I got induced.
I was like month eight. I was like, get this
baby out of me. But I that mom, that mommy
stuff is serious, that parents stuff is serious. That could
change my view and my perspective of you know, this
isn't This is no longer a game about you know,
(48:13):
friends the same. If I can handle this, I can
handle anything. You have too, little ways I look up
to you one and two. You got to take care
of them, and you're doing it all on your own.
So period, I'm saying, not going to let you know
what I'm saying. Yes, I know you said that this
game is not about friendships, and I agree, when you
have a bigger purpose, it's not about friendships. However, let's
(48:37):
get him say it, Kelly in west situation, do you
think that it was right for him to vote for
her being that's her ex like they ain't got no
kids and but you know they was saying each other
so at that point, so I wasn't in that nomination.
And that's the weird thing about this season is that
(48:57):
you know, if you win or if you lose, you
can't be a part of all that. And here all
the dark but you know, I think it probably was
pretty smart of West at that point if the entire
house is going one way. And I'm not one to
like waterfall the votes, but yeah, if already you know,
everybody is just you know, doing the easy thing, or
(49:18):
everybody's already doing the same thing, Like, you don't want
to put that target on your back of rail going
against what everybody else is doing, especially not with you know,
people like bananas in the house. So he's like, He's like,
this is what we're doing. Why ruffle any feathers, this
is how it's gonna go. So don't want to piss
anybody off. Right, Wow, if you were down there, do
(49:40):
you think you also would have put with the flow
or do you think you would have said something different?
I mean yes, because so this is what's hard. It's
like at that point, you know, TJ always has surprises.
This is the first World Championship. We don't know, like
what decisions do we make, how they're necessarily going to
affect us? We don't. I mean I just watch USA
(50:01):
before coming to this one, right, and so I thought like, hey, yeah,
we're gonna be partnered, But like what if at the
end of it we'll have to switch again, you know. Yeah, um,
we just you know, we got to be the test
deummies of you know, you just got to make a
decision and ride with it and rock with it. Right
so right, So, um, we're at the end of this
(50:21):
cliffhanger of an episode. Okay, I mean they cut it off.
It was like a hard cut too. It wasn't like like,
oh it was a hard yet next on, next on
the challenge. It was like a slap in the face,
likes like I had something. You're talking about the sea elimination,
but we were kidding. They don't us. Yes, do you
(50:44):
have anything that you can tease any anything crumbs more. Um,
Let's just say I know at this point, at this
point in time, um, coming out, you know, being the
first round draft pick, looking at the Australian team, I'm like, listen,
Grant and I are the team to be and we're
(51:05):
going to have a lot of heat coming our way
no matter what decision we make, no matter what we do,
it's no matter what, this is going to be one
of the hardest challenges that I've done. So um, let's
just say things get really interesting because at this point,
you don't know are you playing for your team, are
(51:27):
you playing for your country? Are you playing as individuals
and the only person who matters is your partner. At
that point, you still don't know what TJ has in
store for us. So that's the thing. As a Challenger,
you have to be able to be a chameleon. You
have to be able to adapt as things are throwing
your way. So yeah, yeah, it'll be interesting for all
of you to see what happens. I'm excited. I'm excited
(51:49):
if you're taking ass again and things you like, like
how like so they have like the book and like
after All Stars three, the back to back when I'm
literally like all right, guys, and how I'm done, gonna
go be a mom now? And then then you were like, psych,
you're just qualified for the World Championship. I'm like, oh,
you know, for me, it was like my in my head,
(52:12):
I'm like, this is my one chance of my opportunity,
Like I would love to come back as like this
new Challenger and go back to the Flagship show and
you know, test myself and test my abilities. But to
be honest as a mom, you know, filming for the
twelve weeks, I can't do that, So For me, the
Global Championship was about too. It is about upping the
level of competition, you know, up from All Stars, but
(52:35):
still having that shorter experience. Yeah, because definitely it might
be harder than the Flagship. I mean that's whole thing,
like All Stars Flagship, like they're all hard, yeah, Dart,
none of them are easy. I don't understand why both
Art and go to All Stars. I'm like, because that's
it's hard, too, dummy, rum and why not challenge yourself
on all of those levels, you know what I mean?
(52:55):
Like you you now are an incredible challenger, so like
you might as well do what you want. The biggest
difference is time. We could shoot that shit in a month,
five weeks like we used to. I would be I
would love it. I'd do a million a year and
we would only do one a year then, So I mean,
kudos back out the bigger now though. Yeah, no, we
(53:17):
had thirty people. We just did Challenge from the gate.
We did it four challenges a week though in four eliminations.
Oh oh gosh, yes you too, challenge Elimination challenge, elimination
challenge and back to that. That's baby. There wasn't as
big of a setup. You didn't have to do walk ups.
Not everybody had a match, you didn't have to do
oh shit. So then once a bitch pissed you off,
(53:39):
you were like, I'm gonna see you when THEO gone,
bitch tonight, Come on, TJ. Let me go spin the wheel.
I know I have four chances of getting something the same,
four chances every week, not a contraption with lights, not
a soord like with you know, season thirty eight, just
wrapping and now actually watching out. It was like, damn,
(54:00):
um girl, it was one. It was one for the
books for sure. I'm so happy that book is fucking
closed and welcome to the Global Champion Shop. Okay, now,
John A, before you leave us, and I really appreciate
you coming on because of face and I love it. Um.
What are your socials? Where can people follow you support you? Well?
(54:24):
As we all know, I'm terrible at social media, but
my Instagram handle is at John A. Mannion so j
O N N A m A N N island um
and that's pretty much the only social media I have.
I have Twitter, but I just read what other people say.
(54:46):
That makes that makes two out of three of us
that are loved on Twitter. I am not deleted off
my phone and I forget my password, So talk to
your shit because I can't see it. All right, all right, well, Johnny,
I'm sure that you and Grant are going to have
a lovely season. I cannot wait to see what you
(55:07):
guys do, and hopefully we're not having a cliffhanger every week. Yeah,
it seems like this that's the direction it because I'm
going to need tea with every episode. I'm stressed, right.
Thank you for coming to hang with a Johnny. I'm
so glad I finally got an opportunity to meet you.
Thank you guys so much for Yeah, nic you me.
You hopefully meet in person. Hopefully I see you soon.
(55:29):
I don't know. Yes, I miss you. Miss you guys.
Have a good day. Thank you. That was an incredible
(55:50):
interview with john A. She always delivers. She has such
a great spirit. I'm so glad that she could take
time out of her busy vacation talk to us. Yes,
littlo us, it was a great episode. Anissa, tell the
people where they can find you on the social media's
only on Instagram because like I said before, I don't
(56:11):
know my Twitter password, So effort you can find me
at Anissa MTV. That's a n E s A MTV
on Instagram and Davon where can they find you? Follow you,
show you some love sleep That's where I like to be.
Outside of that, you can find me on Twitter at
Dave Davon Underscore or Instagram at Davon Diane Underscore. And
(56:35):
if you liked this episode, make sure you rate and
review us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and tell a
friend to come and check us out. Yes and then
cash you episodes of The Challenge World Championship Wednesdays on
Paramount Plush, and we will see you back here next
week for a brand new episode of MTV's official Challenge podcast,
Hello everyone. I'm a Nissa Ferrera and I am Davion
Rogers and this is MTV's official Challenge podcast. We are
back with another episode from the World Championship. I can't
deal with it. I can't. The cliffhanger, I can't. The
cliffhangers are killing me. Y'all gonna have to give us
four episodes because girl what I know, right, I can't.
I can watch the whole thing tonight. It's actually a
(00:23):
really good season so far. I really loved this episode. Yes, yes, honey.
I am so excited to see Johnny come back and
to see how she is dominating in this episode. I'm
so so proud of her. It could be because you know,
the whole Mama thing. I don't know, but I just
I love her as a person and I love her spirit.
(00:44):
You know what I was thinking, I am really I
noticed as I was watching this episode, Casey is more active.
I don't see Casey as active on the main show.
I noticed in this episode she's more active, more talkative.
And then I was like, you know what, but I
am excited to see how Casey plays this game without Josh,
Nanny and Fansy around her. I am so excited to
(01:06):
see how she plays this game this season. I can't wait. Yeah,
I think she's definitely This is definitely a different, different
Challenge chapter for her. And I think that she's coming
on after we had a really long season with the
mindset of like I'm gonna go have fun, right, and
I feel like I feel a lot already from her. Yeah,
but we shall see. Girl. It's some te bruin, okay, Kelly,
(01:32):
and I feel it mine on an episode, I am anxious,
paranoid Pam and it happens. It happens to a lot
of us, but we're like silently spiraling. She had out
loud spiral. I think I outlet spiral sometimes. Yeah, we
all have, we all have. Yes. So for this particular
season of the Challenge, we have a new segment of
(01:55):
which we're calling it King or Queen of the world
or someone who's on another planet. Right, so we'll start
with you. Who is your king or Queen of the
world for this episode? I mean, my queen is john A.
And not because she's coming on, and not because I
love her, but I feel like she handled that puzzle
(02:17):
in two seconds. Yeah, she did good, and that was
one of the most difficult ones because they were the
last ones to get there. Yes, moving her reputation to
be true. Right, Kudos to Mom and Pops, to Grant
for following directions and trusting that john A had it.
(02:38):
He was like, I'm just gonna let it go, and
he did and she killed it. However, there are two people.
There are three people on this other planet. Sorry, I
think Cahoui and Nelson are on their own planet during
this episode when they are trying to figure out this puzzle.
Poor babies, but they were just so confused. They were
(03:02):
just they were just helpless, like just stuck in the material.
I know, I know, I know, Well we don't. We
don't know what's going to happen. You know, we'll see
on the next episode or the next depending depending We
may never get to this elimination in three episodes. Just
(03:22):
gonna have morehouse drama, right, talking about who they want
to vote in. But you know what, that's what the
people have been asking for. They're like, we want to
see more of the drama, so all the stuff that's
we want to see, difficult challenges that challenge people. Yeah,
and we also want to see what goes on in
people's heads. And conversations that they have that make them
(03:43):
do the things they do. Yes, yeah, because I think
we're missing out on the meat and potatoes, right we
go challenging all of a sudden, I'll talk of shit
and a confessional. But that's fine, or not just me,
just anyone. We want to know how we got from
A to I don't know how we go to A
to Z. I need to know A to B B
two C C T T. That's what I mean there.
I need a linear projection. Listeners, I hope you are
(04:06):
catching on. This has become a podcast that is very
therapeutic for Anissa, and I'm glad to be a part
of that. Thank you very much. So my king or
queen for this episode is John of course, one hundred percent.
Like I could sit up and rant and rave about
her all day. I just thought that again she proved
(04:28):
her reputation to be true, and I thought that was
super cool to watch. And then on another planet, I'm
gonna give it to Kelly. I am wait. I just
see this planet in the distance here sitting on it
say that, and it's just chant just a little She's
just sitting there like well, and like I like her.
(04:49):
I like her, but it's like something this episode just
really wasn't click. And then again, maybe there's something we
didn't see. We don't know, but I do think there
is something that is to be said. Baby girl, you
need to come on, come on back, and and and
and if she ends up in this elimination and she
comes back out on top, then baby, something different raise hell.
(05:10):
I feel because I've seen both sides of Kelly Ham. Yeah,
and then we became friends. Yeah. Oh, then we became
friends after that, so I know what it looks like
from both ends. And it's not always fun, like the
wrath of some people are just not fun because like
like Johnny's you know, we all we've played with her before.
She doesn't mince words. You know, she's gonna tell you
(05:31):
how she feels. Yeah, well, let's hope john Nay tells
us how she feels because we have such a fun
episode for you guys today. The number one draft pick
Johnny is on the podcast today, So don't go anywhere
because we'll be right back with all the team after this.
(06:01):
I'm so excited about this episode because one of my
favorites is here today. And let me just start by
saying she is the bomb, and she holds it down
for the mamas, and y'all know that's near and dear
to my heart because everything I do is for my baby. Okay,
so give it up with us for Johane, I'm so
(06:29):
happy to here, man. I just want people to start
pronouncing your name right. It's never been no. You were fine.
I immediately immediately like did I say it? No? On
this actual episode, Danny was like, and Jana or Jonah
or I've seen people call you Joanne. Yes, yes, people,
(06:52):
there's no a before those ends. Maybe Johan, you are
here with us on the podcast. So I just want
to jump right into this episode because girl, so I
we're salty. Everybody could hide the fact that they were
(07:16):
like damn, I'm like, yeah, there's little yeah, yeah. Actually,
I don't think anybody. I don't think anybody was more
surprised than I was that I was first round draft pick. Um.
My face showed it all. Um. Honestly, I knew. We
didn't know, like TJ told us, like, you know, do
(07:37):
well in this qualifier, but we didn't know for sure.
We kind of made assumptions like, hey, this would be
the order we're choosing, but we didn't really know. Um,
I knew Grant had gotten first, and um, let me
just tell you every conversation that I had with Grant
leading up to this point was about Tori, about him
choosing Tory as a partner, you know, And so I
was just like, yeah, she's a badass, like she just
(07:59):
wants us thirty eight like, you know. It was more
informational about other people. It was never like, yeah, why
would you be a good partner for me? So when
it actually came down to it, I think, like in
you know, the arena when we were there, He's like,
I think we might be a good partners. I was like,
I think I think we would be too. But I
didn't think that he was going to choose me, you know.
(08:19):
So yeah, I was as sure that everyone else was.
If the roles were reversed, who would you have chosen?
After watching the qualifier, right, Um, coming into this, like
we hadn't seen anybody performing. So the only show that
I had seen, obviously, besides the Flagship in All Stars
was The Challenge USA. So going into this, I mean
(08:39):
I had talked to Sarah and I was like, hey, listen,
I think I would be a good fit for Usa.
I think I would work well with Danny. I think
I would work well with then. I don't know, if
you want to put in a good word, but like, honestly,
they were the only people whose names I knew going
into the qualifier, so I thought, you know, after talking
to Ben, I thought, you know, for sure i'd be
paired with him, and anything is is. Danny and I
(09:01):
had this little joke now and he always every time
we like cross each other in the hallway or something,
he'd be like the partner that got away. I was
under full impression that like either Ben or Danny was
going to choose me. Didn't even you know, question it. Otherwise,
did anyone express like their level of anger or disappointment
(09:23):
for partners that they could have had or should have
had or wanted to have and now they don't like
were people? No? I do. I do remember though, like um,
Sarah giving Danny like a lot of SHITU and being like, well, Danny,
if you would have just you know, won the qualifier. Um.
But I think that grants not telling anybody who who
(09:43):
he was going to choose, and then it kind of
caused this like domino effect of people getting different partners
than people they had originally talked to. I love that.
I love a good surprise mission. Everyone went into it
thinking that he was gonna pick Tor. That's that's what
I thought. I don't know what everyone else thought. So,
you know, we move into the house after the qualifier,
(10:05):
we have a couple of days to like you know,
get to know one each one another, and before we
get to the next thing, like you know, in the show,
it shows us going directly there. So I think everybody
kind of had an idea of, like, you know, who
they want to work with, you know what they're gonna do,
and you know, Grant just comes out with us, Okay,
I'm gonna choose this person um which shape the tables.
(10:27):
To be honest with you, West West took credit for it. Somehow.
It's very you know, West thing to do. He was like, well,
you know, you know, funny, I talked to Grants and
I you know, I asked him what his weakness's word.
He said puzzles, and I was like, well, you know,
my girl, Johnny is really good for puzzles. And job
(10:47):
you did on your own sissy your so I My
other question was, I know you got to actually see
the expression on the faces of the last pick. Yeah,
did they express their um, did they express any hot
(11:09):
think about Kelly? Ylliam was pissed she was hot? Yeah,
Kelly Kelly didn't probably, I mean, no one would like
to be picked class. Honestly, it was like dodgeball and
it's like you get if you get, you're standing there
and everyone else is getting picked like yeah, um, yeah,
she didn't want to be picked. Like. I hate it
because I feel like you're just getting sized up and
you just wait down there to see. Like. I hate
(11:31):
how it makes you feel like people are just I'm
judging you. I mean, even though they are very much
basically picking you based on what they think you're capable of. Yeah,
and I feel like the last pick is like, well,
we'll just work with this. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know
what happened to Tristan during that qualifier. He couldn't. I
didn't see it, but I couldn't figure out the weight thing,
(11:53):
So poor guy. Okay, let me ask you this question.
Here goes some tea. Give it to our listeners because
you know we likes to get a little a little
look ish over here, right. Were there any preseason alliances
going into there? Preseason Alliances. Well, you know what, the
Challenge World Championship was very different because listen, so I
(12:14):
had just come from, like say, All Stars, so I
have obviously those relationships that I've kind of come into
this game with. Yeah, they just wrapped filming season thirty eight,
which I'll get back to that. But you know, coming
back home and watching season thirty eight and seeing how
that game was set up, it made me understand why
everybody played, you know, in the World Championship with that
(12:37):
like mob mentality. Yeah. I didn't get it when I
was there, but after watching thirty eight, I was like, oh, no,
wonder they all like played that way. Yeah, and then
you know, we have people coming in, you know, this
is their second show. We have people from Survivor and
different shows from Big Brother, and it was very interesting
to see how everyone plays differently plays the game. Oh,
(12:58):
I forgot you at first. All Stars. So we've been
doing shows of people from all the other shows Davon included. Yeah,
um so yeah, they do. They do play really differently. Yes,
Oh my gosh, I can't even explain it to you.
There was there was one point that I was like
in the house right and I saw Grants right, And
I saw like Sarah and Danny and just different people downstairs.
(13:20):
Everybody was talking to Grant, and I noticed how the
survivors were feeding him these things, right, and Grant is
just like he's like, I don't care. I'll go into elimination.
I don't I don't give a funk who I go against.
And I was just like, WHOA, let me do some
damnage control here, like this week hopefully admit like, hey,
we don't care who we go against. We want to
(13:43):
think out the best. That's not that's not how you
know the legends play it. I'm like, we need to
reel it in a little bit. Yeah, So Bibar and
big Brother is very mental, and so when we when
we come into the challenge, it was like, y'all that's
what you guys rely on. There's no there's no this
chance of like you know, the daily challenge thrown in
(14:05):
this game or notions you fully rely on. Yes, And
it was my first opportunity, in my first chance to
witness it firsthand and see, I'm damn you guys are good.
Were scary, but it is scary, Like I love to
make it work. So now we have the pairings right,
because these great pairings and there's some heavy hitters. Like
(14:26):
when they say world Championship situation, it for real is
a situation. Okay. And so to you, were there any
teams that you were like, oh, I might be a
little yeah, give me the top three that you may
have been like, um, Tory and Danny getting paired together.
(14:47):
My immediate thought was, okay, I don't want to see
them in hall roll. However, you know, absolutely strong team
right there. I didn't know anything about Kazz necessarily. I
knew that she had won uk UM, but I knew Jordan,
you know, it was a very strong competitor as well.
And you know, I was, to be honest with you,
(15:07):
I'm sitting around looking at all the teams and I'm like, damn,
this is like. This isn't like a hey, here's a
layout team, Hey there's this. It's every single team either
has an Olympian, an ex professional athlete, a champion, like
all of it. I personally, when I saw the pairings,
my eyes immediately went to Sarah and THEO bro Like
(15:31):
that's scary. I think I think the only thing that's
probably scarier than that would have been THEO and Tory
that would have been the only thing that would have
been scarier than that. I was like, this is going
to be physically, but I don't know about um communication wise,
I don't know yet. Oh yeah, yeah that's all. Here's
(15:51):
the thing, because I feel like when you get these
people together, they may be strong, however, coming from different games,
coming from their experience on the show. Maybe one's one one,
maybe one hasn't. You go on with a totally different
mindset on how you're going to play that game, especially
when you have nothing to lose, like you don't have
to win again because you've already won, when you still
want to get to win bitter, Um, it doesn't. This
(16:18):
was my very first time doing a challenge with you,
and I will first off of that say he is
the most hilarious person I've ever met. Like when you
want comedy, when you want that, like you know, comedic
relief of like not being in a challenge game, Like
he is so fucking funny. I love him. But um,
they were a very interesting pair seeing Sarah and THEO together.
(16:38):
They're both very opinionated, they're most and very different alliances. Like, yeah,
I will say that about the way that the pairing
shook up um the Challenge USA team. All the pairs
in that team specifically, it was very interesting to watch
because not only were they strong, but every pair had
(17:02):
it's you know, one partner was on one side and
one partner was on the other side. So I mean,
I haven't been to nomination yet, but there's a very
good chance that you know, it's gonna get real heated
between USA because whoa. I thought the dynamic of the
baby steps between Johnny and Justine was really really good.
(17:25):
I'm excited to see how that progresses. But I thought
that was really good to see them in the beginning
to see how that played out. So I want to
get right into it because Kelly Anne is your girl,
like outside of the game, that's that's your girl. Before
we even get into it, because in this episode we
don't get to see what happens in the ending, but
(17:46):
just to kind of give us a little hint, where
do you and Kelly Anne stand today? Okay, so this
isn't this is what I think. It's very interesting about that. Sorry,
but I'm stressed out for you in this episode. I'm
stressed out for her, I'm stressed out for you. I'm
like it like gives me nervous energy life. Yeah, we
(18:07):
can I know, both of us. Yeah, I don't know
that both of you. And you don't know how you
hate conflict. And she's she's like, you're my friend, don't
vote for me, thank you, And I'm like, oh my god,
I'll never do Okay, so let me lead up into this. Okay. So,
Kelly Anne and I are friends. Um, we we're good friends.
And you know, coming into this game, Uh, Kelly Anne
(18:28):
and I were both on I was on All Stars one,
two and three. Kelly Anne was on All Stars one
and All Stars three she missed two well, and in
All Stars season two, Jody and I, you know, became close.
Not necessarily close, like we weren't like best friends or anything,
but as far as the game goes and as far
as um reliability and alliance is, like, Joe proved herself
(18:51):
to me, and I will say honestly, it's because of
her and because of our alliance that we had with
you know, Janelle and Darell and Jody and Brad, you know,
because of that, Like, yeah, I knew one thing about Jody.
I knew she was a straight shooter. I knew that,
you know, what she says, she means she's not ever
gonna bullshit me. So, you know, when I'm faced with
(19:12):
this hard decision of Okay, what are you gonna do?
First of all, the people nominated, Kelly Anne and Jody
are both people that I'm you know, would like to
play the game with it, I'm close to. But they
are also both my roommates, you know. So that was stressful.
But I was weighing it out, you know, And what
really it comes down to for me is Kelly Anne
(19:35):
and I. The reason why we are friends is because
we're very similar. And I'll just say at point blank,
like I don't like making tough decisions when I'm put
in a position of power. I honestly hate it. And
Kelly Anne is also the same way. She's very watery.
She's all over the place. I mean, you see the
paranoia kick in. As soon as you know she knows
(19:56):
she's on the chopping block, she goes to this person,
she talks to this person, she comes and talks to me,
same time. So what you're saying, you guys are very different,
That's what I'm got seeing in the sense of emotions
all over the place. I knew I know in this
game that this is going to be a very tough
road ahead of me and who out of out of
the people that I'm choosing against to go in. This
(20:18):
isn't This isn't like a nomination process like All Stars
two was like the winners don't nominate, they put the
nail in the coffin, you know. And for me, I'm
trying to decide, you know, do I go with my
friend or do I go with someone who I know
what she says is true is reliable in this game.
Jodie and I are very different. We're like the ying
(20:39):
to the yang. Like. She's very point blake, very logical.
I'm very emotional, very watery all over the place. Kelly
and I, Kelly and and I both being that same
way was was not good for me and I. I
just think yours is more like yours is more like
a lake. I feel like you can hide yours better though, Yeah,
(21:01):
I think, Well, here's the thing. The difference between Kelly,
Anne and I is I understand that this is a game.
And that was the biggest difference between past Challenge on
A and now is Yes, we do have friendships in
this game. We rely on them to get us further.
But you know, at a certain point you have to
figure out what you're playing for. Are you playing for you?
(21:22):
Are you playing for your family? Or are you playing
to maintain these friendships? You know outside of this, If
we're really friends like we say we are, we should
be friends leaving this game, regardless of what happened, right, Like, right,
So that was at the point that we were at,
is like I had already learned that lesson and that's
where I was, and she, Kelly Anne, was still there
(21:43):
and this is what I rely on to get me
further and I need you now. So so two things.
One in your confessional you said you you were like,
I know, I don't want Kelly An to play the game.
You said, right you, You made it a point to
say that. So with with with knowing that, was it
(22:05):
any easier to make whatever decision it is that you're
going to make, no, no, because it's still even though
even though you don't want to fall back into like
the old way that I played and fall back into
your emotions and friendships, it's hard when you're there and yeah,
with those people, and that's the only thing you rely
on Because I knew I knew kind of like the
hard decision that I had to face, and I knew
(22:26):
I didn't want to do this to a friend. But
then I also understood, like this is a World Championship.
It's either going to get ugly now or it's gonna
get ugly later no matter what I do, No matter
what I do, this decision that I make is going
to have consequence yes, and get to be the first
person to choose Yeah, someone's feelings are harder and decisions
only get harder as people get more attached to each
(22:47):
other or maybe not. Did you guys have any agreements
or anything before coming into the house, because I mean
we all talk before we go on the show. We
do you guys have any agreements? So I had. I
had just found out. I had found out that Kelly
Ann was come to the World Championship, and you know
her and I. Here's the thing, her and I had
talked on the phone, texted, talked on the phone. I
(23:08):
think a matter of fact, I think I ordered her
some stuff on Amazon because she was like on vacation
in like Tahoe or something, and she's like, my stuff.
Phone gets sense to me in time, Like we had
talked before, which leads me to another point. I don't
know if they show this because I didn't watch the
first episode yet, but leads me to the point that
you know, when you're first in the house and we're
(23:30):
all sitting there, I just met Zara, and I just
met Emily, and we're sitting there getting to know each other,
and this is where it starts with Kelly an right
sitting there getting to know each other shooting the ship.
I'm pretty sure I say something along the lines of,
you know, this is a hard game, but one thing
about me is you can trust me in the sense
(23:50):
that if I say I'm going to do something like
I'm one of those people that you know, I hold
my word to a high standard. And then immediately Kelly
and jumps into the conversation and she's just like, actually,
I don't think that's true, and I'm I'm sitting here
as like a wan or my friend, and I'm I'm
just meeting these people. She has no filter though, yea
(24:12):
she doesn't, which is it's like not like she's doing
it on purpose either, but that's just how which is like,
here's the thing, it's it's her best quality and maybe
might be one of the worst in the game for
her that she is so honest, honest to a fault,
and it's something that I admire. But in that moment,
she was like, you know what, what Johnny says is,
(24:34):
you know, might not be true, and I like look
at her and I'm like, shut up, a bitch, I'm
trying that. I'm amazing up here. And you know what's
scaring about that is because that's your friend. And so
it carries weight with the people that she's saying it too.
They're like, oh, you maybe you're lying because that yeah.
(24:56):
To me, I was like, listen, we have talked every
day leading up to CLI into South Africa, like what
if this is something that was heavy on your heart.
Maybe it's something from the Path, maybe it's something from
All Stars to whatever happened I'm sorry All Stars three.
Then in those conversations leading up to it, I understand
we're filming TV show, Like why wouldn't you bring it
up to me? Then why do you wait into the
(25:16):
very moment the first time we're in the house, the
first time I'm talking to new people, to just interject
and say this, you know. So that started it with
me and Kelly Ann and right then and there, I
was just like, Okay, she's going to be all over
the place just like I am, and in this game,
like I can barely handle my own all over the
(25:37):
place emotions like I can't deal with this right now,
you know. So Wow that was fun. Wow, it's all good.
It could start. It could be from like All Stars
one where you guys tied but she didn't believe that
you guys tied for third. Yeah, two back, but you know,
it could be from All Stars three to listen, like
(25:58):
she makes sure to say that too. Did you can't
that what? She was like, um, you were like, um,
I won this and I wanted or she said one
of you said I want this. I wanted. She was
like yeah, and you tied with me. And I was like,
oh okay. So I feel like no matter how people
act when they get in, it's like they forgot everything
else outside of this, and the only thing that matters
is what happened a million seasons ago. To like, the
(26:20):
game is like all consuming. Listen. She's coming fresh off
of All Stars three, right and she you know, her
and Kendall were in you know, obviously they were lying
their best friends and then they had this whole alliance
the Treehouse against them, and here I am in the middle.
I was kind of close with Kayla and then she,
(26:40):
like you know, Kelly Anne got targeted a lot, and
so because of that, you know, I think she's carrying
that Vaneta and feel like thinking in her head still
like you know, oh, you screw me over and I'm like, no,
I was playing a game. And that's how we have
to approach this situation as well. And you know, I
(27:01):
call it post traumatic challenge syndrome. I don't know people
carry over real happened in the past. Yeah, breaking it
into whether they say they want to like clean the
slate or not. It's still off your head. Yeah yeah. Okay,
so hold on, before we go any further, we need
to take a quick break and we'll be right back
after this. I don't want this drama to override you
(27:36):
winning the first daily, okay, So let's fasten to that
because Mama made it happen, Okay. I was so proud
of you. Other than the chains obviously being heavy, what
do you think was the hardest part of it? Because
you guys got there last and then won the whole thing,
So what was the most challenging part. So the hardest
(27:56):
part for me is and I told Grant, because mind you,
we just became partners. I don't know anything about him.
He doesn't know anything about me. M I let him know,
like right away, my shrinks, my weaknesses, you know, weaknesses.
Not the greatest swimmer, also, not a sprinter anything that's
like fast running. Like, I'm not your girl. I'm more
of an endurance girl. So right away we're sprinting through
(28:18):
sand dunes, you know, and I tell him, I'm like,
we're not going to make it there first. And he's like, well,
I hope you're good at this puzzle. And I'm like,
I'll take any of them kind of thing. So the
chains were really heavy. I remember, you know, my first
FaceTime conversation with like with my family back home, and
I was wearing like a tank top and I had
(28:38):
all these bruises, right because that chain was so heavy.
And the crazy thing about the chain is like as
you pull it through the sand, it like buries itself.
And so the hardest part for me was definitely you know, interworming,
moving that chain down like he got there didn't seem
(29:00):
for y'all. I thought, you guys we're gonna do double
Dutch with it. But yeah, yeah, you and Kaze. I'm
saying her name right. You guys were pretty much neck
and nick hunting up there. How did that feel? And
to pull out the win against her due at any
point you think you were gonna lose it because you
(29:21):
were just pushing brands like come he gotta love Grant.
He was so positive. He was just like, come on, Johnny.
I think he was still like at the point we
had just become partners, still be pronouncing my name a
little bit, but he's like, come on, you caught this.
You got it. And I was so tired because, like
I said, though she's were heavy, the sand, all of it.
(29:42):
I did hear in the back of my head. I
could hear voice and it was I mean, Anis, I'm
sure you know this voice very well, but it was
Jordan yea, and he would catch me, let's go, come on,
catch me that voice honkey right, But I could hear Jordan.
He was like, Jay, you better get that bell like
he was. He was behind me, but he was he
was like, I'm gonna catch you. I'm gonna catch you. Yeah,
(30:04):
I better get that bell. It almost seemed like he
didn't he wanted to win, but he didn't really want
to win, so it wasn't like like totally mad to
come in second. It's from seas that season thirty eight mentality.
Oh yeah, because it scared us because we were like,
oh shit, we gotta make decisions. But Jordan's not afraid
of the sand, so as you know, as a partner.
(30:25):
But it does make the ride a little easier after
coming off of a season that was that was just
we were in the sand so much, so I could
understand why. But it is always nice to win that
first one. I will say thirty eight like that was
such a mind fuck, the way that game was set up.
And then so you have these players like you have Tory,
you have Casey, have Bananas, you have Jordany, you have
all these people come traumatized, traumatized from the season thirty eight.
(30:50):
We have a trauma running this house like it is
a mob. And I was like, this is a different game, guys,
and they're like, no, it's like in this one it's
the same thing. It's like they don't want to win
because they don't want to like have that responsibility. But
at the same time, you want to win. I don't
you want people don't want to win. You're gonna get
(31:11):
a target anyway, and there's gonna matter point regard end
of the game when you have to go against a
bunch of people. Yeah, yeah, and all and they're all good,
So it doesn't matter who you get rid of. You're
still stuck with a bunch of great teens. So it
does not matter who you put in. Oh, somebody's feelings
are gonna get hurt. Well, they're gonna have to win
the next daily. Yeah, to be able to do something
(31:32):
to you. I do want to ask you though, going
back to that daily, because that was your moment. A
lot of that doing the puzzle took communication, right, How
is the language marrier or between you and Grant? Let
me just tell you. Okay, So Grant, if you can
have him figured out by now, he has a very
(31:53):
thick Australian accent. Right. So I'm talking to Emily, who
Emily and Grant are pretty close, right, And Emily explains
it to me this way. She says, Okay, you know, John, Ay,
you live in Nashville. There's you know, big cities in
the US, like you know, New York, La. Whatever. Grant
is what we call um. She's like, what do you
guys call it? We call it country. He is from
(32:15):
the middle of nowhere, so like she's like, can you
imagine like people in the south or you know whatever,
had this super thick accent that you can't understand. She's like,
that's Grant. But for the Australian. I was like, Okay, Grant,
it's not just me that can understand him. But let
me just tell you. So we have like our interviews
and stuff, right, and We're sitting there and I'm just
(32:35):
dying laughing at everything he's saying. He's coming out with
all the all these expressions like a bit how you
go in And one time he said something about like pissing.
He's like, oh, I was pissed, And I was like,
you mean like pe or like I don't know if
it was really weird, but m yeah. He the language.
I wouldn't necessarily call it a language very because obviously
(32:57):
we're both speaking English, but his accent, Man, and all
of our interviews he had he had the camera people dying,
he had the sound people dying. I was dying because
I was like, I have no clue what you're saying. Bro.
But we'll just go with it. Yeah, there are definitely
some phrases and words where I'm like, I know that
means drunk. Oh, and it called ankle biters. I thought
(33:17):
they were dogs. He men his children the ankle biters.
I said, I can't how are those children when those
are little tiny dogs? Did he teach you? And he
slang like oh yes he did so, like between him
Emily and Troy and Kiki, like, um, we called it
a we we just became an Australian team, right, we
(33:38):
called it Kangaroo court. Um. But I took a notebook
and I was like, okay, Emily, what is a bit
how you go? And mean? And so I wrote down
the translations. So I'm like I'm like, oh wait, I
know what this one is? Like all right, um No,
It's like if you see somebody and they're either a
(34:00):
little bit off or they're kind of sick or whatever,
he'd be like, oh, Anisa is a bit how you
going today? Jeez? Well, I know what I'm using. I'm
talking that that notebook of yours with all of us
(34:22):
right now. Would love to break it out right now.
So what did you think of the Australian team as
a whole, Like, how did you feel about listen? We
have Okay, so who do we have? We have Kiki,
we have Darrell. Ki just proved herself in elimination to
the point that all of us were like, damn, nobody
(34:43):
wants to fuk with Kiki, Like you know, Um, Darrell
obviously strong, four time champ. We had Troy, I mean
he won his Australian season. We have Amber, she's a champ. Um,
Emily's an Olympic swimmer. I mean, yes, one the first season,
I'm looking at our Australian team and I'm that we're stacked.
We or they seemed to beat out of everybody. So
(35:07):
I was I was pretty comfortable, you know, comfortable with
my team. Um. The thing is, though, you don't really know,
like what the relationships are, like, like they just came
off of filming their season. I don't know what they
went through to get to where they are, right, but um,
all he know is, you know, looking around at all
the teams, I'm like, between us and you know, USA,
even like it's gonna be hard to beat the Australians.
(35:30):
Not to mention the Australians, they are savages. Australians do
not give a fuck. Let me just tell you they
are balls to the wall all the time. They don't
care who they go against, they don't care what's happening.
They are love that. So what would be one word
to describe each team? M like an adjective if you will?
(35:53):
You mean like each country? Well no not to like
no no, no, no no, the p team, the team? Okay,
each country? All right here, we're gonna give you a rundown. Okay, Australians,
Um okay, So look we're just gonna zoom through it.
I'm gonna give you the names and then you just
say one't word like like speed Okay, okay, first thing
that I'm gonna say these people's names wrong. I'm sorry
(36:15):
in advance. Um Zaren West strong, dude, listen, Zara. I
don't like I said, I didn't see the first episode,
but Zara came flying out of those gates. All every
single guy, like Jordan West, Finance, all of them were like,
damn did you see her? So like I already knew
you know, West was a strong player, very strategic whatever,
(36:36):
and West and Zaza together dangerous, Ben and Casey. That
was an interesting one for me, Um, I thought I didn't.
I just nobody knew who No, no, listen, nobody knew
who Ben was choosing. Everybody was there was like a
few people were that were under the impression that Ben
was going to be their partner. But um, strong team.
(36:56):
I mean, Casey's strong as fuck, like you know, all right,
Kas and Jordan, Um, I mean I don't know Kas
at all. I know Jordan is a great competitor obviously,
So yeah, strong. I can't stay strong for every team.
I feel like that's how this is gonna go. You're
gonna do and I'll say the name. Okay, one word, Okay,
(37:21):
Danny and Tory struck, this is this is becoming. How
about Ben oh, ben Ha and Jody. I'll be honest,
they were one of my favorite pairs. I mean, between
the two of them, I mean, I don't know if
it'll like translate and show, but ben Hat is a
(37:42):
very passionate person. He was so he was thrown into
basically this house of wolves, right, and he between the
language barrier between what was happening. Ben Hat had just
like this pure heart and just did not understand, like
he was just like He's like, okay, I guess it's
now my time to politic and I'm like, I don't
(38:03):
think it's gonna help. He's great, he's great, but the
two of them like because Jody's are very like, like
I said, cut and dry, point blank person, and he's
very passionate. So listening to their conversations, I was like,
you guys are hilarious, so hilarious. What is the word
that we are getting to? Hilarious? Sorry right now, Justine?
(38:25):
What about Justine and Bananas? Justine and Bananas? You know
it's so funny? Is Jesse? They didn't show it, but
Justine was like, you know, I was a big fan
of the show growing up, and so I'm gonna choose
Bananas as my partner. So wait, how do you say
you're old without saying you're old? You're old? I know
who you are, So Justine, No, I love Justine. Justine
(38:51):
surprised me, Like she's Oh, she's a powerhouse. She is
not only a powerhouse, but she is not afraid to
say what she's thinking. And I love about her. Yeah.
What about Keki and Darrell? Um? Like I said after
the first elimination, I don't want to fuck with Keiki.
Um uh no, because she's out of nowhere so fierce.
(39:13):
Um and Durrell's I love Darrell. Darrell's my boy, who's
on All the All Stars with me? Um. Durella and
I are very similar in the sense of, like, you know,
when it comes to making decisions, we're just like, I
don't want to upset anybody. Yeah yeah, Keki and Darrell, Um,
they could be the leaders. They could be the leaders
(39:33):
of the Kangaroo Court. Oh okay, okay. Rodrigo and Nia, Um,
let's just say um so. Nia is my girl, right Uh.
Nia loves to travel. She loves food, all the stuff
rodri So in his country, like he is like a
famous chef. Like right away. Oh, these two were like,
(39:58):
no matter what happens, if we get eliminated, if we don't, like,
we're going on a food tour of South Africa. Wow.
They were very um in the house. They were the
people that were like, let me make you, um this
fancy drink. I'm gonna make you at Miami Vice. I'm
gonna blend this. And I was like, yes, I will
take all the orders and all the the drinks you
(40:19):
guys were making me. I loved it. So resourceful I'm
just trying your words the word no, all right Emily
and yes, um Emily and yes, very strong team I
can't say strong. Yeah I'm strong. We were intermidated by Emily.
(40:45):
I mean, come on, let's be real, an Olympic swimmer.
Come on, she is tall. She's I would say her
and Laurel are very like. She's tall. Yeah, I mean
she's taller than yes. Yeah. Well no, no, I don't
mean it like that. I mean like, I mean, no,
you met it like that. So that's that's that's team tall.
(41:08):
Team Troy and Amber. Uh, this is my first time
meeting Amber doing a season with her, and um, they
they were all about it. They were team team spirit.
I see that. I could see that when through in
the puzzle there were no when she ran off and
(41:30):
she was like let's go and like or when they
got there, oh yeah, like there was a very positive
attitude between both of them. You could see it. Yes,
so teams team spirit. Troy is so smart. I mean,
between like Troy and Dio, they would do these like
chess competitions in the house. I can't even I can't
even hang And they go for game after game after
(41:52):
game after game I'm like, somebody's got to get bored.
I would watch it for hours. Great. They were like
Cheese's they get are you? They're like he played chests
and I was like not, not like they taught me,
but I would sit there and watch game after game,
trying to find moves you have to be and Logan
was like, and I am. And Logan was like cheese chess.
(42:14):
Cheese's the game of life. And I'm like, just say
that again, and I swear to got to learn it.
So I would just sit there and watch him and
dev and play and Logan so good. I mean, Logan
had beat him like thirty five games to something. Yeah,
and he was teaching me like how to start. He
made me download the apptor in Quarantine. I lost a
few games and he was like that wasn't a good try,
(42:37):
because that's that's my chest skills. I'm like I can't.
All right, we got three more. I'll do the last
name because you may fuck that one up. So I
got it. Um. Sarah and THEO. Uh they were, like
I said before, they were the most interesting pair to watch,
(42:58):
like the two of them, like THEO as like comedic,
how funny he is like when I tell you, he's
like Brad to me, like he's like one of those
people that it doesn't translate on the show. But he
is so funny. And Sarah's just that she's a very
um She's funny as well, but it's like a very
dry sense of humor. So watching them as a team
(43:20):
come to decisions together, like you know, usually you'd have
like one dominant person and the other person's like, Okay,
I see how we can work this out. The two
of them were like, this is what I think, this
is what I think, and they did not mesh well.
They had very different games in mind, I think. But
(43:41):
team opposite yea, the word we got team opposite, John
Christ Johnny. If they ever had this on the challenge,
this is the one game that you may lose. I
would lose a going straight. It's it's gonna be called
sum it up. And She'll be like, Nope, I can't
do it. I'll be still there, like but I love
(44:04):
all of them and this is the great thing, and
this is the bad thing. But seeing as I see
all sides of every person personality. So that's an active brain. Girl,
that's an active that makes for great interviews and great confessionals.
How about Tristan and Kelly Anne. Oh hilarious? Umm, Kelly
(44:25):
Anne and Tristan. Uh m hmmm. I don't know who
was more annoyed by the other person. Yes, they, I
mean they got along great, but so Tristan. Tristan's a
very like He's a scorpio too, so he's very like
you know, Keta's bad like whatever. Kelly Ann's like one
(44:49):
of those. Okay, if we have a problem, we're talking
about it right now. This is very upfront. So seeing
their dynamic as well was hilarious. My name say, like
the last team annoyed and last but not least Whoie
and Nelson. Okay, listen, no, I will take back Whoever
I said before was team Spirit like Whooie is the
(45:12):
most energetic, most positive vibes, Like craziest person I've ever
met in the best way possible. Like we we love
Whoie so tam crazy team crazy spirit. Team like team energy,
crazy Spirit. I want to say, like team loves life.
They loved life. Oh okay, okay, well I have crowned
(45:37):
you and Grant as team parent. How did I feel
playing How does it feel? Sorry playing this game with
someone who shares the same goal is your children, who
shares the same goal as you? How did that feel?
You know? That's something that like I said, we're still
getting to know each other's partners, but like still the
biggest change for me as a person, like you know,
(45:58):
I've said it time and time again, was becoming a
mother and somehow finding this inner strength of if I
can do this, then I can literally do anything like
challenge what you know, Like I got this and Grant
told me that you know, he had a two year
old daughter and that he had a baby on the way,
and I that was the thing that we we found
(46:19):
in common that I was like, Okay, so you get it.
You get that we're here for a bigger purpose. We're
not just playing to make friends with people. We're not
just playing to better ourselves the next season like this
is do or die. You know, we're here for our
families and that's what we're representing. So is that your
advice that maybe I should go and get pregnant? So okay,
(46:40):
I can come back and be like, you know what,
I found this inner state. No, I respect moms all
the time, Like that shit is hard. You literally worry
for the minute you get pregnant till for the rest
of your life. May you literally have to push a
baby out, carry something and then push it out and
then feed it. And I mean someone is depending on you.
It lives because they can't take care of themselves. Ten months,
(47:03):
six hours of labor, Yeah, it's such an amazing, amazing
ten months in one week. Damn, you're about to pop. Yeah,
you're normally pregnant for ten months anyway, wouldn't it be
eleven months in one week? Or were you? No, it
was ten months and we had one extra week. They
were gonna induce me. And then at one twenty two
in the morning, and I only remember because it was
my grandmother's One twenty two is my grandmother's birthday, and
(47:25):
so my water broke and I was like, well, let's
go do this, and I remember they the nurse came
in and she was like, oh, your first time mom.
You're gonna be here for three or four hours pushing,
So just just lay back and take your time. And
I felt like that was a challenge. I pushed kat
in South in twenty minutes. Don't play with me, happidoral
or no, Like I said, Jesus Christ, you can do anything.
(47:49):
You can do anything. I got that girl, I got induced.
I was like month eight. I was like, get this
baby out of me. But I that mom, that mommy
stuff is serious, that parents stuff is serious. That could
change my view and my perspective of you know, this
isn't This is no longer a game about you know,
(48:13):
friends the same. If I can handle this, I can
handle anything. You have too, little ways I look up
to you one and two. You got to take care
of them, and you're doing it all on your own.
So period, I'm saying, not going to let you know
what I'm saying. Yes, I know you said that this
game is not about friendships, and I agree, when you
have a bigger purpose, it's not about friendships. However, let's
(48:37):
get him say it, Kelly in west situation, do you
think that it was right for him to vote for
her being that's her ex like they ain't got no
kids and but you know they was saying each other
so at that point, so I wasn't in that nomination.
And that's the weird thing about this season is that
(48:57):
you know, if you win or if you lose, you
can't be a part of all that. And here all
the dark but you know, I think it probably was
pretty smart of West at that point if the entire
house is going one way. And I'm not one to
like waterfall the votes, but yeah, if already you know,
everybody is just you know, doing the easy thing, or
(49:18):
everybody's already doing the same thing, Like, you don't want
to put that target on your back of rail going
against what everybody else is doing, especially not with you know,
people like bananas in the house. So he's like, He's like,
this is what we're doing. Why ruffle any feathers, this
is how it's gonna go. So don't want to piss
anybody off. Right, Wow, if you were down there, do
(49:40):
you think you also would have put with the flow
or do you think you would have said something different?
I mean yes, because so this is what's hard. It's
like at that point, you know, TJ always has surprises.
This is the first World Championship. We don't know, like
what decisions do we make, how they're necessarily going to
affect us? We don't. I mean I just watch USA
(50:01):
before coming to this one, right, and so I thought like, hey, yeah,
we're gonna be partnered, But like what if at the
end of it we'll have to switch again, you know. Yeah, um,
we just you know, we got to be the test
deummies of you know, you just got to make a
decision and ride with it and rock with it. Right
so right, So, um, we're at the end of this
(50:21):
cliffhanger of an episode. Okay, I mean they cut it off.
It was like a hard cut too. It wasn't like like,
oh it was a hard yet next on, next on
the challenge. It was like a slap in the face,
likes like I had something. You're talking about the sea elimination,
but we were kidding. They don't us. Yes, do you
(50:44):
have anything that you can tease any anything crumbs more. Um,
Let's just say I know at this point, at this
point in time, um, coming out, you know, being the
first round draft pick, looking at the Australian team, I'm like, listen,
Grant and I are the team to be and we're
(51:05):
going to have a lot of heat coming our way
no matter what decision we make, no matter what we do,
it's no matter what, this is going to be one
of the hardest challenges that I've done. So um, let's
just say things get really interesting because at this point,
you don't know are you playing for your team, are
(51:27):
you playing for your country? Are you playing as individuals
and the only person who matters is your partner. At
that point, you still don't know what TJ has in
store for us. So that's the thing. As a Challenger,
you have to be able to be a chameleon. You
have to be able to adapt as things are throwing
your way. So yeah, yeah, it'll be interesting for all
of you to see what happens. I'm excited. I'm excited
(51:49):
if you're taking ass again and things you like, like
how like so they have like the book and like
after All Stars three, the back to back when I'm
literally like all right, guys, and how I'm done, gonna
go be a mom now? And then then you were like, psych,
you're just qualified for the World Championship. I'm like, oh,
you know, for me, it was like my in my head,
(52:12):
I'm like, this is my one chance of my opportunity,
Like I would love to come back as like this
new Challenger and go back to the Flagship show and
you know, test myself and test my abilities. But to
be honest as a mom, you know, filming for the
twelve weeks, I can't do that, So For me, the
Global Championship was about too. It is about upping the
level of competition, you know, up from All Stars, but
(52:35):
still having that shorter experience. Yeah, because definitely it might
be harder than the Flagship. I mean that's whole thing,
like All Stars Flagship, like they're all hard, yeah, Dart,
none of them are easy. I don't understand why both
Art and go to All Stars. I'm like, because that's
it's hard, too, dummy, rum and why not challenge yourself
on all of those levels, you know what I mean?
(52:55):
Like you you now are an incredible challenger, so like
you might as well do what you want. The biggest
difference is time. We could shoot that shit in a month,
five weeks like we used to. I would be I
would love it. I'd do a million a year and
we would only do one a year then, So I mean,
kudos back out the bigger now though. Yeah, no, we
(53:17):
had thirty people. We just did Challenge from the gate.
We did it four challenges a week though in four eliminations.
Oh oh gosh, yes you too, challenge Elimination challenge, elimination
challenge and back to that. That's baby. There wasn't as
big of a setup. You didn't have to do walk ups.
Not everybody had a match, you didn't have to do
oh shit. So then once a bitch pissed you off,
(53:39):
you were like, I'm gonna see you when THEO gone,
bitch tonight, Come on, TJ. Let me go spin the wheel.
I know I have four chances of getting something the same,
four chances every week, not a contraption with lights, not
a soord like with you know, season thirty eight, just
wrapping and now actually watching out. It was like, damn,
(54:00):
um girl, it was one. It was one for the
books for sure. I'm so happy that book is fucking
closed and welcome to the Global Champion Shop. Okay, now,
John A, before you leave us, and I really appreciate
you coming on because of face and I love it. Um.
What are your socials? Where can people follow you support you? Well?
(54:24):
As we all know, I'm terrible at social media, but
my Instagram handle is at John A. Mannion so j
O N N A m A N N island um
and that's pretty much the only social media I have.
I have Twitter, but I just read what other people say.
(54:46):
That makes that makes two out of three of us
that are loved on Twitter. I am not deleted off
my phone and I forget my password, So talk to
your shit because I can't see it. All right, all right, well, Johnny,
I'm sure that you and Grant are going to have
a lovely season. I cannot wait to see what you
(55:07):
guys do, and hopefully we're not having a cliffhanger every week. Yeah,
it seems like this that's the direction it because I'm
going to need tea with every episode. I'm stressed, right.
Thank you for coming to hang with a Johnny. I'm
so glad I finally got an opportunity to meet you.
Thank you guys so much for Yeah, nic you me.
You hopefully meet in person. Hopefully I see you soon.
(55:29):
I don't know. Yes, I miss you. Miss you guys.
Have a good day. Thank you. That was an incredible
(55:50):
interview with john A. She always delivers. She has such
a great spirit. I'm so glad that she could take
time out of her busy vacation talk to us. Yes,
littlo us, it was a great episode. Anissa, tell the
people where they can find you on the social media's
only on Instagram because like I said before, I don't
(56:11):
know my Twitter password, So effort you can find me
at Anissa MTV. That's a n E s A MTV
on Instagram and Davon where can they find you? Follow you,
show you some love sleep That's where I like to be.
Outside of that, you can find me on Twitter at
Dave Davon Underscore or Instagram at Davon Diane Underscore. And
(56:35):
if you liked this episode, make sure you rate and
review us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and tell a
friend to come and check us out. Yes and then
cash you episodes of The Challenge World Championship Wednesdays on
Paramount Plush, and we will see you back here next
week for a brand new episode of MTV's official Challenge podcast,
Hosts And Creators
Tori Deal
Aneesa Ferreira
Devyn Simone
Da'Vonne Rogers
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.