November 10, 2025 • 56 mins
Jake’s Take with Jacob Elyachar salutes all the veterans who served in the United States Armed Forces. Thank you for your service and sacrifices.
It is a pleasure to welcome Yeremi Hykel to the podcast! A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Yeremi first appeared on Reality TV on The Amazing Race 35, which aired in 2023. He partnered with his brother, Navy veteran Liam, who had been estranged for years. The first leg saw the duo start racing from the Hollywood sign and finish in Thailand, where they placed eighth out of 13. The duo was nearly eliminated in Vietnam, but fortunately, it was a non-elimination leg. Sadly, Yeremi and Liam were sent home after the Race took them to India. Throughout the competition, Yeremi completed two roadblocks, while his brother completed three challenges.
Two years later, Yeremi headed to The Challenge to compete on the long-running Reality TV competition’s forty-first season, Vets vs. New Threats. Yeremi made a name for himself when he completed the opening challenge – climbing the mountain to get to the Challenge House. Throughout the season, Yeremi showcased his leadership abilities and became one of the New Threats’ strongest leaders in the house. He won both the “Cyclone” daily challenge with fellow New Threat Sydney Segal and the “Running Man” daily challenge with partner Aviv Bruno. He also competed in the “Pull It Together” elimination challenge against two-time Challenge champion Jonna Mannion and New Threat Gabe Wai, and won. When Yeremi is not competing, he is a model signed with the Block Agency, a fierce competitor in various fitness competitions, and a world traveler.
On this Veterans’ Day edition of the Jake’s Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast, Yeremi Hykel shared his U.S. Marine Corps journey, why he and Liam were constantly near the bottom of the pack on The Amazing Race, and took us behind the moves during the first weeks of The Challenge 41: Vets vs. New Threats.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jake-s-take-with-jacob-elyachar--4112003/support.
It is a pleasure to welcome Yeremi Hykel to the podcast! A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Yeremi first appeared on Reality TV on The Amazing Race 35, which aired in 2023. He partnered with his brother, Navy veteran Liam, who had been estranged for years. The first leg saw the duo start racing from the Hollywood sign and finish in Thailand, where they placed eighth out of 13. The duo was nearly eliminated in Vietnam, but fortunately, it was a non-elimination leg. Sadly, Yeremi and Liam were sent home after the Race took them to India. Throughout the competition, Yeremi completed two roadblocks, while his brother completed three challenges.
Two years later, Yeremi headed to The Challenge to compete on the long-running Reality TV competition’s forty-first season, Vets vs. New Threats. Yeremi made a name for himself when he completed the opening challenge – climbing the mountain to get to the Challenge House. Throughout the season, Yeremi showcased his leadership abilities and became one of the New Threats’ strongest leaders in the house. He won both the “Cyclone” daily challenge with fellow New Threat Sydney Segal and the “Running Man” daily challenge with partner Aviv Bruno. He also competed in the “Pull It Together” elimination challenge against two-time Challenge champion Jonna Mannion and New Threat Gabe Wai, and won. When Yeremi is not competing, he is a model signed with the Block Agency, a fierce competitor in various fitness competitions, and a world traveler.
On this Veterans’ Day edition of the Jake’s Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast, Yeremi Hykel shared his U.S. Marine Corps journey, why he and Liam were constantly near the bottom of the pack on The Amazing Race, and took us behind the moves during the first weeks of The Challenge 41: Vets vs. New Threats.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jake-s-take-with-jacob-elyachar--4112003/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Hello everybody, Welcome to our Veterans Day special. I'm your host,
Jacob Elijar, the chief concert producer and writer of The
Jake's Take with Jacob and the host of The Jake
Stake with Jacob Elizer podcast, a pop culture entertainment news website.
Before we get started today, if you're watching us on YouTube,
please give us a thumbs up.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
If you're listening to our audio platform, please download this
episode and all the other episodes, and don't forget to
leave a five star rating. I am honored and thrilled
to welcome this guest. I've been waiting for him to
come on for a while now and he's finally here.
He's a former marine. He's also an explorer and Mo,
you might have seen him on an amazing race thirty
(00:59):
five rather Liam, and right now he is kicking butts
and it's two forty one. That's versus New Threats with
two daily wins and one elimination when under his bus.
Please help me welcome Jeremy Hi Pael to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Let's go. Thank you, Jacob, Thank you so much for
having me.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Man.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Love watching your stuff, love love your opinions and hearing
everything you got to say. So, I'm excited to chat
with you today, man, share my experience with you.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I'm so happy to have you here, Jeremy. You've been
on Team Jacob's through New Threats and along with Justin,
along with my our good friend Ben the Ben Davis
and Cedric plus d and Lecca and Sidney co.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It's a good lineup right there, Dude.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I know, I know on you almost were dominating. You
guys have been dominating the game. And I gotta say this,
this is I came in during final reckoning to Pollie
and Davon's season. Okay, so the rookie class have wore
the worlds wide have lot to live up to, and
they did. But however, your rookie class right now is
(02:10):
kicking butt and taking names.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yes it is, dude, it really is. And it's a
you know, it's a it's a breath of fresh air
to kind of hear that that our rookie class is
really standing up to a lot of past rookie classes
that have really shown out in this competition. It's not
an easy competition by any means, and it requires a
lot of diversity in your skill set. For every rookie
(02:35):
or new threat that comes in. So it's just really
nice to hear the fan base and the audience members
and all the fans just be reacting really positively to
our skills, our gameplay, everything like that. So it's great
to hear.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
And your ears so welcome because you guys have literally
I've been bored of the Vacation Alliance. I know, people
I don't know if you've heard about them, it's they've
been a drag on this show. You guys came and
brought that spark backs and like, seriously, even people I
(03:10):
didn't was on my room for look at Adrian. She
is dominating the game.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Oh my god, I know.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
And not to mention the fact that Will has been
has trot and show very polarizing figure. But however he's
been delivering a drama.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yes he has. I mean Will Will. With what he
can bring physically, he can also bring it socially in
kind of that entertainment aspect. You know, he can get
a little messy, he can get you know, messy in
the house, he can get messy in the bed. He's
he's bringing a lot of you know, kind of that
old stall challenger out and it is definitely a lot
(03:48):
of fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Oh yeah, and we got to talk about are some
of our people that we lost early. I gotta say
Ben the Bin Davis. I definitely think it meant a
lot to me because I never would see myself on
the challenge, so seeing a podcast as someone it's been
in media. And I gotta say this, if he wasn't
taken out by Chavez, I think he had done wonders
and I think that I really want to see him
(04:12):
come back.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Absolutely, I feel the same way, man. I really I
really like Ben, you know what I mean? Not only
was he an amazing person, he was so much fun
to be around. I've said this multiple times and I'll
say it again, is Ben was one of those He
was one of those guys in the house that I
just felt so comfortable with and I felt like, no
matter what, I could go to him during any time
(04:34):
of the day and just kind of shoot the shit
with him. Me and him had so many laughs together.
We talked a lot, and he just had this underdog
fire within him, feeling like he just didn't compare, you know,
sometimes physically to or even really like experience wise to
a lot of different people in the house. Because he
wasn't from a previous show or anything like that, but
(04:56):
I think that he did wonderful with the cards that
he was dealt, and he's just an absolutely determined like person.
So I absolutely would love to see him back. And
I think that he can do a lot of damage
in this game.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I know, and speaking of giving a lot of damage
to this game, it's like it's not leave. I could
see Turbo and Meca really being a dominant force.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Oh yeah, I mean, Lex was incredible. I had a
ton of respect for Lex. I remember. One of the
first things that I noticed about her was one that
she was a due athlete, which is insane. That's already
a very very intense physical feed to compete in as
it is, and it requires a ton of training time
and sacrifice from the players that compete in those sports.
(05:39):
But she also competed on Canada's Ultimate Challenge, and although
I haven't seen full seasons of that, I know that
it's just incredibly similar to MTV's The Challenge. So I
knew her coming into this game. She already had a
handle on what she wanted to do. She had a
handle on kind of how to go about the game
(06:01):
in general, and yeah, she was a beast. I love
like I got nothing but good thing to say about her.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
And I gotta say a thing and also a lot
of people I am so I gotta say this. Oh,
I gotta say that Sidney sing Siddy is doing amazing.
She's definitely proved to be Wes's honorary daughter. And with
her step I fear as someone that has been a
podcaster and also Jewish podcaster, I am so proud that
(06:29):
she's representing us. And it makes me so angry when
people in our rep fan base go after her, and
indeed I cannot stand it. I will not tolerate it.
And I want to say, Jarimi, thank you so much
for backing her up.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I always back sit up. You know what I'm saying.
It is a She's a great person. I love her.
I love her persona on the show. She's so cautious,
she's so over the top, but she is just incredibly intelligent,
and she has so much reason and logic that backs
her beliefs and she stands up against all odds. And
(07:02):
I think that no matter what position that you ever take,
if you are well informed and you have such strong
values that are tied to the thing that you're advocating for.
I can always defend that, and she is somebody that
I have definitely seen take a lot of flak for
a lot of different opinions, a lot of different stances.
But I'll stand behind Sydney always.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
As a thousand percent with me. And finally, last we
gotta talk about dressin. Oh my god, he's turning into
that to one of the most I never thought I
would see Cheer. I had justin as an underdog like
Ben that I never thought I could see, never underestimate him.
He took out Rogan, he took out Jake, he took
(07:46):
beat Jake. It's like, not Jake, Gabe, I'm so sorry.
I apologize, good, You're good. Yeah. He how lasted Jonathan
potassium mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
And that is the thing too, just has been like
from the get go, he had kind of been underestimated
by a lot of people, and me to include that
as well, I always want to include myself in that
because at a certain point in the game I did
underestimate him. And it just really proves that lifelong philosophy,
(08:18):
if you cannot judge a book by its color, right,
hearing that he came from Cheer I didn't even know
what that show was. I just knew that he was
a cheerleader and watching him perform challenge after challenge, week
after week. He I said this the other day and
I still stand by it. I think Justin is one
of the if not the MVP rookies of this season.
(08:43):
He is an insane competitor and he has shown that
every single every single challenge, elimination, stay claim, whatever it
is that he goes up against, he perseveres and he
comes out on top. And his partnership with Nonny Blossoms
and that is the just speaks volumes to the communication
style that he can have and how he can attribute
(09:07):
his strength to somebody else's and work in a very
cohesive team.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Absolutely absolutely, And I know that a lot of people
gave them flack about Javas as well. But the thing is,
what I got to say is if the thing is
I would like to see it Justin go up against
some of the best members of the LGBT Men's Group,
Frank Sweeney, Fox Shady, Shane Landren Pauly, Kyle Fieri. Now
all three of them are known to be loud, known
(09:32):
to be manipulative. That I gotta one, Justin. If you
thought Javis was rough, those three di just mentioned are
very dangerous.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Absolutely, dude, absolutely, And I think that, to be honest
with you, I think that that worked towards his advantage,
especially earlier in the game. To have such such a
blatant kind of you know, knife in the back so
early and so public was I think something that worked
towards Justin's you know, benefit, especially in the longevity of
(10:04):
the game. Right in the beginning of the game, he
was mad, underestimated, went to elimination, proved himself right after
getting backstabbed by Derek, and then for the rest of
the game. I mean, he really earned his respect. He's
been out of the limelight. Nobody has like severely voted
for him. He did have to go through the stake
acclaim against Gabe, which was a very nerve wracking experience.
(10:27):
I mean, just to put ourselves in that state of mind.
It was the very first time that that power or
that twist was being used and he was the victim
of that. So to have to go through that the
first time and still clout on top, I mean, Justin
as a freaking hero, dude.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Absolutely, we got to move away to the rookie class
for a little bit, because the thing is, we got
to talk about why you're here, which is our veterans
stay special. And before we get to that, I want
to say thank you so much for your service, for
your sack. I really appreciate it, and on behalf of
my audience, I appreciate all what you've gone through.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Thank you. I appreciate that. I always it's always an
interesting thing to hear like that, thank you for your service,
and I like to always respond with like, thank you
for your support. There are you know, there are factions
or sections of regions in this country with people who
sometimes don't have the same perspective towards service members, and
(11:28):
sometimes you go around and that can kind of show
and by any means it doesn't like, you know, it's
not gonna kill me, you know, when that happens. I
understand people at different views, but I always appreciate it
when people, you know, thank me and show their support
for what my service has done and what the troops do,
because there's a lot of people who are busting rafts
(11:50):
in this country right now to help their families get
a better life, to help them get a better life,
to help become better people, and it's not easy, but
they do do it, and it's a very large sacrifice
for their life. So I appreciate that. Man.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
You're welcome. You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Man.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Also, I got to say that the reason why I
thought saw Marine and I remind well, just finished watching
Netflix's Boots, which is probably one of the most powerful
things I saw about that, and so what I and
I was like, Wow, I did not know about this
history and about the Marines and like that. But however,
the thing is what you might have experienced on Boots,
(12:26):
but boot Camp wise must have been dissimilar or even advanced.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yeah, I mean boot Camp was very, very intent. I'm
not sure exactly how it relates to Boots. I haven't
seen that show, but I have heard a lot of
things about it. But yeah, boot boot Camp wasn't it's
no joke. It's no joke, and it's not uh and
you know it's not to me. It's not meant to
be easy. It's meant to be one of the hardest
(12:52):
things you ever do. And it is designed in a
way to break the individual down, which it absolutely does,
and it breaks down hard, and you really go through
an existential crisis, you know what I mean, when your
back is up and against the wall and you are
day in and day out living through a very hellish experience,
(13:13):
a very very intense and physically and mentally demanding environment
that you're living in that is high stress, like every
minute of every day. It really does a number on you.
But in the middle of that, you are so broken down,
and they really harp and they bust it into you
(13:34):
that when you're this down, the people that you need
to lean on are your brothers and your sisters, the
ones that are right here that are suffering with you.
You lean on them and they lean on you. And
that's what creates marines, That's what creates the warrior spirit,
and that's what they do. And then by the end,
you are one of the hardest versions of yourself that
(13:59):
you have ever been and you are probably one of
the most proudest versions of yourself that you've ever you've
ever viewed of yourself at the end of it. So
it is a very it's a very dramatic but almost
like transcending experience.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
For people who go through it, I think you've done
and one I think for me, Blamy, I would not
go through that I would have going through that, But
I'm very proud of you of what you've gone through.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Well, thank you appreciate it all right.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
So, as you've had that marine experience, and what were
some of the lessons that you learned from that time
that helped you grow?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
I suppose, Well, there's a lot, man, there's a lot.
I mean one of the biggest ones was being able
to endure hardship. The Marines is full of it. Like
you know, about eighty percent of your life while you're
you're living in the in the Marines has some sort
of if it's not physical or it's mental, hardship that
(14:56):
you are going to go through. And being trained as
a to endure those things and still be able to
focus on you know, back then it was a mission,
right or an objective. Being able to block everything out
and still focus on the task at hand is extremely
important and that's something that has helped me tremendously after.
(15:18):
But another one was probably like self reliance. And I
think this was a big one for me, and I
think it's a large one for a lot of other
Marines who ended up separating front of the Marine Corps.
Is you kind of get to a certain point where
you realize in the middle of the Marine Corps you're
(15:39):
a cog in the machine and you're extremely valuable. You're
extremely valuable, right because at that point in your career
you're right in the middle. Right, you've got like two
years left, you have just in two years of training.
You're a workhorse. You're moving up the ranks. Like your
job is to be is to be great, right, be
great at PT, be great at your job, know a
lot of things like become a leader. Do all these
(16:02):
things right, and you're extremely valuable. But towards the end,
especially if you decide that your path in life isn't
going to stay in the Marines, a lot of Marines,
like myself and others have experienced that. Once you kind
of make that shift and you decide that you're like, Okay,
the Marines isn't going to be my life, there is
(16:24):
somewhat of a change that happens where the Marine Corps
doesn't actually support you as much as you felt like
they might have. It's just it's mainly because you're not
doing what they need you to do. Right. They're trying
to fill numbers, they're trying to fill spots they need you.
You're a piece, and they need you to fit in
(16:45):
where they need you to fit in. But once you
decide that you need to go against that because you
have different things that you want in life, it starts
to become very difficult and you learn really fast that
you have to take care of yourself because now nobody's
going to help take care of you.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And that's important. And no matter what happens, and like
especially no matter if you're working in marines or working
government job, or working at any or even on or
even on a competitive reality TV show or something like that, Yep,
it's you gotta be You gotta focus on you.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
You do you do, And there's an entire element of that,
and it's important, especially as it as it relates to
reality TV, reality TV shows, or even the challenge in
general is it's very easy to get caught up in
the cogni machine. Oh I'm part of this group, or
I'm part of this alliance, I'm this, I'm I'm I
am protected by this huge thing. But it's very easy
(17:40):
to get lost in that comfortability and to to lose
sight of yourself, you know what I mean, like lose
sight of that that self reliance that you need to
have in forward thinking, like oh, where where do I
actually stand in this alliance? Like how many friends do
I actually have? And as this dwindles down, am I
in a good position? And if you're not really forward
(18:01):
thinking like that, it can definitely bite you in the ass.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I know, I know we'll get back to it, but
I wanted to conclude our marine conversation and say, like,
when you got out of when you were when you
were discharged, what did you have in the halfway moment
between getting building your life back and leading the Marines?
Were there any things that were like did you like say, Okay,
(18:24):
I really wish I made that To me, I think
I made the wrong decision? Or did were you come
full of their guts?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
No? Man, I'm telling you like I went through it.
I went through an experience where just about like the
last six six to eight months in the Marine Corps,
I had that harsh reality check where I was like, Wow,
the Marine Corps is they don't want to support me
in what I want to do my unit. They don't
care to support me what I want to do. They
don't want to help me go to college, they don't
want to help me do this and it's all on me,
(18:52):
and I kind of grew a chip on my shoulder
where I was like, damn, like, you guys really don't
care about me, and you guys don't really you know,
you really don't want to support me in this next
chapter of my life because it doesn't kind of like
fit your needs. And because of that, it really lit
a fire under me, and I was like, you know what,
if you don't support me and you don't believe me,
(19:14):
I have to believe in myself and I'm the only
one who's gonna do it. So I did all my
you know, I made sure I got into college on
my own. I did all my transfer credits, I got
in there, I found my apartment, I moved myself completely,
and there wasn't really there wasn't really a time during
that where I was like, oh, I made the wrong decision.
(19:35):
It was always kind of like I'm I am free
to prove all of y'all wrong. Like I can do
this because there's a huge kind of like culture in
there at the end, especially where they do a lot
of propaganda towards you, where they're like, oh, if you
get out, you know, like eighty percent of Marines who
get out are homeless within the first five years. You know,
(19:56):
like ninety percent of Marines who go to college drop
out within the first year and stuff like that. And
I was like, that's insane that you're telling me these
statistics right now when I'm telling you what like my
dream is and what my next steps are. And after
going through kind of that, I was like, na, bro,
I'm going to get this and I'm going to do
it exactly how I told you I was going to do.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
It, and you prove them wrong. And that's the thing, Yes,
you can. They can never take away your service or
your record that you proved them wrong.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yep, I did. I did exactly that. And that's why
I'll forever be grateful for my mindset. I'll be grateful
for my grid, for my tenacity, and for my ambition. Man,
once I choose something that I want to do like,
I will go and do it like. I will make
the action to execute the plan and accomplish if it's
(20:44):
if it's a goal or if it's a dream, like,
I will figure out how to do it. And that
was a pivotal moment in my life after my service,
where you know, I had just finished, you know, being
like eighteen nineteen twenty, and it was me entering the
world as as a young man and I was still
able to do it.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
So I'm proud of you. And that's it. And you
will not be and you will not be here. We
would have a different conversation, but I'm happy that you're
here and I'm glad you start with your guts.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Thank you, man. I appreciate you, dude.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
All right, So let's get to the amazing race, shall we.
So they many of my audience know you from your
time competing with your brother A liam on on thirty five,
So why do you decide it was time for you
guys to race around the world?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
So that that story is kind of interested. I remember
when the Castle producer came around asking me. They originally
asked me to to cast for a Big Brother That
was the that was the original show. Yep, that was
the That was the very first. That was my very
first experience with reality. T was getting uh. It was
(21:53):
essentially getting recruited to cast for a Big Brothers. So
I had never seen Big Brother before I casted for it.
It didn't go anywhere. I didn't I didn't get I
didn't cast for it or anything like that. And then
about a year later they came they came back for
the Amazing Race and they were like, you know, this
seems like it's way more up your your alley. Like
(22:15):
you're a huge adventure guy, You'll love experiences, you'll love adrenaline,
Like this show is very much tailored to that kind
of that kind of style. And I was like, looks
that way sounds sounds wonderful. I love that. So at
that time and place, I was trying to find a
partner that that I had like a good cohesion right,
(22:37):
and a good like dynamic with and at that time
and place, me and Liam weren't in a very good
situation relationship wise, we weren't very we weren't talking a ton,
but me and Liam's dynamic was it was always amazing, right.
It was very charismatic. It always was full of energy,
(22:58):
and even if we weren't and we didn't have the
best relationship, we could kind of like switch that off
and still have this this brotherantly banter that we have.
So I was like, you know, I just reach out
to him. I was like, Hey, would you be interested
in casting for this show with me? It's something that
I'm willing. I'd really like to try and if you're
open to it, I'd love for you to be my partner.
And he was like, yeah, dude, I'm down, and we
(23:20):
got into the casting process and that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
First of all, Big Brother's loss was the challenge gain.
I can tell you that much ahead of time because
I have I did not watch after all, I watched
Big Brother from season sixteen all the way to the
first All Star season. The second All Star season is
said audio because it was a little too top Okay,
but I gotta say this. You and Liam were but
(23:44):
at the back of the pack throughout your run, and
in your opinion, what were the factors that made you
two near the bottom of the pack and eventually still
had to say, I'm sorry your time was you're with
the racist done?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, dude, Like that is such a that is so like,
that's such a big question that you know, I asked
myself once we got out for the race, because we really, like, man,
we really tried to train for it. We really tried
to prepare ourselves for it. I mean, our communication throughout
the entire show was really really good. We were communicating
very well. We were making decisions taking account into both
(24:19):
of our ideas. We were incredibly supportive of each other
and encouraging. But I think that one thing that we
lacked was the strategy of decision making, and in the
amazing race, that is imperative because it's not just I mean,
there's so many elements that come into deciding whether you
(24:42):
want to do Who does a detour, who does a roadblock,
and you're not exactly sure which one is going to
be the best, especially when it comes to a detour.
It tells you both of the tasks and you get
to choose, but you obviously don't know everything that takes
into that. But one of the things that we could
have absolutely done better was try to analyze the different
(25:03):
detours that we were doing, because you know, in the end,
I think we chose the wrong detour that took way
too much time. It was delivering flowers, and if we
had chosen the other one, there would have been a
chance that maybe we weren't last. So that's what I
like to.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Say, awesome. Awesome. So now we got to go back
to our friends and we're the challenge. So why do
you decide that season forty one, that's versus New Threats
was the perfect season for you to jump on board.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Wow, you know, man like. After after the Amazing Race,
I decided to finish out my college career. I had
one about one year left, two semesters, and I went
ahead and I finished it up, and then I prioritized,
like a life of travel. That is always been kind
of my biggest goal in life. I always wanted to
(25:58):
be like a world explorer. I want explore all the continents,
different cultures, people, landmarks, history. It's just my passion in life.
So I started doing that, and I was never really
sure if Reality TV was going to come back again.
But after the Amazing Race was done, I remember having
an interview for another Veterans Day special, probably the year
(26:21):
after I compete on an Amazing Race, and our host
was tjal It was TJ, and it was me and
two other marines, one from Survivor one from Big Brother.
I don't remember their names exactly, but one of the
questions that TJ asked us as he was wrapping up
the interview was what are some other shows that you
(26:42):
would want to be on? And I told him, and
I got to tell him to his face on that interview,
I was like, man, the Challenge. The Challenge is ten
out of ten a show that I absolutely would love
to do. It's amazing. I feel like I would do
really good at it, and it's just an incredible show.
And it kind of became like my dream show. And
(27:05):
then after that interview, man like like a I don't
even know, like maybe a year, year and a half
past and uh and then and then yeah, a producer
from the Challenge reached out to me and asked me
if I wanted to if I'd be interested in casting
for season forty one, and I was, oh, man, I
was blown away. I was blown away. I was, yeah, dude,
(27:26):
I mean I'm telling you. I was just I was
so surprised. I was so surprised, and I was like,
oh my god, I can't believe it's happening, Like this
is this is the show that I would want to
be on over all shows, and the fact that they came,
you know, asking me to potentially be a pardon it
was was incredible for me.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I gotta say this like it I to hear this.
It's just amazing. And then have a full super moment
when you face off with TJ, when you first arrived
and with the best in the background, So what would
it like U nine with TG again and having the
best in the background.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
That was an extremely intimidating moment, Jacob. I'm gonna be
so real with you, Like, we didn't know anything going
into that interview except for like to come up with
like three words that we had to say, right, and
and that was the only thing we knew. And we
just heard that TJ was gonna ask us questions and
that was it, right, And I walked in to that
(28:21):
like interrogation room, the single light and you know, the
dark dark room, and TJ was sitting on the other
side of the table, and you know, you always see him.
He looked so nice and he really is nice, but
in that moment, he was pretty stern, right. He was
very much an interrogator of personality. And I was sitting
down and just seeing him face to face first of all,
(28:42):
that that was surreal, right, I mean I've watched seasons
of this show and seen him and seeing him again
I got interviewed by him, and I was like, Wow,
this is incredible, you know what I mean. But I
actually had no idea. I had no idea that there
all the other vets were we're sitting behind him. To
be honest with you, it was really dark in there,
(29:03):
and when I saw that if there was people there,
I kind of just thought that they were like producers.
I had no idea, so I didn't even I didn't
have an idea that there were vets up there at all.
So when I was just speaking to TJ, I was
just like I was trying to do my best articulate
my sentence as well and make the best impression of
(29:24):
who I am authentically what I bring to the table
as well as I wanted. I always wanted to have
a sense of vulnerability in my response. I felt like
a lot of other competitors were just going to kind
of like hype their self up like all strengths, and
I wanted to like choose some strengths, but I also
(29:45):
wanted to choose a weakness, and I wanted to show
people like I wanted to let them in inside me
a little bit and let them know, like, hey, I
do do a lot of shit and I come from
a background that they can be very intimidating, but you know,
I am still scared. And you know the word that
I used at that at that interview was fearful, and
(30:05):
I was like, I am fearful, Like I'm scared to
be here. I'm this is this is a scary and
fear inducing experience that I'm I'm able to take. But
I you know, that emotion is still very raw to me,
and it is very real.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
I gotta say that you were absolutely amazing the two
that I remember the most of the I know, that's
a blur. Everything that you and Cedric came out with
guns ablazing. When I never thought When I saw Cedric
shaking TJ's hand, I was like, wow, I'm in for it.
And I saw you, I'm like, okay, this guy's.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yeah, yeah, dude, Cedric was. Cedric was badass man. Cedric is.
He's the real deal for sure. Man. He's you know,
not only is an incredibly kind uh and a really
really positive person, but he's an absolute dog in the competition.
I mean, you know what I mean, physically, he checks
all boxes right, He's insanely meticulous, very very good strategist,
(31:06):
and he is wicked smart.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
I ain't gonna make a prediction you two will be
the last male new threat standing.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
That is an interesting prediction, Jacob, I am curious to
see how it plays out.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Alrighty, And if I make that prediction, will you come back?
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Of course, I will come back anytime you invite me, Jacob,
I would always love to come back and chalt with
you man.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Alrighty, alrighty. So you hear to hear both guys. So
after the show, Jeremy's coming back, so I'll we'll talk
about the latter half of the game. But however, we
gotta say this, there are only a couple of people
that make it a strong first impression on me. My
dear friend JOSSH. Mooney. My friend Josh Mooney, who is
one of my all time favorite Era four guys, made
(31:54):
his impression on the show known when he raced up
the Rock of Gibraltar on Vendettas. You join him in
that when you move, that's when you first raced down
the mountain and made to the house first.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Yeah, dude, that was That was intense, bro, that was intense,
and it was a it was a crazy moment for me.
And it's it's really funny because I get a lot
of like, you know, I I've heard a lot of
people's opinions on it. It's like, oh, like why would
you do that or you're just you're asking for a
target to be painted on your back, uh for you,
for you to perform that way. But to be honest
(32:30):
with you, man, I didn't. I didn't have it. I
didn't have a single thought in my head about like,
oh maybe sorry, maybe I should dial my skill, like
maybe I should dit myself back right. That wasn't my
that wasn't my intention, and I never have I never
had and I never do have that in a competitive environment.
(32:50):
But when I was running up that hill, Jacob, I
was in the beginning of the pack, and that was
in the very very beginning, and I ended up taking
the wrong turn on to a wrong trailhead. Yeah, this
is something they didn't show. This is something that not
a lot of people know. But me and Justin were
leading the pack. We both went off trail to we
(33:11):
essentially cut in into a different trail and we ran
on that one for a couple of minutes before we
were like, oh wait, nobody else was behind us. I
think that we're going the wrong way. We quickly went
back up to the main trail and we saw all
of the rest of the competitors like running in a
huge line like as some of them were almost like
little ants in the distance out there running up this
(33:33):
huge Boulton and I was just like, oh my god.
In my head, I was just beating myself up, and
I was like, you just took the wrong freaking turn
and you were first, and now you're in the very back,
like you better figure out how to fix this. And
I just turned on my burners, dude, And honestly, I
(33:53):
was just at that point, I was just like, empty
the tank and I emptied the tank and I ran
through everyone all the way up that mountain. I remember
the first the person who was in first for the
men was Rogany it was it was Rogan, and I
remember seeing him and he got to this certain incline
where it stopped his run and he had to go
(34:14):
into a walk, and in my head I saw him,
I was like, Okay, run past Rogan and just run
as long as you possibly can until it pushes you
into a hike. And once it pushes you into hike,
it just continue to hike. And that's exactly what I did.
And I just went up that mountain, like y'all saw,
(34:36):
and you.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Beat some of the biggest names on the Men's side,
you beat the biggest names. Jonathan Potassian did see t
derrek k Terribo icons of the Gate and you smoked
all of them?
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Yeah? No, dude, I'm telling you. I was just like,
I don't know, like it was like like during it,
I wasn't thinking about any of that right during it. Honestly,
I was kind of like like especially when I was
coming down the mountain. When I was coming down the mountain,
I mean I was seeing people just like I saw
a couple of people like sitting and I was like,
(35:16):
what are you doing sitting down? I was like, this
is the challenge? No. I was like, do you know
where you're at? Do you know what this do you
know what this game does? Do you know what you
go through here? And you're sitting down? I don't know
about all that.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Can you name it?
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Can?
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Can you name him?
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Or? Yeah? I mean like I think CT sat down
at one point, Leo was sitting down at one point.
I think Naya was also sitting down at one point.
But I mean people were just absolutely like just it
almost felt like they were dropping like flies, like they
were hurting so bad. And that was so great for
(35:58):
me because the things that I choose to pursue in
life are full of suffering. They always are. Everything that
I do has some little element of suffering in it,
because I truly believe that the best things that you
can do in life, and some of the best experiences
that you can ever have, are on the other side
of suffering. And so when I was up there just
(36:21):
getting it done, like you, just beating yourself down, I
felt like I was in my element. But I really
showed to me that this is not the lifestyle that
some people do live on the outside like I do,
Like I live this on the outside and then coming
(36:41):
here it was just doing it for competition, right, Some
of these people don't live that kind of life on
the outside and they come here and are put into
this kind of competition. And it really really showed on
that mountain.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
I gotta say that with insane, I still have the
still can get the image a tassium in turbo skipping
down that skipping to pass. I cannot get that image
out of my head.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Yeah, dude, I mean it's it was crazy. And again,
like you know, some of them might have had different, different,
you know, ideas for how they wanted to perform on
that one. How much they cared to perform well on
that or whatever. At least some of them might say that.
In my opinion, most people tried somewhat their best and
(37:30):
they came where they came, right. And I don't think
that there's any shame in admitting that you can't sprint
up a mountain, because that's not something that everybody can do.
It's very difficult. But I also think that there's an accountability
factor and trying not to make excuses like, oh, I
didn't you know, I didn't come in fifth. I could
have came in fifth, but I didn't come in fifth
because you know, that was a bad strategy for my game, right.
(37:53):
I think that's a little bit of a cop out
for some people if they're deciding to take that route
of it, But for me, it was you know, And
and I've got a lot of flacor that they're like, oh,
you came in first by like a fucking mile, and
that painted a huge target on your back. And I'm
over here like I don't care. I don't care. I'm
gonna show you exactly what I'm made of and if
(38:14):
you want it, you can come and get it.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
And you did, my friend, you did I want to
talk about something that happened in the middle, in the
halfway point before to halfway point, before all the teams
are selected, because you and Santy were together. You want soccer,
so we're send in Chaves and we're sent home and
against CT. I'm a little The reason why I want
to ask you is because I know this was a
theme about Lecca, justice for Laca, about that. But the
(38:40):
thing that I'm concerned, what I was a little confused
by is how did sending Shavas home was equivalent to
justice for Leacca? Because I'm so I'm honest, I'm a
little I was little confused by.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Next I totally understand, and I'm super glad that you
asked that question so we can kind of clear it up, right,
because there was a huge misconception, especially during that episode,
in that time period in the game, in which I
think that people somewhat misconstruted maybe the purpose of justice
(39:14):
for Leca, right and I and I can clear that
up for you right now, is getting Chavis into elimination
didn't have to do with justice for Leca. That had
to do Yeah, uh, it was justice, and to be honest,
it was justice for Jeremy Right, you know who had
the power that day, Jeremy who is the who is
(39:35):
the last competitor to take to take a shot at
me directly right, Regardless of how respectful he was about it,
he was like, you know, you're one of the best
players in this game. I you know, if if I lose,
I lose to a great if I if I win,
I get you out of this game. And I'm over
here like, yeah, well, I respect it, but at the
end of the day, you're putting my fucking game in jeopardy. Right.
(39:57):
My alliance pulled through and it didn't happen to I
went in there and he came out of that alive.
But at this point of the game, when I had
the power, I had the option to getting Derek Chavis out.
I mean, Derek Chavis was a finalist in forty. Let's
be real, He's an incredibly well rounded competitor, and it
was the perfect opportunity to get one a really well
(40:22):
rounded player like Derek Chravis out or potentially CT now
where Justice for Leka ties in is. It was a movement,
and it was a movement that worked right. It was
a movement in which a lot of people in the
House could get behind and they were like, you know what,
(40:42):
fuck yeut, Justice for Lecca. We got to get CT out.
Doesn't mean we have to get him out now. The
main purpose of Justice for Lecca movement was to stir
distaste for CT in the House so that that distaste
had longevity, which it did. If we created the distaste,
(41:04):
which we did, we have ample ammunition to put him
into elimination whenever he's an easy name. You know, why
why should we put CT in Justice for Lecca two
weeks down the road. That's why he asked me after
the elimination with Derek. He was like, do you think
that I've done enough to get away from Justice for Lecca?
And I don't know if you remember how I responded.
I was like, no, no, I don't. And I said
(41:27):
that for for an honest reason, And that reason was like,
absolutely not, because the distaste for you isn't gonna go
away until you leave. Therefore, we don't need you to
leave right now.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Now. I want to bring in two names that I
had both ties to, both Javes and cuct Now both
of them, even though Carr was gone. Hypothetically, if she's
steal there that's for number one, do you risk pissing
off one of the greats and that number two you
I bet JOHNA was pissed off as well with you guys.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Well like John A and both Caramera Carmeria. Yeah, at
that point the game, no, I like, we weren't worried
about because we had we had we had too many numbers, right.
The challenge is the numbers game. When the numbers build
up on a certain movement or a certain faction, the
likelihood of that being able to work in the future
is already solidified. Right, So if you're in car mari
(42:23):
Is you're gonna be mad at me, that's okay, but
you also have to be mad at the other ten
people who are also Justice for Lecca. So you're you're
gonna have to spread out that kind of anger, right,
which is something that I don't really like. I wasn't
super concerned about. John A had just come in the
game and she was kind of struggling to get her
get her feet in the game too, So to be honest,
(42:44):
we weren't taking her like incredibly serious. Although I know
that that sounds like, you know, kind of uh, kind
of shitty to say, but I'm gonna be super real
with you, you know what I mean. When she came in, Uh,
it was difficult for her to come in because there
were so many solid blocks of people already together, and
and you know, she was kind of just trying to
(43:05):
fit fill in like the lowest rank of whatever side
that she could be in. So I wasn't super worried
in who I was pissing off.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
I know, I just wanted to say it might have
been very interesting hypothetically, both because both Kara going after
car ct and Kara would have been are a dynamite
if their paradoff game over to almost everybody. And also
Johanna and Derek Chavez are ryder dives so and not
to mention a two time champion and a finalist together. Yeah,
(43:34):
so those two I think you mad. Do you think
you might face off with that made you have fordy
to and all four of them are there, you might
have some problems?
Speaker 2 (43:43):
No, absolutely, right, absolutely, And that's the thing about Uh,
that's the thing about playing this game is that you
can't you just can't appease everybody, you know what I'm saying.
And I think I think that's that's where I think
your best option is to be an authentic human being, right,
And that's that's what I've to do, right, And my opinions,
my opinions about certain people in the game, and my
(44:05):
opinions as certain people as people are completely different. And
I am mature enough to make a separation between your game,
your gameplay, and your personality and your your characteristics as
a human being. And if we go into a future
season or anything like that, and I hypothetically see any
(44:27):
of these people again and they want to hold that
old gameplay against me, then there's not much that I
can do to stop them except for explaining my perspective
purely and vulnerably without any lies to anybody. And that's
exactly what I do. That's why I come on these
podcasts to talk to you, and that's why I love
answering questions because you ask me and I want to
(44:48):
answer to you truthfully, like this is where my head's at.
This is why I made this decision. It had nothing
to do with hating you or wanting you out. It
was all strategy and that's all it is.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
And I have to respect you for that answer. I
have to respect you for the answer because it's been
for seven for six years, seven years. It's like, Okay,
I have people in my corner, my of my challenge family.
You have my honorary uncles and aunts, the John Brennan's,
the cyrus Yarboroughs, the Mark Locks, the Tina Bartos, the
bet the Best of Larks. Of course, you have Wes
(45:20):
and Derrek and and David Mallory and Brad and ct
the honorary antics, and of course see Carl, Maria and
Aviv the honor ants of course. And you guys are
like my You are like an honorary older younger brother
to me, honorary challenged younger brother. And I can say
that's so, But like the thing is, it's like with
that whole family leave, It's like, okay, it's hard to
(45:43):
like defend. Like I've bet my guys, my friends, Big Jay,
jos Ed, Paul, I Knit. I take a lot of
keats for my substiticions, for the people I met. I
build years of friendships with those guys.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
Yeah, and I and I totally understand that. And that
is something that like that is one of the best
things about this show, and it's something that I love
so much about this show is the fan base that
is created right, I've gotten so. I mean, especially in
this season alone, when me and when me and freaking
(46:16):
ct Or, you know, we're sharing a bunch of you know,
shit thrown at each other during when you know, the
justice for ct or Justice for Lecqua thing was going around,
like you know, I was taking mad hate right, and
you know, the I don't know, the pessive, pessimistic side
of me could have been like, oh, like fuck you guys,
like in the comments fighting, but I chose to look
(46:36):
at it as like these are such amazing fans that
are willing to go to battle for people that I
have love for in my heart. Even though CTS fans
were ripping me at some point, I built a beautiful
friendship with CT and I truly love him, and I
think he's an amazing person. I think he's an amazing man,
(46:58):
and he's got one of the best legs in reality
TV to date across anything, right, And I love him
so much and I'm so happy he has an army
behind him ready to fight for him at at a
Beckins call. So I never take no, I don't ever
say nothing serious from anybody because I know it's coming
from a place of love for somebody else that I
(47:20):
have some respect or love for.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
All Right, So, one final gaming I want to talk
to you about is that you, U and of B
were almost sent home a pull Together an Arena game.
So what was the strategy that you and A viv
used to overcome Gabe and Joanna?
Speaker 2 (47:35):
Okay, the strategy that we employed to overcome John Any
and Gabe during that elimination was that Aviva was gonna
do the road ladder. She was gonna get up there,
and she was just gonna unplug him as fast as
she could. And one of the rules of that game
is that with the climbing wall, any of the pegs
(47:56):
that were that didn't require you to get up on
the wall could be put in multiples, right, so you
can have it one in each hand and you can
start plugging them in like that, right. So my strategy
was to immediately start filling them all the way up
left to right. I didn't want to fill them up
completely randomly and maybe forget one or you know, because
(48:17):
if you fill them up randomly and you're not you
don't have a meticulous order in what you're doing, then
you might miss a spot or overlook something and then
you have to spend time later in the elimination searching
for where that hole is and then plug it. Right.
So my first thing was a vive job was climb
and just drop. I don't care where you drop them,
just drop them somewhere in this area. Just drop them
as fast as you can, and I'm just gonna start working.
(48:38):
I worked left to right in rows, and then once
I had to get up off the ground onto the wall,
I just took one pole. I kept it in my
left hand. I used these two fingers for climbing and
then these three for holding it, and then I did
the same thing. I worked left to right. But a
(48:59):
different france that I think was between me and Gabe
is that because I do do bouldering in my I
don't know if you know indoor rock climbing, I do
it a lot in my Yeah, I do it a
lot in my personal life. And it's about route building, right.
If you have a hard route that you're doing, you
do it ten times, but you have to do the
(49:20):
same route. You do the same route. And that's exactly
what I that I decided to use in that elimination
is using the same route because it was a route
that I knew where my feet and my hands were
gonna go, and it helped me climb up the wall
a lot faster than just taking a random route getting
in between certain poles or like that, and it really
(49:41):
spearheaded my ability to go up and down. And then
another strategy that I employed was when I had finished
putting one of the pegs in the wall, I pushed
off in a way that as I was falling, I
pushed to try to land where my you would land
right next to one, so I could grab it, come up,
(50:02):
and just race right back up the wall. So using
the dece end as a strategy as well.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
Awesome, Awesome. We will that concludes our game. Top guys.
When Jurmy comes back, we'll talk more about it, and
we'll talk more about However, there are two things I
want to talk to you about because I have an
interesting idea I want to put into the game, and
I want to hear the idea. Okay, your take on
its So for you, I have been covering America Scott's Talent,
(50:29):
and I've been a lifelong fan of the show since
twenty two thousand and six, in covering since twenty twelve,
so there's a future choice I want to add called
the plat skull, which is aching to that show's go
and buzzer, which if a judge or a host presses
an act for an act, they go directly to the
live semi quarterfinals or live finale. So my minus this,
(50:51):
after three elimination wins four people, two men or two
women and or two teams, they win those three straight
immunity wins, they are immune from eliminations. They get an
automatic spot in TJ's final and a cash prize from
a financial sponsor. So what do you think of that idea?
Speaker 2 (51:15):
I think that's a really interesting idea that you have
this golden buzzer and the and this uh this kind
of ticket, and you know what, I think that it's
I think that it's I think that it's I kind
of like it. I mean, it comes with a lot
of risk. I mean, are you are you kind of
saying that there's two routes to the final. Now, you
(51:38):
can have a route through strategically playing winning and winning
and not losing daily challenges and having a strong political
game to keep you out of elimination, and that is
a route to the final. But another route is winning
three eliminations in total and then getting like a golden
(51:58):
golden buzzer or golden skull or something to get that ticket.
I kind of like that, because you know, the idea
is to earn your way into the final and uh,
And to be honest, it's funny when people say to
earn your in the final. I think literally just competing
your way to that place is earning it in its
own right, because it's not easy to do. But I
(52:21):
think that's a really cool power in a cool twist
of the show that I think would be really dope.
Speaker 1 (52:26):
So the reason why I came up with that is
because I saw Carl Maria getting set in time and
Time again and All Stars four. I saw Corry and
Jenny and Rachel getting in for All Stars during the
Battle of the Ears, and then Adam and Steve and
then of course THEO and Adrian now with number four,
and I'm like, let's see the reaction the TJ just
they press the buzzer and they pressed the there's fireworks
(52:48):
go all the place, a banner at the Adrian and
THEO comes up drop off. Then they have a huge party.
Living might be coming running down, screaming and enjoy THEO
and Adrian do a lot of middle fingers, like, I
think that's really really be a good good viral moments.
Speaker 2 (53:05):
I think it would. I think it would. I think
that's it. I think that's really cool. I think that
would be a very interesting twist. I think it would
add a very different dynamic to this game in what
people decide what strategy they want, because some people are
pushed naturally into elimination so many times based either off
of their political affiliations or just their personality in general,
(53:27):
and you know, sometimes it feels like you're just not
going to get out of that, and some you know,
that could change your entire strategy of the game, and
being like, well, if I'm never gonna get out of this,
then I'm gonna use it to my benefit and help
me get to the final through the riskiest thing possible,
which is elimination.
Speaker 1 (53:45):
Yeah, and I gotta say this, I shot I shared
that question during Challenge Mania, Norell and West shut me down,
and then Scott and Mark shut me down during a
three hundred and seventy fifth episode and spoilers, you might
have two p people room for that. When when my
first episode of season seven my fifteenth anniversary comes out.
(54:06):
But Jerremy, I know we have we have to start
writing down one of our conversations. So where can an
audience connect with you on social media?
Speaker 2 (54:16):
Nice? Your audience can connect with me on Instagram. I'm
on Instagram, I'm on Facebook. I'm not insanely active on Facebook.
My main platform is Instagram. I'm not like the world's best.
I'm not an influencer by any means on Instagram, but
it is the place that I kind of do scrap
my scrapbook my life. I like to put travel videos together,
(54:37):
things that I'm doing, things that I'm working on, and
different organizations competitions that I care about and that I
advocate for. So if any of you guys want to
watch me, you guys want to follow me, you absolutely
can do that on Instagram. My name is Jeremy dot
Heikel and you can find me there.
Speaker 1 (54:56):
All righty guys, if you missed an episode of The
Jakes Sake with Jacob Eicher, this is our channels on
Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, at Radio, Spotify, and Spreaker Jakes
Think with Jacob Elli SR JC B E O Y
A C H E R. Now are you on social media.
I'm on social media to Facebook, Instagram, threads, Twitter, and YouTube.
Jacob ely sr jco b e O y A c
h A R to see all of my challenge content
(55:17):
including inter's. You've views with Jay, Joss, Allie, Jenny West,
John and Bett and Mark Longer heads to the blog
and started all jakesshak dot com. And I want to
say this. I want to say thank you so much
to do the Stevie Awards, forwarding me a twenty twenty
five American Business Award for Silver stev for Best Interview
Talk Show. I really appreciate arm. This was an amazing
(55:39):
part one. I cannot wait for our part two. And
thank you so much for all the service that you've done.
And to all of the service members men and women
passing president, thank you so much for your sacrifice. We
really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (55:51):
Thank you so much, Jacob. This has been an absolute blast, bro.
It's an honor to talk to you. It's an honor
to be on your podcast. Dude. I love what you do,
I love your your theories, and I love how you
dissect this game and I think it's amazing. I would
love to come back anytime. Man. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (56:06):
You're so welcome to here, and guys, thank you so
much for watching, thank you so much for having. Until
next time, have a great one. God bye.
Hello everybody, Welcome to our Veterans Day special. I'm your host,
Jacob Elijar, the chief concert producer and writer of The
Jake's Take with Jacob and the host of The Jake
Stake with Jacob Elizer podcast, a pop culture entertainment news website.
Before we get started today, if you're watching us on YouTube,
please give us a thumbs up.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
If you're listening to our audio platform, please download this
episode and all the other episodes, and don't forget to
leave a five star rating. I am honored and thrilled
to welcome this guest. I've been waiting for him to
come on for a while now and he's finally here.
He's a former marine. He's also an explorer and Mo,
you might have seen him on an amazing race thirty
(00:59):
five rather Liam, and right now he is kicking butts
and it's two forty one. That's versus New Threats with
two daily wins and one elimination when under his bus.
Please help me welcome Jeremy Hi Pael to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Let's go. Thank you, Jacob, Thank you so much for
having me.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Man.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Love watching your stuff, love love your opinions and hearing
everything you got to say. So, I'm excited to chat
with you today, man, share my experience with you.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I'm so happy to have you here, Jeremy. You've been
on Team Jacob's through New Threats and along with Justin,
along with my our good friend Ben the Ben Davis
and Cedric plus d and Lecca and Sidney co.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It's a good lineup right there, Dude.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I know, I know on you almost were dominating. You
guys have been dominating the game. And I gotta say this,
this is I came in during final reckoning to Pollie
and Davon's season. Okay, so the rookie class have wore
the worlds wide have lot to live up to, and
they did. But however, your rookie class right now is
(02:10):
kicking butt and taking names.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yes it is, dude, it really is. And it's a
you know, it's a it's a breath of fresh air
to kind of hear that that our rookie class is
really standing up to a lot of past rookie classes
that have really shown out in this competition. It's not
an easy competition by any means, and it requires a
lot of diversity in your skill set. For every rookie
(02:35):
or new threat that comes in. So it's just really
nice to hear the fan base and the audience members
and all the fans just be reacting really positively to
our skills, our gameplay, everything like that. So it's great
to hear.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
And your ears so welcome because you guys have literally
I've been bored of the Vacation Alliance. I know, people
I don't know if you've heard about them, it's they've
been a drag on this show. You guys came and
brought that spark backs and like, seriously, even people I
(03:10):
didn't was on my room for look at Adrian. She
is dominating the game.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Oh my god, I know.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
And not to mention the fact that Will has been
has trot and show very polarizing figure. But however he's
been delivering a drama.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yes he has. I mean Will Will. With what he
can bring physically, he can also bring it socially in
kind of that entertainment aspect. You know, he can get
a little messy, he can get you know, messy in
the house, he can get messy in the bed. He's
he's bringing a lot of you know, kind of that
old stall challenger out and it is definitely a lot
(03:48):
of fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Oh yeah, and we got to talk about are some
of our people that we lost early. I gotta say
Ben the Bin Davis. I definitely think it meant a
lot to me because I never would see myself on
the challenge, so seeing a podcast as someone it's been
in media. And I gotta say this, if he wasn't
taken out by Chavez, I think he had done wonders
and I think that I really want to see him
(04:12):
come back.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Absolutely, I feel the same way, man. I really I
really like Ben, you know what I mean? Not only
was he an amazing person, he was so much fun
to be around. I've said this multiple times and I'll
say it again, is Ben was one of those He
was one of those guys in the house that I
just felt so comfortable with and I felt like, no
matter what, I could go to him during any time
(04:34):
of the day and just kind of shoot the shit
with him. Me and him had so many laughs together.
We talked a lot, and he just had this underdog
fire within him, feeling like he just didn't compare, you know,
sometimes physically to or even really like experience wise to
a lot of different people in the house. Because he
wasn't from a previous show or anything like that, but
(04:56):
I think that he did wonderful with the cards that
he was dealt, and he's just an absolutely determined like person.
So I absolutely would love to see him back. And
I think that he can do a lot of damage
in this game.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I know, and speaking of giving a lot of damage
to this game, it's like it's not leave. I could
see Turbo and Meca really being a dominant force.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Oh yeah, I mean, Lex was incredible. I had a
ton of respect for Lex. I remember. One of the
first things that I noticed about her was one that
she was a due athlete, which is insane. That's already
a very very intense physical feed to compete in as
it is, and it requires a ton of training time
and sacrifice from the players that compete in those sports.
(05:39):
But she also competed on Canada's Ultimate Challenge, and although
I haven't seen full seasons of that, I know that
it's just incredibly similar to MTV's The Challenge. So I
knew her coming into this game. She already had a
handle on what she wanted to do. She had a
handle on kind of how to go about the game
(06:01):
in general, and yeah, she was a beast. I love
like I got nothing but good thing to say about her.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
And I gotta say a thing and also a lot
of people I am so I gotta say this. Oh,
I gotta say that Sidney sing Siddy is doing amazing.
She's definitely proved to be Wes's honorary daughter. And with
her step I fear as someone that has been a
podcaster and also Jewish podcaster, I am so proud that
(06:29):
she's representing us. And it makes me so angry when
people in our rep fan base go after her, and
indeed I cannot stand it. I will not tolerate it.
And I want to say, Jarimi, thank you so much
for backing her up.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I always back sit up. You know what I'm saying.
It is a She's a great person. I love her.
I love her persona on the show. She's so cautious,
she's so over the top, but she is just incredibly intelligent,
and she has so much reason and logic that backs
her beliefs and she stands up against all odds. And
(07:02):
I think that no matter what position that you ever take,
if you are well informed and you have such strong
values that are tied to the thing that you're advocating for.
I can always defend that, and she is somebody that
I have definitely seen take a lot of flak for
a lot of different opinions, a lot of different stances.
But I'll stand behind Sydney always.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
As a thousand percent with me. And finally, last we
gotta talk about dressin. Oh my god, he's turning into
that to one of the most I never thought I
would see Cheer. I had justin as an underdog like
Ben that I never thought I could see, never underestimate him.
He took out Rogan, he took out Jake, he took
(07:46):
beat Jake. It's like, not Jake, Gabe, I'm so sorry.
I apologize, good, You're good. Yeah. He how lasted Jonathan
potassium mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
And that is the thing too, just has been like
from the get go, he had kind of been underestimated
by a lot of people, and me to include that
as well, I always want to include myself in that
because at a certain point in the game I did
underestimate him. And it just really proves that lifelong philosophy,
(08:18):
if you cannot judge a book by its color, right,
hearing that he came from Cheer I didn't even know
what that show was. I just knew that he was
a cheerleader and watching him perform challenge after challenge, week
after week. He I said this the other day and
I still stand by it. I think Justin is one
of the if not the MVP rookies of this season.
(08:43):
He is an insane competitor and he has shown that
every single every single challenge, elimination, stay claim, whatever it
is that he goes up against, he perseveres and he
comes out on top. And his partnership with Nonny Blossoms
and that is the just speaks volumes to the communication
style that he can have and how he can attribute
(09:07):
his strength to somebody else's and work in a very
cohesive team.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Absolutely absolutely, And I know that a lot of people
gave them flack about Javas as well. But the thing is,
what I got to say is if the thing is
I would like to see it Justin go up against
some of the best members of the LGBT Men's Group,
Frank Sweeney, Fox Shady, Shane Landren Pauly, Kyle Fieri. Now
all three of them are known to be loud, known
(09:32):
to be manipulative. That I gotta one, Justin. If you
thought Javis was rough, those three di just mentioned are
very dangerous.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Absolutely, dude, absolutely, And I think that, to be honest
with you, I think that that worked towards his advantage,
especially earlier in the game. To have such such a
blatant kind of you know, knife in the back so
early and so public was I think something that worked
towards Justin's you know, benefit, especially in the longevity of
(10:04):
the game. Right in the beginning of the game, he
was mad, underestimated, went to elimination, proved himself right after
getting backstabbed by Derek, and then for the rest of
the game. I mean, he really earned his respect. He's
been out of the limelight. Nobody has like severely voted
for him. He did have to go through the stake
acclaim against Gabe, which was a very nerve wracking experience.
(10:27):
I mean, just to put ourselves in that state of mind.
It was the very first time that that power or
that twist was being used and he was the victim
of that. So to have to go through that the
first time and still clout on top, I mean, Justin
as a freaking hero, dude.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Absolutely, we got to move away to the rookie class
for a little bit, because the thing is, we got
to talk about why you're here, which is our veterans
stay special. And before we get to that, I want
to say thank you so much for your service, for
your sack. I really appreciate it, and on behalf of
my audience, I appreciate all what you've gone through.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Thank you. I appreciate that. I always it's always an
interesting thing to hear like that, thank you for your service,
and I like to always respond with like, thank you
for your support. There are you know, there are factions
or sections of regions in this country with people who
sometimes don't have the same perspective towards service members, and
(11:28):
sometimes you go around and that can kind of show
and by any means it doesn't like, you know, it's
not gonna kill me, you know, when that happens. I
understand people at different views, but I always appreciate it
when people, you know, thank me and show their support
for what my service has done and what the troops do,
because there's a lot of people who are busting rafts
(11:50):
in this country right now to help their families get
a better life, to help them get a better life,
to help become better people, and it's not easy, but
they do do it, and it's a very large sacrifice
for their life. So I appreciate that. Man.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
You're welcome. You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Man.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Also, I got to say that the reason why I
thought saw Marine and I remind well, just finished watching
Netflix's Boots, which is probably one of the most powerful
things I saw about that, and so what I and
I was like, Wow, I did not know about this
history and about the Marines and like that. But however,
the thing is what you might have experienced on Boots,
(12:26):
but boot Camp wise must have been dissimilar or even advanced.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yeah, I mean boot Camp was very, very intent. I'm
not sure exactly how it relates to Boots. I haven't
seen that show, but I have heard a lot of
things about it. But yeah, boot boot Camp wasn't it's
no joke. It's no joke, and it's not uh and
you know it's not to me. It's not meant to
be easy. It's meant to be one of the hardest
(12:52):
things you ever do. And it is designed in a
way to break the individual down, which it absolutely does,
and it breaks down hard, and you really go through
an existential crisis, you know what I mean, when your
back is up and against the wall and you are
day in and day out living through a very hellish experience,
(13:13):
a very very intense and physically and mentally demanding environment
that you're living in that is high stress, like every
minute of every day. It really does a number on you.
But in the middle of that, you are so broken down,
and they really harp and they bust it into you
(13:34):
that when you're this down, the people that you need
to lean on are your brothers and your sisters, the
ones that are right here that are suffering with you.
You lean on them and they lean on you. And
that's what creates marines, That's what creates the warrior spirit,
and that's what they do. And then by the end,
you are one of the hardest versions of yourself that
(13:59):
you have ever been and you are probably one of
the most proudest versions of yourself that you've ever you've
ever viewed of yourself at the end of it. So
it is a very it's a very dramatic but almost
like transcending experience.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
For people who go through it, I think you've done
and one I think for me, Blamy, I would not
go through that I would have going through that, But
I'm very proud of you of what you've gone through.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Well, thank you appreciate it all right.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
So, as you've had that marine experience, and what were
some of the lessons that you learned from that time
that helped you grow?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
I suppose, Well, there's a lot, man, there's a lot.
I mean one of the biggest ones was being able
to endure hardship. The Marines is full of it. Like
you know, about eighty percent of your life while you're
you're living in the in the Marines has some sort
of if it's not physical or it's mental, hardship that
(14:56):
you are going to go through. And being trained as
a to endure those things and still be able to
focus on you know, back then it was a mission,
right or an objective. Being able to block everything out
and still focus on the task at hand is extremely
important and that's something that has helped me tremendously after.
(15:18):
But another one was probably like self reliance. And I
think this was a big one for me, and I
think it's a large one for a lot of other
Marines who ended up separating front of the Marine Corps.
Is you kind of get to a certain point where
you realize in the middle of the Marine Corps you're
(15:39):
a cog in the machine and you're extremely valuable. You're
extremely valuable, right because at that point in your career
you're right in the middle. Right, you've got like two
years left, you have just in two years of training.
You're a workhorse. You're moving up the ranks. Like your
job is to be is to be great, right, be
great at PT, be great at your job, know a
lot of things like become a leader. Do all these
(16:02):
things right, and you're extremely valuable. But towards the end,
especially if you decide that your path in life isn't
going to stay in the Marines, a lot of Marines,
like myself and others have experienced that. Once you kind
of make that shift and you decide that you're like, Okay,
the Marines isn't going to be my life, there is
(16:24):
somewhat of a change that happens where the Marine Corps
doesn't actually support you as much as you felt like
they might have. It's just it's mainly because you're not
doing what they need you to do. Right. They're trying
to fill numbers, they're trying to fill spots they need you.
You're a piece, and they need you to fit in
(16:45):
where they need you to fit in. But once you
decide that you need to go against that because you
have different things that you want in life, it starts
to become very difficult and you learn really fast that
you have to take care of yourself because now nobody's
going to help take care of you.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And that's important. And no matter what happens, and like
especially no matter if you're working in marines or working
government job, or working at any or even on or
even on a competitive reality TV show or something like that, Yep,
it's you gotta be You gotta focus on you.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
You do you do, And there's an entire element of that,
and it's important, especially as it as it relates to
reality TV, reality TV shows, or even the challenge in
general is it's very easy to get caught up in
the cogni machine. Oh I'm part of this group, or
I'm part of this alliance, I'm this, I'm I'm I
am protected by this huge thing. But it's very easy
(17:40):
to get lost in that comfortability and to to lose
sight of yourself, you know what I mean, like lose
sight of that that self reliance that you need to
have in forward thinking, like oh, where where do I
actually stand in this alliance? Like how many friends do
I actually have? And as this dwindles down, am I
in a good position? And if you're not really forward
(18:01):
thinking like that, it can definitely bite you in the ass.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I know, I know we'll get back to it, but
I wanted to conclude our marine conversation and say, like,
when you got out of when you were when you
were discharged, what did you have in the halfway moment
between getting building your life back and leading the Marines?
Were there any things that were like did you like say, Okay,
(18:24):
I really wish I made that To me, I think
I made the wrong decision? Or did were you come
full of their guts?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
No? Man, I'm telling you like I went through it.
I went through an experience where just about like the
last six six to eight months in the Marine Corps,
I had that harsh reality check where I was like, Wow,
the Marine Corps is they don't want to support me
in what I want to do my unit. They don't
care to support me what I want to do. They
don't want to help me go to college, they don't
want to help me do this and it's all on me,
(18:52):
and I kind of grew a chip on my shoulder
where I was like, damn, like, you guys really don't
care about me, and you guys don't really you know,
you really don't want to support me in this next
chapter of my life because it doesn't kind of like
fit your needs. And because of that, it really lit
a fire under me, and I was like, you know what,
if you don't support me and you don't believe me,
(19:14):
I have to believe in myself and I'm the only
one who's gonna do it. So I did all my
you know, I made sure I got into college on
my own. I did all my transfer credits, I got
in there, I found my apartment, I moved myself completely,
and there wasn't really there wasn't really a time during
that where I was like, oh, I made the wrong decision.
(19:35):
It was always kind of like I'm I am free
to prove all of y'all wrong. Like I can do
this because there's a huge kind of like culture in
there at the end, especially where they do a lot
of propaganda towards you, where they're like, oh, if you
get out, you know, like eighty percent of Marines who
get out are homeless within the first five years. You know,
(19:56):
like ninety percent of Marines who go to college drop
out within the first year and stuff like that. And
I was like, that's insane that you're telling me these
statistics right now when I'm telling you what like my
dream is and what my next steps are. And after
going through kind of that, I was like, na, bro,
I'm going to get this and I'm going to do
it exactly how I told you I was going to do.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
It, and you prove them wrong. And that's the thing, Yes,
you can. They can never take away your service or
your record that you proved them wrong.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yep, I did. I did exactly that. And that's why
I'll forever be grateful for my mindset. I'll be grateful
for my grid, for my tenacity, and for my ambition. Man,
once I choose something that I want to do like,
I will go and do it like. I will make
the action to execute the plan and accomplish if it's
(20:44):
if it's a goal or if it's a dream, like,
I will figure out how to do it. And that
was a pivotal moment in my life after my service,
where you know, I had just finished, you know, being
like eighteen nineteen twenty, and it was me entering the
world as as a young man and I was still
able to do it.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
So I'm proud of you. And that's it. And you
will not be and you will not be here. We
would have a different conversation, but I'm happy that you're
here and I'm glad you start with your guts.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Thank you, man. I appreciate you, dude.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
All right, So let's get to the amazing race, shall we.
So they many of my audience know you from your
time competing with your brother A liam on on thirty five,
So why do you decide it was time for you
guys to race around the world?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
So that that story is kind of interested. I remember
when the Castle producer came around asking me. They originally
asked me to to cast for a Big Brother That
was the that was the original show. Yep, that was
the That was the very first. That was my very
first experience with reality. T was getting uh. It was
(21:53):
essentially getting recruited to cast for a Big Brothers. So
I had never seen Big Brother before I casted for it.
It didn't go anywhere. I didn't I didn't get I
didn't cast for it or anything like that. And then
about a year later they came they came back for
the Amazing Race and they were like, you know, this
seems like it's way more up your your alley. Like
(22:15):
you're a huge adventure guy, You'll love experiences, you'll love adrenaline,
Like this show is very much tailored to that kind
of that kind of style. And I was like, looks
that way sounds sounds wonderful. I love that. So at
that time and place, I was trying to find a
partner that that I had like a good cohesion right,
(22:37):
and a good like dynamic with and at that time
and place, me and Liam weren't in a very good
situation relationship wise, we weren't very we weren't talking a ton,
but me and Liam's dynamic was it was always amazing, right.
It was very charismatic. It always was full of energy,
(22:58):
and even if we weren't and we didn't have the
best relationship, we could kind of like switch that off
and still have this this brotherantly banter that we have.
So I was like, you know, I just reach out
to him. I was like, Hey, would you be interested
in casting for this show with me? It's something that
I'm willing. I'd really like to try and if you're
open to it, I'd love for you to be my partner.
And he was like, yeah, dude, I'm down, and we
(23:20):
got into the casting process and that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
First of all, Big Brother's loss was the challenge gain.
I can tell you that much ahead of time because
I have I did not watch after all, I watched
Big Brother from season sixteen all the way to the
first All Star season. The second All Star season is
said audio because it was a little too top Okay,
but I gotta say this. You and Liam were but
(23:44):
at the back of the pack throughout your run, and
in your opinion, what were the factors that made you
two near the bottom of the pack and eventually still
had to say, I'm sorry your time was you're with
the racist done?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, dude, Like that is such a that is so like,
that's such a big question that you know, I asked
myself once we got out for the race, because we really, like, man,
we really tried to train for it. We really tried
to prepare ourselves for it. I mean, our communication throughout
the entire show was really really good. We were communicating
very well. We were making decisions taking account into both
(24:19):
of our ideas. We were incredibly supportive of each other
and encouraging. But I think that one thing that we
lacked was the strategy of decision making, and in the
amazing race, that is imperative because it's not just I mean,
there's so many elements that come into deciding whether you
(24:42):
want to do Who does a detour, who does a roadblock,
and you're not exactly sure which one is going to
be the best, especially when it comes to a detour.
It tells you both of the tasks and you get
to choose, but you obviously don't know everything that takes
into that. But one of the things that we could
have absolutely done better was try to analyze the different
(25:03):
detours that we were doing, because you know, in the end,
I think we chose the wrong detour that took way
too much time. It was delivering flowers, and if we
had chosen the other one, there would have been a
chance that maybe we weren't last. So that's what I
like to.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Say, awesome. Awesome. So now we got to go back
to our friends and we're the challenge. So why do
you decide that season forty one, that's versus New Threats
was the perfect season for you to jump on board.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Wow, you know, man like. After after the Amazing Race,
I decided to finish out my college career. I had
one about one year left, two semesters, and I went
ahead and I finished it up, and then I prioritized,
like a life of travel. That is always been kind
of my biggest goal in life. I always wanted to
(25:58):
be like a world explorer. I want explore all the continents,
different cultures, people, landmarks, history. It's just my passion in life.
So I started doing that, and I was never really
sure if Reality TV was going to come back again.
But after the Amazing Race was done, I remember having
an interview for another Veterans Day special, probably the year
(26:21):
after I compete on an Amazing Race, and our host
was tjal It was TJ, and it was me and
two other marines, one from Survivor one from Big Brother.
I don't remember their names exactly, but one of the
questions that TJ asked us as he was wrapping up
the interview was what are some other shows that you
(26:42):
would want to be on? And I told him, and
I got to tell him to his face on that interview,
I was like, man, the Challenge. The Challenge is ten
out of ten a show that I absolutely would love
to do. It's amazing. I feel like I would do
really good at it, and it's just an incredible show.
And it kind of became like my dream show. And
(27:05):
then after that interview, man like like a I don't
even know, like maybe a year, year and a half
past and uh and then and then yeah, a producer
from the Challenge reached out to me and asked me
if I wanted to if I'd be interested in casting
for season forty one, and I was, oh, man, I
was blown away. I was blown away. I was, yeah, dude,
(27:26):
I mean I'm telling you. I was just I was
so surprised. I was so surprised, and I was like,
oh my god, I can't believe it's happening, Like this
is this is the show that I would want to
be on over all shows, and the fact that they came,
you know, asking me to potentially be a pardon it
was was incredible for me.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I gotta say this like it I to hear this.
It's just amazing. And then have a full super moment
when you face off with TJ, when you first arrived
and with the best in the background, So what would
it like U nine with TG again and having the
best in the background.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
That was an extremely intimidating moment, Jacob. I'm gonna be
so real with you, Like, we didn't know anything going
into that interview except for like to come up with
like three words that we had to say, right, and
and that was the only thing we knew. And we
just heard that TJ was gonna ask us questions and
that was it, right, And I walked in to that
(28:21):
like interrogation room, the single light and you know, the
dark dark room, and TJ was sitting on the other
side of the table, and you know, you always see him.
He looked so nice and he really is nice, but
in that moment, he was pretty stern, right. He was
very much an interrogator of personality. And I was sitting
down and just seeing him face to face first of all,
(28:42):
that that was surreal, right, I mean I've watched seasons
of this show and seen him and seeing him again
I got interviewed by him, and I was like, Wow,
this is incredible, you know what I mean. But I
actually had no idea. I had no idea that there
all the other vets were we're sitting behind him. To
be honest with you, it was really dark in there,
(29:03):
and when I saw that if there was people there,
I kind of just thought that they were like producers.
I had no idea, so I didn't even I didn't
have an idea that there were vets up there at all.
So when I was just speaking to TJ, I was
just like I was trying to do my best articulate
my sentence as well and make the best impression of
(29:24):
who I am authentically what I bring to the table
as well as I wanted. I always wanted to have
a sense of vulnerability in my response. I felt like
a lot of other competitors were just going to kind
of like hype their self up like all strengths, and
I wanted to like choose some strengths, but I also
(29:45):
wanted to choose a weakness, and I wanted to show
people like I wanted to let them in inside me
a little bit and let them know, like, hey, I
do do a lot of shit and I come from
a background that they can be very intimidating, but you know,
I am still scared. And you know the word that
I used at that at that interview was fearful, and
(30:05):
I was like, I am fearful, Like I'm scared to
be here. I'm this is this is a scary and
fear inducing experience that I'm I'm able to take. But
I you know, that emotion is still very raw to me,
and it is very real.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
I gotta say that you were absolutely amazing the two
that I remember the most of the I know, that's
a blur. Everything that you and Cedric came out with
guns ablazing. When I never thought When I saw Cedric
shaking TJ's hand, I was like, wow, I'm in for it.
And I saw you, I'm like, okay, this guy's.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yeah, yeah, dude, Cedric was. Cedric was badass man. Cedric is.
He's the real deal for sure. Man. He's you know,
not only is an incredibly kind uh and a really
really positive person, but he's an absolute dog in the competition.
I mean, you know what I mean, physically, he checks
all boxes right, He's insanely meticulous, very very good strategist,
(31:06):
and he is wicked smart.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
I ain't gonna make a prediction you two will be
the last male new threat standing.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
That is an interesting prediction, Jacob, I am curious to
see how it plays out.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Alrighty, And if I make that prediction, will you come back?
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Of course, I will come back anytime you invite me, Jacob,
I would always love to come back and chalt with
you man.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Alrighty, alrighty. So you hear to hear both guys. So
after the show, Jeremy's coming back, so I'll we'll talk
about the latter half of the game. But however, we
gotta say this, there are only a couple of people
that make it a strong first impression on me. My
dear friend JOSSH. Mooney. My friend Josh Mooney, who is
one of my all time favorite Era four guys, made
(31:54):
his impression on the show known when he raced up
the Rock of Gibraltar on Vendettas. You join him in
that when you move, that's when you first raced down
the mountain and made to the house first.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Yeah, dude, that was That was intense, bro, that was intense,
and it was a it was a crazy moment for me.
And it's it's really funny because I get a lot
of like, you know, I I've heard a lot of
people's opinions on it. It's like, oh, like why would
you do that or you're just you're asking for a
target to be painted on your back, uh for you,
for you to perform that way. But to be honest
(32:30):
with you, man, I didn't. I didn't have it. I
didn't have a single thought in my head about like,
oh maybe sorry, maybe I should dial my skill, like
maybe I should dit myself back right. That wasn't my
that wasn't my intention, and I never have I never
had and I never do have that in a competitive environment.
(32:50):
But when I was running up that hill, Jacob, I
was in the beginning of the pack, and that was
in the very very beginning, and I ended up taking
the wrong turn on to a wrong trailhead. Yeah, this
is something they didn't show. This is something that not
a lot of people know. But me and Justin were
leading the pack. We both went off trail to we
(33:11):
essentially cut in into a different trail and we ran
on that one for a couple of minutes before we
were like, oh wait, nobody else was behind us. I
think that we're going the wrong way. We quickly went
back up to the main trail and we saw all
of the rest of the competitors like running in a
huge line like as some of them were almost like
little ants in the distance out there running up this
(33:33):
huge Boulton and I was just like, oh my god.
In my head, I was just beating myself up, and
I was like, you just took the wrong freaking turn
and you were first, and now you're in the very back,
like you better figure out how to fix this. And
I just turned on my burners, dude, And honestly, I
(33:53):
was just at that point, I was just like, empty
the tank and I emptied the tank and I ran
through everyone all the way up that mountain. I remember
the first the person who was in first for the
men was Rogany it was it was Rogan, and I
remember seeing him and he got to this certain incline
where it stopped his run and he had to go
(34:14):
into a walk, and in my head I saw him,
I was like, Okay, run past Rogan and just run
as long as you possibly can until it pushes you
into a hike. And once it pushes you into hike,
it just continue to hike. And that's exactly what I did.
And I just went up that mountain, like y'all saw,
(34:36):
and you.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Beat some of the biggest names on the Men's side,
you beat the biggest names. Jonathan Potassian did see t
derrek k Terribo icons of the Gate and you smoked
all of them?
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Yeah? No, dude, I'm telling you. I was just like,
I don't know, like it was like like during it,
I wasn't thinking about any of that right during it. Honestly,
I was kind of like like especially when I was
coming down the mountain. When I was coming down the mountain,
I mean I was seeing people just like I saw
a couple of people like sitting and I was like,
(35:16):
what are you doing sitting down? I was like, this
is the challenge? No. I was like, do you know
where you're at? Do you know what this do you
know what this game does? Do you know what you
go through here? And you're sitting down? I don't know
about all that.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Can you name it?
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Can?
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Can you name him?
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Or? Yeah? I mean like I think CT sat down
at one point, Leo was sitting down at one point.
I think Naya was also sitting down at one point.
But I mean people were just absolutely like just it
almost felt like they were dropping like flies, like they
were hurting so bad. And that was so great for
(35:58):
me because the things that I choose to pursue in
life are full of suffering. They always are. Everything that
I do has some little element of suffering in it,
because I truly believe that the best things that you
can do in life, and some of the best experiences
that you can ever have, are on the other side
of suffering. And so when I was up there just
(36:21):
getting it done, like you, just beating yourself down, I
felt like I was in my element. But I really
showed to me that this is not the lifestyle that
some people do live on the outside like I do,
Like I live this on the outside and then coming
(36:41):
here it was just doing it for competition, right, Some
of these people don't live that kind of life on
the outside and they come here and are put into
this kind of competition. And it really really showed on
that mountain.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
I gotta say that with insane, I still have the
still can get the image a tassium in turbo skipping
down that skipping to pass. I cannot get that image
out of my head.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Yeah, dude, I mean it's it was crazy. And again,
like you know, some of them might have had different, different,
you know, ideas for how they wanted to perform on
that one. How much they cared to perform well on
that or whatever. At least some of them might say that.
In my opinion, most people tried somewhat their best and
(37:30):
they came where they came, right. And I don't think
that there's any shame in admitting that you can't sprint
up a mountain, because that's not something that everybody can do.
It's very difficult. But I also think that there's an accountability
factor and trying not to make excuses like, oh, I
didn't you know, I didn't come in fifth. I could
have came in fifth, but I didn't come in fifth
because you know, that was a bad strategy for my game, right.
(37:53):
I think that's a little bit of a cop out
for some people if they're deciding to take that route
of it, But for me, it was you know, And
and I've got a lot of flacor that they're like, oh,
you came in first by like a fucking mile, and
that painted a huge target on your back. And I'm
over here like I don't care. I don't care. I'm
gonna show you exactly what I'm made of and if
(38:14):
you want it, you can come and get it.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
And you did, my friend, you did I want to
talk about something that happened in the middle, in the
halfway point before to halfway point, before all the teams
are selected, because you and Santy were together. You want soccer,
so we're send in Chaves and we're sent home and
against CT. I'm a little The reason why I want
to ask you is because I know this was a
theme about Lecca, justice for Laca, about that. But the
(38:40):
thing that I'm concerned, what I was a little confused
by is how did sending Shavas home was equivalent to
justice for Leacca? Because I'm so I'm honest, I'm a
little I was little confused by.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Next I totally understand, and I'm super glad that you
asked that question so we can kind of clear it up, right,
because there was a huge misconception, especially during that episode,
in that time period in the game, in which I
think that people somewhat misconstruted maybe the purpose of justice
(39:14):
for Leca, right and I and I can clear that
up for you right now, is getting Chavis into elimination
didn't have to do with justice for Leca. That had
to do Yeah, uh, it was justice, and to be honest,
it was justice for Jeremy Right, you know who had
the power that day, Jeremy who is the who is
(39:35):
the last competitor to take to take a shot at
me directly right, Regardless of how respectful he was about it,
he was like, you know, you're one of the best
players in this game. I you know, if if I lose,
I lose to a great if I if I win,
I get you out of this game. And I'm over
here like, yeah, well, I respect it, but at the
end of the day, you're putting my fucking game in jeopardy. Right.
(39:57):
My alliance pulled through and it didn't happen to I
went in there and he came out of that alive.
But at this point of the game, when I had
the power, I had the option to getting Derek Chavis out.
I mean, Derek Chavis was a finalist in forty. Let's
be real, He's an incredibly well rounded competitor, and it
was the perfect opportunity to get one a really well
(40:22):
rounded player like Derek Chravis out or potentially CT now
where Justice for Leka ties in is. It was a movement,
and it was a movement that worked right. It was
a movement in which a lot of people in the
House could get behind and they were like, you know what,
(40:42):
fuck yeut, Justice for Lecca. We got to get CT out.
Doesn't mean we have to get him out now. The
main purpose of Justice for Lecca movement was to stir
distaste for CT in the House so that that distaste
had longevity, which it did. If we created the distaste,
(41:04):
which we did, we have ample ammunition to put him
into elimination whenever he's an easy name. You know, why
why should we put CT in Justice for Lecca two
weeks down the road. That's why he asked me after
the elimination with Derek. He was like, do you think
that I've done enough to get away from Justice for Lecca?
And I don't know if you remember how I responded.
I was like, no, no, I don't. And I said
(41:27):
that for for an honest reason, And that reason was like,
absolutely not, because the distaste for you isn't gonna go
away until you leave. Therefore, we don't need you to
leave right now.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Now. I want to bring in two names that I
had both ties to, both Javes and cuct Now both
of them, even though Carr was gone. Hypothetically, if she's
steal there that's for number one, do you risk pissing
off one of the greats and that number two you
I bet JOHNA was pissed off as well with you guys.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Well like John A and both Caramera Carmeria. Yeah, at
that point the game, no, I like, we weren't worried
about because we had we had we had too many numbers, right.
The challenge is the numbers game. When the numbers build
up on a certain movement or a certain faction, the
likelihood of that being able to work in the future
is already solidified. Right, So if you're in car mari
(42:23):
Is you're gonna be mad at me, that's okay, but
you also have to be mad at the other ten
people who are also Justice for Lecca. So you're you're
gonna have to spread out that kind of anger, right,
which is something that I don't really like. I wasn't
super concerned about. John A had just come in the
game and she was kind of struggling to get her
get her feet in the game too, So to be honest,
(42:44):
we weren't taking her like incredibly serious. Although I know
that that sounds like, you know, kind of uh, kind
of shitty to say, but I'm gonna be super real
with you, you know what I mean. When she came in, Uh,
it was difficult for her to come in because there
were so many solid blocks of people already together, and
and you know, she was kind of just trying to
(43:05):
fit fill in like the lowest rank of whatever side
that she could be in. So I wasn't super worried
in who I was pissing off.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
I know, I just wanted to say it might have
been very interesting hypothetically, both because both Kara going after
car ct and Kara would have been are a dynamite
if their paradoff game over to almost everybody. And also
Johanna and Derek Chavez are ryder dives so and not
to mention a two time champion and a finalist together. Yeah,
(43:34):
so those two I think you mad. Do you think
you might face off with that made you have fordy
to and all four of them are there, you might
have some problems?
Speaker 2 (43:43):
No, absolutely, right, absolutely, And that's the thing about Uh,
that's the thing about playing this game is that you
can't you just can't appease everybody, you know what I'm saying.
And I think I think that's that's where I think
your best option is to be an authentic human being, right,
And that's that's what I've to do, right, And my opinions,
my opinions about certain people in the game, and my
(44:05):
opinions as certain people as people are completely different. And
I am mature enough to make a separation between your game,
your gameplay, and your personality and your your characteristics as
a human being. And if we go into a future
season or anything like that, and I hypothetically see any
(44:27):
of these people again and they want to hold that
old gameplay against me, then there's not much that I
can do to stop them except for explaining my perspective
purely and vulnerably without any lies to anybody. And that's
exactly what I do. That's why I come on these
podcasts to talk to you, and that's why I love
answering questions because you ask me and I want to
(44:48):
answer to you truthfully, like this is where my head's at.
This is why I made this decision. It had nothing
to do with hating you or wanting you out. It
was all strategy and that's all it is.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
And I have to respect you for that answer. I
have to respect you for the answer because it's been
for seven for six years, seven years. It's like, Okay,
I have people in my corner, my of my challenge family.
You have my honorary uncles and aunts, the John Brennan's,
the cyrus Yarboroughs, the Mark Locks, the Tina Bartos, the
bet the Best of Larks. Of course, you have Wes
(45:20):
and Derrek and and David Mallory and Brad and ct
the honorary antics, and of course see Carl, Maria and
Aviv the honor ants of course. And you guys are
like my You are like an honorary older younger brother
to me, honorary challenged younger brother. And I can say
that's so, But like the thing is, it's like with
that whole family leave, It's like, okay, it's hard to
(45:43):
like defend. Like I've bet my guys, my friends, Big Jay,
jos Ed, Paul, I Knit. I take a lot of
keats for my substiticions, for the people I met. I
build years of friendships with those guys.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
Yeah, and I and I totally understand that. And that
is something that like that is one of the best
things about this show, and it's something that I love
so much about this show is the fan base that
is created right, I've gotten so. I mean, especially in
this season alone, when me and when me and freaking
(46:16):
ct Or, you know, we're sharing a bunch of you know,
shit thrown at each other during when you know, the
justice for ct or Justice for Lecqua thing was going around,
like you know, I was taking mad hate right, and
you know, the I don't know, the pessive, pessimistic side
of me could have been like, oh, like fuck you guys,
like in the comments fighting, but I chose to look
(46:36):
at it as like these are such amazing fans that
are willing to go to battle for people that I
have love for in my heart. Even though CTS fans
were ripping me at some point, I built a beautiful
friendship with CT and I truly love him, and I
think he's an amazing person. I think he's an amazing man,
(46:58):
and he's got one of the best legs in reality
TV to date across anything, right, And I love him
so much and I'm so happy he has an army
behind him ready to fight for him at at a
Beckins call. So I never take no, I don't ever
say nothing serious from anybody because I know it's coming
from a place of love for somebody else that I
(47:20):
have some respect or love for.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
All Right, So, one final gaming I want to talk
to you about is that you, U and of B
were almost sent home a pull Together an Arena game.
So what was the strategy that you and A viv
used to overcome Gabe and Joanna?
Speaker 2 (47:35):
Okay, the strategy that we employed to overcome John Any
and Gabe during that elimination was that Aviva was gonna
do the road ladder. She was gonna get up there,
and she was just gonna unplug him as fast as
she could. And one of the rules of that game
is that with the climbing wall, any of the pegs
(47:56):
that were that didn't require you to get up on
the wall could be put in multiples, right, so you
can have it one in each hand and you can
start plugging them in like that, right. So my strategy
was to immediately start filling them all the way up
left to right. I didn't want to fill them up
completely randomly and maybe forget one or you know, because
(48:17):
if you fill them up randomly and you're not you
don't have a meticulous order in what you're doing, then
you might miss a spot or overlook something and then
you have to spend time later in the elimination searching
for where that hole is and then plug it. Right.
So my first thing was a vive job was climb
and just drop. I don't care where you drop them,
just drop them somewhere in this area. Just drop them
as fast as you can, and I'm just gonna start working.
(48:38):
I worked left to right in rows, and then once
I had to get up off the ground onto the wall,
I just took one pole. I kept it in my
left hand. I used these two fingers for climbing and
then these three for holding it, and then I did
the same thing. I worked left to right. But a
(48:59):
different france that I think was between me and Gabe
is that because I do do bouldering in my I
don't know if you know indoor rock climbing, I do
it a lot in my Yeah, I do it a
lot in my personal life. And it's about route building, right.
If you have a hard route that you're doing, you
do it ten times, but you have to do the
(49:20):
same route. You do the same route. And that's exactly
what I that I decided to use in that elimination
is using the same route because it was a route
that I knew where my feet and my hands were
gonna go, and it helped me climb up the wall
a lot faster than just taking a random route getting
in between certain poles or like that, and it really
(49:41):
spearheaded my ability to go up and down. And then
another strategy that I employed was when I had finished
putting one of the pegs in the wall, I pushed
off in a way that as I was falling, I
pushed to try to land where my you would land
right next to one, so I could grab it, come up,
(50:02):
and just race right back up the wall. So using
the dece end as a strategy as well.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
Awesome, Awesome. We will that concludes our game. Top guys.
When Jurmy comes back, we'll talk more about it, and
we'll talk more about However, there are two things I
want to talk to you about because I have an
interesting idea I want to put into the game, and
I want to hear the idea. Okay, your take on
its So for you, I have been covering America Scott's Talent,
(50:29):
and I've been a lifelong fan of the show since
twenty two thousand and six, in covering since twenty twelve,
so there's a future choice I want to add called
the plat skull, which is aching to that show's go
and buzzer, which if a judge or a host presses
an act for an act, they go directly to the
live semi quarterfinals or live finale. So my minus this,
(50:51):
after three elimination wins four people, two men or two
women and or two teams, they win those three straight
immunity wins, they are immune from eliminations. They get an
automatic spot in TJ's final and a cash prize from
a financial sponsor. So what do you think of that idea?
Speaker 2 (51:15):
I think that's a really interesting idea that you have
this golden buzzer and the and this uh this kind
of ticket, and you know what, I think that it's
I think that it's I think that it's I kind
of like it. I mean, it comes with a lot
of risk. I mean, are you are you kind of
saying that there's two routes to the final. Now, you
(51:38):
can have a route through strategically playing winning and winning
and not losing daily challenges and having a strong political
game to keep you out of elimination, and that is
a route to the final. But another route is winning
three eliminations in total and then getting like a golden
(51:58):
golden buzzer or golden skull or something to get that ticket.
I kind of like that, because you know, the idea
is to earn your way into the final and uh,
And to be honest, it's funny when people say to
earn your in the final. I think literally just competing
your way to that place is earning it in its
own right, because it's not easy to do. But I
(52:21):
think that's a really cool power in a cool twist
of the show that I think would be really dope.
Speaker 1 (52:26):
So the reason why I came up with that is
because I saw Carl Maria getting set in time and
Time again and All Stars four. I saw Corry and
Jenny and Rachel getting in for All Stars during the
Battle of the Ears, and then Adam and Steve and
then of course THEO and Adrian now with number four,
and I'm like, let's see the reaction the TJ just
they press the buzzer and they pressed the there's fireworks
(52:48):
go all the place, a banner at the Adrian and
THEO comes up drop off. Then they have a huge party.
Living might be coming running down, screaming and enjoy THEO
and Adrian do a lot of middle fingers, like, I
think that's really really be a good good viral moments.
Speaker 2 (53:05):
I think it would. I think it would. I think
that's it. I think that's really cool. I think that
would be a very interesting twist. I think it would
add a very different dynamic to this game in what
people decide what strategy they want, because some people are
pushed naturally into elimination so many times based either off
of their political affiliations or just their personality in general,
(53:27):
and you know, sometimes it feels like you're just not
going to get out of that, and some you know,
that could change your entire strategy of the game, and
being like, well, if I'm never gonna get out of this,
then I'm gonna use it to my benefit and help
me get to the final through the riskiest thing possible,
which is elimination.
Speaker 1 (53:45):
Yeah, and I gotta say this, I shot I shared
that question during Challenge Mania, Norell and West shut me down,
and then Scott and Mark shut me down during a
three hundred and seventy fifth episode and spoilers, you might
have two p people room for that. When when my
first episode of season seven my fifteenth anniversary comes out.
(54:06):
But Jerremy, I know we have we have to start
writing down one of our conversations. So where can an
audience connect with you on social media?
Speaker 2 (54:16):
Nice? Your audience can connect with me on Instagram. I'm
on Instagram, I'm on Facebook. I'm not insanely active on Facebook.
My main platform is Instagram. I'm not like the world's best.
I'm not an influencer by any means on Instagram, but
it is the place that I kind of do scrap
my scrapbook my life. I like to put travel videos together,
(54:37):
things that I'm doing, things that I'm working on, and
different organizations competitions that I care about and that I
advocate for. So if any of you guys want to
watch me, you guys want to follow me, you absolutely
can do that on Instagram. My name is Jeremy dot
Heikel and you can find me there.
Speaker 1 (54:56):
All righty guys, if you missed an episode of The
Jakes Sake with Jacob Eicher, this is our channels on
Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, at Radio, Spotify, and Spreaker Jakes
Think with Jacob Elli SR JC B E O Y
A C H E R. Now are you on social media.
I'm on social media to Facebook, Instagram, threads, Twitter, and YouTube.
Jacob ely sr jco b e O y A c
h A R to see all of my challenge content
(55:17):
including inter's. You've views with Jay, Joss, Allie, Jenny West,
John and Bett and Mark Longer heads to the blog
and started all jakesshak dot com. And I want to
say this. I want to say thank you so much
to do the Stevie Awards, forwarding me a twenty twenty
five American Business Award for Silver stev for Best Interview
Talk Show. I really appreciate arm. This was an amazing
(55:39):
part one. I cannot wait for our part two. And
thank you so much for all the service that you've done.
And to all of the service members men and women
passing president, thank you so much for your sacrifice. We
really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (55:51):
Thank you so much, Jacob. This has been an absolute blast, bro.
It's an honor to talk to you. It's an honor
to be on your podcast. Dude. I love what you do,
I love your your theories, and I love how you
dissect this game and I think it's amazing. I would
love to come back anytime. Man. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (56:06):
You're so welcome to here, and guys, thank you so
much for watching, thank you so much for having. Until
next time, have a great one. God bye.
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