Speaker 1: What's up, guys. It's Tory and I'm Anissa and this
Speaker 1: is MTV's official Challenge podcast, All Stars. To addition, today,
Speaker 1: we are joined by the winners of the Challenge All
Speaker 1: Stars Too, and our newly crowned Challenge Champions m J
Speaker 1: and John A. Yes that we're going to talk to
Speaker 1: them about that brutal final, working together throughout the season,
Speaker 1: and ask them a question that only they can answer.
Speaker 1: What's it like to write a p J with d J.
Speaker 1: We hope you all enjoy this interview with m J
Speaker 1: and John A. M h y. I am so excited
Speaker 1: to welcome these two humans to our podcast. I love them,
Speaker 1: I've known them both dearly. One is my original little sister,
Speaker 1: the other has been my partner on this show. He's incredible.
Speaker 1: Please welcome. M Jay has done four seasons, two time
Speaker 1: Challenge champion and Miss john A seven seasons down and
Speaker 1: our new winner. Yes, welcome, guys. I mean I'm ju
Speaker 1: one too. Sorry, I'm ju one to my bad both
Speaker 1: and the winners of this season of All Stars to
Speaker 1: what a great what a great season. I'm happy to
Speaker 1: be doing this for you. We're doing this for you.
Speaker 1: This wick you right like and he said, you're literally
Speaker 1: like my big sister. I know. I'm so happy because
Speaker 1: I watched you last season and you were so close,
Speaker 1: I mean tied for third. I did think that they
Speaker 1: needed to have like first place for girls in first
Speaker 1: place for guys, but yeah, they fixed it. They fixed
Speaker 1: it this season. Yeah they did. How does it feel
Speaker 1: to finally win? Mhm. I mean it's been a while,
Speaker 1: but it still hasn't really hit me yet, Like it
Speaker 1: feels yeah, but out so it's not real. So they
Speaker 1: started for big accomplishment. Like I feel like I went
Speaker 1: into you know, season one, and all I wanted to
Speaker 1: do was, you know, compete in the final, and then
Speaker 1: after I did that, there was nothing you really left
Speaker 1: to do except for when. So it's pretty awesome, yeah, MJ.
Speaker 1: And for you, obviously you haven't been back on the
Speaker 1: show in a while, like you weren't on All Stars one.
Speaker 1: So Johnny has that experience of like getting so close
Speaker 1: in the final, but you come back and you you
Speaker 1: come back and you take the crown with her, So
Speaker 1: like what was that like to come back out of
Speaker 1: the blue show up and then you know when, Well,
Speaker 1: it's absolutely amazing because I mean I've been hiding under
Speaker 1: a rock for like the past twelve years probably and
Speaker 1: had literally taken all of the MTV Challenge ruled stuff
Speaker 1: and kind of packed it up underneath my bed, like
Speaker 1: bringing mel Gibson in the Patriot, and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden had to go under and get my ax
Speaker 1: back out and come out and fight again. And that's
Speaker 1: literally the way that I looked at it. And to
Speaker 1: have a partner like john A was was amazing because
Speaker 1: she had had that experience number one, making it all
Speaker 1: the way through a season without having to go into
Speaker 1: elimination and then also compete very well in the final.
Speaker 1: It couldn't have been any better. And I'm just honored.
Speaker 1: And look look at us now, look at us, Shawn.
Speaker 1: I have a question, when was your last When was
Speaker 1: your last challenge? MJU? The last challenge I had was
Speaker 1: with an awesome partner named Anissa. No, we wouldn't have gone.
Speaker 1: The two was the duel too, Yeah, New Zealand. So
Speaker 1: that was a long time originally gotten your hair braided
Speaker 1: right right, yes, and then you started braiding its hair.
Speaker 1: You're better because you can actually corn Roe, I was like,
Speaker 1: I am You're gonna take these French braids. Baby, he
Speaker 1: knows the right partners to pick the warrior hair, and
Speaker 1: I had I have, I wore that warrior hair a lot.
Speaker 1: We just always had those freaking helmets on, so you
Speaker 1: didn't see, you know. So did they call you for
Speaker 1: any shows after tul two? Uh? Yeah, I got the call,
Speaker 1: but it was I was at a different place in
Speaker 1: my in my life in you know that we had
Speaker 1: already had our first daughter, Bella, and there's an awesome
Speaker 1: scene of you and he said actually cheering for Bella
Speaker 1: and saying her name, going bellow rain while I was
Speaker 1: in one of the eliminations, you know. And then as
Speaker 1: soon as I and then as soon as I got
Speaker 1: back from that, we decided to start working on our
Speaker 1: second child. And that's when we had lived And that's
Speaker 1: just kind of life took off for me that way.
Speaker 1: And that's been the neatest part of coming back to
Speaker 1: all of this is getting to how many forty one
Speaker 1: year olds have the opportunity to show their daughters or
Speaker 1: their kids, whoever it is, that daddy still has it.
Speaker 1: Your daughters badass. I don't know if you've seen a tory,
Speaker 1: but they're bad at like, well, yes they are and
Speaker 1: they're great athletes. That's what's so cool about al stars,
Speaker 1: Like you can come and do it, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And we had all these parents in the in the final,
Speaker 1: which made me really excited. That circle of women really
Speaker 1: got me. I was all teary eyed ship. And then
Speaker 1: with Melinda, I'm like, like, being a mom, it's just
Speaker 1: a tough job. So I'm like, this final shouldn't be
Speaker 1: shipped being a parent, period. And I had no idea
Speaker 1: that she was hurt as bad as she was during
Speaker 1: the final. That was news to me. I knew once
Speaker 1: we were done that I didn't no idea. You know
Speaker 1: how it was back in the day, we never talked
Speaker 1: about our injury. We just went because then people would like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to go to the hospital. Yeah, I'll
Speaker 1: just break my back. Yeah. Well, also, at that point
Speaker 1: in time, you're in the you're in the you're in
Speaker 1: the final, like there's no voting, it's just like it's
Speaker 1: do or die at that point in time. But I
Speaker 1: actually want to get into this final because this is
Speaker 1: the first time that I think that we actually start
Speaker 1: off a final with an overnight challenge that looked like
Speaker 1: treacherous and I think that overnight challenges. Watching it doesn't
Speaker 1: we doing justice. I've done an overnight challenge. The sleep
Speaker 1: decoration is one of the hardest obstacles that anybody has
Speaker 1: to go through in the final. But to start off
Speaker 1: like that, what was going through your guys heads when
Speaker 1: that was happening? And John, if I can just started
Speaker 1: just to put it in a context for you all,
Speaker 1: So just think about that day. So we woke up
Speaker 1: that morning, let's say eight o'clock, Okay, then you were
Speaker 1: worried all day on who's going to be actually going
Speaker 1: into elimination because we don't do we didn't do that
Speaker 1: selection part until that was in there, like rushing everything.
Speaker 1: Everything was like back to back, like we had to
Speaker 1: do selection that day and then we had to, you know,
Speaker 1: then go to elimination. That's that's how we used to be,
Speaker 1: So that's kind of cool. Yes, so we're worried all day.
Speaker 1: We were worried all day and then they have selection.
Speaker 1: We knew we weren't going in, but still like you
Speaker 1: just exhausted, you all know how it is, how exhausting
Speaker 1: it is and emotionally taxing, and then we go to
Speaker 1: elimination that night. So by that time it was probably
Speaker 1: eight o'clock whenever we started filming the actual elimination, and
Speaker 1: then by the time they were done, it was around eleven,
Speaker 1: eleven thirty, maybe even twelve in the morning. Then t
Speaker 1: J drops it on us that we're gonna be going
Speaker 1: straight to the final, so we've been up since yeah,
Speaker 1: and then we had to drive and then we drove
Speaker 1: about an hour and a half on a van to
Speaker 1: get to the beach, and then we stayed up all night.
Speaker 1: So you look at the amount of hours that we
Speaker 1: were actually up, it was we were on another planet
Speaker 1: that morning. I'm sure. I'm sure, Johnny. I want to know,
Speaker 1: because we did the last All Stars together, is it
Speaker 1: better to do an overnight outside in the heat? Oh
Speaker 1: that's a good question. Actually yes, because compared to Argentina
Speaker 1: and Argentina for us, like we literally had to take
Speaker 1: fire breaks because we were all going to get like
Speaker 1: frost bite. So I was like, I will take this
Speaker 1: any day, you know, worm by the fire, just standing
Speaker 1: here chilling over what we had to deal with in Argentina.
Speaker 1: Look for don't It definitely did. And I think the
Speaker 1: other thing is people don't realize like you're still even
Speaker 1: though you're exhausted, you're so wired because you're in the final,
Speaker 1: so like the adrenaline is punched in her body. So
Speaker 1: I mean, m J, maybe you were the only one
Speaker 1: that was like snoring. Was that was that? Was that real?
Speaker 1: I don't know they add that little sound off. You
Speaker 1: looked very in your cocoon. My big aid that thing.
Speaker 1: They must have caught the perfect angle of night. I
Speaker 1: was just like, all I remember. All I remember is
Speaker 1: when the girls were like in the hammocks and I
Speaker 1: don't know what me and Maya and Tech and they
Speaker 1: were saying to you, but it must have been so hilarious.
Speaker 1: But I kept hearing your laugh and Jamel was getting
Speaker 1: so pissed. She's like, Johnny, will you tell your partner
Speaker 1: to shut up? Come on, Yeah, we're trying to keep
Speaker 1: everybody like yeah, I mean listen, that's people. People moved
Speaker 1: like that. You have to like in the final, like
Speaker 1: you kind of want to get a hundred people's skin.
Speaker 1: We saw Ianna kind of do that, you know, when
Speaker 1: she was on the bike, dude, and I want to
Speaker 1: saying the whole time, remember that, like she was up
Speaker 1: there sing log and we were losing our I do
Speaker 1: have a little fun fact for people out there, though.
Speaker 1: There was one of the producers from the show who
Speaker 1: we absolutely loved, came up and UH wanted us to
Speaker 1: kind of do this little ceremony before we got started,
Speaker 1: and she had us all go up and write down
Speaker 1: a emotion or something in life that we wanted to overcome,
Speaker 1: be it during the final or just be it in life,
Speaker 1: whatever it was. So we all went up and it
Speaker 1: was this beautiful ceremony, candle light, all that kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: and you wrote down something on the sheet of paper.
Speaker 1: We buried it then had to go in the sand,
Speaker 1: and then we took a skull and put it over
Speaker 1: the top. And I kid you not, and I'll just
Speaker 1: speak for me John, but I truly feel like it
Speaker 1: was something that I overcame during that final Because you
Speaker 1: go to places, and everybody here on this on this
Speaker 1: call nos this your body and your mind goes to
Speaker 1: places that you normally don't go in life whenever you're
Speaker 1: pushed to that extreme, And I feel like that's when
Speaker 1: true change occurs. So I thought it was really Neat
Speaker 1: had done that for us. That was cool. Yeah, she
Speaker 1: had like write down one word that we wanted to
Speaker 1: bury and get rid of and released in our lives.
Speaker 1: So I'm about to go outside and do that to
Speaker 1: the streets of Philadelphia. I'm just gonna pick up a manhole,
Speaker 1: shove a bunch of ship down there. I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: gonna throw a book in there of things that I
Speaker 1: need to Well, I hope that you guys were thinking
Speaker 1: about that while you were running back and forth to
Speaker 1: this nucleus. Love the t the nucleus really interesting. Talk
Speaker 1: to me about nobody listen, nobody knew where the nucleus was.
Speaker 1: We need not know, but the arrows with every which direction. No,
Speaker 1: So it was a total set up. So and I
Speaker 1: get it now, But in the moment, John and I
Speaker 1: literally thought that we were the last people. It was
Speaker 1: that it probably took a good forty five minutes to
Speaker 1: an hour just to get to the nucleus and being lost,
Speaker 1: like we were showing up to the other checkpoints before
Speaker 1: we were the nucleus. So we got to say that
Speaker 1: we got to the big memory board first, and they
Speaker 1: were like, well, what the hell are we supposed to
Speaker 1: do here? There's no instructions. We got to make it
Speaker 1: to the nucleus. So it was it was a big
Speaker 1: We were exhausted. How far it was the nucleus without
Speaker 1: the without the turnaround while getting lost, dude, I don't
Speaker 1: even know, because and we got lost. So the nucleus
Speaker 1: from each one of the checkpoints had to have been,
Speaker 1: I don't care what anybody says, had to have been
Speaker 1: at least a mile. Yeah, from from the bike where
Speaker 1: the first part where all the pieces were had to
Speaker 1: be like a mile and a half. And then they
Speaker 1: had two hidden pieces. So there were fourteen pieces total
Speaker 1: and only twelve were at the original part, and then
Speaker 1: you had to go like all the way to the beach.
Speaker 1: It was so far. Yeah, the pieces round trip from
Speaker 1: the nucleus to the bike pieces was probably a three
Speaker 1: mile bike and then I don't even know how hard
Speaker 1: the last bike thing and had to times that right,
Speaker 1: seven times seven times? People, it's okay, it's okay, you're
Speaker 1: still trying to do the last matter times three times,
Speaker 1: I think, I think to the memory board, it was
Speaker 1: like a mile and a half, wow, roughly. And also,
Speaker 1: like let's also mentioned like we were it was a
Speaker 1: hundred and ten degrees and we were in the middle
Speaker 1: of the jungle. I left there, like you know, put
Speaker 1: it some pictures of her like, you know, stuff like
Speaker 1: bug bites. I had two hundred bug bites. I'm not
Speaker 1: even kidding you, just from like the memory board part
Speaker 1: of it, and also lost tail. But alight, half of
Speaker 1: my job that night was getting the bugs. You would
Speaker 1: see tarantulas walking over the path. We saw we had
Speaker 1: monkeys throwing ship at us. Probably what ship that they
Speaker 1: were throwing at us on the memorization board, No, Joe
Speaker 1: Like it was like, and that's what we don't understand.
Speaker 1: That's what people don't understand about these finals is that
Speaker 1: they're so long that there's a lot of things that
Speaker 1: production cannot prevent, Like there is. I just watch it,
Speaker 1: and it did not look like we were literally dying
Speaker 1: in the heat of a jungle. We would and we
Speaker 1: would go an hour at a time with it just
Speaker 1: being us running and not seeing anybody, not seeing a cabra.
Speaker 1: We had our little go pros on our helmets and
Speaker 1: he said, I know that you've done this before where
Speaker 1: you're tethered together on the bike. You know how hard
Speaker 1: that is. Yeah, the hardest thing I've ever done. Put
Speaker 1: a hill in it, but yeah, it's harder. Ship. Who's
Speaker 1: your part for the bike Mike, I mean Mike, Mark Mike,
Speaker 1: who's Mike my imaginary for I'm still still like bathed
Speaker 1: by the monkey stor my mind's Mike. Being tethered is
Speaker 1: really difficult because you can't if somebody else's coming, Like,
Speaker 1: you can't really move the brake. We had to build
Speaker 1: our bikes to store breaks. Yeah, but what was worse though,
Speaker 1: the thousands of miles that you did tethered on bike,
Speaker 1: getting monkeys poop thrown at you or eating the fish.
Speaker 1: I just stop us good bike for sure. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know. You get up, would take a m would
Speaker 1: take a sipy be like, hold on before it take
Speaker 1: the stiff. I'm just gonna say, dribble throw up. Listen,
Speaker 1: can An I said, because you were there. The food part,
Speaker 1: the portion of the final for the second season for me,
Speaker 1: was not as bad as the first season. The first
Speaker 1: season it was the first season was so much food.
Speaker 1: It was just like three pounds of just like who
Speaker 1: knows what it was. They didn't tell blood, sauce, oliver,
Speaker 1: intestines part I don't want to know, so I don't
Speaker 1: but I don't want to know. Still I'm king it out.
Speaker 1: But um this final, it was like at least like
Speaker 1: disguised as something that you could be like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is a burrito. Yeah, I'll tell you. What got
Speaker 1: me was the goblet of blood. I feel like it.
Speaker 1: That's it's warm and salty and and it hit and
Speaker 1: it hit your mouth. But I love some of the
Speaker 1: faces that I was giving you shot when you're like
Speaker 1: hurry up for him and I'm just looking at you
Speaker 1: like yeah. I was like, listen, this is not as
Speaker 1: bad as altars. What like, just just eat it. It's fine.
Speaker 1: Another here's another part that didn't show. And that's how
Speaker 1: bad all it was in that final because my body
Speaker 1: after this, probably the first checkpoint started shutting down. I
Speaker 1: made one of the biggest mistakes, to tell you, every
Speaker 1: single time we went to the Nucleix. Every single time,
Speaker 1: every single time we went to the Nucleus, no matter
Speaker 1: where we were, MJ would get there and he's been like,
Speaker 1: I need electro lights, give me some electric life, and
Speaker 1: like mornda, okay, if you take electric life, only be
Speaker 1: like one per day. Every single time he must have
Speaker 1: had like fourteen full people continued, Never do that there,
Speaker 1: you're supposed to drink what you're supposed to drink one
Speaker 1: or two in a day. I gave up on water
Speaker 1: because at least my dumb mind at the time, and
Speaker 1: I was thinking, well, I need to retain water. I
Speaker 1: need to retain liquids because it's all coming out of me.
Speaker 1: Let me get this sodium like every month, like my tricept,
Speaker 1: my cap. When we when we go from like phase
Speaker 1: one to phase two, um m J is like I'm cramping,
Speaker 1: like I'm I'm done. I can't move, like I can't continue.
Speaker 1: Like an ambulance came. It was like a whole thing.
Speaker 1: And t J comes up and he's like, oh, bro,
Speaker 1: like all you need is a banana and we're like
Speaker 1: we would love a banana. Like they didn't give us
Speaker 1: any food, like any snacks. Like it was it was crazy,
Speaker 1: but like it looks it looks like all of his
Speaker 1: muscles were like um like flexing at the same time,
Speaker 1: like he was like so dehydrated and cramping it so bad.
Speaker 1: T J was talking ship to me because he kept saying,
Speaker 1: you're going to give up, and I'm like I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna fucking give up, but my body just can't go on. No.
Speaker 1: You look at me at that point and You're like,
Speaker 1: john Anne, party, this affects you in this but like
Speaker 1: I can't right, Yeah, I was literally crying and we
Speaker 1: can say it now, Johnny. I was crying looking at
Speaker 1: Johnny apologizing because when you come, when you come that
Speaker 1: far and you feel like you're not going to be
Speaker 1: able to make it, it is the most helpless feelings ever.
Speaker 1: But so I still have to say this, that eating
Speaker 1: challenge literally is what saved me personally because it was sustenance.
Speaker 1: It was something getting into the body. Because even though
Speaker 1: it kept coming out every every couple of seconds, everywhere,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't just coming out of my mouth, it
Speaker 1: was coming out of I've never seen someone. I have
Speaker 1: a good question here. Do you guys think that you
Speaker 1: did these checkpoints in the right order? No? No, I
Speaker 1: think that me and Maiah Melinda had the best Like
Speaker 1: they actually like thought it through. They're like, Okay, we
Speaker 1: need our brain power for the memory pair and this
Speaker 1: part we I don't know when we first got there
Speaker 1: were like okay blue or our team colors blue, like
Speaker 1: let's go for the blue. That was that. That was
Speaker 1: literally our strategy and I think if we would have
Speaker 1: done it over um, I don't know what would you order?
Speaker 1: Would you have done it in? Yeah? Memory, would have
Speaker 1: done the memory, the memory for sure because that board
Speaker 1: you probably all probably saw how big it was. Didn't
Speaker 1: even get me started on that, dude. It was the
Speaker 1: most daunting task ever in to do that after I
Speaker 1: just use the word daunting by the way I get
Speaker 1: on these podcasts. But it was such, it was called
Speaker 1: by six called by six styles of hell. Would you
Speaker 1: say that this was the most brutal part or the
Speaker 1: most brutal checkpoint? It was for me? Because um, because
Speaker 1: at that point, me and Mayah, Melinda and us like
Speaker 1: we were like neck and neck, like I think at
Speaker 1: that point they had four of their tetris, you know,
Speaker 1: bike pieces or whatever, and this was like our second
Speaker 1: trip into the jungle with the memory. And that's when
Speaker 1: I just like started shutting down when that whole thing
Speaker 1: happened with the confusion. You were not about to really quit,
Speaker 1: and there's no way that we would have quit. There
Speaker 1: was like a moment where she had a weak thing
Speaker 1: and we regrouped and get back together and finished it.
Speaker 1: You know, so well, thank god you guys did, because
Speaker 1: you end up winning, you end up on a j
Speaker 1: did you guys think that phase one was the entire
Speaker 1: final or did you know that there was? She did,
Speaker 1: so I kept telling her the whole time that we're
Speaker 1: doing the memory board thing. I was like, no, this
Speaker 1: is it. This you know, this is going to call
Speaker 1: this mistake is going to cost us five thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: Like we're done now, there's no point in moving on.
Speaker 1: And then MJ the whole time, like we were going
Speaker 1: through the jungle for the who knows how many million times.
Speaker 1: It was like Johnny t J said this is night one.
Speaker 1: There's another night and I'm like, he didn't say that.
Speaker 1: I don't know what's happening, Like I was talking mad ship,
Speaker 1: Like walking through the jungle was so much. Right, Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: you guys finished, you know that first stage. Thank god
Speaker 1: that I mean not thank god that Diana Intact quit,
Speaker 1: but like that obviously, like you you went into that
Speaker 1: second stage kind of like damn, all right, we have
Speaker 1: to like regroup, we barely need it, right And then yeah,
Speaker 1: and here's the other thing to that, Tori is that
Speaker 1: and I'm not trying to say any not trying to
Speaker 1: take anything away from any of the other teams at all,
Speaker 1: but they so Durrell and Janelle and Nea Mayah and
Speaker 1: Melinda they both had already finished and you saw him
Speaker 1: in that last episode just kind of laying there chilling
Speaker 1: out whenever Anissa and take Anissa quite excuse me, I'm sorry, Iana,
Speaker 1: and quit uh, I'm saying so many names. John A
Speaker 1: and I were deep in the jungle about to finish
Speaker 1: our last trip in there to come back with the
Speaker 1: right answers. So we got back and we didn't get
Speaker 1: to rest at all. So we went pretty much straight
Speaker 1: from phase one into phase two without getting to lay
Speaker 1: out or do anything. And that that was that was hard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: who is your biggest threat going into this final and
Speaker 1: during it? Can I answer? First? Yes, you may am,
Speaker 1: you may speak the best I think. I think that
Speaker 1: Durrell and Janelle going into it. In my opinion now
Speaker 1: thinking and even in John Ay's opinion, We're going to
Speaker 1: be the biggest threat just because of Durrell. Darrell is
Speaker 1: known for getting people to the final and a lot
Speaker 1: and even helping other people win the final even if
Speaker 1: he doesn't. But then once we got there, the biggest
Speaker 1: threat was hands down, Nehemiah and Melinda, like dude, like
Speaker 1: it was. It blew me away, and it made me
Speaker 1: gain so much respect for Nea Maya and and Melinda.
Speaker 1: I've always had respect for her and really liked her,
Speaker 1: but dude, just to see her push through all that
Speaker 1: was was amazing. So they were tough, man, I mean, honestly,
Speaker 1: I thought, I thought to religional you know, also were
Speaker 1: our biggest start. They were a really strong team. But
Speaker 1: like as far as like you know, in the house
Speaker 1: when everybody's like working out and stuff, like I was
Speaker 1: running every day in the middle of the day, Like
Speaker 1: people were looking at me like I was crazy because
Speaker 1: it was like a hundred ten degrees and I was
Speaker 1: like running lap. But the only other person, the only
Speaker 1: other female I saw in the house running laps like that,
Speaker 1: was Melinda. She was, yeah, and that's the way to
Speaker 1: train for it because you're outside in the final in
Speaker 1: the heat. Anyway, like we always say, we always make
Speaker 1: this joke on the regular Challenge to what what is
Speaker 1: the point of running on a treadmow and air conditioning.
Speaker 1: You're not going to do that in the final conditioning.
Speaker 1: Some of us just needed to wake our bodies in
Speaker 1: the morning something than nothing. That's for those two as
Speaker 1: a team, as far as phase one of Day one
Speaker 1: goes like they they killed it. Yeah for sure, but hey,
Speaker 1: but it all worked out. But it all worked out
Speaker 1: the way that it was supposed to. Like it was,
Speaker 1: it was the most surreal experience whenever johan A opened
Speaker 1: up that safe and I'm telling you, dude, when she
Speaker 1: pulled that thing open and you see that cash in there,
Speaker 1: five hundred thousand dollars in cash, there's a lot. That
Speaker 1: is a whole lot, okay. And I wasn't mining when
Speaker 1: I said it's heathy, that's it's heavy bag. On the
Speaker 1: on the other challenge on five Lines and Allies, we
Speaker 1: had to carry a million dollars and it took us
Speaker 1: an It took us an hour and a half of
Speaker 1: just straight running with that money. It was insane. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure at that moment when you open
Speaker 1: it you see it, it's like the entire season that
Speaker 1: you guys played, I mean, an incredible political game and
Speaker 1: the it was like it was almost a flawless season.
Speaker 1: So like, what does it feel like to now be champs?
Speaker 1: And do you think it puts a target on your
Speaker 1: back in the future if you decide to go back,
Speaker 1: go ahead, Well, I think I think it definitely. I
Speaker 1: think it definitely puts a target on our backs. You know.
Speaker 1: I think that once you win, that people know like
Speaker 1: what you're capable of, and so that people automatically are like, well,
Speaker 1: let's take out the winners. Yeah, and you work so
Speaker 1: close the first time too. And if I'm not mistaken, MJ,
Speaker 1: was the last challenge you were on? Did you win
Speaker 1: that one? No? I made it to the very end.
Speaker 1: I made it to the day before the final. But
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's one of these things where was
Speaker 1: John and I being partners and being effective. I don't
Speaker 1: know if while we were in that experience that people
Speaker 1: knew how good we were as partners because we met,
Speaker 1: we only won one daily challenge all the rest of them,
Speaker 1: we kind of finished right there in the middle. So
Speaker 1: it's not like we were Brad and Jody that we're
Speaker 1: winning everything and they put a huge target on their back.
Speaker 1: And also, the way that we play the political game
Speaker 1: is much more kind of low key, you know, the
Speaker 1: way that it works. As you know, a would she
Speaker 1: always knew what was going on in the house. She
Speaker 1: would kind of I would joke about it, kind of
Speaker 1: scurry around and you could hear her feet sliding around
Speaker 1: the house, going to room the room and just kind
Speaker 1: of getting a temperature gauge on everything. And then on
Speaker 1: my side, I had played the game with a lot
Speaker 1: of the guys there and the girls there, so I
Speaker 1: kind of you you were in. You were in politically
Speaker 1: like I like I got socially like. I don't know
Speaker 1: if sometimes people mistake like the fact that I'm like
Speaker 1: so nice and that I get along with everyone, like,
Speaker 1: you know, just so happened this season, it, you know,
Speaker 1: to my advantage. Yeah, we we were. We were a
Speaker 1: very very very effective team on this and I think
Speaker 1: moving forward, if we do any more shows, then we're
Speaker 1: going to have a massive target on our back as
Speaker 1: a team, but also as individuals, you know, right, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. I mean you have the crown now, that's right,
Speaker 1: and I'm the crown from from to Challenge Champs now,
Speaker 1: I mean you've been a champ, Johnny. Is this your
Speaker 1: first champ? Yes? Yes, I'll starts one with my first final.
Speaker 1: So yeah, okay, that first one. So so now as
Speaker 1: to Challenge Champs, what advice would you like to give
Speaker 1: other competitors? A k ay, because still fighting for that
Speaker 1: title over here, guys, I mean you lost my ten
Speaker 1: seconds story. I did lose. It was awesome. Wamo, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you, thank you. What what advice to
Speaker 1: would I give to somebody that's going into compete um
Speaker 1: is that the game is so much bigger than just
Speaker 1: being athletic. It's so much bigger than just being good
Speaker 1: at the political side of things. It's it's being able
Speaker 1: to go inside of yourself and create an emotional strength
Speaker 1: like you never know you know, because just the ups
Speaker 1: and the nouns of that experience can shred people apart.
Speaker 1: And the people, the individuals that are successful are the
Speaker 1: ones that know how to manage, that understand that it
Speaker 1: is just a game, but are still willing to push
Speaker 1: it hard enough to where you're willing to do almost
Speaker 1: anything to win. Because as soon as you start getting
Speaker 1: doubt in there or start letting your guard down, that's
Speaker 1: when you lose. Or if you become overly confident, that's
Speaker 1: whenever you're going to lose too. Like it is one
Speaker 1: of them as on the plane I said that you're dead.
Speaker 1: I was like, hey, you know what I'm saying. You're like,
Speaker 1: I love it, But I would say so I would
Speaker 1: say the challenge is, like, you know, one of the
Speaker 1: biggest parts today is you know, mental like if you
Speaker 1: can and you can physically endurseut like part of its
Speaker 1: Look if it's like the daily challenges and the different
Speaker 1: circumstances to get to get you to that point, like
Speaker 1: the political game gets you to the end, you know,
Speaker 1: but if you can stay strong mentally, like that is
Speaker 1: the hardest part, I would say. And then once you
Speaker 1: get there, once you get to the end, like it's
Speaker 1: all endurance, I would say, I think, I think you know,
Speaker 1: it's like you said, it's definitely a mental thing. And
Speaker 1: then also being able to like just live in the
Speaker 1: volatility of how the game goes. I mean, when you
Speaker 1: guys were down, you guys almost didn't make it right
Speaker 1: human third place on that first leg, and then look,
Speaker 1: the turnaround was crazy. You guys end up winning. So
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you never know, you never know,
Speaker 1: You just don't ever ever. And so for the fans
Speaker 1: out there who watched the show who kind of fantasized
Speaker 1: about being on the show or maybe one day want
Speaker 1: to try to do something like this, the hardest part,
Speaker 1: at least for me being an ex athlete competing on
Speaker 1: a very high level in college is whenever I play football,
Speaker 1: all I knew before each game what I was going
Speaker 1: out there to accomplish. I knew the type of stretches
Speaker 1: I needed to do. I knew the plays that I
Speaker 1: was gonna run, I knew the plays that the other
Speaker 1: team was gonna run. And I had a whole like
Speaker 1: book on what I needed to do in a whole
Speaker 1: process on what I needed to be successful. As challengers
Speaker 1: like we all are, you show up each day and
Speaker 1: have no idea if you're gonna be hanging off the
Speaker 1: side of a building, if you're gonna be having to
Speaker 1: do uh, you know, name every other real world season
Speaker 1: that's ever. Like you think you're gonna be swimming if
Speaker 1: you're gonna be falling out of it. So there's no
Speaker 1: way to mentally or physically prepped for that until you
Speaker 1: get off that bus where you're so fucking tight, you
Speaker 1: know how tight we are, and you've eaten too many
Speaker 1: burritos and cheetos and you gotta you're crashing off of
Speaker 1: a sugar high for me, jolly ranchers, And then you
Speaker 1: get out there and you're expected to perform at a
Speaker 1: high level, Like that's the hardest player for me. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The only the only thing that I like to or
Speaker 1: how I like to rationalize that is we're literally all
Speaker 1: doing it at the same time, so like nobody has
Speaker 1: an added benefit. We're all, like you said, on the
Speaker 1: bus eating doritos, So everybody's starting from that same thing.
Speaker 1: But unless you have the power to not eat the doritos.
Speaker 1: But let's be real, that's one of the best, Like
Speaker 1: that's what you do in the challenge. You get your
Speaker 1: fixed from food because like shut out from everything else.
Speaker 1: But tor, isn't it funny that everybody on the bus
Speaker 1: just knows what the next challenge is going to be
Speaker 1: A god definitely hanging out of helico, I'm like, we're
Speaker 1: sharing with Sharks today for sure. Yeah yeah, what move are?
Speaker 1: What move are you guys? Most proud of this season? Um? Well,
Speaker 1: I think the interaction between me and I and I
Speaker 1: so like from the jump, him and I were like, Okay,
Speaker 1: let's work together, let's kind of see like how this
Speaker 1: game is gonna be played and all this stuff, and
Speaker 1: then you know, throughout the season, like once m J
Speaker 1: and I got partnered and paired together, it was kind
Speaker 1: of like, you know, we had joined the same political force,
Speaker 1: saved game whatever, and then in the end, like the
Speaker 1: last episode they show, you know, Niemia like ends up
Speaker 1: saving us, you know, I think so I think that
Speaker 1: I would say that I'm most proud of, like you
Speaker 1: know that, because it's like we ended up, you know,
Speaker 1: not having to go into the last elimination because there
Speaker 1: was a whole another thing going on the whole time,
Speaker 1: you know, And and which was a good segue to
Speaker 1: my experience with Niemi, which was terrible. Dude. It was
Speaker 1: a thing you guys could be rivals for sure, and
Speaker 1: it really this season was going to focus on that,
Speaker 1: and I was actually a little nervous about it because
Speaker 1: in every interview I was throwing so much shade and
Speaker 1: I know that he was, and we did not like
Speaker 1: each other, but the only common thread that we had
Speaker 1: was John A and john kept coming up to me
Speaker 1: and saying, m J. Neama is a good dude. He's
Speaker 1: somebody that we can trust. And it actually came between
Speaker 1: Johnny and I to where it was a deal. But
Speaker 1: I had to trust her. You kept saying, you kept saying,
Speaker 1: like what is your hold on the amia, Like what
Speaker 1: is the deal, like you know, so I was like
Speaker 1: kind of connected to the whole King's Palace thing and
Speaker 1: then that ended up something else. And I do agree
Speaker 1: that the fact that we did not get voted into
Speaker 1: the last elimination tory and he said that was that
Speaker 1: was so much bigger than it even looks because I
Speaker 1: was crying. They showed me ugly crying. There's been so
Speaker 1: many times that you know, they had every right you
Speaker 1: were going to say the same thing as they had
Speaker 1: every right to put us in any time we had
Speaker 1: a position or like, you know, our alliance were like
Speaker 1: voted me a Maya Milenda and mya Mi Linda. And
Speaker 1: then when the one time they had power, like they
Speaker 1: didn't do that. We looked hard on the fact that
Speaker 1: if they took Durrell and Janelle that they would have
Speaker 1: a much harder time winning the final. Then if they
Speaker 1: took me and John, well, you know what, you're not
Speaker 1: gonna be able to pull that card again. You that
Speaker 1: played that one, played it at the right time, but
Speaker 1: you're not gonna be played it again. It's so crazy
Speaker 1: how that happens. Once you played those cards, You're like,
Speaker 1: I need a new deck. Yeah, yeah, I gotta sorry
Speaker 1: from different So I mean honestly, Well, just to wrap
Speaker 1: that up, are you and the Amiah cool? Now? Since
Speaker 1: that experience, the Amiah and I or I wouldn't say
Speaker 1: that we're friends, but we do have a mutual respect
Speaker 1: for one another, or at least I can say that
Speaker 1: that I have for him. To see the way that
Speaker 1: he competed in that final, Um, it was very impressive. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he Yeah, I think he crushed it. There
Speaker 1: was I think me. I don't really believe it, but
Speaker 1: I think it doesn't hate me anymore. I think that
Speaker 1: final was so evenly matched, like it could have been
Speaker 1: anybody's game, and it was. It was awesome to watch.
Speaker 1: So congratulations, guys, Like, thank you. I hope I hope
Speaker 1: that check comes soon. I hope you spend it on
Speaker 1: whatever you want, because I'm coming to visit for dinner.
Speaker 1: I'm coming to fully and I am taking me out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna take me out and then I'm going to
Speaker 1: pay for Okay, that's fine. I like those ideas. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I miss you. I have. So we have one final
Speaker 1: question for you guys. Anissa always says the honors of
Speaker 1: asking this question because she is Queen of the Challenge podcast. Okay,
Speaker 1: so this is the final question we ask it every
Speaker 1: episode All Stars too. It's about the greatest of all time.
Speaker 1: So let's hear your greatest of all time, your greatest
Speaker 1: Challenge competitor, the greatest season of the Challenge, and the
Speaker 1: greatest challenge. So like, your greatest challenge isn't like one
Speaker 1: you've done, when you've seen sees you've competed in or not,
Speaker 1: and the greatest competitor could be yourselves, So speak freely.
Speaker 1: Oh god, I think as as far as a challenge
Speaker 1: that I've competed on, the one of the greatest ones
Speaker 1: would have to go back to the Duel too. I
Speaker 1: feel like and he said, you were part of that
Speaker 1: because the challenges that we did that season in New
Speaker 1: Zealand were freaking amazing, you know, holding you over that
Speaker 1: big gorge or whatever it was and dropped you down
Speaker 1: like it was a fucking awful Or when we had
Speaker 1: that hundred foot ladder and I bruised all over the
Speaker 1: inside of my thighs, yes, yes, or or when we
Speaker 1: were hanging upside down and having to swing out to
Speaker 1: get those little malory. I have never in my life
Speaker 1: done anything. There's nothing we've done on all sorts too
Speaker 1: that even came close to as scary as a lot
Speaker 1: of those challenges were so and then for me as
Speaker 1: far as the greatest of all time. God, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: throw ad here, I know it. But as I know
Speaker 1: that this John Banana guy or Johnny or whatever, he
Speaker 1: John Banana, I can't wait to text and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: John Banana, Hey he's won the most But so you
Speaker 1: kind of have to throw him in there as being
Speaker 1: one of the best step But I just I can't
Speaker 1: even with that dude. But the one that I have
Speaker 1: the most respect for is gonna have to be ct
Speaker 1: And the fact that he is his age, which is
Speaker 1: the same age as me. I think he's forty one
Speaker 1: and is still competing on the Big Show and is
Speaker 1: still winning. And as far as string he he was
Speaker 1: born for this stuff, you know. Yeah, Yeah, it doesn't
Speaker 1: do a lot, It makes a big noise. It's weird.
Speaker 1: So I did so I did the male, Why don't
Speaker 1: you do the female? John Johnny's gonna say herself take it,
Speaker 1: take the crowns as um so favorite challenge and then
Speaker 1: favorite female challenger. That's okay, um favorite challenge? Uh I've done.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna say, it's probably the first challenge that
Speaker 1: I ever did. Um, it was with Jasmine that you
Speaker 1: see you were there's on Rivals one just because it
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, it was fun. Right. It was my
Speaker 1: rookie season and then winning the first challenge, so I
Speaker 1: had no idea what world like coming into and whatever.
Speaker 1: So no, who do you think the greatest female challenger?
Speaker 1: My favorite female challenger? It is hard, john Ay, it's
Speaker 1: about to be you. Whenever people see what I was
Speaker 1: gonna say, is it lame to say what you say?
Speaker 1: That's because you're like the interviewer. Um, I don't know,
Speaker 1: It's okay, It's totally okay. I just you know, I
Speaker 1: feel like you're like the face of the challenge and
Speaker 1: I've always looked up to you, like as sister and
Speaker 1: like you're still here killing it regular season also seasons
Speaker 1: all of it. So okaya winner, both of you people
Speaker 1: love that came together on the plane and killed it.
Speaker 1: And I'm so proud of both of you, and I'm
Speaker 1: so happy Johnny you finally got your win and MJ
Speaker 1: took all the time off and then you came back
Speaker 1: and you were like Dad still got it. So I'm
Speaker 1: happy that. I'm happy that people that I love one
Speaker 1: than people that I respect and good people want so
Speaker 1: that congratations guys, you guys, You guys are awesome, and
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on the show too. It's literally
Speaker 1: been an honor talking to you guys. Where can we
Speaker 1: follow you on social media? How can we support you?
Speaker 1: Let us know so we can send You've got some
Speaker 1: of the Oh my god, you okay? So I just
Speaker 1: got on social media like a year ago, and my
Speaker 1: daughter people, Hey, my daughters were literally making fun of me, saying, Dad,
Speaker 1: you're so lame. You don't even have to social media page.
Speaker 1: So I came to the game quick. So I need
Speaker 1: followers so I can be cool to my kids. I
Speaker 1: need the little blue little check thing like all cool
Speaker 1: people have. So M J. Garrett to four is my
Speaker 1: handle on Instagram following looking for your right now, looking
Speaker 1: for you right now? Do it. My Instagram is at
Speaker 1: Johnny Mannion so jo enemy a man in myolan, Dude,
Speaker 1: tell people to blow us up. If you already have
Speaker 1: a lot of followers of john Now you got like
Speaker 1: sixty eight thousand, man, I've got like, yeah, I just
Speaker 1: saw you have eight thousand. You're doing great. We're gonna
Speaker 1: get you there. People that are out there that are listening,
Speaker 1: follow these fine foe. If you want to follow a
Speaker 1: champion and be a champion, follow m J and follow
Speaker 1: Johnny do the right thing. The rights for coming on
Speaker 1: you guys are absolutely incredible. It's been an honor talking
Speaker 1: to you guys. Thank you so much? Is Ga thank you?
Speaker 1: All right? Well, good for them, man. Honestly talking to
Speaker 1: Chance that revitalizes that feeling in me. I also feel
Speaker 1: bitten by that challenge bug and he said, we gotta
Speaker 1: go back and we gotta go in that. That's that
Speaker 1: final looks awful, but it looks terrible. Yeah, just give
Speaker 1: me a bike for the whole thing. Yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was great to watch. Honestly, they really killed it
Speaker 1: and it was a really entertaining season. I'm bummed it's over,
Speaker 1: but hopefully there's more All Stars coming in the future.
Speaker 1: The fingers crossed. I'm a big All Stars fan over here,
Speaker 1: me too, me too? All right, an Hesa, where can
Speaker 1: we follow you and how can we support you? Um?
Speaker 1: It's Anissa mt V a n e s A m
Speaker 1: t V on Instagram. That's my one and only location.
Speaker 1: Send your listener questions please, and Tori, where can they
Speaker 1: find you at? Support you and d M you Things. Yes,
Speaker 1: you can find me d M me Things. Guys, bring
Speaker 1: the things at Tori Underscore deal on Instagram and also,
Speaker 1: if you guys have the opportunity to, we would love
Speaker 1: it if you could like this episode, rate the podcast,
Speaker 1: review us on Spotify or Apple podcast. It means the
Speaker 1: world to us to get your feedback, so let us
Speaker 1: know what you think. And we will be taking next
Speaker 1: week off, but make sure you stay subscribed because we
Speaker 1: will be back on Friday January with new weekly episodes. Yes,
Speaker 1: we will be joined by fan favorite cast members Challengers
Speaker 1: we weren't able to interview from All Stars Too, and Spies,
Speaker 1: Lies and Allies, and we will go behind the scenes
Speaker 1: of our favorite seasons and moments from Challenge history. So
Speaker 1: we're not done. Guys don't work, so make sure you
Speaker 1: all stay subscribed to MTV's official Challenge podcast.