‘The Challenge: USA’ Rookie Reveals What You Didn’t See From Elimination
Q&A
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Challenge: USA Season 2 Episode 4 “Double Crossed and Sideswiped.”]
Green Team is not the place to be on The Challenge: USA right now.
Not only was it a double elimination episode, but Red and Blue teams (fresh off Johnny Bananas defecting from the former to the latter) worked together during the daily challenge. As a result, Red won, and Josh Martinez, despite quite the messy nominations, got his way and both Desi Williams and Luis Colon, both from Green, were sent into elimination. The secret vote and the hopper led to them facing off against Amanda Garcia and Chris Underwood in Evil Eye, in which they had to try to get the disc out of the ring. Colon and Garcia were sent home.
Here, Colon reveals what we didn’t see during that elimination, what he thought about the other teams working together, and why he wouldn’t immediately say yes to doing another season.
What did you think of Blue and Red working together on the daily, especially since that then came into play with the nominations?
Luis Colon: What can I say? Blue and Red came after Green. They had that plan since the beginning, since day one. It just shows how much this show is based on those connections coming in, and I was that guy that had almost zero connections coming into the house, and that’s why my game suffered from the beginning. Then you also have Blue and Red coming after us. I don’t hate it; that’s a part of the game. What am I supposed to do? If in a future season, I got those connections, I’ll probably do the same thing. I can’t hate that at all. Is it frustrating at the time? Yeah.
This last episode, we had that win, and it’s crazy how everything landed so perfectly in how Blue was able to pull that off for Red. Just having Bananas and Tori [Deal] going last. They almost didn’t have Bananas and Tori going last, I heard, because it was Chris’s idea to put Bananas and Tori last just in case anything happens. And something did happen. You needed that to happen. You needed Green and Blue to go last at the same time. That was just luck of the draw of how that happened. Then it just worked out so perfectly, but not for us. It worked out perfectly for them. And that’s one of the reasons why you see me here today.
You talked about having connections. It was just you and Dusty [Harris] for The Amazing Race, and you’d remarked about him not protecting you. But since you didn’t have the numbers, did you think that was even a possibility that you could protect each other in any way?
Yeah, oh, no, 100 percent. My goal was to protect that man at all costs. I did what I could. I told everybody, “Trust him. He’s on my side.” When people asked me, “Who do you want to go up against in elimination?” I told them, “anybody but Dusty,” that first week, “please, please, guys, he’s my only person here, do me that favor.” I protected him as much as I could. It’s just how it is in this game, and I knew that going in. I knew I had to make connections quickly. I knew I was going to be an underdog. I knew I had to win multiple eliminations because I was going to get put in multiple times, for sure. That’s how it played out. And I did not win multiple eliminations. I’m 0-for-1.
Jonne Roriz, courtesy of Paramount
Josh was really coming after you. So as soon as Red won, did at least part of you expect him to use the nominations to throw you in?
Oh, yeah. I wasn’t surprised about that. Josh really, really wanted to protect his people. What’s crazy is I wanted to work with Josh in the beginning. We both live in Miami. He came to my Amazing Race finale party. met him a few times afterwards, hanging out. Is it a deep friendship that we had? No, but I was excited. “Hey, man, I’m here to work with you.” But in the beginning, he didn’t help me out. When I was in nominations, he put in all guy votes for his team. When I asked him, “Hey, let get some help here, come on, lemme get some girl votes,” he didn’t help me out. Josh never spoke game with me.
So I picked a side. I picked the anti-vet side because I already got attacked by the other side. So my game was chosen for me, and I went that way, and he came after me right again right afterwards. I don’t blame him for that. And he won. It’s crazy how he got his way in those nominations. People folded. That’s why Josh is great at this game. He’s great in Big Brother. He got his way. What else can I say about that? He’s a beast.
Speaking of the anti-vets side, what did you think of the plan in the house to target the vets? How much were you actively part of that?
It’s weird because in the beginning there was “get the vets out of here,” and then after a while, I made some connections with these vets. I really enjoyed Wes [Bergmann]. I liked Bananas. I liked how he played the game. So it wasn’t always, for me, a game of how we get these vets out. Maybe it was like that in the beginning, and you saw that when Green won their nominations. But was there always talk on that? No, not really. And I do feel like maybe some tables could have turned for me, maybe. I don’t know. But I do think still there was this clear separation of how this game is going down.
Let’s talk about that elimination. It was a rough one and you both fought hard. Is there anything you think you could have done differently to win against Chris?
Probably like study jiujitsu for another three years? He’s just a big, strong dude, and when you have that size advantage that helps for him. He outweighed me by about 25 pounds. You have weight classes and divisions for reason. My thought was, let me see if he tires out. Let me see if I can tire him out. And at the end of the day, just rolling with this big dude, I got tired out. I couldn’t close my hands after a while. My forearms were done.
Jonne Roriz, courtesy of Paramount
It was actually a three-round match, and it was best out of three and went to three. I got the first point. The way I got the first point wasn’t through strength. The Evil Eye was hanging in the middle. We had to run to the center to grab it and pull it away. So I ran there before him and pulled it away, and I got the first point. But they didn’t show that. I don’t know why. That would’ve been great TV. Going to three rounds was great. But it was at the end a game for Chris. He’s just strong, he’s smart, and he’s got the whole package. He’s great.
Did you have to run for the first two rounds to the middle?
No, the second and third rounds, we started from the middle. So just the first round we ran. What you saw on TV was actually the second round.
Is there anything else that didn’t air that you think fans should know about?
No, not really. I just wish fans would know how friendly and fun we had. Even though we are vicious competitors, it’s cool to see how people set those differences aside and still play some music and have a good time and hang out. It’s a cool atmosphere. Obviously they’re going to want to show the competition, but fans should know that at the end of the day, we still have a great time with each other and most of us are friends after this.
If you’d won, would you have defected or stayed with Green?
I would’ve defected. I had to. I was like, “Red put me in and Dusty’s not helping me out. Maybe I should defect to Red.” But Blue is just so stacked and they have so many good players. The best way to keep yourself safe in this game is by winning the weeklies. I think I would’ve defected to Blue.
Would you do another season of The Challenge: USA?
I had such a great time. But the secret voting was very difficult for me. It was something that I didn’t enjoy as much and I was very stressed out because that’s just not my game. I didn’t sign up for that. Those Survivor and Big Brother players, I have so much respect for what they do, and it’s something I don’t want to sign up for. And they did and they’re so good at it. But you need a special tenacity to do that type of game. And it’s just not my style. Love watching it on TV. I respect it so much, but for me, I wouldn’t sign up for that, and that’s what I got. But if they asked me to apply again, I’m not saying no. I would never say no to The Challenge. It’s such a respectable franchise. I just hope it’s not a secret voting season.
So if you knew there wasn’t going to be secret voting, you would 100 percent be in?
Yeah. And if they say, “Hey Luis, you ready to join a secret voting season?” I’d be like, “Probably next season.”
If you could have chosen who you faced off against in that elimination, who would you have picked?
It wouldn’t have been Chris. It probably would’ve been Sebastian [Noel]. I would’ve never put Tyler [Crispen] and Monte [Taylor]. I love those boys, part of my Green team, and I think I had a great connection there. Obviously I’m not putting it Faysal [Shafaat]. I like my life. I like living. Bananas is very experienced. Chris is big.
You said you had no regrets, but is there anything you think you could have done differently to change anything?
It’s just my game was chosen for me since the beginning. I was put into a place where people came after me and [as a result, I had] to say their names and go after them. So I just kind of flew with what was going on. And then at the end of the day, me only having one other person from my show, it was just an easy attack. It’s just easier to just take me out because you piss off less people.
The most important thing is knowing the most amount of people, having the most friends as possible in this house. That’s why you see Josh succeed in how he does. You see the vets, even though the vets are a smaller number, [succeed]. It’s all about those connections. That’s how Blue and Red came at us. What could I have done better? Win eliminations. I knew coming in I was going to be an elimination, and it happened week one. They tried to nominate me, they tried to put me in, the hopper saved me. I loved that thing. I loved the hopper. But I knew coming in I had to win multiple eliminations to make it to the end, and I did not do that.
I think you’re the only person to say that you love the hopper. But it worked out for you.
Imagine if it was secret voting without the hopper. I would have no chance whatsoever. The hopper actually helped me out. The hopper was that extra piece of luck that I needed, and look how lucky I was the first time. The first time I had a 75 percent chance of going in. I could have been out week one — these guys are great competitors — and the hopper saved me. So me and the hopper were [good]. But what sucks is I went in on a double elimination week. So not only did the Green team lose, the Green team got ganged up on on a double elimination week. So the hopper couldn’t help me. The hopper looked at me and said, “I’m sorry Luis, I can’t help you this time.” So it’s all good, hopper.
The Challenge: USA, Thursdays, 10/9c, CBS (and Sundays, 9/8c, through August 27)
