‘The Challenge: USA’: Dusty Says Elimination Loss to Wes ‘Was a Punch to the Stomach’

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Challenge: USA Season 2 Episode 6 “A Really Good-Looking Underdog.”]

It’s “a somber Monday morning licking my wounds,” the latest player eliminated from The Challenge: USA tells TV Insider.

Blue Team won the daily (trivia), and with Cassidy Clark after Wes Bergmann, there was nothing that vets Johnny “Bananas” DeVenanzio and Tori Deal could do. And when it came time for the votes, the seven that Dusty Harris received sealed his fate, and the hopper sent him into elimination against Wes. The two faced off in Crank Shafted: One stood on a giant wheel while the other untied steering wheels and used them to un-balance the other. Wes managed to stay on the wheel 37 seconds longer.

Here, Harris discusses his time on The Challenge: USA, that elimination, and what he wants fans to know about that letter he wrote to Johnny Bananas.

Do you think there’s anything you could’ve done that you didn’t to help yourself for this vote?

Dusty Harris: I think I kind of sealed my deal. There is no two ways about it. I felt like I was going to catch a couple balls at this point. The house is dwindling down. I’m the only Amazing Racer left. No blood on hands. My quarrel with Tiffany [Mitchell] the night before definitely did not help matters whatsoever. If you know anything about The Challenge — I’m a student of this game, I’ve watched it forever — you cause a scene in the house, you’re going to have to step over the rope and go into the sand [because] 99.9 percent of the time, whether people love you, hate you, you become an easy vote.

So, realistically, if I would’ve just kept my cool, done what I said I was going to do at the beginning of this season and walk away from any kind of arguments I’m going to get myself into — because I knew it was going to happen, I’m a hothead, it’s no secret — it probably would’ve alleviated some of the issue. But I was mentally prepared. I knew after the argument with Tiffany, it was time for business. The back of my mind, the hopper could’ve saved me again. I was ready to go. I hate the hopper. I’m just going to tell you: the hopper, the bane of my existence.

It turned out that Tiffany did not vote for you…

Not only do I look like a fool for yelling at Tiffany, which I have apologized profusely and again, I want to let her know, I’m sorry that I yelled at you. There are different ways to communicate, but yeah, I’m just such an idiot. But a conversation was had prior to this and it just made the most sense to me. It’s easy to watch from your couch and be like, this guy is losing his mind over this. Those Challenge house walls close in quick and paranoia… To be great at The Challenge, one thing I’ve learned real quick is the Richter scale, can you keep it in the middle? Can you stay near the Mendoza Line? Because there’s going to be big highs. The lows are second to none. I let my temper get the best of me for no reason whatsoever. I saw red and it cost me, no pun intended.

Jonne Roriz, courtesy of Paramount

Moving on to the elimination itself, talk about going against Wes. Do you think there’s anything you could’ve done differently to win? It did come down to strategy, and either way could’ve worked.

Going against Wes, a legend in the game, one of the best to ever do it in eliminations, I knew I had my work cut out for me. Seeing the apparatus, I knew it was something to do with balance and strength. I felt extremely confident. Not to take anything away from Wes, but I was ready. As soon as I stepped over the rope, I knew I was going to win. I got a bit tangled in the first wheel. As you can see, I’m working the ropes from the middle instead of the outside. It definitely cost me a little bit of time there, but where I made up with it was going directly to the second wheel after seeing Wes struggle so bad to turn the first one. I spent a lot more time balancing on the barrel than Wes did.

I’ll be honest with you, I felt like I did enough. I thought I won. I think you see the expression on everyone’s face standing there. I think they all thought I won. Bananas was hugging Wes goodbye in a pool of slop. But when I heard 37 seconds separated us, I felt I had won by more than that, and if it was that close, maybe it’s swinging the other way. Then to hear that I lost, it was a punch to the stomach. I can’t even put into words how I felt. I just felt numb.

Even Wes thought he lost. It was so close.

Yeah, it’s 37 seconds. What could I have done? Could I have untied the ropes a little quicker? Could I have ran just a few more turns on that barrel? You can look back on a million different things, the what ifs, could haves… I’m back to the drawing board, getting ready for the next opportunity. That’s all you can do. I’m done looking in the rearview. I lost to a legend. It was an honor. If I was going to lose to someone that’s whooped everyone’s ass in this game… I’ll get you next time, Wes, mark my words.

Is there anything that didn’t air that you think fans should know about?

I just want to get it out there: I’m not in love with Johnny Bananas. He’s not my hero. That was definitely some sort of edit. I did give Bananas a letter. It was never my intention to become buddies with this guy. I literally shared a room with him. If there’s one thing with Bananas, he’s very entertaining. And when you’re living in a Challenge house where everything is under the microscope and you live in utter fear, if there’s any kind of humor that you can have, it’s worth taking advantage of.

You’re not my hero, Bananas, but the letter was just a token of my friendship, for some advice that he gave me, being new into The Challenge. It was when he was going into elimination, I thought he was going home. You don’t get a chance to say goodbye to people. And I just wanted to say thank you for some advice he gave me. That was it. Of course, Bananas reads it in his confessional, and lo and behold, everyone thinks I’m in love with Bananas.

Jonne Roriz, courtesy of Paramount

But it was an amazing experience to compete with these vets that I’ve watched forever, but also to get to meet the incredible personalities and charisma of all these CBS people, to come together and put this show together. I think it’s been an unbelievable season thus far. And I’ll tell you, as a fan of The Challenge, to get to sit back and watch these fools kill themselves for the next few weeks, I can’t wait. Thursday can’t get here quick enough. I’m dying to know what happens.

If you’d won, would you have defected or stayed with Red? Defected, right? Given your comment about the cowards on your team?

[Laughs] It’s funny: Immediately before this started, my plan was to go to Blue. They’re running away with this. Winning is the most surefire way to not have your name put on the wall or get balls thrown on you. But as this happened, I’m looking at Team Red. I’ve been through so much with this group of dysfunctional lunatics at this point, that part of me was like, see this through. I had this little inkling, could I finish this out? Because in my mind, I felt like something was going to happen where this was going to split up anyways. It’s The Challenge. If you know the game, that’s it. Probably would’ve went to Blue, looking at it though, and especially seeing it now, knowing my whole team was voting for me anyways, I would’ve loved to go over to Blue and drop some balls on them and put them in.

Do you know whose spot you would’ve taken?

I feel like Wes made the smart move by moving Chris [Underwood] just to break up the alliance. Chris is a silent assassin in this game. I loved everyone on that team realistically, so it would’ve sucked to do it, but it’s me or them. Working with the vets and building my relationship with them, it would’ve given us the numbers on Team Blue. And with winning, I think we could have navigated pretty easily. But Wes does the same thing. And so I’m interested to see what happens. Team Blue looks like a juggernaut now. They’re going to be a handful to deal with.

You talked about getting ready for the next opportunity, so you would do another season of The Challenge: USA?

My bag is packed, it’s ready to go. There’s no question asked. I’m not just going back. I’m coming back to win. I have heads to take. There’s blood to be spilled. There’s revenge to be dealt. Next time you see me, I’m going to be a different specimen. Get ready.

As someone who’s a fan of The Challenge, what did you think of trivia, considering the hype?

I was absolutely thrilled for trivia. I’ve spent a whole lot of my younger childhood at Buffalo Wild Wings sneaking in underage and playing trivia games. I felt very confident in that. But something people don’t know about me, or maybe they do, is I sweat profusely. And so when we were stuck on a piece of plexiglass 40 feet above the water, I knew I was in for a world of hurt. I dangled off of that thing for quite some time. They made it look like I fell right in. I did the best I could. I knew I was in trouble, but I gave them hell. I am sorry to everyone in Missouri, too, for missing the Kansas City Chiefs. What a blunder. I’m such a moron. When you’re dangling 40 feet above the water barbecuing in the sun, your mind gets away from you.

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As a Challenge fan, how do you look back at your time on the show?

It is bittersweet. To represent The Challenge, to see my name Dusty under the words Challenge on that red jersey, literally, other than having my children and marrying my beautiful wife, it’s probably one of the biggest honors that’s ever happened to me. But this isn’t the end. That’s how I look at it. This was just a stepping stone. I got a dose of reality. I thought I knew what I knew, but I really knew nothing. Physically, I can compete with anybody. I know that 100 percent. The social side of it, I learned a lot. The Amazing Race does not prepare you for something like The Challenge when there’s a hopper involved. I walked in expecting to call you out face-to-face, come get the business. The hopper threw a curveball in. But that’s the beauty of The Challenge, and that’s why it’s the greatest competitive show there is because you never know what you’re going to get season to season. You think you know, but you have no idea. Everyone has a plan until they’re punched in the face.

So your plan is to work on your social game for another season?

I think so, yeah. The only way to go up from here is to do that. And realistically, stay true to myself. There were definitely some times within the house where things were said, where I had a hunch, didn’t go with it, let the dust settle, I said I would get back to it. I need to listen to my intuition a little more and speak my mind. I’m always going to be a wrecking ball. I’m never going to hold my tongue. I just need to remember to keep my cool. Walk away from incidents. Because when you cause the scene, you’re going to dance. There’s no two ways about it. But I know I can compete, and if I have to go in, so be it. I will go in, and I will take you out one by one by one. Come get it.

The Challenge: USA, Thursdays, 10/9c, CBS