Jonna Mannion (‘The Challenge: USA’) exit interview: Voting for Michele Fitzgerald was ‘a mistake’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Denton Davidson
·4 min read
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Jonna Mannion became the second contestant eliminated from “The Challenge: USA” on Sunday night, following her loss to Tori Deal in the arena. In the game “Drop the Ball,” each woman was tasked with scoring as many goals as possible with balls dropped from a large structure. If necessary, they could tackle, push, shove and do anything necessary to secure a ball for themselves. In the end, Tori pulled off the win, defeating Jonna by a score of 29-15. Watch our exclusive video interview with the eliminated contestant above.

As an “MTV: The Challenge” veteran and two-time champion, Jonna knew walking into the game “the target was big.” She explains, “Not only was the target big because of the back-to-back wins, then they’re like, ‘Hey guys, we’re going to make you guys ride up on jet skis,’ and then the first-round draft pick. These people are already scared of me! And then they made us carry a statue of me up a mountain. I was like, ‘T.J., I really don’t think there is any way that you can make everybody hate us more.'”

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Jonna made an early mistake, voting her own teammate Michele Fitzgerald into the arena after the first challenge. “I wouldn’t say it’s a mistake that I regret,” she clarifies. “I probably should have waited until Episode 6. That’s when I should have pulled that move. But with all the unknown factors that we had, when I put her name into the hopper, I had no idea that they were going to bring a jumbotron to elimination. They didn’t show who voted for who, but when you’re playing against ‘Survivors’ and ‘Big Brother’ people, they come from a game where, literally, that’s their entire game. All they do is count votes. Michele is so smart, she immediately was like, ‘Who voted for me?’ and I was like, ‘How does she know?'”

“I’m a strategic player,” Jonna says. “We have Green Team, Blue Team, Red Team. We have ‘Survivor’ vs. ‘Big Brother’ vs. ‘The Amazing Race’ vs. ‘MTV.’ We have seven ‘Survivors,’ eight ‘Big Brother’ people. We also have these people in the middle from ‘Big Brother’ but have also already done ‘The Challenge.’ I was standing back looking at it like, there’s so many connections, so many things happening. I already knew my back was against the wall. They wanted the six of us out. I knew it would be an uphill battle. I was like, ‘How can I use my vote to help me in the game?’ The reason I did was because had it worked out, and had Michele gone home, it would have bettered my position in the game. It doesn’t make sense to the viewers, but I was playing chess. I was two or three steps ahead of where I should have been. I should have stayed in the moment. She was a player that would have been a roadblock for me.”

Among the cast members are three people who previously won their seasons: Michelle (“Survivor: Kaôh Rōng”), Josh Martinez (“Big Brother 19”) and Chris Underwood (“Survivor: Edge of Extinction”). “MTV Challenge” vets are Jonna, Wes Bergmann, Tori Deal, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, Amanda Garcia and Cory Wharton. How will these six all-stars now fare when competing with CBS reality favorites? In the end, only one man and one woman will emerge victorious, taking home $250,000 each.

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