Alyssa Snider Reveals Her Status with Tyler After 'The Challenge: USA' Season 2
The Challenge: USA season 2 is here! Every week, Parade.com will speak with the CBS reality alumni who were eliminated from the all-star competition.
Alyssa Snider came to The Challenge: USA season 2 looking for funds to make an animal shelter, as well as find a more permanent home for herself. But as the season went along, the Big Brother 24 alum had her situation mimic the outside world, as she struggled to find comfort. That's because her back was consistently against the wall, not only as a rookie with few connections, but also as a Big Brother player. Through the first half of the season, she lost her closest allies in Ameerah Jones, Alyssa Lopez, and most recently Monte Taylor. She received votes every round she was able to save one. It was a lonely existence for her in The Challenge house.
Luckily, she wasn't so lonely with Tyler Crispen. The two had come into the season fresh off of breakups with their BB showmances, and vowed not to let romance cloud their judgment. But their attraction to each other was inevitable, and a final push from veterans Wes Bergmann and Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio sealed the deal. While Alyssa's heart was soaring with her escalating relationship with Tyler, it broke upon hearing Faysal Shafaat could not protect her twice in a row, sending her into the arena. And, in a double elimination, there was nowhere to hide, as she was forced to face off against Cassidy Clark. Despite being considered one of the lesser performers of the season, Alyssa put in an admirable effort, nearly winning the day. But despite the disadvantage in reach, Cassidy was able to emerge victorious, sending Alyssa home.
Now out of the game, Parade.com speaks with Alyssa about her relationship with Tyler during and after the show, why she struggled physically and emotionally, and her reaction to Big Brother consistently getting targeted.
Related: Everything to Know About The Challenge: USA Season 2
So I want to start with the last thing said about you during your elimination. Tyler said after your departure, "She didn't know what she was getting into when she signed up, but she figured things out." How much of that is true?
So I for sure was not prepared. I actually didn't watch The Challenge. Why would I do that? I thought if I watched it, I would psych myself out. Because I knew that I was so scared. I was not the kid who was jumping off the high dive; I was not the kid taking risks. I literally never even rode a bike. Nobody ever called me this crazy risk-taker. So I knew I would be so scared. So I was like, "I'm just gonna go. I want to try something new. I want to do this for myself. I want to try it. But I'm not gonna psych myself out."
Originally when I got the offer, I had to really think about it. I was like, "Can I do this again, so fresh off of Big Brother?" And I got there, and I was so humbled. The first challenge, we're running up a mountain, these statues were like 100 pounds, and I was like, "Oh my god, I was not prepared for this." And like the one where you had to swim up to the boat and flip it, the water was ice cold. You were in a full-on wetsuit, boots, helmet, life vest. I felt like I was drowning the whole time. And I'm a pretty good swimmer without all that stuff on. But it was so hard. So I didn't realize how physically taxing the show really was. But overall, it did show me a lot about myself. Let's just say that.
To that vulnerability, last episode you said that, in the house, you can get crucified for your emotions. And you expressed that you were seen as the weakest person both physically and emotionally. Talk to me more about that perception.
So being an emotional person, I've always been this way. As long as I can remember, I've always been an emotional person. And I would say that I take on other people's emotions as well. Soe, one day, if I was to vote somebody in, I feel so bad. I voted in Chanelle, and I didn't even know she voted me in the week before. And I couldn't get over it. I was upset. I just felt all this guilt. I was like, "I could have ruined her shot at $250,000." And I remember that after I got nominated and I went home, throughout that elimination, I was like, "Oh, wow, I hope that Michaela and Fessy don't feel bad for sending me home." Why am I thinking about their feelings?!
On our off days, I would kind of just stay in bed, be by myself, look at my pictures from home, and eat gummy worms. I'd lay in bed while everyone else was socializing and swimming and working out. And it was hard for me because I was so drained from taking on everybody's emotions and giving so much of myself to so many people that I would just shut down. So I think people seeing that and seeing me in bed and seeing me cry a lot from the beginning pegged me as a weak girl. Clearly I didn't make it in the strong girls alliance. [Laughs.]
Well what certainly didn't help was the Big Brother tag attached to your name. You realized early on that people were gunning for the BB alumni, and you lost several close allies throughout like Ameerah, Alyssa L., and Monte. How did you try to navigate the game with Big Brother players becoming an endangered species?
So I think something I didn't know was that a lot of people on The Challenge had watched my season of Big Brother. And so they just naturally think Big Brother [players] are snakes. And I'm like, "Did you guys not see me on Big Brother? [Laughs.] I was really out there not knowing what's going on?" But then me and Tiffany would always joke, and Tiffany's like, "I'm going in and saying I'm from Survivor next time." I'm like, "You kidding me? I'm saying I'm from Love Island! I'm always having showmances. People will know the difference."
I was supposed to go home so many weeks in Big Brother. Literally from week one, I was "backstage," and then I continued to be a target for the Leftovers. And I make like I made my way through and I beat Michael. And that's my big thing in life, because Michael was literally the best player ever. [Laughs.] But people are like, "Wow, you beat someone who won all these competitions. You made it further. What is your social game? How do you move?"
So I think people just naturally target Big Brother thinking we're slimy and we're snakes. Like Dusty for example. Dusty thought it was Big Brother who voted him in. I couldn't even vote! He's like, "It was Alyssa." I'm like, "I won! What do you mean?" So I think just naturally, people think that Big Brother are snakes. They came from us from the beginning, and I just really don't know what we could have done. We tried to work with Survivor to get the vets out. And yeah, that worked for a couple of votes. And then it was like, "Alright, now time to get Big Brother out." What more could we have really done besides like, go down in the sand and win? And we don't have very good odds of that.
Speaking to that sneaky reputation, at one point you told Tyler that you were overwhelmed by the lying in the house, how it wasn't in your character to be manipulative. But you just came from a show last summer where you spent 72 days playing a 24/7 game of manipulation and lying. Why was it so tough for you in The Challenge?
Coming into The Challenge, I thought it would be different. I talked to Alyssa Lopez a little bit about her season. And she's like, "Well, if you lose that [daily], you're thrown in. There's not really like a voting process." Well, they put in the Hopper. So you're giving me Big Brother 2.0 where people can now secretly vote for you, and you have to have that anxiety. And people would lie to me about their votes. Chanelle had voted me in and told me it was Michele. And Michele was a really good friend to me in the house. And that's what triggered that spiral. Michele was my roommate, I hung out with her every day. I loved her so deeply. And I'm like, "I would have protected Michele all the time." And now hearing that she voted me in made me question everything, but she didn't.
That's another thing. She was lying. It's part of the game. It's gameplay, but it's hard for me to go with my gut. And my gut was saying she didn't do that. But I go with what people are telling me because I'm naturally a trusting person. So going with that back and forth was really hard, specifically in this show, because I don't know these people. It was just such a different experience. [In] Big Brother, I was always blindsided, and it kind of worked out in my favor. Because if I was overthinking like some of these other people, I probably would have driven myself insane. So I tried to not do that in The Challenge house, but it just equaled an emotional explosion.
Well, you were luckily able to find some solace in the house in Tyler. Of course, both of you were adamant coming in that you would not be involved in a showmance after just coming out of relationships. But whether it was the pheromones, or the stress, or Wes and Bananas, it was inevitable. Talk to me about the process of making this emotional bond that then proceeded to become physical.
So I was obviously in a relationship in Big Brother that ended a couple of months pre-The Challenge. And so I was taking the time to mourn and really find myself, and I was like, "I'm gonna go on The Challenge. I'm gonna play this for me, I'm not gonna get into a showmance." And then I came on the show. And in these environments, you do everything with each other. You wake up together. We were journaling together, which is literally my love language. We were working out together. We were eating together. We were making this little life inside of The Challenge house. And we became really good friends really fast because I knew I could trust him. And I had seen Big Brother before. I know the way he kind of moves. And I was like, "Well, I do feel like he's someone that I could trust."
And then it became a little more than that. We started opening up about both being in showmances on Big Brother, and we started being able to connect outside of things. We're both caring people, we like nature. We had so much in common that was way more than I was anticipating. I naturally find a person, and you really become my person. And early on, I had Ameerah, I had Alyssa Lopez, and they left early on. [So] I was like, "Okay, I need my ride or die in this game." And it became Tyler so quickly. He was such a soft place to land. I couldn't say more great things about the guy. He really was someone that I needed in that house. And I really fell for him more than I was ever anticipating. Because he made me feel more seen, heard, and loved in six weeks than other people did in six months.
So I'd be remiss if I didn't ask, what happened when the two of you left Croatia? Did things continue once you got stateside?
So I think when we got home and we processed everything that happened in the show, I really wanted to continue. I was pushing for it. I was like, "Let's explore this. Let's see this." And he kind of came at me with more of a realistic place. Sometimes I'm that hopeless romantic and I'm like, "Let's just have a life together now and have kids and get married. I'm ready, let's go!" And he's like, "Alyssa, you have to understand that hurt people hurt people." And that's the best way to say it. It means, "I'm still healing. I went through a lot this year." And I did as well. And I think I pushed those feelings to the side and I'm like, "Forget what happened. Forget Big Brother. Forget all this stuff. This is my new reality." But we both really need to heal and work on ourselves. So I think that we're doing that right now. I don't ever want to lose him in my life. So the best thing is to be single and do that. I do wish that it had continued further. But at the same time, I know what's meant to be will be, and we need to process everything on our own.
Finally, in honor of the infamous "[expletive] They Should Have Shown" episode of the old-school days of The Challenge, what's one moment from your time on the show that you wish you had made the edit?
That's a really good question. I feel like there was always a lot left out in the challenges. I mean, they have to fit a lot into an hour. There were a lot of times where I wanted to give up and kept pushing. I don't think that was really as much focused on In the box challenge, I was dead. I was done. I took off my helmet and I was like, "I can't keep going." I literally felt like I was going to pass out. It was so far and so heavy. And I really channeled that energy and made it to the end, and I feel like that's easily overlooked when there's other things going on in the house.
Even in the capsized challenge, I was the last person swimming up. And I was swimming and I got like paralyzed. [Mimes swimming, then freezes.] I stopped swimming, and I literally just froze in the water ten feet from the finish line. And I cannot unhear Chris's voice being like, "Come on, it's ten feet!" It literally took every last bit of energy to push through and finish that. And the thing we joked about the rest of the season was how my battery died, and I almost didn't complete that challenge. But I still did it, and we still won it.
