Cashay Proudfoot Reveals the "Fab Five" Was Not a Real Alliance on 'The Challenge: USA'

The 'Love Island' alum also says Cinco "disrespected" her when they were in the game together, and talks about her perception as a weak player.

The Challenge: USA is here! Every week, Parade.com will speak with the CBS reality alumni who were eliminated from the all-star competition.

To paraphrase Cashay Proudfoot herself, her journey on The Challenge: USA was far from linear. The Love Island alum walked into the game with love still on the brain, having to live and even compete alongside her ex Cinco Holland Jr. Ironically, the moments where she was most triumphant were when she was predicted to do the worst. She was thrown into elimination with Domenick Abbate after the two were seen as a weak pair, only to go on and win. And a couple of rounds later, despite not being able to swim, she was stunningly able to win a swimming challenge alongside Tyson Apostol.

These victories gave Cashay the confidence that she was a true competitor. And while she didn't win a challenge after that, she used her time to get in with the "Fab Five" group of women. The quintet excluded Angela Rummans and Alyssa Lopez, feeling they weren't to be trusted. And that fed back when the two decided to target Sarah Lacina to send her into elimination. With her ally Desi Williams in power, Sarah assumed she'd be served up either Angela or Alyssa. But the pick was picked off by Danny McCray, who wanted to protect the duo. He was able to convince Desi to send in her own ally in Cashay. And she was left spinning her wheels when she wasn't able to do as such, giving Sarah an easy win and leaving everyone left to say, "Cashay away."

Now out of the game, Parade.com speaks with Cashay about how tight the Fab Five really were, the difficulties in playing with Cinco, and how she changed her perception as the game went along.

Related: Meet the Cast of The Challenge: USA

We heard Sarah show some nervousness due to your speed going into the elimination. So why are you sitting here talking to me today instead of two weeks from now?
(Laughs.) I could not figure out how to get that wheel! I was running in place. I was upside down. That wheel was heavy. And I'm like 110 pounds, and I'm not made of muscle like Sarah. So I just couldn't figure it out. I didn't know that you had to push against it. When you see a hamster running on a hamster wheel, he just hops on and starts running. I thought I would just run, and it would start going. That's what you see me doing, just running on there. I just could not figure it out. But once I got going, I was alright. I was so close in the second round.

There was a lot of talk about how Desi should have sent in Angela or Alyssa to protect the "Fab Five." And we did see a scene of you pitching yourself to Danny, nervous he may send you in as a "weaker" competitor. So how surprised were you when you ended up getting sent in against Sarah?
So they told me before elimination that they were going to throw me in. I wasn't really shocked. I mean, we were a little bit confused when Desi went against the plan. But I mean, it's a game. I don't take it personally. I'm not mad at anyone. I get it. But I appreciate them telling me before I went in.

Talk to me more about this "Fab Five." Because it came out of nowhere for those of us watching.
It came out of nowhere for us as well! They made the Fab Five seem like we were sketching out a plan in our rooms. Literally, we were on a boat. It was a Sunday. So it was our day off. And all five of us were sitting together. Angela and Alyssa were nowhere to be found. It's not like they were excluded. Because later after that, they joined us. We were all sitting and hanging out. So Sarah goes, "Fab Five!" And I thought, "Oh, the five of us are sitting together, and we're fabulous." So I did a cheers to the "Fab Five" joking around. Everyone did not find that funny.

I was like, "I'm not working with y'all like that!" Desi and I never worked together or talked game. We weren't friends. We weren't close. So I didn't really think it was that serious. And then, from there, I think Ben told Angela and Alyssa about the "Fab Five." And it became this huge thing. But it wasn't as talked about or as serious. If we were actually working together during the Connect Four challenge, we would have. But that goes to show you we did not really talk; there wasn't really a plan. 

That explains why you, Desi, and Justine were so set and helping yourselves in the daily, even when Sarah was telling you all that Angela and Alyssa were sabotaging her.
It was one of those things where we were like, "Oh, we should do this." And then we start playing the game. And Sarah was like, "Do this, do that."  It's kind of sad, because there wasn't an actual plan talked about.

I know you said you didn't want your time on the show defined by Cinco, but I'd be remiss not to talk about him. How tough was it for you to play this game while he was there?
There were just a lot of different levels. That relationship was my first heartbreak. I'm not the girl that gets hurt by men. It's just it never happens. I'm the one that usually hurts me. So it was just a lot to deal with my first heartbreak on national television living in the same place as him. We broke up maybe six weeks before that. And then, even prior to that, my dad almost lost his life two months before. My knees were dislocated. There were just so many different elements going on. I had no business being on that show.

But I think that's exactly why I went on. I like to put myself in uncomfortable situations because you learn more about yourself. You're going to see the things you need to work on when you're in a new environment and something very difficult. So I think with all of those things stacked against me, the fact that I didn't even train to go on the show, and then made two eliminations before the final, I'm so proud of myself and everyone who underestimated me didn't make it as far as they did. Most of the people that underestimated me weren't even there. So to me, I think I did really well given the circumstances, and I'm proud of myself.

You spoke at one point about how difficult it was to watch him, from your perspective, flirt with other women in the game. That seemed to be most prominent during Tiffany's boot episode. Can you speak more about that?
For me, I'm never going to pin my issues with someone on another woman. He was blatantly doing it in front of me to make me feel a certain type of way. He was blatantly doing things to hurt me. And that was my biggest thing. It wasn't the women; it wasn't him flirting. It was the fact that he was doing it blatantly in front of me to hurt me.

So and I'm not saying every single time he flirted with someone, it was to hurt me. He was probably just living his life. But in certain circumstances, I'd be sitting somewhere, and the next thing you know, he's there, right next to me. I just felt disrespected in some instances. But also, he didn't really owe me anything. We weren't dating. We weren't on good terms. We weren't friends. It was just a lot of different emotions to work through. But when he left, it was very happy for me. (Laughs.)

I'd argue the moment that put you on the map this season was your elimination win with Domenick. I know he did not have some kind words for you earlier in the episode, and I saw some drama on social media after the episode aired. Talk to me about that relationship, especially considering Dom is still in the game by the time you leave.
I think when we got out of elimination, he and I talked. Then we had mutual respect for each other because we won an elimination together. But after watching the show back and hearing all the things he was saying about me, downright dragging me through the mud, I didn't appreciate it. And then there's the smoke on social media. I'm also like, "Yo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't be here!" Yes, Sarah and Cinco were telling me to stack the blocks, just like people were saying that to Tasha as well. But if Tasha would have won, nobody would be giving credit to anybody else.

But it's the fact that I won. And it was my ex up there with Sarah saying stack the blocks. At the end of the day, if I would have knocked the blocks over, we would have lost because you didn't stop the drain. If I wasn't tall enough to put the blocks on top, we would have lost because you didn't stack the drain. If I didn't hear them, or if I tried a different outlet or something different, we would have lost because you didn't stop the drain. So the fact that I felt like he was just giving credit to other people, he wasn't appreciative. He didn't really have my back.

He was just constantly slamming me, even before the elimination. He's like, "Why is she running so fast? It's a marathon, not a sprint" Well, for me, it's a sprint because I'm faster than you! And I thought I could lap him and get the stack faster, but then I found out you both have to finish at the same time. But just overall, that just wasn't a good partnership. It wasn't a good experience. I just think we're very different people; we're like oil and water. And during that experience, I thought we really bonded and helped each other. But getting out, watching it, and hearing things he said, that was not the case.  

You spoke earlier about not being as prepared for the show, and it seemed that you were viewed as a weaker competitor earlier. Did that change as the season went along?
Honestly, I get it. "Cash can't swim." Okay, I know. But there are other things about me that make me a competitor. I mean, a lot of the reasons why I looked at I was looked at as weak is because most of the challenges were swimming. If a lot of the challenges were more like the last one with running, I wouldn't be seen as weak. Constantly having to prove yourself sucks. But being seen as weak is almost an advantage in some instances.

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 had made the edit?
I just wish there were more relationships shown. We really did all have a good time together. And I wish you guys could see more of people bonding. And for me, I just wish y'all got to see me talking more. Because it was just me being really silly or me being really sad. But there's so much gushy stuff in the middle! (Laughs.) So much more to me than the girl that's twerking or the girl crying. So I wish that was shown. But again, I don't have any regrets.

Next, read our interview with Leo Temory, who was eliminated in The Challenge: USA Episode 8.