The Challenge eliminated player speaks: 'The worst social game I've ever played'
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Warning: This article contains spoilers from Wednesday's episode of The Challenge: Double Agents, "From Theresa With Love."
Ashley "Millionaire" Mitchell's second chance didn't last long on The Challenge: Double Agents.
The only past female Challenge winner competing this season was eliminated in the first week by Survivor champ Natalie Anderson, but Anderson had to leave the game after learning she was pregnant. So production brought Mitchell back last episode — only for her to get eliminated once again this week.
And it's a hard loss, considering that Mitchell and her partner Cory Wharton actually came in second place in the episode's daily challenge, behind Theresa Jones and Jay Starrett. But Jones convinced the majority of the house to vote Mitchell and Wharton into elimination, and Jones and Starrett sent Kam Williams and Kyle Christie in against them. It turned out to be a female elimination week, and Williams beat Mitchell, sending her home for the second time in one season.
Mitchell laughs as she admits she was having a great day celebrating the inauguration until she realized her second elimination was airing the same night. "What a buzzkill on what an awesome day today is," she says, adding that it's "so embarrassing" to be sent home again so soon. "I hate it. I don't even want to watch it! Maybe I'll start using all these losses to get me really amped up and kicked into gear."
Below, Mitchell talks about getting eliminated twice in the same season, how she feels about Jones lying to her, and more.
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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did it feel to be sent into elimination so soon after getting a second chance in the game?
ASHLEY MITCHELL: I'm going to be honest with you, I figured that's what was going to happen. I knew it was going to be a really hard journey for me; I was surprised I wasn't thrown in the damn day I walked in the door. So I was just prepared to go in. But I was not prepared to lose again, that was much harder than I thought. [Laughs] I mean, being a two-time champ and just being someone who doesn't like to lose, it is embarrassing and it sucks. So it was great coming back, but I knew it was going to be hard for me to make it to the final. I already have a huge target on my head, girl, being a two-time champ, so getting this second chance had everyone pretty pissed off at me — or not at me, but at the opportunity that I had that they didn't.
Normally players who get to come back or come into the game late get sent into elimination right away, so it was impressive to see you escape it last week.
I know, I don't even know how that happened. I was really lucky Big T and CT won.
How did you find out you were getting this second chance in the game?
I was freaking out. I was actually on my way to the airport in Iceland when I got the call that they needed me to come back. Oh my goodness, I was screaming, I was nervous, I was excited. And then when I walked into that challenge, I saw it was like heights, and that's usually when TJ does trivia for us. I was hoping it was trivia and I would walk back in and get a win right off the bat. [Laughs] But it was far from that.
That would have been amazing.
Well, it probably would have just put another big target on my head. I feel like I can't escape the target. Hopefully next season, people forget. I tried to change my hair color to brown, so people would maybe forget about all the wins I had when I was blond. [Laughs] That's my secret, but it didn't work very well.
When we spoke after your first elimination loss this season, you said you needed to get back into a better headspace about eliminations. Coming back this time, did you do anything to change your mindset?
No. [Sighs] When I said that, I had in mind of what was going to be happening in the future. I knew that I was going to be sent home again, so when I talked to you the first time at the beginning of this season I was like, "I really need to get better at eliminations — you'll see soon why!" [Laughs] Well, that's what I wanted to say. I didn't actually say that. When I came back in, I was just more worried about the social part of it. But yeah, I don't know what is up with me and eliminations. I definitely just need to get my mind right. I don't know what it is because I know I'm a good competitor, and I know I can perform well under pressure. I just got to get back into the right mindset and I think just having so much to live up to, you know what I mean, has really made me nervous. I get down there and it made me anxious and it gets me all up in my head, and I hate that. I'm cloudy when I'm down there and I really need to get back to the old Ashley that just gets down there and gets work done.
Did you know that Theresa was campaigning for you to be the house vote?
Oh yeah, that's why I was freaking out. This week is probably the worst social game I've ever played. I was scrambling so much. I had bad anxiety for some reason this season. I don't know why, maybe because I was such a big target so I know everyone was constantly whispering about me. Honey, I heard Theresa telling people that "We need to get her out because she's going to be one of the hardest people to beat in the final," blah blah blah. That didn't surprise me. I wanted to push her down some stairs or something — no, I'm just kidding. [Laughs] We had gotten along earlier in the season. But I know she really wants the win, so I have no hard feelings. Everyone plays the cards are given and I try to leave everything in the game in the game and not bring it to real life. So even though I get angry I try not to keep it outside of the game, because oh goodness, it would eat me alive because I'd be angry with a lot of people.
I have to give you major props for that speech you gave at deliberation — it was fantastic.
[Laughs] I barely remember it. But I remember after I said that speech, I was like, whether I go in or not, that was a damn good speech.
What was going through your mind when you found out you were going into this elimination so soon after losing the first one?
I was a lot more nervous because I knew that the votes were closer. I didn't feel too much different than the first time. I knew that house was against me, so I wasn't surprised. I was prepared for anything. But I was still praying that it was going to be a boy's day. But when TJ said it was going to be a girl's day, I just buckled up my boots and was like, let's get to work. It was a really fun elimination, and usually they're not so fun; usually people are getting bodied, so luckily I didn't have to do a Hall Brawl against Kam because I don't think I would have done any better than I did with this little Tinkerbell thing. But listen, the people I lost to this season are Killa Kam and Natalie from Survivor, two of the best competitors I've ever seen on TV, male or female, so I'm not ashamed of myself for losing to them. I'm embarrassed that I lost twice in one season, being a two-time champ! But I'm not ashamed of my athletic abilities because these two girls are beasts and I give them their props. And hey, I didn't go home to just anybody. I went home to some real amazing women, so that's all you can ask for, I guess. If you get sent home, it might as well be to the best.
What did you learn from your second chance in the game?
I learned how much I love playing this game, because once I got that call, I was crying I was so happy. They quarantined me again because I had to get the COVID test again, and I just started crying because I just felt so lucky, so blessed, so grateful for the chance. But when it comes to gameplay, I knew the people in the house already, I knew I had a big target on my head, and I knew that the cards were stacked against me no matter what. I was just praying that someone had started hating somebody more than they didn't want me to win. No one wants to see me get that third win. Even people I consider friends, it just eats them alive, to be honest. Even people from the show who don't get cast anymore are secretly holding their breath, hoping I don't get my third win. But honey, they better take a deep gasp of air because I'm getting it sooner or later.
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