A new spinoff series for The Challenge is currently filming, featuring some of the show’s former and current stars.
Tentatively called The Challenge: We Want OGs, the show is being made thanks to multiple-time Challenge champion Mark Long.
One of the other former winners of The Challenge recently revealed why she turned down the offer to appear on the OGs spinoff.
Former Real World and Challenge star says she turned down OGs
A hidden gem amongst the various YouTube channels about reality TV is the Mike Lewis Podcast. Mike regularly gets some of the longtime stars from Real World and The Challenge on his show to find out what they’ve been up to. He even gets insight into why some of them may have recently turned down the show.
In an episode uploaded on February 9, he spoke with former Challenge winner Johanna Botta. She initially debuted on The Real World: Austin alongside Challenge veteran Wes Bergmann and We Want OGs cast member Nehemiah Clark.
During her discussion with Mike on his show, Johanna revealed that she’d received a call from Mark Long to be part of the OGs show but turned it down.
“The times that they’ve called me and said, ‘Will you come back? Blah blah blah,’ and I’m like, ‘No because I’m not fun to watch anymore,’” Johanna told Mike.
“I’m like, ‘I not gonna create drama. I’m not gonna talk bad about people and I’m not even gonna be a good competitor,’” Johanna added.
“I don’t want to throw myself out of planes anymore. Do you know what I mean? I have a kid. Like, I don’t wanna die. I don’t want to get injured. It’s just not what I wanna do,” Johanna also said.
“Mark and production have reached out, and I told Mark I was like, “Dude, I’m not an OG,’” Johanna said. She said that even though Mark tried to convince her she was an OG, she told him she’s not.
She also brought up that she’s read some of the reports online from blogs or elsewhere, saying they don’t know how she got by on The Challenge. Johanna joked that she doesn’t know how she got by either.
Johanna also mentioned that she hates when she sees her old seasons of the show have returned to CBS All-Access or elsewhere. That’s because she doesn’t want prospective employers to see some of the ways she behaved on TV during her younger days.
Johanna competed on four seasons of The Challenge
After appearing on the famous Real World: Austin season, Johanna transitioned to The Challenge and appeared on the Fresh Meat season. She was partnered with Jesse Stark and made it to the sixth episode. They were eliminated from the game by her former Real World roommate Wes and his partner Casey Cooper.
Johanna returned on The Gauntlet III, which aired in 2008, and ended up one of the winners for that season. She was one of the remaining members of the Rookies team that included Frank Roessler, Jillian Zoboroski, Rachel Moyal, Tori Hall, and Nehemiah. Those six competitors split a prize of $300,000 amongst them.
Johanna also did The Island and The Ruins seasons of The Challenge but never got farther than the eighth episode of those seasons. She didn’t return for the show after that, and, based on her conversation with Mike, she currently enjoys working as a freelance presenter in the UK for various projects.
There are probably many fans out there that would love to see her on The Challenge OGs, as she’s a familiar face and someone people rooted for back in the day. Still, one has to respect the 37-year-old Johanna Botta has good reasons not to want to put herself in harm’s way or back on reality TV at this stage of her life.
The Challenge: We Want OGs series premiere date is TBA.