As The Challenge: Double Agents episodes arrive, viewers are seeing a brash class of rookie competitors who aren’t afraid to make moves in the game.
That includes the first-ever competitor to come from America’s Got Talent, with singer Joseph Allen joining MTV’s reality competition series.
In a recent interview, Joseph spoke about his thoughts on coming back to compete on the show in future seasons after participating on Double Agents.
For those who have yet to see the first few episodes of The Challenge, spoilers will follow.
Joseph Allen on The Challenge: Double Agents experience
The second episode of Double Agents, Dive Another Day, featured the brash rookie, Joseph Allen, stepping up to call out Challenge veteran Wes Bergmann. Basically, Joseph was trying to lure Wes into the elimination with him so he could make a name for himself and earn a Gold Skull.
At the same time, Joseph’s partner, Tula “Big T” Fazakerley, was trying to get rid of him as a partner. Joseph made a big speech during the house meeting to tell people to vote Wes into elimination again, and then Fessy Shafaat and Aneesa Ferreira could send Joseph in. That’s not the way it went down, though.
Instead, Joseph and Big T ended up getting voted in. Fessy and Aneesa chose to send in Kyle Christie and Nany Gonzalez, meaning Joseph battled Kyle in the men’s elimination. Kyle made relatively easy work of Joseph, besting him in two of three rounds of their Ring of Spies event. That meant Joseph was going home just two episodes into his first season.
In an EW exclusive interview, Joseph explained why he wanted to go into the elimination so early in the game.
“I was hoping that the elimination was going to be something similar to what Natalie [Anderson] and Ashley [Mitchell] had because, for all my preparation coming into the show, that’s what I worked on, muscular endurance. I seriously think if I get teamed up against anybody down there, I think I could hold my own if it was an elimination like that,” he said.
He also gave his thought process as far as calling out Wes to go into the elimination against him.
“Wes is a decorated vet. If I go down there and rock out with him and end up sending him home? Like, shoot. And then in terms of ratings, my numbers will go through the roof! So that’s what I was going for, I was playing big,” Joseph told EW.
However, he got Kyle Christie instead, who yanked and dragged him across the grounds of The Crater in the elimination event to get rid of the rookie. Joseph mentioned that his first-ever elimination was “definitely brutal,” and he felt his arm was going to get broken at some points.
Would he return to do the show again?
Now that he’s participated in The Challenge, albeit only for a brief time, he’s gained a bit of experience in terms of how things work. Joseph mentioned to EW, “I didn’t come on this season expecting to win. I came on this season expecting to learn.”
He learned that he might need to tweak his training and upgrade his workouts to get in shape for the show.
“I’ve got to be like, three, four times stronger than what I already am. If they end up letting me back on, that’s going to be a problem because if I come back on, it’s coming with some punishment. People have to pay,” he said.
With that in mind, he was asked if he’d consider competing on the show again after his early exit from Double Agents. Joseph’s reply was “Hell yeah,” admitting he had a blast on the show.
“So if they let me back on, I’m telling you, I’m going to make people pay for real — with a smile on my face, though, because that’s just in my character. Nam [Vo] is going to be looking at me like, ‘Dude, how do I get my body like that?'” Allen joked.
The Challenge: Double Agents airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.