The Challenge is often referred to as the fifth professional sport and with that comes comparisons between competitors in MTV’s show with the stars from other major sports.
During a recent on-air rant, ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky brought up several of The Challenge: Double Agents stars including Fessy Shafaat and Kyle Christie.
However, Kyle wasn’t all that amused upon learning that he’d been referred to as a “layup” and fired back with his classic Kyle humor accompanied by a clever video.
Kyle fires back at ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky
During an ESPN First Take segment, football analyst Dan Orlovsky joined Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman to discuss the upcoming NFL Draft. Orlovsky, who seems to be a big fan of The Challenge, brought up several of the Double Agents competitors to make a point.
“Max is everything that’s wrong with quarterback perspective in the NFL right now,” Orlovsky said during his rant. “Max, you trying to tell me that the Giants moving off and going up to go get a quarterback off of Daniel Jones is like people telling me Fessy’s a good teammate on The Challenge because he beat Kyle in Hall Brawl. No, he’s not. Kyle was a layup.”
After learning of the mention, Kyle Christie took to social media to share a post featuring the original clip of Orlovsky’s comments, but with a few extras after. That included UFC MMA star Conor McGregor hilariously asking “Who the f**k is that guy” and then a powerful highlight reel of some Kyle’s best moments on The Challenge.
“Getting called out live on @espn is a first…WHO THE F*** IS THAT GUY? Genuinely have no idea…had to Google what “Layup” means as well…Americans,” Kyle wrote with his Instagram post.
“Still love you all,” Kyle finished his caption with to let the American fans he wasn’t that mad at them all.
Referring to Kyle as a layup seems a bit out of place considering that he was going into his second elimination of the season and broke his finger before he could go a second round of Hall Brawl.
That said, other competitors that were available to go against Fessy at the time including Leroy Garrett, Chris “CT” Tamburello, and Cory Wharton may have been tougher competition for the former football player.
Following Kyle’s medical DQ in Hall Brawl, he gave his elimination exit interview and said he was disappointed in himself. He also said he does The Challenge to make memories that one day he can reflect on and tell his grandkids about.
Like Fessy, Dan Orlovsky is also a former football player. He played eight years in the NFL at quarterback with four different teams, but he only participated in a total of 26 games with 12 starts.
It’s not the first time that Orlovsky mentioned The Challenge competitors either. He previously tweeted to call out the men’s competitors when they didn’t really compete in a daily challenge involving a helicopter, cargo net, and having to fight while flying over cold water.
Kyle’s Challenge resume includes two finals
While Kyle didn’t have the size and power to take out Fessy in Hall Brawl, he has still shown himself to be a worthy competitor on MTV’s The Challenge. Double Agents was Kyle’s sixth appearance on the competitive reality series.
He originally appeared on Geordie Shore, and then debuted on Vendettas. The UK star made a name for himself in his first Challenge season by reaching the final as a rookie.
He’d go on to appear on Final Reckoning, War of the Worlds I, and War of the Worlds 2 seasons, but it wasn’t until The Challenge: Season 35 Total Madness that he returned to a final.
He was on the cusp of returning to the final on Double Agents, but unfortunately ran into Fessy, or got run into by him. That said, it’s likely he’ll be back again as he has become a fan favorite in terms of his commentary and will to win.
Despite a 4-6 record in eliminations, Kyle seems to be far from a layup compared to some of those one-and-done rookies that never return. In fact, he seems primed and ready for a future win on The Challenge.
With Darrell Taylor recently calling out Jake Paul for a boxing match, maybe Kyle Christie will call out Dan Orlovsky for a Hall Brawl next.
The Challenge: Double Agents reunion airs Wednesday, April 28 at 8/7c on MTV.