It was a rough past year for The Challenge star Ashley Mitchell, the two-time champion from MTV’s competition series, recently admitted in a message for friends and fans.
In a social media share, “Millionaire” Mitchell revealed she spent much of 2021 in a “deep depression,” which affected her life quite a bit.
However, she also shared that she’s been doing much better as she looks ahead to this brand new year of her life.
Ashley Mitchell shares throwback Instagram photo
On Wednesday, Ashley Mitchell showed fans a photo she took while on a trip in Huntington, West Virginia. It shows the two-time Challenge winner smiling while seated on a bench wearing tall black boots and a matching black dress.
She admitted in her IG caption she was never going to post the photo from last year since she didn’t particularly like how her legs looked in the pic, but she still felt it was a “beautiful photo.”
“None of us are perfect and we all go through hard times. Most of 2021 had me in a deep depression. I wasn’t working out, hell, I barely left my bed. I wasn’t eating well, I was eating fast foods every day. Although I did enjoy moments with friends and family like this one,” she said in her caption.
She went on to say that she’s feeling much better now, with 2022 underway, though.
“I’m glad I’m feeling like myself again ? I’m also glad I can look at photos like this and not beat myself up. I really don’t care about my legs, I do care about this amazing night I had with my baby sister ? Anyways, remember to enjoy the moments not the Instagram aesthetic,” Ashley said in the IG caption.
Ashley was mysteriously ‘deactivated’ from Season 37
Viewers saw Ashley “Millionaire” Mitchell appear in the past several seasons of MTV’s The Challenge as she was vying for another championship to add to her resume. However, her time on Double Agents was short-lived due to her early eliminations. She lost to rookie Natalie Anderson from Survivor within the first few episodes.
Natalie had to leave the show unexpectedly several episodes later, and in a surprise twist, Ashley returned to compete as her replacement. However, she’d get thrown into elimination once again several episodes later, this time against veteran castmate Kam Williams, who eliminated her for good.
Season 37 was Spies, Lies & Allies, and things seemed to be moving towards another appearance in the final for Ashley. She was mostly part of the veteran alliance and proved herself in elimination by defeating rookie Priscilla Anyabu.
In Season 37, Episode 14, Ashley was present for at least half of the show, but she was mysteriously absent when her team went to the deliberation meeting. Host TJ Lavin revealed later at the Arena that Ashley was deactivated for breaking one of the show’s rules.
Neither TJ nor The Challenge provided any other details about why Ashley got kicked off the show. However, online forum speculation indicated it was due to a heated altercation involving her and castmate Josh Martinez.
Their castmate Nelson Thomas later confirmed that was the case during an Instagram Live, although he didn’t elaborate on what was said.
Following the airing of Ashley’s deactivation, she took to social media to comment on it, saying she understood the decision. She mentioned that she’d been struggling with “depression and anxiety” since getting kicked off the show, and was also taking anger management. Based on her recent IG post, it seems she’s doing much better now than she had been last year.
As far as her return to The Challenge, that remains to be seen. Casting availability calls for Season 38 went out weeks ago, but an official cast list has yet to be revealed, and spoilers of who’s in the new season haven’t arrived online.
However, it would be a pleasant surprise for Millionaire Mitchell’s biggest fans if she showed up with a chance to redeem herself and make another run at the prize money.
The Challenge is currently on hiatus on MTV, with Season 38 expected to arrive in 2022.