For The Challenge: Double Agents, a number of rookies started the season looking like strong contenders in their debut on MTV’s show.
That included former WWE superstar Lio Rush, Ultimate Beastmaster’s Nam Vo, Olympic athlete Lolo Jones, and fitness model Gabby Allen.
While some lost in elimination, others had to leave the show early, unable to continue competing in the game. However, a few made it rather far in the game, and one in particular easily is the rookie of the year.
Double Agents’ Amber Borzotra has shown herself to be a top-notch competitor in her rookie season, but she struggled a lot during at least one mission. However, she recently explained why that happened due to a disability that she’s struggled with throughout her life.
Double Agents Episode 17 featured rescue mission
For the daily challenge or mission in Double Agents Episode 17, teammates were split up. All the guys went with host TJ Lavin and were put down into a frozen volcano. That meant Kyle Christie, Cory Wharton, Leroy Garrett, and Fessy Shafaat were captured and awaiting their rescue.
Their female partners- Nany Gonzalez, Kam Williams, Kaycee Clark, and Amber Borzotra, had to go through a five-mile race including various checkpoints with puzzles to get into the volcano to rescue them.
The first checkpoint had a briefcase with a combination lock on it. To get the combination, the female competitors had to solve a math equation on the briefcase. That answer was the numbers to open the combination on the briefcase.
Kam flew through the first checkpoint, surprising everyone. It took Nany and Kaycee a bit more time to finally solve theirs. From there, they were racing to get to the next checkpoints.
Meanwhile, footage showed Amber B. stressing out over figuring out her math problem. Many viewers at home may have even wondered why she struggled so much with a problem they may have thought wasn’t that time-consuming to solve.
The Challenge’s Amber revealed why she struggled so much
Amber tweeted on Wednesday night as the episode was airing to let people know why she struggled so much with the math equation at the first checkpoint.
Based on her tweet, it’s due to a disability called Dyscalculia which is a “number dyslexia” and has given her difficulties through her life.
“Y’all, I know I suck at math lol. I have what’s called Dyscalculia AKA number dyslexia. It’s a disability I have lived with my entire life. Literally have always struggled..Not my strong suit, but I tried my hardest,” Amber tweeted out.
With Dyscalculia, the individual has difficulty in learning number-related concepts. They’re unable to perform various basic math skills and perform accurate math calculations, according to Attitude. So performing mental calculations is a serious struggle for those with the disability.
As viewers saw, Amber never finished the first checkpoint, and her partner, Fessy Shafaat, remained stuck in the volcano, so they finished last.
Amber also talked about her struggle during The Challenge: Double Agents Aftermath show (below), when Devyn Simone asked her what it was like searching for Fessy in a volcano.
“I did not make it. One thing I do not like is numbers and the mental part for me, that was my struggle. First of all, I’m very dyslexic, especially when it comes to numbers. I have to write everything down and see it. That wasn’t possible for me. I just can’t do it without writing it down and I mix numbers up and I switch them up. I read like that too. It’s always been an issue for me,” Amber shared on Aftermath.
Near the end of the episode, Amber’s partner Fessy ended up winning his elimination. He then chose to steal Kaycee Clark as his new partner. Amber became partners with Chris “CT” Tamburello. TJ Lavin then informed everyone they were officially in the final.
CT has been known to be good with math and puzzles, while Amber has shown herself to be able to participate in a variety of physical challenges, so the duo may work quite well together in TJ’s final.
The Challenge: Double Agents airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.