The Challenge: All Stars 2 brought back many popular characters from past years of MTV’s reality TV shows, including former Road Rules star Tina Barta.
She became well known as a fierce and often feared competitor who didn’t hold back during her several seasons of The Challenge, making her All Stars 2 return highly anticipated for viewers.
She recently revealed what sort of strategy she had going into the spinoff series and also shared how she views social media upon her big return to reality TV.
Challenge OG views social media as ‘thirst trap’
During the Watch With Us: Challenge Edition podcast, Tina Barta opened up about her return to reality television after being away for about 15 years. Her last appearance was The Challenge Season 13, The Duel, which aired in 2006 and 2007.
In the earlier years of MTV’s The Real World, Road Rules, and The Challenge, the show’s stars didn’t have much of a social media presence if any at all. Years later, that landscape has dramatically changed and is a much more significant part of reality TV fandom.
Tina spoke about that during her podcast appearance, referring to social media as a “thirst trap” where people are looking for attention to stay relevant.
“You see a lot of people on there that just want to create drama or whatever because they feel irrelevant, and that’s how they make themselves feel important again,” Tina shared.
“Internet is a fake place. Like why don’t you live your real life instead of living your life online?” she added.
Tina said she mostly stays away from social media for her mental health. She also shared that she handles things the old-fashioned way.
“I’m an old-school chick. I’ll say it to your face,” Tina said, adding she’s not a “keyboard warrior.”
Tina talks about All Stars 2 strategy
At age 40, Tina Barta still appears to be a competitor to watch out for amongst the OGs in All Stars 2. In Episode 3, she and Darrell Taylor were team captains for the winning team, making them safe from elimination. They also got to choose nominees for the episode’s elimination.
One of the women that Tina seemed to target was two-time Challenge champion Jodi Weatherton, who went into elimination against Sophia Pasquis. Unfortunately for Tina, Jodi won that elimination and returned to the game with her attention focused on paying Tina back.
During the podcast interview, Tina revealed she didn’t really go into The Challenge: All Stars 2 with a strategy in mind, though.
“People have different approaches to the game, and I am realizing more and more as these episodes are airing how naive I am going into these things,” Tina said.
“I just want to go have fun. I’m too old for that drama s**t, even though I like to watch it and hear it,” she added.
“I have no strategy, and I think that trying to go in with a strategy will frustrate you more because the game is always changing,” the two-time finalist shared.
So far, Tina has managed to survive into Episode 5 of the All Stars 2 season, but will her strategy, which is not having any strategy, pay off or backfire? Viewers are ready to see what The Challenge OG will do in the heat of the competition over $500,000 in prize money.
The Challenge: All Stars 2 episodes arrive Thursdays on Paramount Plus.