Big Brother was one of four CBS reality TV shows that brought cast members to The Challenge: USA, a spinoff of MTV’s popular competition show.
Among those Big Brother stars was David Alexander, who originally appeared in Season 21 of the CBS show, then returned for Season 22, aka All Stars.
David didn’t have the best showing during his original reality TV show, becoming the first player evicted in BB 21. He fared slightly better in BB 22, as the ninth player evicted and got onto the All Stars jury.
However, his appearance as an underdog who defied the odds on The Challenge: USA may have boosted his status in the reality TV world.
He recently opened up about how he’s been training hard to appear on The Challenge again, with three potential shows he could go on.
This report will contain spoilers through The Challenge: USA, Episode 10.
David considered underdog during The Challenge: USA
While David had an early exit from his first Big Brother season, he lasted much longer during his first season of The Challenge: USA spinoff and did so without being all that connected to the strongest alliance in the game.
Viewers and castmates saw David as an underdog, but he likely proved many people wrong about his abilities throughout his appearance on the CBS spinoff. In Episode 4, he and his teammate Justine Ndiba finished worst overall in the daily challenge, automatically putting them into the elimination.
However, they overcame the odds and defeated opponents Xavier Prather and Shan Smith in the Smash In Puzzle Out elimination at The Arena. That ousted recent Big Brother winner Xavier from the game.
A few episodes later, David got randomly paired with Survivor’s Desi Williams, and the duo won the Containment daily challenge, putting them in a position of power. Desi and David opted to send Shannon St. Clair and Derek Xiao into elimination.
Unfortunately, alliances formed during the season, and David wasn’t as tight with the Big Brother women as he thought. In The Challenge: USA, Episode 10, Angela Rummans was the daily challenge winner along with Survivor star Ben Driebergen.
David performed worst in the daily event. Despite requesting to go against Domenick Abbate or Tyson Apostol, Angela and Ben sent his friend Enzo Palumbo against him at The Arena.
During their clash, Enzo battled David in The Challenge elimination classic, Balls In. It was a grueling five rounds of competition, with both guys becoming exhausted. Ultimately, Enzo scored in the fifth round to break a 1-1 tie and end his Big Brother friend’s time on the show.
David talks about his training after The Challenge: USA
Following his aired exit from the show in Episode 10, David appeared in various exit interviews on YouTube for various podcasts or media outlets.
During his appearance on Rob Has a Podcast (below), he spoke about being so close to reaching the final but missing out and how it’s fueled him. They asked David if he knew what The Challenge World Championship tournament format would involve and if people on the CBS spinoff were talking about that.
“There’s a lot of things up in the air. I don’t know what can happen. I’m training as if there could be an opportunity, whether it’s [The Challenge World Championship], Season 2 of [CBS’ spinoff], or the MTV version. I am on a different level physically than I was just three months ago. If you guys have followed me on Instagram, you’ll see it. I probably ran 300 miles this summer,” he said.
He likened his elimination ahead of The Challenge: USA final to being like a sports team close to making the playoffs but barely misses getting in.
“And you know if I just would’ve had a little bit more. You think about that. That’s all I’ve been thinking about all summer long. What I could’ve brought to the table if I were more prepared,” he said on the podcast.
David also got asked which players he might target on a return season if some of his Challenge: USA castmates who criticized him as a competitor went on another season with him.
“I would go for anyone who said I was weak… Let’s review the tapes,” David said, mentioning Tyson Apostol and Angela may have expressed doubts about him based on their confessional interviews.
The Challenge: USA airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on CBS. The Challenge Season 38 is TBA for MTV.