The Challenge: All Stars winner Yes Duffy released a statement on social media following a recent episode of the World Championship spinoff in which he called out the “unequal standards for women” that many people have.
Yes, who competed alongside The Challenge: Australia’s Emily Seebohm in the World Championship, mentioned that his partner was getting the brunt of criticism over their moves in the game.
Emily was shown in episodes to seemingly be at odds with her former castmates from The Challenge: Australia, Kiki Morris and Troy Cullen, and wanting them eliminated from the game due to their feud.
However, Yes said in his statement that he made “50/50 TEAM decisions” with Emily, despite seeming in the dark and silent when it came to those decisions.
“Interesting that I make 50/50 TEAM decisions with my female teammate on #TheChallengeWorldChampionship yet it seems like she gets an unfair share of criticism for OUR decisions,” Yes wrote.
“Proof that folks often have unequal standards for women. Men can get away with so much. Total bs,” he wrote in a comment, which he screenshotted from Twitter and shared on Instagram.
Yes comments about the World Championship edits
Fans and followers responded to Yes’ statement, including one who said things looked a certain way with Yes and Emily’s partnership in World Championship partly due to how the footage was edited or shown.
“Good point. I was tired of seeing men speak for women in the house all the time, and so it is important that she rep our team. Real talk: the challenge truly benefits from more female leadership, and I support that. Keeping quiet and being respectful is strategy, not weakness,” Yes replied.
The All Stars Season 1 winner also mentioned how “Male privilege is real” in replying to another commenter who said they would make a whole Reddit post about Yes and his partner Emily on World Championship.
“I’ve seen it happen before, and now I’m like: OMG it’s happening to ME! Male privilege is real,” Yes wrote.
The Challenge spoilers: Yes and Emily’s World Championship run
For those who have yet to watch World Championship Episode 11, spoilers will follow regarding Yes and Emily and how the episode played out.
It was down to just five teams as the final was around the corner. They were Tori Deal with Danny McCray, Yes with Emily, Kaycee Clark with Troy, Sarah Lacina with Theo Campbell, and Kaz Crossley with Jordan Wiseley.
The remaining teams competed in a daily event called Downfall, involving teammates swimming out in the water to side-by-side large rope ladders and climbing up them to untie a large Challenge symbol.
The first team to untie their symbol got to choose another team to drop into the water. That team was the first out of the event and would go straight into the elimination later.
Troy and Kaycee were the easy targets, getting dropped first by Sarah and Theo. However, Emily and Yes were the second team to get dropped, preventing them from getting the win and safety from elimination.
Theo and Sarah went on to win, gaining safety and immediately qualifying for the World Championship final. Meanwhile, the other three teams had to choose one team to send in versus Kaycee and Troy.
The teams all voted for themselves to cause a stalemate, thinking it would put the decision on Sarah and Theo. However, TJ had a twist at The Arena and allowed the losing team, Troy and Kaycee, to choose their opponents.
They went with Yes and Emily, battling against them in the classic Hall Brawl. Ultimately, it came down to a tie-breaker as Kaycee and Emily went at it for the win. Kaycee drew upon her experience in The Challenge and athletic background to win the event, eliminating Emily and Yes.
Throughout the World Championship season, many episodes seemed to spotlight Emily’s rivalry with her Australian castmates and her newly-formed friendship with USA winner Sarah.
With reality TV show footage presented a certain way these days, Yes is assuring everyone that he and his partner made mutual decisions in The Challenge: World Championship, and he truly valued her leadership skills.
The Challenge World Championship finale arrives Wednesday, May 17, on Paramount Plus.