At the start of The Challenge: Double Agents season, there were several promising rookie competitors in the game. However, only a few lasted very long across the season while one actually shined brighter than their counterparts.
Amber Borzotra was easily considered rookie of the year by most fans and viewers, based on her success in Season 36. During the season, she had several strong veteran teammates, proved herself in eliminations, and then helped CT win TJ Lavin’s final.
That said, Amber B. was also involved in some in-house drama with fellow castmates including Amber M and Gabby Allen, both of whom felt she was being fake with them and even telling lies.
That came up during an intense confrontation at the Double Agents reunion, with Amber B. full of tears, and it also came up again on MTV’s Official Challenge Podcast.
Amber B played sneaky game early on with others
Big Brother star Amber Borzotra made a name for herself on Double Agents by not only reaching TJ’s final but winning it alongside veteran competitor Chris “CT” Tamburello. However, some early parts of how she played the game with others may have irked castmates.
That included Amber M, who was quite vocal on YouTube reaction videos and at the Double Agents reunion. Basically, she felt Amber B. was lying to people and being shady, rather than just being straight up with them about how she was doing things.
For example, Amber B. lied about who she was or wasn’t voting for and voted for certain individuals several times. She also made it seem she was part of the Itty Bitty alliance, which included Amber M., Tula “Big T” Fazakerley, and Gabby Allen. However, it was revealed she was actually working with Big Brother’s alliance.
Amber B. ultimately won her first-ever elimination, a Hall Brawl, against Amber M., sending the fellow rookie home from the game. She later won a second elimination against Big T, then went to the final as CT’s partner. That said, Amber M. had plenty to confront Amber B. about at the reunion.
Host Vernon Davis mentioned to Amber M. how Amber B. was one of her few friends early in the season. He asked how she felt about her choosing the Big Brother alliance over theirs. Amber M. said it was the way she went about it without giving a heads up. Amber M. called her out for being fake during one episode and then called her out again for lying at the reunion.
The video below shows their argument, including Amber M. expressing her issues with her castmate and Amber B. explaining that she did what she had to do for the game.
At one point in the argument, Amber B. said everybody there is a liar. Aneesa Ferreira also got involved in the conversation as she told the Double Agents winner she shouldn’t go out of her way to tell people she did things a certain way if she didn’t.
As mentioned, Amber B.’s moves may have been sneaky, but she ended up winning the final, coming in first place with CT. Things fell into place for her due to how everything went in the last few eliminations. Still, it raises some questions about her for other castmates in the future.
Aneesa and Tori comment about Amber B’s Double Agents game
During MTV’s Official Challenge Podcast episode after the reunion aired, Aneesa Ferreira and Tori Deal spoke about the Amber Borzotra situation around the 12:30 mark.
“I feel like her intentions were good, but I felt like Amber B. self-edited a lot,” Aneesa shared on the podcast, bringing up Lolo Jones. It’s unknown if Aneesa was speaking about Lolo’s departure from Double Agents season or something else that happened.
Lolo believed she was with Big Brother alliance based on footage shown in episodes. During her aired exit from the season, she mentioned they weren’t helping her much as far as her getting into an elimination to earn her Gold Skull.
“Lolo was really upset about things, so Big T wrote her a really long letter, and then Amber B. decided to buy Lolo flowers. And Lolo was like, ‘I’m hip to her s**t. Stop trying to one-up people.’ But also, you don’t want to create these issues for yourself because, you know, living in a house is stressful,” Aneesa said.
“I think this was the biggest season where people didn’t want to talk about how they felt about each other because of how quickly the game was changing,” Aneesa added, saying she respected Amber M. for coming up to her to see if they had an issue. She also said she respected Kaycee Clark for telling her when she voted for her, even though she was upset about it for like a day.
Aneesa said it was when she found out Amber B. voted for her even though she said she didn’t, that she realized the two Ambers were “two different humans.”
Aneesa and Tori went on to say Amber M. and Amber B. were both great to hang out with after the reunion and that their comments on the podcast relate to The Challenge gameplay, not character in real life.
“I think Amber B. was so worried about hurting other people’s feelings that she may have overloved everyone and may have told a white lie or two,” Aneesa mentioned.
“It worked in her favor. Obviously, she won, and I think ultimately that’s a style of gameplay that’s only gonna last you one season because now we’re kind of on to you,” Tori added, suggesting Amber may need to wait a few seasons before returning to The Challenge.
For now, Amber’s gameplay was quite profitable, as winning the Double Agents season gave her $450,000 of the first-place prize money. Time will tell if and when she returns to try to win a second season, but her rookie strategy may be hard to replicate.
The Challenge Season 37 premiere date is TBA on MTV. The Challenge: All Stars episodes arrive Thursdays on Paramount+.