On The Challenge: Double Agents season, viewers were introduced to a new group of rookies which included an Olympic athlete, a professional wrestler, and a singer from America’s Got Talen.
While many of them brought interesting personalities, it was also a season where rookies mostly stayed away from elimination, and others had to leave the show for different reasons.
With that in mind, Aneesa Ferreira recently spoke about some of the rookies and revealed which ones she thought were great on the show and who she’d like to see on The Challenge again. She also named a few she doesn’t think should return.
Aneesa praises Double Agents rookies
During her appearance on the Challenge Mania Podcast, Aneesa opened up about many things from Season 36. That included her situations with several castmates and her thoughts on the Double Agents rookies that are good for The Challenge.
“Natalie [Anderson] definitely has The Challenge [in her], but I don’t know how she would do strategy-wise. I don’t know how she plays the game because she left so soon,” Aneesa said.
The Survivor winner was able to win the first elimination on Double Agents by defeating Ashley Mitchell. However, a personal situation came up for Natalie several episodes later, and she had to leave the show. She opened up about the roller coaster ride on her Instagram account following her final episode.
“I really liked that Amber M was super forward if there was an issue. I mean she’s good I think for like the drama part of it,” Aneesa said of Amber M.
“I absolutely adore Gabby. She’s one of my favorite people. We would talk so much s**t,” Aneesa said of Gabby Allen, adding, “She’s strong too.”
She also went on to praise Nam Vo and Amber Borzotra. Of those two, Amber B. is the only remaining rookie on Double Agents. Nam exited several episodes prior due to being medically disqualified.
“I love Nam. I hope he comes back. He was so fun. Once he got comfortable, like after a week or so, of us like drooling and talking s**t, he was just awesome and so intuitive,” Aneesa said about the Ultimate Beastmaster star.
Aneesa shares which rookies shouldn’t return to The Challenge
During the podcast, Aneesa also mentioned two specific individuals she didn’t think should return to the show. One was the obvious pick of Joseph Allen. The former America’s Got Talent contestant didn’t seem ready for The Challenge, wasn’t really training, and ended up getting sent home by Kyle Christie early on in an elimination.
The other individual was Lolo Jones. She had an interesting story on her Double Agents season, which involved the Olympic athlete becoming stressed by the nature of the competition. It wasn’t quite like the Olympics, which eventually led to Lolo deciding to pack her stuff and leave the show.
She explained to her castmates in aired footage that it was because she felt she wasn’t getting a chance at a gold skull and her alliance wasn’t helping her. Add in the fact that Lolo and her rookie teammate Nam Vo weren’t working well together. Lolo said she felt it’d be best to leave so she could start training for the Olympics.
Following her departure in the episode, Lolo tweeted that she was forced to quit the show and suggested a daily mission was rigged, helping a certain team win. That didn’t sit well with some castmates, including Devin Walker, who called her out for the comments.
“I don’t think she should ever come back,” Aneesa shared during the podcast. “I don’t think she should do reality TV, period.”
When Challenge Mania podcast host Scott Yager suggested that reality TV seems to fit Lolo well, Aneesa disagreed.
“But it doesn’t, at the same time,” she also said. “It’s like a recipe for disaster. She is good for it, but she’s not — I don’t think it’s healthy for her because of how stressed out she does get.”
The Challenge: Double Agents airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.