Faysal “Fessy” Shafaat is among the recent stars of The Challenge to join the podcasting world, where he gives his thoughts on reality TV and more.
He joins other stars, including Wes Bergmann, Johnny Bananas, and Zach Nichols, who have podcasts on various platforms.
Fessy’s Fessin’ Up has released its first two episodes this month. The second installment discusses his loss in The Challenge: Double Agents final.
That infamous final saw Fessy steal top Challenge competitor Kaycee Clark as his partner to run the final.
However, the teammates experienced heartbreak when an unfortunate injury ended their dream of winning their first Challenge final.
Fessy recently shared why he didn’t do more for Kaycee to try to keep competing for the win.
Fessy explains why he quit competing in Double Agents final
During the second episode of Fessin’ Up, Fessy spoke about his Double Agents final, saying that “a lot of people still give [him]” a hard time over that particular season.
As mentioned, Fessy and Kaycee teamed up just as the final arrived, with Fessy stealing Kaycee as his partner in a strategic move.
They were a solid duo, but Kaycee suffered a ruptured and torn patella tendon while running on a rock trail during part of the final.
“Seeing her scream in pain, I was thinking, ‘This can’t be happening,'” Fessy shared after saying he believed they would win that final.
“In my mind, I’m thinking we’re not even gonna have to do a checkpoint,” he explained, suggesting that Kaycee’s injury seemed like it would disqualify them.
He said producers encouraged him to “help Kaycee get to the next checkpoint” because they were “still in it.”
However, that next checkpoint featured an assortment of disgusting foods, including bull testicles, fish faces, and more. While Kaycee was scarfing down food, Fessy wasn’t eating much.
That resulted in him getting a hard time from host TJ Lavin and many fans for not even attempting to complete the food checkpoint.
Fessy said he remembers asking producers if they would get disqualified and Kaycee telling him, “Just eat it.”
The former Big Brother star said he contemplated participating in the eating checkpoint but explained why he expected them to be disqualified for Kaycee’s injury.
Fessy said that before they got to the final, he’d just defeated castmate Kyle Christie in a Hall Brawl, in which a fractured pinky disqualified Kyle from continuing.
The sight of the disgusting food, Kaycee’s injury, and his team being so far back from the others was enough for Fessy to decide not to eat.
The final still had plenty of checkpoints and time left before the duo could even hope to catch up and win. Ultimately, Chris “CT” Tamburello claimed another championship with Big Brother’s Amber Borzotra winning her first-ever.
Fessy shares his top three picks for All Stars 4 women
Fessy has been to two different finals on MTV’s The Challenge, starting with his rookie season, Total Madness. He lost that one to the show’s all-time winner, Johnny Bananas.
In addition, Fessy had that infamous Double Agents loss on MTV with Kaycee. His next two MTV seasons included getting kicked off for a fight on Spies, Lies & Allies and losing with Moriah Jadea in a Ride or Dies elimination to Bananas and Nany Gonzalez.
He most recently appeared in CBS’ spinoff The Challenge: USA 2 and finished fourth place behind Bananas, Cory Wharton, and winner Chris Underwood.
And while Fessy has yet to win any Challenge final, he’s recognizing several OG legends in their quest to win another.
In another clip from his podcast, he shared that he felt three particular women on All Stars 4 had the best shot at winning.
Fessy praised Cara Maria Sorbello, Laurel Stucky, and Rachel Robinson as the three he felt had the best chance to win it.
They’re all former winners of The Challenge, with Rachel having gone the longest between appearances on the competition show.
In particular, Fessy said he was impressed by Rachel showing her strength and power as she defeated Ayanna Mackins in an elimination.
Of the three women Fessy named, he’s only done a season with Laurel on Ride or Dies, but now he’s able to sit back and watch other Challenges to give his perspectives.
The Challenge: All Stars 4 airs Wednesdays on Paramount+.