Michele Fitzgerald says she’s “learning so much” about herself following The Challenge: Ride or Dies Episode 6, thanks to podcasts.
The former Survivor winner is in her second season of MTV’s competition series and may still be experiencing a learning curve regarding how strategy best works in the game.
With Ride or Dies, Michele entered the game with her good friend, another Survivor star, Jay Starrett, and they also had some castmates there they felt close to.
However, the duo drew the ire of some of their castmates over some of their decisions in the game, and things became uncomfortable.
After the recent Ride or Dies episode, criticism began to arrive towards Michele and Jay from those who watched the episodes.
This report will contain spoilers through Episode 6 of MTV’s The Challenge: Ride or Dies.
Michele Fitzgerald reacts after Ride or Dies Episode 6
After each episode of MTV’s The Challenge or Paramount Plus’ All Stars arrives, multiple podcasts usually discuss what went down and analyze various cast members’ moves or scenes.
One of them is MTV’s Official Challenge Podcast, hosted by Aneesa Ferreira and Tori Deal. Sometimes, Devyn Simone and Da’Vonne Rogers assist.
Johnny Bananas also has the Death, Taxes, and Bananas podcast via The Ringer on Spotify, and Wes Bergmann has a Patreon-exclusive podcast. Challenge OG Derrick Kosinski co-hosts the Challenge Mania podcast with Scott Yager.
In addition, plenty of other podcasts cover The Challenge and each episode that airs or arrives online.
Following Ride or Dies Episode 6, Michele must have listened to a few podcasts or been informed of what was said, as she tweeted about it.
Michele didn’t elaborate on which podcasts she was referring to in her tweet. However, MTV’s Official Challenge Podcast recently featured Aneesa and Devyn speaking about Michele’s gameplay and strategy.
It also included rookie Jakk Maddox as the guest, who was ousted from the game after Jay and Michele put him and Laurel into elimination. He commented a bit about Michele and shared why he blocked Jay’s number after the season was filmed.
During Ride or Dies Episode 6, Michele was shown in tears quite a few times, as she became upset due to the difficult decisions she and Jay had to make for the elimination teams.
That included their interrogation scenes with potential elimination teams, including Johnny Bananas and Nany Gonzalez, as well as Jordan Wiseley and Aneesa Ferreira. Ultimately, Jay got into it with Jordan during the interrogation, so he and Michele chose to send Aneesa and Jordan into elimination.
They’d also selected Kaycee Clark with her brother Kenny as a possible elimination team, putting Kaycee’s girlfriend Nany in the mix. Nany pulled the “Safe” dagger and saved Kaycee and Kenny during The Draw. That put Laurel and Jakk into elimination, which they lost to Jordan and Aneesa.
Fans replied to Michele’s tweet, with one telling her to “own” her moves as they are hers to make. The fan also told Michele to stop “trying to talk to people” that she and Jay nominated to make up with them afterward. Michele responded with, “But I feel bad.”
Michele shows appreciation for her Ride or Dies partner
It might be a lot worse for Michele if she had to play The Challenge individually, but she’s tied to a teammate, who is also her friend, for the season, Jay. He’s in his third season, while Michele is back for her second after debuting on Spies, Lies & Allies.
Michele shared another tweet in which she showed appreciation for her friend, castmate, and Ride or Dies partner.
“Just a quick @Jay__Qs appreciation post. Thanks for always keeping me sane (or as sane as possible),” Michele said in a tweet along with a GIF of Jay hugging her and other images of them from Ride or Dies.
While they’ve had their issues making those nomination decisions, they are each other’s Ride or Dies, supporting one another as they navigate through a cutthroat reality TV game.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.