Two-time Survivor player and season 32’s Kaôh Rōng winner Michele Fitzgerald hasn’t found the same sort of success on The Challenge that she had on her first reality competition show, and that trend continued on The Challenge: USA season 2 when she was eliminated on Oct. 5’s episode.
But, Michele told Rob Cesternino and Brian Cohen on Rob Has a Podcast that she “was kind of over” her third CBS experience after her game derailed ahead of the Final Challenge.
Michele was sent down into the Arena for her second time. But, unlike the 33-year-old’s episode 1 triumph against Big Brother 24 alum Ameerah Jones, she fell short battling Survivor 43’s Cassidy Clark.
Michele was nominated for potential elimination by two other Survivor competitors, Desi Williams and Chris Underwood, after they notched their first individual victories during “Brain Squeeze” — episode 12’s Daily Challenge.
Michele became the Survivor alliance’s (Desi, Chris, Survivor 42’s Chanelle Howell, and Millenials vs Gen X‘s Michaela Bradshaw) main target after Michele sided with the Challenge vet alliance (John “Johnny Bananas” Devenanzio, Cory Wharton, Tori Deal, Big Brother 19‘s Josh Martinez, and Big Brother 20’s Faysal Shafaat) last episode.
In episode 11, the Survivor squad threw their Hopper votes onto Tori hoping she’d be sent into the Arena and ultimately home. But, Michele sided with the Challenge crew and voted for Chris instead.
Feeling the betrayal from Michele and the regret of backstabbing Tori — someone she had an alliance with — Desi targeted Michele. And unfortunately for Michele, she ran into Cassidy, a proven Challenge elimination threat, after her ball from pulled from the Hopper by host TJ Lavin.
They dueled in “Hot Wheel,” a loser-go-home challenge that had them steering wheels attached to a bar with a torch. Their objective was to light their six targets and Cassidy notched her third USA 2 elimination win by besting Michele 6-1.
Michele said she was ‘checked out’ by the end of her USA 2 run
Michele spoke on Rob Has a Podcast after her USA 2 fate was aired. When asked how she felt about losing so close to the end of the game, Michele shared that her game imploding greatly affected her emotional state.
“I was so emotionally checked out by the time that I went home,” Michele said. “I was kind of over it. Once it falls apart, it’s hard to put yourself back together and get back in the game. And emotionally, I was not able to regroup at that point.”
Michele shared that her head was so out of the game that she didn’t even try to flip the script back onto Tori, or anyone else, for that matter. Instead of attempting to sway Desi to nominate Tori, the favorite to win the entire season on the women’s side and someone she already took a shot at, Michele settled with remaining in the Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers alum’s crosshairs.
“I didn’t even try, to be honest with you,” Michele said about campaigning against Tori. “As soon as I saw Chris and Desi won, I was like, I’m not even going to make a pitch to make it anybody other than myself. I dug my grave, and I’m going to lie in it sort of situation. I knew it was going to go down the way it went down. There was no point fighting it.”
Michele will look to make her first Final Challenge, and potentially win another franchise, in Battle for a New Champion
All in all, we’ve seen Michele compete on The Challenge three times. Her first two attempts at becoming a two-franchise queen were on MTV’s flagship series. However, she’s never made it to the Final Challenge in any of her three appearances. Michele was the fifth woman sent packing on season 37’s Spies, Lies & Allies, and went out around the midway point of season 38’s Ride or Dies alongside her partner, Survivor: Millenial vs. Gen X’s Jay Starrett.
Michele’s USA 2 campaign was the furthest she went in the three shows. She was booted off in 11th place overall and was likely only one episode away from making her first Final.
Comparing her Challenge tenure to Survivor, host Jeff Probst never snuffed Michele’s torch through two seasons — a very impressive feat. She beat out 18 other hopefuls in Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty before joining the ultimate Survivor showdown, season 40’s Winners at War.
Michele outlasted 17 of her fellow former $1-million checkholders and sat at the Final Tribal Council. But, she came in third behind Tony Vlachos and runner-up Natalie Anderson.
Fans will watch Michele make her fourth attempt at Challenge gold on Season 39’s Battle for a New Champion. She’s set to appear on MTV’s newest mainline season, which will premiere on the network Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
