If there’s one thing to know about Dusty Harris, he is a tough competitor who often lets his emotions get the best of him. After coming in third place on The Amazing Race due to an inability to control his temper, the same thing happened during last night’s episode of The Challenge: USA.
Facing off against The Challenge legend Wes Bergmann in a grueling elimination challenge, Dusty found himself packing his bags after losing the head-to-head competition by just 37 seconds — it was truly gut-wrenching!
How did Dusty find himself in the elimination challenge in the first place? While he was not selected by the blue team (who placed first in the challenge that day), he instead found himself with the most balls in the hopper after burning bridges with his fellow competitors, most notably Big Brother veteran Tiffany Mitchell.
After Dusty found himself with four balls in the hopper in the episode prior (fortunately avoiding elimination), The Amazing Race veteran was quick to point fingers as to who was responsible. In a hasty, incorrect assumption, Dusty unloaded on Tiffany, ultimately burning a bridge with his teammate, as well as more individuals in The Challenge house.
Reflecting on his experience on the beloved competition series, one of Dusty’s biggest regrets while on The Challenge: USA is fighting with Tiffany the night before his devastating elimination.
He dished about all things relating to the incident in an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“One thing I do want to get off my chest immediately is I know I got into this altercation with Tiffany, our screaming match where it was more me screaming at her, and I have apologized to Tiffany via phone and on the show as well… It was my biggest regret of the season, how I spoke to her. There’s better ways to communicate with one another, but the walls close in on you. It’s a pressure cooker. I give myself no excuses though.”
He then explained the details of his apology, reaching out to Tiffany on two separate occasions to try and smooth things over.
“The next morning after this blow up, I approached Tiffany. I told her (at this point) I still in my gut felt like they were trying to get me. I wasn’t sure where the votes came from, but I told her that it’s no way to speak to you how I spoke to you that night. She was upset and she had all the reason to be upset, but I just had to let her know, and then I also had a phone call with her once everything wrapped up and the season was done just to reaffirm that.”
If you watched episode 5 of The Challenge: USA, you would know that Tiffany had nothing to do with Dusty’s name being thrown in the hopper, ultimately making his entire argument unwarranted. His votes resulted from “Operation: Hat Trick” by The Challenge veterans instead, which was instilled in an attempt to induce chaos in the house — it clearly worked in their favor!
Dusty talked to Entertainment Weekly about how he felt watching it back and realizing he was in the wrong.
“My temper got the best of me. I jumped to a preconceived notion in my head from a conversation I had with Alyssa. It just made sense to me. I told myself, ‘Dusty, walk away,’ but the argument happened, and immediately the next morning I started getting an inkling that I made the wrong decision, and then to see it on national television and look like such an idiot, it serves me right for jumping to conclusions and getting so mad.”
To this day, Dusty believes that his altercation with Tiffany was the sole reason he was put into the elimination competition that fateful night, ultimately kickstarting his demise.
“After my incident with Tiffany, it’s no secret if you watch The Challenge at all, if you cause a scene, there’s a good chance you’re going to go down in the sand… My blowup caused me to go in and I have to live with that, and so I’m hoping that the next chance that I get, if I control my temper, I’m a dangerous player in this game… I truly believe it cost me this opportunity and put me into elimination earlier than probably I would have, but I’ve got to live with that and I’m going to grow from it and I’m going to become a better person from it.”
Taking time away from our television screens to manage his temper, Dusty is ready to return to The Challenge as soon as host TJ Lavin gives him the call — we know he would thrive should he get offered a second chance!
“I want to go back more than anything. I have unfinished business. I have finished third in The Amazing Race, I let my temper get the best of me there, and I let my temper get the best of me in The Challenge house. I owe it to myself, to my family, and to my own mental sanity to go back and beat everyone. I’m not just going back, I’m coming back to win, and I will win. I will be a Challenge champion, mark my words.”
Despite apologizing to Tiffany twice and recognizing that his uncontrollable temper is one of his biggest areas of weakness, we have just one question: Do Dusty and Tiffany still have beef?
According to Dusty himself, the beef has been squashed on his end, however, he is unsure where Tiffany stands:
“I have no ill will towards her. I hope it’s reciprocal. It was in the heat of battle. We actually had a great relationship on the show [and] worked well together on Team Red Flags, but the situation was completely my fault. I could have burned a bridge. I hope not, but we’re going to find out.”
Despite Dusty being eliminated from The Challenge: USA, you can watch Tiffany’s journey unfold on season 2 from 10 pm to 11 pm ET/PT every Thursday and 9 pm to 10 pm ET/PT every Sunday on CBS — her game may be better than ever now that Dusty is out of her hair!
