Exclusive Interview

‘The Challenge’: Ashley Reveals How Last Season Made ‘Total Madness’ An ‘Uphill Battle’ For Her

ashley mitchell
Riccardo Giardina FOR MTV
The Challenge 35 Unit / Gallery
The Challenge 35 Unit / Gallery
The Challenge 35 Unit / Gallery
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After her elimination on ‘The Challenge: Total Madness,’ Ashley Mitchell opened up to HL about why making last season’s final made THIS season so difficult for her.

Two-time Challenge champion, Ashley Mitchell was part of the majority alliance on The Challenge: War of the Worlds II, and it helped her earn a spot in the final. However, things were much different for her on The Challenge: Total Madness, as she found herself without ANY allies. This led to her being nominated for the second girls’ elimination match. She wound up losing to Dee Nguyen. We spoke with Ashley EXCLUSIVELY after her elimination, and she explained why things were so rough for her this season.

“I walked into that house so alone,” Ashley told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “I knew it was an uphill battle. When you make it to a final on the season before, you have a big part in putting a lot of people into an elimination or getting them sent home. I was paying for my sins [this time around]. Every time you do good on one season, you usually piss off a lot of people, so you have some a** kicking and repenting to do.” Of course, it didn’t help that some of Ashley’s main alliance members on War of the Worlds 2 (Cara Maria Sorbello, Paulie Calafiore and Kam Williams) were not competitors on Total Madness.

“I had no one else to take the blame off of me!” she explained. “Cara wasn’t there, Paulie and Kam weren’t there. So every problem everyone had with them, they kind of released that on me.” During her short time on Total Madness, Ashley had a blow-up with Johnny Bananas. She also went off on Stephen Bear for spraying her with a fire extinguisher, and got into a screaming match with Mattie Breaux when she defended him.
“I definitely sealed my fate,” Ashley admitted. However, she added that it was a growing experience for her. “When you watch yourself on reality TV, you learn about yourself,” she said. “That’s one of the positives about doing this. When I feel isolated or singled out, I can react bad. I’m learning that and seeing it more and more every time I do it. So, I wish I just took it all as a joke and stepped back. All you can do as a person is learn from it and grow from it.”
Now, Ashley plans to take what she learns and apply it to the next time she’s on The Challenge. “Call me the female Johnny Bananas because you’re not getting rid of me!” she insisted. “I will come back every season. I do have something to prove. I’m sick of people discrediting my wins. I have to prove that I’ve gotten to these finals on more than just my alliances or social game. I made it because I’m a challenge competitor, and you’re not getting rid of me — so you better get used to it!” The Challenge airs on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. on MTV.