'The Challenge' star Melissa calls season 39 cast 'boring' and 'two-faced' (2024)

Warning: This article contains spoilers forThe Challenge: Battle for a New Championepisode 9, "A Banana Split."

The Challengestar Melissa Reeves never holds back. Whether it's in an elimination or out at the bar, she isn't afraid to fight dirty — or throw drinks on someone — to get her point across. That's why she's not sugarcoating how she feels aboutseason 39'sBattle for a New Champion now that her elimination in episode 9 against champ Tori Deal has aired.

"It was so much more boring [than my other seasons]," Melissa tells EW. "I much prefer doing seasons with the vets because the vets know how to have fun. This season it was just constant whispers in the corner and it was just so two-faced. I actually enjoyed Total Madness, where I lived in a bunker with no windows, more than the small amount of time that I did in this beautiful mansion in the sun with a nice pool. This season just wasn't enjoyable due to the cast."

Now that both she and her BFFTula "Big T" Fazakerleyhave been eliminated from the game, she thinks the season is about to get even more boring since the rest of the cast members no longer have their favorite scapegoats to fight with and target. "What's going to happen now?" she says with a laugh. "Obviously, Ravyn's going to go down, but I don't know what's going to happen now they've not got me and T to argue with or turn against. They've just got to turn on each other."

Below, Melissa gets real on everything else that happened this season, from un-aired showmances, all her fights, those rumors that she cheated on a boyfriend back home with cast member Kyland Young, and so much more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I was so excited to finally see you back this season, but what happened? Why was the house so focused on getting you and Big T out when there are so many big threats in the cast?

MELISSA REEVES: This season, everybody came in fresh from the previous season so they're all going to just stick together. To them, I'm just the new girl because I've been gone for so long since having [my daughter] Vienna. I went in there kind of a rookie because I've got nobody other than T.

We saw you and Big T desperately trying to get any kind of allies throughout the season. Who were you most surprised with when they didn't sway to your side?

I'm really, really shocked by Asaf more than anybody, just because he persistently approached me during every challenge and deliberation to reconfirm that we have each other's back. He'd usually be crying about him missing his child and asked me about how I'm feeling about missing my child, how I'm coping, and was trying to create some sort of connection with me about us both missing our children in a way just to benefit himself in the game. As I've now seen since watching it back, he wanted me out all along. That's what I'm most shocked about because okay, you've got to play a game, but that's just nasty to use someone's child to manipulate them.

One thing I do think about is my last season was Total Madness, then I had a break because I had a child. He just didn't have a callback. [Laughs] Now he got that callback, he's doing the utmost to make sure that he's going to get another one. He can't be the boring old self that he was in Total Madness — he just sat there snogging Nany and then got sent home with his elimination. So I understand what he is doing in a way. He needs to be more entertaining. But he just seemed all over the place, like he didn't know what was going on. He was just trying to get airtime. But to use my child to benefit himself, it didn't sit right with me.

I hope that if he does do future seasons, other people will see that and will avoid trusting him. He basically screwed himself over for every other season because nobody's going to want to work with him now. And the weird thing is he's tweeting calling me a snake. Asaf, if you want to tweet abuse, at least make it make sense. Me and Big T were the only people in the house that are not snakes, and we have the only genuine alliance. We will never turn on each other. We even took Corey in at one point, and we were prepared to have Corey's back as much as we have each other's, but he screwed us over as well. We were just fighting a losing battle from the get-go.

How did it feeling getting voted into yet another elimination?

My mindset during that elimination was quite negative from the get-go, because I was feeling very deflated that T had left. And when I saw Tori come out, I was excited because I'm friends with Tori, and I'm just hoping she pulls that chaos pole and then I can maybe have some sort of say on who will go down. Tori said if she got a choice, she wouldn't have gone against me. But obviously when she pulled my name, you start really overthinking them because it's Tori. She's a badass competitor with 20 times more elimination experience than I have, so you do start getting in your head. Ultimately, I did let that get to me, which is a shame looking back.

With Kaycee last week and Tori this week, if either of them got the chaos pole, who would you have told them to call down instead of you and Big T?

[Laughs] Rayvn, of course, for my week. And I don't know if T will want me to say this ...

Say it!

She might have said Michele, because Michele did sort of promise T that she would have her back going in and didn't. As we've seen, she was one of the leaders of the alliance, so that's not great. But for obvious reasons, I wanted Ravyn, and she kind of won this one.

Sounds like you and Ravyn could be a fierce Rivals pair in the future ... ?

I could see that happening.

What was it like competing in that elimination against Tori?

I didn't enjoy the elimination, I'm not going to lie. I'm not the most confident in water, and it was quite cold as well. This is the first season I've done in three years, so it's like I already feel kind of rusty. And since becoming a mom as well, a lot of things have changed. I'm more protective of myself. In the past I was like, "Yeah, I'll jump off that bridge. I'll do anything." And I didn't care. Now I'm like, "What if I die?" I get in my head more. I was just overthinking everything and panicking. As soon as it finished I was kicking myself. I really wish I could just do that again. And Tori said to me afterwards that she did something like that in the last season she did, so it's like she had a practice round. But I'm not sad to lose to Tori, because if you're going to go out against someone, she's a good one to go out against.

At what point did you realize you were going to lose?

When I heard everybody chanting for Tori. [Laughs] I was already feeling really s---, and then you just start feeling worse. I could hear them saying, "Tori, you're so close, you're so close," and it's like they were trying to help her out. It is disheartening, and in the back of my mind you start thinking, "Do I even want to go back?" I did keep trying, but there's only so much you can take. Even the argument with Ravyn, I was pushed to my breaking point where I've just snapped. It was hard. It was not a nice season to film.

Before the elimination began, Tori called out Moriah for her relationships with James and Bananas. What was it like watching that happen?

It was so awkward, because it wasn't a laughing joke. She's friends with Bananas and she's like, "It's not cool." And obviously Moriah's upset, so it was a very uncomfortable situation. And I think Moriah knew — every time a champ was coming, I think she was expecting something to be said because we all know the champs are going to go back and say what's going on. Everyone loves to gossip and they're all friends with Bananas.

Speaking of relationships, did your connection with Kyland continue after you left the show?

We did keep in touch, yeah. We were arranging to meet up but it's just really difficult — obviously I've got Vienna, and he lives the other side of the world. I'd wake up in the morning, it's a nighttime where he is, and I'll be going to bed, and he'd be waking up. You're just constantly missing each other. We will always remain friends, but I'm not really sure anything will continue.

There were some allegations made on social media last week claiming you had a relationship going on back at home while you were filming this season, and that you were cheating with Kyland. Was there any truth to those rumors?

Just a bitter ex-boyfriend not liking what he's seeing [on TV]. I broke up with him before we started filming. He has helped me raise Vienna, but my mum and dad had Vienna whilst I was away. He only took her out twice, but he's taken that as, "I had your child while you were away," which is not true. My parents had her. He's now got around to watching the season, which is obviously going to be upsetting for him, to see anyone that you're still in love with with somebody else. But he has apologized to me since and said he was drunk when he did all the tweets.

Because the day I came back, I told him, "I've met somebody else there." I told him what happened, and me and him have been civil since, up until the tweets. So it was a bit like, "Why are you doing this now?" Because it now makes me look like I'm cheating when I wasn't. I'm not going to leave my child with someone and go and get with somebody else. How am I ever going to get away with that? [Laughs] Obviously I'm going to get caught. It's stupid, and I'm not that stupid. You can't even lie about that. His tweets were just all over the place. And they haven't shown anything of me and Kyland since episode 2, so why now? It's just he got drunk and got angry.

Is there anything that happened this season that we didn't see on TV?

I think this was just for air time, but Colleen and Big T actually had a thing going on. I didn't like it — it was just off. Big T really started liking her, and Colleen was giving her a bit, taking it away, giving her a bit, taking it away. What's more interesting is to see Colleen plotting to get Big T out after I knew what was going on in the inside, like having cuddles and doing stuff in bed. That's an interesting thing to see, someone plotting against you whilst cuddling you. I do think that I'll have my guard up a lot more next season and I will trust people a lot less.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Challenge: Battle for a New Championairs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.

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