A complete lack of effort by male competitors during The Challenge: Double Agents Episode 7 was enough to disappoint host TJ Lavin and viewers.
While it may have been a game strategy, the failure to compete for a win also brought consequences for competitors later during the show.
Now that the episode has aired, it has also brought at least one of the competitors out to apologize for his performance or lack thereof.
The Challenge: Double Agents rookie issues apology
The new season of MTV’s The Challenge features the usual mix of veteran and rookie competitors. One of those rookies is Ultimate Beastmaster star Nam Vo, who has been called a physical specimen by many of the castmates.
Viewers have yet to see him go into elimination or win a daily mission, including the recent episode. During Episode 7, he was amongst the two heats of male competitors that didn’t bother fighting to win the daily mission. Time ran out, and they were all disqualified.
That brought disappointment from host TJ Lavin, who said the guys “sucked” in that mission and praised the ladies for actually competing. Even a former NFL quarterback called out Double Agents competitors for a “weak” showing.
However, Nam Vo is taking responsibility for his failure to compete and tweeted an apology to everyone.
“Just saw my performance on @ChallengeMTV . To Be honest it was #strategy . But I’m so embarrassed seeing this right now. I want to apologize to everyone, cause this was not ME, feeling ashamed to do not compete. My competing heart felt like it was broken. #sorry #TheChallenge36,” Nam tweeted.
Rookie said he had ’emotional breakdown’ that day
In a follow-up tweet, Nam also admitted that Episode 7 was a tough day for him overall. That’s due to his friend in The Challenge house being a target for other competitors after some sneaky moves in the previous episode.
“For the record: One of the hardest day I had so far at the @ChallengeMTV House. Already felt bad cause of my performance the day before and then seeing my #1 @Jay__Qs going home. Had an emotional breakdown that day! But learned a valuable lesson of the #TheChallenge36,” Nam tweeted.
Nam’s No. 1 ally and friend, Jay Starrett, was on the chopping block when it came to the latest elimination voting. That was due to Jay and his partner Theresa Jones scheming against Ashley Mitchell and others in the house.
They failed to let others know what they were doing and lied about it to a few competitors in Episode 6. That led to Kam Williams convincing others during Episode 7’s deliberation to vote in Theresa and Jay for elimination.
Once everyone got to The Crater for the elimination, TJ said due to the men’s failure to compete in the mission earlier, their votes wouldn’t count. So there are consequences for that sort of thing.
With Kam’s boyfriend, Leroy Garrett, in the Double Agents power team with partner Kaycee Clark, he chose to go into elimination himself to earn his Gold Skull. From there, Leroy dominantly won the Fire Escape event, sending Jay home. That was tough for Nam and Jay’s fans to see.
Since the start of the season, Nam has been partners with Olympic athlete Lolo Jones. In another recent episode, the two had communication issues during the daily mission, with Lolo criticizing Nam over it later. Some fans may feel Nam needs a better teammate.
It’s clear that Nam Vo is also disappointed now that he got to watch his Episode 7 performance back, but hopefully, he’ll redeem himself in future performances on the show. At the very least, he’s taking responsibility for it rather than trying to brush it off.
The Challenge: Double Agents airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
Episodes of The Challenge are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
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