A Really Good Looking Underdog w/ Dusty Harris

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hey everyone, I'm Devin Simone and I'm Tory Deal and this is mtp's official challenge podcast. Girl. This was an episode that's a lot ev if. So what is with you guys this season with like multiple personalities? Because I feel like we will see one side of someone and we're like, oh, okay, that's.

00:00:23
Speaker 2: Cool, and then another episode.

00:00:25
Speaker 1: I mean we saw it with John Ay, we saw it with Chaosity, we are seeing it. We even kind of saw it with Bananas when he went from like usual confident Bananas to his godfather's speech of woe is Me? Like this is just and this week with Dusty the Teddy Bear.

00:00:41
Speaker 3: And then with Wes as well, you get both of them happy moments.

00:00:45
Speaker 1: Yes, although I'm still not sure if Wes's woe is Me wasn't more political than not? Okay, because not that Wes isn't like heartfelt, we don't get to see that side. It's it's there, But like remember Wes's like best asset is that Wes is a like a top tier mind upon mind upon mind.

00:01:11
Speaker 3: Can I say something that makes me feel like it was authentic?

00:01:15
Speaker 2: Okay?

00:01:17
Speaker 3: So you know we all have one ten minute phone call sometimes twice a week. Yep, every time before his phone call he would be a ball of anxiety because he would just be worried that he was going to get bad news about the pregnancy or something. So I think it was just truly a time of like like, really, my wife, I can't even talk to my wife that much and she has a baby growing inside her, like yeah, so I do think.

00:01:43
Speaker 2: But I did about that part not being genuine.

00:01:45
Speaker 1: I meant more of the woe is me around going into elimination like that part I believed was real, like obviously he adores his wife, and yeah, being a new dad like that I felt was very genuine. I meant just the part of like make it a girl, because we've seen him all seasons sort of say now I'm gonna be the funny person. Now I'm gonna be this person, like kind of strategized to stay out of the elimination. So I want to say, not the new dad part that I think was one thousand percent like yeah, real and raw, right, but just his I mean, even Dusty was surprised by how many girls got voted in Yeah, possibly thanks to Wes's politicking, right, and being like, yeah, were you surprised?

00:02:27
Speaker 2: Oh my god.

00:02:28
Speaker 3: Of course I thought it was gonna be straight Dusty all day. Yeah, I knew obviously Wes was gonna vote for a girl. I knew Dusty was going to vote for a girl. And then it was like, you know what really surprised me Michelle voting for Dusty because not that she owed anything to Dusty, but Michelle and West got so close.

00:02:47
Speaker 4: This season in terms of working together.

00:02:49
Speaker 3: So I think that when Wes watches this back, he's gonna be like, wow, Michelle was playing all the sides. Yeah, And I mean, you know, I don't actually know, but it's gonna be interesting to like eventually talk to Michelle and watch out she's moving through this game because obviously she's survivor strong, but she really did ride the middle with the vets.

00:03:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, like we never we never targeted Michelle.

00:03:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, she's very smart in this game, and she's keeping her like cards close to her chest, which is really impressive. There was so much going on in this game. So we started with this week's challenge, hi Q Trivia.

00:03:23
Speaker 2: I love trivia. It's always my personal favor. Altho, you guys got some hard questions.

00:03:26
Speaker 1: Admittedly, like you guys and Chris knowing with a double deck of caon whatever.

00:03:33
Speaker 2: That yes, Like, what how did I don't you know that?

00:03:39
Speaker 4: I don't know if I said the right shape right there?

00:03:41
Speaker 1: Girl, it sound right, I don't even know, like it just makes and he said that suspended from the air, that that man must be a genius. Blue team winning with an incredible strategy. You guys were like amazing and how you did that? Standout performance though from Melissa s and the Green team and Tiffany on the Red team, And shout out to Tiffany because when she was the last one up there and she's like stuck to the glass and you could see they cut to a clip and she basically is like even kissing the glass, like she's even using her lips literally has like a suction, and then she makes a quick comment where she's like oh hell, and then she falls like she.

00:04:15
Speaker 2: Pulls her lips off the glass and then.

00:04:17
Speaker 1: She falls, and it was just so funny, like the timing of that, but propositivity for doing an amazing job.

00:04:24
Speaker 4: And I think that this is one of the beautiful moments.

00:04:26
Speaker 3: And when you see a challenge team standing up next to each other and you look for the strongest, biggest competitor, right, Like, you look at the Blue team, you think, oh, FESSI like, but you never know when the challenge is gonna benefit somebody smalls anyone's game.

00:04:40
Speaker 4: It's anyone's game, which is why we got to see it with Alyssa. We got to see it with tiff as well, and I think.

00:04:46
Speaker 3: That that, you know, it was good nice to see for them and for their own personal moraleity challengers.

00:04:51
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and that's why we have trivia every sea.

00:04:53
Speaker 1: I mean, I think, what, that's the only individual daily I've ever won as an individual, because y'all know I'm not winning another individual So I love trivia. Then we have voting where it's Wes and Tiffany going in. We get to see you and Bananas, which I think was pretty smart sort of say from the jump, hey, look, we are not going to be able to sway anyway, right, you like on the Blue team because you're like, we don't have the numbers, so you're like, we're just gonna look like we're playing along. So Wes and Tiffany get voted in the hopper, selects Dusty with because he had seven balls in the hopper. Everybody was turning on Dusty and we got to see a little bit of the dust devil now. I mean he went in on Tiffany, and Tiffany handled it well, just you know, blaming her, saying you be Tray. I mean he really How did you feel in the house when you saw that?

00:05:42
Speaker 3: I mean I tried to stay away from it because you know, I don't It's like when you watch when you watch things catch on fire, you.

00:05:48
Speaker 4: Don't want to be a part of the fire in any way. You don't want somehow the association.

00:05:52
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:05:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I was like, you know what, let me just but you could hear it. And I think that I think tiff did handle herself really well. I think she I think it's hard, it's a really tough environment. I think we had already seen glimpses of Dusty where sometimes like the competition would get to.

00:06:06
Speaker 4: Him and he'd be like wow, like screaming really loud.

00:06:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think some people, you know, around that it took a while for people to get used to Dusty. But I think at this point in time, obviously tiff we kind of knew he had those moments, and I think she she that's why she was able to handle handle it really well.

00:06:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and especially to be accused of something you didn't do right, Like, I think that's the part that's like tough, when someone's coming at you in front of everyone. Also, Michayla was hilarious. I don't know if you guys caught it, but go back and rewind. When Mikayla runs up the stairs, it's like, hey, y'all, there's some tea, and everybody gets up from the table and runs downstairs.

00:06:41
Speaker 5: Huh.

00:06:42
Speaker 2: Mikayla is just just so so funny. She is, man, she really is.

00:06:47
Speaker 3: The way she would just hobble in a room like she's full full blown character.

00:06:51
Speaker 1: She's also the way she knew hings by the way the hingstrem question and she's like, I know because the app has not been deleted. Shout out to Mikayla for that. So much stuff is so funny. And so then we see the elimination come down, right, and it's Wes versus Dusty, which is what you know. Wes was hoping wouldn't happen, but it did. Going into that, who did you think was going to come out victorious?

00:07:15
Speaker 3: I really didn't know. I mean, I think that it was pretty evenly matched. Wes has the experience. Dusty is an incredible athlete, which hasn't really been highlighted too too much yet, you know, unfortunately for him. But like if you were to see him compete in some of the daily challenges, you would put a lot of emphasis on his athletic ability.

00:07:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, Wes's fight like struggle with the ropes, like his curse.

00:07:40
Speaker 4: Not until after not until after.

00:07:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I know he's strategic, and so I figured the issue is with Wes going first, right, Like, Wes was the first person to figure out which wheel was going to be the one to actually have enough leverage to knock the other person off.

00:07:55
Speaker 4: So by Dusty staying up there watching that, he didn't even have to waste time trying that exactly. I just went right for the second one.

00:08:01
Speaker 2: So I think start of Dusty, Yeah.

00:08:03
Speaker 4: For sure, it gave it gave Dusty an advantage.

00:08:06
Speaker 3: So you know, when when the Times came out and we found out that Wes one, I mean it was like a shock to everybody.

00:08:13
Speaker 1: How long did it take for them to make that announcement because we saw like kind of a not a slow mo, but we just saw everyone's reactions when it really seemed Wes seemed defeated.

00:08:20
Speaker 2: It really did seem like Wes lost.

00:08:24
Speaker 1: How much time do you think passed before they actually kind of got them both up there and then announced it right here who the winner is?

00:08:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, at least thirty to forty five minutes because Wes was sitting in the in the mud soup for a while.

00:08:37
Speaker 1: Really, yeah, and they didn't encourage him to get it.

00:08:41
Speaker 2: They just let him stew, literally let him they let him stew.

00:08:44
Speaker 5: Wow.

00:08:46
Speaker 1: Interesting, yeah, emails email Wes.

00:08:52
Speaker 4: But now he's back in the game. He's playing with Blue team.

00:08:55
Speaker 1: Now he takes so smart because now you guys have the numbers.

00:08:59
Speaker 2: Finally think are looking sort of up.

00:09:01
Speaker 1: I mean, in this game, anything changes every week, but you guys finally have the numbers. Had you guys talked about that beforehand, or had he shared that with you guys that he would defect if he want to come back over to the WOU team.

00:09:12
Speaker 3: I kind of assumed he was going to do that, And obviously you had seen this, you know, the drama brewing between Chris.

00:09:19
Speaker 4: Cassidy and West.

00:09:20
Speaker 5: Yes.

00:09:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, so, like I kind of had it in my mind, but you know, obviously for it to go down. This is the cool thing about the challenge is somebody could take a shot at you. You can go in, you can come back, you can return the shot. And then now it's this, it's karmik in a way.

00:09:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can return the shot and move people around, which is like changes everything. So we see west effect and then yeah, and now we're set up for next week. We had some very interesting trivia moments, which is another reason I love trivia. I don't think any will ever be as good as when Bananas said Australians speak Dutch. But Jojo Siwa coming from Dance with the Stars all the To be fair, she was on Dancing with the Stars, That's.

00:10:03
Speaker 5: What I said.

00:10:03
Speaker 4: She just didn't she just she just didn't start.

00:10:07
Speaker 2: She didn't she didn't start there. But it did have a dance in it.

00:10:10
Speaker 1: And Corey, I actually feel like we should have I didn't eve think about it till now, but we should have called Corey for this episode and just put him on speaker and asked him to pronounce Steven Spielberg, like we should be like Corey, hey, can you can you just say Steven Spielberg for a second, please? I wonder if could get it right now? Ah wild, oh wow, so good.

00:10:28
Speaker 3: I mean there's so many moments, Like we were actually up there for an hour and thirty minutes. We had so many trivia questions that you didn't get to see, so many hilarious ones. I know, one of the questions was what is the final Magic Mike movie called?

00:10:41
Speaker 4: And Banana's yells out.

00:10:43
Speaker 3: Big boner and yeah, yeah, nobody knew the answer, so like there was ridiculous response.

00:10:50
Speaker 2: Wait what is it called?

00:10:51
Speaker 4: I think it's called The Last Dance?

00:10:53
Speaker 2: Oh I think it is. Yeah, Oh that's hilarious. Yeah, so funny.

00:10:57
Speaker 4: There were some funny moments up there.

00:11:00
Speaker 2: You know.

00:11:00
Speaker 4: I wish that you guys could watch the entire thing.

00:11:03
Speaker 1: They should release that the trivia part, at least uncut, because I bet you there are some really hilarious Is there another one that stood out to you as being like the dumb not dumbest answer, but sort of.

00:11:11
Speaker 3: The like, I'm pretty sure that while one of the questions while Lissa was up there by herself was who is the pop star that sings crazy and out of nowhere? She was like, I don't know, Prettey spears and got it right with like actually not knowing what she was talking about.

00:11:29
Speaker 2: So there was some moments that's hilarious.

00:11:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, with Alyssa s while she was up there alone, still answering questions, right, So it kind of sucks that they gave her the one that she didn't.

00:11:37
Speaker 1: Really Yeah, yeah, but I mean props to her, Props to all of them.

00:11:41
Speaker 2: So good.

00:11:42
Speaker 1: It's always so fun to see and TJ really gets really gets into it, like yeah, I mean he came to play as evidence by his shirt, I know he didn't think we were gonna let that slide. This episode he had. He really was taking some fashion risks. I appreciate it.

00:11:59
Speaker 2: He was bold.

00:12:00
Speaker 1: He had the print, the applicase, the floral applicase. He was really doing something like I dare I say, this is the most bold we've seen TJ in his fashion.

00:12:09
Speaker 4: Can I confess something to you. I don't think I've ever.

00:12:13
Speaker 3: Noticed what he's worn, and I'm always mind blown by you that that's something.

00:12:18
Speaker 2: That sticks out in your mind. I does, and I don't know why, but I guess.

00:12:22
Speaker 1: I mean, it probably makes sense because I'm the one who went to the challenge house with like four bags and fourteen pairs of heels and like, you know whatever else.

00:12:30
Speaker 2: So I pay attention to those things.

00:12:31
Speaker 1: But I'm always impressed when when TJ deviates, you know.

00:12:38
Speaker 2: Plus he's come along way from.

00:12:39
Speaker 1: Like the T shirts, Like he used to just wear T shirts and now he's like exploring his style. So props to TJ for taking He looked like he was about to go to like a d or fashion show afterwards, Like really he did, good job.

00:12:51
Speaker 2: Good on, He's just.

00:12:52
Speaker 3: Flinging us all off a garage the opener evily right right into the water.

00:12:58
Speaker 1: And by the way, for our listeners, I love when you guys because some of them have gotten into it too and will DM me things that I don't even notice about TJ's wardrobe sometimes or things that they like. So I love that you guys analyze that along with me. Yeah, that always is a shot like stand out to me. Now, speaking of.

00:13:14
Speaker 2: Standouts, I want to know who gets your time out of the week and who gets your gold star.

00:13:20
Speaker 3: My timeout goes to Unfortunately, Dusty because the blow up is what led to listen, if the blow up was on the right person, go off, Kim right right, but it was just on the wrong person.

00:13:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's a big shot to shoot. Yeah, and it not be on the right person.

00:13:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, what do you think you agree?

00:13:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I don't. I think you know.

00:13:44
Speaker 1: I'm I like a silent shot anyway, meaning or like a measured one. So even if you are mad, I think a just conversation, not a yelling. Anytime somebody sees you like sort of blow your top, I just really do think that you are at a disadvanta and anything in any moment, I just feel like you're at a disadvantage. And so I think that put him at on the back foot that way. It's why I've liked the rookies this season. And I know some people listening might be like, oh, it's hypercritical because I got on so many challengers last season in World.

00:14:18
Speaker 2: Of the World or in Globals. Yeah, yeah, the Global Challenge.

00:14:22
Speaker 1: I got on so many of the rookies about coming after the Vets, And it wasn't just that they were coming after the Vets.

00:14:28
Speaker 2: Like, I get it. I get that it's needed.

00:14:30
Speaker 1: It's happening this season, and I actually really enjoyed, well it hurts me. I also enjoyed it, like hurts so good. The difference is is that I feel like if you're measured and just organized in how you do it, it's just so much more impactful. Like I just resonate with that style of gameplay. It doesn't make one right or wrong. It's just what I prefer versus being like loud, because I think it puts you at a disadvantage. Everybody knows where you stand, and so Dusty doing that, even Cassidy coming at Wes like cool if you think there's a thing, but like play that card when necessary, you know what I mean, Because now when you verbally put a target too. As the house starts to get smaller and people have to say names and votes, and it gets harder to vote people in because you've built relationships because you guys have all been living in this house together, it's always easy to scape goat the people that are either chaotic or that have a very obvious feud right where you can go like, oh, I'm gonna just keep putting it all over there, whereas if.

00:15:25
Speaker 2: People don't know kind of where you are, I don't know. I just think it keeps you a little safer in the house.

00:15:30
Speaker 3: I think you're absolutely right, and I think that like even though these rookies are organized to an extent.

00:15:35
Speaker 2: A lot of they were.

00:15:36
Speaker 1: Yeah they're still rookies, and they were, and they're kind of following apart now as the numbers start to dwindle, yay, and as they see, you guys are the cockroaches they can't kill. I mean really, even Wes coming back this week only further proves that the bets are the cockroaches. Y'all better get some raid mixed with some deep some you know, dichotomous earth or however you say it.

00:15:58
Speaker 2: The diatomation. I don't know, dietonation. I think that's it.

00:16:02
Speaker 1: Whatever, get all that to try and get them out. Who's your gold star of the week?

00:16:07
Speaker 3: My gold star of the week goes to listen, are we gonna give it to Wes?

00:16:13
Speaker 2: Like he won? I feel like who?

00:16:16
Speaker 3: And also and also yeah, I'm gonna give it to Wes because he gave us those great scenes of him politicking and then that we got that nice montage with the American flag behind.

00:16:25
Speaker 4: His yes head, and that was that was a good laugh. So I enjoyed that.

00:16:29
Speaker 3: And then also he wins and he gets to come back in and he was stressed about being a father so I'm giving.

00:16:33
Speaker 5: It to Wes.

00:16:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that was I mean that the father part and getting to see his wife was like really sweet to see, very very sweet see and the moment with Bananas and Wes honestly, and I know Wes probably felt a little embarrassed when he thought he lost was Bana's coming over there, but it was a heartwarm to me. It was a heartwarming moment, especially just their history, like man like, I was just it really was beautiful to see. I'd say my time out of the week probably go to.

00:17:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, it might go to Dusty. I think it's probably gonna have.

00:17:05
Speaker 1: To go to Dusty only because he came in so hard and wouldn't even listen to reason, and I get that, like a lot of stuff was like pent.

00:17:13
Speaker 2: Up, but it just hurt his game overall.

00:17:15
Speaker 1: Although when might argue him getting fired up maybe helped him going into elimination because sometimes people getting really fired up like that is like the amp they need when they're going in. So you know who knows on that end. But sorry, Dustin, I'm would have to give my time out this week. My gold star goes to Tiffany because look, I'd say I'm a relatively calm person. The way that Tiffany handled being yelled at about something she didn't do and she didn't like, at least for what we saw, she didn't like pop off or just it rightfully, ye is. There was like a patience there and a kindness there that was brilliant. Also, she gets the gold star because her commentary was funny as hell. The shade she threw in the interviews was actually very funny. She's hilarious and I can't wait to have her on the podcast.

00:18:08
Speaker 2: She's so very funny.

00:18:09
Speaker 1: But she just handled that well and even them being able to work together, and she made that little quip in the OTFS before you guys went up for the trivia High Q Trivia where the team was sitting together and she was like, yeah, I gotta get it right because Dusty's, you know, coming after me, and like Dusty didn't crack a smile, but like the fact that she could even kind of laugh about it, I think was so great and just spoke to her character, which is really cool.

00:18:34
Speaker 2: So she gets the gold star.

00:18:36
Speaker 1: And then the other honorable mention is obviously whoever put tj in that shirt?

00:18:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, the shirt that I definitely noticed yea one day.

00:18:46
Speaker 2: Look, they're not all noticeable.

00:18:47
Speaker 1: He also had on a green shirt that very much looks like an outfit I bought to wear on my honeymoon coming up on safari, pretty much the same thing. You know, probably got it from the same place. But yeah, the flooral shirt. I feel like it was a departure tea. Let me know what you guys think, But I feel like it was a bold move for him, and I'm proud of him taking these risks. Speaking of someone taking risks that our guest today is someone who is not afraid to go out there full throttle. He is a star on the Amazing Race and he is now i'd say an up and coming star on the Challenge, wouldn't you say, Tori, And.

00:19:24
Speaker 3: I'd say he's written one of the best pieces of literature ever ever.

00:19:28
Speaker 4: Yeah, considering that love note to Bananas.

00:19:30
Speaker 2: There you go.

00:19:31
Speaker 3: So he's an author as well. So I'm excited to talk to Dusty. Let's get him on the podcast and see what he has to say about Everything that happened is.

00:19:39
Speaker 2: So much good stuff.

00:19:40
Speaker 1: All right, you guys know the drill, Grab a snack, but take us with you and then we'll be right back with the Dusty from the Challenge USA.

00:19:57
Speaker 3: All right, everybody, Now you may know this person from Amazing Race thirty three he finished in third place with his partner Ryan Ferguson.

00:20:05
Speaker 4: Or you may know him as Dusty Dangerfield, the man with the Plan.

00:20:12
Speaker 2: Dusty, Welcome to the show.

00:20:14
Speaker 5: What is Tori? How are you guys doing today?

00:20:17
Speaker 4: Good?

00:20:18
Speaker 2: Welcome.

00:20:19
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a blessing to be here. I can't even begin to describe. It's surreal being a fan of this my whole life, spending last twenty years watching this, watching you toy for the last ten years, you know, competing, and now getting to do the podcast with you guys and recap some crazy things that we just saw. This is gonna be good. I'm very excited, guys.

00:20:39
Speaker 2: Oh, so many questions for you, Dusty, So many questions.

00:20:43
Speaker 5: I have some answers I don't want to give.

00:20:47
Speaker 3: Well, you don't have to speak on anything you don't want to speak on, but the podcast.

00:20:51
Speaker 2: Yes, you got to keep it real.

00:20:53
Speaker 1: Oh shit, never wanted sugarcoat this for you, Dusty, come here to keep it real.

00:20:58
Speaker 5: Me. Let's go.

00:21:00
Speaker 4: He's ready for it.

00:21:02
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh.

00:21:02
Speaker 3: Well, let's talk about everything. That happened before this episode. Let's back it up for a second, because your backstory is amazing. It was one of the most interesting things that I got to learn about you while we were filming in the house. You know, we have a lot of off days where we're just chilling talking and you explained how you and your partner Ryan got on the Amazing Race and the story is pretty incredible. So would you mind just starting off by sharing that story with us?

00:21:25
Speaker 5: Yeah? Absolutely so. Yeah. My best friend, my partner in crime, Ryan Ferguson, we competed on Sedson thirty three of the Amazing Race together. So crazy story Ryan. When we were when he was nineteen years old and I was twenty, he was actually wrongfully convicted of a murder that he had nothing to do with in our hometown of Columbia, Missouri. He has a documentary out it's called Dream Killer that you can find on all viewing our streaming platforms, and it's, you know, basically, a kid that we went to school with had a dream one day that he had killed the sports editor of our local hometown newspaper. And it said that Ryan Ferguson, my partner in the Amazing Race, was with him, and that took the freedom of my best friend for ten years. Fortunately he got a fantastic attorney in Kathleen's Eleanor shout out to you and his amazing father, Bill Ferguson, who I love and is a real American superhero. Never let up and you know, provided the truth. I got my friend out and that led to us getting the opportunity to run the world Gallivant and him to babysit me as we raced around. I feel sorry for the guy. I bet he wishes that he wasn't with me halfway through.

00:22:37
Speaker 3: No Dusty, and I think, like even you taught us even more of the backstory about how the reason why he asked you to be his partner when he got asked it to be on the Amazing.

00:22:45
Speaker 4: Race was because out of all of the people in his life, you.

00:22:48
Speaker 3: Were one of the only ones who remained loyal to him while he was incarcerated for all those years. I think that just speaks volumes to your character. And I think that if you were to peel back the layers of Dusty like you are truly a heart of gold underneath all of the you know, Teddy Bear love letters and competition attitude that you bring.

00:23:07
Speaker 4: To the show.

00:23:08
Speaker 5: You know, it's I'm a guy who wears his emotions on his sleeves. If you watch the Amazing Race, you can see that. And I can assure you what you are going to see coming up here on the challenge will expedite a tenfold I would have to think. And it's just who I am. I grew up rough. I grew up in noise, violent yelling, screaming, in that environment, and it's I became a product of that environment. And I've had to work very hard the last ten years of my life to try to put that behind me, to think before I, you know, go into action. But it's a hard thing for me to do. It's never malicious, it's just more how I communicate and it just comes out sometimes pretty crazy. When I'm winning, I'm in the highs of the mountains, and when I'm losing, I'm in the lows in the valleys. It's just who I am, and the emotions are on my sleeves and it's something that I work on constantly. I don't know if it's ever going to go away completely, but you know, I will stay. And I did get a lot of growth out of spending time in that Challenge house because as you know, Tori season Vet, it's you are pressure cooked. There is no two ways to get around it.

00:24:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely it is.

00:24:10
Speaker 1: I mean I remember even my time back on the Challenge it felt very It's a lot of chaos all of the time. We know that you were Challenged super fan. What was it like coming onto the show for you?

00:24:21
Speaker 2: Was it everything you expected it to be? Was it different in some ways?

00:24:26
Speaker 5: So? I mean, honestly, like coming onto the Challenge was a dream of mine, the amazing race. I was so blessed to get to do that, and especially do it with my buddy who we lost ten years of our friendship together. What a way to make up for it. But this was my jam. To see that red jersey that said the Challenge with Dusty under it. I mean, I literally I'm about to cry right now thinking about it. It was love. It was an honor to wear that and to represent the Challenge and to actually compete with Bananas West, with all the other crazy people, Tory, all of the other contestants that I got and me from all these amazing shows. But to say that I'm a Challenger now I mean, it's it's a life long dream come true. People want to go play in the super Bowl. I wanted to run a final in the Challenge and I've wanted to for the last twenty three years.

00:25:14
Speaker 1: Dusty, I think we know your feelings about the Challenge versus the super Bowl because in that trivia question, sir, as a Missourian, I would have expected you to do better. You even mentioned it's your wife's favorite team and your wife family favorite team shout out to the Ksey Chiefs. What do you have to say for yourself there, sir.

00:25:33
Speaker 5: I'll tell you I am so ashamed. I went in very confident. I think my you know, the Red Team, good old Red Flags, felt confident in me to shit the bet on that one of all things. I mean, my questions, I'm gonna get roasted. It's going to be so bad. The ridiculele I will take it, will make up for it, I assure you do.

00:25:53
Speaker 3: Let's just set the story straight really quickly about this challenge, because they didn't highlight how many answers you got right us.

00:26:01
Speaker 4: You had so many answers.

00:26:02
Speaker 1: So this was about him getting one wrong because everybody eventually, yes, we're wrong, Dusty a Missourian getting a Missuri specific question wrong ball dropped.

00:26:12
Speaker 5: I'm sorry, Pat guy you one.

00:26:16
Speaker 2: So how was that challenge for both of you guys? Tori?

00:26:19
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever asked you. What are your thoughts about the trivia challenges?

00:26:23
Speaker 2: Dusty?

00:26:23
Speaker 1: I want to know your feelings about doing it and also the fact that you guys got to do it as a group this time, like Toy, do you feel like that was more advantageous or did it make it harder?

00:26:33
Speaker 3: Absolutely, it was totally an advantage and you didn't really get to see the discussions up before we told our answers, but we did have time to discuss at least fifteen seconds, So at least you got to be able to talk to somebody.

00:26:44
Speaker 2: You know.

00:26:44
Speaker 4: Obviously two brains are better.

00:26:46
Speaker 3: Than one when it comes to swing information. Yeah, yeah, so, I mean yeah in some cases exactly. So I thought it was I thought it was great. You know when we heard Red team.

00:26:54
Speaker 4: Going at it.

00:26:55
Speaker 3: I mean, Dusty, you were crushing it on your team. You were definitely the vocal point for giving the answer to TJ.

00:27:00
Speaker 4: But then you just slipped off.

00:27:02
Speaker 5: Dude, man, I'll tell you going into this like trivia. This was one of the things where I was like, Okay, I'm locked in. I feel good about trivia. Yeah, And I remember sneaking into Buffalo Wia Wings Yes all the time, kind of got ready for this. I had all the apps on my phone putting work in, so I felt good. When I realized that we had to lay on a glass panel or a yes panel, I sweat profusely.

00:27:31
Speaker 2: Was it hot that day?

00:27:32
Speaker 1: Because I know you guys were cold, and a lot of the challenges you looked cold, but this one was.

00:27:36
Speaker 2: It was hot that day.

00:27:37
Speaker 5: It was so hot and immediately skin or you know, asked glass. Banana said it best. That was the play. I feel like the Blue Team, you guys, you just had the brains to really strategize everything. We would be talking Red Team, red flags, hooting and harm at each other with no structure being put into place, and I would look over and I was just like it was an oiled machine and you could just tell the experience on Blue Team really paid a huge dividends to them and Tory.

00:28:07
Speaker 2: What was Blue Team's strategy?

00:28:09
Speaker 3: Okay, listen, I I think ultimately it came down to the way Bananas told us to lay on the board, so we all had our right leg.

00:28:19
Speaker 4: We all hiked our shorts up literally made thongs. We made thongs.

00:28:23
Speaker 5: Out of our shorts.

00:28:24
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, and we put our leg on and then we crossed and pushed down. It's really hard to see what I'm doing, but go back, rewatch it. Freeze, freeze the way we were standing, because that position is what held us there for so long.

00:28:36
Speaker 2: You guys were all laying the same direction like we.

00:28:38
Speaker 3: Were all We were all holding the same positions, and a lot of people were laying flat on it. Kind of like, yeah, but that wasn't That wasn't the play. You needed a little bit more leverage to and be able to push in on your foot. So Bananas was the one that had that strategy and that kept.

00:28:52
Speaker 4: Us up there.

00:28:52
Speaker 3: That this entire thing lasted longer than an hour and a half. Wow, up, Wow, that's impressive.

00:28:58
Speaker 4: Week an hour.

00:28:59
Speaker 3: I couldn't walk when I fell into the water because that's how numb my feet were.

00:29:03
Speaker 4: It's crazy.

00:29:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really impressive to stay up there for an hour and a half.

00:29:08
Speaker 2: Wow, Props to you guys.

00:29:09
Speaker 5: I was dangling with my legs off of the platform for probably twenty minutes.

00:29:13
Speaker 1: Literally, we did see the leg dangle and that looked great. I mean, you had great posture, Dusty. Just so you know, those legs were gracefully like angled on that platform.

00:29:22
Speaker 5: They only showed a little bit of it. I just kept begging. I was like, sacrifice yourself, pull me up, come on, let me go. You gotta do it. I did. I hung on as long as I could. Once the sweat started though, and the slippings started, I knew, Yeah. I just kept begging TJ. Hurry, I could just let me get one more answer, please, just want more.

00:29:42
Speaker 1: TJ gets such a kick out of it, like TJ is like I can't. And then the fact that he threw Blue Team in the water even after they won, was just like double shady Dusty. How was it competing against because we saw and we'll get into I mean, I don't know what your official nickname is, Tory might know like the duck, because before going into this you were Teddy Bear Dusty.

00:30:02
Speaker 2: And when I suck clips of this, oh I like that. I like that the dust sevel.

00:30:07
Speaker 1: I saw clips going into this episode, and I was like, how is that possible?

00:30:12
Speaker 2: Because Dusty is the giver of love.

00:30:14
Speaker 1: Notes, which we will talk about to bananas, and he is like the teddy bear.

00:30:18
Speaker 2: He literally just seems like a teddy bear in his interviews.

00:30:21
Speaker 1: So you got riled up, which, yes, you guys is love session. We will definitely get into that. But you and Tiffany basically had some friction at this point. So how was it competing with her on this particular daily where you have to really be unified as a team, You have to communicate knowing you know, you guys are not getting along.

00:30:42
Speaker 2: What was that like for you?

00:30:44
Speaker 5: So with Tiffany the night before there was definitely a quarrel where I basically berated her for my thoughts that she had. Maybee had worked something out to put votes on me, and so they recapped it with Alyssa, I have the Converse station to keep balls off me. I got four balls and I literally set four goals for myself. I think this is important before I get into this on what I expected from myself from the challenge. Number one was to stay sober, and we can get into that whenever. I felt that was important because dust Evil Musty whatever, if you would have seen it with some cocktails in it, he would have turned into a hurricane.

00:31:22
Speaker 2: No question, okay, Okay.

00:31:24
Speaker 5: Number two was to make it to a final that's to be seen. Number three, I wanted to be undeniable in competition, Okay. I wanted to make it to where the Challenge had to bring me back because I performed so well and brought so much energy to this program and this you know franchise that they had to bring me back. But lastly, the one that should have been number one was to control myself, to take a second when times were bad, reflect before acting. And I didn't do.

00:31:52
Speaker 1: That with Tiffany, but you were living in the moment to be fair, Dusty, especially in the Challenge House.

00:31:56
Speaker 2: And like you said, like it it's.

00:31:59
Speaker 1: Designed for even those of you who are great at maintaining control to lose control like that. It is everything that is sort of I don't say not real life, but like all the craziest things of real life.

00:32:11
Speaker 2: Put it's everything your parents like warn you.

00:32:12
Speaker 1: About, or like the good mentors in your life, you know, be wary of strangers like be you know, don't do X, y and Z like and it's putting that all on you. So I hope you don't stay hard on yourself around not maintaining control, because that's pretty much you were human in that moment. But I do how do you feel though, seeing how wrong you were.

00:32:36
Speaker 2: About Tith?

00:32:37
Speaker 5: Yeah, so you know, seeing it. The next morning, I did have a conversation with Tiffany and I apologized at this point in the in the show, when I apologized, I still was convinced that she was one of the other girls had worked against me to vote me in. So I just communicating to a woman yelling at any time that is a big no no to me, and I could have hated in a different manner. So I'm that's one of my biggest regrets on the show, was yelling at Tiffany the way I did. See what really happened, what transpired to know, basically, my whole team and the Survivor Strong gang all put balls on me. It sucks to know it stings that happened right under my nose. I feel like this game and this just the wave just blew right over me.

00:33:27
Speaker 1: And I think they did that. Like, why do you think that they ended up choosing you?

00:33:32
Speaker 5: I think it's a very easy It was a very easy choice to be chosen. Let's be honest. If you know anything about the challenge. And again I've watched this profusely for twenty years. When you cause a scene in the house and now seeing it and knowing that the whole house was standing in the hallway of the dungeon, which was our room the dungeon, it puts the target on you. It's, you know, bad vibes in a house. I mean, I remember having multiple talks with you, Tori, and with Bananas and everyone down in the room, and it's like it's trying to keep the Richter scale from going too high or too low and keeping the windows of line in the middle. And the second that I popped off, I knew that there was probably going to be more balls coming my way. It's just but this was.

00:34:13
Speaker 1: Before you popped off, though, or if there's some behind the scenes, please let us know, both of you guys. But your reaction to Tiffany happened after there was first a vote for you initially right like the first time you saw your name go in, and you didn't know that the Survivor girls had done it so prior to that was because from what we saw in previous episodes, there was nothing that would indicate why it was confusing as a viewer of why even the Survivor Girls would have gone after you because we didn't see any scenes that you caused in the house, and we just saw Teddy Bear Dusty in a love note to Bananas.

00:34:44
Speaker 2: So was there anything else?

00:34:47
Speaker 1: We had Bananas on recently on the podcast and he had nothing but sweet things to say about you too, and we got to see the note.

00:34:53
Speaker 2: So we'll go through that.

00:34:54
Speaker 1: But so was there something else that happened in the house of why you think the Survivor Girls would have it?

00:34:59
Speaker 2: Just didn't. It seems to be a gap there.

00:35:01
Speaker 5: I'll be honest with you, I think that. And again, just going back to my personality, man, I bring a lot of energy to the table, and there was multiple conversations had with Mikayla and I. We spoke quite a few times throughout the season to where she was really leaning into me to try to get me to work with them, and it's just my bed was already made at this Okay, breaking loyalty to who I was working with was something, you know, the point I was in in the game, it wouldn't have made any sense. And gotcha, just my vibe in the house, I kind of figured that survivor would stick together. I thought I had a better opportunity to do more damage with the people that I would and with the Vet absolutely, and I wasn't going to go against them.

00:35:49
Speaker 1: It's just so maybe they came after you because they thought you weren't an ally. It seems like like that you weren't going to side and vote along the lines they wanted.

00:35:56
Speaker 2: That makes sense.

00:35:57
Speaker 5: Yeah, And let's be honest, there's no blood on your hands. When there's one amazing race person left in the house, I become an easy vote when there's you know, if I had an alliance of six amazing race people supporting me, I would have people fighting more for me. Right, It's beast. I knew coming in with just Lewis this was gonna be an uphill battle. But I like to eat. I like it to be hard, and I got everything I asked for. I can assure you that.

00:36:20
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:36:20
Speaker 3: And you know what's interesting is like because eventually we got to a point where, you know, Dussey, we needed you just as much as you needed us.

00:36:26
Speaker 4: The Vets I'm talking about, and.

00:36:29
Speaker 3: They show Operation hat Trick the week prior when we all and the best thing is Dusty was a part of that, but it doesn't even look like he was.

00:36:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, Dusty, Dusty was in on operation hat trick all us.

00:36:41
Speaker 1: Wait, Dusty, did you eat your piece of paper or flush it down the toilet? Because that was the thing immediately swallow you ate?

00:36:48
Speaker 2: You guys could have flushed it.

00:36:50
Speaker 5: Why I wasn't going to be outdone by Oh my.

00:36:53
Speaker 1: Gosh, were they not beating you guys in the house, which we haven't talked about so far this season, Tory, what were you guys eat?

00:37:00
Speaker 2: Like?

00:37:00
Speaker 1: Was there ever any fighting over because I know, least back in the day in the Old School Challenge a couple but big fights that happened in the house. As a viewer, you'd watch them and just be like, oh my god, Nanni's fighting with Frank or whatever. But really it was because it started over a bottle of hot sauce, or like it started over the last piece of chicken and somebody was hungry and they couldn't get it, and like that was the origin of the fight.

00:37:22
Speaker 2: So that happened.

00:37:24
Speaker 1: Actually quite people were hoarding snacks. That happened both times I was on the challenge. So were there any moments like that here where everybody?

00:37:31
Speaker 2: Yes, really.

00:37:32
Speaker 3: Wait, yes, Mikayla and I love her to death would steal the frozen berries and she would hide them.

00:37:38
Speaker 4: To this day, we still don't know where she was hid. She would you nowhere.

00:37:42
Speaker 5: We had a freezer down by the dungeon that no one knew about, and she put them all in there, literally right there down in the dungeon. That's where all of her stuff was always at.

00:37:52
Speaker 1: That's hilarious. Michaela's so smart. She's like so sly, so sly. Why is it because you guys were eating all the berries? Is that why she felt she needed to hide them? She was just like very She was very She really cared about what she ate.

00:38:05
Speaker 3: She has a very clean diet, and I think when she realized that we were all kind of I don't know. Listen, there was a lot of snacks that weren't good for you. When they provided those frozen berries, she took them. The avocados were few and far between, she took them.

00:38:17
Speaker 2: That's like, not grocery market, Michayla. That is hilarious.

00:38:23
Speaker 5: It's just a man up early putting in the whole ordeal smoothies. Does that all going go?

00:38:29
Speaker 1: Yeah? And the words of MICHAELA, there is some tea going on. You don't want to miss this. We got to take a quick break, but we'll be right back.

00:38:45
Speaker 2: Okay.

00:38:45
Speaker 1: So before we get into like the craziness of you know, the elimination and sort of the teeth biting moment of that, let's take it back to a really special moment you had with Wes where you guys were talking about fatherhood.

00:38:59
Speaker 2: That was really cool.

00:39:00
Speaker 1: Had you guys had any deep conversations prior to because we haven't seen it like prior to this, or like how did this you know, sort of vulnerable conversation come to be.

00:39:12
Speaker 5: So the crazy thing is Wes is expecting I believe in September. If I'm not mistaken, my wife was actually pregnant as well. But Wes, ma, wow, very clear that this was his season. This is number two for me, so I wanted him to have all the shine of being a.

00:39:27
Speaker 2: New So does your wife do Dusty?

00:39:30
Speaker 5: Very soon? Here do on the tenth actually premiere day?

00:39:34
Speaker 1: Now, Oh my gosh, oh wow, so special and congratulations.

00:39:41
Speaker 2: Maybe it's a sign of a future challenger Dusty. I don't know.

00:39:44
Speaker 1: I feel like they're going to have a challenge generations at some point, if we keep going at this rate and so like you do, you and your baby could compete with john A's kids, Wes's kids moment.

00:39:55
Speaker 5: I mean, Johnny a few kids that just haven't knocked on the door yet.

00:40:00
Speaker 1: It's probably true, but but.

00:40:05
Speaker 5: Take that level.

00:40:09
Speaker 2: There he is, there's a tout level. He showed himself.

00:40:14
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, man, it's it's it's it was beautiful to watch you and let's have that conversation.

00:40:19
Speaker 4: And I think it goes to show like how.

00:40:21
Speaker 3: Tight that room that dungeon really became. Throughout the entire game. You can really see how Survivor is obviously still Survivor strong and Dusty you were with amazing race and then obviously Lewis is gone and now you.

00:40:33
Speaker 4: Literally have nobody.

00:40:34
Speaker 3: So at this point in the game, recognizing that you know, you had this blow up with Tiffany, knowing that the Vets were really the only people on your side, did you start to have feelings of like, wait a minute, am I playing this game the right way? Or is there anything else I could be doing at this point to get further.

00:40:50
Speaker 5: I feel like at this point in you know, the war, it's your I'm laying in the bet that I'm going to lay in. You know, losing Lewis was heartbreaking. Sucks because he was truly an ally to me. I just feel like that he played his cards too soon with the routes he wanted to go, and we just didn't have an opportunity to position ourselves very well together. But I love that guy. Man, he is a force to be reckoned with, and you know, it means the world to me. I just really felt, to be honest walking into the house. Let's be honest, partnering with the Vets probably wasn't the smartest move for any rookie to do. I had a very, very in depth conversation early into my Challenge career. I believe you were in there, Tory but as well with a special fruit named bananas. But he told me he realized that something very important to me is, you know, I'm a little bit older in the tooth and a lot of these kids. Let's be honest, I'm thirty nine going on to forty, so there may not be many years left of this. I want to continue to compete on this and you know, make a name for myself on the challenge and Banana said it best. He was like, listen, you can fly with the pigeons in one direction and see where that gets you. Or he was like, you can be an eagle that's going to cut down through all the pigeons and he goes, My best advice to you, Dusty is to cut against the grain. And that is something that really stuck with me from that moment on because there is a difference in what the Amazing Races and what the challenge is, and it's something that just it took me a little bit to understand, Like watching it for twenty years and then going into that house. Nothing prepared you for that because you have what format there's a hopper, is it going to be team, is it going to be individual?

00:42:29
Speaker 3: What are you into with the Amazing Race, there's really not a lot of gameplay, Like you don't have to strategize, you don't have to vote people into elimination.

00:42:36
Speaker 4: So you've already had this. You already had the physical.

00:42:39
Speaker 3: Experience because you're aren't you like an ultra marathon or don't you like run hundreds of miles I do?

00:42:44
Speaker 5: Iron Man's yeah.

00:42:45
Speaker 2: Wow, Like why yeah?

00:42:47
Speaker 3: So that just goes to show how fit Dusty is like, and we knew that no matter what, this guy was the real deal.

00:42:54
Speaker 4: You nobody runs, nobody's an iron.

00:42:55
Speaker 3: Man's right, they're not the real deal. And then so obviously he had the Amazing Races. But yeah, how was it like trying to even politic This is your first experience politics, man.

00:43:06
Speaker 5: It is when you go into a house of all a type personalities. I mean there is not I mean, I think Tyler slept a lot, but even when you could get him talking, he had a little a personality and a deeple there. It is something else, man. I thought I had this vision in the back of my mind that oh, I'm gonna have best friends for the rest of my life, just like my Amazing Race cast. It's like we go on vacation every year. There's this love. But like Tori said, there is no like game in the Amazing Race. It's just don't get fast. And so you think you're prepared, You think you know you're gonna do You're gonna say this, do that. But a famous quote that I live by by mister Mike Tyson is you always have a plan until you're punched in the face. And I will assure you the Challenge House will punch you square between the eyes every.

00:43:54
Speaker 1: Single yeah, and this season in particular because we were talking about it. It's so, you know, something that separates the Challenge or has for years, and I'd argue you probably still does, is one. When the show originally started, it was people who were cast on their shows because they were people who spoke their minds and stood in it.

00:44:13
Speaker 2: It wasn't about sort of manipulation gameplay.

00:44:16
Speaker 1: It was literally, you are this personality and like you stand by that the real worlds and the road rules. That's why we were cast on those shows. And then ultimately right it turned into the Challenge. Then you start bringing in Big Brother survivor people who were cast because of their ability to kind of scheme, manipulate, keep secrets, you know what I mean, like Analyze, which is very different. And even before when they would have Big Brother people on, there would either usually still be so many challengers or just the structure of the game would be that they would very quickly have to adapt to as we've been saying on this podcast, or say it with your chest, which is like if you say you're going to vote someone like or where there wasn't secret voting for Examp.

00:45:00
Speaker 2: So if you if I said, Dusty, I had to say it to your face that I.

00:45:04
Speaker 1: Was voting you in and then you know you could come after me after that. Whereas this season is interesting because you know, the producers have made it so with this secret vote that people can be real messy. So it's really a balance of what the challenges and the sneakiness of you know, Survivor and Big Brother, which has clearly made it hard for the Bets this season. They were on the back foot for the first half of the season so far, we'll see how to end up. And then for you coming in for your first season, my god, man, like that you making it this far in this season in particular is seriously no and with one of the smart I mean, part of the reason the Bets are struggling is because they don't have the numbers on their side.

00:45:43
Speaker 2: Amazing race didn't have the numbers on any side.

00:45:46
Speaker 1: So like you making it this far, Dusty, really is I mean, round of applause to you, because that is no easy task at all.

00:45:56
Speaker 5: That means so much to me hearing that come from you. You know, I didn't get to where I wanted to be but I know, I know now what needs to be done. I truly believe that I can win the challenge. I know I can one hundred percent. I can, and that is my objective in life is to win that thing and let my two sons meet me, watch me bea champion.

00:46:16
Speaker 2: What would you do differently?

00:46:18
Speaker 5: Like?

00:46:18
Speaker 2: What's you?

00:46:19
Speaker 1: Don't have to give your whole strategy because then I don't want you blaming us when people listen to the podcast and the next season they coming you stretched you, But what's one thing you would do differently when you come back?

00:46:30
Speaker 5: I would make everyone an F and earn their way to an A instead of making everyone in a and letting them earn theirselves interesting. I get of the doubt m h and want to hurt feelings. You know, I thought I could play this game nobly, and you learn real quick you that does not exist in this And it's like I have the tenacity, I have the goal, I have the game to do it. I just didn't really bring as much of it as I wanted to or needed to into it. But I can tell you this, the little seedling has been one, and I'm gonna turn into a redwe and I'm gonna thump some of the fuckers next time I get a chance.

00:47:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, the dust level I just hear.

00:47:07
Speaker 1: I feel like the dust Devil is next season, we're gonna be like, who is this gonna be?

00:47:13
Speaker 5: I want to control my emotions better to take a deep breath, walk away, yes, and have my conversations.

00:47:20
Speaker 1: Man, your emotions will kill you every time Dusty in that game, like you have to be the ones who do well and go far, I'd say consistently, are the ones who can be pragmatic when it is needed. Like even john A's sort of victory like return from what she was back in the day to a challenger. Now you see someone who is much more methodical, you know, like just pragmatic about things.

00:47:41
Speaker 2: Bananas can turn it on.

00:47:43
Speaker 1: Even Tori, as we've seen her grow on the challenge and when it's like you just get you gotta the emotions are there like let it all fall apart when the game's over and then you know we all need therapy. But in the game, like like you've gotta be pragmatic because if they can smell fear, or the minute that they can since it, you know you're already kind of backed into a corner.

00:48:06
Speaker 5: You've got to learn from this business. And it is a business. And that's something that I realized maybe a little too late in the game, that is it is business man. That's two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for a man and a woman. You guys wanted that as much as I did. And it's like, you're gonna do whatever it takes to do that, and I need to realize that. And it's you know, I'm going to continue cutting against the grain. I'm gonna have my moments. There's no two ways about it. I will pop off if it gets to the point it's gonna happen. It's control it as best as I can.

00:48:34
Speaker 2: Use it to your advantage.

00:48:36
Speaker 5: Yes, absolutely. And it's just I hope there's not a hopper next time.

00:48:41
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, but how about this?

00:48:45
Speaker 3: Do you hope there's not not a steering wheel and a large sewing.

00:48:49
Speaker 4: Thimble next time too? What was the thing you guys were spinning on?

00:48:55
Speaker 5: What do we call that? I have no idea A sewing wheel?

00:49:01
Speaker 2: Sewing? Have you ever sewn anything in your life? Story?

00:49:03
Speaker 1: My great grandma Babushko, I knew it was a no the minute she described it.

00:49:09
Speaker 2: As a sewing wheel.

00:49:10
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was something else. I'll tell you that.

00:49:13
Speaker 1: Do you usually attack not so chaotically dusty? Like is your thing?

00:49:18
Speaker 2: Is that?

00:49:18
Speaker 5: Well?

00:49:19
Speaker 1: Like, yeah, walk us through the strategy of you going, Okay, this is how I'm I'm gonna go with it, not after you saw Wes do it so not slowly, but you know what I mean, like just so kind of yeah.

00:49:29
Speaker 5: So, first off, I was so excited that I was on the drum first and I got to watch what Wes was gonna be. I immediately knew I was going to go to the second wheel. My thought was a smart the third. So I get to the first wheel. You know, the objective is to untie this thing as quickly as possible. My dumbass is working in the middle of the poles holding it up when clearly what you need to do is pull from the outside so you're not getting tangled up in the roads or you're pulling them apart. So I got through the first whel It definitely took me a little bit of time to untangle myself before I could get it loose. But I immediately ran back to the second wheel and I caught DESI she kind of slipped something under her breath. Yes there, I'm glad they did, uh.

00:50:13
Speaker 2: Shout out des yes.

00:50:16
Speaker 5: And so I heard her say that, and I immediately pulled from the outside and I knew I was in business. Then I was like, okay, so I get the second wheel on, and I mean, the the thoughts in my head. I mean, I'm like, I'm going to kill this ginger. I'm going to sing so hard that he shoots up into the crowd. There'll be nothing he can do. And so I'll be honest with you. I gave it one tug to the right and put every single thing that I had into it to spin it to the left. And when I dumped him, you know, you hear a bit of it. Some excitement comes out of me.

00:50:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and it looked fat.

00:50:50
Speaker 1: You did a crab like to be fair, and also you up on that the you we did a great job because those things are so hard to balance on and you're tall, so you were and you were standing up like you had some balance in there.

00:51:09
Speaker 2: Some very good.

00:51:10
Speaker 1: Are you a good dancer, Dusty? I feel like we saw means because you you had the rhythm.

00:51:16
Speaker 5: For show us a boot scoop boogie, Show us I'm hoping in an episode in the clubs you get to see a few moves. I mean, I don't have feet, if that's what you're asking.

00:51:26
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, Dusty coming with a little swag, all right.

00:51:31
Speaker 2: So I saw the.

00:51:32
Speaker 5: Moment, it felt so good about the performance. When I fell in, I honestly was very nervous because I was, like, felt pretty quick. But then once you see Wes on it, it's a lot harder to stand on that drum than people think. Yeah, I have pretty good balance. I was literally doing like one legged squats, waiting in the back, like mentally preparing myself, and so I felt good. Thirty seven seconds literally haunts me to this day.

00:51:58
Speaker 2: I wake up along the whole thing.

00:52:00
Speaker 1: Do you guys think like like each because it's thirty seven seconds difference, But were you standing up?

00:52:05
Speaker 2: You know? Was it kind of like a five twenty minute challenge? A five minute challenge like ten minutes.

00:52:12
Speaker 5: Ten minutes? Yeah, somewhere in there.

00:52:13
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, okay, so it would be hard to tell.

00:52:16
Speaker 5: Yeah, I would be a little bit longer in the ropes, but I mashed him on the spinning drum right vice versa. He untied the first one a little quicker than me. And I mean I for sure thought I won. I think everyone thought I won, but it looked.

00:52:28
Speaker 2: Like everyone, Oh yeah, yeah, everyone thought.

00:52:30
Speaker 4: I mean you saw it on Wes.

00:52:32
Speaker 3: Wes is sitting their head down, Banana's is giving him a mud massage, like.

00:52:36
Speaker 4: Yeh, we all we all thought Wes lost.

00:52:39
Speaker 3: You know, which was you know, sad in its own way. I was happy. We were all happy Dusty. Not we were all, but a lot of us were so happy Dusty was coming back. Wait, Dussy, were you gonna switch teams if you didn't move?

00:52:50
Speaker 5: Man? I had I had an idea to come to the B I mean, going to Blue, let's be honest, was the smartest play, no question asked. But part of me, with everything that I'd been through with that damn Red Team, it's like, I think there's gonna be a target on my back anyways, And I was pretty convinced it was gonna split up pretty soon or like go to partners or something to where it wouldn't matter anyway. So part of me was a bit nervous to piss off the Red Team even more in the event that somehow they figured out how to win one without Tory and bananas throwing something right, I was the target again. So I mean, and guess.

00:53:29
Speaker 1: What, you didn't know that they had voted for you, right, like you still didn't know. You thought it was just Tiffany and someone else. You didn't realize it was Michelle.

00:53:36
Speaker 5: And at this point I had known Joe okay, spoke with me, Michelle spoke with me Chanelle's okay.

00:53:42
Speaker 2: So they admitted it. Yeah, they admitted that they vote for you, okay, and it.

00:53:46
Speaker 5: Was all love and I told him, listen, guys, at this point, it's like I think Tory said it best. We had multiple conversations where it's like you're not truly a challenger until you go into the arena and go prove yourself. And so walking down into that the first time, I was extreme nervous. But it's strange, right when you hit sand Peter, when you step over that rope into that ring, some came over me and it was like, I'm ready. I feel so at peace, so ready to go. I thought I did enough and man to be able to beat Wes if to take him out and put that notch on my coffee table. One of the best to ever be in eliminations. I would have loved to been able to do that, I mean.

00:54:24
Speaker 1: And to get so c you though, got so close. And it was two Missourians, all right, This was like the fight of the state. Okay, it was the middle of Missouri versus the west side. For people who don't know, go get a map. I'm largely talking to our producer Nicole, who I love. We've had this conversation, but not me.

00:54:41
Speaker 4: Also getting a map.

00:54:43
Speaker 1: What I deal with your two Missourians for those who don't know, Dusty being from Columbia at West being from Kansas City, like battling it out, and what I'd say was a pretty I mean, it was epic to watch because you really couldn't tell. And like you said, you both had very different strategies. Even standing up on the sewing wheel. You stood up West crouched Dan like seemed to kind of stay down the whole time. You guys just had very different ways of doing it, and it really looked.

00:55:11
Speaker 2: Like like it was anyone's game.

00:55:13
Speaker 1: And again, as a rookie, props to you, Dusty, because that, I mean, it's pretty.

00:55:19
Speaker 2: That was epic.

00:55:21
Speaker 5: Was I wanted it so bad, bad man, like so bad to win that one, though, when it was all said and done and over, I feel like I could have blown up. I felt like I won. I felt slighted. But at the end of the day, it is what it is, and it was an honor to lose to Wes. Yeah, I'm very grateful that if I was gonna lose, to lose to a legend. And I'll say it to this day, I know everyone wanted to come in and knock these bets out of this business, knock this game. It did I it take over the ropes and we'll see what happened. But at the same time, you have to respect what these people have built for us, right don't have the opportunity to do this. And I'm being Dusty, it was an honor to compete with Survivor and Big Brother and I have friends for lifetimes.

00:56:01
Speaker 1: Probably trying a politic for next season, Dusty, if you don't slow down, we are onto you what you're.

00:56:07
Speaker 5: Going to do.

00:56:11
Speaker 2: No, I'm onto both of you.

00:56:12
Speaker 1: I get on Tory about it too, but I'm like Tori, you are so obviously politicing in this moment.

00:56:17
Speaker 2: Be hious about it.

00:56:20
Speaker 1: Ready, let's go speaking of politicing or just genuine love. Let's talk about your love letter to Bananas. What inspired you to write it? And we got to hear a little bit of it a couple of episodes ago, But can you just share what you wanted to convey?

00:56:38
Speaker 5: Absolutely, so, I don't want to call it a love letter to Banana's. So this was actually written when Bananas went into elimination.

00:56:45
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.

00:56:46
Speaker 5: And so at this point, man, I'll be honest with you. You see Bananas on TV. He's a guy that you're either going to be extremely drawn to or a guy that you're going to be extremely detracted annoyed by. That's fair that when I entered the house, the room I got stuck in. Instead of turning left, I made the right to the dungeons. So I'm stuck with Bananas, Paully and Josh, my roommates. I know I'm in for a ride, and so I grabbed the reins. And so, as a you know, a super fan of the show, spending time with these guys, some of my best moments were hearing stories from all of these people, the vets that were on the show and what they've been through, and so Banana's just really became a voice of reason for me. That is a crazy thing to say out loud. He was looking board man. He gave me lots of good advice, not just challenge advice, but just life advice. And if banana's the opportunity, you open up and kind of let him in a little bit. He's got a rough exterior, but when you peel a banana, their emotions often.

00:57:49
Speaker 1: Say yeah, that's exactly what we say about nanners.

00:57:53
Speaker 2: That is a hundred percent true.

00:57:56
Speaker 5: I just wanted to show my appreciation man, give him my contact information and made some plans like whitewater wrap do some things. And it's just like it was just a token of my appreciation for the things that he kind of did for me, you know, kind of taking me under his wing and dealing with my crazy ass.

00:58:10
Speaker 3: Dude, he loved you, he needed you just like you needed him. And I'm sure, I mean, you should have seen him when you went home. You know, he just kind of like flopped on the bed and was like damn, you know.

00:58:20
Speaker 4: I mean, obviously we love Wes too, but no one, none of us wanted.

00:58:24
Speaker 3: To see you go, Dusty like you brought so some of the best stories.

00:58:27
Speaker 4: In the house.

00:58:28
Speaker 3: There's not very many people that can sit the entire house down and have them all laughing dusty stories from home.

00:58:34
Speaker 4: I'm not going to say what they were. I'm just going to tell us at least one.

00:58:37
Speaker 1: No, no, no, you can't come on the podcast and not tell us at least everyone listening wants to know at least one dusty story.

00:58:44
Speaker 2: So can you give us I don't.

00:58:46
Speaker 5: You can't air this shit.

00:58:48
Speaker 2: I don't think you.

00:58:48
Speaker 4: Can air it.

00:58:50
Speaker 2: Okay, our producer she'll cut it out. Then she'll cut it out.

00:58:52
Speaker 4: I want to know a dusty What is a dusty ism?

00:58:55
Speaker 2: What is a dusty story writer?

00:58:56
Speaker 5: Or a letter?

00:58:57
Speaker 4: Dusty writer?

00:58:58
Speaker 5: Letter?

00:58:59
Speaker 4: How about it?

00:58:59
Speaker 5: I write you a letter with it. Yes, I will send you a letter, and you do as you see fit with it. Just they'll give me.

00:59:05
Speaker 2: I will hold it. That'll be a keepsake.

00:59:06
Speaker 1: That'll be that'll be like a collector's item in ten years, A dusty and authentic, dusty letter. That'll be more valuable than what the beanie babies were ever supposed to be.

00:59:14
Speaker 2: I will take a letter, dusty.

00:59:16
Speaker 1: I will give you my address after this, I fully expect the dusty letter happened.

00:59:21
Speaker 5: I'm just I'm a proponent that lives too short. Man, live it to the fullest, grubby bull by the horns and thrash your way through everything. Man, It's just it is what it is. I uh hints drinking. You know, I used to drink a lot and get wild and do crazy shit. And I mean you, I'm proud that I stayed sober through that madness because literally drinking in the house is a ped I'm telling you to get that outlet of just being able to let your guard down and release. I'm really excited for my kids to be able to see their dad. You know, he may not made it all the way to the finish line, but he fought some demons and you know, stayed sober.

00:59:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, sober in that house is hard. So is imagined is so so so hard.

01:00:04
Speaker 3: I was sober three months before going to film this season, and by like the first week, I so, I'm not gonna say who, but somebody's like, just have a shot, just have a shot. And I caved like that because it's so hard in that environment. So I was always looking at Dusty like, Wow, the strength it takes to be able to be in this environment. It is truly truly something else like there's so much.

01:00:27
Speaker 4: To be proud of.

01:00:28
Speaker 3: Yes, maybe you didn't make it to a final yet, but guess what, There's.

01:00:32
Speaker 4: Gonna be more opportunities in the future.

01:00:34
Speaker 3: And if not, then I'm gonna write a need letter to production because Dusty better come back my letter now.

01:00:41
Speaker 1: You and the bayar frozen berries being wanting more frozen berries in the house.

01:00:44
Speaker 2: That's exactly what Toy would write me.

01:00:47
Speaker 5: I just to prove that you know, I can produce on the Challenge.

01:00:51
Speaker 2: But that's it. That's the other thing. Please Dusty, please out of the newbies.

01:00:55
Speaker 1: If this is something Tory, I feel like we need to get on this train and like spread the word.

01:00:59
Speaker 2: Don't come in producing the show. Just be you. Yeah, just be you. You don't need to making a big name.

01:01:05
Speaker 1: Is just you being authentic because that's why you were cast in the first place. You don't need to get in more fights and in people's faces. You don't need like just do what is literally authentically you. Because I feel like that's the one thing that would make the Challenge go downhill is if people come in thinking they need to produce and trying to produce and trying to make a moment like sure if there's a moment where someone's getting on your nerves and you want to say, well, I'll see you an elimination or whatever, you know, like like that's authentic.

01:01:34
Speaker 2: Cool, fine, but you don't need like you are.

01:01:38
Speaker 1: You're a Kanough and some of you will know what I mean when I say you are Kanough. You are so like, just be you in the show, because you're going to be incredible to watch, especially just giving your background and the marathonness and the two sides of you. You're not a Gemini by chance, are you?

01:01:55
Speaker 2: Oh?

01:01:57
Speaker 4: Okay, it's got the stingers that singer of love.

01:02:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's gonna be plenty to watch. So please, don't you not need to produce yourself. Just be and you'll get more out of it too. Honestly, I think and Toy can back me on this. And the moments you feel like you've gained, whether be friendships, relationships, or personal growth, it's been you just really being you and not.

01:02:19
Speaker 3: And people are gonna connect with that, which is why so many of us already connected with you. And I think all of the things s Deevin's saying, like, I think, don't overanalyze the way this season went for you because you stayed very true to yourself, as true as possible.

01:02:30
Speaker 4: That's all you can do, and you still made an epic show, you know.

01:02:33
Speaker 3: So Unfortunately half the stories wouldn't pass the production cut because you know, we want.

01:02:40
Speaker 4: To keep you on out of tail.

01:02:41
Speaker 2: No, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding.

01:02:45
Speaker 4: I swear to God, i'mkidding. No, You're incredible, Dusty.

01:02:47
Speaker 1: And seriously, you don't even have to sign the letter Dusty when you say it.

01:02:54
Speaker 3: Just no, Dusty is one of the most you know, I think obviously, Well the first, this lasting, amazing racer that's something to be proud of, very impressive, went home against a legend in a very close elimination.

01:03:08
Speaker 1: With thirty seven second different thirty seven seconds.

01:03:12
Speaker 3: Wild competed so strongly all season and created so many incredible bonds with people who are going to stay in the game forever.

01:03:20
Speaker 4: So Dusty, you have a lot to be proud of.

01:03:21
Speaker 3: Keep your head up and congratulations on being a new dad again again.

01:03:27
Speaker 5: So much to me. You guys have no idea and so I got another. I gotta go win one of these damn things. Biden, Jordan, you do little boys, man, it's going to get expensive.

01:03:35
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, Dusty. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show and we look forward to talking with you again in the future.

01:03:43
Speaker 2: Hopefully so we do.

01:03:45
Speaker 1: And for everyone who wants to keep up with what you're doing and see your new little one, where can they find you on social media?

01:03:50
Speaker 5: You can catch me on Instagram at Dusty HARRISO three. I am on Facebook just Dusty Harris and Twitter Dusty HARRISO three as well.

01:03:58
Speaker 2: Thanks right, and then you guys can say them your own po box.

01:04:01
Speaker 1: I'm really addressed to see if he'll send me a letter too. And it's like the new version of an NFT is just Dusty letters like a collection. You should number them and then it'd be like ooh, I got like a first edition.

01:04:14
Speaker 2: It could be a thing.

01:04:15
Speaker 5: I love it.

01:04:16
Speaker 2: Oh well, thank you so much, Dusty, and thank you Dusty.

01:04:19
Speaker 4: Hope to see you soon, man, love you so much.

01:04:22
Speaker 5: Yeah, I love you guys. Thank you for letting me do this with you.

01:04:24
Speaker 2: Meant the world of course. Welcome to the challenge fan.

01:04:26
Speaker 5: Hell yeah, I love it. Guys. Have a great today.

01:04:38
Speaker 1: Well that was it was eye opening, it was cool, like it was good to see Dusty will definitely be back. Like, there's no way he's not coming back to the challenge. I feel like and listen, it's his own choice.

01:04:48
Speaker 3: If Dusty was a food, he would be an apple pop pie. Wait no, yeah, yeah, actually that makes.

01:04:53
Speaker 4: Sense because it's two confusing things. I meant to say he was going to be an apple pie and then chicken pot.

01:04:57
Speaker 3: Pie because like he's a warm Southern is he from the south?

01:05:02
Speaker 2: Missouri is not. We have been talking about a map. Don't worry, guys, I'm going to send her a map after this. All right, We're gonna go to lunch story and I'm just bring a masking country.

01:05:12
Speaker 4: Right, he's country.

01:05:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's from a small town, but like the Missouri is literally in the middle of America.

01:05:18
Speaker 2: It's literally of.

01:05:19
Speaker 4: The country middle. He's country.

01:05:22
Speaker 2: Okay, we'll allow that.

01:05:23
Speaker 3: Yes, So he's like, you know, anyway, he's like he's like a fresh baked country meal. Because I do feel like, you know, even though he's got these moments that are like really raw and authentic and like maybe he'll pop off, he's a sweeting.

01:05:36
Speaker 2: He's a total sweetie. Inside, he's a teddy bear and dust devil.

01:05:39
Speaker 1: It's like it's literally two sides of that coin, which I feel like is one of the themes of this season is we're getting ready to see two sides of I mean, we should just keep a running tallly of how many people we get to see different sides of It's really been so interesting. Now I know we get to see another side of you if we follow you on social media?

01:06:00
Speaker 2: Where can people do that?

01:06:01
Speaker 1: If they want to see my backside?

01:06:04
Speaker 4: You want to see my backside?

01:06:06
Speaker 2: Okay, now, sorry, Mom, you can turn off the episode.

01:06:10
Speaker 4: You know, I really my posters are relatively wholesome.

01:06:14
Speaker 3: You guys can follow me at Tory Underscore Deal on Instagram for the wholesome content, and Devin, where can they follow you?

01:06:20
Speaker 2: All my contents? Pretty awesome.

01:06:21
Speaker 1: The most risk thing you'll see is the like wedding robe video that I posted on Instagram. That's literally and it's not ety risk bad I need to go see.

01:06:30
Speaker 4: I don't need to go find that.

01:06:32
Speaker 1: I was feeling myself that moment, but you got to go follow me on my website. You can go to devinsimone dot com. That's Devin d E v y N smell with an I S I m O n E dot com. Scroll to the bottom you'll see my socials. You can also go to Instagram Devin Simone TikTok I post there sometimes. If you want to be match made, go to my website and click the matchmaking links. So if you're single, including Mikayla she was talking.

01:06:57
Speaker 2: About she's struggling, you know, can chit me up. You can be in the free database if you want, or pay to work with the matchmaker. And then my Amazon because we do lives.

01:07:06
Speaker 1: I'm actually doing one tomorrow, so follow me on my Amazon channel Devin Simones Gift Closet. You can just type that into Google and then say hi and I'll shout you out as an official Challenge podcast listener. And so aside from that, if you like this episode, because we know you guys, did we appreciate you, Please rate and review us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And then tell a friend and a friend's friend, and a neighbor and a random stranger on the street.

01:07:32
Speaker 2: It just might brighten their day.

01:07:33
Speaker 3: Yes, tell everybody, and also don't forget catch new episodes of The Challenge USA airing on CBS.

01:07:39
Speaker 1: And then you'd already know you're gonna see us. We're going to see you right back here after.

01:07:46
Speaker 2: That new episode. For a brand new episode of MTV's official Challenge podcast, Steven Spielsberg