It was a night that will go down inThe Challengehistory … and not necessarily in a good way.
After a roller coaster of a challenge onWar of the Worlds 2— withLaurel StuckyandJohnny “Bananas” Devenanziothrowing the battle and losing it for Team U.S.A. — the Americans selected “Ninja” Natalie Duran (last season’s highest placing female) to go into elimination. And then the Brits tapped Laurel to join her in the Proving Ground.
However, Laurel does agree with how unusual the chain of events was. “It was strange,” she said. “I have never been in a situation like that before where they end the game with a horn and then they don’t give you the opportunity to fix your mistake. I’ve been doing this show over the course of 10 years now and I’ve played so many games. Anytime you make a mistake in a puzzle or you aren’t correct, they tell you and they don’t blow the horn. … They came over, they checked my pole, and blew the horn. So I celebrated like I won because to me that’s the way it’s always gone. There’s really been nothing different than that.”
Not surprisingly, Laurel questioned producers and others about the final outcome.
“I definitely spoke my mind in the moment,” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Are you guys serious? This can’t be real.’ I guess at that point there was nothing that could be done because Ninja had already continued to play even though the horn had gotten blown. So I think that was the tricky part — and that’s what made it really confusing for everyone — was that she played after the horn was blown.”
Today, Laurel, who is in veterinary school, is admittedly ready to come back for another season, and she’s tuning out those, including competitorPaulie Calafiore, calling her loss “karma.”
“I don’t really pay him much mind,” she laughed. “He’s new in this game and wants to make his own waves, and what’s a better way than attacking me?”
As for her teammates, Laurel agrees they’re all on a “downward spiral.”
“There’s a clear divide on the Team U.S.A. right now and that is not going to end well,” she teased.
source: people.com
