'The Challenge: All Stars': Katie Cooley Reflects on Legacy and How She Feels About Her Iconic Moments Today

By Stephanie Downs

The Challenge: All Stars is back for Season 2 on Thursday, Nov. 11 (with the premiere episode will be available to stream on Paramount+). Katie Cooley, who competed on Season 1, will be making another return to the show for Season 2. During a chat with PopCulture.com about the upcoming season, Katie not only shared what fans can expect from Season 2, but she also reflected on her iconic Challenge legacy. 

Just like the main show that airs on MTV, The Challenge: All Stars will feature the competitors trying their best at some incredibly intense missions. Heading into Season 2, Katie was much more prepared for the task ahead. She explained that when she appeared on Season 1, she and the other competitors thought that it would be more of a "reunion" of sorts. The Challenge champion said that they knew that it wasn't going to be "sack races and running with eggs on a spoon" so she "knew that I had to kind of bring more of an A-game. So, I decided to work out, get a trainer, and try to prepare myself for the unexpected."

She may have come better prepared for Season 2, but there were still many surprises in store. Katie said, "All of Season 2 was unexpected things that surprised all of us. I mean, I think even production was surprised at some of it. So yeah, it is definitely a very different season the Season 1." One thing that Season 2 will be sure to include? Based on the trailer for the season, Katie and her fellow competitors will be subjected to yet another heights over water mission. If you're a Challenge fan, you would know that Katie has experienced a few injuries over the years because of these very challenges just as she did in Season 1 of All Stars. The competitors are typically tasked with answering trivia questions or putting together a puzzle during these missions. However, when it comes to Katie's mindset going into these challenges, she is focused on one thing — safety.

"I'm always concerned on how I'm going to fall because I've not had good luck in the past," Katie reflected. "So, I'm not concerned with finishing a puzzle or completing the actual challenge, I'm just like, how are you going to fall? How are you going to protect yourself? Are you going to lose a tooth? Are you going to break your neck? And then I get in my own head and it makes it worse. And then anything about the competition means nothing to me, like absolutely nothing because I'm concerned with getting hurt." That doesn't mean that she can't laugh at herself when she watches these challenges back, adding, "When I watch it, I'm like, 'God, Katie, come on, get it together.' And my husband, even my daughter was like, 'Mommy!' You know? And I'm like, I'm a wuss, I don't know what to say. I don't know ... I think this is just who I am."

While Katie has, unfortunately, been involved in her fair share of heights over water dilemmas, she has also been a part of some classic Challenge moments throughout the years. Thanks to everything from her wild treadmill elimination with Julie Stoffer to her blow-out arguments with Veronica Portillo, Katie is one of the most iconic Challengers of all time. Those moments may be fun for fans to look back on, but for Katie, she'd rather leave them in the past. 

"People tag me on social media all the time in old clips and I won't watch them," she explained. "They make me uncomfortable, honestly. And it's mostly my behavior and my attitude and the way I conducted myself that I find humiliating today. I know it's who I was and a part of who I am, I guess, but it's just ... I'm watching it, I'm screaming at people. I get embarrassed. It's not something I want my child [to] see." She continued, "I mean I'm feisty, I'm still feisty. But when I watch some of that I'm like, golly Katie, take it down a notch."

As it's been some time since the Inferno and Gauntlet days, Katie is hopeful that her return to the Challenge world will give fans a more complete picture of who she is today. When asked what she wants her fans to take away from her Challenge journey, Katie said, "I just hope that people have noticed a difference in who I am in my 40s versus who I am in my 20s. If anyone says I'm still the same, then I definitely never need to come back."

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