'The Challenge': Jay Starrett on Why 'Survivor' Fans Should Watch 'Double Agents' Season (Exclusive)
The Challenge is back and more exciting than ever with its upcoming Double Agents season, set to [...]
The Challenge is back and more exciting than ever with its upcoming Double Agents season, set to air Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on MTV. This season is full of strong competitors, whether they're established veterans such as CT Tamburello or rookie Olympian Lolo Jones. The cast also includes Survivor alum Jay Starrett, who made a pretty major splash during his rookie season on The Challenge: Total Madness. During an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, Starrett explained how he approached his sophomore season of the MTV series and even shared his pitch for any Survivor fans who are thinking about making the jump over to The Challenge.
Luckily for Starrett, he won't be the only member of the Survivor family competing on The Challenge this time around. Natalie Anderson, who won Season 29 of Survivor and was a runner-up on Season 40 (an all-winners season), will be making her debut on The Challenge this season. Given that more and more Survivor alumni are trying their hand at the MTV competition, fans of the CBS show should definitely be prepared to root on their favorites as they attempt to win their share of the top prize. But, if you're a Survivor fan who isn't all that familiar with The Challenge, Starrett explained exactly why you should be tuning in to the longtime MTV show.
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"Survivor fans, jump over to The Challenge because not only is your favorite Survivor player Jay Starrett on the show, but your second favorite Natalie Anderson is also on the show now. And I'm paving the way, and we're paving the way together," Starrett told PopCulture.com exclusively. "And you know, in all honesty, the strategic game of Survivor is still there. So, Challenge has strategic gameplay as well. And on top of that, you got to be a serious athlete to win this thing. You're not just starving. These are all competitors that have trained hard, are eating healthy and taking care of themselves and also drinking at the same time. I don't understand how that works, but yeah, there's that."
Just like Starrett said, The Challenge incorporates many of the same elements that Survivor fans have come to know and love (minus the whole survivor aspect, naturally). Of course, that also means that the reality star will be going up against a strong group of competitors, just as one would on Survivor. Starrett added, "As you see the house, you've got a big smile on your face, and you're so stoked. But after the first initial five seconds of me being like, 'Hell yeah, I got a house,' then I started to look around. And while everyone is still tripping about how amazing this house is, I'm like, OK, there's an Olympian here (Jones). There's a WWE wrestler (Lio Rush) here. There is Darrell [Taylor], Golden Glove, and also four-time winner of The Challenge here. Killa Kam [Williams] is here. CT is back... I'm like, 'Oh my God, what?' My competition just got so much heavier."
When it comes to navigating his way around these competitors, Starrett shared that he's simply trying not to make anything "weird," especially with Tamburello, whom he defeated in one of the most talked-about and thrilling eliminations from Total Madness. "In my mind, I'm like, okay, Killa Kam is here. Don't piss her off or she's going to come for you, and she'll find a way to do it because she's super smart for this game," he explained. "And then on top of that, just don't piss off CT because I don't want to make anything weird."
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Even though Starrett is up against a stacked slate of competitors, he's still approaching his time on The Challenge, and life in general, with a positive attitude that could win over just about anyone. When asked about how he manages to stay positive both on and off-screen, he shared, "Everyday, just wake up with a smile and be blessed that you have another day to live and you have an opportunity to do the things you love or change the world in a certain way or just help someone or text someone. It's nice to just give love and share love. That's all that matters. That's why we're all here anyway, is just to love each other and to figure it out, honestly." Disclosure: PopCulture is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.
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