‘The Challenge USA’: Alyssa Lopez Talks Drama With MTV Vets, Unlucky Elimination Draw (Exclusive)

A civil war is brewing on The Challenge USA between the Survivor and Big Brother players. This battle claimed its first victim in Alyssa Lopez, who, by way of an unfortunate “Hopper” draw, was sent into elimination after receiving only one vote. Prior to the elimination, Alyssa was running the game with the Big Brother alliance. She was also one of the leading voices of the anti-MTV vet coalition, which led to some drama with Tori Deal and Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio. 

After Alyssa’s elimination, she took time to chat with PopCulture.com about her time on The Challenge USA. Not only did she open up about that wild elimination situation, but she also shared where she stands with Tori and Bananas after everything was all said and done. (This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)

PopCulture.com: I want to jump right into the obvious, too, that Hopper situation, one ball, couldn’t believe it. I’m sure you were like, “How is this even possible?”

Alyssa: I believed it. I believed it. My friends say I’m that friend where if I have a dentist appointment, I get there and I lock my keys in my car, I get a flat tire. I all of a sudden run over a squirrel. I have the worst luck. And when he said it was a girl, I was like, “Yo, it’s so me.”

PC: That was just crazy. I was waiting for one of these situations where it was like the person with the one ball went in. I was like, “Mm, this is going to happen eventually. So who’s the unlucky person going to be?” And unfortunately, it was you. So were you prepared to go into elimination no matter what, heading into that situation, just because it was so chaotic during that elimination voting?

Alyssa: I think the two that are voted definitely have an advantage because they’re mentally preparing. And no matter, again, how many votes, even if you have one person that’s voting for you, you could go in. So I think I was as mentally prepared as I could. I had this gut feeling too, the entire day, I don’t know why. And I remember talking to Chris and I was like, “Do you think I’m going to have a vote?” And he is like, “I think you’re going to have one.” And I was like, it’s interesting. He didn’t say, you might have a few, you might have this. He just said, “I think you’re going to have one.” So I was preparing myself to have one vote. And once it was one vote, it was my name, I was not surprised.

PC: Did you find out about the Vets’ plan to do this hat trick situation? Or was this something that people were talking about in the house?

Alyssa: We didn’t know in the house. It wasn’t until after the show aired, or after we filmed, that it was talked about. So I found out a month or two after. And I didn’t know the full strategic part of it. I thought they were like, “We’re bored, let’s put names in a hat and pick.” And I was like, “You’re telling me that I went home over a joke?” It was like, I can’t even respect that. But, if they see it as a strategic move, they did good. I’m proud of them, working strategically.

PC: They were really trying to get the Survivors and the Big Brother players to get into that chaotic spiral mode, I would assume. And I was wondering from your perspective, how did it so quickly divulge into the Survivor versus Big Brother? Because the Vets were in the hot seat for so many weeks there. So how did it transition?

Alyssa: I think Chris seeing his votes, assuming it’s these Big Brother people doing it, the thing is, no matter what, Big Brother‘s always going to have this stereotype of being the lying, sketch balls. But literally, Survivor and the Vets are doing the exact same thing. So I think once Chris vocalized at Monte and Tyler, it was like, “Okay, it shows who he’s going after now, pick a side.”

And I was obviously siding with Tyler and Monte. And I think that was when we realized, “Wait, there’s what, seven of them still?” All of them are still here, and no one has left, and we’ve lost Paulie and Ameerah. Maybe it’s time to lessen their load a little bit. And I felt like I was being the main voice, too, to get out the Vets and not a lot of people were doing it in return. And I was like, “I’m not going to keep ruining my game if it’s not going to be beneficial.” So I think that’s when it started happening.

PC: Right. So you were down for this different phase of the game?

Alyssa: Yeah, the game is all about adapting. You go from elimination with the votes, you try to figure out, “Okay, what’s the best way to act?” It’s always adapting. So I knew it was going to be a time for that.

PC: And I wanted to speak about, too, a little bit of the things that I’ve been seeing on social media, and podcasts, and stuff like that, because you have been involved in a little bit of that. But first, I wanted to know if you saw when Tori, she commented on one of the promotional videos for The Challenge and she mentioned that-

Alyssa: Oh, the confessional warrior?

PC: Confessional gangster, yeah. Did you see that comment?

Alyssa: Yeah, someone sent it to me. But my whole thing is, I don’t go in these confessionals. First of all, look at my size. I know my strengths and my weaknesses. And my weakness is my physical strength. And my strengths are strategizing my social game and saying, speaking my mind. So, that didn’t really bother me, but I never said I was this big competitor. We get it. You won. We totally get it. Good for you. So proud of you. We get it. It’s like, “Let’s move on.” Okay? So it was just like that’s the only thing she has on me is I’m this tiny girl going on The Challenge, but I never said I was this big competitor anyway.

PC: So was there any lingering tension there with her? You guys even had a moment in one of the episodes, as well. And she was the one that voted for-

Alyssa: Yeah. Pretty funny. Pretty full circle there. Me? No, I don’t know about her. I think, as you can see by her comments, she takes this game very seriously. It’s her life. Me, this is my part-time job. I come home and I focus on my real life and my real drama in my life. That’s a game, that’s work, that’s a part-time job for me. I don’t have any ill will towards her, personally. She wasn’t my favorite in the game, game-wise, but I don’t have any negative things to say about her, personally. You’re going to have to ask her about me. I don’t care.

PC: And Tori, that aside, we also had some weird lingering drama, I would say with Bananas. I saw him mention-

Alyssa: Oh, my God, he’s so dramatic. He’s so dramatic. Yeah. Okay. So keep in mind, he still brings this moment up. And it’s like I had told maybe two people this moment. Because it’s not, I think his feelings clearly got hurt, right? I came up to him to talk to him, because now he’s on the blue team. And me, I don’t know how to be fake. If I have not really enjoyed your company, I’m going to tell you to your face. And maybe we can move on from it. That was my point is like, “Listen, you’re on my team now. We haven’t really spoken game.”

He was very much, “You have to speak to him to have a conversation,” and I’m not going to do that. So I wanted to talk to him, and clear the air, and be like, “I didn’t like this. I didn’t like that. I’d like to move forward, though, if you’d like.” I was giving him an olive branch and he never gave it back. So, at least I tried. What would you rather me do, suck up to you like everyone else?

PC: It’s so funny because the olive branch part of that was just very much lost in the mix because it was very much, “She came up to me and told me what she didn’t like about me.”

Alyssa: Yeah, he asked and I was like, “Listen, it’s this, this, and this.” I was like, “Hey, we’re on the same team now. I’d like to be able to…” And he made some valid points of, “I can’t really talk with a lot of people. I’m like a rookie here.” And I was like, “okay, that’s fair.” I was even agreeing with some of the things he was saying. And I was trying to move forward with it and potentially have a relationship, at least a game relationship in a little bit. And no, all he took was that his feelings were hurt. He’s still talking about it.

For more of PopCulture.com’s interview with Alyssa, head to our YouTube page to watch it in full. The Challenge USA airs on Thursday nights at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.