‘The Challenge USA’ Cassidy Explains the Drama With Michaela That Fans Didn’t See (Exclusive)

Cassidy Clark’s journey on the second season of The Challenge USA was far from easy. The Survivor alum ended up going into four eliminations during the course of the season, winning three of them. Alas, she wasn’t able to score her fourth win against Chanelle Howell and narrowly missed out on competing in the final. While discussing her Challenge USA journey with PopCulture.com following her elimination, Cassidy described what fans didn’t see during her contentious time in the house, including some drama with fellow Survivor alum Michaela Bradshaw. 

During one of the many times that Cassidy was voted into elimination, she and Michaela had a serious tiff about the situation. However, as Cassidy explained, it wasn’t the only time that the pair had a disagreement while in the house. She said, “Before this episode, before the debate, we had another fight or argument, and she basically was like… I was pleading to her, just throw in a strong girl, ‘Do you really want to go to the final with Tori?’ Or, I know she probably wasn’t going to turn Desi. But, ‘It’s better for you. This is the logical thing to do, is to take me to a final because you’re probably going to beat me.’” 

Cassidy said that Michaela basically told her in response that she “would much rather go to the end with strong women rather than people she didn’t like or something like that. I don’t even know. It was just intense.” Cassidy went on to say that she “felt pretty hurt” by Michaela even after filming stopped. She said that Michaela has been “dragging” her “on podcasts and things, and I just don’t know why she’s so pressed about me still. She’s just taken every opportunity to defame my character and drag me through the mud.”

Cassidy’s time on The Challenge USA was certainly full of drama. Amidst all of this drama, Cassidy took a step back from social media towards the beginning of the season. While she noted that she doesn’t plan on coming back to X (formerly known as Twitter) anytime soon, she does appreciate all of the positive words that viewers have been sharing on the social media platform. 

“I really appreciate the support and love, but it’s a bit of fair-weather friends in a way where it’s like, they could turn on me tomorrow. You know what I mean? So, I don’t know. I’m just trying not to put too much weight in that,” she said. “But, I’m really grateful for people that have gone online and shared love and support for me, obviously that means a lot. It feels really good, but I probably won’t be back on Twitter just because I think it can get pretty toxic pretty quickly.”

The second season of The Challenge USA wraps up on Thursday, Oct. 19 at 10 p.m. ET. Following the The Challenge USA finale, all episodes will officially be available to watch on Paramount+.