‘The Challenge: USA’: David Opens up About Elimination Loss and the ‘Big Brother’ Alliance Drama

On the latest episode of The Challenge: USA, Big Brother alum David Alexander had a tough loss in his elimination against his friend, and fellow Big Brother alum, Enzo Palumbo. In the lead-up to the elimination, there was a great deal of drama in the house since another Big Brother player, Angela Rummans, won power for the week. While David and Enzo thought the elimination match-up would have panned out differently because of this, that wasn’t the case. 

During a chat with PopCulture.com following his exit, David not only opened up about that elimination, but he also had an interesting take on the Survivor and Big Brother alliance that ended up sealing his fate. (This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)

PopCulture.com: You get to the elimination arena, you see the balls, you see the hoop, and you know you’re going against your friend, Enzo. What’s going through your mind?

David: My mind is, damn, he’s got to go home. That was the mindset. I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m about to be rich.’ He’s got like 11 grand, I got seven, I’m about to walk back in the house, look at Tyson [Apostol] like, Yo bro, you was winning early, but look at my money now. That’s what I was thinking. My thought was, he’s going home. This is going to be so dope, he’s going home though. That was the only thought. I’m cursing at the sky, I’m curing over here, I’m cursing at the producer, I’m cursing at everybody, Yo, let’s go. Yo, let’s go.

PC: And there was a big to-do about how you had to face your friend, Enzo. Did that play into your performance in the elimination at all? I imagine if you’re going against a friend, it’s a little difficult.

David: You know, no. I was playing this game for an opportunity to win money to help my mom, and that became the most important thing to me throughout the season. Anytime I was scared, that’s what I thought about, like, why am I doing this? Yes, it would be great to win just for the notoriety of it, but this money would truly help me in my situation. So, I see him as an obstacle that I would call him after the season’s over. But no, it didn’t get any way. If anything, it led to frustration of how I felt my relationship was with other people in the house, let’s say Angela and Alyssa [Lopez].

I felt like we were all team BB, and we are at the very, very, very end. And how dope would it be for us to represent Big Brother, not only on this finale, but on the global scale. We are the few from the US, and when Enzo was going in against me, when that choice was made, people just see that. But, what I saw was, that could have been me chosen to go in too. You flip that whole situation around. I knew while I was there that they were trying to show me, no, no, no, it’s just because it was Enzo. I knew when I was there, what if Enzo got last place, you guys would’ve threw me in. What’s the difference? And so when they chose Enzo, I also saw them choosing me, and that’s why I got upset, because I’m just like, okay. You all literally was asking me for help on the last girls’ elimination where Sarah was coming after them, they were literally, as we were walking up about to go saying, Alyssa’s like, ‘David, please, please help us.’

And I literally go for the win. You see Dom [Abbate] try to stop me winning from Danny [McCray]. To save them, I literally give it my all. I didn’t have to. Danny needed it, and Danny actually won because he’s just a beast. But, I was willing to put myself out there for them. And then just a few days later, they’re like, Oh, okay, we don’t need you, we’re on Team Survivor. That’s what hurt.

PC: You did want to go against Tyson or Dom. How do you think that that elimination would’ve played out if you got your choice in the elimination arena?

David: I still think it would’ve been tough against Dom, because he’s just a heavier, bigger guy. But I don’t know if he had the endurance to last. And then I think Tyson would’ve been easy. Tyson hasn’t faced anything of a physical nature throughout the entire game. Hasn’t been at elimination. And he hadn’t done anything since he won early on, except play a good social game. And people never see this like, when he had moments where he wasn’t winning or when he was at threats to potentially go home, like the one where he had to hang, and then the last daily elimination. We’re all day shooting, he’s literally walking around kicking rocks. He’s not being funny Tyson, he’s not making jokes. He’s literally head down, walking around kicking rocks, because he knows that he could face somebody and he’ll get exposed.

And the reason I have this energy towards Tyson, they don’t show it, but after he won his second daily with Justine, I go over to him and have a conversation with him. And I’m just like, ‘Yo, congratulations. You’re doing really well so far, thanks for not putting me in last week,’ and just having a general game conversation. He looks to me and he’s just like, ‘Yeah, thank you, and I saved you twice.’ I’m like, bro, you literally had Justine, I had Kyra. Justine wasn’t about to agree to put Kyra in, you didn’t save me. But he had this very condescending way of telling me, you owe me. And as soon as he said that, I was like, I owe you nothing, this is all strategy. And so as soon as he said that, I was like, I don’t bond with this dude at all.

PC: Did you have any inkling that there was this bigger alliance there with the Survivor guys and BB girls?

David: I didn’t have an inkling of a specific alliance. But, when they chose Enzo, I was like, Survivor‘s running the game. That’s why you saw it on the show. I was like, damn, Survivor’s running the game. Because, there’s enough of them to come together as a group to make political decisions on how they can control people’s minds in the game. Going to Angela with the strategy of here’s our alliance. They have the numbers, it’s just me and Enzo. And at this point, Enzo hasn’t been the best competitor … and so the girls can easily come together and be like, ‘Yeah, we don’t want Enzo in the final. We don’t want the chance of being partnered with them.’

PC: What’s interesting is that it seemed like it was Angela who kind of formulated that alliance there with the Survivor men. So looking back on it now, what was it like for you to see how that actually played out? Were you thinking, why wasn’t I a part of this alliance? Or what was going through your mind?

David: People continuing to doubt me. From early on in the season, throughout the entire season, I was doubted, viewed as a weak player, et cetera. That was just more fuel for me. If anything, my goal was to come back after this elimination against Enzo. And it would’ve been easy for me to be like, ‘Why would I protect Angela?’ I’m going to go win the next game because you all had the emotional motivation. You putting Enzo against me, he went home, and now you have an opportunity to really change the game up. I don’t have an alliance with BB. This doesn’t exist anymore. It just really showed who was doubting me. And I don’t know what’s going to happen on the next opportunity, but if I see some familiar faces, I know where they stand.