“My team was playing to not lose, but not win.
And it killed me,” Jonna Mannion tells Entertainment Weekly.
Jonna Mannionis not holding back about her disappointment over howThe Challengeseason 40 went for her.
Jonna Mannion, ‘The Challenge’.MTV
MTV
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was it like competing in that elimination?
BRAD FIORENZA:It made a difference.
Tell me more about that, because we’ve seen some controversial eliminations a lot this season already.
Brad Fiorenza, ‘The Challenge’.MTV
Was there more to it than what we saw in the episode?
JONNA:No, I wouldn’t say that it was controversial by any means.
The people who won, won fair and square.
And she’s like, “Red.”
And I was like, “Okay, I don’t care.
It doesn’t matter.”
And I was like, “Why does she want the red side?”
And then afterwards, I was like, “Oh, s—.
JONNA:Why did I do that?!
I couldn’t see the [spikes].
She’s an athlete.
BRAD:That was a very difficult elimination to figure out.
And I will say, this wasn’t the easiest season for me.
I don’t feel like I did my best.
I just didn’t get it done, that’s on me.
Hats off to Cory for having a better strategy, beating me fair and square.
And it was a lot more difficult, in my opinion, than it looked.
JONNA:Yeah, it was.
I’m not saying I think that I would’ve won.
I think I may have had a little bit of a shot, a little inkling of hope.
But everything leading to me getting into elimination, I knew it was a setup.
And then Laurel’s like, “I can, no problem.”
And then right then, I start panicking.
I was like, “Jordan, don’t you want to win?
We can’t lose.”
And he’s just like, “Jonna, it doesn’t matter.
You’re not the target.”
Right then, I knew.
I was putting all these pieces together.
When we were in the house, Devin was just like, “This game is easy.
This is just likeRide or Dies.
You don’t want to win, you don’t want to lose.”
But I always want to win.
I give it 130 percent.
I don’t care who the target is, I don’t want to lose a team member.
The finish line is right there.
And there’s no way that you are gassed out, but I’m not.”
Devin and Tori are on the line.
I don’t want to lose Tori, you know what I mean?
So my team was playing to not lose, but not win.
And it killed me.
You’re next."
I don’t want to go against my team, everybody has to go in, whatever.
I don’t want to talk game today."
JONNA:But I was like, “I found a solution.
It was so obvious.
I’d be a moron not to take note of that, unfortunately.
I knew Mark and I had no arrangement like that, CT and I had no arrangement like that.
I’m not self-nominating right now.”
And then Jenny chose him anyways.
But then when it’s my turn, he’s just like, “You’re not self-nominating?
You’re a bad teammate.
This is what our team is doing.”
There’s our escape."
Jordan kept saying, “You’re not being set up.
We’re going to win.”
And I’m like, “There’s a possibility we won’t, Jordan.”
And he’s like, “What do you mean?
Era 3 is the best.”
But we don’t know what the challenge is!
And I was right.
BRAD:Put me down for that, Jonna, for real.
So of course it made sense for them to do it.
Because to be honest, everybody’s playing for themselves.
I just didn’t want to follow suit withyourplan.
Do you want to do more MTV seasons after returning for this one?
JONNA:Man, this is stressful.
I don’t know, dude.
Season 40 was very difficult to navigate.
I want to just end on a good season, and then walk away.
But let’s be real, I loveThe Challenge, and I love competing in it.
I feel like I’m chasing that now.
AfterAll Stars 4andThe Challenge40, I feel like now I’m chasing a performance close toAll Stars 3.
I will be making sure I’m available for the next season.
I’m hoping to get as much opportunity to compete as possible.
The Challenge: Battle of the Erasairs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.
