‘The Challenge: All Stars’: Jay Mitchell on That Elimination & Keeping Peace Between Warring Allies

Another contestant has been eliminated from The Challenge: All Stars Season 4 — but this time, it wasn’t too much of a surprise to him.

Jay Mitchell (sometimes known as Jay Gotti) chose to go into the tank after winning the daily challenge in the hope that he’d qualify for T.J. Lavin‘s final. First, he had to be the fastest contestant to finish the shopping cart challenge, “Roll With It,” to even have a chance at throwing himself into the elimination. Then, he had to go up against current starholder Steve Meinke instead of Ryan Kehoe, after the latter backed out.

Worse, once everyone got a look at the arena, it was clear that the odds were almost completely against him. With his lifelong color blindness reducing his ability to memorize a color pattern puzzle, and a broken nose hindering him from swimming freely in the tank, his chances of winning were slim to none. But to him, the chance of being sent home for not having his star to run the final was even worse.

TV Insider caught up with Jay Mitchell to talk about his big decision, as well as how he felt being stuck between his two biggest allies — Nicole Zanatta and Cara Maria Sorbello — as they were driven apart by Laurel Stucky.

You said at the beginning of the season that you still get a lot of grief over your Battle of the Exes exit in the finals. Has that changed this season now that people have seen you on the show this season?

Jay Mitchell: We just started out hot right out of the gate. You wait no time. That’s fine. I love it. That’s it. I like it. We’ll get right down to it. That’s cool with me. I had a horrible, horrible exit. Everyone knows that. Everyone has seen it. I am dubbed forever the guy who couldn’t drink the drink. So the opening credits, they literally show a picture of me throwing up, and it says known as the guy who can’t drink the drink. There has always been grief over it. Always been haters over it. I don’t think that’s ever going to stop. I think there’s still people that are going to continue that regardless.

However, I think a lot of people have realized that that one specific scene is not me. Everyone has seen me on this season save Nicole 17,000 times, team up with monsters like Cara and do work. Everyone has seen me perform very well in every challenge, right? I was the only person who didn’t come in last for like eight weeks in a row. So I think it should change some people’s perspective. And honestly, I hope it changes people’s perspective. And I would redo that moment. But again, I would say no. And here’s the reason: That one moment has made so many changes for me in my life because I promise you that will never happen again ever. So it has given me more drive and more strength and made me want this redemption so much more. So I’m actually grateful for that situation. It haunted me for a long time, but I think it created who I was on All Stars 4.

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What was your reaction when you got the call that they wanted you to come for this season?

Oh, everybody loves this. My reaction when I got the call was, “I think you have the wrong number.” And that’s the God’s honest truth. I picked up and I’m like, “All Stars? Hold on, wait, why?” Everyone knows my exit. I’m not an all star. I didn’t consider myself to be an all star based on what the performance was in my previous season. However, I believe that I can perform like an all star. I believe I can hang with the best of the best on this show. I just never was given the opportunity other than that one instance. So I was shocked that I got pulled as an all star but I was grateful because I knew that I was ready, and I was going to show everyone that I do belong there.

Coming into the season, you had a friendship with Nicole. Can you talk about like how you guys became friends in real life?

Yeah, so actually, I was on the real world. And then the season after my season, Nicole was on The Real World. And she lives close by so it was like, “Oh, yeah! Another New Yorker!” So we became friends that way. And then lo and behold, a couple of years later, she got on the fire department, and then I got on the fire department. So I got time on her with The Real World. She’s got time on me on the fire department. And then it was like, wow, look at that. And now I see her at work every once in a while, and we kind of created a bond over you know, we had Real World together experiences, and now we’re on the same job together with firefighters in New York City. It’s a great experience. So we’ve become very close over the years.

How did you become allies with Cara Maria? 

So actually the reason Cara and I have friends is simply because I don’t like bullies. And I don’t like when people get bullied. I had a horrible experience on Battle of the Access where I was talked down to, belittled, told my opinion didn’t matter. It was a whole-house-against-me type of deal. I had no opinion, no input, no nothing. I was treated horribly. So to be on there and have people start attacking her for no reason going behind her back for no reason. I don’t like that. I don’t appreciate that. I’m not the guy that’s gonna go with the crowd.

So I stopped and was like, “Hold on. Timeout. Why do you have beef with her? You have no legitimate reason, right? Didn’t think so. Shut up, take a hike.” And then from there, it was like, “Yo Cara. Let’s do this together. I know what it feels like.” She’s a great competitor. She’s a monster. And I love that about her. And I love that she doesn’t care. The whole house is against her. She’s like, “Let’s go. You’s all want a piece of me? Let’s go.”

That’s my mentality. I’m like 5’8″, 170 pounds. I’m smaller and shorter than everybody that I ever competed with. I love being the underdog. I love having everyone against me. So when I saw her in the same situation, I’m always in. So horrible for her having to deal with that. But her mindset was like, “I don’t care. Let’s do it.” So I was like, “You know what? Let’s do this together. You and me. Let’s rock out. I got you till the end. Let’s make this happen.”

How was it for you to thread the needle between the two? With all of the stuff going on between Laurel and Nicole and then Laurel and Cara, how did you stay out of that but maintain your alliances? 

Yeah, I mean, first of all, the Nicole and Laurel situation, we could go down a rabbit hole for three days talking about that, because there’s an every day, every 10 minutes difference. But as far as trying to keep the balance, it was very difficult because I would come up with this whole plan about who got it like who needs to go in and who needs to do what, and I’m like, “Nicole, this protects your star, and it protects Cara’s star, and everyone is happy, everyone is safe.” And then one person would say one thing, and Nicole go off the handles, and everything would change. And then I would have to pick the pieces up and try and explain it to other people, “Don’t listen to Nicole, just do this.” And then it was impossible. It literally was impossible.

It took more strength and energy to politic my way through this stuff, which they don’t show. But it is what it is, but it took more strength and energy to politic my way through this than anything else. The competitions were fun. I love competing. The politics, the drama, trying to be best friends with Cara and be best friends with Nicole at the same time … nearly impossible when they’re trying to take each other’s heads. Yeah, so I don’t even know. I give myself credit now. I don’t know it was crazy. It was hard. It was definitely one of the most difficult parts of that season.

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It seemed like you were against the grain a lot of times even when it came to like choosing. Like with Jasmine Reynaud. You weren’t really in favor of that vote. You kind of stood up against the house a lot of times throughout the season. 

It’s the bullying. It’s if anyone watches any seasons of these Challenges, it’s the same people that make it to the end every time. Why? Because they gang up on other people one at a time. Well guess what? I’m one of those people that eventually is going to be on everybody’s radar because I don’t have a big clique in the house. So I made my little deals, do what I need to do, but I performed well enough that they never had an opportunity to come for me.

So if I have a chance to help people that get bullied up on and ganged up on and stuff like that, so be it. And I did that with Jasmine. However, it ended up being where it was Jasmine or Cara, and Cara was my number two, so I had to make a decision on that. You know what I mean? That’s just where you put everything out the window and it’s like, “Look, you come first.” And Cara knew if anything happened with Nicole, Nicole came first. It’s just that part of it; it’s just the nature of the game, and I believe everybody understands that. The people that don’t, those are the problems.

How did you feel about that, though? When Cara gave you that ultimatum about Jasmine? Were you frustrated with that?

No, not at all because I get where she’s coming from. And she knows I have her back. So when it comes down to there’s one more vote, and it’s in your hands, and I’m like, “Damn, this sucks because now I gotta go against somebody Im friends with.: But again, it sucks. I don’t like voting. I don’t like making enemies like that. I don’t like that part of the game. But in the end, you got to choose what you got to choose. And Nicole was my number one, Cara was my number two. Everyone knew that. So Jasmine can’t come back and say, “Oh, you did me dirty.” It’s like I did it. I protected you as best I could up to the line of where it had to be drawn. And then you got to play for yourself and your team, and everyone knew who my team was. So it is what it is. It just sucks in general. But I think I did a good job of kind of, as you said earlier, threading that needle and making things work in my favor while protecting what I needed to protect. Yeah.

Moving on to this elimination, what made you decide to go into this one knowing the odds are stacked against you with the color blindness and water?

Oh, I was doing it. I knew I was doing it, and everyone told me not to do it. They’re like, “Don’t. There’s no point. You’re going home. You’re sending your self home.” But I need a star to run the final. Without a star, I can’t do anything. We thought the trivia challenge — we didn’t even think that existed. We thought we’re going to show up that day, and T.J. was gonna say, “Congratulations to those who have a star. You’re gonna run my final. Everyone else, that’s it. You’re done here. Your time is over.” So we got an extra opportunity, the females did. Then the next challenge we had we were like, “Oh, here we go. Now we’re gonna get purged. He’s gonna kick us all out.” And it was another challenge. Then we show up again. And I’m like, “Okay, this is crazy.” Because we thought this was over already three times.

The fact that it is now a guy’s elimination, and I have an opportunity to get a star, I can’t believe these people that passed up the opportunity to get a star … I would much rather have the ball in my court. Let me. I knew the odds are stacked against me. Everyone knew it. Nicole was crying saying, “Don’t do it. You’re colorblind. Your nose is broken.” So I have to hold my nose. “They have one hand to undo puzzle pieces. You know you’re screwed.” And I said, “I know I am. But if I don’t take this opportunity, I may not have another one. And I would be more mad at myself for not giving myself the chance.” That was the thing. Was it stacked against me? Yes. But the ball was in my court. I at least had a chance to get a star. If I don’t throw myself in, and that’s the last challenge, now I just go home. You know what I mean? Ten I didn’t even try. I had to at least try. I would have been more mad at myself if I didn’t go in and then the next day he said, “Alright, it’s over. Everyone goes home.” I would have been more mad at myself for that because I had an opportunity didn’t take it.

Don’t forget also, I had to win this challenge to even have the opportunity to throw myself in. So it was two parts of this plan. I just I had to make that decision. It is what it is. I hate that I lost but I do not regret my decision on throwing myself in.

Was there ever any thought that Leroy Garrett could go in and give you the second star? 

No, I didn’t want to be handed a star, and I told everybody. I said that for three weeks, for three challenges, I was thinking I want to go in. Yeah, I need to go and do this myself. This is my redemption season. I had a horrible exit. Everyone thinks I don’t belong that I need to prove I belong there. If Leroy handed me a star, and I walked to the final like that, then it’s like, “Oh, you only got there because of Leroy.” Yeah, not worth it. I wanted to do it myself. And I knew I could get there.

And I had an agreement with Leroy the whole season that we would protect each other, help each other unless it came down to it. And I needed a star. He had one. I wanted to protect him. Everything was all set in motion. And I’m a man of my word. I gave him my word. I would take him out because I wanted to go in. I was a man of my word. I’ll never go back on that. So again, I don’t I don’t regret my decision. I just regret losing, but I had to make that choice. It was a hard choice that I had to make. I’m not mad at it.

So you were a little disappointed though that your fellow “ocelot” Ryan didn’t want to go in, right?

Yeah, I’m still a little disappointed in Ryan. Especially watching the season play back. I just — he came up to me the minute the challenge was over, and he walked up to me, he was like, “It’s you and me bro, let’s do this tonight.” And like chest bumped me. And I was like, “Yes!” That’s the hype I want. That’s the mentality I want…. He was saying, “Hey, I’m going to tell them to vote me in, let’s do this. I know you want your star so bad. Let’s do this.” And I was like, “Bro, let’s go!” I got so hype… I’m like, “Let’s go. I am in this. You want me? I love it. Let’s do it.” So for then him to start weaseling his way out back during our conversations, I was like, “Wait a second. What just happened? I thought we were men in it.” This was gonna be the big show.

And, man if Steve would have walked up to me and done that, I would have been hyped to go against Steve. I didn’t care who I went up against in, whatever it was. You know what I mean? I just wanted to go in. And I respected so much that someone stepped up to me and was like, “Hey, look, I know you’re gonna win this. I know you’re gonna win this season.” I promise you, ask anyone, they all thought I was winning this whole thing. And for him to have the balls to say, “I know you’re gonna win all this, but you and me. Let’s do it.” And I was like, “Oh my, let’s go. I love that.” Like, that’s what I love. I love that. That fire right there. So I was hyped for that. So then obviously I was very disappointed when he started weaseling his way out. I don’t know if that’s just something I grew up around. It’s almost like I just don’t appreciate it. I don’t approve of it. I don’t like that. I don’t like the backdoor stuff. I don’t like the fact that you just backed out. I don’t know. I don’t like that. I don’t appreciate it. I don’t approve of it. It’s not my thing. Can’t man up and then flake out and try and square root yourself out of it.

I don’t know if this is your last opportunity, right? The last four times we thought were our last opportunity. At this point. It has to be our last opportunity, right? So you don’t even want to try? You’re just willing to go home tomorrow. Like there’s thought, oh man, let’s do this. Let’s get in there. Let’s fight. Let’s wrestle. Let’s do whatever. Unfortunately, it was just something that I had no shot at winning. So Ryan would have worked out and could have he could have been the man. He would have been a beast and probably beat me, and it would have been I just shook his hand… said awesome, but I respect you for stepping up not knowing what we were doing.

One person that obviously agreed with you was T.J. At the end he made sure to give you props and say you were “most improved.” What was your reaction to that? Did that make you feel like you accomplished what you came in to do?

Well, what I came in to do was win $150,00, so I did not accomplish what I came in there to do. But my secondary goal was to prove to people and to myself that that wasn’t me, the person you saw in Battle of the Exes 2. I wanted the redemption, too. I believe I got it. Yes, I believe I did enough to prove in all aspects that I’m well rounded and I belong there. To have T.J. — the person who basically kicked me out the door, made fun of me, and was like, “I hope I never see you again” — for that person to change his mindset and say, “You know what? You’re better,” I liked it. It is the sense of fulfillment. It is it’s nice to hear especially because I’ve seen him scold a lot of people. So to get the respect from him, is sort of like the big brother giving you the pat on the back like, “Hey, you didn’t do it, but you did good.” So it was nice to hear. It was good feeling. Yes.

My last question is, obviously you and Jenna played together all those years ago on your last Challenge. Do you hope someday that you guys might get to do a challenge again in the future?

What, Jenna? I haven’t seen Jenna in eight years. I don’t hope to see her again… That was eight years ago. We have not spoken a word. If she’s there, awesome. And if she’s not, also it doesn’t affect me. I don’t care. She’s happy with where she’s at. I’m happy with where I’m at. Like our paths just went separate ways, and we both ended up where we’re supposed to be. There’s no hard feelings. There’s no regrets. There’s no nothing. I’m happy. I wish the best for her and that she’s happy.

The Challenge: All Stars, Wednesdays, Paramount+