Wes Has Entered His Villian Era (Again)

Wes has become a hot topic in Challenge discussions over the past few days (since episode 6). During that episode, Wes cried as he discussed his plan to retire from the show because his wife is pregnant with their first child. Many people empathized with Wes, but others doubted the sincerity of his tears.

After that episode, Wes and his wife went on social media to express their disappointment with the show and the people who spoke poorly about Wes behind his back.

Wes’ wife said she loves Survivor and was happy to see Wes play the game with former castaways. However, the were mean to him and attacked him on a personal level, which she found quite disheartening. She also said that Wes has navigated the reality TV world for a long time and has been very generous to people — even letting them stay at his house (though the aforementioned Survivor players likely never benefited from this).

However, both Wes said they had a lot more to say… on their Patreon.

The most notable people to speak out against Wes were Rachel Robinson and Laurel. Rachel pointed out that Wes poured soda over Cara Maria on Rivals and he made personal threats to Derrick on All Stars 3. Laurel jumped on board and agreed with Rachel. She only knows Wes on the show, and they’ve never gotten along (remember, she defended Cara after the soda incident). She also said he could never survive in a city like New York, and his Kansas City house only cost $3.

On the most recent episode of the Death, Taxes, and Bananas podcast (around the 35-minute mark), Cory discussed that Wes had a poor attitude on the show and would play the victim during the season. He also thinks Wes isn’t really going to retire from the show, and it’s not his time to hang up his jersey.

Oh, and Yes also chimed in to say it’s possible to be a Challenger, father, and entrepreneur. But this is likely more playful than actually taking a jab at Wes.

Sylvia and Shane defended Wes in the face of all of his criticism. Shane remembered a time on Champs vs. Stars when Wes defended him because he was getting gay bashed at a bar. Sylvia also called him a great guy, and she’s been friends with him off the show.

Zach also stood up for Wes on his new podcast. He relates to Wes because both have been in the position where they believed they may never return to the show. So, Zach feels Wes’ emotions are real. Even though Wes could come back, the feeling that you could never return to the show can be upsetting.

While Wes may actually be retiring from the show, there’s also a chance he’s just creating controversy, and it’s working. He’s no stranger to that, so if he does decide to do another Challenge season, he’s left production with a good reason to invite him back.