Wes may be retired from The Challenge, but he’s got somethings to day about the man who “sent” him there.
In a recent tweet, West declared that the “Chris Underwood experiment” is over. While he admits Chris is good “in the sand,” being a strong elimination competitor doesn’t make you valuable to The Challenge. In fact, he claims that watching Chris narrate Cutthroat was painfully boring, and being a strong competitor isn’t what you need to be a TV star.
He compared Chris’ game to Kaycee Clark’s, who is notorious for being as boring as furniture. Wes claims he should have spoken up about Kaycee sooner, because her presence damaged the franchise.
Kaycee plays a very Big Brother-style game, particularly with her Vacation Alliance. The group assumes the season will be filled with twists and turns, and the best way to survive it is to have a solid squad that will not stray from the alliance. Her goal is to win the game — not lean into those twists and make a good TV show. Then, when the alliance inevitably must lose a member, she becomes her own top priority. At this point, she assumes she’s the strongest person in the alliance and has the greatest odds of winning (like when she had Nany throw then Back Up Off Me elimination in the Spies, Lies and Allies final).
On the other hand, Chris is a bit more stubborn. On USA 2, he betrayed the Survivor alliance and was on the outskirts of the group; he had to win eliminations to remain in the game. He plays the intimidation card far more than Kaycee, which allows him to be a bit more reckless. On the other hand, Kaycee wants to avoid elimination at all costs. That’s not a bad game move; it just doesn’t make good TV.
Chris responded to the tweet at a Challenge Mania event in Philadelphia this weekend (captured in this clip recorded by Challenge fan Ryan John). At the event, he said that Wes sounds like a bitter, retired Challenger who’s “grasping for straws” and needs to talk about current Challenge stars to stay relevant.
Chris also shared a story about a conversation he had with Wes. After Chris eliminated Wes on USA 2, Chris said he “sent Wes into retirement.” This isn’t fully true; Wes intended to retire from The Challenge after that season, aligning with the birth of his daughter. However, Chris eliminated Wes from his final season of the show. In any other combat sport, that would be considered sending your opponent to retirement.
So, Wes asked Chris how disrespectful he thought the “retirement” comment was. Chris ranked this statement as a 7.5 out of 10 on the disrespect scale. In retaliation, Wes publicly shared the “Chris Underwood experiment” tweet, which he considered a 7.5 out of 10 on the disrespect scale.
Wes later followed up with another long tweet, but he confirmed that he and Chris had spoken before he made the “Chris Underwood experiment” tweet. Wes continued to challenge Chris’ abilities, pointing out that Chris lost to Justin, the opponent he wanted to face in The Arena. Wes also believes he’d defeat Chris in a Challenge final (a claim Wes will likely never follow through on because he’s “retired“).
In Wes’ defense, he did make some of the buzziest Challenge content of the week. And just like everything Wes says, there’s a playful element to this; it’s really not that deep (although Kaycee has every reason to be offended). Wes also claims he gets paid more to talk about the Challenge than some people get for appearing on the Challenge, and he’s not targeting Chris because he needs another Rivals partner.
But in Chris’ defense, if Wes makes so much money talking about him, and Wes made the most-engaged content of the week off of Chris’ name, then Chris clearly adds more value to The Challenge than just being a boring narrator.
