The Challenge type TV Show network MTV genre Reality

Warning: This article contains spoilers from Wednesday's episode of The Challenge: Total Madness, "Karma Chameleon."

Another week, another previous champion eliminated early on The Challenge.

After Jay Starrett upset Chris "CT" Tamburello last week, episode 4 saw yet another winner get taken out when Dee Nguyen beat Ashley Mitchell on the Purgatory floor. Ashley's alcohol-infused confrontation with Mattie Breaux the night before led to a unanimous nomination sending her into elimination, and the Tribunal pitted her against one of last season's winners for a challenge that relied more on luck than strength or puzzle-solving skills.

In the elimination, Dee and Ashley had to find tiles with the right symbols on them that were hidden in pots hanging overhead, giving the challenge an element of chance. Ashley got tripped up trying to find a specific tile that had become buried in the sand, giving Dee a lead. And on the backs of the tiles were names of past Challenge seasons, which Dee and Ashley then had to put in chronological order. While Dee didn't know the order — The Challenge doesn't air in her native Australia — she had an ally in seasoned vet Wes Bergmann, who shouted down the correct answers and helped send Ashley packing.

"She's never seen The Challenge before and I know he definitely told her which order, but it was a lot of luck," Ashley tells EW of how the elimination played out. "[Dee] got the right pieces, she was moving quicker to get the pieces, so I'm not going to take that win away from her. I'm not going to say that Wes won it for her. I'm definitely not going to say that; she put in the work. She was down there fighting. Would she have still won if Wes didn't help her? Maybe? But would it have been closer? F—ing probably."

Below, Ashley breaks down the "dumb" mistake that sent her into elimination early, why she knew she was "screwed" this season no matter what, what we didn't see from her time on this season, and more.

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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Heading into this season, you didn’t have any of your past alliances to lean on. Did that affect your game?

ASHLEY MITCHELL: To be honest, I was scared. I don't like going into houses alone, and I know with a couple glasses of wine in me I always take it out on people or overreact or get offended easily. I was worried about it. And hell, half of the people this season I had helped eliminate the season before. So I knew I had my work cut out for me.

That is a double-edged sword: You and your numbers alliance had so much control over the way War of the Worlds 2 played out, but then this season you had to compete against and work with a lot of your opponents from last season without the numbers to help you this time.

I call it paying for my sins. [Laughs] Any season I do good, I have to thank the Challenge gods, but then the next season I have to pay for all my sins I had committed the season before.

When did you start to realize that you’d be going into this week's elimination?

Honey, I realized that very early. I saw the alliances: You have the Big Brother alliance, you have the Jenna, Nany, Kailah alliance. So I knew my time wasn't going to last very long before I headed to elimination.

When Bear set off the fire extinguisher in the bunker, why did you spit in his face?

I didn't know what the hell was going on. I mean, think — we're locked in a bunker, I thought a damn bomb went off! I didn't know if it was part of The Challenge, I didn't know if I was dying, like you couldn't see anything, you couldn't breathe, and when you did breath you were inhaling more of the stuff that was sprayed directly into my face. It was almost like a blackout because it all happened so fast and it was just so insane and scary. I don't know what gave him the idea to do that. And I reacted so horribly and I did apologize to him, and we've talked it out and everything. It's so dumb, I don't know why I did that. Honestly I wanted to hit him, but I'm definitely not going to hit somebody. [Laughs] I don't know, you learn from your mistakes, and sometimes my anger, I just can't keep it in. Especially when I really felt like I was being suffocated.

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Even though it wasn't physical violence, did you ever worry that spitting in his face would get you disqualified, especially when the security guard stepped in?

I didn't even think about it. If I would have thought, if I would have taken a step back, I would have never done such an idiotic, immature, stupid move. But I just wasn't thinking then and, honey, afterwards I wasn't thinking either. I was angry for the rest of that night. People thought it was funny and a joke, and I'm like, "Screw you, you go into a small enclosed room and have all the oxygen being taken out." I was just angry at everything.

You and Mattie had just made an alliance at the beginning of the episode, so what did you think about how it was later that same night when, after the fire extinguisher and spit incident, the big blowup happened between you two?

Once again, I wasn't thinking. My anger was so high and I was just so overwhelmed. I didn't give a damn about an alliance, I didn't give a damn about the show. I was just disrespected, I was scared, I was pissed off. I really wasn't thinking more than just about myself in that moment — not about my game, not about politics, not about nothing. I was heated.

Have you and Mattie spoken since that fight?

We have! We're good. We text message now and then. The reason we made that alliance is that we both were having a hard time in that bunker. We kind of were each other's shoulder to cry on, or to bitch to. She kind of understood that I overreacted, and I apologized. I told her I went way too far.

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After the very public fight with Mattie, it seemed like everyone decided you were the easy vote for elimination. Did you try to politic your way to safety, or was it a losing battle at that point?

Oh yeah, once I came to my senses and I calmed down, I realized, "Damn, you really screwed yourself." It made it so easy for everyone to say my name. It took me a few hours to realize that, but then when I did, oh honey, I spent that whole next day trying. I was throwing anyone's name under the bus, anyone at all, like, "Think about this alliance, think about the future, think about this!" It didn't work out this time, but yeah, I'm never someone that's going to lay down and die in the game. I'm always going to fight. Even being all alone, I might cry and I might be upset, but that does not mean I'm quitting this game. I love to compete on The Challenge. My favorite way to fight on The Challenge is the political way, the way to stay out of elimination and get people to do what you want to do. It was actually pretty fun doing that, but I knew I didn't really have a chance. [Laughs] A girl can dream!

Once you were nominated, did you have any preferences on who you went against?

I was ready to take on whoever. That's one reason I never like to [go into elimination], it could be anything. It could be a game of luck, which it kind of was! So I never, ever want to go down there. I know this time we had to, but I still didn't want to. [Laughs] Who knows what could happen, maybe I could steal a red skull from someone somehow and T.J. won't notice. But I do know one thing: If I had gotten a red skull early, people know I compete in a final. That's just a fact. So let's be honest, people don't want to see me in a final, whether it be a female or male, because I've got the brains, sick endurance, and no fear. So if I would have gotten the skull early, I would have been just as screwed. It was sh— for me this season. [Laughs]

When it came time to compete and you saw how fast Dee was getting her tiles, how did that affect your performance?

I stayed focused. I was just getting overwhelmed with not being able to find my piece. As people know, I freak out pretty easily. [Laughs] If y'all don't know, tune in to The Challenge, because it's kind of a known fact. So when I couldn't find my piece, I was like, "Come on, T.J., do you have it hidden somewhere? What is happening?!" But I definitely stay focused because I know anything can change. People can score a three-pointer at the very last second of a game, so I was just fighting for that miracle shot. But I didn't get it this time.

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We’ve seen you lose your focus for a lot less in the past, so it was great to see you staying in it.

I had to be. Dee had people up in the stands, aka Wes, trying to help her and tell her which order things went in. I didn't have that. Once again, as usual, when I go down and my feet are in the dirt, it's always me by myself. I don't ever have a cheering section like a lot of people do. I've never been in an elimination where people are cheering for me. I'm the only person I have down there. So I have to stay focused. Dee, she didn't need to be focused, she got half the damn competitors telling her where to go, what to do, and it makes it a lot easier.

Do you have any regrets about your time on this season?

My only regret is the same thing that happens to me every time: When I feel attacked or isolated or alone, and my feelings start building up, and I have a glass of wine or someone says something to really push that button, the way I react. There's a lot of things I would do different, mostly just calm the f— down every once in a while. [Laughs] Get this temper under control.

Are you interested in coming back to The Challenge after this season?

You can label me the female Johnny Bananas, because if The Challenge call me, if T.J. calls me, I got my running shoes on and I'm running straight to wherever the hell the season's at, because I love it. You'd have to be crazy to insult someone for doing Challenges over and over. It's such a blessing, and anyone who says that they wouldn't do it is a damn liar.

What are you doing to prepare for another season?

During this quarantine, I've been doing lots of push-ups, I've been trying to lots of arm stuff because obviously that is my weakness. And the girls, every year they cast stronger and stronger girls, and my little skinny ass is over here eating a cheeseburger just trying to thicken up in case I have to go into an elimination. [Laughs] But yeah, I'm training. I'm actually self-quarantining in Ecuador right now, so I'm doing my cardio up here in the high elevation.

What didn’t we see from your time on this season that you think is important for fans to know?

This season, you don't see how much I really did make friends with people that were kind of my enemies or not in my alliances. Like, I really got to know Tori and I really love her and Jordan, they're really cool. Even me and Jenna and Kailah got along, and I love Nany. It's hard to show all the little friendships that are made because sometimes that doesn't correlate to gameplay, and just because I'm working in alliance or working against someone, it doesn't always mean I like them or hate them. It just means it's game.

The Challenge airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on MTV.

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