The Challenge All Stars: Rivals is here! Throughout the season, Parade.com will speak with the challengers who were eliminated from the all-star competition.As Amber Borzotra expressed to me multiple times over the course of our interview, The Challenge All Stars: Rivals was a very different season for her. Despite the Big Brother alum being only one of a handful of players to win on their rookie season, her career on the MTV reality series had by and large been one of isolation, consistently feeling on the bottom. One of the people putting her in that position was Faysal Shafaat, to the point where Amber had called him out during one memorable elimination on Spies, Lies, and Allies. And it was that very moment that brought the two together as rivals on All Stars.Despite being partnered with "Messy Fessy," Amber played a clean game through the first half of the season. She and Faysal won two of the first three daily challenges, cementing themselves as one of the stronger pairs in the game. And they used their power to keep other strong teams safe. Amber's game wasn't completely infallible, though, as she had put too much trust in Veronica Portillo. On his way out, Corey Lay warned Amber to watch the three-time winner. And it was a lesson Amber learned, unfortunately, too late. A collaboration between Veronica and Frank Sweeney got Amber and Faysal into elimination, with the nail in the coffin being from Amber's newest friend Ashley Kelsey. But Amber was not going to go out quietly, using her time at the deliberation to–correctly–call out Frank as the mysterious "they" who had been pulling the strings behind the scenes.Now out of the game, Amber speaks with Parade about what led to her blow-up on Frank, how she was able to make up with Faysal, and why this season finally gave her the ability to make meaningful connections on a Challenge season.Related: Everything to Know About The Challenge All Stars: Rivals
You came out swinging in the deliberation, accusing Frank of spreading lies and being "they." Talk to me about your tactic behind doing that.I was reading Frank for a few days leading up to this. Even before we had a challenge, I was already feeling off with him. We were kind of shifting in some kind of way. And I was like, "Hey, there is a wedge between us. What's going on?" And I found out that he knew some information about me. I don't remember what it was. He knew that I was my name was going around, something like that. It was a few days prior, he knew something that he should have told me, I felt, if we were working together, and he didn't. So I was like, "Okay, that's one thing. I'm gonna kind of keep my distance with him speaking game." And then I keep noticing and hearing things that people are coming up to me and saying stuff about Frank. So I was listening and peeping, and I was trying to keep and collect all this information. So when it came that time, I remember us going out that night, and I just remember this so vividly. When we got back, Frank is such a routine person when it comes to his night routine. He likes to wash his face, put his mask on, go to bed early. Now, he was up still in his outside clothes, parading around the house, doing things the night before nominations. So I was like, "Okay, this is new. There must be something. He's trying to turn on me." And we weren't talking. He wasn't telling me anything. I wasn't telling things. So I was like, "Okay, maybe it has something to do with me. Maybe he's finding out his name's going around." So I was peeping that. And there was just a lot of things that I peeped and I just saw on him that I was, like, "I did not see this sooner." And so I just wanted to call him out on it. I mean, I need to go in anyways and get a star to make the final. So, cool! If I go, send me in! That's doesn't bother me. But there were also little things that I was taking personally. Of course, I take things personal in the game when I feel it is personal. I just felt the same thing on other seasons, me versus the whole house, nobody having my back. And that sucked. Because I felt like this season, if anything, I actually felt like I had friends, or I made friends, which was new for me. So yeah, I think it was just hurt. I was just really, really hurt that these people that I thought I was working with kind of just turned on me. So yeah, that it hurt a bit. Even with Melissa, I was like, "Dang!" Like, I know people are trying to turn us against each other. But, at the end of the day, this is a mom that is here for the same reason I am. So I was thinking some of these people were just in my corner. Even Veronica, we spoke before the season. We went in and we were like, "Hey, let's have each other's back." So yeah, I just felt hurt in that moment. Mainly by Frank, because I felt, besides Ashley, Veronica, Fessy, and maybe Nany, he was probably one of the other closest people to me.So you mentioned Veronica. You said a couple of times in confessional that you had full trust in her, only to have her use that trust against you. Last episode, Corey told you after his elimination to not trust her. How much did that warning affect the way you approached the game?A part of me still wanted to believe that wasn't a thing. I was like, "Okay. Maybe he's just saying that because, with Big T and Corey and Katie and Veronica, it's already been that back and forth a little bit. Maybe that's why he's just saying it." But then I was like, "Dang!" It clicked later. It didn't click right on. But it made me watch her a little bit more. I really wish I would have seen the signs sooner.You and Faysal get to pick the matchup for the first elimination of the season. And, rather than going for a starholding team, you chose to go for Beth and Jonna. That seemed to take Jonna by surprise, considering you told her she had "nothing to worry about" beforehand. Talk to me about how you made that decision.First of all, Beth didn't come to me. That was the first time we really even talked game. And honestly, I didn't know until last minute. When we got to elimination. I was like, "We should do that." It just switched, and we kind of laid it out. We're like, "We don't want to go big. We're working with Devin and Leroy. It's too early on for us to do that. And then one of them comes back, and now it's on us." I honestly feel, if we didn't even win that early on, we probably would have been down there. We would have been in the sand with somebody else strong. So I was trying to work more with the strong teams early on, then kind of turn on them. And Fessy, we both were doing that as a team. So when it came down to it, I was like, "Dang, Beth and Jonna haven't really talked about a game with us. I don't know where they're at. I love Beth. I love Jonna. We're not talking game, and it is a game. So it was just the easiest thing for us to do. No blood on our hands, no ties, no promises. So, yeah, that was the best thing for us to do early on. I know people wanted to see a big team against another big team, but not for our game. For us to go a little further, that wasn't something we wanted to do.Was that the same approach you used when sending Aneesa and Ashley Mitchell into elimination?If you think about it, for us, if we couldn't take out Devin and Leroy, the closest thing was taking out an ally, which is Aneesa and Ashley Mitchell. Aneesa was tied to everyone in that game in some kind of way, friends with everyone in the game. And it's like, where do we fall? She has long relationships that she's had way longer than Faysal Me and her never played the game eye to eye up until that point. And I was like, "I want to play with Aneesa. But in this game, where do I fall? Where do Faysal and I land?" So that was just another decision we made where it was like, "Okay, we don't want to go against a strong team and then come back right now and then it's us next." So we're still trying to work with a strong team and also make a move where we can take out a number closer to Devin and Leroy, which was Aneesa. That was his number one, obviously.Let's talk about the relationship you formed with the other Ashley, Ashley Kelsey. You two seemed to get incredibly close, apparently starting with the flight over. Talk to me about how that formed, and your reaction to having her vote you into elimination.We actually talk every week. I'm gonna see her in like two weeks when I go back to Boston. I can say that I have a best friend, like a good friend outside of the game. Of course, Kellyanne, Corey Lay and I are also close. They both come to my baby shower. So love them too. I love Nany. But I feel like this was the season where I connected with somebody where I felt like they also see me. And we have a lot of things in common. And she's just a nice person, and it was nice to have someone in there when we weren't playing the game to bond with and connect with. So, yeah, I love Ashley Kelsey. And I just feel so blessed to have allies. Because it does suck. And I get why she had to say my name. Again, I'm a gamer. It's part of the game. I love that stuff. But it was just hard. And I think it was just very hurtful. Again, I felt like I had friends, so I was just hurt. I'm hurt. I'm like, "This is a new feeling for me."Well let's go from a new best friend to a new family member! I was really surprised to hear you say this episode that you didn't really know who Faysal was. And it was even more surprising for you to go from standing at elimination, cursing him out in Spies, Lies, and Allies to now saying how close you have gotten on your way out of the game. Talk to me about how that developed.So I did not care to even be in the same room as Faysal near him on any other seasons. I avoided him at all costs. It's my fault that we probably could have connected sooner. I'm not gonna say it's all my fault. But I could have connected to him early on. But I think being forced to be partners with him and share a bunk with him and be in the same room with him, breathe the same air as him, I was like, "You know what, Amber? Let it go. Get to know him. If you are going to work well together as partners, I feel like you have to kind of be on that page anyway. And I got to know him, and I love Faysal. I adore Faysal. I'm here if he ever needs me as a friend. We still talk outside of the game now. Going into, hopefully, future seasons, that's an ally. So I'm happy that we left on good terms,Finally, in honor of the infamous "[expletive] They Should Have Shown" episode of the old-school days of The Challenge, what's one moment from your time on the show that you wish you had made the edit?I wish they would start putting bloopers at the end of all these episodes, because I just feel like there's just so much to pack into this one question. I had some of the best moments of all the seasons I've done on this season. So I'm just very grateful for that. I'm grateful for the friendships that I've taken from that. And what stays in the Challenge house, I'll keep in the Challenge house. There are some things that are just so fun and funny to me and whatnot. But I don't know if it was shown. But there was a conversation with me and Fessy, and I think Ashley was there. And we were by the pool, and me and Fessy had a deep conversation after we really got to know each other. And we were talking about the game and really wanting to win. And we've had some deep conversations that I don't think were on camera, emotional, deep life stuff. And I think that's stuff that we kind of keep to ourselves and we treasure. And it doesn't need to be shared with everybody. But I'm just very grateful for the friends that I now have this season. I've been following your reality TV career since Big Brother over a decade ago. And, to your earlier point, it does seem like a lot of your seasons prior to this have been you feeling isolated as an underdog against the majority. So even though you lost here, it does feel like a win to you in that you finally got to play on a season with a group of people you felt you bonded with.Yeah, I do. I feel really good. [Gets emotional.] And honestly, I went in feeling so sure and so proud of myself as a person. Being a new mom, getting my recent diagnosis, learning that part of me, I wanted to go in challenging that side of myself. Because I felt so uncomfortable on a lot of seasons, and I think going in knowing that there's nothing wrong with me and I'm a good person. And I know that because my daughter looks at me every day with love and gives me that love, so I know that I'm a good person. But going in with my head held high and trying to make friends and trying to force myself out of the room every day and not isolate, I feel like in the end, the real win is those friends and those relationships that I know are gonna last forever outside of this game. So I am just–and I use this word over and over again–very grateful. And as crazy it is, I love this shit. I love the show. I love The Challenge. I love going to compete. I miss TJ's laugh, all those crazy things. I was in the park even the other day, and I heard a drone go up, and I was like, "Oh, PTSD." From when they throw the drones up for shots before the challenges. We're a big family. There's most people that I probably do not like, because they've really hurt me. [Laughs.] But we're a big family; we get through it. And I'm very grateful, and I'm just blessed to even have the opportunity to keep going and doing this.
Related: 'The Challenge All Stars: Rivals' Star Corey Lay Says Adam is 'Not This Perfect, Nice Guy He Pretends to Be'
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