Marie Roda was forced to go up against her BFF, Kailah Casillas, in The Ring on the Feb. 27 episode of The Challenge: Vendettas, and, admittedly, it wasn’t her proudest moment. The elimination challenge took a disastrous turn for Marie, who struggled to free herself from the basket before getting to work on the puzzle, and was accused of just”giving up.” However, she tells HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY that there’s a lot we didn’t see. For one, her shoelace got tied into the basket, making her escape that much harder. “Someone finally screamed, ‘Marie! You don’t want to go out like this!’ And that’s when I snapped out of it,” she explains. “The last thing I need is to be rolled out of there in a basket! I actually came fairly close to beating Kailah in that puzzle. Looking back, could I have tried harder? One million percent. But these challenges are like life in general — you do something and hope you learn from your mistakes.”
Plus, before the challenge, Marie was involved in a MAJOR blowup in the house that didn’t air on the show. It all stemmed from her telling the Troika she wanted them to vote Kayleigh in to go against her, which they shot down quickly. In an attempt to smooth things over with Kayleigh, Marie says she filled the rookie in on her request, which led to drama in the house, and ultimately, took a toll on her in the elimination challenge. “I fought the entire house except for Kailah in the kitchen,” Marie explains. “So, while this is a very physical game, it’s also a mental game. Even if you have the physical attributes you need to be a champion, if you’re not there mentally, it’s not going to work. I went into the challenge being like…well, Kailah’s my girl anyway and she really tried for this stuff, and if she goes out, then I’m out next anyway.”
Have you forgiven Kam for voting you in and can you see where she was coming from now? The second we got back into the house, I think they show a scene where it’s me, Kailah and her in the bathroom — we had a pow wow. I was like…Kam I get it. I know why you did it. It makes sense. I couldn’t be mad at her. Obviously, I was mad in the moment, but I’m pretty sure I was mad at everyone. It wasn’t me being mad at people, it was just me being mad. We talked about it right after.
Was there anything that surprised you when you watched back? Yes! A lot of things. The first would be that during the underwater challenge, I actually created the teams. There was a reason Brad was on the worst team possible. That’s the only time this season they didn’t show the Troika making the teams, but it was my big moment! Finally, I do something, whether it was smart or shady or whatever. They took that away from me! The second thing was all the stuff with Britni — I had no idea that her and I even had beef. So to see her in the confessionals saying that we have issues, I was really surprised.
Where do you stand with your vendetta, Cara Maria, now? Me and Cara don’t talk. We’re definitely not besties and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t follow me on social media. I don’t follow her back. But I have to say…lately, the trolls and people who make mean comments on social media have really taken a toll on me so I did a little self reflection. Cara’s a great competitor. No one can ever take that away from her. She’s not a mean person. Even though we obviously don’t get along, it doesn’t mean I don’t think she’s a good person. But at the moment, we’re not besties, but I don’t have any issues with her.
Was it hard to get acclimated to being on ‘The Challenge’ again after taking some time off? Oh 100 percent. I think it plays a lot into your game. Even if you’ve done these shows in the past, when you come back after a couple of years, it’s almost like you’re a rookie again. So many relationships have formed in the meantime, and in the majority of these games, your actual, real-life relationships outside the show play a huge role.
Would you return to the show in the future? That’s to be determined, to be quite honest. It really kind of has to do with my own mental state — I’ve been really losing my mind with these trolls with zero followers. So if I can get a hold on that, I’ll be open to another one. Especially because I don’t want my last challenge to be in a basket!
HollywoodLifers, were you surprised by Marie’s elimination? Who do you think will win?