Someone had to be the first to go after the first Stars on Mars mission. Unfortunately, actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse was the first celebrity eliminated from the all-new FOX reality show. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with the Superbad alum about why he had “bad luck” with the first mission, which led to his elimination.
“It sucks because in my pre-show interview, I was like, I just don’t want to be the first one gone. Everybody remembers the first one gone. They don’t remember the third or fourth. Everyone remembers the first person,” Christopher said. “It was a big bummer because I do a lot of escape rooms, so I was excited to get out there and do a mission. We had two really long days before we went to go build the satellite, and we were all excited to get out there. We put our spacesuits on. They’re super heavy. Our backs are hurting. We’re wearing them for multiple hours, and they’re like, alright, you’re gonna get out there and do the mission. I was like, yes, finally. They opened the door, and then there was $20,000 worth of fake red dust blowing straight at our faces. I have chronic asthma, so it sucked.”
He continued, “I’ve had asthma attacks on movie sets before when there’s a lot of smoke and stuff. I had to stand back, and I was really scared for my health. I think that was a big reason why I got voted off. I met the writers because after you leave the habitat, you get to meet some of the producers and writers. I was like, can you tell me some of the other missions they’re doing? In the trailer for next week, they’re like rappelling down a giant cliff and shooting flame throwers. I was like, put that first. If you did that first, I’d still be here right now. I got really bad luck that that was the first one.”
When Christopher first got the call about doing the show, he was initially against it. After seeing the cast list, he realized that the reality show was “trying to do something different than what’s been done. They’re putting a lot of money into this. It’s got an escape room kind of aesthetic to it, which I really like, doing a lot of missions. I talked to my fiance and I was like, what should I do here? She’s like, take a swing. Do something new. Get out of your comfort zone. So I decided to do it. We went to Australia in the middle of the Outback. It was intense. It was hard for me to get the hang of being filmed 24/7 all the time. It’s not a world I’ve ever done before. I’m used to hiding behind a character or having my dialogue given to me and just kind of figuring it out on the day. But it was exciting and challenging. I’m glad I did it, and I was the first one gone. It hurts my ego a little bit.”
The celebrities still competing include Lance Armstrong, Ariel Winter, Ronda Rousey, Marshawn Lynch, and more. Christopher weighed in on who he thinks has what it takes to go the distance in the competition.
“Definitely Ronda. She’s got a winner’s attitude, and she’s a good leader,” Christopher told HollywoodLife. “Richard Sherman was great. Anytime someone was getting down, he was kind of pulling his Pete Carroll side out of him, who was his coach in Seattle. He was building everybody up. He’s like, you can’t say you can’t do anything, you can do everything. He was really being a good team leader. They’re both physically beautiful specimens, so they can be the leader side, and they can do the athletic side. I feel like those two have a good chance.”
Despite being the first one to be voted off, Christopher has a very busy schedule for the rest of the year. “I’m doing Trolls 3, which is super exciting,” the actor noted. “I’m trying to develop an animated show with Comedy Central right now, which is super cool. I play bass in my band, which is called Colorvision. We’re getting in the studio soon. And then I play bass for my friend whose name is Ben Kweller, who’s like a really good singer-songwriter. We’re playing shows in Denver, OKC, and Texas in early July, and then we’re doing Austin City Limits in October, so I got some good music stuff coming up.” Stars on Mars airs Mondays on FOX.