Brad Fiorenza Breaks Down ‘The Challenge’ Loss to Keanu Soto, Sends Message to Johnny Bananas (Exclusive)

Team Blue has had a remarkably bad run on The Challenge Season 42 so far. Not one, not two, but all three of the eliminations so far in Cutthroat have been from this decidedly underdog team. The latest? Brad Fiorenza, who is essentially an OG veteran at this point in the series after making his start in Battle of the Sexes 2 over two decades ago.

Though Brad has had several heartbreaking moments in recent seasons of The Challenge — including actual heartbreak contributing to his All Stars 4 ouster — he’s still considered one to watch thanks to his strength, determination, know-how, and experience. Coming into the season, Brad told TV Insider that the fact that this season was themed Cutthroat gave him some confidence, since that was the same subtitle for the season he won back in 2010… but stepping into the house was a major reality check right away.

“Cutthroat was the first season and only season that I’ve ever won, and I was excited to see the team concept come back with the big check. I’ve been wanting to see that for years. I was just hoping to see how the teams would react to the bigger prize money. And there’s no shortage of drama usually when you have teams,” he said. “What I will say is I felt like I showed up to a completely different game. I watched [Season] 41. I really did like feel excited to meet a lot of the new players, but when I saw how many new players there were, I was surprised… Usually. I show up, and I have a ballpark idea of how things will kind of trickle down and unfold with votes. I had no idea, so I just had to keep an open mind and try to build as many new relationships as I could, while still keeping the relationships that I had, which wasn’t a whole lot, to be honest, compared to what I was used to. So it was definitely a lot different than the past, but there was something exciting about hearing that it was going to be Cutthroat.”

On Wednesday’s (August 12) new episode, fans got to see exactly why Brad wasn’t so hot on the format. After Team Blue suffered yet another loss in the daily challenge, which was a quick “Boat Swap” game, Team Orange’s captains, Johnny Bananas and Deb Chubb, elected to throw Brad into the arena alongside Big Brother alum Keanu Soto. Bananas claimed that he expected Brad to take the rookie out when he saw the battle was “Winning Numbers,” with the two players having to race up a vertical board to tape the called-out number first over 12 rounds. However, Keanu put his football skills to work and body-blocked Brad at every turn, ultimately sending the one-time champ home.

To break down where it all went wrong and what’s next, TV Insider caught up with Brad Fiorenza.

Hey, Brad. How are you? We’ve got to stop meeting like this.

Brad Fiorenza: Yes. No, I’m with you. This was a tough one. The soonest I’ve ever gone home.

Yeah, but you were on a bad foot from the start, though, because Blue Team was targeted from the very beginning. If you could have chosen a different team, who do you think you would have liked to be on a team with?

Oh, it’s a tough call. The most familiar team to me would have been Team Orange. I just said in a prior interview that Orange probably would have been my first choice. Now that I’m answering this question for the second time, I might actually switch to Grey, and here’s why: Sydney [Segal]. Sydney’s one of my favorite new players. I feel like if I was on Grey, I still would have had the relationships with the Orange Team where I probably could have worked more with them. Yeah, it was pretty clear from the jump that Blue Team was [under attack]. I mean, Justin [Hinsley] and Chris [Underwood] worked together so that they would have the strongest teams. I don’t think that either team was really looking at the Blue Team as competition. They were looking at us as a strategic piece to weaken the other team. And I think the benefits of being on Grey would have been the relationship that I had with Sydney. I think we could have worked together and played a good game. I feel like Chris, and I would have had a different experience this season had we been on the same team. Cory [Wharton] is a good friend of mine, so he would have been great to play with; Nurys [Mateo], I mean, even Adrienne [Naylor], she was great too. And even though I just met her, that would have been a great team. I think I’m going to pick Grey with this.

But the Blue Team had a rough run. I mean, right out the gate, we felt the disappointment of Anna Leigh [Wilson] after Justin, and Chris squeezed her out on the whole picking teams, and that was felt throughout the team. And I’m not saying that was her fault. It was just a series of events that took place, a twist in the game that kind of threw a massive wrench in right out the gate, and it was a difficult path for sure for all of us.

You said at the start of the season that you had something to prove. What was that? And do you think there’s anything that you ended up proving?

Not the way I wanted to. I will say this, Amanda. I had a lot to prove to myself. I had trained hard before this season. I was trying to put on as much weight as possible to show up ready for a hall brawl or any kind of physical combat I could be put into. However, I also had to work on cardio and making sure that I was able to run five miles just before this season. I thought that was pretty good. Apparently, it’s not. I’m going to tell you, these new threats and some of these rookies [are fast]. For example, Sydney can run six-minute miles almost indefinitely. So, to see how they could all run on that first challenge when we ran down the rooftop, 40 floors of stairs, and then miles through the city, I was kind of shocked, where it felt like a new game, and at that point, I knew I had my work cut out for me.

Jonne Roriz / Paramount+

You said you had friends on the Orange team. I’m assuming Johnny Bananas is one of them…. What do you think was his logic in choosing you? And is there any grudge for that? 

Well, not like a personal grudge. I will say, I understand his gameplay. I didn’t realize that Josh [Goldstein] and him had hung out as much as they were hanging out in Florida because Johnny moved to Florida, so I didn’t understand how much of a history they had together. However, even though I understand his gameplay, note taken. If I get put in a similar situation, then this is the data that I have to go off of when I have to make a decision. So it’s nothing personal, but at this point, it’s part of my notes for future gameplay.

So you’ve been doing this 20 years, but you’re not slowing down anytime soon. We’re not pulling a Wes Bergmann.

No, I have no plans of it — I will say, unless my career path changed to where I could no longer do the show, that would be the biggest factor. I was working as a land agent for a large oil company before Season 42, and they laid off our entire department a couple of months before the contracts went out. So it was perfect timing for me to have the opportunity to come on 42, but you never know what the future holds. I will always have a soft spot for this show. I mean, if I get the call, it’s like I feel the urge to show up. So I can only hope that whatever’s supposed to work out from here goes that way. I would love to do another season, but at the same time, my career path has a lot to do with it. You know?

Yeah, I suddenly have the urge to ask for all of your opinions on Landman, but we don’t have time for that.

I love that show.

I know they put you in, but did you feel like Johnny and the other veterans were still rooting for you in the arena, or do you think they secretly were pulling for Keanu?

No, I believe them. I think they did want [me to win]. Keanu was a force to be reckoned with on that great team. So had I sent him home, their objective to weaken the Grey Team would have came through. However, yeah, I mean, I believe they did want me to win that, but I did my best, and I couldn’t, honestly, and it’s not a good place to be. And eliminations are super dicey. When I saw there was climbing, I’m thinking in my head, “This is a lock. We’re winning this. There’s no other options.” And then it got that physical, and I was like, “Damn, was this in the rules? I don’t even know what game we’re playing.” Yeah, he ran me off the entire playing field into the behind-the-scenes portion of it. I was like, “Holy smokes! … What game is this? And what’ll happen next?” I just tried the best I could. I was outsized. Keanu’s probably got it with 60 pounds of muscle on me. Plus, he’s super fast, so he’s definitely a force to be reckoned with.

This was Keanu’s first season. A lot of Big Brother fans were big fans of him, and he became America’s favorite on that show… What did it mean to you that, during this, he showed you the respect that he did, saying it was an honor to go to the arena with you and things like that?

It was reciprocal both ways. To be honest, it was great to hear him say that because after taking an L, to hear his appreciation, all I can say is the feeling’s mutual. He pushed me to my absolute limits, and I can only hope that I did the same to him, and through any of those experiences, you build respect for the other person, and this was nothing short of that. Very respectful player, very competitive, very athletic…. I thought about this: “Is there a player that you’d rather not go against?” No, I mean, the hardest player to beat in the game has historically been C.T. [Tamburello]. I think I’d rather go against CT three times on that wall as opposed to Keanu once. So hats off to him, and I’m excited to see how he shows up, if he’s going to continue playing the game. He is definitely a force to be reckoned with. I haven’t seen his skill set as far as puzzles and being able to eat and things like that. But I’ve got a feeling he’s a good chance. He is a capable player on every level, and I’m excited to see how that plays out for him.

Your exit was very graceful, which it has been in the past as well. I know it’s hard, but have you gotten to a point in your Challenge career — I mean, we know that you won Cutthroat and you finaled a few times — but have you gotten to a point where you’re just kind of used to it and like it’s not as heartbreaking as it might have been when you were younger?

No, it’s absolutely heartbreaking, and it doesn’t get any easier. And this season, when I came in, and I said I had a lot to prove, I thought I was going to make it a lot further in the game. I was extremely disappointed. It was a tough loss to fly home with, and I’m probably still carrying a little bit of that to this day. Because just even rewatching, I didn’t even want to watch it, and then I did, and then it looked OK to me, I mean, for taking an L, but I just wanted so much more out of this season, and I didn’t get it. But I know I did my best, and there’s such an element of luck that goes into this. So it just wasn’t my season, and I can only hope that Blue Team turns it around from here.

Lastly, I know you said you’re keeping notes on Johnny Bananas, but do you have a message for him for next time you guys are together?

Well, I mean, Johnny said, “All is fair in love and The Challenge,” and, I mean, I will have to keep notes on this. I wish it would have went differently. He said that Josh was a better investment for his game; I respectfully disagree. Had he kept me out of that elimination, I would have done anything I could to help him moving forward. So, if there is a future season with all of us on it, I don’t think that’ll pay off as far as he thought it was going to, but that was his choice. I understand for gameplay. Nothing personal, but note taken for sure.

The Challenge, Wednesdays, Paramount+