‘The Challenge’: Wes Bergmann Pushes Back Against Narrative That He ‘Plays Too Hard’
The Challenge champ Wes Bergmann has an impressive social and physical game that’s resulted in six finals appearances and three wins throughout his 15-season career on the franchise. However, many people accuse him of “playing too hard.” Wes pushed back against that perception in a recent interview.
Wes Bergmann says he doesn’t ‘play too hard’ in ‘The Challenge’
Three-time champ Wes Bergmann has developed a reputation of “playing too hard” due to his habit of direct messaging players before the season and working the rookies and newcomers in the house.
However, he insisted that “narrative” isn’t true regarding his gameplay in spinoff The Challenge: World Championship.
Speaking to Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio in the April 2023 episode of his podcast, Death, Taxes, and Bananas, the Real World star broke down the edit portraying him playing hard in the first few days of the season.
He pointed out that the main scene featuring his gameplay included a conversation with Team Australia’s Grant Crapp and Troy Cullen about his business due to boredom.
Wes admits the narrative that he overplays frustrates him
Additionally, Wes noted another scene included a discussion with Danny McCray where he claims his point is proven as the edit also features the USA champ talking behind Wes’s back about wanting him out of the house.
Then, the former winner acknowledged the conversation between Bananas and Kaycee Clark, where they privately discussed how hard Wes is already playing the game.
The rhetoric admittedly “frustrates” the three-time champ because he noted not one scene features him having any game talk. While Wes recognized his ability to play hard, he also claimed he has a more “hands-off” strategy that he attempted to employ in the house.
Therefore, the narrative that’s pushed accusing the Kansas City native of playing too hard, especially by Kaycee, who’s a “ghost,” and Bananas, who’s previously overplayed, annoys Wes because he insists it’s not true, pointing to the lack of footage.
Wes went home in ‘The Challenge: World Championship’ episode 6
The three-time champ went to work during the first couple of days in the house as he and most of the cast figured out, knew the global MVPs would pick the legends as partners in the order they finished the qualifier. All the face time Wes put in worked as UK finalist Zara Zoffany picked him first.
He then tried to play a lowkey game and planned to continue targeting the “easy” group Team Argentina. Wes didn’t want to start targeting threats as he considered himself one and thought it would begin a dangerous pattern, putting him in the line of fire.
However, his plans fell to the wayside when he erroneously took a five-point deduction in episode 5. The three-time winner incorrectly assumed they would make it up, but they failed, automatically putting him and Zara into elimination.
The house went into a stalemate trying to figure out which team to pit them against, putting the power in Darrell Taylor and Kiki Morris’s hands. Wanting to protect Team Australia, they blindsided Ben Driebergen and Kaycee to no avail as the duo returned. Before Wes exited, he shared a nice message with the global MVPs and then announced his wife’s pregnancy with their first child after the episode aired.
The Challenge: World Championship airs Wednesdays on Paramount+.
