The two-time champ previews her long-awaited return in The Challenge: All Stars 2.
InThe Challengehall of fame,Jodi Weathertonsecured her spot a long time ago.
She’s never met a final she didn’t win.
MTV
She’s one of the best female players to ever compete on MTV’s long-running reality competition franchise.
But after winningThe Duelin 2007, she never came back toThe Challenge.
“I can’t believe it’s been 15 years,” she tells EW.
“And it looks like an action movie now.
It’s so cool.”
But why did she wait so long to return toThe Challengeafter winning her last season?
It turns out that wasn’t her decision.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I can’t believe we’re finally seeing you back onThe Challenge!
Why did you want to return to the franchise after all these years?
JODI WEATHERTON:It felt like the timing was right in my life.
My kids are old enough, they’re not babies anymore.
I was in between a part-time job and starting a full-time job.
It was kind of like the timing all aligned.
I can still compete.
How do you feel about making your return on theAll Starsspin-off rather than on a regular season?
Honestly, I did itbecauseit wasAll Stars.
I really thought 15 years ago that I was done doing the show.
I really wanted to start a family and use my college degree and move on with my life.
I was ready to stop doing the shows and never thought I would do one again.
And then when this opportunity rolled around, it just felt different.
It was really nostalgic for me.
So it was just exciting, the opportunity to doAll Starsvs.
doing the regular show.
Yeah, it’s changed quite a bit since you were last onThe Duel.
Were you ever invited back after that?
You have to get the call from them asking you to be on the show.
So it was good for me that that didn’t happen.
Yeah, I don’t know.
I mean, I was kind of boring on the last show.
So maybe I was just not great TV?
I just go on there and I’m like, “I want to be me.”
Maybe that’s not as exciting of television.
Well I’m certainly glad you’re back now.
How do you feel about yourChallengelegacy looking back now after 15 years away from it?
It’s exciting to look back and to tell my kids.
But it also made it a little bit nerve-wracking for me to go back, because I left winning.
And I don’t want to let anyone down, myself included, the fans, family.
The physical part of the show is the part that I love the most.
I’m like, “Let’s do it.”
I’m here for anything they want to do.
I’ll eat the gross stuff.
I’ll jump off things.
For me it was really exciting that it’s evolved in that way.
How did your time away help you improve your game going intoAll Stars 2?
I don’t know that it helped me improve my game.
I stayed in shape, sort ofnot as good as shape probably as I was back then.
Going into it, I was ready in that way.
That was probably the hardest part coming back into it for me.
Who was your biggest competition this season?
We had a lot of strong females there.
And I didn’t know who the cast was going to be until I got there.
People that I looked at as like, “Whew!”
Kendal’s in amazing shape.
There was a lot of women that were fierce and to be reckoned with.
Definitely there was a lot of competition.
What was it like reuniting with Derrick this season?
You two go way back.
It was so fun.
I mean I haven’t seen him, physically seen him, since we both were onThe Duel.
To me, Derrick is like family.
Who were you surprised to see return for this season?
The first person I saw when I got on the bus to see everybody was Tina.
But I remember being excited to see MJ, I hadn’t seen him sinceThe Gauntlet 2.
There were a lot of people that I was super-pumped to be there with.
I feel like I’m on that career path now.
Lengthwise, now that you say that I don’t know if I could ever do the full-length one.
This one wasn’t even that long and it felt long, you know what I mean?
The other ones are like three months or something, which is longer thanRoad Rulesused to be.
How long did it take to film a full season back then?
They were only like four or five weeks.
And the shortened episodes were only like 23 minutes long or something.
They were really short.
It’s like a snippet compared to now.
It’s a miracle how much they fit into those episodes.
Is there a moment from your pastChallenges that you wish you could revisit to change in any way?
We could bring our phones and we could have a camera and take photos.
The Challenge: All Stars 2premieres Thursday, Nov. 11, on Paramount+.
