MTV The Challenge: Double Agents
One Challenge star has quickly become a polarizing figure on the show after some big moves were made in the first few episodes of the Double Agents season. Fessy Shafaat, who is now on his second season after making his debut on Total Madness, made waves during the fourth episode of this season when he volunteered to go into elimination against Nelson Thomas.
After the Challenge fandom reacted with shock to the move, with some praising his bold play and others criticizing what they called a betrayal, Fessy broke his silence about his decision. In an Instagram Q&A shared shortly before the fifth episode of the show aired, Fessy apologized to Nelson publicly and said he regretted his game move. Here is a screenshot of the exchange:
InstagramA screenshot of Fessy’s Instagram apology to Nelson
In his post, Fessy acknowledged that the move was “selfish” and came down to the Big Brother alum taking “winning too seriously” sometimes. He wrote that despite the two falling out before the season, they went on to it agreeing to look out for each other. Fessy added, “I believe we were truly going to look out for each other and for that I am sorry I did what I did.”
Fessy continued, “If I could take it back I would. The game got the best of me.” He also said, “I should [have] let the cards play out and let Josh and Nelly duke it out. I apologize for what I did to Nelson, he didn’t deserve that.” He finished the post:
I don’t apologize for going hard and believing in my abilities for a million dollars. I’m not asking for forgiveness and not writing this cause I can’t take the hate. I can certainly take the hate. It fuels me. But I’m writing this because he does in fact deserve the love he’s received.
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Nelson Said He Hasn’t Talked to Fessy Since the Elimination in Iceland Despite Fessy Reaching Out to Apologize
In an Instagram Live after the episode, Nelson revealed that he hasn’t talked to Fessy since that moment. He said Fessy reached out to him afterward to apologize and said he regretted the move but Nelson hasn’t responded.
Since the episode aired, Fessy clarified that the two competitors weren’t as close as fans were led to believe on Total Madness. In fact, Fessy said in an appearance on Challenge Mania that the two fell out last summer when Nelson approached him with a business proposition that ultimately fell through. He said they hadn’t talked until the day before they flew to Iceland for filming when Nelson called him to make sure the two were “good” on the season and Fessy said they were.
A few days after the fourth episode aired, Cory Wharton posted a photo of the three competitors together on Total Madness and wrote, “Why can’t we be friends ???? Why can’t we be friends !” He added a few snake emojis and tagged his image as “Snake Pit.”
Fessy Also Said He Didn’t Play Dirty in the Elimination Despite Others’ Claims to the Contrary
In an appearance on the Challenge Mania podcast, Fessy told hosts Scott Yager and Derrick Kosinski that he didn’t like people saying he played dirty during the elimination. Some fans of the show said Fessy had been throwing dirt in Nelson’s eyes and putting his hand in Nelson’s helmet.
Host TJ Lavin was also heard telling Fessy to not play dirty after the first round ended. On the podcast, Fessy said he wasn’t playing dirty and didn’t like hearing people say that: “That kind of rubbed me the wrong way when I heard people, you know, in their confessionals saying ‘Fes is playing dirty.’ Cause I would never do that, you know, and I wanna win no matter what but I would never play dirty. I didn’t think I played dirty.”
He added that when he watched it again he looked at the footage and said, “What was dirty? Like my hand slipped in his face mask and then I moved it right away, you know what I mean? There’s only so much you can do in there you know.”
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