Fessy Defends His Elimination Against Nelson: ‘I Didn’t Play Dirty’

Fessy and Nelson

MTV Nelson Thomas and Fessy Shafaat

The Challenge world was shocked during episode four of Double Agents when Fessy Shafaat appeared to betray his ally Nelson Thomas and volunteered to go into the “Hall Brawl” elimination against him, ultimately sending his friend packing. After a few days of silence, the Total Madness finalist opened up about the decision and added more context to his move.

In an appearance on the Challenge Mania podcast, Fessy told hosts Scott Yager and Derrick Kosinski that he took offense to people saying he played dirty during the elimination. During the Hall Brawl, some fans accused Fessy of throwing dirt in Nelson’s eyes and targeting his injured hand by digging his knee into it.

After the first round ended, host TJ Lavin was heard telling Fessy to stop playing dirty. Fessy told the Challenge Mania hosts he wasn’t playing dirty and he is offended that people would think 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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Fessy Explained That He & Nelson Weren’t as Close as People Thought & He Wanted to Prove Himself in Elimination

During Fessy’s rookie season on Total Madness, it appeared that the former football player was taken under the wing of Cory Wharton and Nelson and Instagram photos posted after the season showed that the trio hung out outside of the show. However, Fessy told Scott and Derrick on the podcast that they weren’t actually as close as fans were led to believe and he and Nelson had actually had a falling out before going to film Double Agents.

He said the two fell out last summer when Nelson approached him with a business proposition that fell through and they hadn’t talked until the day before they flew to Iceland to film Double Agents. Fessy said Nelson called him and asked if they were “good” and he told Nelson they were and he had no bad feelings toward him.

However, he added, “nowhere in the first couple of weeks or the first couple of episodes did you see me and him strategizing; that’s cause we barely talked in the house because it was awkward.” He said for those doubting him, interviews posted to the Challenge Instagram page of competitors sharing who their main allies were showed Nelson listing Cory as his main ally and and Wes Bergmann, without mentioning Fessy.

The Big Brother alum also said that if he hadn’t gone in, the power couple would have sent in his friend Josh Martinez so either way he would have lost a friend in the elimination. Once he saw it was Hall Brawl, he decided that he wanted to go in and prove himself and prevent his friend Josh from possibly going home. He said, “either way my buddy’s going home and everybody thinks I’m scared of elimination, which I am not, like I’m not scared to go down and face somebody one on one.”


Fessy Dismissed Nelson’s Claims That His Dislocated Finger Prevented Him From Competing at His Best

Fessy also spoke up about Nelson’s claims that he was suffering from a dislocated finger and that he wasn’t competing at full strength. In an Instagram story, Fessy showed off a couple of his injuries and wrote: “Everyone has injuries… Next excuse.” He showed off his finger which bent sideways and a shoulder issue that hadn’t fully healed.

He also brought up the injury conversation on the Challenge Mania podcast and said, “Let’s not use that as an excuse, please, let’s not do that, let’s not go there.” Co-hosts Scott and Derrick agreed and said, “Everybody’s got injuries on the show.”

Whether fans agreed with Fessy’s move or not, the Big Brother alum has certainly made a stir in the house so far this season and time will tell what impact his move will have on the house and his game. The Challenge: Double Agents airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

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