Wes Bergmann via Instagram Wes Bergmann
Long time veteran competitor of MTV’s The Challenge, Weston Bergmann, is crushing thus far on Season 33, War of the Worlds. Not only did he rid the game of both Johnny Bananas and Chris “CT” Tamburello early on, he established an alliance with Hunter of Team Young Bucks, ensuring himself a strong ally throughout the cycle. While Wes’s physical strength is formidable, it’s his tricky wheeling and dealings outside the actual competition challenges that keeps his game in motion.
While the 34-year-old from Leawood, Kansas made his reality TV debut as a cast member of The Real World: Austin in 2005, and was most recently featured in MTV’s Challenge spin-off series, Champs vs. The Stars in 2018, the last time Wes competed on the original format of the competition show was in 2016 with Rivals III. Unlike other competitors, The Challenge for Wes is merely a fun hobby, not a means of financial survival.
Wes is a $500,000 Business Man
Returning to school after his stint on The Real World, Wes graduated Magna Cum Laude from Arizona State University in 2008, and has worked as a successful angel investor since 2009. He co-founded the business incubator, BetaBlox in 2012, which is commonly referred to as the “Shark Tank of Kansas City.” The company has since expanded its program to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and according to Celebrity Net Worth, he’s worth $500, 000.
Going back to The Challenge, “It wasn’t the best thing for me to do, professionally speaking, but it’s the coolest hobby in the world,” Wes said of continuing to compete on The Challenge. “I think I would feel remiss if I’m sitting on a rocking chair one day and look back and think… Wow, I didn’t do this because I couldn’t find a way to make it work with my job. I want to do it all and maybe I can.”
After being a series regular on all the Real World/Road World challenge seres, Wes explained his three year hiatus from the MTV series to Hollywood Life.“It’s just that it needed to fit with my schedule,” he said. “[War of the Worlds] was the one that gave me the longest heads up. Before, they were really not calling with much notice, which isn’t their fault, it’s just how it worked out. This one had a much longer warning period and gave me time to prep my company before I left.”
He Married Longtime Girlfriend Ashley Hornick
While the “company” Wes is referring to is BetaBlox, he’s also taking into consideration this company of his wife, Amanda Horton. He proposed to his longtime girlfriend at a Kansas City Royals game in September 2016, and the couple married on June 1, 2018 in Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and guests included his former Real World cast mates Lacey Buehler, Rachel Moyal, Nehemiah Clark, and Melinda Stolp, and perhaps merely to annoy rival Johnny Bananas, Challenge competitor Devin Walker.
Back to ‘The Challenge’ Mind Games
It’s clear Wes didn’t stop competing because he’s getting older, or due to faltering confidence in the power of his mind games. “I felt I walked in as the king, and I did my job,” he said of his prodigal return. “I did what I always did and played strategically.”
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