The Challenges Desi compares living conditions to those on Survivor Wed 3 August 2022 21:00

CBS’ The Challenge: USA dropped in 2022 with its first-ever spin-off season and a whole host of contestants to get to know – one of which is 32-year-old Dr Desi Williams. The contestants hail from various other reality TV shows including Love Island USA, Survivor, Big Brother and more. T.J. Lavin is hosting the 2022 show which launched on July 6th at 9/8c.

Contestant Dr Desiree Williams told Reality Titbit that she was “shocked” and “honoured” to be cast for the show. We caught up with Desi in August 2022 and found out what it’s really like to take part in the CBS spin-off. Her Survivor experience certainly came in handy for The Challenge…

Dr Desi Williams is a Challenge USA contestant

The Challenge USA kicked off on July 6th and sees Melvin ‘Cinco’ Holland Jr., Kyra Green, Ben Driebergen, Shan Smith and many more familiar reality TV faces competing to win $500,000 and the chance to go on to compete in The Challenge’s first ever global tournament, per CheatSheet.

The show features three Amazing Race contestants, eight Love Island stars, nine houseguests from Big Brother and eight castaways from Survivor.

One of the former Survivor stars is Dr Desiree Williams. She competed on Survivor 35 in 2017. The winner of Survivor 35, Ben Driebergen, is also a competitor on The Challenge USA. And despite having a history of being on the same show, Desi said: “…on a show like this, you can’t trust anyone too deeply”.

Before appearing on The Challenge, Desi Williams gained a Doctorate degree in physical therapy. She was cast on Survivor season 35 and moved to LA in 2017. She now owns A + Care Home Health & Therapy which is based in LA.

Desi also released a book in 2014, Love Affair With My Hair: Why Black Women Cheat On Health, and has two Miss Virginia wins under her belt. She’s also a qualified yoga teacher.

Desi wasn’t keen on The Challenge’s living conditions

During her time on The Challenge, Dr Desi had to live with the other contestants and it turns out that living in a house of 28 people can get pretty tough. The 32-year-old spent 21 days living outside on Survivor, so she’s no stranger to alternative living conditions. Even still, The Challenge’s set-up proved difficult for her.

Desi said: “What I feel like they’ve done a really good job covering up is the living conditions. Our living conditions were not good on The Challenge. I remember literally saying in a confessional, ‘it’s giving I’d rather be on Survivor vibes’, the beds were not comfortable, the bathrooms were not clean…”.

She continued: “…So that was the hardest part…”.

Desi said that she and the rest of the cast lived in an old warehouse called ‘The Compound’ for around six weeks of filming: “…It was just like brick walls everywhere. There were no windows… So, unless we’re headed to a challenge or headed to elimination or if its an off-day, we had very little time to feel like we were in Argentina…”.

Reality Titbit has contacted The Challenge: USA for comment.

What’s next for Desi?

Reflecting on her time on The Challenge, Desi Williams said that if she was to redo her experience she might “play harder”.

She said: “…There are times when I got home from certain challenge competitions where I felt like, in my head, I probably could have gone harder. In the moment, I was so afraid of messing up… You kind of have to find a balance between going so hard that you screw up and like going hard enough to win…”.

Desi also added that she wouldn’t see those times as mistakes but as more of a learning experience: “Maybe I’ll get another opportunity to go back and play harder”.

After her time on The Challenge, Desi said that she would “love to do The Amazing Race” and that while Big Brother isn’t really for her, she would do The Challenge and Survivor again.

Follow Desi on Instagram, where she has over 18K followers, @desijwilliams.

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