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The everyone-against-Cara Maria Sorbello feud that’s been brewing for the last few episodes of The Challenge: All Stars finally boiled over on Wednesday’s new episode, titled, “The Queen’s Gambit.”
While Kam Williams has accused Cara Maria of convincing everyone to play Cara’s game against their own best interests, this time, Kam managed to do just that. With the help of beau Leroy Garrett, Kam convinced everyone to help get her into the elimination so she could take Cara’s star — even including the person she’d later beat to do it, Tina Barta.
That’s right. In the “Balls Up” challenge, Kam convinced almost everyone — with Cara, Derek Chavez, Jay Starrett, and Ace Amerson as holdouts — to ensure she’d lose the game and be voted in by knocking her balls off a net with a giant plunger device. Then, she got Laurel Stucky and Nicole Zanatta, who were already on dramatically bad terms with Cara, to vote her in against Tina Barta, who wasn’t afraid of the bout.
In the arena’s game, called “Ladies and the Tramp,” Kam and Tina had to jump on trampolines to see over a precipice and memorize a puzzle layout, and Kam, who had a distinct height advantage, managed to sew it up sooner than Tina.
Afterward, TV Insider caught up with Tina Barta to find out why she went along with Kam’s plan in the first place and other inside scoop about All Stars 4.
Were you helping Kam in the mission, and did you know that they were going to try to get you chosen to go against her?
Tina Barta: She announced it first, and I was like… I didn’t get why. And Veronica [Portillo] told me. She was like, “She’s gunning for you. Dude, she’s gunning for you.” And I’m like, “Let her gun for me. I don’t give a f***… I don’t care.” I heard rumblings and then when she announced it, I was just like, “All right. Go time. All right. She wants me. What’s the endgame here?” She requested me so I was like, “Okay.”
Well, were you surprised at how confident she was? Considering you have a pretty good elimination record?
No. Everybody that goes into these, you have confidence, but sometimes you have to overcompensate that confidence. To get yourself to go through the challenge, the mission, something scary… You have to be like, “I’m invincible, f***! Screw you, I’m going to win!” So I feel like that’s why the “Killa Kam” comes out. That’s her hyping herself up, you know? So that’s how, but it is. It can be nauseating. Yeah, it can be a little much, but that’s how she answers so far. And we all have different ways.
Were you hoping that Averey Tressler would take her place?
I didn’t expect Averey to take her place. I know that Averey — if she was smart, she would have. She could have gotten a star. But that’s in retrospect. I think Averey was like, “You know what? I do not want to involve myself in this elimination against Tina.” I mean, because she knows that like there’s always a chance where it’s one-on-one, and if it’s that… Averey’s not stupid, let’s just put it that way. Averey is a very smart, strategic player. And I think that she made a smart choice… It wasn’t her time to get a star. She could have, but I think she made the right choice. I mean, I wish I would have went against her. I could have won, but to be honest with you, I don’t know if I would have won that one.
You have a history of gymnastics, isn’t that right? And did that did you feel like that was going to give you an edge in the elimination?
Absolutely. Absolutely. I’m used to trampolines. However, I have had an ACL injury a couple years ago. So my knee, I’m still insecure with it. I’m still insecure with that knee. So when I feel that [motions a twist]… And I also about pooped my pants on that trampoline, I’m not gonna lie.
Well, could you even see over it? It seemed like it was really tall.
I could not see over it at all.
It seems a little unfair. The height disadvantage.
You know, like there’s always… Yeah. She also has more weight. So like, when if you think about a trampoline, so if you have more weight you’re able to bounce higher — to have an equal and opposite reaction. So when we were doing it, I knew my limitations in that elimination.
Going back to the beginning, what was your initial reaction when you found out you’re gonna get to be on a season with Rachel Robinson and Veronica again?
Screamed. Do you want me to reenact it for you? Well, I can definitely do it because you’re reminding me! I was ecstatic. These are two girls that I had a blast doing it back in the day. We had a strong alliance. We stayed friends outside of it. And once we got into the house, it was like we picked up where we left off. It was crazy. It was. I mean, we just turned into 20-year-olds again. It was fun. It was fuuuun.
No, did you bring anybody else into that alliance? Or was it just you three, the core three?
When it comes to the core three, we know that we will always be loyal to each other. I will always be loyal to them. I don’t know what goes on in their mind. They probably play the game very differently than me because they’ve won. But, you know, if they keep me around, they know I’m gonna want to keep them around.
I was gonna say it seemed like you guys might have developed a close relationship with Ayanna Pressley… Did you have like reaction to what was going on with her at the time?
Yeah. Yeah. Ayanna is a very, very passionate person, and she fights just as hard as they do. And she’s doing the same moves that they do. So that’s why I think that the hypocrisy can get to be like, “Really?!” And because I am like that, because I can talk reason maybe? They’re like “Okay, let’s…” They don’t want to hear what I have to say. They don’t want to hear my reasoning if what they’re doing is unreasonable.
Were you in on it when Rachel decided to move the star to Veronica to avoid like, clashing with Cara?
Yes.
So you knew that was coming?
Yeah… She talked to me about it. We talked about it. I was standing up there, and I was like, “To be honest with you, Rachel. I don’t want that star. That thing is a hot potato. Get it out of my hands. Get it out. Get it out. I don’t care!” Veronica’s better up the political game. I felt like that star would be safer in her hands. And if we had to go against each other, it would be back in my hands. It would be kind of like a round-robin thing. But we have to protect that one star that the three of us have. We could try to get more but no less than one, no less.
So you didn’t have any feelings like maybe you wished she didn’t make a deal with Cara Maria?
… That could have made the final, but you got to do what you got to do in these games. And at first, yeah, I was like, “I can’t believe this is happening.” But then Rachel told me all about it. She was very honest with me about it. And then I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna give Cara Maria a chance,” and I’m glad I did. Because she was a pleasure to compete with. She’s a badass competitor. I’m not intimidated by her. I actually love her pushing — how she’s so good and she can push me. That’s why I love Rachel. I love strong women that are like the face of adversity, and they’re gonna push through it. That’s what I admire. And I saw that in Cara, and I just, I was like, “Okay, this chick is — she’s a tough one.” I identify a lot with her and how people treat her.
So far, Cara Maria is like a lightning rod for a lot of people in the show right now…
Her whole show career, I would have to say. And you know what? Maybe that’s warranted. She hasn’t screwed me over yet. So yes, I am going to defend her. ‘Til she screws me over, Cara!
Oh, let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
I hope that doesn’t happen, too. That would be devastating. That’d be a problem.
What’s going on with you and Flora Alekseyeun, though? It just seems like that feud just never ends. What’s going on with that?
Well, I feel like it’s she’s just coming at me. And I feel like mine is more in defense. I feel like I have to say something. Because I think in the last 20 years, I haven’t said anything, really? And I just let them go off… I would let Beth go off and say whatever she wants. When entering into the community, I realized how much of her poison was spread, so to say. Or her word, the credibility of her word. So it kind of set everybody up. It set me up in an uphill climb as far as socially because nobody trusts me.
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Well, speaking of someone that’s a blast from the past, you were paired with Kefla Hare twice, and in both cases, y’all got injured… Were you guys each other’s kryptonite?
Ah, no. To be honest with you, I remember watching Kefla on his Road Rules, and I don’t even watch. I remember watching it back in the day, and I remember always liking him. So if I did have a bucket list of challengers that I would love [to work with]. I think I remember like 20 years ago saying, “I remember Kefla!” And I don’t remember anything. Meeting him again, I was like, “Okay, my feelings were right. My intuition was right!” I absolutely adore competing with him. Maybe we are kryptonite together. But I’m fine taking on that kryptonite because I had a damn good time. He was an awesome partner. I wouldn’t have changed him. I chose him. Yeah, he was injured. But you know what? I had a fun time. He’s a good person. He’s a great person. I mean, I learned so much from just partnering up from him with him.
Going back to the elimination for a little bit, one of the reasons that Kam wanted to go the elimination so much was to target Cara Maria’s star. Do you know who you would have chosen if you had one whose star you would have taken?
It would be between Averey and Nicole, and I am driving them nuts by telling them I won’t tell them who I would choose. And I keep messing with both of them going back and forth. I will say that I won’t take Veronica’s star!
That seems like a given! You said something about a bucket list. I’m curious.. You’ve come back for three of the All Stars now. Is there anyone that you’re really hoping they get on there next?
No. It was Veronica and Rachel, that was my only goal. So now I feel like that’s a check. I want to do another set with them because I feel like, I just want to do this game with friends. I want to have a fun time doing this, and I want to go and not deal with stupid stuff. I just want to go and have fun and people be themselves and compete.
That kind of leads into my next question, which is, on the contrary, is there anyone if you saw a list and it was like this person’s going on, you’d be like, “I’m not going?”
Yeah.
You care to share who?
Beth. But I’ll work with her. I won’t say like, “Me or her,” but she can have it if she wants it. I’m perfectly fine stepping back. If she wants it that bad, if Flora wants it that bad, take it.
You said you’d like to come back again. This season, you had a really good strategy and a really good starting alliance. Is there anything you would change during your next appearance on The Challenge?
The whole like using a burn vote backfired. And so I wouldn’t use the burn vote. I don’t like it. I tried it in this season, and it did more harm than good.
You mentioned on Twitter you would be interested in joining The Amazing Race. Is there any other show out there — because right now we’re seeing this resurgence of reality competition shows like The Traitors and House of Villains that Challenge stars have been on — have any of those sparked your interest?
Yeah, I mean, I’ll go and try anything because maybe that’s just my adventurous spirit. And that’s where I can be a bit of a nimrod, where it’s like, “Tina, don’t do it.” “Oh, I don’t care, I’m gonna go do it. I’m gonna go jump off that building or whatever!” I am an adrenaline junkie, and I might like regret my decision midway. I’m open to anything, dude. I’m open to adventure. I’m open to like, I’ll try. I’ll give it the old good old college try. We’ll see how it goes. I might burn up and like go out with a blaze of glory probably, which I could probably bet on.
The Challenge: All Stars, Wednesdays, Paramount+