Josh Martinez breaks down The Challenge: Spies, Lies and Allies fight with Fessy: 'It's really bad'
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All season long on The Challenge: Spies, Lies and Allies, Josh Martinez has shown major growth in terms of learning from his past mistakes. The Big Brother winner is on his fifth season of The Challenge, but so far he hasn't made it to a final and is 1-4 in his elimination record — not great. But by teaming up with his former nemesis Devin Walker this season, attempting to keep the peace in the shaky veteran alliance, and keeping his own emotions in check, Martinez has been working overtime to play his best season yet… if only his fellow alliance member Fessy Shafaat could follow his lead.
After Shafaat took a shot at Martinez's partner Amber Borzotra by blindsiding her and throwing her into an elimination, breaking the Big Brother alliance and the veteran alliance in one fell swoop, a confrontation between the two friends was inevitable. And it finally came in this week's hour when Shafaat, Borzotra, and Martinez had a screaming match in the house that ended on a cliffhanger when Shafaat got physical and pushed Martinez in the face.
"I'm so anxious for this episode to air, if I'm being honest," Martinez tells EW with a laugh. "My anxiety is killing me."
Below, Martinez breaks down what happened in that fight with Shafaat, what the consequences of it turning physical will be, whether it changed his opinions on his so-called alliance members' loyalty, and more.
MTV Things get heated on 'The Challenge: Spies, Lies and Allies'
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Did you know this whole situation with Fessy was going to escalate the way that it did?
JOSH MARTINEZ: No, I had no idea. What people don't see is that after that night that Fessy blindsided Amber, me and Kaycee had that conversation that you guys saw in the kitchen and then we didn't talk anymore, so the tension was building up. And everybody in the house knew that. We were avoiding each other at all costs. We didn't have one conversation. We didn't even look at each other — he would be in the kitchen and I would walk around to not even be next to him. It was so bad. He's one of my good friends, so to be in the game and have that bad blood with him, I was hoping that it wouldn't turn into the madness that it did, but at that point it was just such a buildup between both of us that it just exploded.
How long had it been between Fessy blindsiding Amber and this big fight happening?
It was probably like four or five days where we weren't talking at all. I think if we would have had a conversation and put everything aside or just like vented out to each other how we felt, that blowup wouldn't have happened. But at that point the drinks were flowing, the tension was so high between him and Amber, they were screaming at each other, and I got defensive and I just snapped. I lost it. I mean, I don't even remember what was said. I definitely let my emotions and my temper get the best of me sometimes, and it's hard for me to control it in that house. If I'm being completely honest, it's probably my worst side of me. But I was just really frustrated with how everything was going on with our alliance.
What exactly happened the night of the fight? Because you weren't even involved at the beginning, you were just minding your own business.
Yeah, that night was crazy. Fessy and Amber were also avoiding each other, but we had a few drinks in us, so I was just avoiding everything. I was like, "F‑‑‑ it, I'm going to go play pool." And Tori and Cory actually come get me and they're like, "Run in the kitchen, Fessy and Amber are arguing now!" Even then I was standing outside for a while. I was like, "I'm not going to go inside." I was trying to calm myself down. And then a switch came over me and I just saw red. I honestly blacked out and just snapped on him. But I was avoiding it! I wasn't even in the main house. People wanted to see something. People were bored, and definitely it was instigated by a lot of people. A lot of people benefited off of seeing the Big Brother alliance breaking. That's why I was trying so hard to keep us together, because we're such strong competitors, especially as a team, but people already knew that there was so much tension that all they had to do was instigate it a little bit and it was going to blow up.
Do you regret joining the fight knowing how it turned out?
It's one of my biggest regrets on the show. I regret it so much because the thing with Fess is he's actually one of my really good friends — one of my best friends, actually. It makes it even worse that I'm so close to him because of what happens after the fight. That's why we didn't think anything of it, because we're friends, we get into arguments all the time, but obviously when you're in a game for a million dollars and people benefit off of you guys having a falling-out, it just sucks that that's how it all played out.
What did you think of how Esther was coming for Amber too, especially after the connection you two formed?
Amber and Esther never really got along in the house. I never saw them having any conversations. And Esther talked to me a bit about it, how she was frustrated with Amber, so I already knew that there was tension between them. What I feel bad about is that Esther is such a loyal person, she's such a sweetheart, that she was definitely just being overprotective and loyal and looking out for Fessy, her partner. But she got in a mix where there's so much history. There's seasons between us and there's a strong friendship between all of us that she didn't really understand. But I do respect how she came to Fessy's defense. I just didn't like how it all played out with them all. I do respect what she was standing for — [laughs] besides [throwing] the drink.
MTV The drama continues on 'The Challenge: Spies, Lies and Allies'
How do you feel now seeing the way Fessy and Kaycee talked in their interviews about how they didn't think throwing in Amber was something they needed to apologize to you for?
It hasn't changed my opinion. At the end of the day, Fessy and Kaycee are like family to me. I love those two dearly, and I'm so grateful that I'm able to compete and be on this show with them. That's one of my biggest blessings, that we have such a good friendship. I will say it is a little awkward seeing the interviews and having to relive it. I had such a good season that this just sucks having to rewatch it. I just hope that it doesn't damage our friendship. I don't know how they feel about it, but we could put this behind us and just move forward. People don't even understand how hard it was. It's like I'm fighting with my brother and my sister, that's how I look at them, so it sucked.
What is your relationship with Fessy like now given everything that happened this season and everything he said in his interviews?
We're good. We're actually in New York [together]. I have massive regrets for the fight and I do feel like I definitely should have controlled myself better in that situation, because then what happens after… it sucked. But I think we're good. I'm just hoping that in future seasons this just makes our friendship stronger and he realizes that at the end of the day I'm always going to be loyal to him. But I'm not going to lie to you, it is hard and it is a little awkward having to watch it when our friendship is good.
Interesting. But has this changed your outlook on whether or how you'd work with Fessy and Kaycee moving forward?
One thousand percent. What I realized from it, during this whole falling-out, in the moment I was so frustrated and I was angry, and I definitely stand by being pissed off about the blindside. But my reaction, my emotions, my anger getting the best of me, I put so much into our alliance that for me, I just need to focus on my own game. I know that I'm always going to be loyal to Big Brother, but I think that's just going to benefit me in future seasons. And I don't know where our Big Brother alliance stands moving forward, if I'm being completely honest with you. [Laughs] We haven't even had that conversation, but I know that our friendship is solid. I just really don't know in future seasons how it's going to play out for us.
This episode ends on a cliffhanger when Fessy gets physical with you, so what can you tease about what happens next?
It's not good. It's really bad. [Laughs] In that house we know that we can't get physical and we can't touch each other or hit each other. So the fact that it went to that point? For me, he definitely crossed the line, for sure. I was screaming, and it just gets ugly. It's the start of a whole blowup. You're going to see me, Kaycee, and Fessy finally have a conversation we had to have, and you're going to see where Big Brother stands as an alliance, but also our friendship. I'm not looking forward to it.
What inspired you to change up the way you played this season in such a big way?
The reason I was being so hard on Fess and Kaycee is because I feel like for once, I was in such a good place in the game. I saw the relationships that I had and the numbers I had on my side, so I knew that I could play a stronger political, strategic game. It sucks that I had to have that falling-out with my alliance, but I think that this is probably my best season yet and I'm excited for you guys to see the rest of the season and how it plays out. I know I have it in me to be a strategic strong player, especially coming from Big Brother, but in the past it's been overshadowed by all my blowups, so I'm really happy with the way that I played the game this season. I wasn't proud of how I played in Double Agents and that I was so blinded by my anger towards Devin, and me working with Devin benefitted every single veteran [this season].
I've got to say, you keep saying you regret letting your temper get the best of you, but in this situation it seemed warranted. Fessy took a shot at your partner and alliance for no reason and to no one's benefit when you all were pretty much set up to skate through to the end.
That's where my massive frustration came from. We were so locked in, and I feel like I put in the work to make sure that this vet alliance stayed united because I know that a lot of people didn't really want to work with Fess. A lot of people wanted him gone. I know that the tension with him and Nelson was always in the back of Nelson and Cory's mind. I did all this work that wasn't shown of making sure that the vet alliance wouldn't come for Big Brother or Fessy. So then him making that move directly at our alliance, it was just like, dude, how's anybody in our veteran alliance going to trust you? Fessy is a different player; he banks more on his physical aspect of the game, whereas I'm more political and social. It wasn't a good move on his end, and he knows that now. [Laughs] But he can't take it back.
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