‘The Challenge: All Stars’ Season 2: Melinda Collins Reveals the Heartbreaking Reason She Turned Down Season 1
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
- The Challenge: All Stars season 2 star Melinda Collins reveals why she turned down season 1.
- The Real World: Austin alum hopes to help others by opening up about her struggles.
- Collins reveals the hardest thing about competing in season 2 of All Stars.
The Challenge: All Stars season 1 cast didn’t feature Melinda Collins, but she will be part of season 2. The Real World alum says she was interested in competing in the first All Stars season. But she ultimately had to turn down the opportunity for a heartbreaking reason.
‘The Challenge: All Stars’ cast member says she used to doubt herself
Collins made her reality TV debut at the age of 21 on Real Word: Austin before she started competing on The Challenge. It’s been nearly a decade since her last appearance in Battle of the Seasons, and she admits that she used to doubt herself.
“Back in the day when I would do the Challenges, I feel like I kind of doubted myself and what my capabilities were and I went home to some very, very strong competitors,” Collins told US Weekly. “My elimination record is, you know, 0 and 4. I didn’t really show people that I am a competitor and that there is an athletic side to me.”
Melinda Collins admits she was nervous competing on ‘All Stars’
Collins says she went into season 2 of All Stars wanting to prove to herself that she’s a good competitor. But she admits she was nervous going up against such tough competition.
“So it was a lot of that, like, nerves, because it’s like, ‘Oh, will you be able to hold up against these people who’ve done these and people who’ve won?’” Collins wondered. “I was nervous about that. [I was] anxious and excited about seeing people I haven’t seen in a long time and just kind of being a part of this again. So [I felt] all of the feelings.”
There was a heartbreaking reason she turned down season 1 of ‘The Challenge: All Stars’
Collins says that before the first season of All Stars, Mark Long “put some feelers out” and messaged her about competing. At the time, she told Long she was interested. But when MTV started calling about casting her in season 1, Collins discovered she was pregnant and had to turn them down. But then, she ended up losing the pregnancy.
“It’s so crazy because I lost my daughter when I was five months pregnant,” Collins revealed.
She says that about three weeks after the tragedy, one of The Challenge talent coordinators contacted her again about being in the season 2 cast. They said, “I know that you’re really going through something, but is this something you’d be interested in doing?”
“I’ve had quite the year. So it was, like, this is the universe tapping me on the shoulder. ‘This is something you should do,’” Collins explained. “And so they contacted me, but I’ve always kind of stayed in contact with Mark too. I did some tours with him back in the good old bar tour days!”
‘The Challenge’ star hopes to help others
Collins says that sharing her story of pregnancy loss while competing on The Challenge: All Stars season 2 is “the coolest thing” because hopefully, she will help others.
“Obviously I went through something that was just devastating and hard, but there’s a lot of people who go through it and do it alone,” she said. “So I hope that through my journey that I’m able to help some people that way too.”
Melinda Collins reveals the hardest thing about competing in season 2 of ‘All Stars’
Collins says that for her, the hardest thing about competing in The Challenge: All Stars season 2 was leaving her 23-month-old son, Camden, she shares with her husband Matt Collins. But, she “knew he was in good hands.”
“I had always said, ‘Never say never.’ I just thought, like, being a mom, that it wasn’t something that I was going to ever do again,” Collins shared. “So I’m a mama and it’s, like, the coolest thing I’ve ever done. I just absolutely adore my son, Camden.”
Season 2 of The Challenge: All Stars premieres Thursday, Nov. 11 on Paramount+.
