‘The Challenge’: Jonna Mannion Owns up to KellyAnne Judd: ‘I’m Human’
The Challenge champ Jonna Mannion seemingly blindsided veteran KellyAnne Judd in the global spinoff World Championship by throwing her friend into elimination. Although Jonna doubles down on her choice to turn on her friend early in the game, she admitted she handled the situation poorly in a recent interview with the Challenge Mania podcast. The back-to-back winner also revealed information that didn’t make it into the episodes regarding her decision and clarified the emotional conversation she and KellyAnne had before putting her into elimination without warning.
Jonna Mannion said she preferred to work with Jodi Weatherton in ‘The Challenge: World Championship’
After sending friend KellyAnne Judd into one of the first eliminations of The Challenge: World Championship, Jonna Mannion received backlash as some fans perceived it as an unnecessary blindside.
During the episode, the two had an emotional conversation where Jonna seemingly confirmed their friendship before throwing KellyAnne in without warning.
The two-time champ has since appeared on the podcast Challenge Mania where she clarified her decision and owned up to where she went wrong. Jonna began by explaining she preferred to work with former winner Jodi Weatherton over KellyAnne because she believes she and her friend are emotional overthinkers.
Additionally, Jonna previously worked with Jodi on All Stars, as she considered the former champ one of the top female players and credits their alliance to her second victory. Therefore, she knows how Jodi plays and prefers to work with her, especially now that the other players consider Jonna a threat after back-to-back wins.
Jonna explains her decision to turn on KellyAnne Judd
The two-time champ discussed her conversation with KellyAnne and explained she wanted them to get back on the same page as she values their relationship.
Jonna clarified that she never told her friend she wouldn’t throw in her during that talk.
She then explained her decision by pointing out that others wanted her to vote KellyAnne into elimination because her friend verbalized hoping to go after threats and suggested targeting Team USA to Tori Deal, a member of that group.
Additionally, she says the episodes didn’t show her close alliance with Nia Moore, who Jonna called her “number one” ally in the game. Therefore, she opted to say KellyAnne’s name to protect Argentina, as Nia is a part of that team.
Jonna owns up to KellyAnne’s betrayal
Throughout her eight-season Challenge career, including All Stars, Jonna claimed she hadn’t received backlash from fans until she betrayed KellyAnne.
While she doesn’t regret her decision because she promised to focus on her game above relationships, the former champ is apologetic for how she handled the situation.
“I make mistakes; I’m human!” She exclaimed at one point.
Jonna went on to admit that she knows KellyAnne would have understood if she told her and regrets not clarifying why she felt pressured to throw her friend into elimination. “I failed to do so, and that’s why we’re here,” she reflected.
The Challenge: World Championship airs Wednesdays on Paramount+.
