‘The Challenge USA’: Xavier Prather Experienced 2 Family Deaths Before Show: ‘I Was Struggling Mentally’
Before competing in, and eventually winning Big Brother 23, Xavier Prather’s brother died, leaving behind a son the lawyer planned to help raise. In a recent interview, the reality star revealed he experienced two more deaths in his family weeks before filming The Challenge: USA.
Xavier Prather revealed two family members died before he competed in ‘The Challenge: USA’
A few months after becoming Big Brother’s first Black winner for the American franchise, Xavier Prather participated in a new competition series, The Challenge: USA. However, during the August 1 episode of the podcast Reality Rundown, Xavier admitted he nearly didn’t compete.
According to the BB23 unanimous champ, he had things going on in his personal life he wanted to focus on but accepted the call after his family supported the decision. The Wisconsin-based lawyer revealed that his cousin was murdered only two weeks before filming began for the competitive series.
A week later, he reported his grandmother had died. Xavier explained he attended her funeral only two days before flying out for the show and didn’t tell anyone except one. He admitted he “was struggling mentally” and thought about backing out, adding, “I was not doing OK.”
The reality star pointed out his absence in the show, revealing he often snuck away. During his short time on The Challenge, Xavier never opened up about the deaths, including in private confessionals, noting he didn’t want all of his storylines to revolve around playing for a recently dead family member.
Xavier was eliminated during ‘The Challenge: USA’ episode 4
The 28-year-old Michigan native joined The Challenge: USA alongside three of his former Cookout allies, Tiffany Mitchell, Azah Awasum, Kyland Young, and two BB23 alums, Derek Xiao and Alyssa Lopez.
During season 23, The Cookout secretly worked closely together with a mission of getting the American franchise’s first Black winner. To do so, they publicly paired up with someone outside of their alliance to avoid getting nominated together. It worked, and the alliance steamrolled its way to the end, where Xavier eventually won.
In the season, he betrayed Alyssa as she attached her game to his, but he never truly worked with her and Kyland by turning on at the final four. When Kyland and Alyssa won a daily mission during The Challenge: USA, they didn’t waste the opportunity to get revenge on Xavier.
The two threw him and teammate Shan Smith into elimination against David Alexander and Justine Ndiba, and the duo lost, exiting the competition during episode 4. Xavier didn’t seem happy about the decision, noting he felt Alyssa and Kyland made a personal move instead of a game move.
Xavier’s brother died shortly before he competed on ‘Big Brother 23’
Shortly before competing on Big Brother 23, Xavier’s brother died, leaving behind a son.
Near the end, the lawyer shared it as his motivation to play the game, noting he wanted to use the money to help care for his nephew. Kyland chose to team up with Xavier over Tiffany when The Cookout turned on each other and demonstrated his loyalty by saving him with the Power of Veto.
However, Xavier considered Kyland a threat and cut him at the final four, choosing to honor his deal with Derek “Big D” Frazier instead.
Before Kyland joined host Julie Chen Moonves on the stage, he brought up Xavier’s nephew, resulting in a heated argument. The Challenge USA airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on CBS.
