Although she didn’t win the $1 million grand prize on Survivor in 2017, Desi Williams eventually ascended the throne of another CBS reality competition show β The Challenge: USA. The former Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers castaway was voted off in 11th place and around six years later, she beat out 11 other female reality stars during USA 2 and cashed a $250,000 check as a reward.
Oct. 19 marked Desi’s second attempt at conquering a Final Challenge. She originally joined CBS’s first rendition of MTV’s longtime franchise, but her game came crashing down during the first leg of the finale after her partner for the portion, two-time Big Brother contestant Enzo Palumbo, quit during the 500-meter swim.
Devastated, Desi was disqualified alongside “The Meow Meow,” but, fast forward around a year later and Desi’s Challenge experience ended on a much better note.
So, how did the 34-year-old physical therapist earn the prestigious title of Challenge Champion? Let’s take a brief look back at the doctor’s domination.
Desi survived her first and only Challenge elimination en route to a clear-cut triumph
Desi was one of only a few contestants who played on USA 1 and returned for season 2. She joined the cast of 24 reality stars, all of whom hailed from either Survivor, Big Brother, The Amazing Race, or MTV’s The Challenge.
All in all, five women who played Survivor were on USA 2, including former winner Michele Fitzgerald, Survivor 43’s Cassidy Clark, two-time player Michaela Bradshaw, and Survivor 42‘s Chanelle Howell.
USA 2 had two brackets that were separated by men and women, and each sex had $250,000 sitting on the line for the eventual winner. The season opened up with three teams of eight (Red, Blue, and Green), and Desi was selected to assemble the Green team through a schoolyard pick.
At first, the CBS reality stars turned their guns on the MTV veterans. But, after a few episodes and some elimination wins by the Challenge staples, the game switched into a war between Survivor and Big Brother.
Episode 4 brought Desi’s first true test of the season. After Red won their first Daily Challenge, MTV’s Cory Wharton, Big Brother 19’s winner Josh Martinez, and The Amazing Race 34’s Dusty Harris, tossed their votes onto Desi, which was enough for her to become acquainted with the Arena β USA 2’s elimination grounds.
Unfortunately for Desi, this round of play brought the first double elimination of the game, meaning the man and woman nominated by the winning team were guaranteed to battle in the sand. Interestingly, another player to compete in the Arena that night was Survivor: Edge of Extinction winner Chris Underwood β USA 2’s other champ.
But, unlike Chris, this was Desi’s first and only elimination of the season.
The Hopper randomly selected MTV’s Amanda Garcia to wrestle the much larger Desi in “Evil Eye.” The two reality stars collided in the sand to rip a disk out of the other’s hands to carry it out of the playing area β something they had to accomplish twice to keep their game alive.
Desi did just that and Amanda was sent packing.
After her victory, Desi chose to defect from Green β the team she built β to join the dominant Blue team by switching places with Big Brother 24’s Alyssa Snider. The move paid off for Desi as Blue went on to win the last two of three team-based Daily Challenges.
When episode 8 rolled around, USA 2 switched to an individual-based game. But at this point, Survivor still had all seven of its representatives still in the game, which boded well for Desi and her “Secret Garden” alliance, which included her, Michaela, Chanelle, and MTV’s Tori Deal.
Besides a brief slip-up in episode 11 when the three ex-Survivor castaways turned on Tori, the four women worked together to make it to the Final Challenge. Desi won one Daily Challenge as an individual, and she used the opportunity to repair her relationship with Tori while nominating Michele, who previously betrayed the Survivor alliance.
After the dust settled at the end of episode 13, host TJ Lavin announced to the final eight (four men and four women) that they qualified for the Final Challenge. With the Secret Garden still intact, the four allies duked it out for the grand prize.
First, they competed in four trials that tested different traits like strength and smarts to earn a time advantage for the final leg of the grueling Final. After the trials were completed and the cast finished an overnight stage, they found themselves standing 10 miles from a nearby summit. As expected, TJ revealed that the winner of each sex would be the first one to cross the finish line on the mountaintop.
Desi entered the final leg with a one-minute head start along with Tori and Michaela while Chanelle settled with a one-minute penalty.
And the rest was history.
Desi cruised through the three checkpoints during the 10-mile race. And because Michaela elected to skip a checkpoint and lost out on an ATV ride, Desi dominated the latter half of the Final. She was the first woman to meet TJ at the end and was officially crowned a Challenge Champion while Chanelle, Michaela, and Tori notched second, third, and fourth, respectively.