After serving as one of the most prominent castaways on Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X and Survivor: Game Changers, we have no doubt that Michaela Bradshaw will be a force to be reckoned with during her time on The Challenge: USA (as if she has not proven herself already).
Competing on The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies back in 2021 (and being the first contestant eliminated), Michaela is back and better than ever for the second season of The Challenge: USA, competing alongside six other Survivor veterans: Cassidy Clark, Chris Underwood, Michele Fitzgerald, Sebastian Noel, Chanelle Howell, and Desiree “Desi” Williams.
Did you see her yank The Challenge legend Tori Deal’s ponytail during episode four? It is clear that Michaela came to dominate this time around, and she is clearly not afraid to get physical.
In a video titled “Meet The Cast: Survivor” on The Challenge’s official YouTube channel, the 32-year-old perfectly sums up who she is as an individual, for those who may be unfamiliar with her past as a part of the Survivor franchise: “I’m known for being funny, being a beast in competitions, and being loyal” — we could not agree more!
To learn more about Michaela Bradshaw, we took a deep dive into her life as a whole (including her spectacular Survivor journey), and we summarized everything The Challenge: USA viewers need to know about the polarizing individual. Keep scrolling to see everything we found out…
What you should know about Michaela Bradshaw from Survivor and The Challenge: USA
Michaela Bradshaw had an extremely impressive journey on both Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X and Survivor: Game Changers, ultimately establishing her as a triple threat within the Survivor franchise: social, strategic, and physical.
In Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X, Michaela was a ride or die member of the Vanua (Millennials) tribe, with an unmatched level of loyalty and honesty that made her a widely trusted tribemate. After an infamous tribe swap, Michaela’s game unfortunately took a turn for the worse…
Two of her allies, Jay Starrett and Will Wahl, felt threatened by Michaela and her phenomenal gameplay, ultimately causing them to orchestrate a blindside against her just one day prior to the merge. Leaving tribal council furious at the betrayal of her allies, Michaela’s untimely elimination went down in history as one of the most emotional exits that the Survivor franchise has ever seen.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE post-elimination, Michaela talked about her heated exchange with Jay at her last tribal council: “This is Survivor. This is a game where you make moves and you take action. Yeah, it sucks that a move was taken against me and I got sent home. But as a competitor, I can respect his betrayal. At least he was honest about it.”
Due to her stellar gameplay the first time around Michaela (as well as Zeke Smith) was asked to compete on the following season, Survivor: Game Changers, ultimately allowing her the opportunity to show what she is truly capable of post-merge — we can assure you that she did exactly that!
Building bonds with Sandra Diaz-Twine pre-merge, as well as Cirie Fields post-merge, Michaela was able to further herself in the game this time around due to her strong relationships, lasting 15 days longer than her previous attempt. After becoming too close with Cirie, future “Sole Survivor” Sarah Lacina viewed Michaela as a threat to her game, ultimately causing her to be blindsided at the final seven (by stealing Tai Trang’s vote, as well as convincing Brad Culpepper and Troyzan Robertson to vote for Michaela).
Despite falling short both times she stepped foot on the beach, Michaela proved herself to be a well-rounded player throughout her Survivor experience, which is already starting to shine through on season 2 of The Challenge: USA.
Aside from her history on Survivor, we uncovered Michaela’s biography from when she competed on Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X, giving us some information as to who the Fort Worth, Texas native is beyond our television screen.
In her biography, Michaela described herself as an intelligent, fun, and competitive individual, with some of her favorite hobbies being traveling, eating, and cuddling. How sweet is that?
In addition to this, the outspoken individual deemed some of her biggest pet peeves to be “when incompetent people try to instruct [her], when people do things inefficiently or wrong, when [she] loses,” and more. If you have seen Michaela compete on Survivor, you can definitely see these things get on her nerves…
On a more positive note, Michaela also shared within her Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X biography who her number one inspiration is in life, her Godfather: “He was about 60 years old when I was born. He had no children of his own and was the ultimate father figure in my life. For 20 years, he has read the Bible every day. When I was younger, he took care of me, showed me what to value in a man, and raised me to tell the truth, trust in God, be confident in myself, do my best, and not fear mistakes. His influence led me to be a magna cum laude college graduate [from Texas Christian University]. The person I am is because of him.”
To close out her biography, Michaela also dished about why she has the ability to win Survivor: “I will be the ‘Sole Survivor’ because I will adapt to everything the game throws at me. My experience in sales [as a vacation club salesperson] has made me nearly immune to rejection, so things not going my way won’t take my head out of the game. Physically, I’m in great shape. Also, I’m a fairly rational thinker, so I will separate what I do in real life from what I need to do to win this game.”
While this did not work out in her favor on Survivor, we are already seeing quite a few of these qualities shine through as a contestant on The Challenge: USA.
To keep up with Michaela Bradshaw’s journey on season 2 of The Challenge: USA, tune in to CBS from 10pm to 11pm ET/PT every Thursday and 9pm to 10pm ET/PT every Sunday — our fingers are crossed that she finally gets to take home a win!