Tyrie and Jasmine undoubtedly had the most explosive relationship this season on MTV The Challenge: Battle of the Exes. From blow out fights to subtle digs, the couple, whose fuse could light at any second, was eliminated last week in a loss to Anessa and Rachel. TheCelebrityCafe had the opportunity to talk to Tyrie to find out what went down in the Dominican Republic, and where all the hatred between he and partner Jasmine really stems from.
TheCelebrityCafe: You and Jasmine seem to have an explosive relationship, where does all of that tension derive from?
Tyrie: A lot of the tension came from Jasmine wanting to get on TV and basically publically apologize to her boyfriend for her and I hooking up this last season. That’s where it came from, straight up [laughs]. The truth of the matter is, if Jasmine had come in to the game with a better attitude and maybe didn’t want to show up and make up to her boyfriend, then Jasmine and I would have been the most boring couple in the house. I had no intentions of going there again simply because of what had happened last time, to be fair; it just wasn’t worth it at all.
TCC: Going into the show everyone is either an ex-love, ex-hookup, ex-what not, how is important is it to make that ‘relationship’ work for the time being?
T: It’s very important, to be real, I want to win. I came in with the mentality that I wanted to win this Challenge. My partner might not like me, but my partner did well last time, so I have a good partner, in good shape, I want to win! Unfortunately, life and drama decided to rear its ugly head.
TCC: What’s more important: a good social game, or being a physical powerhouse?
T: The truth of the matter is, if you are a physical powerhouse, you don’t need a good social game because you’re going to win the challenges or the eliminations. However, there’s nothing saying that having a good social game is always good because then you can probably avoid going into the elimination round to begin with. I feel like I played a much better social game this time around, contrary to what they show. There really weren’t any issues besides fighting with my partner. I think that both are equally important.
TCC: In a social respect, the last elimination was fully targeted by the power couple to get Rachel out. Knowing that, did it make it easier going into the Dome? Did it eliminate any of the pressures?
T: Going against Rachel and Anessa? No, not at all. That was literally the worst match-up I could have wanted. Simply put, if you put me and Jasmine into an elimination round with Rachel and Anessa, that completely takes away any of the chance that I could win. I don’t think there is a male there that could have beat me in that X battle game. Going against a female pair, there’s no way of knowing if they’re going to finish that game. So then, you think about the other challenge’s we’ve seen, thinking about the rubber-band challenge, and Jasmine being 85 pounds and me weighing 210 pounds, the weight differentiate would have been terrible on that also. So, that wouldn’t have been our best. This elimination, you have, yeah, it may not be fair to Tyrie, but Jasmine’s 85 pounds, so she probably should win this.
TCC: Who was your best case scenario to go into the Dome with?
T: I wanted to go in there with Abram and Cara Maria. I made that very clear to the power couple that I wanted Abram and Cara Maria because at least that other option would have been there. I don’t think Jasmine would have lost to Cara Maria, and this is no disrespect to Abram, I have the most profound respect for Abram, I think he is a hell of a competitor, but in a game where I get to use my size, strength and new found endurance against you in a place where I can overpower you, no matter what as much as a fight that’s in you, you’re 160-170 pounds, I’m 210 sooner or later I’m gonna win that. There wasn’t a guy there I couldn’t have beat. But, you put me in there against the female pair, it eliminates that completely. What can I say, I’ll work on my jumps some more…
TCC: At the end, in the separate exit interviews, you had said that this had put your relationship with Jasmine back on the right track to being friends again and that she had your back when it was time. However, Jasmine on the other hand, turns around and says that working with Tyrie is horrible that you “suck the life out” her. How are things between the two of you now?
T: I haven’t spoken to Jasmine. In regards to that last interview, I believe it’s a ‘don’t believe everything you hear.’ The fact of the matter is, a lot of me trying to be nice in that last interview was because of how badly our first fight was. People don’t realize, in that first fight was 20 minutes long of me being blatantly disrespectful, and being honest, being completely honest, but being blatantly disrespectful to her. What you guys saw, was nothing. It was nothing and I mean that. A lot of that last interview was me, because she didn’t want to accept my apology when I tried to apologize to her, I think she thought it was forced or whatever, Jasmine decided to literally just be a bitch to me the entire time. And honestly, she went in there with the mentality of ‘I’m going to be a bitch to my partner because I need to cover up what I did.’ It was very obvious what her game plan was and I just wish she would have come in with a better attitude than she did. As for me and her being cool, as I said, I wanted this to be a sort of water underneath the bridge, because you shouldn’t be on TV screaming and hollering at anybody no matter what. I guess the way that it was shown, it was like I didn’t acknowledge, or, I just thought let’s be friends. The fact of the matter is, I said I don’t think we’re cool, and I doubt I would be friends with her again. That is kind of what was shown, but hey, that’s the magic of reality TV.
This was my favorite Challenge because I left in better terms with a lot of people, and I kind of wish they would have shown that and not made it look like I just argued with everybody again. Before Rivals I guess I didn’t take the challenges as serious as I should have. I guess I have a taste of that, I really want to win. If there’s another opportunity, understand that I’m coming for the final go!