The Challenge 42, aka The Challenge: Cutthroat competitor Alexis “Lete” Lete says being an unknown quantity early in the season on Paramount+ was intentional, and that she leaned into being underestimated rather than showing her hand.
Why did Lete keep her background quiet early on?
Lete previously finished as runner-up on NBC’s Season 2 of Deal or No Deal Island, a show with a much smaller audience than The Challenge‘s usual pool of Big Brother, Survivor and Love Island alums, meaning few of her castmates had actually seen her compete before. She also holds the title of Miss Indiana USA 2020 and finished third at Miss USA that year, a background that added to how little her castmates knew about her going in.
Lete said she also made a deliberate choice not to reveal her WWE background to the house, even though a few competitors already knew. “I was debating on if I was going to tell people that I was in the WWE or not,” she said during the cast’s interview with BLKCinema.com. “I knew a few people going into the house knew that. And so I wasn’t trying to play all my cards. I wasn’t trying to show everybody my skillsets. There was definitely a lot of things that I was holding close to my heart to use later on as an advantage point for me to know and people to later find out the hard way.”
She said she asked Deb Chubb, the one person she knew coming into the house, to keep quiet about her background. “Do not tell anybody shit about me, Deb, okay?” Lete recalled telling her. “And she’s like, ‘I got you, girl.’”
How does Lete feel about being underestimated?
Lete said being underestimated works to her advantage. “I love being underestimated and everything. I love proving people wrong. I love surprising people,” she said. “So honestly, coming in and having people not know much about me and not having talked to many people… it was a lot of fun coming in and having people not know much about my background.”
She also acknowledged that her physical presence, standing 6-foot-1 and athletic, works against the element of surprise. “I know that my physicalness, being 6’1″ and athletic, people look at that and they’re like, ‘What is going on here?’” she said. “So I know that’s something that I have to try to downplay maybe or maybe not seem too intimidating.”
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