It was early heartbreak for the trash-talking Love Island duo Cely Vasquez and Javonny Vega on the premiere of The Challenge: USA, as they were unable to out-untie the Big Brother pair Kyland Young and Azah Awasum in the elimination challenge. With Survivor and Big Brother alliances controlling the game from the onset, Cely and Javonny found themselves as one of the teams on the chopping block after Tyson Apostol and Angela Rummans won the first challenge.
Cely and Javonny were in good spirits about being first boots, though they lamented how much time they put into getting in tip top shape only for their game to crumble immediately. In a conversation with Screen Rant, they reveal if they were strategizing as hard as Amazing Race cast member James Wallington and what parts of their game they felt were the strongest.
Finally, Cely spills the details on a kiss that almost took place between her and another contestant on the night the cast went out for drinks. After all, she and Javonny came from Love Island and they weren't afraid to flirt their way to the top if necessary.
Screen Rant: It's never easy being the first ones eliminated. What were the feelings watching it back last night?
Cely Vasquez: I'm so happy. We looked so good on camera. I said we're still hot.
Javonny Vega: Love Island, we made it look lit. I'm glad we were able to leave with a bang, but I wish we were able to stay more.
Cely: It was short and sweet, but definitely sweet. I'm happy I left with Javonny and we didn't look like idiots out there.
It would have been nice to have seen more from you both when it came to the social politicking that was needed to convince Tyson and Angela to keep you around. Were you involved in those conversations as much as James was?
Cely: Absolutely not. That man was getting after it and one thing about me, I said I'm not gonna beg, so I knew what I signed up for and it's The Challenge and I'm not going to be out here begging them to throw me in because at some point everyone is going to have to go in and my thought process was if we go in and we win, that's money in our bank and we're chillin', and it's a chance to prove that we're meant to be here because everyone was hating on Love Island. It just sucks that it didn't work out in our favor but we were out there working so freakin' hard.
Javonny: I swear, but yeah I wasn't going to kiss ass either so we were ready to go to war. We were ready to do what we needed to do.
Cely: If we would've won, me and Javonny would have never stopped talking sh*t.
Javonny: I would've been talking sh*t all day.
Honestly, that's a good approach. If you'd won, you would've had more money in the bank. Did you expect everyone to be going after the Love Island cast going in or was that a surprise.
Javonny: Honestly, it wasn't a surprise because everybody was going to come after everybody. Me, I wanted to get rid of the Survivor people because they've already done these types of games. They were on the island isolated for more than a month, so they already had a mentality to come in to win and they were older than us. Everybody there was in their 30s. The whole Survivor crew was 40 years old, so they were old heads, so I was like, damn we've gotta get them out of here first. I was already telling Cinco and James. But anybody was going to come after anybody regardless.
Cely: Going into it, I was like, we can either be the goats, where they say, 'Keep Love Island in so we can beat them in the finale,' but then I think after the first Challenge where we all did our thing and we did so well, then they peeped that we are competition, so then I was like, 'Yeah they're coming after us, for sure.'
Javonny: It just sucks because I thought it was going to be a voting system. We had the numbers if it was going to be a vote. Cely would've been safe, I would've been safe because we had strong numbers compared to anybody else so I thought it would've been a voting system, but I guess the winners voted so that kind of like f**ked us.
How close was that elimination challenge? It looked like you had a little while to go.
Javonny: We were far. Like from here to Hong Kong.
Cely: HAHA here to Hong Kong. It didn't start off that way though! I feel like there was a moment where we looked over and we were like, we could literally win this, and then in the middle of it, they just took the freaking lead.
Javonny: They figured it out.
Cely: We made one wrong move, I think, and then it just f**ed us for the rest of the f***ing time.
Was that first challenge as easy as everyone made it seem? Only one team didn't get the math right. Or was it harder than it looked?
Javonny: That first challenge, when Kyland and Azah made that one error, everybody knew let's take our time and maybe not go fast and make that error. Off one mistake, people learn off other people's mistakes. Those 22 flights of stairs, the way Azah came back down, she damn near almost passed out and died, so that wasn't going to be me and Cely for a fact. We were not trying to do that.
Cely: We were like, 'We are not going back up.' It was helpful to see Azah and Kyland go first because everyone at that point was like, 'Alright' and seeing Kyra and Cashel take their time, we were like that's what we need to do.
We heard Kyland talk about how much he worked out before he got out on the show. Did you prepare hard as well?
Cely: Yes! And that's why I was so mad I went home first. I trained for months.
Javonny: I was running like 25 miles a week, working out, I put on weight for this show!
Cely: Justine and I were laughing about this yesterday because Justine and I trained together for months and she was like, 'B*tch you ran up that five-mile hill for nothing. And you were beating me, too.'
At least you got in better shape. You got yourself looking better. Feeling better. It's not all negative.
Cely: Period. Snatched.
Cely, I know you and Justine are best friends. If you had a chance to partner with someone else in the game besides Javonny long-term, who would it be?
Cely: Honestly, I love everyone in there, but I love Derek, James, Domenick, Enzo. Those are people I think I would have definitely gravitated towards in the game, if I would've stayed.
Javonny: If I wasn't with Celybird, I would have went with Angela, Sarah, Justine or even Cash! Or Shannon! Or Shan! Anybody who would've been ready to talk sh*t with me.
What skills were you able to take from Love Island that helped you on The Challenge?
Cely: I tried to kiss Enzo on that one night out. I said, 'I'm on the wrong show, clearly.'
Javonny: Enzo was so pumped. Enzo was like, 'Yeah man, I'm 'bout to grab one of those Love Island girls tonight.'
Cely: He was so scared. I literally went up to him and was like, 'Kiss me' and he freaked out.
Javonny: Enzo was so scared to kiss Cely man it was crazy.
Who are you rooting for to win and who are you expecting will win, assuming you don't know the result?
Javonny: I want Cash and Justine to win.
Cely: PERIOD! I'm expecting and I want Justine to win and I believe that she's going to get my revenge for me and she's going to go crazy and she's going to win the whole thing.
The Challenge airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST on CBS.
This interview has been edited for clarity.