This season of The Challenge: Double Agents is just as full of excitement and drama as one would expect from the long-running competition show. While fans expect to see MTV veterans and rookies send each other home after a battle in the crater, several of this season’s contenders have gone home for medical or personal reasons. The latest is Lio Rush, whose decision to leave the competition shocked castmates and fans alike. Now, the former WWE wrestler has revealed why he decided to send himself home.
Lio Rush kept a low profile this season, not jumping to the head of the pack the way Aneesa and Fessy did the first two weeks, but not earning a target on his back for perceived weakness the way Joseph did. Since week one he was paired up with Gabby Allen of Love Island, unlike many of the other teams that have since been infiltrated and split up. But this week, Lio came clean about the negative impact the group living environment was having on his mental health. Lio revealed that when he was growing up, he spent some time in a group home, and living in The Challenge house was bringing up difficult feelings. “Simply just waking up in the morning triggers these past emotions,” he said to the camera. “I can’t help but to feel the feeling that I felt when I was younger waking up in this group home. Even though it wasn’t that long, it was something that was traumatizing.”
This week, Lio took to Instagram to explain his decision to leave the competition. In the post, he spoke to how living in the house and the pressures of the competition impacted him. “Unexpectedly I noticed that I’ve never been so vulnerable until this experience in the house. But this is what I’ve been wanting,” the post states. “I want to stand before you today as a hero. A hero to anyone out there that suffers from depression, anxiety, PTSD or any mental illness. A hero to the boys and girls who look like me.” For Lio, health, both physical and mental, comes first, and he seems to be happy with his decision to return home to his family.
In the episode, Lio said, “This was a hard decision to make but I feel in my heart, in my mind, that this is the right decision for not only myself but for my wife, for my future son,” and since then, the wrestler doesn’t regret the decision he made back in Iceland. “I didn’t walk away with a million dollars, but I walked away with something far much greater than I was expecting,” Lio said on Instagram, giving a shout out to his fellow castmates and wishing them luck for the rest of the competition.
Lio’s honesty with himself and consideration for his mental health is truly commendable and a wise decision. Any fan of The Challenge can tell you that there’s no room for self-doubt in the game, and since Lio didn’t feel like he was in the right headspace, it was a smart move to go home, be with his family, and try again next season.
Source: Lio Rush