During the finale of The Challenge: USA, several finalists, including Desi Williams, felt like they were shortchanged in the opportunity to win due to rules that were unfair and half-baked. Desi had been a dominant physical and social competitor throughout the show, winning two challenges and never being considered to be put up for elimination. She entered into the final as one of the favorites, alongside top physical threats like Angela Rummans and Sarah Lacina.
Unfortunately, Desi's time on the finale was cut short when an algorithm paired her with Enzo Palumbo for the first leg. Enzo, a noted bad swimmer, decided to quit as he glanced at a shoreline that appeared to be too far away to reach. This meant Desi's game was over too, despite the fact that she easily could have made it to shore. It was one of many rules during the finale that made little sense and caused someone to leave the game under inauspicious circumstances.
Desi told Screen Rant, “I feel like I got screwed.” She added, "It was a shi**y rule that we all thought was wrong going into it," referring to pairing up with competitors in a race to a $500,000 prize. Desi said when she was watching it back, her TV froze at the moment that she was eliminated, which she was grateful for. After Big Brother's Enzo quit, Desi became emotional, knowing that she still had much more to give.
Enzo, who said he wished there hadn't been swimming in the finals, told Screen Rant he's apologized to Desi "millions of times". He said he gave in at a moment of mental weakness and wishes he hadn't, adding, “There’s not one day that goes by that I don’t think about it.” Both Desi and Alyssa Lopez, who was the last one to lose an elimination challenge, said the amount of time taken to walk contestants through Survivor and Big Brother challenges is much more thorough than what they experienced on The Challenge: USA. Alyssa said, after watching Desi and ally Angela lose because of poor planning from production, “I feel like the ball was dropped.”
Following complaints from Desi, along with Tyson Apostol, who has opened up about how production screwed him over at the Sudoku puzzle, The Challenge: USA must make changes to ensure they can re-earn the trust of the contestants they cast. Tyson has no desire to go back and play again because of production's lack of care during TJ's final, and although Desi wants to compete again, she hopes future seasons will be more fair than what she experienced the first time out.