by Gina Scarpa

 

If anyone doubted the abilities of rookies Dustin and Heather coming into The Challenge: Battle of the Exes, the strong performances they gave in the first two episodes put that to rest. The on again/off again couple (now on again) proved themselves as worthy competitors but was sent home way before their time after Dustin injured his knee. We talked to the pair today in an exclusive interview to find out more about their relationship and their thoughts on The Challenge.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You seemed to have a very good relationship on The Challenge. What was going on with the two you between the time that you stopped filming The Real World and when you competed on The Challenge?
A. Heather: Yeah, we left the show kinda uneasy about our relationship. He had to go Louisiana and I had to go to New Jersey. We weren't sure how it was all going to work out so we laid low for a little bit. Around May, a few months after, we met up at an appearance and rekindled things. So we ended up getting back together so at the time we were leaving to do The Challenge, we were together.
A. Dustin: Going to the show was kind of exciting because we got to spend time together.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You guys performed very well on The Challenge. Did you work out and prepare beforehand?
A. Heather: I've always played sports. I did karate, soccer, track, everything you can think of. Dustin's always worked on farms and done all kinds of crazy things. My brother has an MMA gym...
A. Dustin: Performance Revolution in Louisiana. I kind of lived in the gym, just to kind of get ready. As far as being prepared, there's really no way you can.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Dustin, you were portrayed as being super competitive during The Real World and even though you were competitive here, it seemed different...
A. Dustin: The competitive nature came out in the go kart racing! Nobody took it seriously! Of course after, Michael had to sit me down and tell me everything I did wrong. The editing kind of put me off as more competitive. I mean, I do have a competitive nature. Whenever we did that go kart racing, nobody was taking it serious.
A. Heather: It was go kart racing! Oh my god!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: We didn't get to see TOO much of your in the house, presumably because you stayed away from the drama, but who were you close with?
A. Heather: I came into this already knowing Naomi. We were still friends. Me, Naomi, Priscilla, and Jasmine got pretty close while we were there because we were trying to form something to try to take the game somewhere in our direction. Also, I was really close to Diem because I had talked to her previously about a charity she was working with. We were really close, too. Dustin hung out with the guys but we weren't there long enough to establish really close relationships.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did you guys handle being sent home so early?
A. Heather: The night before, we kind of prepared ourselves. We talked about it. It would be different if he was doing crazy maneuvers and was drunk or careless. I was right there. He tripped up the stairs. I can't get mad at him. Dustin will get mad and down on himself. I told him, "If we have to go home, we have to go home. Everything happens for a reason. If we ever do it again, we'll have that time." I just didn't want him to be upset and I didn't want him to get really down on himself. Being in that situation, especially when you're doing so well... I can't sit here or cry and be upset.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Would you come back and do another Challenge?
A. Heather: It's always something in the back of your heads. We just moved in together and we're trying to secure jobs. It's going to be hard but you never know. It's hard to turn it down but hopefully, we have jobs that are worth it!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What are you up to now?
A. Dustin: Well actually, we started a YouTube channel the day we moved in together. Well, it's her channel and we converted it to ours. It's our journey living together and we've also taken on the Susan G. Komen walk for breast cancer. We set up our goal and we do some little challenges here and there to get donations and things. We just started that! We did this little bit where if I raise $250 before she does, I'd get drunk and do her make up and she'd have to walk around the mall. If I lose, she'd dress me up like a Jersey Shore guido and I lost by like an hour. Tomorrow, we're planning on doing that video!

 

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on MTV.

 

(Image courtesy of MTV)

 

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