Derrick Kosinski vows revenge after 'dirty, vindictive, hostile' move on The Challenge: All Stars 2
Warning: This article contains spoilers about episode 4 of The Challenge: All Stars 2.
Derrick Kosinski had a warning for everyone who voted him into elimination on The Challenge: All Stars 2 so early in the season: When you come at the king, you best not miss. And after Steve Meinke, Nehemiah Clark, and Casey Cooper figured out a way to burn Jodi Weatherton and Cohutta Grindstaff's Life Shields, they orchestrated an elimination showdown between Kosinski and his ally/fellow Challenge champion Brad Fiorenza.
"It wasn't so much that I was shocked, but I was ready to take this hit and I was ready to swing back," Kosinski says about getting thrown into elimination in episode 4. "And I couldn't wait for this elimination to happen so I could come back and start swinging and being the maniac that I love to be, the Tasmanian devil. I couldn't wait to come back and be that looney tune."
But it turns out that Meinke, Clark, and Cooper didn't miss because the three-time Challenge champion and elimination beast Kosinski lost to Fiorenza — in a puzzle, no less. Below, EW got Kosinski to break down his elimination loss and what he really thinks of the move that got him out of the game.
Jesus Paz/Paramount+ Derrick Kosinski on 'The Challenge: All Stars 2'
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This is the earliest you've ever left a game. How are you feeling about your elimination now?
DERRICK KOSINSKI: It was kind of like a different look for Derrick, I guess. I was taken aback by the vote, but I didn't politic because I was excited for the aftermath. I had never been targeted like this by so many people I thought were friends all at one time. I didn't think they were going to do it. And so when they did it, I couldn't wait to come back and have seven or eight targets to play with. I thought it was going to be the coolest thing ever when I came back. This was sort of unknown charted waters I was experiencing for the first time probably since my Gauntlet 2 days where I basically told everyone to go f--- themselves because I knew their game plans and they're like, "No, f--- you, bro, and you're going to go into this elimination. And if you win this elimination, you can go into the next one, and the next one, and the next one." I kind of felt like that was about to happen again and I thought it was going to be fun. I finally have some enemies and some frenemies that I can go after.
So you didn't try to sway any votes?
When they came after me, I didn't politic because I kind of wanted to see where my relationships stood with these people. I thought it was good. I didn't feel like I needed to kiss ass and beg and and hope and pray that they weren't going to put me in. But if you do it, don't be mad when I come after every single one of you. Game on! And that goes not just for this season because I didn't come back. [Laughs] All Stars is doing pretty well. There might be a season 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. There was a lot involved in the ambush, I understood it. But I was ready for it. I was ready to be a one-man wrecking crew when I came back. So now going forward you'll see that the house has become completely divided because they drew the line.
What did you think of how you had to against your ally Brad?
There's the pros and cons to this. No matter who comes out on top, you lost a good competitor. Going against Brad, if you lose you're losing to one of the all time greats. Losing to him is nothing that I'd be upset about. But I was upset that the elimination was set up for these, for lack of better terms, Challenge titans, if you will, guys that have really been through the wars, physically, mentally. We've both taken hard losses. We've both won big and we've both seen elimination rounds that will go down as if not the greatest ever, it's some of the top five. You got these two guys that are known for really getting dirty in there and now they can't even — they're stuck with sandbags and a puzzle? It was a little disheartening that the game didn't end on the physical aspect but then there was the puzzle. It was more of a bummer that the ramps weren't set up to where we can at least get in each other's way, something along the way where we can kind of bump each other. We're playing for $250,000, why does it have to come down to a puzzle? Let us fight for it.
Yes, absolutely. That was disappointing.
And don't get me wrong, 1,000 pounds of sandbags was definitely fighting for it. I just don't think we needed the puzzle. And my puzzle board and Katie's had a little bit of a part in there that wasn't moving smoothly. And I'm not saying that that's the reason we — I mean, he beat me by a lot on the puzzle. But the running with the sandbags was neck-and-neck. And I think on TV they showed it as he beat me by like a second but in real life I beat him by about a second or two. So look, it's the little wins and I thought that I had him on that. But he smoked the puzzle. And my board had a little nick in it to make things less smooth on the movement.
You don't have the best track record with puzzles in the past...
Puzzles aren't my favorite. Regardless, I was so dead set in believing that I was coming back from this thing. I was going to beat bionic Brad and his the beard. The question is, should I have politicked more? Should I have kissed more ass? Should I have begged for their mercy? Tried to flip some votes? But I wanted to see where my so-called friends stood. I don't make enemies and I don't start too many fires but I was kind of excited for this fire. It just didn't go my way. I left with two middle fingers in the air and a smile on my face. What wasn't shown is how hard I was coming at Steve. I was saying, after I beat Brad, I'll go in the next one and take out Steve. In hindsight I should have went to Nehemiah and been like, "I know I didn't give you everything you wanted, but I split it. I gave you a little bit of what you wanted. Why don't you give me a little bit of what I want, and put Tyler in this elimination and let me go in against Steve on the next one?" But I was just so stubborn. I was like, "I don't give a f---." If they vote me in, fine. I'll come back and we're going to have fun with target practice.
Let's back up to your beef with Nehemiah. How did that all start?
I think it started by me not voting to save Nehemiah in season 1. I voted to save Yes. I was one of the four votes that caused him to go into elimination against Big Easy and sending him home. And then to kind of try to balance things out I wanted to give something to Nehemiah to say I'm sorry in a way and I guess I didn't do that by just putting Ryan a silver platter for him. Instead, I gave him Steve and Derek. I felt like this was an olive branch, a way to give him something. And he took it as like, "Damn, you didn't give me s---." There's a lot of guys on the table that I could have put in front of him, but instead I put Steve, a guy that nobody knows about, nothing to be afraid of, and Derek who was the other guy he asked for. I felt like I was doing my due diligence to help mend the relationship and I guess he took it as, "You didn't give me Ryan, f--- him, I hate that motherf---er." I guess that struck a nerve and he was the ringleader of this whole thing. But I've got to do my own investigation. Casey's coming on the podcast here soon, so I'll finally have that conversation about why she did it.
Laura Barisonzi/MTVE Derrick Kosinski on 'The Challenge: All Stars 2'
Yeah, Casey had a big moment calling you out in the nominations.
I get it, to a certain extent, but I just think the way that they did it was dirty, vindictive, hostile. They didn't just take Jodi and Cohutta's Life Shields that they were definitely going to use to help me, they lit them on fire. They put Kendal up there because they knew she'd be a vote my way. Some call it strategic but the way I see it is like grimy. You went and did everything in your power, you took out the kitchen sink to make this s--- happen, you went above and beyond to get Derrick out specifically so I can't help but to feel like there's something dirty that happened. It felt like an ex-girlfriend who slashed my tires. This is what it would feel like as I'm looking outside at my car seeing Casey stand there with a f---ing knife in her hand slashing my tires. Before this happened, I genuinely liked her as a human being, rooted for her, hoped all the best for her, worked on the first game move together with her, and I'm just in disbelief. It's like when the Night's Watch stabbed Jon Snow. I won't forget about it. Now I got a reason to play the game in a more cutthroat way. I'm not dead. I'll see them on a future season and I'll have fun then.
When Steve dissed your matching shirt and shorts, it escalated into you trying to target him and him returning the favor here. Do you regret starting things with him knowing how it ended for you?
Shout out to Chubbies and all their outfits. I'm actually jealous because I'm watching Spies, Lies, and Allies and Kaycee's got similar Chubbies outfits on and I messaged my guy and I was like, "Dude, the dinosaur print!" Steve was going in no matter what because I just didn't know Steve and that goes back to relationships. And the fact that he decided to trash talk my outfit right before nominations, it's like, do you know that I'm voting people in right now and you're going to s--- talk my outfit? It was just like icing on the cake. Perfect, I didn't like the guy that much before but now I really dislike him and I can't wait to put his name on the board. Going forward, if I see Steve on a Challenge it's going to be interesting. He could have tried to work with me and now he's got a pissed off Tasmanian devil.
If we ever see you and Kaycee on a season together, would you form an alliance with her based on your matching Chubbies?
It's already done, it's already written. If we were in Chubbies matching outfits, I don't think we could ever hide our alliance. If anything we probably can't wear matching ones because that would be too obvious that we're in the same alliance. I could see it now, "Hey, can I borrow that one? I don't have that one!"
Are there any other cast members on the flagship show right now that you'd want to work with or target if you ever were on the same season together?
There's a lot of cast members that I haven't met formally in person, and I don't have any ill will towards any of them. But, I mean, I wouldn't mind getting a piece of that vampire after what he did to Logan. I found myself rooting for Logan. That would be a fun matchup. The guy's got gas for days. It'd be interesting to see how that vampire would fare against the Tasmanian devil. And Emy's the one that I really have been rooting for. I'm curious to see if she'll tie the record for five elimination wins in one season. As far as rookies go, she's been a big hit.
Any chance we'll ever see you come back to the flagship show or are you just focused on All Stars now? What do you think it's going to take for you to finally get that fourth win?
I will be back. I know who my targets are. The war will continue, this is just the beginning. And that fourth Challenge championship will have to take some magic because The Challenge: All Stars is where all the big dogs are playing nowadays and it's not going to be easy. If I could work on my weaknesses, get my puzzle stuff intact, I think the magic will happen. I think the magic season is only only a season or two away. Maybe next season. I do truly feel in my heart that it's going to happen. Get ready for next season!
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