Lance Armstrong quits Stars on Mars : 'I'm not a social person'
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Stars on Mars, season 1, episode 9, "We Are Not Alone."
Yet another celebrity just decided to self-evacuate from the Red Planet.
On Monday's episode of Fox reality show Stars on Mars, disgraced former pro cyclist Lance Armstrong made good on his previous threat to quit the competition.
The decision came after the group successfully completed their mission to track down and expel an invader in their home. Armstrong was paired with Modern Family actress Ariel Winter, whom he's clashed with all season long. The feuding pair put their differences aside to crawl through an air vent together without issue, but both landed in the week's bottom three alongside NBA legend Paul Pierce. When it came time for each of them to plead the case for why they should stay in the competition, Armstrong bowed out instead.
"This is a hard part for people to advocate for themselves and you have to make hard decisions, but I will fully confess life on Mars is not easy," he said. "You can't put 12 strangers in a room and expect everybody to get along and that's what I'm really struggling with. And so I think going forward that will be a liability, not just for myself, but also for the team."
"It's been a hell of an honor, but I have decided to exit the project," he concluded.
FOX Lance Armstrong for 'Stars on Mars.'
Just a few episodes ago, Armstrong told the group he wanted to "auto-select myself to leave" after being called out by multiple contestants for his stance on separating trans athletes into their own division and frequent skirmishes with Winter. He was talked out of quitting that time by Real Housewives of Atlanta star Porsha Williams, who said she was fed up with so many competitors giving up.
To Williams' point, several celebs have either outright opted to leave or just not fought very hard to stay. In the season premiere, Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse landed in the bottom three and basically admitted to doing nothing to help the team. On episode 3, Super Bowl champ Richard Sherman essentially resigned when he argued why others were better suited to be on Mars. The next episode saw comedian Natasha Leggero literally beg to be voted out. And on episode 7, UFC fighter Ronda Rousey decided to return home to her 18-month-old daughter after proving herself one of the show's top competitors all season.
After leaving, Armstrong admitted that trying to get along with his fellow competitors was his biggest challenge. "The hardest part for me was just the social component," he said. "I'm not a social person. I didn't have any expectations about being popular, but every minute of every day that I've been here I've given it 100 percent. But I'm happy with my decision."
Stars on Mars continues next Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
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