The Challenge Australia: Female Winner Interview

0:00 Welcome back to the Nullified Take channel here on YouTube, where we've got the TNT takes for you on The Challenge Australia. I'm joined today by the female winner of The Challenge Australia, Kiki Morris. Kiki, how are you doing? I am doing so well that we can finally announce, obviously, the outcome of last night's finale. I mean, it's been such a surreal experience, so I'm just so grateful for all the fans out there. and I'm really grateful, obviously, to be here and be able to talk to you about the show. Yeah, really excited to talk to you about this and to find out a little bit about your experience going onto The Challenge. Were you a fan prior to going onto The Challenge? Were you aware of what The Challenge was? I have to, yeah, admit that I was not. I knew nothing about it until I was asked to go on it. I'd never seen it before. So, I had to do a lot of homework very quickly to get up to speed as to what I was going to be in for.

0:53 And let me tell you, I was shook. I'd already signed the contracts and I was like, "Oh gosh, what have I done?" But I mean, I really stepped it up. I had 3 weeks to prepare and train with a personal trainer who was incredible to whip me into shape as fast as she did. so, yes, it was pretty daunting going into this. Did you have to change much about your routine and what you do currently? Cuz I'm sure you would be doing training in any case. so, what was the changes that you had to make to your routine? I think it was a lot of the strength for me. Like, I do a lot of Pilates and a lot of cardio, but the physical strength and the physical aspect, like, you look at Troy with his grip strength because he's a rock climber. You know, I don't carry a lot of heavy things. I don't, you know, my endurance wasn't quite on par with some of the other challengers. And that's what my trainer and I really focused on.

1:43 So, I was doing sled pushing and farmer's carries, which really paid off in that final when I needed to push that car. So, I'm super grateful for the ability to have been able to get that training done and get me as far as it did. And how many of the people the cast that were out there did you know prior to going onto the show? Were there any familiar faces and who did you gravitate towards from the beginning? So, funnily enough Megan Marks and I had actually been on The Bachelor together back in 2016. and Brittany Hockley who was my other roommate, her and I had been on Bachelor in Para- Paradise together in 2019. As well as being familiar with obviously Kieran and you know obviously the Australian reality TV world is quite a small space so a lot of us meet each other at events and things like that as well. So, we were all quite familiar with each other, yeah.

2:36 So, you had that Bachelor alliance that sort of formed very early on. one person that was also from The Bachelor world but didn't seem to want to be a part of that or was very difficult to sort of get it from the show was Brooke Blurton. Where did she sit in this whole alliance and did you try and work with her out there? I think that so Brooke and Jess had their own alliances. so and I mean I can understand why it was a smaller more kind of underground alliance that they had. We kind of the Batchy alliance stuck out like a sore thumb. and I mean I for what it was worth the strategy worked well because they kind of flew under the radar a little bit. but Brooke Blurton I mean she was aligned very much with Brooke Jawit and Connor and Jess was in the bedroom alliance. So, I mean I didn't realize that the Batchy alliance had such a target on their backs until I've watched the program back along with all the fans and realized there was a lot of talks going on in those interview rooms about how much they wanted to get rid of us.

3:35 So, I mean I was shook. I thought these guys were all my close friends. Yeah, I was going to ask because I had a conversation earlier with Troy and he said that the show was sort of you know not showing the bad blood between the Bachelor alliance and the bedroom alliance as well as it could have done cuz apparently that was a very big rift between you. What do you believe started that rift between the two groups in the house? I mean, I for the most part I was not really in the I was in the alliance, but I didn't really have a lot of exposure to the fights. Because I guess I'm a bit of a fence sitter when it comes to arguments and I'll generally only have a pipe up, you know, to speak for the greater good and I'll let people kind of fight their own battles, but I mean, Ryan kind of started a few tips with people like Brittany and Conrad and I think it was for the most part a bit of boredom. You know what I mean?

4:25 Like people get bored and there's big personalities and you know, where you'd normally have other things to occupy your time, when you're living in a house without access to the outside world, a little thing that someone said in the kitchen 4 hours ago, that's going to play over in your head cuz you've got nothing to take your mind off it. And it's crazy how things will play out. You can't get away from each other. You can't leave the house. You've got no doors anyway. If you're having a conversation about this with someone's going to hear you down the end of the hallway and it's going to get back to them and it's Chinese whispers. So I mean, things that wouldn't normally bother you in the outside world are going to get under your skin and fester in this house environment and that's exactly what it did. Mhm. It almost sounds like living in the house was harder than the actual daily challenges at times. What was the balance between actually going out there and doing the daily challenges and living in the house?

5:17 I mean, the living in the house part was tough because again, if you're not used to being around a lot of different people's personalities, a lot of people suffered. Like if you're an empathetic person and you absorb people's energy, it was really draining. Just, you know, meal times, having all the chatter going on around. If you know, I'm quite sensitive to a lot of noise and having conversations going on around you all the time and you know, crew coming in and out of things, it can get very overwhelming. So yeah, the challenges were sometimes a bit of a way out of that living environment. Yeah, and you did extremely well. Like where Troy won a lot of dailies, you won a lot of arenas and actually went into the eliminations and you kicked butt. I mean, you took out probably who a lot of people, myself included, thought was the frontrunner female in Emily going out there. How good did it feel to take out an Olympian in the arena and why do you think you were so good at those arena challenges?

6:11 I think for me, I really do well under the pressure. So, challenges I'm like, "Okay, if I come second, third, or fourth, as long as you don't come last." And then when you're put into an elimination, it's like this is my big moment to prove to myself how much I want it. And it's like something takes over you. I mean, it was crazy. So, with the elimination I was in with Grant, I mean, I got algorithm to spell algorithm backwards wrong. It was like my brain on spelling. but I just couldn't get my head around it in that moment. So, I knew I had to dig really deep because we had six extra tires that we had to carry. And I know we just had to kind of yeah, just yeah, kill it. And that's exactly what we did. And that's where I really sustained my very first injury during the filming of the show as well.

7:01 So, I carried that back injury all the way through to the finals and I'm still to this day dealing with a physio to get past the injury. Wow. Okay, so I was going to ask you about that back injury. So, you said that it happened really early on for you. You're still struggling with it right now. How much do you think it affected your overall performance? Because in the finale, there was a few times where you said, "I don't even know if I'm going to be able to finish this." And it seemed like just the fact that somewhere inside of you've got a never quit mentality and you also didn't want to quit on your partners. That's why you kind of pushed through the pain. Absolutely. I know like I can honestly say that if I knew I wouldn't send my partner home by electing to the competition, I probably would have a long time before because the pain I was in, I don't know if you're familiar with sciatic nerve carrying the tires when I was with Grant.

7:52 I had two tires on one shoulder, a tire in one hand, and we're running on soft sand, and I pinched my back, and then the very next day I went into the barrels challenge, and carrying that 45 kilo wine barrel with Kieran just caused even more pain. I had shooting electricity pains down my whole back and into And there was two occasions where I was actually put in the back of the ambulance and given like a good 15 cm long needle directly into the pain site with anti-inflammatories and painkillers. So, I mean, it was pretty intense, and I was yeah, in agony. I was at the point where I was so nauseous I was throwing up while I was running at one point in the final because it was excruciating. Yeah. So, how nervous are you cuz obviously you've now qualified for the global championship, how nervous are you going into that with the potential of this lingering back injury, and you know, how are you preparing for that season knowing that this is still in the back end going on as well with you personally?

8:56 So, my personal trainer is working around the injury in order to strengthen that up, and I'm also working along with a physio. We're doing dry needling and also working on the pain pathway in order to be able to work out you know, what hurts and how it hurts, but at the same time it's going to be something I'm going to need a long time to fix. So, let's just hope that the short amount of time I do have to prepare is going to be enough to get me through this next one because I know that we're going to be pushed to our very limits this time. I mean, I feel like the Australian challenge was a cakewalk in comparison to the world. Yeah. Well, fingers crossed for you going into that especially with that lingering sort of injury that you've got as well. Have you gone and done a bit of research now on some of the people that you may be running up against if you were to go to the global championship or are you just going into it and hoping for the best when you get into the season?

9:46 I think ignorance is bliss in this aspect because I am one notoriously known for overthinking and getting in my own head and psyching myself out. So, with the with what I know about myself, if I don't know things, I can just kind of be surprised on the day and really pull it out, you know? So, that's what I plan on doing because if I know too much about who I'm going to be up against, I may have, you know, second-guessed myself or I may have overthink things and I don't want to do that. That's a good strategy in that case. And, what did you learn about yourself doing this experience? Like you said, this was out of your comfort zone. This wasn't something that you thought you would do before doing The Bachelor, a very different show compared to coming onto The Challenge and challenging yourself physically and mentally. What did you learn about yourself doing this experience? What I learned about myself is that my ability to, I guess, I've talked myself out of my own inner monologue of quitting that many times now that I realize I mean, I tell myself things I can't do them because I feel like I'm afraid of I'm actually afraid of success in a way because, you know, if you if you give up before you get to the end, you know, you're not going to there's no opportunity to either win or lose.

10:53 And I think now that I've proven to myself I can win, I've definitely, you know, correct there's a new fire in my stomach. But also as well, going on a program where I'm not actually competing with women for a man's attention like The Bachelor, I'm actually competing with women with every ounce of grit and determination you have, it's super empowering not just for me but for the women as well because we can still be soft and nurturing to one another, but, you know, haul ass when we need to and I think that's really cool. Yeah, Jessica spoke about that as well, you know, wanting to go onto the show to change the narrative about what she's about and being able to do the challenges and that and clearly you did well because you went all the way to the end and you won this thing. and in a competition where still social skills was very important because you had to partner with different people. Who was your favorite person to partner with this season? Who did you enjoy the most partnering with?

11:45 Because, you know, it seemed like everybody was bagging on Grant quite a bit, but you did end up winning an elimination with Grant, you know, and his ability to not work with other people. but who did you like working with? Grant was very hard to work with. I mean, Grant and I have very similar personalities. We both come from kind of small town Australian towns, you know what I mean? So we're a bit bogan-ish in a way. So we have very similar I guess verbs and things like that. So he'd swear at me and I'd swear at him back. Whereas if you're a little bit more conservative, you could have taken that the wrong way. So I mean, Grant was fun to work with. Kieran and I mate was amazing. He really was able to push me. and I mean, Connor and I went from winning and losing something together. We lost a challenge. We won an elimination. Now we kicked ass in the final together. So I have so many favorites. I couldn't pick just one. Plus Connor threw you into one of the eliminations as well.

12:37 What was that like to, you know, turn the other cheek and work with him after all of that? I mean, one of my things is I don't take anything, you know, seriously. Like you can't hold a grudge. The aim of the game is someone has to win, someone has to lose, and someone gets thrown into elimination. You can't change the programming of the show. So it means just take it on the chin, do your very best, and you know, you've always got the opportunity to come back. So I didn't take it too seriously. And there were no hard feelings with Connor and I. No. Yeah. What is your you know, advice for people that watch the show, that want to go onto the Challenge and do this? What advice would you give them as a Challenge winner now? How should they prepare if they were to go and do this Challenge? I mean, train as hard as you can, but also make sure that you are in check with your own emotional state because you're alone a lot of the time, and even though the people that you're living in a house with are your friends, at the end of the day, they are also your competition.

13:34 So, have a really, you know, healthy mind, body, spirit, spirituality, definitely got me through. and yeah, so you've just really got to manifest. I manifested that whole last leg of that race, speaking to the universe, and it really I really feel like it helped me. So, manifestation is definitely part of the key to the success as well. Yeah. And it was a really dramatic finish as well with Connor, you know, his legs giving out on him on the end there, and you getting there, and you're like, "Is he throwing this for Brooke J?" And for me, I was almost thinking that it was happening because they were so close. what a dramatic finish, and you know, I guess at the end of the day, how close was it between yourself and Brooke there at the end? And have you spoken to her since then, because we didn't really get to see much from Brooke in regards to how gutted she must have been just mis- missing out by like seconds. I actually was just talking to Brooke via text before jumping on this call with you, and I did say to her how funny it was, because in that last leg of the final, I was saying out loud, talking to myself, cuz I'm delusional at this point, "If he's fallen down on purpose to give the win to effing Brooke J." I think was the language I chose.

14:40 Yeah. I mean, and it was a thought I really had, and you know, people do this in previous challenges, so it wasn't necessarily a completely far left idea to have had, but I did say to her, and we laughed about it. I said, "If he didn't If he wasn't going to If he was going to lay down and not die, I was going to kill him myself for losing this for me." So, I mean, he's lucky he got up and started running, and I still managed to win by nine whole minutes. So, yeah. Yeah. He probably could have had another 5-minute rest, as long as he got up and kept running. Yeah. How brutal was it? I spoke to Troy, and he said that from that last elimination going into the finale, it was pretty much instantly you guys didn't really get much in regards to nutrition going into the finale or anything like that. You just went straight into running. How brutal was that going straight from there, not being able to go back to the house, and almost having to run the challenge, the final in your in your civvies?

15:32 Honestly, yeah. It was It was really hard, and I mean, it just goes to show what your body can do when it's running on adrenaline. And I had about three to four like second winds throughout the competition where you're hitting a wall and you're exhausted, but then, you know, your body kind of kicks back into gear, and you find this new sense of energy. And that last push with Connor with the car really proved to me cuz I was dying. I couldn't run. And then all of a sudden, I got this energy, and I'm motivating Connor to push that car with me. And I was literally running off fumes at this point. Like I was delirious, like I said, yeah. Yeah, very impressive performance, especially because you were running with that injury as well. I did want to ask you said that one of the aims or the goals of winning the challenge was to, you know, relocate globally so you can go live with your partner. Is that still on the cards? Are you actually going to relocate globally now since you've won the show?

16:23 Absolutely. I literally just flew home on Thursday from Spain so I could come home and obviously watch the watch the challenge finals with my family, and obviously come and do all the media that I'm doing, but I will be back with him, you know, in a couple of weeks, and permanently moving hopefully in a few months. So exciting. Well, you know, I'm looking forward to seeing you represent Australia in the global championship competition. where can people find more about you? Where can they follow you? What are you getting up to next? I mean, you can watch the Worlds on Paramount+ You can find me on Instagram and send me a message. I'd love to hear from everybody, all the fans. I'm happy to answer anyone's questions at KikiMorris on Instagram is my handle. And I mean, what I'm getting up to next, I have no idea. I just know that I'm loving being back out of the house. I have my phone. I have my freedom.

17:14 I have a locking bedroom door, which is great cuz I didn't have one for so long. but yeah, so drop me a line guys if you're interested in having a chat. I would love to hear from you all. That's awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I look forward to seeing you on the next one and hopefully we get to talk again at the end of another one when the next season drops as well. But thank you so much for your for your time today and all the best with the rest of your interviews. Thank you so much. Great meeting you, Chris.