The Zach Nichols Podcast - The Anna Leigh Wilson Interview! | ZNP EP. 185

Episode Date: September 11, 2026

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Hey, y'all. This is Anna Lee from The Amazing Race and The Challenge, 42. And I'm so excited to talk about this season. All right, everybody, check out. You got to go get tickets to our live show, October 3rd in San Diego. We already had Leroy and Johnny, but we just added Deb, Will, and Keanu. So you're not going to want to miss that one. Get your tickets now. Welcome back to Zach Nichols podcast. Huge episode this week. We have the least polarizing rookie to ever be on the challenge. No one has an opinion on this superstar next to us. A round of applause for Anna Lou Wilson.

Thank you. Team polarizing is a good thing. I'm learning the caveats of both sides. So you can only be a topic of conversation if your box office, your undoubtedly box office. I did notice that we do have this light out. If we can just turn that on. Thanks, big Mike.

Shout out to Mike, dude. Mike is grinding recently, bro. Had a birthday. He's killing it. Anyways, bigger news. We do have Ms. Anna Lee Wilson here. in the building. One more round of a clause. All the way from Dallas.

Dallas. Yep. D-to-D. Same thing with Keanu. Dallas. What is it about Dallas, man? It's just a place to be. Talent. Not much to do there, but we find things to. Dallas is a pretty... Yeah, poppin. Yeah. My buddy lives in Dallas. He's always killing something or something.

He's usually traveling. He's always busy. So, Dallas has a lot going on. I love Dallas. So we normally do some accolades. I know we know you're somewhat new to the challenge, but we do have some accolades, all right? For original show, Amazing Race, but one and O elimination record, round of applause for the Eliminator. Yeah, pretty cool, pretty cool. Undefeated. Elimination record. That's huge. That is huge. So, as we normally do, we're going to go through this episode,

a lot of, you know, juicy stuff here, and then we'll hop into who you are. Sound good? Sounds good. Awesome. So this episode starts off right at the daily. No, no garbage, no BS. We're not way in and Nelson immediately expresses that he'd like to start a mutiny, but he doesn't have the numbers. Can you talk about this moment? Because he gets pretty animated, those eyes in that mouth in the interview. He's like, Josh is doing all of this. I don't understand what he wants at this point. I don't. I can't. And for like the life of me, it's like, own it. Own the spot you're in. And admit, if you, like, no one would switch spots is like with you. No one in all of chance, like they're very, like maybe like one person that doesn't want to be on the show would be

like, yeah, I'll go in and go home. But no one's going to switch spots with him. No one would. Yeah. Talk about this moment. How is this dealing with this? You can't fault the guy for trying. Like I said, on the show.

If I was in that position, I would still try as well. But the position that I was in and that Letty was in and Josh is in, just like you said, nobody's going to give up their captain position. No matter what you've done in the past, this was our first shot. So we wanted to give ourselves the best shot. Yeah. I'll tell you the last person to do this, Nelson. Nelson would never do this.

Ever. And he made it very clear how he felt about the other women on the team. He was already protecting Kara. And he already told Lettie that he prioritized her over me. So there was no way that I was going to put myself in that position. Listen, the captainship spot, you only have to protect one person and keep one person happy. And he's keeping two people happy. Yeah.

So why would Josh ever be like, you know what? Yeah. I feel bad for you. Let me let someone else be captain so then I can start going to elimination rounds too. It's very rare that rookies get in a position of power, and you really think that once they do, they're just going to be like, you know what? You're right. It's not fair.

Because the challenge has always been so fair. So I'm watching this. I'm just like, it's like, it's hard to watch. It's like beating his head against a wall. Yeah. And Josh is like equally annoying me on this situation. Really? Only because I just wish he would, I feel like he has a brand.

We know he has a brand. We know that like positivity. He's corporate, dude. He's corporate. Yeah. And so he's hand. handling it corporate. It's just like I would just be like, bro, I don't want to go into elimination rounds. I don't want to do that. I'm not actually, I'm not going to do that.

You're in a bad spot. Deal with it. It happens. We've all been in bad spots too. You know what I say there was a few other conversations that we had as well that they didn't air. It just seemed like every five minutes we were turning around and Nelson was calling a team meeting and we were like, all right, here we go again. It's embarrassing. That's what I'm saying. But like, did Josh ever just blatantly be like, Nelson, if the roles were. reversed, would you give up your captainship and give it to another person on the team, giving yourself the ability to go into elimination run? Or would you enjoy the safety in the same way I am?

It's like watching another person go on vacation and being like, I deserve that vacation, but not doing any of the work to get it. Yeah. It's crazy. It's like just own it. Just own it. And guess what? Like a long time ago, West told me that, and you know who Wes is.

Yes. So West basically told me he was like, going into elimination rounds is like, like not great for like if you're like obviously a chance to go home but when you're going into a lot of elimination rounds the episode is about you so just own this and be like eyes are all on me cameras all on me be a badass and make it a cool story right now we're just watching like because there's no no one can actually agree with him and be like you know what nelson you're totally right josh should step down no it's a game car does carra believes that that's what should happen but it's interesting because nelson kept saying i deserve it i've earned it i've earned it but at that point

So had I. That's true. You guys don't be just because you haven't done eight to ten seasons, you signed up to play this game. You didn't now, these relationships that you make now are going to serve you in the future for sure. And then you'll be able to have conversations about, oh, like last season, this. But you guys are coming in and playing this game. In what world does a competitor be like, you know what? Let me lessen my chance of winning because you're upset with your current situation.

Blows my mind. Nelson isn't 100% the wrong. he should just own it and be like the guy's not going to give it up. And all he has to do is make sure one girl is happy. And it's never going to change. And Kara, who I love and is very logical, has the most to gain and nothing to lose. She's going in every time unless this happens. And then if it happens, she's safe every time.

It seems to me that Kara's frustration is more of Josh not just being like, I have the best spot. I'm in a great spot. This was awesome for me. And it's not changing. Like I think she's more frustrated with him being like, I'm going to do what's best for the team. Just be like, I'm going to do what's best for team Josh.

Yeah. And I think Cara truly was just frustrated with Josh, period, because there was many, many times that she compared him to Polly and said that they acted a lot of like. Okay. And so I think that there was just a deeper, like, dislike towards Josh and anybody who was affiliated with Josh. And so I think that also played a role into it.

And what ways do you think that she compared him to Polly? Well, one, they're both on the shorter. and she's made that very apparent. She keeps calling him like Timo and making fun. Thimu Polly? Yeah. She's, that's why she calls him Tymu is because she's calling him Tymu Polly.

Got it. Let's just say Polly would have eaten him up, though. I've never met Polly. So I don't know his personality, but the way that he's a good time. You got to be Polly. I mean, she made it very, very clear that she related them. And so anything that Josh did, she had a comment about. So I think that.

Okay. Just tattoos and short guys. That's all I see. Because Polly isn't corporate. Further from. Yeah. Furthest from. As well.

Maybe the new Polly and Dev show Polly. Maybe he is core. I don't know. But back then, out on the show, he's definitely not. No. No.

Bullshit. He's a demon. Okay. Paul is a demon. Okay. I do want to rewind real quick. So like, there's been a lot said about how the actual blue team selected their captain.

Like, how did you guys select their captain? Was it a voting process? Were you, did you want to be captain? Like, talk about that a little bit. I'm trying to think back on that episode versus, no. Look, I was captain from the very get-go, and I saw what that brought me.

And so I wanted nothing to do with it. Because I was like, no matter what I did, it kind of screwed me over. And so once I had that experience, I was like, uh-uh, I'm running as far away as I can from this. But also, I, Josh and I had a conversation that if he protects me, and I would never let him, you know, us mutinized.

100%. I'm voting for him. Yeah, super smart. He thought about it. Letty was in on it with us, too, because ultimately, we talked about us three running a final together, and that's what we were constantly thinking about that. And all the vets were like, stop thinking about the final thing about tomorrow.

Us three were like, no, we're thinking about the final. And so we knew that Josh had a, you know, he saw more value in me and Lett than he did. in Kara, especially because of her performance thus far on the season. And so I didn't want captain. And I also knew that I was going to do anything I could to protect Josh. Rookie Alliance? Smart. Well, yeah.

Well, here's the funny thing. Here's the funny thing about people. Like, so Kara has this, like, what's the reputation of, like, being one of the greatest ever. And she is. But what's funny is, like, there have always, in every season, Kara's done, dailies where you're just like, what? Like you've been doing this forever.

That like what we're seeing from Carr right now is like kind of like typical of like her having a winning season. Like she's had a few where she's dominated the whole time. But typically Cara's path is rockier, bumpier. Her backs against the wall and she goes into tons of elimination rounds. And that's how she gained the reputation. People are like, I thought you were the greatest ever do it. It's like she is. But this is the way she does it.

Right. She's always had, like she's had Jordan doubting her. She's had me doubting her at times. And she always pulls through. So it's just funny when people were like, I thought we were getting like, I thought you were this huge figure, blah, blah. And it's like, no, this is Cara.

And she's going to end up in the final watch. Yeah, Kara is the New York Giants. She's going to be the sixth seed. No one's going to think she can beat the Patriots. And she's going to do it. She's going to do it. She might get blown out by the Jaguars, you know, from time to time. Yeah, week 10 might be a big blowout.

But she's going to go to the Super Bowl and she's going to win somehow. That is car. Like, Kara is a survivor in a sense, like not like survivor survivor, but like she goes into games and it's like a lot of times like this, like she'll be in four or five elimination rounds and make it through.

So like her greatness isn't like the same greatness that you would be like, oh, this person shows them wins everything. No, like she has weaknesses. She owns them, but she makes it somehow. Yeah. And but I do have to give you some support in this particular matter. Right.

And here's why because fine and dandy. How does that? help my team. And you've always said that from the beginning, which is like no problem, reputation, blah, blah, blah. That's all cool. Right here, right now. You, it just seems like you haven't felt that she's contributed to a winning culture on your team. Talk about that. And from the get go, you can see that I said she was my favorite female challenger going into it. Being on a team and experiencing things with her was a lot different. And quite frankly, I was disappointed. And I told her that too. There was no secret that I was disappointed in her performance.

Do I think that she came in with, you know, a lot of things on her heart and chest and she was going through a lot? Yes, I do. And I give her grace for that. Also, was I disappointed? Yes. Can I ask, disappointed in her performance on the field, disappointed in her ability to have team chemistry? Like what exactly disappointed you? Well, going in, looking at our team as a whole from the very get-go, I knew that we needed somebody to step up.

A leader. We needed a leader. But also a leader in the sense that someone who's seen it before and can break it down and can actually give us a plan for success in this challenge. I'm going to tell you right now, that wasn't Cara. No. But it wasn't any of the vets. That was our problem. It could have been Brad.

I don't know if he felt like comfortable enough to take that role. But I do feel like Brad's been around. I mean, he's been around since like season like seven. Yeah. He needed to take it firmly grasp it. Yeah. For the SpongeBob fans. Firmly grasp.

Let me ask you this though. Were you a fan of the challenge before you got asked to do it? I was. Finish. Yes. Yes. And I will say too,

just kind of backing a little bit before I lose my train of thought, is they haven't aired it and I don't know if they will, but I think that concludes the free preview of the Zach Nichols podcast. So go to Patreon and subscribe to see the rest of the shit that we talk.

Go do it now.