The Zach Nichols Podcast - The Jordan Wiseley Interview | ZNP EP. 34

Episode Date: March 15, 2024

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Hey guys, it's Jordan Wisely here on the Zach Nichols podcast and tune in because we talk all things challenge. Welcome back to the Zach Nichols podcast. I'm here with my co-host, Mr. Zach Nichols. No, it's Cowboys that today. And we have, some may say are one of the most toaded guests of all time. We have a legend on the couch. Without question, the most anticipated guest in ZNP history, Mr. Jordan Wisely. Yo, thank you guys so much.

Zach, I would say today you are deputy Zach. Because sheriff is in town, baby. That's true. That is true. And we all got tickets to the gun show. For those of you that got tickets to the gun show, which will be airing tomorrow. You guys are going to hear this in the future. We're going to have a good time tomorrow.

Yeah. Oh, man. Going to be good. I'm really beside it about that line. No. You and I always have a really good, like our, a lot of, I guess, You know, people don't get to see so much, so much on TV. None of our relationship.

Good time. Yeah. We have lots of laughs. The bros are the bros. Well, we take the piss out of everything, as the Brits would say. Yeah. Like, we brag on everything, everyone, ourselves. Like, it's good.

Like, especially Worlder Worlds, too, like our morning walks and jogs. Yep. You know. Like, oh, man, we have a good time. So, yeah, I'm excited about the live show because he's going to ran. I was actually like this, the live show was more of like, this is Pierre's, like, baby. You could call us. Yeah.

Yeah. And I was, I'm more of like, I don't know. Like, are people like, what if no one shows up? Like, what if no one wants to end? He was like, dude, Jordan said he'd do it. I'm like, oh, cool. He's like, dude, Laurel's in too. I'm like, no shit.

This is like one hour. Yeah. It was like 15 minutes. I'm like, because I was like, we were like putting the field. I'm like, I don't know. Like, if that's my thing. And I'm like, all right, cool. Let's roll with it.

But that is true. and people always ask about our like whatever it was and do you remember how it started our like that was my first question what is the first thing you remember about being exact well i remember so we actually did what was that rivals two who was our first season together yep and uh okay we were kind of we would have we would connect in in like bro locker room ways you know and like talk about sports and stuff but then we were definitely jockeying for position in the game yes in competition it was, we were very much like at each other, you know. And at that point, you had had had one and you had not had any.

And you're trying to, yeah, I was my first one. Right. But he was raining. And yeah, he was raining at the time. And let me tell you something, though, like, my thing with you was like, I'm like, all right, here's this fresh face kid. And that was me. So I was trying to be very patient. But like, I think you came right from filming Real World Portland.

Dude, right. Like you were. Our Real World hadn't even started airing yet. Yeah. And we. Oh, shit. And they called Mar-L. Yeah.

You're talking about a matter of month, month, month or two months, something like that. Maybe weeks. Wow. Two months. Okay. So think about like the real world would be like after your freshman year at college. Mm-hmm. So like you don't really like train that hard because you can't.

So like Jordan I think came in like what he felt was like everyone else that joins a challenge who's a good athlete and it's like, do these guys are chumps. Yes. That was my thought going in too. Also my only. I didn't watch the challenge. However, the challenge is iconic. I had always seen it on my brother and I and being athletes.

We would walk by the TV and see it on to catch a clip and be like, we would smoke thing. Yeah. So he definitely had that. But I think he quickly learned like when he saw us working out like, holy shit. Like these people are actually kind of strong. Like taking them some weight.

And then it was like, but like you saw this like thing switching your head where like you were like, I need to outwork everyone. So Jordan was the guy waking up for everyone on that show. And you would hear the way it's clanging. And then you'd, he'd eat breakfast with everyone. but then he'd go out and he'd start running and then he'd wait and he'd watch who's going to work out first and then he'd be like hey let me jump in you would probably work out i'm not and this is

an exaggeration there was probably i was only there for like three weeks probably i think i did like six challenges so that's like three weeks you were probably working out seven to eight hours of the day oh yeah easily is that legit yeah legitimately like and and i was coming off of so i was just a runner like you know all through high school sports was lifting and everything then went to college, got hurt, and then went to college and just did the student athlete thing. And I just ate. I got, I got like out of shape, you know. You're still a great shape.

You moved well. But then I got in shit. Like I did the real world and I started running. I literally just started running and I was running like, you know, a shit ton. And I was, I will always have the athlete base. But I was just running. And so I was just kind of like a skinny, you know, like skinny in shape. but I get there and these guys are monsters.

Yeah. And like CrossFit was big so we were all doing like wads together and shit and like the weight differences in like Zach and CTs and everyone's born and I'm just like good. And at the time you're talking about a very physical challenge. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, I mean, I was naive enough to think that like, oh, if I start working out now

on the job. Oh yeah. I could like grow now. But it was just like I've, you know, I had to start doing something. I couldn't just be like jogging around the place. That switch flip for you immediately. you got in the challenge has started right and like i think me and tray came out and like we

won like the first two for the guys and so like i was definitely puffed in my chest and but like then it started like where it was like me see as my team c t your team and uh johnny and frank those were the clear tops and like me and jordan didn't have the connections with the girls like c t and johnny did so we were pretty much jockeying that whole season without really and we never bought heads. You never bought heads with me on that season because I was gone before we could have even had beef. Actually, we probably would have ended up in an elimination around against each other before we even had any issue. But for me, like, when we came back for free agents was when I, I remember approaching you and just being like, moving forward, you have to

have someone that you know is not going to come for you. And I said to, from what I remember, I remember being like, I'll never say your name. I'll never come for you. That being said, I was like, I'm not going to make every move you want. And I was like, and I don't expect you to do that for me either. But I do expect you to know that you're never going to say my name. I'm never going to say, you know, we'll keep that, that. And that almost like set the foundation for the rest of my career because like the people that I worked with very closely, it was that. It was like, you make what moves you got to make for you.

And I'll make moves I got to make for me. But just no, it's not. I'm not going to ever say your name, but I'm not going to sit here and protect your whole alliance and like let mine. whatever so yep tell me how you remember that no that's we we literally had a conversation because this was free agents was what you know we you know free agents was a game that we didn't have we we got really lucky on rivals too that it was like girls controlled the vote and guys control the vote because if it would have just been all of assault the guys would have sweat the vet guys would have swayed them and we would have been gone pretty quick um and then in on

free agents, we're like by ourselves. Like everyone could vote everyone. So we really had to like actually find people that you could like trust, you know. And we both knew that competitively we could gain power. There's a high chance that we could gain power, keep each other safe. But we were both very like realistic in our expectations of like what an alliance member does. And we would we would sit around and like talk crap and like hear stories of how everyone used to be. and have have these like years long vendettas against somebody because they voted for a friend or whatever

and when it was like going to the last one and I was just like, damn, that sucks. We're gamesmen. We just game, you know, and we always, you know, just really associated everything in like a sports sense. And so once that was kind of set, it's like, hey, we're not going to come for each other, but like, frolic is you seem fit. Right. I'm not going to tell you to go after. You can hang yourself if you want. but like, I won't tell your name, you know, too.

We've been seeing in recent seasons, just alliances kind of take over and just what it does in terms of the group mob mentality. But I think a lot of the fans, it doesn't resonate because you come from eras like yours where it's like, yeah, I was cool with like two people. And like we rode what we had till the end. So it's almost like a, it's very that, that, like that approach to like the alliance

is almost like a CT approach. Like that's kind of how CT is. With me at least, it was always like, dude, we don't want to end up against each other, so let's work with each other enough to stay out. But like, C.T. was never going to, like, I could never go to CT and be like, hey, don't do this because of so-and-so.

Like, it had to be something in it for him, too. Oh, yeah. But like, he's the master of. But with Johnny, Johnny's very much so, like, as long as I'm protected, let's get the mob mentality going. Yeah. You know?

As long as he's the leader of the mob, he, like, that is. Right. Johnny, if you saw how it was with Josh, it was like, Johnny's the goose and good for the goose, it's good for the gander, but it's not always,

that's not always the way. Like, for example, in War of the Worlds, too, had Laurel beat Ninja, I had, which technically she should have, but had Laurel beat Ninja, you and me are roles in that game reverse,

because Johnny will always have Jordan before me, especially after what happened on War of the Worlds one, and I know that, and I would never fault Jordan for that. But, like, because in that same sense, I'm thinking, well, that's why, like, before the game started, I had a conversation with Paulie

and was like, and like I don't care what you do this game, but I'm not going to go for you, just leave me alone. And that's honestly what spared me from getting how you were treated. Because Cara wanted to go for me after, before Josh, after you, but Polly was like,

no, we actually need him to win. We needed you to win too. But on, like, remember, we had a conversation where we were both like, should one of us throw each other? Like, should I go in to go to the Brits? And you're like, no, I'm going to do it. And he's like, you're like,

they're going to throw me and let me do it. And then me and him sat down with Rogan and C.T. And we were like, hey, if I throw myself in to try to go against whoever, can, and I promise that I switch to to the Brits, will you do that? And Rogan looked us dead in the eye and was like, I'm going to be honest with you. If you, if you, Zach, if you choose to do that, you're going against Jordan. Yeah. And so at that point, I was like, do we both just run the final against each other and made the best man win? Because I'm not going to, what good was that, do? Like, the whole point was

run the final with you rather than go in. They would have for sure been like, oh, you want to play tough you want to be a tough guy's that because everyone's always like why didn't you do anything i'm like really our hands are all tied we had zero control it is wild i know i wish yeah i wish they would like show how this stuff like because we had a conversation like should i do it and rogan dead ass was like as much as i would love you on our team he's like i'd throw you in against jordan when you would go home because they were so it was wild the they wouldn't break played and it was they wouldn't break from the scared mentality of like well that takes away a spot that us and our friends would have and we don't want that it did not matter if it meant

that they were up against the losing for both sides and this is what was wild as both sides were willing to take a losing team like knowing that they would like the odds would completely change and they were cool with it because it left more spots like for them and their friends and we're like all right um i'm so glad you brought this season up because i actually just saw uh uh Like a clip posted from like the challenge is doing this thing like home turf or something like that. Yeah and it showed Kara talking about this Dude. I actually when I when I saw that and I don't want people to think the thing I have no beef with car like we this is not like a thing a thing on car I'm just giving my perspective of it and my opinion of watching that clip where she's talking about like I was right About what because in that clip I saw her say I think they're alluding to she was right about Tories

and I want it was nothing tory and I was fake like at all like so that like I don't know what you were right about there everything was legit there and then in the game no one voted for her never once did we ever come for her and we actually after we all made a treaty right when we first got there we made a treaty every week team USA we said team USA does not go against team USA until all the Brits are gone and then we'll play our own game we go yep break west made a deal with Joss and rogan we went after Wes, West went home. Okay? Then they got mad

and did the whole Laurel thing. Now, the way that they had power to do the Laurel thing is, after the West thing, I told Carr on them, and we all tried to make this truth. We go, hey, we just wanted to get the one trader out, and now we're back to our truce. And we're not coming for you. We

will prove this to you by giving Polly Power. And what did we do? We voted Polly Power. Remember bananas was so fucking bad and everything? We literally, they did the whole heat we shook hands and we go Polly we're gonna get like to show you that was for Polly and Kara's like

mind you know what I mean for their security to be like listen I promise like this isn't like we're not trying to like come for you I wanted Wescon because he literally went and made a deal with the other team as soon as we said not to I mean those deals West made were way

beforehand and West just thought and he thought he thought he could keep it going yeah and you and Johnny were never going to let him get away with that either like that's be honest like yeah I was fading in the back kind of because here's the thing is I had just had a ton of beef with bananas and Leroy. So I was like, listen, fellas, let's let them. I was doing the Homer Simpson there. Like, I needed, why do you think I came on that season with my head shaved?

I plan on wearing a lot of helmets. Like, I thought I was going on a lot. Because, like, you got to remember, like, I threw, I was supposed to throw an elimination around and didn't. And, like, Leroy had been kind of been, like, the, Leroy had took, like, the blunt of, like, a lot of my game plays. Because, like, I would play that, like, Leroy, I'm not going to say, your name, but I'm going to set it up so that when we get to the end, I won't be, it won't be my name that gets me. I'm going to be so protected and you're going to, you're not. And that's kind of happened over and over until he finally was like, he didn't like me. He thought I was shady,

but I'm like, am I shady? Because I've never said your name. I just set myself up for success. And I learned that from Wes on X's two. Because remember what was, buddy, oh my gosh, yeah. I had a perfect situation and West just got the last word, convinced Leroy that I was working with West, which I literally just yes the shit out of West so that I didn't have them coming for me. Because I, you know, so like I learned that like you got to set up the thing, how you got to set yourself up for later. And Leroy got mad at that. So I went into World Worlds too.

And I just remember being like, I know we're good, dude, but I just want to let you know, like bananas and Lerner are not cool with me. Yeah. And so I was kind of letting that go. And then once West left, I'm like, okay, there goes one layer of my protection. And then Pauly and Banana started feuding. And that's when Laurel confronted me. And I was like, oh, shit.

because like I was playing the I was playing the fence and I said me and Laurel have this like I'm I because here's the thing I know Laurel's got Jordan and bananas over me every single time and I respect that so I don't go out of my way to make a quick deal with Laurel because I know she's already got one and two locked yeah and it would look disingenuous well not just that but like I'm just waiting Laurel comes out to me and I'm like she's like this is who's voting for who whose side are you on are you on mine or you on theirs and I was like well right now she just listed off like Tori and nony

and Jordan so I was like no I'm on your side Noel yeah and I voted with them and I did because it was easy for me to go after Ninja but like I'm worried this whole time because I'm like shit's gonna hit the fan and they're gonna everyone like these guys are too like Jordan's the only one that'll let me skate Johnny Laurel Pauli and Carr are all gonna make me pick aside and it just so happened I never had to

because by the time it came time to be like all right do you do what's right or do you go against your friend and elimination round and here's a thing that by not going in we both that that made it so we both still had a chance to win money. Yeah. Because we were the last. That's the only thing that we were talking about.

I was like, dude, the only silver lining is like, one of us is getting something. And it came down to that. So we were both the last person on our respective teams to finish that puzzle. So we both got that last locked in spot. And had that happened,

we're the last two. Like, only one of us gets that spot. So, I mean, had we, I mean, let's be honest,

I don't know if I'm beating him in an elimination round. So I wouldn't have probably gone to the hospital and he still gets the money. But at least I got to run in the file. And I was, I was actually extremely proud of myself because I'm not a puzzle guy. I've never been like a huge puzzle guy. And I was able to, after what we had been through and then the whole night, I was able to come in and be like, no, you are a champ. You're been to several finals.

Like, you got this. And I was proud of myself for beating Ashley and Cam. And these like puzzles queens. Yeah. Like they thought, I think like, because I was scared. I said, I'm like, dude. Like this is, and that puzzle wasn't the puzzle. You had to find the cuts in the wood.

Yeah. But I just remember... That puzzle was so ridiculous. It was super tough. It was like it wasn't the actual what was on the wood. You had to look at the actual cuts they made on it. But yeah, that was... And so I gave myself a chance to win that.

And I don't know if you remember this, but I got to give you this compliment because you obviously know what happened to me after that final. And you also know that that season, I think that there was nobody there that outworked me. 100% none. And I think I proved myself on like when we were moving the blocks. And like, I may not be the person who's going to win a 10K, but if you give us all 40 pounds, I'm going to win that race.

And I remember after the final, I knew you were celebrating. And I was, I was seeing, I saw God. Oh, yeah, he did. But one thing I said to you was, I was like, hey, I just want you to know, I just gave you everything I have. Like, I gave you months of training. It may not be the longest, you know, like a lot of people, they define like hardest by like longest, but conditions. The conditions of that. The everything.

Oh, God, like. And they didn't feed us. They gave us McDonald's. We traveled. Yep. We got McDonald's. We were on an airplane. We got on a airplane food.

Yeah. Yeah, it was airplane. It was, remember what those were? Wrapped sandwiches. They were literally just handmade rat. And they were saran wrapped sandwiches and then like an apple or something. Yeah.

And we landed. They gave us a water bottle and said, get ready to go. Yep. And then they put us on those like military old like 70s things. And we rode in that. Uh-huh. The whole fucking way there, you know, it was a couple hour drive there. And then we get out and they're like, all right, this is where you're sleeping.

And they locked the 10th. They locked the 10th. There was no airflow. And it was like 100 degrees. And I just remember, like, we all stripped down into our, like, underwear. We're all in our underwear and we're laying on tarps. Yeah. Everyone's pushed their sleeping bags away.

And we're just bodies on the tarp. Yeah. Trying to basically, you know how you always flip your pillow for the cold. We just cool down area to try and get a cold area of tarp. Yeah. And literally, we're just, we're all like on, what felt like 15 minute shifts of going down, just like kind of looking up at everybody and going like, not yet. Yeah.

But what was even worse was in the morning, no breakfast. Nope. I don't even think they gave us any water. And they locked us in the tent and we're like just sitting here. And it's getting the sun's coming up. We're in the jungle. You can hear like the birds. Everything's coming alive.

They're killing. And I remember I just sat right by the door unzipped it. And they were like, Zach closed. I'm like, no. I'm like, we all. Yeah. we all kind of fought on that and we and we just unzipped it and all we're sitting in our everyone's in their compressions yeah no one had girls compression you know tops compression bottoms

and we're all sitting down on like we had they gave us like stools or something yeah and we're just sitting it as close as we can to the front so we're just getting some air in there just like well i so like i said i told him like dude like i gave you everything and i wasn't kidding because then i went to the hospital and i had that it you know i had for days seven days and i was on dialysis and i was on filtering my blood i was all this crap. And then that actually, then I had to take like almost two months

where I couldn't even go for a walk my dogs. So when I got done with that, I just remember thinking like, they cleared me for exercise, but I was like, everything was just so weak. And I just remember thinking like, I think they,

CT and Jordan retired me. I don't know if I can come back and do another final because of how bad that hurt. But what really convinced me when I knew like, I don't know if I'll ever be back was what you did to Dorell on stars. Like that to me. That's a tough one.

Yeah. for him. I know it hurt you too, but like just to see. It was not, not even physically, like mentally, the whole time I understood in my mind. I was like, you lost this one, buddy. Make it a show. To him. Yeah.

No, no, like, in my mind, I was like, he's only, he's got 10% to go. Like, no shit. Like, dude, no shot. You bring this back. Like, especially because I had tried everything mechanically available to me and even push the rules of like I was trying to stick my toe out and like hook and try and like and get it to roll that way. Physics are physics. Right.

All right. It doesn't matter. Whoever the heavier person was was going, should have won that. Right. Period. It was solely due to the fact that he did not know how to put more of his weight on the side of the cylinder. Right. Use gravity.

But I, I'm, they can see. Everyone can see us. Yeah. I'm like, someone's going to tell him. Doreau, you need to stretch out. So in my mind, I'm like, it's just a matter of time for they tell him. So that's why I was talking so much, like, fun smack the whole time because I'm like, I got to get my licks in now because no shot that I make anything of this as a competition.

And then time just keeps ticking. Well, it's funny that you see that that way because I was like, and I was like, nobody's telling him. Yeah. Go along. See, yeah, go ahead. No, I'm just saying, like, so I'm watching this. And I'd like to sit here and say, Dorel, you know, he's a little bit.

old he lost that, but he hasn't. No, he has not. Yeah. He is so strong. And so, like, I'm watching this like, you know, I'm doing my day job. Now I'm watching this because after I got done, I watched every season, every episode of all this stuff. Wow. I've seen everything. Maybe a few, maybe a few really early ones, but I've even seen real world. So I watched everything because I was like, I knew I was going to do this. I wanted to have some knowledge. But I was watching that and I'm like, you're definitely not able to do that anymore. Like maybe if I would have figured it out, but I'm like, dude,

he just put Dorel on a stretcher. That's never been done and it'll never be done again. And I was like, you might be a better commentator than a competitor at this point because it was like what for at least 45 minutes of you just over an hour. You're in pain too. We're a little over an hour. Yeah, that's what people need to realize is like this is like a raging bull of a human trying to push against you. And you basically used locked out and we're like, I can only do this for so long. And then you did it long enough that he couldn't walk. And there's no disrespect to him.

I was like, I don't think I'm ready for that anymore, you know. Well, it's crazy that to you, it's just it's common sense. but I think your legacy and the way that people think about you is that you make the impossible possible, right? Winning a tug of war with one hand and doing that type of stuff and winning a challenge like that. Winning a John Henry Hammer swinging contest with one hand. You said it.

Let's not protect the host here. Like, you know, a lot of people don't bring that up. You have to. To me, that felt like the one other than Josh, but walking into that everyone was collectively like, see you, Jordan. 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.

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