Hey Fandom! Welcome back for another episode of Challengers Unplugged: Beyond The Edit. Your hosts Rick, Corrina, Tony and Josh are joined this week by a very special guest and someone we have been dying to talk to - Nelson Thomas! We start out with a very short intro because Nelly is PROMPT (0:00 - 3:30). When Nelson joins us we start out by covering his early life such as where he was born/raised, what his childhood was like, what kinds of athletics he was involved with as a child, his struggles as a young kid in LA, moving to Texas, graduating high school and what his first reality show truly was! We cover everything from his AYTO audition to his history as a Challenge fan and how he found himself on this wild show we all love so much. We get Nelson's thoughts on things like the audience helping Challengers in an elimination, what it's like to try and start a career after being on TV, his favorite country he's been to, TMZ running the false story about him, the evolution of his and Cory Wharton's friendship and the start of TYB. Nelson walks us through living in the shelter on Invasions, losing the final by 2 minutes and 22 seconds, why his rivalries tend to end so quickly, what really happened with Fessy, how things went down with Cory and Shane on Invasions and how he feels finals have changed over the years. We also cover some beyond The Challenge moments such as him volunteering to go into elimination to save Cory on Total Madness, his moment with TJ Lavin in the Spies Lies and Allies final and how he feels about the major expansion of The Challenge. Nelson talks to us about what a rookie is on The Challenge, how he felt about Amber Borzotra's status in the game, why he chose Nurys as his ROD partner, how him and Ashley Mitchell ended up as a kind-of-sort-of thing on Spies Lies and Allies and even shares what was really going on during World Championship and how he felt about being called to be a Legend. Nelson also discusses random topics with us such as reuniting with Kailah after their previous encounter, "Nelsonisms", how social media ruins lives and of course we discuss his recovery from his recent car accident. Nelson shares so much of his story with us and allowed himself to be open and vulnerable with him. We could never properly thank him for that.

We hope you all enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed it. If you'd like to show your love and support for Nelson throughout his recovery journey, you can reach out to him on social media platforms or through his po box at: P.O Box 82336 Austin TX, 78708

Nelson Thomas GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/nelson-thomas-road-to-recovery?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_content=undefined&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer&utm_term=undefined

Nelson Thomas IG: https://www.instagram.com/_nelsonthomas/

Nelson Thomas TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mtv_nelson?_t=8dHVmOfVL7C&_r=1

Nelson Thomas Cameo: https://www.cameo.com/nelsonthomas?

Baggage On The Road: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=baggage+on+the+road

Ryan Holiday: https://ryanholiday.net/10-strategies-for-turning-obstacles-into-opportunities/

Make Your Bed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YNmNd2ncw0

Steve Harvey 100% Success Rate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50Pt-oMmOkE

Tori Dealing With Breaking Up With Alcohol: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3NGKTZ0DW3hNaNchJhsiQy?si=Pm7BwmxaSZWXHAeJAz5Eqw

Challenge Fandom Podcast is on TIKTOK now!: https://www.tiktok.com/@challengefandompod

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TJ Lavin Fans FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/tjlavinfans

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