The Challenge: Spies, Lies and Allies eliminated player admits the mistake that cost him the game

Warning: This article contains spoilers about Wednesday's episode of The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies.

One of The Challenge's most infamous winners (IYKYK) loves to remind everyone that there's no honor among thieves, and rookie Logan Sampedro learned that the hard way in this week's episode of The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies.

After making a deal not to turn on his fellow Ruby cell member Nelson Thomas, and refusing to betray his friend Devin Walker, the Survivor Spain alum decided to pick Emmanuel Neagu as his elimination opponent. In the endurance-based elimination, Sampedro ended up losing to Neagu, a well-known endurance threat.

"It's difficult because now with time I think I made a mistake picking my friend Emanuel," Sampedro tells EW. "I was able to pick maybe Nelson. Devin was my best friend so Devin for me was not an option because you have to respect always your No. 1, but why not Nelson? Why not?"

Regardless of how his game ended, Sampedro is still walking away from his first season of The Challenge with his head held high after winning two previous eliminations and four daily challenges. Not bad for a rookie! "I'm not mad," he says. "I'm very happy because everything was awesome. I won a lot. I love to win so it was good for me. Not perfect, but so good."

Below, EW had Sampedro break down his decision to pick Neagu, what happened during that elimination, what happened with his leg injury earlier this season, and more.

mtv

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Why pick Emanuel instead of your other options? If you had picked Nelson instead, do you think you would have won?

LOGAN SAMPEDRO: For sure if I pick Devin, I can win. But that is not the way I play, because I like to play clean and with respect. Maybe if I pick Nelson, in endurance he's so good, everyone knows that, but maybe he has to jump a lot and he's small so maybe it's difficult to jump the obstacle. Maybe I had a chance there.

How long did that elimination last?

Maybe 45 minutes, running in sand and jumping. We had 15 seconds to go and come back and then after 40 minutes they changed to 10 seconds and that was too much for me. I think I only did like three or four times with 10 seconds. After that I was over. It was too much for my [injured] leg and also for everything, for here [pats heart] and the breath. It was hard.

Were you keeping an eye on Emanuel to see how he was holding up during the elimination, or were you just focused on yourself?

At the beginning, I don't care about Emanuel, I'm going to just focus on my game. But when I feel like I'm going to die, I say, "I'm going to check Emanuel because maybe he's dying also." But I check on Emanuel and he was jumping very easy and I was like, "F---, he's not close to dying." I tried to keep going until my body can't because I never thought, "I'm going to stop here." I'm going to run until the legs broke. Or until death.

mtv

What happened when you tripped and fell? It looked like you knew as soon as you fell it was over.

I felt the pain a lot in the jumping. You have to put a lot of energy in the legs. Two minutes after I lost I fell to the floor. It was like a symptom that my body's saying, "We have to stop." I fell to the ground because I had no more energy left. With Cory it was not as physical. F---, I don't want to repeat that.

During the deliberation, what did you think when the Sapphire team voted you into elimination instead of Emanuel, especially since you had already been in multiple eliminations and he hadn't been in any?

Yeah, I hate them. I hate Emy and I hate CT, more CT than Emy because I know that Emy is the best friend of Emanuel and obviously Emy is going to save her friend. But I didn't understand why CT didn't save me. He said, "Logan, I'm not going to vote you," but he said that knowing that Kyle and Emy both vote for me. So that is stupid. I'm not stupid. I know that the strategy was to vote me and you say that to clean yourself or something. So yeah, I hate them because I was there with them playing in the Sapphire two times and we won two times and we were a good team.

Do you think CT ended up voting for you too?

I think CT voted for Emanuel, but just [to be] political because he knew that his vote doesn't matter. But he wanted to vote me because he told me, "I'm going to vote for you because I want you on my team. So if you win, you can come to my team." And I say, "F--- you. If I win, I don't go to your f---ing team."

Do you regret not speaking up more during the deliberation to defend yourself and convince Sapphire to vote for Emanuel instead of you?

No. First Devin says, "If you guys vote me or someone that will call me, I'm going to be mad." So they say, "Okay, we are not going to vote Devin." And Nelson says, "If you call me, I'm going to call Devin." So they say, "Okay, we can't call Nelson." Then it was between Emanuel and me. Emy is going to save Emanuel, Kyle is going to save Emanuel because I put Kyle in the challenge before and I changed with Kyle on the team. So I can talk but it is for nothing. If you don't want to save me, I can talk for one hour but it is not enough. I knew if they didn't want to vote Nelson, it's me. And I don't know why I made a deal with Tori and Nelson to keep the team, the Ruby team that sucks. It was stupid because if not, for sure I call Nelson. It was not because I was afraid, it was because we had a deal. Because I prefer Emanuel than Nelson, 1,000 times.

mtv

You spoke a lot this season about how difficult the language barrier was for you, and in a game that relies just as much on social politics as it does physical performance, I can't imagine how complicated it must have been playing it in another language. What was that like for you?

Yeah, I always hated English in school, always doing so bad, and in university also. In The Challenge, I knew I have to do something different. I can't defend myself with English because it's very difficult. I don't have the words enough to talk and to solve problems and to defend my everything. So I'm going to be real with people, I'm going to make real friends. That move is better than words and to talk. So I made friends with Josh and Devin and Ed and at the end that is more important that to have a political game and to be a snake and to make plans. Ed saved me and Josh tried to save me a bunch of times. Friendship!

How did the actual experience compare to what you expected it was going to be like?

I watched the last season, so I had in my head some ideas, but it was harder and also I did better than I thought. I'm very proud. I made a bad move at the end, but it was good.

You also injured your leg earlier this season. How serious was it?

I play soccer here in Spain all my life. This injury, I had it before so I know how it works. I broke, behind the leg is like a muscle, a long muscle, and I just stretch it too much and broke the inside of that. Normally it's like three weeks of being chill and [not doing] sports. It's like a thunder, like a crack, and I felt that running. I said, "Okay, I'm done here." But I don't like to leave like that. I say, "I'm going to wait. I can fight. I'm going to wait until someone can [send] me home. I'm done, but not yet. You have to beat me in elimination." Maybe the elimination is not running. And I was lucky, I was like recovering little by little almost until the end. But that elimination was the worst for my leg, like running in sand and jumping. I prefer something like fighting or Hall Brawl or something shorter in time.

It's impressive you lasted that long in the season with an injury of that magnitude, because we've seen a lot of people get sent home for injuries that are a lot less serious in the past.

The people in the house, when you are inside the game they are very competitive. But the other days that you're resting, they were helping me with the injury, they have machines to recover it and they were like giving me tips to recover it, like stretching in the water. They were helping me. It was very nice, like Nelson, CT. Not my best friends, like my enemies. They [were] trying to help me also, so it's good. Gentlemen! But then onscreen they were like, "We have to go against Logan because he's injured." [Laughs] But it's okay because they were trying to help me also, 50/50.

What did you learn from your experience this season?

I learned that most of the people don't care about friendship. They only care about the game. Maybe I have to change my mind, my plans, if I have the opportunity to come back in the future. I have to go more professional, more focused on the game. But also be myself, so I don't know. [Laughs] Maybe I have to be the same guy. I don't know how to separate the friendship with the game because if you are my friend, you are my friend here and in the game as well.

mtv

So you're definitely interested in coming back for future seasons?

If I have the chance, yes. I'm getting ready just in case. [Laughs] Training, puzzles, and weird things.

What was your favorite part of this season?

When I beat Cory, because at that point, I thought, "I'm done here. This elimination is because they want Cory to win," because Cory is training all the time with the ropes and I am injured. For two days I thought I was done. And I beat him and I say, "F---, I'm so good." Because I didn't expect it. That was the only one that I thought, "I'm going to lose." Even with Emanuel, I think I have a chance here. I know how to run. But Emanuel also did so good. He was like throwing up after the elimination. [Laughs] So it was not easy for him either.

Do you have anyone you want to get revenge on in future seasons after what happened this season?

I don't have like a big enemy but if CT comes back, I'm going to go against CT. I don't want to play the "afraid, wait" game like the vets this year who were like, "I don't want to go against CT because CT is very dangerous." For me, it's a little bit like, not fake, but very professional because now he doesn't talk with anyone and in the game was like talking with everyone, making strategies, talking, and now no one talks with CT.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Related content:

• The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies recap: The final elimination is here — with a massive twist

• The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies recap: Devin's gone power-mad

• The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies recap: Uh oh, who pissed off CT?