A new batch of iconic baddies from the world of reality TV have come together to play for a cash prize in House of Villains Season 2, which premieres in just two weeks, and it sounds like there is going to be some major friction in the mansion this season.
The Challenge veteran Wes Bergmann is known for being a force in MTV’s blisteringly tough competition series, repeatedly gaming his way to victory through physical, mental, and social prowess. But when it came to this E! series, it was a whole new ball game.
TV Insider caught up with Bergmann to find out what fans can expect from his turn alongside other reality TV “villains” — including Tiffany “New York” Pollard, Teresa Giudice, Richard Hatch, Safaree, and more — and he predicted fans will be shocked by one of the game moves that coming this fall.
What made you want to join House of Villains?
Wes Bergmann: You know, I’m in the weaning-off period of kind of retiring from The Challenge, but I’ve still got a television and game addiction, and so I feel like House of Villains is a nice way to wean off a little bit, right? Like, if I was trying to stop drinking so much espresso, take a few less shots every day until eventually I was done. And House of Villains is shorter and easier than The Challenge, and so it felt like to scratch a lot of the itch that I still have without it being too large of an obligation.
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So obviously, you’re not the first Challenge alum on the show. Did you receive any advice from Johnny Bananas or take any lessons from his turn on the show?
Yeah, I definitely talked to Bananas about his experience, and I had seen Season 1, so a combination of both had me going into this about as prepared as anyone could be. You know, he’s not the smartest cookie in the box; you can only take his advice so far. And then him and I have very different personalities. So what works for him isn’t necessarily what works for me. And going into the second iteration of anything with a wholly new cast, I mean, I took his advice seriously, but you have to go in and you have to play whatever cards are available.
Speaking of the cast, when you found out who was in there, was there anyone you were really excited or not excited to meet? And did you come in with preconceived notions about any of them?
I have a relationship with New York from a previous project that has not aired — and a long, big one. My relationship with her is very, very good, very fun. I have a lot of respect and love for her. And so when she came in, it was very good as someone that I knew was good, that I could count on. But other than that, I definitely knew of Richard Hatch and kind of had some preconceived notions about him: I think that he was one of those guys that I could tell was going to be really smart. He was going to be the best gamer there, which is both good and bad. Good because it means that I could actually talk to him like another advanced player, but it’s also bad because he’s probably most hyper-aware that I’m going to be the biggest problem. So I had to figure out that balance there. I also think I recognized Teresa Giudice from things, but I didn’t have any previous notions. And then after that, I had no clue who everybody else was.
Is there anyone who kind of stands out as a lightning rod this season?
They all are their own versions of lightning rods. It’s why they got put into this particular game. But I’d say it’s hard to shake a stick at Safaree. I mean, that is a man that demands a lot of attention. And even though he’s obviously obnoxious — I actually mean that in a really endearing sort of way, he’s like that really annoying, but bold kind of guy where you’re like, “Man, I hate this guy, but then, I totally enjoy being around him.” And I think everyone, including I’m sure his family and friends, feel the same way, just like no one actually likes him, but they’re all just drawn to him, and no one can… It’s so inextricable and unexplainable. But I mean all that as a compliment, and I think he would describe himself the same way.
About you, I don’t know that all Challenge fans would characterize you as a villain. Are you stepping into that a little bit more with the show or just kind of leaning on other people’s perspectives?
You know, I kind of consider myself a villain way. I see why some of The Challenge fandom is definitely having a hard time wrapping their head around me being a villain. I get it. I’m really a hero. I save the day. I go after the bad guys. All that is true, but I’m also totally prepared to burn the bad guys a lot. When someone becomes a bad guy, I end up doing worse to them than whatever they did to become a bad guy. And so my punishments for bad people are not fair and not just, and in a way that makes me worse than them. But I think that one of the definitions of villain in terms of reality television and who is one is who is prepared to do whatever it takes to win. And I am definitely going to be bringing that mantra into this game.
You have a lot of experience with physical challenges and mental and social games. How much does your Challenge experience help you in this particular game?
I’d say my experience only hurts me because it’s so much more experience. I mean, shoot, I’m trying to find a way to not insult everybody else. They just go from different worlds, and it’s not even. I almost want to say all of my Challenge experience is as much as all of theirs combined. But it’s actually like, you combine all of their challenges and game experience and then multiply it by 20, now you’re somewhat getting to where I’m at. And so it’s like, can I walk into some of these games and kind of reverse engineer what the answer is and how the referees want me to play, and all that kind of stuff? The answer is yes, but it also means that they’re all hyper-aware that I’m going to be able to do the same thing, which just makes me an immediate threat. And I’d almost rather be a C-minus of the games but be able to do so under the radar because it’s — these types of games are going to be the types anyone can win, right? And if that’s the case, then I don’t actually really have that much of an advantage in the games, but yet, their perceived notion that I do is going to make me kind of have a big spotlight on me.
Is there anyone from The Challenge that you’d recommend for House of Villains in a future season?
Yeah, there’s two that come to mind from either gender. So Ashley “Millionaire” Mitchell would be hard to not put her up as someone that deserves one of these spots. I mean, she stole half a million dollars from Hunter [Barfeld]. I mean, that’s a villain. I was just with her all weekend at a wedding, and she is hilarious, and she’s a big draw from The Challenge. There’s three things that are required to get you on the show: You have to be able to bring your fandom over to the show, check; you’ve got to be a villain — she stole half a million for one example, I’ve got more, so check; and then she is legitimately hysterical, check. And so on the male side, I would say Devin Walker, very similar things to where it would be the biggest of those is he a villain or not, and I think in a similar situation to me, I think that he does really bad, mean, manipulative things to bad people. And to put him — I mean he knows how to push buttons, he knows how to be manipulative — he’s debatably one of the biggest trolls of all television. I’m a good troll, but he is a mega troll, and all of that would just be an explosive season for the cast member.
What other surprises can we look forward to from you this season?
Well, I kept my cool for a large part of things and really tried to have a main mission, which was to be funny. That’s the reality of what I came in there as my number one priority: “Don’t take this too seriously. This is supposed to be a parody on reality television. Winning the game would be great, staying a long time would be great, but the fans should care more about humor in a game like this than anything.” And I did that, but then I get crossed at some point, and then kind of some really villainous behavior comes out. And so I think that I end up, because of that, it’s kind of like the best of both worlds: I was funny for a large portion of my time, but I also did some bad things. Oh yeah, and I would say there is a chance — this is airing at the end of 2024, so what I’m about to say I don’t think is an exaggeration. But I did something in this game that’s going to be a central storyline of it, that is going to be debatably the most controversial move done in all reality television this entire year.
House of Villains, Season 2 Premiere, Wednesday, October 9, 10/9c, E!
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