Keanu Soto arrived on The Challenge: Cutthroat with a reputation to build and high expectations. He beat Brad Fiorenza in his first arena, and by the time the Gray Team was picking up the pieces after Episode 5’s “Jungle Brawl,” the Big Brother alum was telling anyone who’d listen that he’d go back down as many times as it took.
That volunteering helped him get sent in against Nelson Thomas in “Knot So Fast” — and what ended his rookie season. But Keanu says viewers only saw half of what he told his team.
“This editing is kind of tricky,” he tells Gold Derby. “In the edit, it made it seem like I was just saying, ‘Hey, I’m willing to go down there every single time.'” The part that didn’t make it: he only wanted to go in against Orange.
Below, Keanu talks about the strategy he was pitching before the daily challenge, how CT Tamburello and Johnny “Bananas” DeVenanzio coaching Nelson from the stands didn’t help him in the arena, what Nelson admitted afterward, and where his social game goes from here. He also weighs in on the current season of Big Brother and names the two players he wants to see win.
Gold Derby: Fans were calling for you to do The Challenge as soon as your season of Big Brother ended. What was it like to finally get your first one in the bag?
Keanu Soto: It was good, man. Will [Williams] and Vinny [Panaro] on my season of Big Brother were hyping me up saying I was a shoo-in for it and giving me history lessons while I was in the house on really badass moments. So I was really excited to potentially make some of those myself when I got the opportunity, and I’m hoping a lot of my fans were pleased with my performance.
You won your first trip into the arena and sent Brad home in “Winning Numbers,” and he told me afterward he’d rather go up against CT, Bananas, and Jordan Wisely back-to-back-to-back before facing you again. That’s a hell of a compliment coming from a vet like that. What does that kind of respect mean to you?
I did hear that — someone clipped it and sent it to me. That’s obviously nice to hear, because respect isn’t just given, it’s earned. So for me to have earned that from him, I’m sure after a performance like that the other veterans in the house would at least think twice about sending me in there against someone they want to stay. That means everything.
You said after the daily challenge that the whole purpose was for Orange to lose, and Gray just couldn’t seem to figure it out. What were you seeing that they weren’t? It looks like Orange is just walking away with this thing.
In the house it was apparent that Orange was doing just that. On paper, the Gray team very much looked like it would be the most athletic and probably the best team, experience aside. But we knew that Orange team’s experience was going to be an equalizer at some point, and up until then it had proven itself to be.
I understood my position on my team. I knew that after my dominant win against Brad, I was probably going to see the sand every single male elimination. I wasn’t oblivious to that. But I told them, if that’s going to be the case, you can’t be sending me in against Blue Team. That’s not going to move the needle for us.
If I’m going to be this sacrificial lamb, I’m OK with that, but at least make me go in against someone that would turn the tables in our favor if they go home. So before that daily, I went to the Blue Team and I was like, look guys, this isn’t about either of us winning, it’s about Orange losing. I don’t care which one of us wins. Me going against Nelson — what is one of us going home going to do for either of our teams? Nothing.
But you did say, “I’ll keep going down into the sand.” Was it a mistake to say that, or did you know they were going to do it anyway?
This editing is kind of tricky, because what I just told you is what I relayed to them. In the edit, it made it seem like I was just saying, “Hey, I’m willing to go down there every single time.” I am, because I understand that’s going to be my position no matter what. But the little caveat there was that I was telling them exactly what I just told you. It doesn’t do us any favors for me to go up against Josh [Goldstein] or Nelly every single time. That’s not going to help us move the needle forward. We need to be going against them. So from here on out, it’s not about either of us winning. It’s about them losing.
You get down there against Nelson, who’s sort of the sentimental favorite this season after everything he’s been through, and you can hear CT and Bananas coaching him through the rope. Chris Underwood says it in the diary room while he’s watching — you’ve got CT and Bananas explaining what to do, why not just listen and do that?
It’s easy for Chris to say that in hindsight. People forget with those little confessionals that it’s not like they pluck us in the middle of the action and go, “Hey, why didn’t he do that?” He got to say that after the fact.
Once T.J. blew the horn, yeah, they were giving Nelson advice. But you could see from the outset that our initial strategies were already different, before anyone in the stands said anything. My experience with any sort of similar game was in Big Brother — I had a Block Buster, as they called it, that was unraveling a tangled rope. So my strategy going in, before anyone said anything, was just to try to weave in and out.
Nelly already had a general idea of what he wanted to do. He told me after the elimination that he had an advantage because he’s seen CT do that three or four times. He knew to make a bird’s nest already. And then CT and Johnny were telling him, ‘Do these three things, hop it over here, jump through there.” That’s not going to help me. If I’d heard them initially say “make a bird’s nest” — first of all, I didn’t even know what that was. Now I do. But they were giving instructions like, “Put that side over here and then jump through.” That didn’t really help me.
I knew to listen to them, but by the time I was enlisting one strategy and I saw what my pile of rope looked like compared to his, it was going to be hard to just put it all back into a pile. It would’ve wasted too much time.
That’s a pretty good example of what experience is worth. We’ve seen you on Big Brother, we’ve seen you here — the physicality is there, maybe the social game needs work. What’s the plan moving forward?
There’s always going to be fine-tuning for my social game. I think that’s something my fans in particular are probably going to want to see for my overarching character arc — he’s always had the physical attributes, he’s always had the competition prowess, is he ever going to get his social game together? And you know what? We’re going to have to find out.
Every single time I go on one of these things, it’s only going to get better and better. This was a little more unique than Big Brother because there are already preexisting relationships. That’s something on this show that’s going to help me out. The more I play, the more relationships I build, and the less of a struggle it’s going to be from the outset.
I think we kind of like Keanu against the world a little bit, though. That’s part of what we enjoy.
That’s my cross to bear, brother. It’s always going to be like that.
You were America’s Favorite Player on Big Brother. Are you keeping up with this season? Anyone you’re eyeing?
In my fantasy draft I picked Rick Devens and La Trice “Lala” Verrett, so I’m rooting for them. I need them to stay as long as possible. But I always opt for the funny person. Right now my two favorites are Devens and Yash Patel. Devens is so chaotic, and I think he’s so entertaining and funny. Yash reminds me a little bit of myself, where he just doesn’t know what’s going on — and I love that. I feel like he’s playing better than me in terms of understanding the dynamics of the house. The longer he’s in there, the more he starts to understand, and I hope he brings it full circle. I’d like to see either of them win.
Last one. Say you go back and get to pick your team — who’s your No. 1 male pick and No. 1 female pick, any season, any era?
Ooh. Dude, I love CT. It’s hard to argue with the experience, and even in his current form he’s still a force to be reckoned with. It’s hard to want to go against that. So I’d pick CT as my guy. For a female, I’d say Evelyn Smith, maybe from way back in the day. I remember watching her in high school and I was like, yeah, she’s a badass. So Evelyn, followed very closely by Tori [Deal] and Kaycee [Clark].
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
