Jonna says she was 'set up' on “The Challenge ”season 40: 'So many side deals going on'

"My team was playing to not lose, but not win. And it killed me," Jonna Mannion tells Entertainment Weekly.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Challenge: Battle of the Eras, season 40, episode 6, "My Real Friends Era."

Jonna Mannion is not holding back about her disappointment over how The Challenge season 40 went for her.

The two-time All Stars champion was eliminated in this week's episode along with Brad Fiorenza during a physical, dodgeball-inspired matchup against Rachel Robinson and Cory Wharton, respectively. And while both Jonna and Brad say their opponents won the eliminations "fair and square," they're upset about how they ended up in the elimination in the first place.

Below, Jonna tells Entertainment Weekly why she believes she was "set up" by her own teammates, and Brad reveals why he regrets self-nominating after his fellow Era 1 teammates started that pattern. Plus, they both explain why their side of the elimination was actually more difficult which ultimately led to both of their exits.

Related: Brad reveals why The Challenge season 40 showmance with Emily 'fizzled out'

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was it like competing in that elimination?

JONNA MANNION: That side we were on with the black spikes, I couldn't even see the spikes, dude. It was crazy.

BRAD FIORENZA: It made a difference.

Tell me more about that, because we've seen some controversial eliminations a lot this season already. Was there more to it than what we saw in the episode?

JONNA: No, I wouldn't say that it was controversial by any means. The people who won, won fair and square. But I remember when we were doing the coin toss or whatever, and I just looked at Rachel, I was like, "What side do you want?" And she's like, "Red." And I was like, "Okay, I don't care. It doesn't matter." And I was like, "Why does she want the red side?" And then afterwards, I was like, "Oh, s---. Duh."

BRAD: Yeah, Jonna, when you told me that you didn't care ... it was so hard to process for me because I had just gotten done competing against Cory, and it took me a few minutes to even realize, because you know how it is when you're in there. We eventually spoke about the elimination in the hotel [afterwards], but I couldn't believe that [you gave her that side]. I knew it made a big difference, with the black in the background and the back splash, it did blur together.

JONNA: Why did I do that?! I couldn't see the [spikes]. But let's be honest though, Rachel is a badass, and I think has played every single sport. She's an athlete. I'll admit it, physical eliminations haven't been my strong suit, which is fine, but you have to be ready for whatever it is.

BRAD: That was a very difficult elimination to figure out. My strategy was nowhere near as good as Cory's, and Cory's at the prime of his career in The Challenge. He is so motivated to get that win.

JONNA: Yep. After you lose however many times, you get second place, third place, you know what I mean? After all the finals you run and you don't have that title, it's like, I get it.

BRAD: Right. And I will say, this wasn't the easiest season for me. I don't feel like I did my best. I just didn't get it done, that's on me. When I was competing against him, and then I had to watch it back and I saw his chest pass strategy, and I'm like one arming it like they're footballs and they're off [center] and everything, man, he out-strategized me. He really did. Hats off to Cory for having a better strategy, beating me fair and square. And it was a lot more difficult, in my opinion, than it looked.

JONNA: Yeah, it was. As far as strategy goes, I do think that had the girls gone first, it would've been different. As they were reading the rules, one of the questions that I asked was, "Can we throw the ball out of play?" And they're like, "No, you have to throw them past the rope line and between the spikes and the rope." So I'm not sure if Rachel would've picked up on that strategy had she not seen it with you guys. Who knows? But I was going to do that from the beginning, because if you're ahead, then you can at least throw the balls out so that you stay ahead. I'm not saying I think that I would've won. I think I may have had a little bit of a shot, a little inkling of hope.

But everything leading to me getting into elimination, I knew it was a setup. During trivia, I was hanging, and it was me, Jordan, Tori, and Devin, and at a certain point, Jordan leans back and he looks at Laurel and he is like, "I can't say Aneesa's name." And then Laurel's like, "I can, no problem." And then right then, I start panicking. I was like, "Jordan, don't you want to win? We can't lose." And he's just like, "Jonna, it doesn't matter. You're not the target." Right then, I knew. I was putting all these pieces together. When we were in the house, Devin was just like, "This game is easy. This is just like Ride or Dies. You don't want to win, you don't want to lose."

But I always want to win. I give it 130 percent. I don't care who the target is, I don't want to lose a team member. Flash forward to the challenge with the big heavy Y thing, the one that we just watched last week, there's a part of it at the end that they don't really show where I'm mad at my team. I was pissed off, because they're like, "Set it down," and I'm like, "Why? The finish line is right there. I see it. Let's go. And there's no way that you are gassed out, but I'm not." Devin and Tori are on the line. I don't want to lose Tori, you know what I mean? But as soon as Era 4 won, they're like, "Okay, pick it up, let's go." So my team was playing to not lose, but not win. And it killed me.

And then of course, this whole rotation thing comes into play, and they're like, "It's your turn. You're next." I don't want to go against my team, everybody has to go in, whatever. I go to Tori because Tori is a friend of mine, and I'm like, "I don't know what the guys have going on, but the four of us women, how about we come together and we'll figure out this nomination process?" This was the Saturday, so it's our "off" day, and she's like, "I just want to have an off day. I don't want to talk game today."

BRAD: Brutal.

Related: Cara Maria says Laurel 'mimicked past abuse' in unseen footage from The Challenge season 40 fight

JONNA: But I was like, "I found a solution. We can do the self-nomination thing as long as none of the other Eras know who the next target is." I knew that the self-nomination thing was just a way to have control and choose your [elimination opponent] lineup.

BRAD: 100 percent. It was so obvious. Listen, love and respect to every guy on my team, but when Darrell and Derrick started doing the back and forth volunteering, it started the group think, and all I kept thinking is you guys basically just showed an alliance of you having each other's back over the rest of the guys. I'd be a moron not to take note of that, unfortunately. I consider both close friends and I have nothing against what they did, but it was a matter of seeing what's actually taking place. I knew Mark and I had no arrangement like that, CT and I had no arrangement like that. I felt the same way you did, and that is that there is more to this volunteering than there looks to be.

JONNA: I didn't want to call anybody's game out, but every single one of them had the same agenda. Devin wanted to comply with self-nomination thing, which I found hilarious because the week before when he was the target, Devin literally said, and they don't show it, "Let's be absolutely clear. I'm not self-nominating right now." And then Jenny chose him anyways. But then when it's my turn, he's just like, "You're not self-nominating? You're a bad teammate. This is what our team is doing." Literally just last week you didn't want to be the target because that wasn't part of your plan.

The problem with me being on their team, or the Vacation Alliance, they have their core people, and then they have basically sheep people that follow suit with what they say, and I feel like at a certain point, Devin and maybe Tori realized they can't make me do what they want me to do, so I had to go. So then they stir up all the stuff within the team, "Jonna is not complying, and she's selfish. There's our escape." I was all about Era 3, but I knew there were so many side deals going on and I was being set up. Jordan kept saying, "You're not being set up. We're going to win." And I'm like, "There's a possibility we won't, Jordan." And he's like, "What do you mean? Era 3 is the best." But we don't know what the challenge is!

Literally, the rules to the game, TJ said whoever wins the elimination then gets to select next target. It was literally designed [for the winner to choose], but some people were trying to just get by and not have blood on their hands. And I get that gameplay and whatever, but I didn't want to be the person that ends up going home because of it. And I was right.

BRAD: Put me down for that, Jonna, for real. At that point in the game, the angst levels where we were, you can almost tell, because Era 1 had chalked up so many Ls, we were running out of players, we kind of knew we were getting close to the format switch, if there is going to be one.

JONNA: Yeah. I think that people on my team, even Devin and Tori, knew if we agree to this now, we're not going to have one more round where we then get selected. So of course it made sense for them to do it. I don't know if it's going to switch to individual, but I was hoping to make it past that point because then I wouldn't be pinned as a selfish person. Because to be honest, everybody's playing for themselves. I just didn't want to follow suit with your plan.

Related: Horacio insists he actually won controversial The Challenge season 40 elimination against Derrick

Do you want to do more MTV seasons after returning for this one?

JONNA: Man, this is stressful. I don't know, dude. Season 40 was very difficult to navigate. After the All Stars wins, I was like, "I want to end on a high note," and I feel like I'm ultimately chasing... I want to just end on a good season, and then walk away. But let's be real, I love The Challenge, and I love competing in it. We'll see.

BRAD: This game's been a huge part of my life and I want to leave at my best. I feel like I'm chasing that now. After All Stars 4 and The Challenge 40, I feel like now I'm chasing a performance close to All Stars 3. I had the deja vu loss to Wes in the final, and I wanted more out of myself on the last two seasons. I will be making sure I'm available for the next season. Unfortunately, if I don't get a call, I don't know how much longer I can keep myself available. I'm hoping to get as much opportunity to compete as possible.

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The Challenge: Battle of the Eras airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.