Why Adam & Flora Left The Challenge Behind, What They’ve Been Doing & Why They Returned Now (Exclusive)

Returning for the first time since The Gauntlet 2 in 2005 is Road Rules: The Quest alum Adam Larson, while Real World: Miami star Flora Alekseyeva is competing in her first Challenge since Battle of the Seasons — alongside Larson — back in 2002. All Stars 4 finds the pair facing off against a group of “old-school legends, modern power players, redemption-seekers and ex-lovers” in South Africa, for a prize of $300,000.

After around 20 years away from MTV cameras, TooFab caught up with them both — as they revealed why they walked away from the spotlight.

“There’s so many reasons,” said Larson, now 45, who revealed he was asked back for other seasons back in the day but a job in the wine spirits industry prevented that from happening. “I kind of went out at a time when it was getting very– It probably wasn’t the time for me to come back. I preferred to compete in different sort of ways.”

“I was trying to act, but nobody thought it was legitimate for me to do shows. I had a family and real jobs, and I wasn’t able to come back. So, there’s like every excuse imaginable of why I didn’t come back,” he continued, saying that he didn’t want The Challenge “to become my career.”

He later got a little more candid about his decision to step away from the show, saying “the reason I got out is that I saw what was happening to everybody, from doing them back-to-back to back-to-back.”

“It was ruining colleges. It was ruining friendships. It was ruining people getting f–king jobs and careers. I was running a mechanical bull in Hollywood and busting my ass, going to acting classes and doing everything else,” he continued. “For me, I didn’t want to get off course on life, on being successful so that I could have a family and could provide others the same opportunity to dream like my parents gave me just because, like, I was so enjoying the spotlight.”

Larson is now father to two young daughters, who he posts about often on social media.

While Larson competed in three different Challenges before leaving reality TV behind, Flora was a one-and-done, only appearing on Battle of the Seasons a good six years after her season of Real World aired. For Alekseyeva, life also got in the way.

“For me, it was very similar to Adam. I’m a single mom. My daughter’s dad passed away when she was 10. So, for me, it was do-or-die, survive mode, and to make sure that I kept the lifestyle that I was accustomed to,” shared Flora, now 53. “I just didn’t want anything to change for my daughter when her dad passed away. So, it was work, work, work, work, you know, making sure that she’s on the right track.”

She explained that her main priority was taking care of her family, so returning in the 2000s “was not an option for me.”

Returning to the real real world was pretty easy for Flora, who said her reality TV past was “out of sight, out of mind” once she stepped away from it.

“For me, reality is what I live. That’s my reality. I get up in the morning. I make sure my daughter eats her breakfast. I still pack her little lunchbox because when she goes on the [tennis] court, I want to make sure she has her fruits and water. And then off I go to the runnings, designing houses, building them,” she explained. “I know I’m going to walk down the street, and I’m going to turn heads — whether they’re going to throw eggs at me or flowers, I don’t know — but I’m going to turn those heads. So, for me, reality is what I live and not on TV. I love it.”

Larson also spoke about what it was like to go from being a reality TV star to going back to everyday life, explaining why being on shows like Road Rules and The Challenge was such an eye-opening experience for him in retrospect.

“When you’re growing up, you always wanna be a part of something. All of a sudden, when you’re a part of something, the specialness is taken away from it,” he explained. “So, like going to clubs and standing in lines and being VIP, like all of those types of things, I’m so glad, because the show gave me this taste of a certain lifestyle. Like it wasn’t fame, but there was a little bit of recognition. There wasn’t, like, money, but I wasn’t uncomfortable financially, right?”

“And I really think that it allowed me to focus on what actually generates my passion and feelings and emotion in life,” continued Larson. “Also, it allowed us to watch ourselves in this weird, unbiased third person perspective where even when we knew that the editing was, like, us at our worst, we’re like, ‘Yep, still gave it to ’em though,  so, f– it.’ … Eventually, you own it, and you’re like, is that who I want to be?”

As both of them have welcomed children since last appearing on a Challenge, we had to ask what their kids think about their reality show pasts — if they can even find them!

“It’s cool. It’s cool for our kids, whether they’re 9, 10, or 18. We’re still the coolest parents out there,” said Flora, before Adam actually called his children into the room for their reactions. While the girls didn’t share their takes, Larson explained how he showed them his past seasons, as they aren’t currently available on streaming and he doesn’t have a VCR for his old VHS tapes.

“We watched it in Turkish subtitles … it was completely pixelated and everything. I found it from, like, one of the fans had a site where he, like, I could go and find the episodes because I don’t have a– I don’t have a VCR anymore,” he said.

Their children also played a big role in why they both decided to return to The Challenge now.

For Flora, her daughter had finished high school and was ready to start college when she filmed. “She was old enough for me not to have to make sure she’s okay, because she’s okay,” she explained, saying the teen’s grandparents were also ready to lend a helping hand. Alekseyeva also joked, “I thought to be the coolest mom in the world, when she goes to college, how cool is it? ‘My mom was on The Challenge.’ These kids in college still watch this.”

She also shared that she had to be in a good place financially and emotionally before she ever returned, following the death of her husband.

“I worked my butt off to get to where I want to be. And I needed to do that before I could say, ‘Phew, now, I can go and play and do something for myself and make my daughter proud.”

For Larson, he said the “stars aligned” this time, before adding that returning to the show “helped me financially” and got him to a place where he “was ready to perhaps thrive again.” But that wasn’t his only reason to return.

“I really wanted to model certain things for the girls, whether that was the work ethic, what love could look like and how to be treated by other people, how to treat others but still be able to be respected or not be walked over,” he said. “It’s really cool that they gave us an opportunity to show us in a different season of our life. Like, there’s so many parents … there’s so many great things to bond over. Whereas a couple of decades ago, it was kind of like whatever, bar appearances or spring breaks. It was beautiful.”

Added Flora, “We try to portray the best of us because maybe back in the days when we were on Road Rules, Real World, trust me, I wasn’t a wholesome little flower. So, I’m hoping here at least I could say, ‘Hey, this is mommy. This is the real me.’ Where before I was young, crazy, didn’t give a crap. So hopefully, you know, this time around, you know, we show our kids that. What life really is all about and how we really are as grownups.”

The first two episodes of The Challenge: All Stars 4 are streaming now on Paramount+.