Aneesa Ferreira, 42, admits she ‘thought about’ retiring from ‘The Challenge’ before Season 40

nypost.com:

show’s 40th season, “Battle of the Eras.” However, the 42-year-old admitted that she recently came close to retiring from the MTV competition reality series.“I thought about it, briefly, and then I said, absolutely not,” Ferreira said in an exclusive interview with The Post.“Plus, production is always like, ‘You can’t quit,'” she added. “I’m like, ‘I’m going to be on Medicaid doing this.’ I don’t really want to be geriatric on the show.”Heading into tonight’s “Battle of the Eras” premiere, Ferreira — a member of “Era I” — is the player with the most appearances without winning in the history of “The Challenge.”Despite that record, Ferreira said she embraced being part of the milestone season of the show.“I feel like it’s cool to come back at this age and still be as competitive, maybe more than I was and still be able to prove that I can do hard s–t,” she said. “So it’s a lot about me, you know?

Like, what can I prove to myself? What can I overcome? And then the relationships that I’ve made, it’s hard to step away from it.” Ferreira, who made her reality TV debut on “The Real World: Chicago” in 2002, said she went into her 17th season of “The Challenge” with the goal of finally getting a win.“I think this was the first Challenge that I really wanted.

And I was okay with just having the representation and doing all this great stuff and being Mama Bear and persevering and all this other great s–t,” she explained. “But I’m like, oh my God, all my friends won.

I want to be in that circle too. I was so annoyed.”“So I put my best foot forward,” Ferreira continued. “I’m like, I’m going into this game.