The Challenge alum Emily trained for her season 40 return as if Laurel was chasing her (exclusive)

No one is more surprised to see Emily Schromm return to The Challenge than ... well, Emily herself.

The legendary Rivals II champion hasn't competed on a regular season since winning with her partner Paula Meronek in 2013 (she did return in 2017 for the shortened charity spinoff Champs vs. Stars, which she also won with Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio and CT Tamburello). But finally, 11 years later, she's officially back for season 40's Battle of the Eras.

"I really never thought I'd open this door again," Emily tells Entertainment Weekly. "Everyone was shocked to see me. They were like, 'We never thought you would do this again.' I said, 'Me either.' I never ever thought, but here we are. I'm so glad I did it."

But Emily didn't take returning to The Challenge lightly. Below, she tells EW the "empowering" motivation she has to win again, and that she trained as if Laurel Stucky was chasing her ... only to arrive and find out that Laurel is actually on her team. But as EW's exclusive sneak peek reveals (in the video above), everyone must first compete in a challenge against their own Era to send almost half of their players into an elimination to make their teams stronger. Will Emily finally get the showdown with Laurel she was preparing for? Read on to see how she feels about going against her own teammate and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Were you getting calls to come back before this? Had you ever considered returning before season 40?

EMILY SCHROMM: Yeah, I definitely had gotten calls. I follow the signs and the day after I sold my gym, they called me for this one, so it was very much, door shut, here I go, life, what's next? And then I got a call for it. So I said, "Yes, that's my sign. It's time to do another one."

You have one of the best Challenge records — you made the final every season you competed on, won your last season and a Champs vs. Stars spinoff, and are undefeated in eliminations. It’s hard not to imagine you winning more seasons if you had continued competing, so why did you stop? 

You have to choose the best path of growth. At that point, because I had done three Challenges back to back to back, and I won it with Paula, there was no more I needed to do. It very much felt like that was what I came to do: I won, and I'm ready to move on to the next chapter. And the next chapter of my life was so fulfilling. It was about helping other people with their nutrition and their fitness and their strength and opening up a gym with the money that I won, this beautiful way of giving back to the world.

There was no temptation to even open up that door again, because as much as I love the competition, it's not just about competing. It's about being in a house full of crazy people and you have to be in a really good place for that. So it never was worth that. And I have done so much internal work, figuring out what I want in life and how to take care of myself and my mental health and stress, and that takes time. I finally felt as if I was good enough in myself to be able to open that door without getting derailed again. I felt ready, emotionally and energetically prepared just as much as I was physically. And production did such an amazing job taking care of us mentally, really making sure we had resources. I was really grateful to see and experience that in a way that it hasn't been addressed before.

So why did you decide to come back now after ending your Challenge career with a win? What else did you want to accomplish?

I spent so many years seeing myself on television and being so unequipped to handle it and really unequipped to handle also the reaction. People love you or hate you, there's nothing you can do about it. But I was so unprepared for the issues that happen when you put yourself on TV that, 14 years ago, it put me in such a dark space that I myself had to really come to terms with my body and how I take care of myself, which led me to this beautiful career of fitness and nutrition and wellness, which I'm so grateful for. It really is because of MTV that this launched and was successful, but I think there's so much more to the life that we have than just our body and our own physical wellness.

The goal is, once you feel confident in yourself, once you feel strong, once you feel healthy, what then? How can I be creative and help make this world a better place? For me, that turned into this deep understanding of our environment is not okay — the way we farm is destroying our environment and also the habitats of animals and trees across the world. So I put all my energy and resources into launching a new business that is all about helping with local food supply chains. It's been so empowering, and it felt like a really great opportunity for me to win [season 40] and start this new business with a really great launching pad that I'm so lucky that MTV has given me.

Now that you have a new motivation, how did you train or prepare to win this season to make that dream a reality?

Oh my God, I prepared so hard. Because it's been 10 years. Every Challenge these people have done when I have been training people at my gym and building businesses, that's what I'm competing against. I don't know if I can out-train that, but I have to try. So of course, puzzles, non-negotiable: tangrams, puzzles, Duolingo, math equations every day, just making my brain think of all the crazy puzzles I can. Then I took it to the next level and I started doing these things underwater.

I trained so hard. I swam every day. I was surfing in the water. I did Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai. I was running. I mean, there's no way I'm going to show up as the winner that I have been in the past and not be the most physically prepared athlete there. I love training, and I'm winning because I'm going to help the world become a better place which was so much more empowering than I'm winning because I just want to have the cash to buy a new something. This mission, this feeling, it was amazing. So lots of breath holds, lots of puzzles, lots of really weird s---, but my friends were all on board. It was a whole team effort. "How do we prepare Emily to get ready to win?" It was so fun.

Did you feel any pressure to live up to your past record?

The pressure is always there, but that's just who I am. I'm such a competitor. I love it because I'm not looking at my opponents and the people either on my team like, "Who's better, me or her?" The Challenge is meant to push you, The Challenge is meant to see what you are made of, and that's what I'm here for.

Aside from competing, tell me about some of the fun you had this season.

[Laughs] Oh, God. I always joke, "How can I be in love with so many people at once?" Many of the people I was in love with were taken, so that's a different story, but there's so much goodness in this cast. Walking in and I'm seeing these people for the first time in 10 years, it's pure joy. It's nothing but fun. Bananas would play guitar and I would climb trees and Jordan would try to sing, and then Tori and I would be doing moon ceremonies on the full moon or the new moon. I've been pulling Oracle cards for people, helping them get spiritually centered. I was helping people meditate before their elimination rounds. It's just this amazing good energy, because we know this isn't going to last forever.

And, of course, that is just the beginning. It fades away as we go, but there's something really special about that initial meeting and getting to know people again, seeing how people's kids are, seeing how many body parts they've injured because everyone's old. And I've been living in a van with my cat for two years almost, so this is a big adjustment, right? I need to stay focused on winning and being ready for really a good time. And for me, a good time is winning.

What can you tease about how this season goes for you?

I don't actually watch the show, truth be told. I hung it up after my win with Paula. I had no interest, it just wasn't my thing. But this game, it's wild. The curve balls that come, you can't prepare. There's no amount of training that can prepare you for what season 40 brings. Holy s---, we've never had so much of an emotional roller coaster. Every single second. It felt like something else happened, some new rule, some new thing. So just be prepared for a really wild and epic season. I'm such an athlete, I just want to compete — tell me the game so I can compete. But it was good for me. It really teaches you how to let go of control. You just couldn't even catch a break. As soon as you thought you knew where you were going, another change. And that was the game.

What was your reaction when you learned the format of the season and saw your team? Because Era 2 is absolutely stacked.

[Laughs] It's kind of a joke. That's what I said: I was like, "This is a joke." Truth be told, I haven't told anybody this, so this is kind of funny — when I'm in my trainings, my runs, my swims, my breath holds, this crazy training program that I have put myself on for this Challenge, there's one person that's in my mind: Laurel. She's the only one I know could potentially beat me, truthfully. I know, I'm not trying to be too egotistical here, but physically matched, Laurel's the only one who could maybe beat me. So in my mind, I'm just constantly being like, "Match Laurel, chase Laurel, Laurel's behind you." I'm a crazy person. I have to make sure Laurel's not going to beat me and I'm ready to go against Laurel. I'm preparing for the elimination of my life, me and Laurel.

So when [I saw that] Laurel's on my team, I'm like, "Well, that was unnecessary." [Laughs] This is epic. Laurel and Cara and KellyAnne and Aviv. I mean, it is just truly, it's not even fair. There's only one way that this can go wrong and it's a communication issue — which is a high probability. So we'll see what happens.

I love that you were manifesting an elimination showdown with Laurel only for her to end up as your teammate.

I know. It was like, "Wow, the universe is so funny." That was not expected. But also it really is motivating when you are thinking about going against Laurel. She's a beast. She's so good at this game and I would be so honored to go against her and win. That's what I'm coming back to. I've been gone for 10 years. If I want to prove my worth in this game, I had to treat myself like a rookie and I have to show up and start competing and there's nobody else I'd want to go against except Laurel. So I was really excited, when she was my teammate, to relax.

What can you tease about how your team works together? Can they all work together or will your team fall apart?

Gosh, I think the writing is on the wall for what's about to happen. It's pretty obvious. We have this weird dynamic between Laurel and Cara that nobody can figure out, so we're all holding our breath. At what point do we intervene because it's not our problem, it's their problem? And in a way, it keeps me protected and Aviv protected and KellyAnne protected. But then you also have Johnny who is such a GOAT. I know he gets a lot of s---, but that's my dude. He is just so solid, and to have him as a teammate is amazing. I listen to Johnny because he has so many reps in this game. So there's some interesting power plays of who's going to listen to who and follow who and give advice.

You mentioned being in love with a lot of the cast, some of whom are taken. Were you in love with any single people? Will we see you get into some romantic drama?

[Laughs] Your girl is just on one. I am wilding out. So yes, you might be seeing some Emily being free as a bird. I love everybody.

Did you get into any new rivalries this season?

I didn't want any expectations of somebody until they were right in front of me or until we met, right? But what really surprised me is, I am so die-hard Era 1 and Era 2, obviously Era 2 first. There's something about the ruggedness and the rawness and the realness of the people who brought this show to life, especially Era 1. I'm almost protective of it. So when Era 3 and Era 4 starts trickling in, I'm like, "Who are you?!" It kind of came out of nowhere, where I really expected to just get along with everyone, but especially Era 4, I'm like, "Where did you come from?" There was a lot of, "I'm not even opening up that door and energy" vibe with Era 4 that was unexpected. Definitely some hard turnoffs, I would say, with these new folks.

You're like, "OGs only, thanks."

Truly. That's how it has to be. We've got to now show them we know how to put them in their place, and so we'll see what happens.

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

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