The debut season of The GOAT may have come to an end, but winner Paola Mayfield is ready to keep talking after pocketing the $200,000 grand prize. We caught up with Paola to get her thoughts on becoming the first ever “greatest reality show contestant of all time,” as well as her feud with Da’Vonne Rogers, and who she hopes to keep in touch with now all is said and done.
Paola feels “amazing” after winning The GOAT, reflects on Da’Vonne feud, as well as castmate friendships
“I feel like I’m an OG, I am THE great representation of what The GOAT means,” Paola told us. “I’m so excited.”
Reflecting on her experience, she’s happy she managed to fight back from the brink and go all the way. “The fact when I felt like I was going to be sent home, I got this energy in my body to win for the first time, the immunity of The GOAT, and I felt like that was my biggest moment,” Paola explained. That, and winning of course.
As for her newfound friends? “I love Teck [Holmes], Kristen [Doute], C.J. [Franco], and Joey [Sasso]. I hope I’m not missing anybody. They are the people who had … a really good vibe. With the other ones, I think they just see it as … part of the show. With Jill [Zarin], I get along with her very well too. I love her, even though she wanted to betray me!”
Somebody who won’t be getting a call from Paola, however, is Da’Vonne. “I don’t feel like we were friends on the show; I feel we worked together, but I never felt a connection with her. Not because of me, because I got along with everybody in the house. But I feel like she just wanted to win the competition and not make friends.”
“She was expecting me to just carry her to the end,” Paola added.
The GOAT winner Paola discusses the show’s future, and her ambitions within reality TV
Asked who she’d like to see appear in a future season of The GOAT, Paola told us she wants her husband, Russ Mayfield, to compete. “He’s married to The GOAT, so there’d be a lot of pressure to keep up with that. Maybe he can also bring The GOAT home, but if not, I know there’s so many awesome characters that would do so great on this show.” The 90 Day Fiancé franchise, of which both Paola and Russ are a part of, certainly has some interesting personalities to offer up.
Now though, Paola has her sights set on another competition series. “I would love to be part of Dancing with the Stars,” she admits. “It’s something I’ve been looking at. I feel I can dance.”
She continued: “I feel like at this point, doing The GOAT and being able to do these competitions, and being able to overcome my fear of being a Latina – not being able to maybe do great on trivia and other things that have to do with stuff like American History – I feel like, if it’s physical, I can definitely go for it. Not sure about Survivor or Naked and Afraid! But definitely, I would want to try something new.”
Then, perhaps a brilliant idea. “Or, call me back to The GOAT to defend my title!” Now that would make headlines.
You can stream The GOAT on Amazon’s Freevee, the free streaming service available to Amazon Prime members via Prime Video.
TELL US – WERE YOU HAPPY TO SEE PAOLA WIN THE GOAT SEASON 1? WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THE SHOW RETURN FOR A SECOND SEASON?