Josh Martinez Is Done Being Misunderstood (Exclusive)
Right now, Josh Martinez is "dark." He has no phone, no social media, and no contact with the outside world. For the next 17 weeks, the Big Brother winner and The Challenge veteran will be locked inside a house for Telemundo's La Casa de los Famosos, competing in what he describes as a Spanish-language Hunger Games.
"I’m freaking the f--k out," the Miami native, 32, tells me just a few days before handing his devices over to production. "I’ve turned down a few big projects for this one because I feel like this is going to break me into the Latin market. It’s a dream of mine."
For fans who first met Martinez as the polarizing, pot-banging 23-year-old who pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Big Brother history, the man heading into La Casa is unrecognizable in some ways. The self-described "emotional wreck" is still there–he’ll be the first to tell you he still wears his heart on his sleeve—but it’s now housed in a more disciplined form, one that's been through the ringer of a decade-long reality TV career.
From Rock Bottom to Reality TV
Long before he started jetting across the world to film different shows, Martinez was a college graduate facing a family financial crisis. "We basically lost everything my senior year," Martinez says. "I was the heaviest, most unhealthy I’d ever been physically. I was unhappy with the way my life was going. My back was against a wall, and I told myself: I need a breakthrough."
That breakthrough later came in the form of a $500,000 check and a crash course in public perception. While he won Big Brother 19, he was branded a "bully" by a very divided audience—some of whom argued his victory was more a f--k you to his opponent than a win in his own right.
"It was so hard," Martinez admits. "Unless you’ve been in that house, you don't understand it. It f--ks you up. I felt very misunderstood by the public. I showed the best sides of me and the worst sides of me, and I struggled with that for a long time."
"Thankfully, my blessing was my family, my support system," he says, reflecting on that time in his early 20s. "Without my family, I don't know where the hell I would be, because they kept me grounded and focused on the bigger picture and supported me through all of that."
Finding Fitness and The Challenge
If Big Brother was his introduction to the world, The Challenge was his introduction to himself. After realizing he wasn't "athletically fit" enough to compete with the franchise's elite, Martinez started intermittent fasting and found a local CrossFit "box" in Miami that changed his trajectory.
"It’s my therapy," Martinez says of his training. "I am the strongest version of myself mentally thanks to fitness. If I’m feeling in the dumps, if I’m feeling moody or depressed, I go for a run. I sweat it out."
Even as his lifestyle has changed a lot, he tries to maintain balance. "I try to stay active, especially on the road. Everybody knows that I love food. Everybody knows I love a good drink," he says.
Stepping Out of His Comfort Zone
While The Challenge became the platform where Martinez physically transformed, he recently reached a point where he felt the need to evolve beyond the franchise. After multiple seasons and zero Finals appearances–a statistic viewers love to remind him of–his hunger to win shifted.
"I said, ‘I want to step out of my comfort zone in my reality career. I want to do something different,’" Martinez says. That desire led him to turn down major projects—including a spot on The Challenge 42—to pursue La Casa de los Famosos. For him, it’s about growing and expanding beyond an audience that seems to only know one version of him.
"I’ve always been me," the Destination X star says. "I’m a very flawed person, but I have a good heart, and I’ve never shied away from my genuine emotions and my just my authentic self." By walking away from the "safety" of the MTV roster, Martinez is betting that his authentic self is enough to carry him into a new chapter.
"I'm not saying I'm done with The Challenge," Martinez clarifies. "I want to feel respected and appreciated for what I'm bringing. And I felt for a while I wasn't. So that's why I'm kind of decided to walk away from that and focus on other things."
Living in the Public Eye
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His physical glow-up and steady stream of TV gigs didn't exactly quiet the haters, though. For years, the internet has been filled with speculation regarding Martinez’s sexuality, a pressure that he addresses with the weariness of someone who has heard it all before.
"There's this constant pressure to define everything," Martinez says. "I’ve never really felt the need to label myself or to say I’m this or I’m that. I’m just Josh."
He admits it has taken nearly a decade to build the armor necessary to handle the constant dissection of his private life. "I really just don't care anymore. Every single aspect of my life has been attacked, has been judged…from the way I speak everything, the way I compete, the way I look, who I'm sleeping with, my sexuality, the way everything has been destroyed, to where it's built me to like I just don't care," he says. "People are just gonna have an opinion, and you gotta be okay, and you also can't give a s--t. And there's so much freedom in that. So like, if I want to go on a show and sleep with whoever I want to sleep with, or date whoever I want to date, I'm okay with it, but it's taken nine long years to get to this point."
That freedom, however, doesn't make the logistics of dating any easier. "It has ruined some relationships for me that I felt like could be serious," he says, reflecting on the difficulty of maintaining a relationship while living out of a suitcase. "I’ll be six months into talking to somebody and then have to say, 'Hey, I’m leaving for three months.' It’s not ideal. I’ve been given ultimatums: choose your career path or choose me."
Family and Looking Toward the Future
For Martinez, the choice always comes back to the people who were there before the cameras were. The ability to support his family–including his grandmother, who he calls his "biggest fan"–outweighs everything else. "I’m able to make good money in a short amount of time to support myself and my family. Why would you not support that?"
Now, as he enters La Casa, Martinez is looking to merge his two worlds and prove he’s more than just a "gamer." "I’m going up against people that have their audience— icons, actors, people I grew up watching," he says. "But I think the public respects authenticity. I’m not putting on for the cameras. I’m just going to go in there and be Josh."
Whether he's banging pots on a sound stage in California or competing in a 17-week social experiment in Mexico City, his strategy remains the same–stay true to himself after a decade of dealing with the public's opinions about him. "People see through the fake shit," Martinez says. "I don’t have an image to clean. I’m just going to do my thing."