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Adam Rippon says Stars on Mars was 'not the same' after Lance Armstrong's clash over trans athletes

"We're just filming a show here about pretending to be on Mars, just focus on that, [but] he couldn't let it go," the season's winner tells EW, revealing new details that were not shown on TV.

By

Jillian Sederholm

Published on August 29, 2023 08:30AM EDT

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Stars on Mars season 1 finale.

Fresh off being named Stars on Mars season 1 winner, Adam Rippon is sharing new details about the clash that rocked the show earlier in the season when disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong shared his divisive views on trans athletes.

"That's when everything changed, when Lance brought up his opinions on trans athletes and sports. In the show, it's a few minutes, but in reality, that was a long-winded conversation and it really shifted the focus," Rippon tells EW of the heated debate that took place on the July 10 episode. "It changed my experience totally. It was not the same after that."

The Olympic figure skater shares that the confrontation took place after the celebronauts had finished their mission and were getting ready for bed. But the way their living quarters were set up, sound carried. "I think when people could hear this conversation that Lance started, I think some people were like, 'I'm getting out of here, this is not the right place, not the right time.'"

But others chose to confront Armstrong, with Porsha Williams trying to squash the discussion altogether, while Tinashe and Ariel Winter jumped in to counter his argument that trans athletes should be put into a separate division. On the episode, Rippon stays out of the fray, only calling it "disheartening" to Winter afterward. But he tells EW that was not where things ended in reality.

Adam Rippon and Lance Armstrong on Stars on Mars — Adam Rippon and Lance Armstrong on 'Stars on Mars'. Fox

"What happens next is Lance comes over and we have a conversation, me and him, for probably the next 15 or 20 minutes. It just wouldn't end," Rippon says. "Every time I'm saying something, I'm lilting, like it's over, let's just stop. He couldn't let it go. And it made me wildly uncomfortable."

He says he felt pressure to speak up as a queer athlete. "I wanted to be a representation of the LGBTQ+ community and that was a moment where I wanted to say something, but I don't know everything about being a trans person," Rippon shares. "I do know that a lot of the things that were said that were not on the show were very transphobic and I'm glad that trans people didn't need to watch what was said. It was not nice and it was not good in any sort of way."

Rippon calls trans issues a "hot topic" and says trans athletes involvement in sports is an important discussion to have, but that Armstrong's argument that there isn't enough research about it is counterintuitive. "I think in sports, obviously there's a conversation to be had that is totally legitimate, but if you want the research, if you want the studies, [trans athletes] have to be allowed in these spaces," he says.

It wasn't just the content of the conversation that irked the Olympian.

"The person talking about this is the most recognized cheater in all of sports. So it's just not the right time, it's not the right person. Just focus on what [host] William Shatner has to say and just get your job done."

Armstrong quit Stars on Mars after moping around for several more episodes. Rippon says they have not spoken since, but that he was not surprised to learn the former cyclist, who was stripped of seven Tour de France titles and an Olympic bronze medal in 2012 for doping, had launched a podcast series discussing trans athletes.

"It just made total sense because he couldn't let it go when it was happening," Rippon says. "Everybody was like, 'Stop talking, please stop talking about this. Let's just focus on the mission. We're just filming a show here about pretending to be on Mars, just focus on that,' [but] he couldn't let it go and nobody wanted to let him have the last word…. He was obsessed with not being able to get the last word."

Hear more from Rippon on his own podcasts, The Runthrough, where he talks figure skating with longtime friend and fellow Olympian Ashley Wagner and NBC Olympics researcher Sarah Hughes, and the culture podcast Normalize This co-hosted with Danielle Young.

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