Stars on Mars winner Adam Rippon reveals what you didn't see on the season 1 finale — and why he almost threw the mission

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

When Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon landed in the bottom three on the season premiere of Fox's Stars on Mars, he argued he should be spared elimination because "I'm one of the hottest people here." It worked. He survived to play another day, and ended up transmitting a message about his hotness to the world to win the season in Monday's finale.

"That's what I'm most proud of, that I could be too hot to get eliminated, which ended up being true," Rippon tells EW.

Rippon admits he didn't feel "destined to be the brightest star" and says runner-up Tinashe actually had his vote. "I think she played the game the best. She was so good. She was a great leader. She was a great friend. There were so many times where maybe I was struggling and she helped me. I was in the mindset of I'm gonna do my best, but Tinashe should win."

In fact, Rippon reveals when the pair advanced to the final mission after besting pal Porsha Williams in a game of trivia, he actually planned to throw the competition if the singer was trailing behind.

"I decided in my mind that if Tinashe does it first, she wins, and if I get all my stuff together first, I'm gonna just wait for her and we'll win at the same time," the Runthrough and Normalize This podcast host recalls. "That was my master plan, which did not work."

The final mission required the competitors to connect cables to power up a satellite and insert a DVD with a pre-recorded message with the winner getting to broadcast theirs to Earth. ("This is the grand prize?" Rippon remembers thinking.) But Rippon describes hearing Tinashe, whom he had a head start on, struggling more than he expected under grueling conditions.

"We're wearing earpieces so we can hear what the other is saying and we can also hear [host] William Shatner, and I can hear her being like, 'Oh my God, I can't figure this out. What is this?'"

He says the finale did not show that he trekked across the sand to help guide the singer in where to plug the cables in, until Shatner yelled at him to return to his own satellite.

"So I run back and I'm setting everything up and I'm kind of done and Tinashe, she's like, 'I don't think I'm gonna get it done.' I'm like, 'Yes you can. I'm gonna wait for you.'"

But he says Tinashe told him not to.

"We had been out there for so long. We're sweating and William Shatner is covered in flies, and she's like, 'Let's just go. Come on, Adam, go!' and I'm like, fine.... So I kind of win a little bit against my own will, but I had it with Tinashe's blessing."

His grand prize transmission went as follows: "From Mars, this is Adam Rippon. When I began my journey here on the Red Planet, I had no idea what to expect. I quickly learned that being hot doesn't make you a great astronaut, which feels like it should a little bit. More importantly, I learned that life is all about the journey and the connections you make. So let the ones you're close to know how much they mean to you as often as possible. I'm sending you so much love and I can't wait to see you back on Earth."

Rippon, who also won Dancing With the Stars season 26, says he already has his "Brightest Star in the Galaxy" trophy — which he describes as "truly just a patch glued onto a paperweight, which is so funny and amazing" — on display in his home office.

"I mean, if William Shatner gives you something, you display it."

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