The first winner of Prime Video’s The Goat competition series is still processing their win — and waiting for their prize money.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Paola Mayfield opened up about beating the odds as the underdog, what drove her to win and whether she spent her earnings yet.
“The show is just airing right now. So I have to wait for the prize,” Paola, 37, explained about the $200,000 cash prize, which she won on the Thursday, June 27, finale. “You have to wait because it just happened right now. But I’m OK with that. This is probably the perfect time — with everything happening at once — because I can just celebrate with everybody.”
Paola didn’t mind waiting for the actual prize, adding, “It’s not just about the money — it’s about the fact that I’m an OG. I’m the first one to win the gold. It’s a moment of being proud. And the money is awesome but it’s just this opportunity and being able to celebrate like this.”
The Goat, which started streaming in May, brought over a dozen reality TV stars into GOAT Manor to face off in various challenges for a cash prize and the title of Greatest of All Time. In addition to Paola, Joe Amabile, Reza Farahan, CJ Franco, Teck Holmes, Justin Johnson (a.k.a Alyssa Edwards), Jason Smith, Da’Vonne Rogers, Jill Zarin, Joey Sasso, Lauren Speed-Hamilton and Tayshia Adams competed in the series.
“To be honest, I never expected to win. I thought that I was going to be out the first week or maybe the first day,” Paola admitted to Us. “But the fact that I was able to make it to the end and just to be able to be the OG of The Goat, I can’t stop smiling. I have so many feelings. I’m super, super excited that I finally can say it.”
While reflecting on her time on the show, Paola recalled the turning point when she started fighting to make it to the finish line.
“There was a moment where I knew I was going to be sitting on the chopping block again. There was a moment that I lost that and I was not expecting to lose because I felt like we had it. That’s when I was like, ‘OK, I’m done sitting here [in the elimination chair],'” she noted. “I didn’t want to be sitting there anymore. But the luck didn’t change at the beginning. I didn’t feel like I was going to be voted out, but then there was a moment that I was becoming a number. I needed to step up my game and do something about it.”
Paola, who originally rose to stardom on 90 Day Fiancé, previously discussed her plans to use the prize money to adopt a daughter with husband Russ Mayfield. The couple are still committed to expanding their family despite the obstacles.
“The process is a little bit long. It takes time. The idea is to be able to show them that we have a safe environment and a safe house for a new person to come here. But definitely that is going to happen. It’s not going to happen overnight because that never happened like that,” Paola explained to Us. “I don’t want people to think that I just said that just because I wanted to win. That has been in my heart and something I’ve been wanting to do for a very long time. This money is definitely going to help with that.”
The Goat is currently streaming on Prime Video.
