Aneesa Ferreira has been on “The Challenge” a whopping 16 times, making her a shoe-in to be on the show’s 40th season, “Battle of the Eras.”
However, the 42-year-old admitted that she recently came close to retiring from the MTV competition reality series.
“I thought about it, briefly, and then I said, absolutely not,” Ferreira said in an exclusive interview with The Post.
“Plus, production is always like, ‘You can’t quit,’” she added. “I’m like, ‘I’m going to be on Medicaid doing this.’ I don’t really want to be geriatric on the show.”
Heading into tonight’s “Battle of the Eras” premiere, Ferreira — a member of “Era I” — is the player with the most appearances without winning in the history of “The Challenge.”
Despite that record, Ferreira said she embraced being part of the milestone season of the show.
“I feel like it’s cool to come back at this age and still be as competitive, maybe more than I was and still be able to prove that I can do hard s–t,” she said. “So it’s a lot about me, you know? Like, what can I prove to myself? What can I overcome? And then the relationships that I’ve made, it’s hard to step away from it.”
Ferreira, who made her reality TV debut on “The Real World: Chicago” in 2002, said she went into her 17th season of “The Challenge” with the goal of finally getting a win.
“I think this was the first Challenge that I really wanted. And I was okay with just having the representation and doing all this great stuff and being Mama Bear and persevering and all this other great s–t,” she explained. “But I’m like, oh my God, all my friends won. I want to be in that circle too. I was so annoyed.”
“So I put my best foot forward,” Ferreira continued. “I’m like, I’m going into this game. I have a lot of great relationships that I built, but I knew that it was going to be a hard road for me because I have my best friend Tori [Deal], who I met six, seven years ago, versus Rachel [Robinson], who I’ve known since I was 20 years old. I felt like I was going to be juggling so much. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy for me.”
Ferriera and Robinson previously dated and were partners on 2012’s Battle of the Exes.”
Reuniting with Robinson on Season 40, Ferreira said, was something she was looking forward to for a long time.
“It was reminiscent when I see her of a time when we did the show, we had our play set: she was the person who won the the dailies,” she said. “And I went in elimination. We kind of knew our role. We played really well together, so it was so great to see her, what she represents.”
“‘I love my era. I grew up with that,” Ferreira added. “But I’ve also done shows with like every era, so it’s been interesting to watch everyone play.”
“The Challenge: Battle of the Eras” premieres tonight at 8 pm ET on MTV.