The Challenge: All Stars 4's Kam explains why she's not mad at Laurel for that betrayal

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Challenge: All Stars 4 episode 9, "Waiting For a Star to Fall."

Laurel Stucky has made it known to everyone on The Challenge: All Stars 4 that she'll stop at nothing to take out her former rival-turned-BFF-turned-rival-again Cara Maria Sorbello. Except when the time finally came to put up or shut up, Laurel backed down from the challenge.

In this week's episode, Laurel and Derek Chavez won the daily challenge together, and when it was revealed it was another women's elimination, Laurel finally had the opportunity to fight for her star. She orchestrated the house to vote in Cara and Kam Williams, but she promised Kam that she would step in and take her place in the elimination, because she wanted to take out Cara herself.

But when the time came to follow through on her word, Laurel shocked everyone by passing on the chance to compete in the elimination, forcing Kam to go against Cara. Kam ultimately lost and was sent home, but it turns out that she's actually not mad at Laurel for that betrayal.

"It's all good," Kam tells Entertainment Weekly. "To be honest, I'm not surprised that I was down there in the elimination. I didn't jump [and DQed in the challenge], and I think I deserved to be down there. I pretty much knew that I sealed my fate in regards to going into elimination, and I was okay with that."

Below, Kam explains further why she expected to compete despite Laurel's promise, why she also turned against Cara earlier this season, and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: When Laurel told you what she was thinking, did you have any inkling that she would back out of it?

KAM WILLIAMS: This is a game. And to be honest, if I was in Laurel's shoes, I would've done that same thing, because that was the smartest thing to do. She won that challenge. When you are in the winning group, you have the option to either go in or not. So with her going back on her word, or whatever the case may be, I don't think it's necessarily that she went back [on it]. Laurel's intentions for that elimination was to go against Cara, maybe if it was going to be physical, but just in case that it wasn't, she wanted to throw in the best person against Cara that would have the highest chances of getting rid of her, which was me.

From a strategic standpoint, I totally understand that. A huge part of my gameplay is strategy, so I have to give it to her. She needs to play her best game, and I think that that was the best move. I would've been the best competition for Cara, and that move was definitely the right thing for her to do.

Did you have conversations with Laurel about her potentially not going in? Did she warn you that it could be you competing?

Absolutely. Once my name went on that board, I prepared to go in myself. Cara and Laurel ... that would be awesome to see, but I definitely expected to go in from the moment that I didn't jump off of that ledge. At the end of the day, I didn't jump, so I was already prepared from that moment to be going in. I knew that the intention was that I might've been Plan A, and if she saw something that she liked, that would be Plan B, so I was like 95 percent preparing for myself to go in and 5 percent for Laurel.

It sounds like you were okay with Laurel changing her mind in the moment. But what was your immediate reaction? Because we see you trying to make sense of it by talking to her about it in the arena.

The beauty of winning those daily challenges is that you have the choice. She won fair and square. She completely beat everybody. Her and Derek, they did so good, so it's up to her. That's how I'm looking at it, because I'm a very realistic person and I like to play this game and view it from each and every player's standpoint. I think that she would've went in if it was a Balls In, a Hall Brawl, or something like that, like a tug of war. That would've been her best chance at beating Cara. But with anything else to where it would've been a toss-up ... I'm a humble winner or a humble loser. So yeah, I didn't really care.

How are you and Laurel now?

We're good. I'm good with everybody. I understand why she made whatever moves that she made, but I'm not mad at her. It was her decision.

I'm very impressed with how you're handling this, because if I was in your position, I would be a lot more upset with her throwing you in and then not taking your place like she said she would.

But why? Doing that for me is not the best thing for her. I understand each and every aspect of the gameplay. Say I would've came in the middle group or I would've been a close second place, I would've been like, "Girl, seriously? I did good today too." But Laurel really had it out for Cara, and she wanted Cara gone so bad that she wanted me to take her out. "Let Kam do it." I'm not mad at her. It's just a game, and I understand it.

Speaking of Cara, we’ve got to break down what happened with you two this season. Why did your relationship change so drastically when you came in as friends and allies?

For me, the turning point for Cara and I's relationship is when she didn't vote for [Rachel]. Some people are thinking that it's more so because of gameplay, or "Kam, you got what you wanted." With how everything was edited, people don't see how bad that whole [argument was] and how everyone stood by my side. That moment showed me, within this specific game, this specific season, we are just putting our gameplay first. We're not putting our morals first, our friendship first, or our connection first. Okay, well, we're just going to play the game then. We'll keep our friendship and our gameplay separate.

Tell me more about that, because obviously fans only see how things are edited in the episode. What wasn't shown in that moment that made you come to that decision?

So much went on to the point where everybody was just like, "This is a lot. And with how Kam was handled, that was just not cool at all." That is why the entire house ended up voting my way. A lot of people were actually very surprised that Cara just didn't have my back and stand with me for that. Because it was just one of those situations where, if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything. This was deeper than the game. It was so much deeper than, "Kam, you still got what you wanted." It was much deeper than that.

Because to be honest, I wouldn't have even been asking people to vote a certain way, and people probably wouldn't have voted that way for Ayanna vs. Rachel. Ayanna probably would've still been going in, but people voted Rachel because they were siding with me because of how crazily things went. But my friend did not vote with me. Cara could have said to Rachel, "It was going to be you anyways. I want to stand with my friend."

How are you and Cara now?

I don't have a problem with her at all, personally. After the show, I just went right back into mommy mode. Very shortly after, I got pregnant again, so I've just been so into my own life. Actually, Paulie just texted me because he's calling me soon — he's getting his hair done. Paulie and I still remain very tight. He's one of my favorite Challenge people ever, so Paulie and I's relationship will always be super close, [and Cara is] my close friend's partner. I have no problem. I always leave the game in the game. I'm living a happy, amazing life and nothing will ever change that.

Does this mean that you and Cara would be friends and allies again in future seasons?

It could happen. We both want our individual wins, right? So Cara is not going to go into a game like, "I have a known enemy." I don't think this season was that irreparable. I wouldn't be closed off to anything. I don't hate the girl at all. I would never see her in real life and not say hi. It's not that serious to me. It's a game that two friends ended up playing on opposite sides of.

I know that the drama is what keeps the show going because that's what we all want to see. Cara and I's rivalry, that's a huge thing this season, but there was also plenty of moments where we would sit down and hang out together. There was one time where I beat her in chess, because she taught me how to play. It's moments like that in the downtime that I wish that you guys get to see. We all don't just completely hate each other. There's a mutual respect between the entire cast.

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Take me back to your elimination — what was your reaction when you saw what it was?

I was like, "Oh my gosh, I cannot avoid the water." [Laughs] "It's going to be a fun night. May the best competitor win." I was very excited. Obviously I didn't get a chance to perform at the challenge, so Killa Kam, do what you do with the eliminations, please. I still think I crushed it. I just missed the one ball. That night, the best competitor won, which was her. It was just the one ball — when I was putting my balls into the bin, I thought I had them all where they were supposed to be, but then I saw that one ball rolling further back, and I was like, "No!" That's when I knew [I was going to lose] but I kept going until TJ blew that horn.

Do you regret DQing in the challenge knowing that it ultimately led to your exit?

Absolutely not. I know what I was going through mentally due to me being freshly postpartum. I don't regret that at all because it was literally beyond my control. Say I would've just taken a regular break from The Challenge and I didn't have any kids and I didn't jump, I would go, "Girl, why were you being so scared?" But this was something beyond my control. I couldn't control all those voices in my head that was making me so anxious. Shout out to every mother that is experiencing postpartum. It is not an easy time at all. I'm not trying to make me a victim or anything, but this is something that was real.

I've never not done a challenge on this show. I remember even my first season, I did not know how to swim, and even to this day, I'm not even the strongest swimmer, and we had to do a challenge where we jumped into the water and dive under. I'm still going to try. That is how I am. So for me to not overcome that adversity, let me give myself some grace. But I think I deserved to go into that elimination. I'm going to still try to politic, but if y'all vote me in, cool. I deserve to be there, because I didn't jump.

And for me, another huge win this season was girls running the game. Usually this is such a male-dominated game, and what I can say about this season is the girls ran it. Whether we were working together or not, it was giving women power. We were the stars of the show. And I think that that was amazing because usually it's always about the men. This time it was was about the women, which I love to see.