A Game Show for Trump 2.0

While the MAGA faithful and the TDS afflicted spent the last four months glued to screens, Allegra Dru Milisitz was holed up in an upstate New York farmhouse with three strangers making friendship bracelets. But the model, magazine publisher, and breakout star of the Food Network’s 2023 series Worst Cooks in America isn’t a Luddite or emulator of the Amish way of life. She was just making a second run at the reality TV life on Greg Gutfeld’s new Fox Nation game show, What Did I Miss? 

Forged from the DNA of Big Brother and NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me, the latest project from the Fox News superstar and current King of Late Night cut off four Americans from the outside world the night before Trump’s inauguration. With no internet, cell phones, or way to engage with society, the quartet whiled away the days with arts and crafts and DVDs of The Sopranos. 

In late April, Gutfeld whisked them away to a Fox studio in blindfolds and headphones to ensure the integrity of their total isolation. Once behind their respective podiums, each contestant was tasked with determining whether a host of news stories was fake or real. With Fox personalities Kat Timpf and Jamie Lissow acting as resident BS artists, the teammates worked together so that one of them could go home with a $50,000 grand prize.

Milisitz sat down with The Pamphleteer to talk about navigating the political landscape, reevaluating her relationship with her phone, and participating in the freshest concept to hit the game show or reality TV worlds in quite some time.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

This is the only TV show I’ve ever binged. It’s so emotional and tense, especially toward the end. What was the process like? How did you hear about the show and how did you make the decision to be on it?

I heard about the show through Threads one day. It was a casting application that was like, “Could you spend 90 days isolated with no internet or phones or TVs?” So, I sent in my application, and I got a call pretty quickly. Then I auditioned for the show and got picked. It was just something I knew I could do. I really wanted to test myself and push my limits and boundaries. 

I wondered if I could be isolated from the world for 90 days. Can I live without a phone or internet or any access to basic human contact besides who I’m living with in this house?  I just wanted to test my mental strength and push myself.

This isn't your first rodeo with reality TV. What do you enjoy about the experience?

What appeals to me most about reality TV is its creativity. I love being able to portray myself. 

I feel like I am here to show that dreams can come true, even if you are a little farm girl from Arkansas. If you dream big, you can go do it just by completely being yourself and being authentic. What’s gotten me where I am is just showing up, being my best version of myself, and being real. 

I think right now, the world needs people that are real and not afraid to be opinionated, or scrutinized, or different from the norm. Life is so big. I want to just try and do everything. So, I love reality TV, I love writing, I love movies, I love modeling.  I can never be someone who’s put in a box.

How did your personal politics play into your decision to be on the show and the way you developed a strategy for answering some of these questions? 

I'm not afraid to talk about my political beliefs. I really lean more Right, but what I tell everybody is that I'm somebody who wants what’s best for the country. 

I think freedom of speech is so important. Just because we have different opinions or political beliefs doesn’t mean we can’t have a discussion and learn and grow. When you have that stigma of, “I can't have an opinion without there being an argument,”  it stops the growth and the development process of people in general. 

So, I approached the questions by saying, “This is Donald Trump. This is President Donald Trump. There’s no telling what he’s done or what he’s passed.” Before I went on the show, I looked up all of his policies that he was planning to implement in his first 100 days. I relied on the studying I did before I went in, and then some of my personal beliefs as well.

There was a question where Greg was like, “President Donald Trump has banned born males from playing female sports.” That was something I was rooting for because I used to be a college athlete, and I think it’s important to keep men and women's sports separate and have as equal of a playing field as possible. I wanted that to happen. So whenever that question came up, I was actually like, “Yes, I know he did that, because Trump and I are aligned on that belief.”

On a related note, what is it that you love so much about Elon Musk? On the show, you expressed your unabashed admiration for Elon multiple times. What about him appeals to you?

He’s a genius and he's real and he's funny. He moves the world in such a positive direction. He's such a dreamer. I think dreamers make the world go round, and he has the resources to make his dreams a reality. I don’t have anything bad to say about Elon.

As I watched the show, I kept thinking about people who pay large sums of money to go to a remote place and detox from their phones. What’s that process of severing yourself from screens like? After coming back to the outside world, have you found that you care less about social media and scrolling or have you gone right back to it?

I’ve had a phone since the age of 12, so I don’t really know a life without one. I really thought that was going to be difficult. But honestly, it really wasn’t. After the first week, it was just like, “Okay, you don’t have a phone.” Living without a phone was the most peaceful experience of my life, truly. I didn’t have to worry about answering these 14,000 emails I have or getting back to somebody immediately on a text. 

When it comes to the social media side, I do love making funny videos and everything, but I’ve not jumped back into it. I've actually put a limit on my screen time, because it is such a time succubus when you’re doom scrolling. I now have a time limit on an hour for each app. My days are way more organized, and I use my time way more wisely on the things that truly matter like spending time with my family or working out and meditating, growing my business and being a part of the community. And I’ve really, really enjoyed learning that lesson from this whole thing.

I love the rapport you had with Greg. What do you think it is that makes Greg popular with multiple demographics? He’s appealing to people in their 20s, like you. He’s appealing to people in their 40s, like me. He appeals to my parents. What is it about Greg that has turned him into this mix of counterculture figure and media giant who is able to do these inventive projects?

I think he appeals to so many people because he's so unfiltered. He’s just himself. He truly does not care what you think or what he says. It is Greg–he’s gonna say what he thinks. He’s going to make a joke about you. And every time I bantered back with him, he accepted it. It’s called show business for a reason, right?  He knows how to run business, he knows how to connect with people. He’s very smart, he’s very kind. But at the same time, he’s just so authentic. I really love that about him.

I think we bantered so well because I’m the same way. You can’t make me something I don’t want to be. He likes himself too. When people are so sure and secure of themselves the way he is, the opinions of people don’t affect you. That’s actually something I also learned from the show. When you’re happy and secure in yourself and you truly know who you are, you kind of feel–not invincible–but it’s really, really hard for people to knock you down a peg. That’s one of Greg's best qualities.

What do you hope those of us who live in Southern cities like Nashville get out of the show?

The major message I want to send to everybody is that the world is passing us by every day. Real life is happening around us, and we are missing it by being so attached to our phones. I also have a message for all the beautiful women in Nashville, because I love Nashville. And this is coming from someone who models. I was not super self confident. I thought I was. But now that I got away from social media and the filters and the face tuneups and the photoshop, I have such a deeper appreciation for my natural beauty and how I look in general. It was so wonderful for my mental health.

That applies to men and women. Stop comparing yourself to everybody online. It’s not real. Go take a walk, touch some grass, pet a horse, spend time in your community. It’s beautiful to be engaged in your life that's happening right now and not doom scrolling.

What Did I Miss? is now available to stream on Fox Nation.