Here's looking at you, Lance Armstrong's Stars On Mars tenure

Neil Armstrong made history as the first man to walk on the moon. Lance Armstrong will make history (or…something) as the latest man to walk off the set of Stars On Mars. This marks an end to television’s current biggest drama (all things being relative amid a summer hiatus and a dual strike), which was Armstrong vs. his reality show rival Ariel Winter.

Given that this is reality television we’re talking about, Armstrong and Winter—who have been butting heads the entire season so far—were paired together for a final challenge on Monday’s episode. That was one challenge too many, apparently, because when they both ended up in the bottom three, the controversial cyclist voluntarily bowed out.

“This is a hard part for people to advocate for themselves and you have to make hard decisions, but I will fully confess life on Mars is not easy,” he said (via Entertainment Weekly). “You can’t put 12 strangers in a room and expect everybody to get along and that’s what I’m really struggling with. And so I think going forward that will be a liability, not just for myself, but also for the team.”

In his exit interview, Armstrong said that “The hardest part for me was just the social component.” He added, “I’m not a social person. I didn’t have any expectations about being popular, but every minute of every day that I’ve been here I’ve given it 100 percent. But I’m happy with my decision.”

While Armstrong’s clashes with Winter have defined the season so far—he previously threatened to quit when Winter was made Base Commander—she is not the only person who took issue with him. Several other contestants, including Tinashe and Adam Rippon, criticized him for his polarizing comments about transgender athletes. As useful as his athletic skills may have been on faux-Mars, it seems that having to face criticism for his beliefs was the most challenging aspect of all.

Hilariously, Stars On Mars’ bottom three seems to be less about competitors advocating to stay on the show and more about people begging to be let go from it. Richard Sherman, Natasha Leggero, and Ronda Rousey all essentially volunteered to exit in previous episodes. “I’m tired of people giving up because it’s really making the experience not fun. I thought we were having fun because I thought everyone who was here now actually wanted to be here,” Porsha Williams complained when Armstrong tried to quit the first time, per EW.

If real Mars is inhospitable, it doesn’t seem like fake Mars is much better, at the rate celebrities are clamoring to leave the set. But it follows what is perhaps an interesting trend wherein a handful of contestants self-selected to leave American Idol on the previous season, as well. Is reality television just not worth it anymore? Or was Kim Kardashian right when she said people just don’t want to work these days?