Lance Armstrong said he will leave ‘Stars on Mars’ after argument with Ariel Winter about trans athletes

The conflict between Lance Armstrong and Ariel Winter escalated to such an extent during Monday’s episode of Stars on Mars that he actually proposed to leave the show. The 51-year-old former professional cyclist stirred up controversy by announcing his decision to leave, saying he couldn’t bear to spend “another day” with the other contestants.

Armstrong believes transgender athletes should be in separate category

On the previous episode, Winter and Armstrong had a disagreement when the former pro cyclist expressed his belief that transgender athletes should be placed in a separate category, which the actor strongly objected to.

I watched episode 2 of ‘Stars on Mars’ because I hate myself

“You are ostracizing the people who don’t fit in the categories,” the Modern Family star said.

“Ariel, let me make this really simple. I don’t need the drama; I busted my ass for nine days and I’m going to bust my ass on the 10th day, and I’m going to auto-select myself to leave. We’ve got four new great people,” Armstrong said.

Ronda Rousey and Armstrong discuss issue

The discussion about transgender athletes arose during a conversation with UFC fighter Ronda Rousey. She mentioned Armstrong’s recent podcast about transgender athletes participating in sports.

“Listen, one of my most key employees, they’re transitioning,” Armstrong said. “I have no problem with that. I love it. Let’s go.”

“I said to the person on the podcast, this is really simple, you want to transition? Let’s do it,’” Armstrong said. “You have your own category. We’re going to have a whole new division. We’ll celebrate you just like we celebrate everybody else. Let’s go. What’s unfair about that?’

“To me, I think we just have to care about if you otherize people it’s not good for their mental health,” singer Tinashe asked.

“Do what?” Armstrong asked.

“Like, otherize people,” Tinashe said.

Armstrong asked her what that meant.

“Kind of like excluding them from the same spaces and places that everybody else is,”’ Tinashe said.

“We are not excluding anybody,’ Armstrong said. “By the way, if I sound like a right-wing lunatic, I’m not. I’m the most liberal person. But from a sporting perspective.”

Not the place for the discussion?

In a confessional, Tinashe said she didn’t think Lance should be a spokesperson on the issue.

“You might not agree with me, and I might not agree with you, but that’s okay, right?” Armstrong said in a confessional. “And there’s a lot of sensitive subjects, and it’s not just trans issues and trans in sports. It could be abortion, it could be war, it could be gun violence, it could be politics, anything, global warming. But if you can’t feel safe to enter into the conversation, then we’re all lost.”

“That’s not the conversation you need to be having in here,” Williams Guobadia said to Armstrong. ‘You are not at your kitchen table.”

UCI ruling on trans athletes

“My view is my view until proven differently,” Armstrong added in a confessional. “If this discussion gets to a place where a room of the brightest scientists and medical experts and everything else can say 100 percent without a doubt that it’s a level playing field for this issue, then we’re fine.”

The debate about trans athletes has been been hotly contest in cycling. On Friday, the UCI announced that transgender athletes would no longer be allowed to compete in the women’s category. Instead there will be an “open category.” A statement from the UCI said that the organization, “Has taken note of the state of scientific knowledge, which does not confirm that at least two years of gender-affirming hormone therapy with a target plasma testosterone concentration of 2.5 nmol/L is sufficient to completely eliminate the benefits of testosterone during puberty in men.” The new policy went into effect July 17.

Following the UCI decision, USA cycling said it would be following suit.