Modern Family: Ariel Winter's Stars On Mars Goof Would Make Alex Dunphy Cringe
From 2009 to 2020, Ariel Winter endeared herself to millions of fans around the world through her performance as Alex Dunphy, the hyper-intelligent middle child on ABC's "Modern Family." A certifiable genius who borders on condescending (even as a kid), by the time the series finale rolled around, Alex was working in Switzerland as a researcher for Caltech, with even greater prospects on the horizon.
Considering Alex's incredible intellect and penchant for witty comebacks, there's no question that Alex would cringe at the huge mistake that Ariel Winter herself made on the reality competition series "Stars on Mars." In the premiere episode, which sees the celebs arriving at their simulated Mars base, Winter makes a major blunder after one of her fellow contestants arrives. "Lance Armstrong is a real friggin' astronaut," she says in a confessional, appearing to mistake the famous cyclist for Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon.
"You need to Google him. You need to know everything about him because he is so cool," Winters continues in her confessional. She later confides her excitement to "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Porsha Williams, doubling down to ask if the "astronaut" in their midst was going to judge the competition.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse also appeared to mix up the two Armstrongs
Despite Ariel Winter's immense excitement upon meeting Lance Armstrong (who, again, she mistook for an astronaut who has been dead since 2012), fans of "Stars on Mars" will know that the relationship between these two competitors went south almost immediately.
Following a tense exchange on set in which Lance Armstrong argued that trans athletes should compete in a separate category, Ariel Winter called out Armstrong for "ostracizing the people who don't fit in the categories." Fellow competitor Adam Rippon claimed that Winter later confronted Armstrong off camera about his steroid use, telling The Daily Beast: "She marches right up to Lance and goes 'I forgot you cheated. I forgot you had seven titles and an Olympic gold medal stripped from you.'"
The bad blood between Armstrong and Winter reached a peak when Winter was voted to be base commander for an upcoming mission, which caused Armstrong to threaten a voluntary exit from the show. "Ariel, let me make this really simple: I don't need the drama," Armstrong said, asserting that he could not live one more day inside the Mars base with "certain people." Though Armstrong ended up staying through this particular episode, he would voluntarily extract himself from "Stars on Mars" in Episode 9, citing once again his inability to get along with other contestants. Although Ariel Winter may have been over the moon upon first meeting Lance Armstrong, it's clear that their time together on "Stars on Mars" ended on a bitter note.