The Biggest Love Triangles From MTV's The Challenge

MTV's "The Challenge" is one of the longest-running reality shows in history. With over 25 years on television, the competition series is without a doubt one of the network's most successful shows. Since 1998, the series has been casting former reality stars to compete against each other for the chance at a huge monetary prize. Season after season, former cast members from shows like the "Real World", "Big Brother", and "Ex On The Beach", as well as international reality stars, have competed in grueling competitions and intense eliminations in an attempt to become a "Challenge" champion.

Be it rappelling down the sides of buildings in South America or scaling mountains in Europe, "Challenge" competitors have to be prepared to do just about anything to take home their share of millions of dollars. Beyond just competing in weekly challenges and head-to-head elimination rounds, cast members must navigate living together under one roof for months. From hookups to breakdowns, no dirty laundry goes unaired when it comes to the show. 

While the pressure of the game drives some people apart, it brings others closer together. With nearly no breathing room for the cast to enjoy from each other, and bunk beds making for easy access, it's no wonder why every year new relationships form on the show. Money can make these contestants do some crazy things, but love might make them even crazier. For over two decades, fans have watched romances come together on "The Challenge" ... and fall apart on it too. We're taking a look at the biggest love triangles from MTV's "The Challenge."

Far away from home and with the pressures of the game closing in, it's no question why many competitors on "The Challenge" end up breaking up with their long-distance partners. Such was the case for Paulie Calafiore, who found himself in the center of a cheating scandal after appearing on "The Challenge: Final Reckoning" in 2018. Calafiore started dating Bachelor Nation star Danielle Maltby in January, and his hookups with his cast mate Cara Maria Sorbello were made public that June. 

"After nine weeks of flirting with each other, he gave me the key to his room after a chess match while in the holding time between the 'Challenge' house and the final," Sorbello said in a statement to People following the affair. "This is when we first hooked up. May 14. I am not proud of my actions." As for Maltby's account, she claimed that her ex-boyfriend had also been lying to Sorbello about her relationship with him, just as he had assured her that nothing had happened with his co-star. Instead, Maltby claimed that her then-boyfriend had bought her an engagement ring and that they'd had serious discussions about their future., including planning to start a family together, per People. 

Ultimately the "Big Brother" alum owned up to his actions, apologizing to Maltby in a statement he made to E! News. He went on to pursue Sorbello, and as of May 2023, they were living together in Montana.

Jenna Compono and Zach Nichols may have tied the knot in 2022 and become parents together, but the road to that point was full of ups and downs. The couple met after they both competed in "The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II" which premiered in 2015. The two hit it off immediately and pursued a relationship following the show, but tensions came to a breaking point when Compono chose to compete in the subsequent season of "Battle of the Bloodlines" without her boyfriend. 

Compono and Nichols split up in 2016 following "Battle of the Bloodlines" due to cheating allegations. While filming the show, the reality personality had phoned her then-boyfriend only to have him pick up and call her by another woman's name. The duo ultimately got back together, but their troubles were far from over. When Compono went on to film "The Challenge: Total Madness," which aired in 2020, viewers watched as Nichols threatened to break up with his girlfriend due to DMs with other men that he allegedly found in her phone (via People). Compono claimed she sent the messages while she was single, but Nichols threatened her, saying, "If you really didn't do it, then you need to come home and you need to fix these things."

Ultimately the "Battle of the Bloodlines" star stuck it out, though she was eliminated before reaching the finale. The couple is still together as of the time of writing, and welcomed their second child, daughter Liliana Marie, in December 2022.

Tori Deal may have entered "The Challenge: Dirty 30" in 2017 as a taken woman, but she found another shoulder to cry on during the show after her boyfriend was eliminated early on. The former "Are You The One" star was dating Derrick Henry at the time, and the two entered the game as rookies. After Henry's departure, Deal went on to shock veterans, proving herself as a competitor to be reckoned with. Though she had vowed to keep things going with Henry after filming, she formed a close bond with her cast mate Jordan Wiseley throughout the season. 

During the "Dirty 30" reunion show (via Romper), Deal revealed that she had been unfaithful to Henry while filming the series, and she had fallen for Wiseley before competing in that season's finale. "I knew I loved him when we were flying to the 'Dirty XXX' final," she told MTV. "It was funny because we were watching 'Beauty and the Beast' on the plane with the song [that goes], 'There must be something I hadn't seen before.' And I was thinking, 'This is so my life with him right now.' Since then, it spiraled to what it is now." 

Deal and Wiseley got engaged after the "Real World" alum popped the question during "The Challenge: War of The Worlds 2" in 2019. They ended up calling off the engagement and splitting up in 2020, deciding they were better off as friends. The pair faced off against each other during Season 38.

Jordan Wiseley found himself in the middle of a messy love triangle when he starred in "The Challenge: Ride or Dies" in 2022. The "Real World: Portland" alum broke up with his former fiancee Tori Deal in 2020, only to later compete against her on Season 38. After years of not seeing each other or communicating, tensions were higher than ever when Deal and Wiseley reconnected in the "Challenge" house. Many viewers speculated about whether the "Challenge" champion misled Deal by cuddling with her and sleeping in the same bed before he moved on to castmate Nurys Mateo. 

Blowout fights between Wiseley and Deal ensued after word got out that he and his new paramour were seen making out. Mateo admitted on Johnny 'Bananas' Devenanzio's podcast "Death, Taxes, and Bananas" that she was unaware of anything going on between Deal and Wiseley before she got involved with the former "Real World" star. "I thought that they were on the same page, not realizing that he was cuddling her on the low ... I didn't know that these things necessarily were happening" Mateo explained.

Mateo apologized for getting in the middle of any unresolved feelings between the exes, and her romance was ultimately cut short with Wiseley when she was eliminated in Episode 11.  Per Monsters and Critics, following the end of the season, there were rumors that Mateo had rekindled her romance with contestant Johnny Middlebrooks after he was featured in a couple of her social media posts.

Cara Maria Sorbello has had her fair share of love triangles in "The Challenge." The reality star was linked to Adam Boise, whom she started dating in 2010 during "The Challenge: Cutthroat." Their relationship was tumultuous, to say the least, with Sorbello even admitting to MTV (via Us Weekly), "He's so passionate and so intense that sometimes you just need to get away ... He's just got an animal inside him." As for Boise, he compared his then-girlfriend to a feline in a strange display of — dare we say — affection? "Cara Maria is like a cat," he told MTV. "When you try to chase a cat it just runs away and then you turn around and go sit down and the cat shows back up at your leg."

Regardless of the duo's so-called animalistic characteristics, their relationship was not built to last. Sorbello went on "Battle of the Bloodlines" in 2015 and cheated on Boise with her castmate, Thomas Buell. The "Challenge" finalist took to her Instagram (via MTV) at the time to apologize. "Tom and I made out only twice, and it all happened in one very drunken day off" the athlete wrote. "... Despite whatever was happening [in] my relationship at the time ... I was still in a relationship. I made a bad decision. Please learn from my choice, and never do this to someone [you] love," Sorbello wrote. The two have since moved on, with Sorbello dating "Challenge" star Paulie Calafiore and Boise marrying Rachel Missie.

There's an infamous "Challenge" line that is often said season after season that "All is fair in love and Challenges." With that being said, "guy code" is an agreement that more or less doesn't exist when it comes to the messy love triangles that occur on the show. For "Challenge" champion Wes Bergmann, the line may hit a little closer to home, since his relationship with his cast mate Kenny Santucci broke down after his pal got close with his ex-girlfriend Johanna Botta. 

The former couple met while filming their season of "The Real World: Austin" in 2005. The two went on to compete together in "The Challenge: Fresh Meat" in 2006. The cast mates even went on to buy a house together before going their separate ways in 2008. That didn't stop Botta from getting close to Santucci, Bergmann's then-close friend on "The Challenge: The Island" that same year. 

Bergmann, Botta, and Santucci had to endure an awkward season competing alongside each other during "The Challenge: The Ruins" in 2009. During the season, Bergmann admitted that any hope for reconciliation with Santucci was dead and gone after his former friend hooked up with his ex. Botta went on to get married to Willem Marx and Bergmann tied the knot with Amanda Hornick. As for Santucci, as of May 2023, he was seemingly an eligible bachelor working as a personal trainer in New York City.

Before Olivia Kaiser started dating her cast mate Nelson Thomas while filming "The Challenge: Ride or Dies" in 2022, she found herself in the middle of a love triangle with a different cast member. The "Challenge" finalist went on Johnny 'Bananas' Devenanzio's "Death, Taxes, and Bananas" podcast in 2023 to dish on everything that went down during her epic rookie season. "I mean, I came into the house, and I saw Jay, I think, on one of the seasons a couple of episodes, and honestly ... I didn't see a personality at all," Kaiser admitted, adding she sparked an unlikely friendship with Jay Starrett upon entering the competition. "... So he made me feel comfortable. He was funny, and he seemed to take a liking to me," she revealed.

Kaiser went on to reveal that a fellow cast member told her that Starett was seeing a girl back home, which caused Kaiser to distance herself from him. Devenanzio admitted on the podcast that Starett was seeing Colleen Schneider while filming as well. Once the rookie realized Starett was playing the field, she promptly moved on to Nelson Thomas. "I'm a pretty petty person at times," Kaiser told Devenanzio, "...I knew what I was doing." 

Kaiser and Thomas ended up splitting up after the show, with Kaiser admitting on "Death, Taxes, and Bananas" that she noticed red flags throughout filming that led to their split. "He would get angry about little things," said Kaiser, "... I wanted to start an [Only Fans] and I wasn't allowed to."

Horacio Gutierrez caught the eye of a few competitors during his debut season on "The Challenge: Ride or Dies", and not just for his insanely talented athletic skills. The rookie formed a close bond with veteran competitor Laurel Stucky while they both competed on the show. Stucky was interested in exploring something with Gutierrez until he revealed to the "Challenge" champion that he had a girl he was talking to back home. 

Naturally, fans had plenty to say about his behavior. "Damn Horacio led Laurel on" one viewee tweeted. "Not Horacio having a girlfriend the whole time while he was hoeing it up for Laurel," another fan wrote. Still, the veterinarian quickly found another cast member to dry her tears, as she ended up getting close to Faysal Shafaat following the news of Gutierrez's girl back home. 

Gutierrez opened up about his friendship with Stucky following the show airing when he appeared on the "Challenge Mania" podcast hosted by Derrick Kosinski and Scott Yager. "The person I would hang out with and talk to the most was Laurel ... her and I were always together, talking and stuff," said Guiterrez. "... At the end, it got to the point where I had to make that boundary ... because I thought at any second it could cross over," the "Challenge" finalist admitted. He went on to admit that the two are on good terms and remained friends after filming wrapped.

"Challenge" Champion Ashley Mitchell has a reputation for not only stealing millions of dollars — but hearts as well. While she may fall for her cast mates, her short-lived romance led to fiery blowups. Such was the case during "The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies", which aired in 2021. Mitchell's short-lived romance with her cast mate Nelson Thomas had her less focused on the game, and more focused on her hurt feelings.

The drama began when Thomas moved on from Mitchell to pursue things further with German competitor Berna Canbeldek. The former "Real World: Ex-Plosion" cast member had become neighbors with Thomas in Texas, and the two formed a friends-with-benefits relationship — one that had Mitchell catching feelings. "I know that he's probably not boyfriend material," Ashley said. "... Can I see myself with Nelson? Oh, Lord, I need Jesus. I think I like Nelson," Mitchell admitted on the show, per MTV. However, Thomas didn't second that emotion, proclaiming, "[Ashley] is funny; she's smart. [But] is there something between us? I wouldn't say all that."

Mitchell lost her temper with Canbeldek during the season, yelling "You don't respect me at all!" at the rookie and adding, "She doesn't care about Nelson until I hang out with Nelson." Canbeldek was ultimately eliminated early on, but she did meet up with Thomas in Ibiza following filming. "We literally thought we [would] end up together forever ... But when we were out in the real world, [it wasn't] really working. It was a shocker," she told Entertainment Weekly.

Cara Maria Sorbello has stolen plenty of hearts while being a fierce veteran competitor on "The Challenge" for over a decade. Before she locked things down with Paulie Calafiore and began her long-time relationship with the "Big Brother" alum, she was catching the eye of Kyle Christie. The two met in 2018 on "The Challenge: Vendettas" where they both competed until the final, with Sorbello ultimately taking home the victory. Things changed the following season during "The Challenge: Final Reckoning" in which Christie diverted his attention to rookie Faith Stowers, leaving Sorbello to question what went wrong.

In his interview with TV Guide, Christie revealed the girl he was seeing back home allowed him to date while on the show, but forbid him from seeing Sorbello. "She said to me, 'I know you work in reality TV and that's fine. I get it. I know you're going to have to hook up with girls on the show,' but she knew that I had feelings for Cara, so she said, 'If you get with Cara, if you hook up with Cara, I don't want anything to do with ya,'" Christie admitted. 

Christie went on to reveal he couldn't make a serious relationship with the Montana native work due to his home being in England. But in true "Challenge" love triangle fashion, Sorbello wound up snuggling up to Calafiore during "Final Reckoning" instead. The English native went on to find true love with his partner Vicky Turner with whom he welcomed a son in 2021.