A ranking of the weakest casts in MTV Challenge history had one of The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies rookies upset over how he was rated on the list compared to at least one castmate.
Corey Lay, who initially appeared on HBO’s 12 Dates of Christmas, transitioned to Season 37 and seemed to be a threat to the competition after winning an elimination early in the season.
That made him a target for others due to his size and strength, as he and teammate Michele Fitzgerald soon found themselves back in the elimination and, ultimately, done for the season.
However, Corey felt his performance during the season spoke for itself, and it should’ve had him rated above one castmate. He also called a blogger’s ranking of a specific Season 37 castmate “a crime.”
Season 37 rookie blasts blogger’s Challenge rankings and ratings
On Monday, blogger and Challenge fan Allan Aguirre published a Medium article on the Top 10 Weakest Casts in MTV Challenge History. He breaks down his grading system and presents the 10 weakest male and female casts in his report.
The Spies, Lies & Allies cast ranks 10th worst for his female cast rankings and second-worst for the male cast rankings. The fact that the men were the second-worst cast of all-time on Aguirre’s list isn’t what upset Corey Lay, though. It was his grade on Aguirre’s list.
Only Chris “CT” Tamburello appears in the “A Tier” for Season 37 cast members in the list. Fessy is a B+, with Cory Wharton, Kyle Christie, Devin Walker, and Logan Sampedro at the B- level.
The worst possible tier is F. While no cast members received that grade, seven individuals were a D+ or worse. Kelz and Corey are considered D+ cast members for Spies, Lies & Allies. Only Renan Hellemans is below them at a D- grade.
An Instagram post below shows the grades in the second slide and several since-deleted tweets in other slides.
“You are out of your mind ranking me at a D+ under some of these men,” Corey tweeted. “Let’s not forget I single-handedly won a 4 person elimination & was under a second behind the winners of one of the hardest dailies they did in my entire season. You have me behind Nam [Vo], who has never won anything?”
Aguirre replied to Cory, explaining that he graded him below Nam because he only showed he weighed more than fellow rookie Renan Hellemans in his elimination win. He also called Nam “solid on [Double Agents],” indicating that he at least had more of a track record to look at for the show.
“Yep! Nam with his actual final, elimination, and daily wins. Got it! Trash list. Trash blog,” Corey fired back in another since-deleted tweet.
“I f***ing LOVE Nam, but how dare he be listed higher than me on any ranking list before he has even proven anything. Kelz being D+ is a ‘crime’ as well,” he said in another of the deleted tweets shown below.
Nam, who joined The Challenge: Double Agents after competing in Ultimate Beastmaster, survived until Episode 12 of the season but was medically disqualified due to a nagging back injury.
He returned briefly for Spies, Lies & Allies and looked ready to show his capabilities. However, he was mysteriously sent home after the first episode, with the rumors then suggesting he contracted COVID-19.
Too Hot to Handle’s Kelechi “Kelz” Dyke was one of Corey’s fellow rookies for Season 37. Due to his size and strength, the vets saw him as a threat as well. He was sent into elimination in the second episode and lost alongside partner Tracy Candela.
Corey comments about deleting his tweets
Corey shared more thoughts after his tweets, which included advice he received from fellow Spies, Lies & Allies castmates.
In one tweet, he said he cared about what “some blog” had him ranked at due to being “an emotional Leo with too much pride.”
Hours later, Corey tweeted that some of his castmates, who are “more level headed” than he is, advised him “not to engage with the silly Challenge blogger” and said he chose to delete his tweets.
In another tweet, Corey suggested he’ll learn to ignore certain things “one day” instead of getting riled up over what bloggers say.
Corey, 31, was one of 19 rookies in The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies season. The season featured veteran castmates joining together and forming a truce to send rookies into elimination until all were out of the game.
While Corey and teammate Michelle Fitzgerald went into the season’s first elimination, Corey showed his strength as he and Michelle were tied back-to-back with opponents Renan Hellemans and Michaela Bradshaw. Ultimately, Corey used brute force to win the event for his team.
However, they’d find themselves back in elimination in Episode 4. Corey called out castmate Hughie Maughan as his opponent.
It just so happened that Double Agents winner Amber Borzotra got voted in with Hughie, and the duo won the Down to the Wire elimination.
The vets’ rookie elimination plan worked reasonably well, as only one rookie, Emy Alupei, made it to the Season 37 final. Logan Sampedro and Emanuel Neagu were also close to reaching the final. For comparison’s sake, Aguirre ranked Emanuel in the C+ tier with veteran Nelson Thomas, while Logan ranked as a B- for his rookie campaign.
As of this report, the status of Season 38 of The Challenge is unknown, as the focus appears to be on new series, including The Challenge: CBS (working title) and The Challenge: War of the Worlds. Previous rumors suggested availability calls went out to everyone imaginable for a new MTV season, which would seem to include Corey Lay.
The Challenge Season 38 is TBA for MTV. The Challenge: CBS premiere date is TBA for CBS.
Episodes of The Challenge are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
The link above is an affiliate link. This means that for any qualifying purchase you make, we may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.
Don’t put The Challenge on a channel, I’ll have to pay extra for, I’ll stop watching won’t pay extra!!!