As The Challenge: Battle For a New Champion weeds out its finalists, alliances and friendships are tested.
Several of those friendships were seriously fractured in Season 39, Episode 16, as multiple competitors got sent home from the game.
At one point in the episode, Nurys Mateo contemplated leaving the show due to the ongoing drama and feeling some people there didn’t have her best interests at heart.
She became particularly displeased with Olivia Kaiser and Jay Starrett, whom she had considered friends at the beginning of the season but realized they might not be.
By the end of the episode, it was clear to viewers why Olivia and Nurys are no longer friends, and a preview showed Nurys unloading on Jay and others in the upcoming episode.
As Episode 16 aired, Nurys reacted to what was shown and told fans her thoughts about what happened.
Nurys blasts Olivia and Jay after Episode 16 events
Taking to X (formerly Twitter) during MTV’s airing of The Challenge episode, Nurys sent several messages, including one to defend her friend Moriah.
In the episode’s voting segment, viewers saw daily challenge winner Jay save his pal Michele Fitzgerald, who then saved Olivia. Surprisingly, Olivia saved Moriah rather than Nurys, which was shocking.
Moriah then saved her showmance, James Lock, and the vote continued to save each person in the big alliance. It ultimately left Nurys, Horacio Gutierrez, and Kyland Young to go into the elimination.
After the deliberation, Olivia privately spoke with Nurys about how the voting went. During their talk, Nurys revealed she’d had a video call with her brother earlier in the season, letting her know she shouldn’t trust Olivia.
Olivia said in a confessional that Nurys had been waiting for Olivia to fail her during the season, but Nurys cleared that up.
“I wasn’t waiting for her to fail me, I was waiting for her to prove my brother wrong,” she tweeted.
“Let’s not send hate to @moriahjadea cuz this isn’t about her, today is about Olivia being a s****y a** friend. Me & Moriah have BEEN good so only I can say something lol she’s been forgiven a while ago lol. I love that girl, I was just a little upset, I’m sorry,” Nurys tweeted with a heart emoji.
In another message, Nurys called her friend Jay “obsessed” with Kyland and Horacio, saying that “makes sense because they’re EVERYTHING he wishes he could be.”
Nurys is ready to blow things up on The Challenge 39
In the elimination round, TJ revealed to Nurys, Kyland, and Horacio that only one of them would return to The Challenge house. The three competed in an obstacle course with three unique puzzles or skill checkpoints they needed to complete to grab flags.
Things started with Kyland and Horacio racing to the first puzzle, but they struggled with arranging a tangram to match the animal pictured on the key. Meanwhile, Nurys completed her first puzzle checkpoint and took a one-flag lead.
The guys struggled with the puzzle as Nurys arrived at that checkpoint. Horacio decided to leave it and get another flag first, which he did. Meanwhile, Nurys solved the tangram as Kyland was still working on it.
It ended up with Nurys and Horacio each getting two flags. Kyland eventually solved the tangram to get his first flag. Horacio returned to the puzzle as Nurys also attempted to finish her final checkpoint, which involved balancing blocks on a platform she had to raise off the ground.
Eventually, she completed the final puzzle, with TJ and Horacio yelling to encourage her. Nurys ultimately got her third flag to the finish spot, defeating the two guys and sending them home. It was bittersweet as she said goodbye to her showmance and friend.
Nurys was shown walking back to The Challenge house. She said she felt no loyalty to anyone there except herself and was ready to explode. In a preview trailer for the next episode, she goes off on her castmates, even seeming to call Jay a “b***h” over what happened.
The Challenge: Battle For a New Champion airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
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