After a tumultuous return to MTV’s The Challenge, another one of Laurel Stucky’s Season 40 castmates suggests she might be the problem.
Season 40, known as Battle of the Eras, featured 40 of The Challenge’s iconic stars from various eras of the competition series.
Laurel appeared as one of the 10 members of the Era 2 team, which also featured her friend-turned-rival, Cara Maria Sorbello, and seven-time winner Johnny Bananas.
While she looked to be a frontrunner for another Challenge win after her dominant performance on the All Stars 4 spinoff, various altercations plagued Laurel’s MTV season.
Among them were spats with castmates Darrell Taylor, Emily Schrom, and Cara, the latter of which erupted into a heated incident and involved some moments with sensitive remarks that never aired.
Some of Laurel’s situations with her castmates carried over to the Season 40 reunion and on social media, including a war of words on X, formerly Twitter, with castmate Nurys Mateo.
Battle of the Eras star spoke about Laurel’s potential issues and need for help
During an appearance on the Zach Nichols Podcast, Laurel’s castmate Nia Moore talked about how she saw some of herself during Laurel’s incidents.
“I kind of felt like I was looking at myself in some of those moments- the older version of myself that I killed off a long time ago,” The Challenge star said.
Before appearing on MTV’s competition series, Nia appeared in The Real World: Portland alongside castmates Jordan Wiseley and Averey Tressler.
Her season featured arguments with multiple castmates and an especially heated physical altercation with Averey and her then-boyfriend, castmate Jonny Reilly.
“I just wish that she would look at this like a mirror and recognize that she’s the common denominator in all this,” Nia told Zach and co-host Pierre Bacall.
She mentioned that there have been “five different people” that Laurel’s had “issues with publicly,” and she should possibly realize that maybe it’s her that’s the issue in all those situations.
“At some point, you gotta say, ‘It might be me, and I might not be able to fix this on my own, and I might need professional help,'” Nia said.
Nia returned to The Challenge years after her controversial moments
Nia’s return to The Challenge arrived with Paramount+’s spinoff All Stars 3, which featured her Real World co-star, Jordan. The two were friends and allies during that season, even cozying up to one another during filming.
However, they weren’t always good friends, as a controversial incident involved them during a previous installment of The Challenge.
She first appeared in the competition series on Free Agents in 2014. Her appearance was brief, as Cara Maria eliminated the rookie competitor in Episode 3.
Nia returned for Battle of the Exes II, where she initially partnered with MTV vet Leroy Garrett. They were among the teams headed to the final.
However, a blowup occurred when power couple Jordan and Sarah Rice chose Johnny Bananas and Nany Gonzalez to face Leroy and Nia in elimination.
The remaining four teams traveled to a new location before the elimination battle and final.
During the hotel stay before that elimination, things got out of hand. Nia verbally and physically assaulted Jordan over his and Sarah’s game decision, which resulted in Nia being sent home. Leroy’s ex, Theresa Gonzalez, returned to replace Nia as his partner for the final.
The incident cost Nia a trip to the final, and she remained off the show for seven years. She returned to The Challenge: All Stars 3 spinoff in a much better space, and based on recent remarks, therapy helped her get there.
However, during her time away from reality television, she was able to do a lot of soul-searching and matured, allowing her to come back to The Challenge in a better mental space.
“My life became incredible the moment I surrendered to the fact that I was the problem,” she admitted to Zach and his co-host.
The Challenge: Battle of the Eras airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
Episodes of The Challenge are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
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