Seasons of MTV’s The Challenge are known for having lots of footage left on the cutting room floor, and it seems like the CBS spinoff show The Challenge: USA might be following suit.
Based on recent comments from Big Brother’s Azah Awasum and Love Island’s Cinco Holland, production left some interesting content out of The Challenge: USA episodes.
That includes a menacing monster that Azah said was “terrorizing” the cast members quite a bit when filming and also a scandalous mystery known as “Condomgate.”
The latter remains an aspect of filming that the cast was unable to solve after finding some intriguing evidence in The Challenge compound.
It also showcases that production may be keeping hookups out of the episodes of the CBS version of MTV’s longtime competition series.
This report will include some spoilers up through Episode 5 of The Challenge: USA spinoff show.
Azah Awasum surprised certain footage wasn’t in The Challenge: USA
In The Challenge: USA, Episode 5, Cinco and Azah were randomly teamed up by The Algorithm, and despite feeling like they had a solid connection and ability to communicate, they finished last in the daily event.
That sent them straight into elimination, where they lost against the team that daily challenge winners Tyson Apostol and Cashay Proudfoot put against them, Sarah Lacina and Leo Temory.
With the loss, Azah and Cinco made the rounds for exit interviews, including one for Us Weekly. During their chat, they were asked if there was any footage they didn’t see in the episodes that they wished would’ve been there.
Azah said she was surprised a particular creature wasn’t in the episodes that kept appearing when they were trying to film scenes for the show.
“You know one thing does speak to me. We had a bat terrorizing us for quite a while,” Azah shared.
“I was surprised they haven’t included that in some things, just because there’s so many shots we’re supposed to be getting going in the house, getting ready for something, and that bat would come out of nowhere and terrorize us,” she said, adding, “I really thought I’d see that bat.”
‘Condomgate’ mystery didn’t make it into episodes either
When thinking back to his Challenge experience, Cinco said many of the conversations he had in the house got cut out. He also reminded Azah about something called “Condomgate” that wasn’t in any of the episodes.
When asked to elaborate on Condomgate, Azah said, “There was a used something that was found in the shower.”
“There was a whole hunt as to who it belonged to, how it got there. Yes,” Azah said during the Us Weekly interview.
Azah and Cinco said neither of them was responsible for the intriguing shower find.
However, Azah said there was some speculation during filming that Condomgate might have involved Cinco. The Love Island star addressed the rumors during the exit interview (below), saying it wasn’t him and he’d definitely cop to it if it was because he believes in safe sex.
Interestingly, Cinco was one of the few cast members that episodes teased having an in-house flirtation or potential showmance.
His flirty friendship with Tiffany Mitchell was under the spotlight in the spinoff’s early episodes. In Episode 5, Cinco’s ex, Cashay, brought up with him how she was bothered seeing him flirt with other women in the house.
Still, Condomgate remains a mystery. Many of the cast members arrived to the show already in relationships or married. Some claimed in promo video clips they weren’t going into the show to hook up, but that doesn’t mean much when it comes to reality TV, including The Challenge.
Check out the full exit interview below with Cinco and Azah talking about their experience on The Challenge: USA leading up to their elimination.
The Challenge: USA airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on CBS.
Episodes of The Challenge are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
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