Tula “Big T” Fazakerley will return for The Challenge Season 39, aka Battle for a New Champion, which only features non-winners competing for the season.
Among her castmates will be Michele Fitzgerald, who recently appeared in the CBS spinoff show The Challenge: USA 2.
Michele had her fair share of drama during USA 2, first with her rival Amanda Garcia and then with castmates, including several Survivor stars who thought she was their ally.
Now it appears that Michele has more drama on MTV’s Season 39, including Big T recently calling her out online over an important moment from the show.
Each season features a cast member giving a toast to the rest of their castmates as they start their crazy journey toward the final.
Previous seasons have featured Johnny Bananas and Nelson Thomas delivering the toast for their cast mates, and based on online remarks, Big T gave one for Season 39.
Big T calls out Michele for trying to shut down her toast
A storm of back-and-forth comments between Season 39 cast mates Big T and Michele erupted after a superfan account suggested some cast members were upset production selected Big T to give the iconic toast.
A screenshot in the tweet below shows Big T raising her glass to deliver the toast to her cast mates to start off Battle For a New Champion.
Michele suggested that wasn’t true and “everyone was down for her making the toast” because “she’s a vibe.”
However, Big T jumped in to claim that Michele made sure she didn’t do the toast the second time even though production wanted her to.
“But ya everyone else was super supportive and I really appreciate it…magic moment,” Big T tweeted.
Based on remarks by Big T, she indicated that Michele was suggesting her friend Jay Starrett, also a CBS Survivor alum, should deliver a toast. Season 39 is Jay’s fourth appearance on MTV’s show, but it’s Big T’s fifth season, making her the cast member with the most history and worthy of giving the toast.
Big T slams Season 39 cast mate for lying and ‘fakeness’
In their Twitter battle, Michele continued to dispute Big T, saying that she intentionally tried to stop her from delivering the Season 39 toast and pushed for Jay to handle the moment.
“T, I don’t care about a stupid toast – I was trying to hype you up in my tweet so idk why you’re turning all neggy. Anyways, I can assure you, I wasn’t bothered nor did I try to push jay to do it,” Michele fired off in a reply.
“That’s such a lie Michelle. I’m so glad other people were there. Anyway Idc but please don’t ‘hype me up’ or publicly mention me in a positive way. I have my real friends who genuinely like me to do that. I don’t like fakeness . That is all , thank you,” Big T tweeted.
As mentioned, Michele just appeared on CBS’ spinoff version of The Challenge, which featured some castmates from MTV’s show she had history with. Among them were Josh Martinez, Faysal “Fessy” Shafaat, and Amanda Garcia.
Michele had drama with Amanda early in the USA 2 season until Amanda was sent home via elimination by Desi Williams. However, Michele had more drama when she tried to play multiple sides, leading to her Survivor allies turning on her and sending her into another elimination.
One of those allies was Michaela Bradshaw, whom Michele argued with in Episode 12 before she went into elimination. The Challenge shared a video clip of the “micheltdown,” and Big T dropped by the comments to laugh at how Michele was trying to suggest a castmate was lying.
As seen in the screenshot below, Big T wasn’t the only Michele rival who seemed to enjoy it, as Amanda also showed up and had a chuckle, suggesting their castmate was getting exposed.
This could be just the beginning of what’s to come for MTV’s next season of The Challenge. Based on just the early exchange of remarks between Michele and Big T, Season 39 might have a lot more drama involving the cast members spilling tea online and in interviews!
The Challenge: Battle For a New Champion premieres Wednesday, October 25 at 8/7c on MTV. The Challenge: USA 2 airs Thursdays at 10/9c on CBS.
Episodes of The Challenge are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
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