After another quick exit from The Challenge, former Real World star Tony Raines fired back at remarks made by his castmate.
Tony first returned on The Challenge: All Stars 4, but was a quick exit due to a family matter he had to leave for.
However, his official return for MTV’s Battle of the Eras was another brief appearance in the competition.
He participated in the game with Era 3, which included Nia Moore, Jordan Wiseley, Tori Deal, Leroy Garrett, Devin Walker, Jonna Mannion, Nehemiah Clark, Amanda Garcia, and Avery Tressler.
Tony and Averey found themselves in a tough spot in Episode 3 after volunteering to be team captains in the daily challenge.
Era 3 was the winning team, which Tony and Averey thought secured their safety. However, their inability to agree on who to send into elimination cost them.
Tony calls out Averey for her Battle of the Eras remarks about him
During Battle of the Eras Episode 3, viewers saw that host TJ Lavin told Averey and Tony to come to announce who they decided to put into the elimination. Averey wanted to protect her friend, Derek Chavez, while Tony made a deal with Darrell Taylor to give him Derek in the elimination.
Since neither Averey nor Tony would give in and agree with the other’s pick, TJ said they could compete in the sand instead. During remarks from the sand, Averey revealed that she came to compete but felt Tony wanted to go home, so this happened.
From there, a hungry Averey defeated former Challenge winner Jodi Weatherton, while Tony lost to multi-time champion Darrell. After MTV aired the episode, Tony reacted to Averey’s remarks, suggesting he didn’t want to be there.
“That was an unnecessary dig at me, to say that I didn’t want to be there. I wanted to be there just as bad as anybody else. I’m there for a reason,” Tony told Entertainment Weekly.
“After taking so long off and missing The Challenge as much as I did, I’m out there trying to make as much money as I possibly can. And No. 1 is to make my girls proud. If I go down to elimination and I get sent home, my little girls aren’t going to be proud of me,” he said.
Tony explained that he confided in Averey during conversations that he missed his family, including his wife, Alyssa, and two daughters back home, just as Averey mentioned missing her boyfriend, Adam Larson. However, Tony felt Averey unfairly spun things to make it sound like he didn’t want to stay on the show.
Tony said he could’ve ‘went out in a better way’ than he did for Season 40
Tony reiterated that it wasn’t the case that he wanted to go home from Season 40 when he did, even mentioning there would have been an earlier path to leave the show.
“I’m out here battling. If I didn’t want to be here, I would’ve lost to Leroy. I could have went out in a better way than I went out on this elimination,” he shared.
Tony was able to oust his teammate during the Eras Invitational, in which eight cast members were eliminated by various teammates after the opening challenge.
“That’s something that really rubs me the wrong way. I get she was upset and she didn’t think I had a good enough reason not to side with her. She’s definitely been slighted in the past,” Tony said.
He referenced Averey’s previous reality TV situations, including issues with her former Real World castmate and ex-boyfriend Jonny Reilly and her early exit from a previous Challenge season due to her partner Leroy’s back injury.
“I think all that added to her frustration and her saying things that necessarily weren’t true or that she didn’t mean, or maybe she would even take back at this time,” Tony said.
During his interview on Gold Derby (below), he shared that he actually likes Averey as a castmate. He got to know her during All Stars 4 and felt she was a genuine individual. In addition, he said he was happy she won her elimination to stay on Season 40.
When commenting to EW, Tony indicated he wasn’t “checked out” during his elimination loss to Darrell and was fully bringing “Tony time” when he competed. After Tony displayed his ability to reach a Challenge final in the past, many fans likely hope to see him return for another shot at lasting longer in the game.
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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