Tori Deal Took Castmates on Vacation to Secure Alliance, ‘The Challenge’ Star Reveals

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The latest episode of “The Challenge” saw a major shakeup in the format, with TJ Lavin announcing that the contestants would no longer be competing in pairs and instead would be forming three teams, called “cells.” The winning team that week was a strong one, formed by Josh Martinez, Devin Waker, Emanuel Neagu for the men and Tori Deal, Kaycee Clark and Nany Gonzalez on the women’s side.

On Johnny Bananas Devenanzio’s “Death, Taxes and Bananas” podcast, he spoke to “Spies, Lies and Allies” star Ashley Mitchell about the episode and commented on Tori and Devin’s place among the “Big Brother” alliance. Bananas commented that he was surprised Josh, Kaycee and Nany chose to be on the same team as it might have been wiser to split their alliance and have a presence on multiple teams like Cory Wharton and Nelson Thomas did.

Ashley replied that she wasn’t sure what they were thinking when they planned that but added, “Tori, Devin and then Nany, Kaycee and Josh, all of them weren’t a big happy family as it’s coming across on the TV.” She said, “From what I heard around the house was that Tori wasn’t really with them that much, is what I heard from I thought Kaycee and Nany. She was like on the outskirts, and she’s just getting brought in by Josh cause her and Josh were close.”

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Ashley Claimed That Tori Took Josh & Devin on a Vacation to Solidify Her Alliances After Season 36

Ashley then went on to claim that after “Double Agents,” Tori planned a vacation for Devin, Josh and herself to try to get them in her alliance for the next season. “I think that Tori and Devin were more than happy to get on [the Emerald] platform to make sure they were secure with that “Big Brother” group.”

“I mean, that’s why they took that vacation,” she added. “That’s why Tori planned that big vacation for them was to make sure that her friends were in an alliance and she would be extra safe. I mean, in my opinion. Before the season, her, Josh and Devin all went onto a vacation together.” Bananas reacted with shock, saying he hadn’t heard about that before and Ashley replied, “That’s the reason this game has changed a lot. People are definitely doing a lot of out-of-the-game politics.”

I guess she got a free hotel and then they’re two of her good friends [with air quotes] so she invited them both after they just had that whole season of them supposedly fighting and hating each other. And so that’s why they’re cool this season supposedly.

It appears as though in February 2021, Tori, Devin and Josh all posted on Instagram photos of a trip to Cozumel, Mexico, with all three tagging the same resort in their photos.

Bananas Joked With Wes About the Story When He Posted the Clip on Instagram

Bananas replied to Ashley’s story, “That’s one way to start an alliance… Long gone are the days when you just did the Weston Bergmann thing and just slide into everyone’s DMs… That’s an aggressive f****** way to make an alliance, wow.”

While the podcast is audio-only, Bananas posted a video clip of the segment in question on his Instagram featuring Ashley using air quotes to describe Devin and Josh as Tori’s “good friends.” Bananas threw in a good-natured jab at his former rival Wes in the caption as he wrote, “Time to step up your game @westonbergmann … Where’s my vacation.”

Johnny also added, “You’ll never believe the lengths Challengers are going to in order to form alliances these days!” Wes didn’t hesitate to reply to the podcast host and seven-time champ, writing, “I’d rather lose the challenge than go on vacation with you.”

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