MTV The Challenge's Devin Walker
The cast for the upcoming season of “The Challenge: Spies, Lies and Allies” was revealed along with the official trailer and press release for the season on July 14 and there has since been a lot of discussion among fans of the show about the number of new rookies, many of whom are completely unknown and from various international reality shows.
A couple of weeks after the cast was announced, Devin Walker took to Twitter to ask fans to give the rookies a chance and reminded them that many of the “Challenge” veterans who got their start on the show from “Are You the One?” weren’t liked at first and now they’re fan favorites. He wrote:
QUICK reminder that MOST of you HATED @_nelsonthomas @MTV_AMANDAG @iamkamiam_ and believe it or not ME when @AREUTHE1 was introduced and NOW we have DEFENDER accounts so give these ROOKIES a chance! Most of them are S**T but a few have SAUCE @ChallengeMTV.
The post, which included the subtle jab at many of the rookies, was retweeted by Nelson and Amanda who showed their support for the “Are You the One?” alum.
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Cory Revealed Which Cast Members Fans Should Look Out For on This Season of ‘The Challenge’
QUICK reminder that MOST of you HATED @_nelsonthomas @MTV_AMANDAG @iamkamiam_ and believe it or not ME when @AREUTHE1 was introduced and NOW we have DEFENDER accounts so give these ROOKIES a chance! Most of them are SHIT but a few have SAUCE @ChallengeMTV
Cory Wharton also addressed the new class of rookies on Us Weekly’s “Watch With Us” podcast, and he said having a ton of rookies from various backgrounds and with different personalities was “life-changing.”
That being said, he also specifically called out a few rookies that he said fans should look out for, including Kelz Dyke from Netflix’s “Too Hot to Handle,” Logan Sampedro who appeared on “Survivor Spain,” and Emanuel Neagu from “Romania” who was the runner-up in that country’s “Survivor.”
Cory said Kelz is “a beast.” The veteran described the newcomer as “6′ 6″ and 240 pounds. Dude is fast, dude is strong.” He said Emanuel “gives you major Jordan [Wiseley] vibes, like, he’s kind of good at everything, not bad at anything type of deal.” That was an interesting comment from Cory considering the rumors swirling around a possible romance between Jordan’s ex Tori Deal and Emanuel.
Cory continued: “You’ve got Logan, who’s a soccer star and who almost won ‘Survivor.’ On the girl’s side, I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Tacha’s Titans [Tacha Akide‘s fans] but they’re legit. I’ve never seen a fan base like this! Priscilla [Anyabu], Esther [Agunbiade], Bettina [Buchanan] and you’ve got Emy [Alupei], who’s a beast.”
Cory Said These Rookies Aren’t the Same Kind of Rookies as Before Because They’ve All Performed Well on Other Reality Shows
MTVThe cast of the 37th season of ‘The Challenge’
In the same podcast appearance, Cory addressed how the rookies have come a long way from when he started on the show. He said many of this year’s rookies have a lot of experience on other major reality shows and said they’re “bringing it this season.” He added, “All I can say is I’m a vet, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let a rookie come on my show and think they run my show.”
The “Real World: Ex-Plosion” star said when rookies used to come on “The Challenge,” they were “fresh. We didn’t know what was going on.” He said the rookies’ goal used to be to party and enjoy their time on the competition show. Now, he said,” I don’t even know if you call them rookies.” He explained:
I was right there with the fans, like, ‘Who are these people?’ The [rookies] get stronger, faster and better looking as the seasons go on. They all have their stuff together. It’s different. It is definitely different.
These rookies aren’t even really rookies. These people are winning Survivor. These people are winning Big Brother. So, they bring something to the show that the show hasn’t had in a long time.
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